Thursday, 20 June 2013

Review Digital Camera World 06-21-2013

Blogtrottr
Digital Camera World
How to take pictures at night: pro tips for spotting creative scenes after dark
Jun 20th 2013, 23:01

In our latest Professional Photographer to the Rescue post our pro shows our apprentice how to take pictures at night by spotting scenes with creative potential and setting up your camera to capture them.

How to take pictures at night: pro tips for spotting creative scenes after dark

Meet our professional photographer

Simon Stanmore is an experienced, London-based commercial photographer who specialises in architectural images and is an expert at capturing the unique atmosphere of the City at night. Simon is a regular of the Getty stock library.

Meet our apprentice

Caroline Grayson, from Surrey, has been an amateur photographer for a number of years. She wants to take memorable shots of London after dark, but isn't sure where to start

Technique Assessment

To get a clearer idea of Caroline's particular strengths and weaknesses, Simon asked her 
to start shooting near two famous City landmarks – the Lloyds building and the 'Gherkin'

How to take pictures at night: shoot in raw format

Shoot in the RAW format
Caroline was shooting in JPEG format so she could fit all her photos on her 4Gb card. She also wasn't sure about the benefits of shooting in RAW, so Simon explained why it's great for night shots. "A RAW image is your 'digital negative'," he said. "You have more control over RAW images in Photoshop and can accurately improve exposure, contrast, colours and white balance for top-quality results."

 

How to take pictures at night: use manual mode

Choose Manual mode
"Caroline is still mastering her DSLR and sticks to Av (Aperture Priority) mode," noted Simon. 
"I always shoot in Manual at night. With practice, Manual mode makes it easier to shoot well exposed images because you can freely control the aperture and shutter speed – unlike Av and Tv (Shutter Priority) modes. I can check exposure as required via the Exposure Level Indicator on the top screen."

PAGE 1: Meet our professional photographer and apprentice
PAGE 2: Tips on how to take pictures at night
PAGE 3: Final tips from our professional photographer
PAGE 4: Our professional photographer’s recommended gear
PAGE 5: Shot of the Day

READ MORE

12 common errors of night photography (and how to solve them)
NIght Photography Tips: 9 essential steps for beginners
Night Photography: how to set up your camera to shoot anything
Night Sky Photography: pro secrets for stunning landscapes

DIY Photography Hacks: make a light tent from 3-ring binders to diffuse sunlight
Jun 20th 2013, 10:00

In our latest DIY Photography Hacks post we show you how to make a simple light tent using 3-ring binders, which you can use to diffuse sunlight for shooting outdoor flower photography.

DIY Photography Hacks: make a light tent from 3-ring binders to diffuse sunlight

Spring and summer are the perfect times to get outside and shoot flowers, as it's the time when the most colourful blooms are at their best.

However, the bright, sunny conditions that are ideal for the flowers themselves can make it difficult to shoot them successfully.

If the flower is in direct sunshine, the contrast produced by the strong light means it's often impossible to get detail in both the shadows and the highlights. The solution is to take control of the lighting by using a light tent.

This is simply a large diffuser, which you can place over the flower you're shooting to produce softer, lower-contrast lighting.

DIY Photography Hacks: make a light tent from 3-ring binders to diffuse sunlight

As well as diffusing direct sunlight, light tents are ideal for adding more controlled light on dull, overcast days, when the whole scene can otherwise look too flat.

To do this you need to put the tent over your chosen flower, as before, but use an off-camera flash positioned outside the light tent to simulate sunlight.

Instead of the harsh, high contrast light you'd normally get from using flash, the translucent walls of the light tent diffuse it to produce a even, soft light on the flower.

Using a light tent also allows you to control the background. You can use the white material of the tent as a backdrop or place a piece of coloured card behind the object you're shooting for a more colourful image. Because the subject is enclosed, using a light tent can even reduce the possibility of subject movement on windy days.

We made a DIY light tent out of three semi-opaque white A4-sized ring binders, and used duct tape to join them together to form a foldable enclosure. Here’s how you can do it too…

How to make and use your DIY photography light tent

How to make and use your DIY photography light tent: step 1

01 Get your light tent
To build a light tent like this you'll need three ring binders. Join two together with duct tape to produce the main three sides. Cut one of the flaps off the third file, and then attach it to the middle of the three existing sides to form a 'roof'. Or you could buy a commercially made light tent.

 

How to make and use your DIY photography light tent: step 2

02 Position your subject
Position the light tent over the subject, making sure that the light falling on the flower is diffused over the area that you want to shoot, and the opening that you will use to shoot through is positioned so that you can get a good composition of the flower.

 

How to make and use your DIY photography light tent: step 3

03 Set up your camera
Once the light tent is in position, set your camera to manual exposure mode and select an aperture of f/5.6, then set the shutter speed to 1/200 sec so you'll be able to use the camera handheld, and set the ISO to 200. Take a test shot to check the exposure, and if it's too light reduce the ISO.

 

How to make and use your DIY photography light tent: step 4

04 Choose a background
You can shoot simple, effective images using the white material of the light tent as a background, or for more colour you can use a piece of A4 card or stiff paper in a colour that suits your subject. Try using blue, green or even black for the most natural-looking results.

Final Tip
To get a photograph of a flower with a plain, white background, shoot against the white interior of the light tent. The large area of white will, however, fool your metering into underexposing the picture, so that the background comes out as a muddy grey rather than a brilliant white. To correct this, set the exposure compensation on your camera to +1 or even +1.7EV.

READ MORE

How to use an iPad or laptop as a light source for portraits, still lifes and more
Best studio flash kits: 6 models tested and rated
DIY Photography Hacks: why a blank CD case makes the perfect rain guard for your lens
Garden macro photography: tips for shooting stunning pictures at home
25 flower photography tips for beginners

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com.

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

No comments:

Post a Comment