Photographing Waterfalls

Top 4 Mistakes made when Photographing Waterfalls and How to Correct Them

by Jennifer Clarkson

Waterfalls often make great subjects of photos, but it's very easy to get a bad result if you're not paying attention when you click the button. Here are the top 4 mistakes photographers make, and the easy ways to improve your shots!

Mistake #1: Setting your camera to auto-select aperture and shutter speed
Metering is something that cameras generally do very well. They begin to fail, however, when you start to introduce very white or very black subjects in an image. The reason for this is because humans see in 16-stops, whereas cameras "see" no more than 5-stops. This means that images with high contrast are not correctly exposed when left to the camera's automatic settings , if you have a lot of white in your subject of focus, the camera tends to make it grey in the final image, and correspondingly underexposes the rest of the image. Similarly, if you have a lot of black in your image, the camera tends to make the black turn out grey in the final image, thus overexposing the rest of the image.

Mistake #2: Photographing Waterfalls on a sunny day
Sunny days in the forest may be nice for close-up studies, but adding sun to a waterfall landscape is not a good idea , the range of light and dark is so extreme that your compositions will be washed out or hidden in blackness. The best time to head out for a waterfall shoot is on an overcast day, with or without rain.

Mistake #3: Shooting Waterfalls without a polarizing filter
In a nutshell, polarizing filters cut the glare. Wet surfaces tend to reflect the sky colour, so you'll actually need the polarizing filter more for rainy days where the sky colour is grey than for sunny days. But we've already agreed you shouldn't photography waterfalls on sunny days Removing glare from an image allows you to see the colourful world underneath the glare, and no amount of Photoshopping after your shoot will fix it.

Mistake #4: Leaving your waterfall site without trying to slow the water motion on camera
Let's face it, it's fun to try to make those ethereal shots of rapids or waterfalls where the movement of the water looks like silk. Why walk away from a waterfall if the conditions are right for taking such a shot? To capture water motion, experiment with these techniques.

• ensure the sky is overcast
  
• decrease your ISO setting to as low as possible
  
• consider enabled auto-bracketing on your camera, if you have it, or setting the exposure to 2/3 of a stop
  
• set your camera up on a tripod and frame your waterfall in the viewfinder
  
• lower your shutter speed to 1/15th of a second or less
  
• take a shot and check the histogram
  
• play with slower shutter speeds and different exposure bracketing
  

Metering and Exposure for Waterfall Photography
The idea is to meter off the part of your composition that would be closest to medium grey, should the image be turned to greyscale. If your waterfall is surrounded by lush forest, try metering off nearby green leaves or grass , never off the waterfall, and never off anything in shade. If you're photographing at dawn or dusk, meter off the sky. This will make the waterfall appear white, and the shady areas appear black. It's really very simple!

In automatic mode:
First, learn how to "lock" your camera's exposure so as to trick it into getting the right exposure. Enable bracketing if you've got it. Point your camera at the green leaves or dusky sky, and lock your exposure. Re-focus your camera on the waterfall, and click the button , this should tell your camera to expose the scene how we see it, and not what its algorithms have told it to do.

In manual mode:
Set your exposure to 2/3 of a stop. Point your camera at a spot nearby the waterfall that is neither bright nor dark. Set your aperture and shutter speed to whatever you prefer (see Mistake #4). Now point your lens at the waterfall and frame the scene in your viewfinder. Click the button and voila , beautiful exposure!





Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For a more information on exposure, aperture, and depth of field, please visit her website at Jennifer Clarkson Photography

Article source: Articlecat.com

Composition In Digital Photography

by Jason Cox

The art of composition, or putting a digital picture together in the viewfinder can make the difference between a good picture and a bad one! It is a visual process of organizing the elements and individual details of a scene into a balanced and pleasing arrangement. Because what one person finds pleasing is not pleasing to another, digital picture composition is largely a matter of personal taste.

There is no right or wrong composition in digital photography. A composition that conveys a photographers intended meaning is an effective one. A composition that does not or that confuses the viewer is not.

There are certain rules of composition that most photographers agree will make the best digital pictures. However, the word rules is used loosely here as they are intended to simply be guidelines to take great digital pictures.

They are based on recreating similarities in the make-up of many different digital images that many people have found to be esthetically-pleasing. A rule of composition or a design concept should not be taken as a hard and fast rule that must be observed.

In fact, some renowned digital photographs violate all the rules of composition and are still excellent digital pictures. This does not mean that the rules are without value. They are tremendously valuable. They are time-proven, and provide great guidelines for photographers at any level.

These rules are great guidelines to start out with. But if you feel you want to break one of these rules, by all means go right ahead. Photography is not about perfection. Its about capturing digital images that will be pleasing to you and those you want to share the pictures with.

Here are some of those rules:

1. Choose a primary point of interest before taking the digital picture. Determine which area is of the most importance to you and compose the picture around that area.

2. Be sure that only the things you want the viewer to see appear in the digital picture. If there are numerous objects cluttering up the background, your message will be lost. If you can not find an angle or framing to isolate your subject, consider using depth of field control on your camera, if it has one, to keep the background out of focus.

3. Give your digital picture contrast. A light subject will have more impact if placed against a dark background and vice versa. Contrasting colors may be used for emphasis, but can become distracting if not considered carefully.

4. Consider the balance of what you are shooting. Generally, asymmetric or informal balance is considered more pleasing in a digital picture than symmetric (formal) balance. In other words, placing the main subject off-center and balancing the weight with other objects (smaller or lower impact) will be more effective than placing the subject in the center.

5. Frame your picture. A frame in a digital picture is something in the foreground that leads you into the picture or gives you a sense of where the viewer is. For example, a branch and some leaves framing a shot of rolling hills and a valley, or the edge of an imposing rock face leading into a shot of a canyon. Framing can usually improve a digital picture. The frame does not need to be sharply focused. In fact if it is too sharply detailed, it could be a distraction.

6. Be sure the viewpoint is pleasing. You can often change a digital picture dramatically by moving the camera up or down or, stepping to one side. One of the best ways to come up with a prize-winning photograph is to find an unusual point of view.

7. When the subject is capable of movement, such as an animal or person, it is best to leave space in front of the subject so it appears to be moving into, rather than out of, the digital picture.

8. Linear elements such as roads, waterways, and fences placed diagonally are generally perceived as more dynamic than horizontals in a digital picture.

9. Use the rule of thirds. This is a principle taught in graphic design and photography and is based on the theory that the eye goes naturally to a point about two-thirds up the page. Also, by visually dividing the image into thirds (either vertically or horizontally) you achieve the informal or asymmetric balance mentioned above.

Although there are many ways a digital picture can be composed effectively by basing it on the use of thirds, the most common example is the placement of the horizon line in landscape photography. If the area of interest is land or water, the horizon line will usually be two-thirds up from the bottom. On the other hand, if the sky is the area of emphasis, the horizon line may be one-third up from the bottom, leaving the sky to occupy the top two-thirds.

About the Author: For several years now, Jason has been reviewing hundreds of online products and services. Many consider his reviews to be very insightful and reliable. Visit his website Best Camera Bargains.

Article Source: Art Symmetry

Photography Lighting Techniques

Lighting is one of the most important aspects of photography, since it is light that is captured by a camera. Understanding how lighting works and what you can do with different lighting conditions can lead to a better photography experience and results.

Consider the angle of the light entering the frame, the kind of shadows you want, and whether you want to use fill-in-flash (using flash to light the subject if you have a really bright background). If you are shooting at night you can create all sorts of cool effects like lights in motion, pictures with moonlight, or silhouettes. The following are just some examples of all the possibilities.

Angle of Light

The angle of light should be taken into careful consideration whenever you feel like you want to create a specific effect. Shadows can be very powerful when cast over half of someone's face. When you are deciding which angle you would prefer to have the light coming from you are indirectly deciding where the shadows will be cast. The angle of light can be used to show texture if it is coming from the side because the shadows create the effect of more depth. It can add detail and mystery to someone's face if you choose to keep half of their face in the shadows. The most common light usage mistake that people make when they are taking portrait pictures is having the light coming directly from the back when they don't intend to create a silhouette. This usually results in having the subject's face just very dark and the background overexposed.

Light Rays Effect

The effect of rays of light indoors and outdoors can be very spectacular. A brilliant part of some great photographs is the ability to actually see rays of light in a photo. Whether it is in the setting of a brilliant sunset, light pouring through a window or light from artificial lights almost all kinds have the potential to look amazing. Usually the only way to obtain something like this is a narrow aperture (high f/stop) and a very slow shutter speed. I have found rays of light to be very nice in architectural photography in the form of light streaming through windows or spaces.

Silhouettes

Silhouettes are another interesting example of strategic light use. The way to create a silhouette is to have significantly brighter light coming from behind the subject. In doing this it is important to take your camera light reading off of the background instead of the subject in order for the camera to adjust for an exposure based on the backlight. If you do this the subject will be successfully underexposed and the background should hopefully have a well-balanced exposure. You can do this for any kind of subject including people, animals, landscapes and impressive cityscapes.

Scarce Light in the Darkness

Photography at night is completely different than photography in the day. At night there is most likely not enough light to handhold the camera if you are going to take a well-exposed photo (without flash). A tripod is very necessary and I always use a tripod when I am shooting at night to take away the risk of blur from hand shakiness. If you keep experimenting with different ways of using light you will find that you can get very interesting results. One favorite location of night photographers is on the roadside of a busy street. With a long shutter speed the photographer can use the car lights to make streams of light across the frame. The longer the exposure, the more fascinating the results with light most of the time.

Try This Technique to Make a Copy of Someone

Set the shutter speed for somewhere around 30 seconds, set the camera on a tripod and set the self-timer so you do not have to press the shutter button. Someone needs to stand next to the camera with a flashlight and someone else needs to be the subject of the photo in front of the camera. The subject then stands in one place while the flashlight is pointed at him and moved in an up and down motion. After around 15 seconds the flashlight is turned off and the subject is told to move to his left. Then the flashlight is pointed at him again and moved up and down until the camera finishes the exposure. If you do this successfully you can create the same person twice in one frame.

Conclusion

The use of light is a very essential practice to master if you are going to be a successful photographer. When a digital camera takes a photo its sensor is essentially just collecting all the light from the scene that is reflected in through the lens. It is your job simply to figure out where you would like the light to be coming from and how long the sensor should be exposed to the light in order to create a sufficient exposure.

About the Author: HDR Japan is an Okinawa Japan photo blog and cultural information resource.

How Does the Camera Auto Focus Work and Why Sometimes It Fails?

By: Ziv Haparnas

How does auto-focus work?
All of us use it every time we click on the shutter button. Practically all modern cameras include some sort of an auto focus system. Thanks to the auto focus system we can enjoy an easier photography experience and can concentrate on composing the right photo and capturing the moment rather than on manually setting the focus.

Automatic focus though has its limitations. For example sometimes one might want to produce photos which are a bit fuzzy as an artistic expression. Also the auto focus implementation has its limitations and in some scenarios it might fail. One example is using a high end SLR camera with a passive auto focus system to take a picture of blue skies. In most cases the camera will move its motor back and forth and will eventually give up and fail to focus.

To better use the auto focus system it would help to understand high it actually works. Although implementations can vary we can divide them all into two categories: passive and active. Most pocket cameras use the cheaper passive method while high end professional cameras use either the active or a combination of both.

Passive auto focus:
Passive auto focus can be perceived as imitating how we set the focus manually. The camera defines one or more regions in the picture (usually they are marked as rectangles on the viewfinder or the LCD). The camera then analyzes the picture seen through those regions and calculates a Focus Level number. The camera then tries to move its lenses back and forth as it recalculates the Focus Level. The camera looks for a position where the Focus Level is the highest. For that point if the Focus Level is above a predefined threshold the camera would define this region of the photo as being in focus.

The Focus Level can be calculated in many ways. The common attribute of all calculations is figuring out how much Contrast is there in the photo. Although not in the scope of this article one way to calculate such a number is by running the photo through a high frequency filter , this is based on the fact that high contrast is associated with high frequencies.

Active auto focus:
Active auto focus works by measuring the distance between the camera and the object in the picture. Technically if you knew the exact distance to the object you are taking a picture of you could set the lens to the exact focus position. The active focus system shoots a beam of invisible light, usually infrared, at the object at the center of the picture and measures the distance to that object. Based on that distance the focus is set.

Combined auto focus:
Some high end cameras combine both systems. The camera will pick the right system for the specific scenario or will cross check and use both at the same time. The photographer can also decide manually to use one of the two options. For example when shooting blue skies the camera can try to use the active system and measure the distance. Since the distance is infinite the camera can set the focus and skip the passive focus. In other cases when the distance is not infinite the camera can use the active system to put the lens in approximately the right position and then use the passive system for fine tuning. In dark scenarios the camera can opt to use the active system since the passive one will not work.

So why doesn't the auto focus work all the time?
Even with all the electronics and computing power in the camera there will always be scenarios where the camera auto focus fails. Failure can be when the camera can not focus and the picture is fuzzy or sometimes when the picture is actually in focus but the camera "thinks" that it is not.

What causes such cases? The list is long but here are just a few examples:

• Taking low light pictures: The passive auto focus system needs to "see" the picture in order to work and in low light scenarios this is not possible. Some systems use a series of flashes to overcome this limitation but this solution fails many times. An active system can measure the distance to the object in such scenarios but will fail if the object is not in the center of the picture or if there are a few objects at different distances.
  
• Active systems can fail with objects that tend to absorb the infrared beam they are using. Some materials absorb infrared beams and will cause the active system to measure the wrong distance. In some scenarios other infrared sources such as candles and open flame fires can render the active system useless.
  
• Low contrast objects such as white walls or blue skies. The passive auto focus relies on the fact that the Focus Level changes significantly when moving the lens back and forth. This allows the camera to settle on the right focus position. The Focus Level of low contrast objects does not change much and fails the passive system.
  

Knowing how the auto focus system works helps a photographer understand why sometimes the camera can not focus. In such scenarios the photographer can look for other solutions. Sometimes the photographer will have to use the manual focus. In other cases focusing on another object in the picture that is in the same distance but easier to focus on and locking the focus on that object will solve the problem.

Author: Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology and science issues. You can find more information digital photo printing printing and photography in general on PrintRates.com - a site dedicated to photo printing.

Article source: Articlecat.com

Photography Zoom Lens Characteristics

By: Jennifer Clarkson

When you own a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, you have the option of purchasing more than one lens for various purposes. This article explores some characteristics you should consider once you've decided on the type of zoom lens you plan to purchase, including Internal Focusing, Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction, Constant vs Variable Aperture, Macro Focusing, Low-Dispersion Glass, Apochromatic Lenses, Aspherical Elements, Tripod Mounts for Long Lenses, Plastic vs Alloys, Size, Weight, and Price. For more information on the different types of photography zoom lens available, read this article.

Internal Focusing (IF)
The movement of the lens for focusing purposes is internal to the lens body, so no lens ring will cause the lens to twist out and interfere with the orientation of any filters. (Some filters, such as linear polarizers or graduated neutral-density filters require stationary positioning in order to deliver predictable results.) This internal movement also allows the lens weight to stay balanced, which helps the balancing of heavier lenses on a tripod. Image quality of newer IF lenses is slightly better than non-IF lenses due to technological advances made that correct some aberrations.

Image Stabilization (IS) or Vibration Reduction (VR)
Most types of lenses above come in two flavours: either with image stabilization, or without. Built-in stabilization allows you to get sharp hand-held images when lighting conditions are poor, or you're shooting from a moving vehicle. On the lenses that offer this capability, there is usually a switch that lets you turn the feature off, thus saving batteries when using a tripod. Beware the cost of these lenses, though: you can expect to pay 2-4 times as much for a lens with image stabilization than the same lens without.

Constant vs Variable Aperture
Variable aperture accounts for the majority of zoom lenses, and causes the maximum aperture to decrease as you zoom from wider focal lengths to telephoto focal lengths. The advantage of variable aperture zoom lenses is that they're cheaper to maufacture and are typically lighter and more compact than contact aperture lenses.

Constant aperture lenses provide a static maximum aperture regardless of the focal length you're zoomed to. This better enables you to achieve narrow depth of field so as to isolate your subject from your background. These lenses typically let more light in, which lets you shoot sharp photos in dimmer lighting conditions.

Macro Focusing
Macro lenses allow the camera to be very close to its subject and still focus sharply. Macro lenses are ideal for close-up shots of flowers, leaves or insects, and sometimes double as portrait lenses. They typically have a reproduction ratio of 1:4 or better, which means the image sensor will capture the subject at 1/4 its original size or larger.

Low-Dispersion Glass
Some lenses are made with high-quality glass specially manufactured to more accurately transmit the full visible colour spectrum, called low-dispersion glass. You may also hear of ED (extra-low dispersion), SLD (super-low dispersion) or UD (ultra-low dispersion), which really just means truer colours.

Apochromatic Lenses (APO)
Apochromatic lenses have high colour fidelity and sharpness and should be used by anyone obsessed with getting to the most accurate colours possible.

Aspherical Elements (ASP)
Aspherical lenses are made with a different curvature than traditional spherical lenses to correct for distortions at the edge of the image. They are particularly useful in wide-angle lenses where vignetting or distortion can be seen in the corners of the image.

Tripod Mounts for Long Lenses
Lenses that are bigger and heavier than your camera body should have a tripod mount built-in. By attaching the lens to the tripod instead of the camera, you will remove tension on the camera-to-lens mount joint, and you will improve tripod balancing in the field. In fact, without a tripod mount, some larger lenses will cause the tripod to topple, thus making tripod use impossible without a lens mount. It is possible to purchase a separate adapter bracket from some manufacturers if the lens itself does not have one.

Plastic Material vs Alloys
Plastic lenses built recently typically use high-tech materials that are very durable and much lighter than metal alloy lenses. So although it used to be said that plastic lenses are cheap and unreliable, that is no longer true today.

Size
Zoom and telephoto lenses are getting smaller and lighter each year. In general, the larger the focal length of the lens, the larger the lens will be physically.

Weight
The heaviness of a lens may be prohibitive to you, depending on your physical fitness level and how long you'll be away from home. Plastic lenses are quite durable and are definitely lighter than equivalent metal lenses, although ultra-lightweight metal alloys are reasonable as well.

Price
In general, no matter which lens you're looking at, prices vary dramatically based on lens quality. Professional lenses will cost you thousands of dollars, while a compact modest starter zoom lens will be only a hundred dollars. You'll pay extra for some of the characteristics discussed in this article, such as fast constant apertures, high quality glass, image stabilization, and quick auto-focus. Remember, though, that lens price is a large investment: lenses will long outlast your camera body, and is largely responsible for the quality of your images (much more so than the camera body itself)!


Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For more Photography Tips, or to view her Photo Gallery, please visit Jennifer Clarkson Photography.

Article source: Articlecat.com

Zoom Lenses for your SLR camera

By: Jennifer Clarkson

When you own a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, you have the option of purchasing more than one lens for various purposes. Zoom lenses and prime lenses are something that every SLR owner should have. Let's look at the definition for each.

Prime lenses are those with a fixed focal length, such that zoom is not possible. That means that if you wanted to have your subject appear larger in your frame, you would have to physically move your camera closer to the subject instead of zooming closer with the lens itself. Prime lenses are faster at focusing than zoom lenses, but are typically used for static scenes, such as macro photography or portrait photography.

Zoom lenses allow you to make your subject larger in the frame without physically moving your camera closer. This article explores the different types of zoom lenses out there and offers recommendations for what suits your style of photography - macro, landscape, wildlife, sports. We'll look at autofocusing zoom lenses and manual focus zoom lenses. Also check out this related article about Camera Lens Characteristics.

Autofocusing Zoom Lenses

1) Ultra Wide-Angle Zoom Lens

Typical focal lengths: some range between 17-35mm (e.g. 20-35mm, 17-28mm, 17-35mm)
Characteristics: The angle of view is quite wide, around 170 degrees from the camera. The depth of field is large, so foreground and background will be in sharp focus all at once.
Uses: landscape photography

2) Wide-Angle To Moderate Telephoto Zoom Lens
Typical focal lengths: some range between 24-105mm (e.g. 24-85mm, 28-105mm, 35-80mm)
Characteristics: Typically the first type of lens you purchase with your SLR. These lenses provide the range needed for most shooting situations, aside from specialty photography. Their weight is light, and their size is compact, so these are usually the easiest lenses to travel with when you only want to take one lens.
Uses: travel photography, landscape photography

3) Mid-Range Telephoto Zoom Lens
Typical focal lengths: some range between 50-300mm (e.g. 70-200mm)
Characteristics: These lenses are slightly larger than the category above, but are still fairly compact. They are better for photographers who typically want a telephoto shot from a distance. They best compliment a wide-angle zoom and a telephoto zoom together to cover most focal lengths.
Uses: wildlife photography

4) Telephoto Zoom Lens
Typical focal lengths: some range between 100-300mm (e.g. 70-200mm)
Characteristics: These lenses offer high magnification, allowing you to get up close to dangerous or distant subjects while keeping your distance. Depth of field can be small with these lenses, which allows you to isolate your subject from its background.
Uses: sports photography, wildlife photography

5) Big-Range Zoom Lens
Typical focal lengths: some range between 100-500mm (e.g. 35-350mm, 50-500mm)
Characteristics: These large and heavy lenses offer high quality images with subjects very far away. They are much more affordable than they used to be, but likely don't fit in an average camera bag, and are much heavier than your camera. They typically come with a tripod attachment, such that you can attach the lens to tripod instead of the camera body to achieve centre of balance.
Uses: wildlife photography


Manual Focus Zoom Lenses

6) Ultra-Telephoto Zoom Lens
Typical focal lengths: some range between 100-600mm (e.g. 400-600mm)
Characteristics: These large and heavy lenses offer high quality images with subjects even further away than big-range zoom lenses. They allow rapid manual focusing while tracking a subject.
Uses: wildlife photography


Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For more Photography Tips, or to view her Photo Gallery, please visit Jennifer Clarkson Photography.

Article source: Articlecat.com

Photography 101: External vs Built-in Flash

By: Jennifer Clarkson

External flashes, or accessory flashes, have several benefits over built-in, pop-up flashes seen on most cameras today. Power, the ability to change light source location relative to the lens, and additional features all make external flashes worth considering for the avid hobbyist.


Bulb Power
First, let's discuss power. Simply put, external flashes have much more power than built-in flashes. Think of how many times it took you to learn that your built-in flash's light fell short of the intended subject and lit only the near objects in your scene. The ability to throw light farther is measured by a flash's guide number, which used to be the only way to calculate exposure. Specifically, the correct aperture (for ISO 100) equals the guide number divided by the number of feet of the flash from the subject.


Metering with Flash
Modern external flashes allow exposure to be metered with TTL (through-the-lens) flash metering, which allows the unit to regulate the amount of light output in auto-exposure modes. The flash actually cuts off light when enough has been dispensed on the subject. Flash exposure compensation allows further fine-tuning whereby adjustments can be made to allow more or less light than the TTL metering suggests. Thus, today's external flashes only have a guide number for flash power comparisons. The guide number on a typical pop-up flash is fairly low - perhaps 40 - whereas the guide number on an external flash easily has a guide number upwards of 100 or 200. For comparison purposes, you need to understand that a guide number of 80 is four times (two stops) more powerful than 40.


Flash Proximity to Subject
External flash also allows you to distance the flash light source from the lens. This becomes very important for macro photography where pop-up flashes can actually cause shadows of the lens, based on its proximity to the large barrel. It is also more likely to cause red-eye in portrait shots, and means you cannot conveniently counteract another light source since the built-in flash is not moveable. With infrared or radio slaves, motion detectors or photo cell sensors, multiple flashes can be triggered remotely in sync, no matter how far away from the camera they are.


Fill Flash
Most accessory flashes have the ability to shoot at less than 100% power, so as to enable fill-flash in appropriate situations. Built-in flashes must be manually covered with a diffuse fabric in order to be successful at providing fill-light (e.g. brightening a flower, or combining fill-flash with slow shutter speed for fast-moving wildlife). Variable power in external flashes makes fine-tuning aperture or flash proximity to subject very easily. Some external flashes have infrared sensors that sense the distance to the subject automatically, thus synchronizing the camera to suggest a correct aperture and shutter speed.


Flash Heads
When it comes to physically setting up an external flash, most come with swivel and bounce heads, to allow more realistic and softer lighting effects by bouncing light from a white card or reflector above or to the side of the subject. These are things that a pop-up flash cannot do.

Zoom heads on external flashes allow for coverage adjustment when the flash is used in conjunction with a wide-angle or telephoto lens. The path of light covered by the flash will be modified to suit the angle of coverage by the lens. Ring flashes are a particular type of external flash that forms a ring around the barrel of the lens - they are best suited to macro or portrait photography where large lenses can get in the way of pop-up flashes and cause a shadow.

Dedicated Flashes
Dedicated flashes are external flashes built specifically to work with a particular camera's features and settings. Third party flash manufacturers such as Sigma design dedicated flashes for each of the major camera brands.

Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For more Photography Tips, or to view her Photo Gallery, please visit Jennifer Clarkson Photography.

Article source: Articlecat.com

Difference Between Film And Digital Photography

By: Ziv Haparnas

There are many differences between film and digital photography. To most amateur photographers they do not matter much. They prefer the convenience, ease of use and lower cost of digital cameras and are not going to revert to the film age. However understanding the differences can help taking even better photos and can also help when debating with friends about the future of film.

Following is a list of differences that are important to understand. The differences are listed in no particular order.

The sensor: The most obvious difference between film and digital is the sensor used to take the photo. With film cameras a film sensitive to light is placed behind the lens. When a photo is taken the shutter opens for a predetermined period of time and light hits the film. The result is a photo "printed" on the film. To take a new photo the film has to be rolled and a fresh "clean" film is place behind the lens. With digital cameras a fixed electronic sensor (sometimes known as CCD) is situated behind the lens. The sensor is built from tiny light sensitive sensors each representing a pixel. When the shutter opens light hits the sensor and each pixel gets its "value". Put together all the pixels comprise one photo. To take a new photo the photo is saved on a digital media and the CCD is electronically emptied.

What does a different sensor mean? The main difference is in the Depth of Field. Since digital sensors are smaller in size than a 35mm film the depth of field will be much higher and in fact in most compact digital cameras almost infinite. The result is that blur backgrounds can not be created.

The cost of a photo: Photos taken with a digital camera literally cost nothing. The photos are kept in erasable memory and thus can always be discarded at no cost. Also the photos you would like to keep can be copied to digital media such as a computer's hard disk. With storage prices going down the cost of saving a photo on disk is practically zero. Film does cost money. With a film camera you have to pay for the roll of film, for developing the negative and for printing the photo. Every time you press the shutter button you spend money.


The capacity: With ever growing storage capacities digital cameras today can hold hundreds and sometimes thousands of photos on a single media. You can always have a few more in your pocket and changing is very fast. The result is that a digital camera has practically infinite capacity. You can shoot as many photos as you want and at the end of the day just dump them on your computer's disk. Film cameras' capacity is very limited. A roll of 36 photos can only hold 36 photos. After a roll is used changing to a new roll can take time and is not easy to do in scenarios such as darkness or a harsh environment. For that reason many professional journalists carry a few cameras on them and instead of changing rolls they turn and use another camera just so that they do not miss a shooting opportunity.


The feedback: One of the most important features of the digital camera is instant feedback. Almost all digital cameras include a small LCD screen. Once a photo is shot you can go back and watch it on that screen. The ability to see how the photo looks like results in better photos. If the photo is not good you can take another one. Being able to see the photos on the spot results in an educated decision how to fix a photo or how to better compose it. It takes a lot of the guessing away from photography. With film cameras there is no way to know how the photo on the film will look like when printed.


New shooting angles: Just a few days ago I took a great photo with my digital camera that I would have never taken with my film one. I shot a cat that was resting on little rock. I held the camera in my hand and positioned it down where it almost touched the ground and I started shooting. I probably took 50 or more photos. I immediately looked at the camera's LCD to review my photos and make sure they were focused and had the cat in them. The result was one great photo looking at the cat from the ground. I can not imagine myself just lying down on the dirty ground with a film camera looking through the viewfinder and perfecting that one shot.

With digital cameras you can actually take photos without having your eye glued to the viewfinder. Overhead shots where you raise the camera over your head are much easier to do since you can still see what the camera is shooting by just looking up at its LCD screen.


Correcting photos: With digital cameras photos can be corrected using photo editing software. Some correction abilities are built-in to the cameras but many more are available as software packages for your PC. With film cameras what you get is what you get. After the film is developed it is very hard to make any corrections. Usually if corrections are absolutely needed the negative or the printed photo will be scanned (i.e. converted to digital) corrected and then printed again (in a long and costly process).


Changing conditions: Every roll of film is designed for best results in a specific environment. For example there are indoor and outdoor films or films with different light sensitivity. If conditions change rapidly a film camera user will have to either shoot with the wrong film, change the roll (and usually lose photos that were not used in the current roll) or use another camera with a different film in it. The results of shooting with the wrong film can be distorted colors (reddish photos for example), a grainy photo and more.

With digital cameras the characteristics of the sensor can be changed instantly for each photo taken. With a click of a button the camera can be put in an indoor or outdoor mode, low light, night photography etc. Some cameras will automatically sense the scenario and set the sensor mode accordingly.


The myth of quality: While it is true that film photography has its advantages the claim for superior quality is no longer true. As digital camera evolved the quality of high end digital SLR cameras is superb and in many ways even better than film. When considering quality you should also consider the quality in terms of composition and the scenario caught in the photo. With digital cameras' high capacity, zero photo cost and instant adaptability to changing conditions photographers can produce better compositions and experiment more to get the best photo possible.


Longevity: We have also paged through old photo albums of our grandparents. The photo looked a a bit yellow, scratched and just plain "old". Storage of printed film photos or even negatives results in quality deterioration. Digital photos on the other hand never lose their quality. A digital photo will be identical today and 500 years from now. As long as we remember to refresh the digital media every now and then and to back it up our photos can literally list forever and not lose their quality.


Author: Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology and science issues. You can find more information digital photo printing printing and photography in general on PrintRates.com - a site dedicated to photo printing

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Switching to a Digital Camera

By: Tom Sample

Making the switch from 35mm to digital can be tough for a novice camera fanatic. The concept's mostly the same, but the way the picture gets stored, printed and viewed is different. But, the advantages to digital cameras have made it the preferred way people take pictures. Everyone from professionals to stay-at-home moms are using digital cameras now.

Finding the right digital camera is a question of knowing your needs and matching it to the camera in question. Digital cameras are pretty amazing little creations that can pack a whole lot of features into a single, small device. The reasons they've begun to replace 35mm cameras are many and include:

Ease of use. Digital cameras, even some of the best on the market, are designed to be very user friendly. Most are point and shoot, but there are many options for those who like to choose their own settings, change lenses and more. Plus there are even online processing services, so there's no need to head out to get prints. They can be mailed right to your door.

No film. The LCD readouts on most digital cameras coupled with the elimination of film make these wonderful for shooters who want to see their pictures and choose them before they're printed.

Economical. Since the photos on digital cameras can be carefully chosen in advance of printing, the costs can be much less. Plus, there's no film to buy.

Quality. Depending on the camera purchased and the accuracy of the settings, the quality can rival and sometimes even surpass a regular 35mm camera.

The key to getting the best possible digital pictures is to make sure the right camera is bought. The resolution of the pictures taken will determine what they can be best used for. This in digital is measured in something called a megapixel.

A single megapixel digital camera, for example, will produce shots that are ideal for e-mail sharing and for 4x6 prints. On the other hand, a five-megapixel digital camera is fantastic for prints up to a full 11x14 inches. The reason for the difference is the quality of the digital file. A lesser file will become grainy when the image is blown up. The five-megapixel digital camera's shots, however, maintain their appearance.

Another consideration a buyer should make is the size of the storage device used for the camera. Rather than film, digital cameras use storage cards. These can hold a whole lot of pictures - not like a standard 35mm roll. A 256 MB card, for example, can hold about 415 lower quality shots. That's a whole lot of film!

Digital cameras do have some disadvantages, too. Some models tend to be a little slow to shoot and reset, and they can be difficult to figure out at first. But, once they're figured out, digital cameras tend to be more convenient, user friendly and ready for the action than typical 35mm.

Offering a new alternative in picture taking, digital cameras are great for novice shooters and even pros. The choices on the market are incredible and the applications many. The ability to see what's been taken before printing is fantastic and is a real boon for those who want to make sure they have "the shot" before they move on.

A Brief History Of Photography

By: Scott Michaels

For centuries images have been projected onto surfaces. The camera obscura and the camera lucida were used by artists to trace scenes as early as the 16th century. These early cameras did not fix an image in time; they only projected what passed through an opening in the wall of a darkened room onto a surface. In effect, the entire room was turned into a large pinhole camera. Indeed, the phrase camera obscura literally means "darkened room," and it is after these darkened rooms that all modern cameras have been named.

The first photograph is considered to be an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Nicephore Niepce on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative called bitumen of Judea. It was produced with a camera, and required an eight hour exposure in bright sunshine. However this process turned out to be a dead end and Niepce began experimenting with silver compounds based on a Johann Heinrich Schultz discovery in 1724 that a silver and chalk mixture darkens when exposed to light.

Niepce, in Chalon-sur-Saone, and the artist Louis Daguerre, in Paris, refined the existing silver process in a partnership. In 1833 Niepce died of a stroke, leaving his notes to Daguerre. While he had no scientific background, Daguerre made two pivotal contributions to the process.

He discovered that by exposing the silver first to iodine vapour, before exposure to light, and then to mercury fumes after the photograph was taken, a latent image could be formed and made visible. By then bathing the plate in a salt bath the image could be fixed.

In 1839 Daguerre announced that he had invented a process using silver on a copper plate called the Daguerreotype. A similar process is still used today for Polaroids. The French government bought the patent and immediately made it public domain.

Across the English Channel, William Fox Talbot had earlier discovered another means to fix a silver process image but had kept it secret. After reading about Daguerre's invention Talbot refined his process, so that it might be fast enough to take photographs of people as Daguerre had done and by 1840 he had invented the calotype process.

He coated paper sheets with silver chloride to create an intermediate negative image. Unlike a daguerreotype a calotype negative could be used to reproduce positive prints, like most chemical films do today. Talbot patented this process which greatly limited its adoption.

He spent the rest of his life in lawsuits defending the patent until he gave up on photography altogether. But later this process was refined by George Eastman and is today the basic technology used by chemical film cameras. Hippolyte Bayard also developed a method of photography but delayed announcing it, and so was not recognized as its inventor.

In the darkroomIn 1851 Frederick Scott Archer invented the collodion process. It was the process used by Lewis Carroll.

Slovene Janez Puhar invented the technical procedure for making photographs on glass in 1841. The invention was recognized on July 17th 1852 in Paris by the Academie Nationale Agricole, Manufacturiare et Commerciale.

The Daguerreotype proved popular in responding to the demand for portraiture emerging from the middle classes during the Industrial Revolution. This demand, that could not be met in volume and in cost by oil painting, may well have been the push for the development of photography.

However daguerreotypes, while beautiful, were fragile and difficult to copy. A single photograph taken in a portrait studio could cost US$1000 in 2006 dollars. Photographers also encouraged chemists to refine the process of making many copies cheaply, which eventually led them back to Talbot's process. Ultimately, the modern photographic process came about from a series of refinements and improvements in the first 20 years.

In 1884 George Eastman, of Rochester, New York, developed dry gel on paper, or film, to replace the photographic plate so that a photographer no longer needed to carry boxes of plates and toxic chemicals around. In July of 1888 Eastman's Kodak camera went on the market with the slogan "You press the button, we do the rest". Now anyone could take a photograph and leave the complex parts of the process to others. Photography became available for the mass-market in 1901 with the introduction of Kodak Brownie.

Since then color film has become standard, as well as automatic focus and automatic exposure. Digital recording of images is becoming increasingly common, as digital cameras allow instant previews on LCD screens and the resolution of top of the range models has exceeded high quality 35mm film while lower resolution models have become affordable. For the enthusiast photographer processing black and white film, little has changed since the introduction of the 35mm film Leica camera in 1925.


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