Review Digital Camera World 11-29-2013

Digital Camera World

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Lens flare: how to avoid glare when shooting wide-angle scenes Nov 29th 2013, 00:01, by jmeyer Is lens flare spoiling some of your favourite photos? Stop wasting pictures and try these 3 fool-proof methods of banishing lens flare from your images when shooting wide-angle scenes. Lens flare is an annoying phenomenon caused by sunlight striking the front of the lens. It usually appears as brightly-coloured streaks or diaphragm shapes across the picture. Lens flare is a common problem for photographers that occurs when you are shooting towards the sun, even if the sun isn't in the frame, and is most likely when using a wide-angle lens. Some lenses are more prone to lens flare than others, and the effects can also be exaggerated when you have filters fitted. Often you won't be aware of lens flare until you have viewed the picture afterwards, so it's well worth taking steps to minimise flare at the time of shooting. Here's how to go about it… The best ways to banish lens flare from your images Lens flare method 01: Fit a lens hood If your wide-angle lens has a lens hood, get into the habit of fitting it. It will cut down on unwanted lens flare when shooting scenes lit by low sun. Alternatively, use a piece of black card or your hand to shield the front of the lens – but check the viewfinder to make sure it isn't creeping into the frame!   Lens flare method 02: Hide the sun The best way to avoid lens flare when shooting towards the sun is to hide it behind a tree or building, or wait for it to be partly obscured by a cloud. Try composing the photo so that part of the sun is just visible, then shoot at f/16. This will create an interesting starburst effect, but without any distracting flare. SEE MORE: The 10 Rules of Photo Composition (and why they work) Lens flare method 03: Use a blending technique Another approach to avoid lens flare involves taking two images: the first as normal, then a second frame with the sun obscured using your finger or card (in shot) to prevent flare in the rest of the picture. Later, blend the two photos in Photoshop to produce the final image. READ MORE 11 common lens errors (and how you can avoid them) DO or Di? Your lens markings explained DSLR Lenses: 7 questions photographers must ask about their next piece of glass Best 50mm lens for your camera: 8 nifty fifty lenses tested and rated How to compose a photograph in Live View Nov 28th 2013, 11:00, by jmeyer Discover how to compose a photograph and fine tune your framing by previewing your image on your camera’s LCD screen. Image and words by Mark Hamblin Live View has been around for a while, and it's a handy tool to learn to use. In basic terms, Live View enables your camera to provide a constantly updating image on its LCD monitor of the scene you're pointing the camera at. Although Live View is sometimes viewed as a gimmick to help those who have got used to this way of framing before stepping up to an SLR, Live View has a lot of useful plus points. It enables you to preview the shot so you can check things like exposure and focus before you press the shutter. You can make changes to the aperture, shutter speed or ISO settings and see how these affect the image in real time. On many cameras you can also bring up a histogram over the image, to ensure correct exposure and avoid blown highlights. Zoom in Another useful feature of Live View is that the image on the LCD monitor can be magnified up to ten times, which is a great way to check for critical focus – especially when working with a shallow depth of field and for close-up work. Live View also allows for precise framing with most monitors displaying a 100% view – something that most DSLRs don't provide through their optical viewfinder. SEE MORE: Live View – how to use it on any camera Step-by-step how to compose in Live View 01 Use autofocus in Live View Move the focusing point displayed on the LCD so that it's superimposed over the subject, then press the shutter halfway to acquire focus. Some models have a Quick mode that causes the mirror to flip back down momentarily to allow faster focusing.   02 Use manual focusing In many cases, manual focusing is better for greater accuracy. Switch the lens to MF, then turn the focusing ring on the lens until the image appears sharp. Use the magnify function to zoom in by a factor of 5x or 10x to focus on a precise part of the subject.   03 Expose more accurately Set Live View to exposure simulation to see how changes to exposure settings affect the image. Bring up the histogram to see if the image is too dark (graph to the left) or too light (to the right). Apply exposure compensation (+/-) so the graph is central. READ MORE Fine-tune image sharpness using Live View Best camera focus techniques: 10 surefire ways to get sharp images How to compose a photograph: start seeing images where you never saw them before 10 rules of photo composition (and why they work)

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