Fast Relief
Simple saturation: If your outdoor digital shots in bright light have washed-out color, try an old slide-shooting trick: underexpose. Try -0.3, -0.5, or -0.7 EV of exposure compensation. It may make dark shadows go black, but who cares if you get richer color where it counts? Remember, the "correct" exposure is the one you like, not the one the meter decides on.
| Before |
After |
 |
 |
3 Ways to Just Add Water
Some like to drink water icy, some like it tepid. It's a matter of taste. How you photograph water is also a matter of taste; some like it frozen in an instant of time, some like it blurred with a long exposure. Shutter speed determines the appearance of moving water, so here are three recipes:
1. Glass sculpture. Fast shutter speeds -- 1/500 sec and above -- will depict moving water as frozen solid. Splashes and droplets will hang suspended in air.
2. Minor blur. Intermediate shutter speeds -- 1/15, 1/30 sec -- give some motion blur to the water, but individual ripples and splashes are still discernable. You'll need a tripod or other camera support, unless you're very steady at handholding.
3. Silky smooth. Shutter speeds of 1/2 sec or longer will smear the water out to a smooth, cottony, smoky look. Shooting with a small aperture (for depth of field) on slow film in dim light often forces me into this shutter speed range, so it's a good thing I like the look! You'll definitely need a tripod.
-Timothy Edberg
Foolproof Framing
 In theory: The "Rule of Thirds" states that you place the horizon so that either one-third or two-thirds of the frame is sky and the other part ground. It also states that important elements should be placed a third of the way in from either side, or from top or bottom.
In practice: On the left side of this photo, the horizon is dead center, but it follows the line of the sand dune upward, preserving the rule of thirds on the right. The figure standing at the crest follows the rule, too, with about two-thirds of the frame to the left and one-third to the right. The S-curve doesn't hurt either -- it creates a dynamic flow from left to right.
What Does This Do?
 Focus limiter switch: When using a long telephoto or telezoom lens, it can take even a fast-autofocusing camera a loooooooong time to move the lens from near to far focus. So why not lock out some of that focusing travel? Quite a few lenses (particularly midlevel and high-end optics) can do this via the focus-limiter switch. Where it is: On the lens barrel, always. Near the lensmount, usually. What it does: Limiters have two settings -- one for the full focusing range, the other for longer distances only. Why: If you know you're going to be shooting mostly distant subjects, go with the limiter. Example: You're shooting birds around your backyard birdfeeders, which are 20 feet and 17 feet away, respectively. You're going to be focusing back and forth only between those two distances, so you might as well lock out the close focusing. The AF will be faster. How: Just throw the switch.
Where it's at: The photo above a typical focus limiter, this one on a Canon EF lens.
30 Second Photoshop
Mood altering: Want to change the mood of your image fast? Nothing makes a picture feel either cozier or colder than a photo filter. To apply one, go to Image > Adjustments > Photo Filter. Choose a warming or cooling filter, or even pick from the spectrum to overlay the tone of your choice.
|
