Photography
Tips to help possibly improve your photographs:
Only you and your inner self can make this happen.
Equipment Readiness:
Being prepared starts with regular, routine maintenance of your camera and equipment.
Make taking care of your
camera gear one of your main
priorities.
Well-maintained equipment will help you in creating those exceptional
photographs.
Inspect the interior of the camera body and use a camel hairbrush or blower
to remove any dust or foreign particles that you might find in the interior
of the body.( Invert camera so particles fall from camera)
Inspect the mirror for any dust or scratches and gently blow dust particles
from the surface.
If the mirror needs more attention, please let a professional repair person
do those repairs.
Check battery compartment – look for battery acid and clean area with a
Q-Tip.
Check your lenses on every photo outing. Clean as needed, but don’t over
clean.
Visual Vocabulary:
Color
Line
Pattern
Texture
Form or Shape
These five ingredients make up the basis for your photographs.
Click here for description
Various Lighting
Conditions:
Front Lighting
Backlighting
Side Lighting
Overhead Lighting
Look beyond the obvious:
Click here: Preconceived
Ideas:
Get up close to your subject.
Look up and look down.
Every once in awhile turn around and look back towards where you just came from.
Many
times we overlook many photo opportunities that we just walked by.
Take a minute and you
may see the subject in a new perspective.
Horizontal / Vertical : Don't lock yourself into all horizontal photographs.
Tripod
/
Ballheads
I will use a tripod for 99% of all of my photographs.
It …
Helps in arrangement of your subject.
Adds to the overall sharpness.
Makes you slow down and think before you actually create that stunning
photograph.
Images sharpness:
Cable release – Self timer – Tripod: All will help
in making your images sharp.
Hand holding camera:
Use the fastest shutter speed possible when hand
holding your camera.
The rule of thumb – if you are using a 200 mm lens, the slowest shutter
speed should be
1/250th of a second. A 100-mm lens would be 1/125th of a second…and so on…
Some individuals may have the ability to hand hold their cameras at slower
shutter speeds.
I only hand hold my camera when I need to quickly grab a shot.
Shoot lots
of film – it’s good for Fuji and Kodak stock!
I always make more than one photo of the subject that
I am photographing.
Change the shutter speed and f – stops as needed.
"Bracketing " Click on below.
( *Aperture Bracketing*
) ( *
Shutter Speed
Bracketing *
)
Photography like other art media is very subjective. One person might like a neutral-type
pallid, while another might prefer the image more saturated and still another might like
their photographs more towards the pastel.
If you only make one image, that will be your only image.
Exposure:
One known exposure - Sunny Sixteen.
Your exposure is the reciprocal of your film speed. From about 10 AM in the
morning to around 4 PM in the afternoon, a front- lit subject can be exposed
by using this setting. If your film speed is 100 ISO, your shutter speed
would be 1/ 125th of a second and your aperture would be F-16.
If your ISO were 50, your camera setting would be – 1/60th of a second and
your aperture would be set at F-16.
Equipment
– second nature:
Practice with your CAMERA
until it becomes and extension of your
arm.
Camera / Gear bag checklist:
Whether you're two hundred miles away or just around the corner, a camera
bag checklist is a handy way to help ensure that you will spend your time
creating pictures, instead of trying to find a store that sells batteries or film. You can use the following checklist as a starting point and modify it to suit your specific needs.
Fresh and/or fully charged batteries and spare batteries for camera bodies
Flash unit and spare batteries
Film - (Slide or Print for your particular needs)
Lenses (step-up or step-down rings for accessory filters)
Teleconverters - ( 1.4 or 2x converters)
Filters (polarizer, fluorescent, UV, graduated, skylight, warming, 80A and
80B)
Tripod or Monopod
Portable digital storage unit for digital cameras
Lens brush
Lens cleaning fluid and tissues
Lens cloth - microfiber
Plastic bags of various sizes for foul-weather protection
Foul-weather camera cover
Fanny-pack camera bag
Laptop computer with fully charged battery
Additional items:
In addition to being prepared with well-functioning equipment, be sure to think ahead
for other things you'll need while you're gone. Here's a list to get you started:
Bottled water
Business cards
Cell phone, spare battery, and car charger cord
Compass
Flashlight
Foul-weather clothing
Hand wipes
Identification, driver's license
Maps
Masking tape or duct tape (Gaffer Tape, more expensive but does not leave
any residue)
Nonperishable snacks
Notepad and pens
Small tool set
Tissues
Towel and wash cloth
Watch
If you are going solo on your photography
trip, make sure you give someone your trip itinerary.
I much prefer having someone accompany
me on any of my trips and my family always knows the
locations that I will be photographing at.
Experience our Natural World:
Don’t get so wrapped up in photographing your
subject that you forget to enjoy our beautiful Natural World.
Photography Aids:
Depth of Field Calculator
Hyper - focal Distance Card
Right click on card to save.
Mounting and caring for your Fine Art
Print
Click Here
Below
is the most important of all Photography Tips:
" NO PHOTOGRAPH IS WORTH
CREATING IF IT IS GOING TO
ADVERSELY IMPACT THE WELFARE OF YOUR SUBJECT "
Be a good role model, both as person
and as a photographer.
Share your experiences with others.
Get individuals excited about our natural world.
REMEMBER:
The
goods of the earth are gifts from God. We have a responsibility to care
for these goods as stewards and trustees, not as mere consumers and users.
"Dedicated
to helping create an appreciation ... awareness an concern for
our environment through the power of photography and education"
