Basic Photography Techniques: The Three Most Common Mistakes

Proper technique is essential for good results. The lens is supported, and the photographer is kneeling to support his elbows, reducing camera shake.

Photography is a discipline that takes many years of practice to master, but understanding basic techniques in photography can go a long way to drastically improve results from any camera.

The first (and one of the most important) aspects of basic photography is framing your photo. Many times we receive photos of beautiful boats for submission for feature articles; however a part of the boat – the engine or bow – would be ‘cut out’ of the photo. This common mistake renders an otherwise fantastic image unusable in many situations. On many occasions, the subject being photographed does not adequately fill the frame of a photo. Alternatively, some photos of boats simply do not fill the frame of the photo enough, resulting in a small image with a lot of lost detail.

Another very common mistake is blurred images due to camera shake. Many times a photo will be taken that was seemingly in focus; however the final result appears out of focus. The most common culprit of this is camera shake while taking the photo, which will blur the image. When holding a camera, it is best to use two hands on the camera, and brace your elbows against the side of your body. Leaning against a fixed object such as a tree could also help minimize this, but a tripod is best especially for low-light images where the camera will be operating at a slower shutter speed. Finally, when depressing the shutter release to capture the photo, avoid shaking the camera in that motion. It is best to ‘roll’ your finger on the shutter release button, rather than to press down on it. Practice holding the camera steady – you’ll find that it’s a lot harder to do than it sounds.

Finally, one of the most common mistakes people make when composing a photo is not considering the placement of the sun or light source. One of the principal rules of photography is always shoot with the sun (or light source) behind you. If you photograph your subject with the sun in front of you, the image will appear underexposed, lacking color and detail. At close range in this situation, the camera’s flash can be used in a ‘fill’ capacity, applying light to prevent underexposure of your subject. This could be a desired effect, especially if you want a sunset in the background of your image. Most importantly, never point a camera with an optical viewfinder directly at the sun – doing so could result in permanent eye injury. This is especially true of most DSLR cameras, which do not permit the use of the LCD to frame photos.

Cropping an image can add emphasis on the main subject as well as alter the composition of the photo.  Area to be cropped is first selected, then the Crop command is applied, trimming away the outside areas of the selection.

Image Quality: The Megapixel Myth

Today's digital camera advertising has most consumers believing that more megapixels is always better.  Now it's time to get deprogrammed from this myth.  Image quality and megapixel count are not always related.  A camera's megapixel rating is an indication of how large the images are that it can capture.  While it's true that a higher megapixel camera can theoretically capture more detail, the reality is that most high-megapixel consumer point-and-shoot cameras suffer from very poor low-light performance and lenses that cannot take advantage of the increased resolution.  The professional Nikon D2Hs DSLR camera is rated at 4.1 megapixels, but will shoot an image of much higher quality than a 10-megapixel point-and-shoot model. Why is this?  One reason is pixel density on the camera sensor, and the very reason many lower-megpixel camera might outperform more expensive models (although this is not always the case).  Since camera sensors are the same relative size, a lower-megapixel sensor will have larger photosites, therefore greater sensitivity to light, allowing for faster and better low-light performance.  DSLR cameras use much larger sensors than point-and-shoot models, giving them a huge advantage in all aspects of light-gathering ability.  Additionally, DSLR cameras have the advantage of much higher quality optics in their lenses, especially with professional-grade lenses.  Point-and-shoot models generally have general purpose, "do everything" built-in lenses which cannot match the performance of the specialized DSLR lenses.

A three-megapixel camera is more than enough for most non-professionals, and you can easily print 8x10 photos at that resolution.  So, what matters most is image quality and camera performance - color rendition, sharpness, and good shadow detail (detail in the dark areas of a photo).

Most photos can benefit from some degree of adjustment with a photo editor, which is known as 'post processing'.  Here, moderate use of the saturation slider brings the colors out more in this photo.

Beyond The Basics: Understanding Manual Camera Controls

Lamar Standish of Apollo Imaging using a monopod to support and steady the camera for telephoto shots. Mastering the use of a monopod can greatly improve the quality of your images.

Although most causal snapshooters simply use the camera’s automatic settings, most digital and film cameras offer some degree of manual control over automatic functions. These days, point-and-shoot digital cameras are offering more and more control over settings such as shutter speed, aperture, and exposure. It almost goes without saying that professional DSLR cameras always allow full manual control over all functions.

Your camera’s shutter speed determines how the image will be captured. The faster the shutter speed, the more ‘frozen’ the subject would appear. Faster shutter speeds also help reduce blurring by camera shake – especially when using zoom lenses at full telephoto (zoomed in on your subject). Of course, in order to shoot at high shutter speeds, ample light must be available. The higher the desired shutter speed, the more light you’ll need to properly expose the photo. If you attempt to shoot with too high of a shutter speed for the given light, your image will underexpose and appear too dark. This is why most cameras offer automatic settings for shooting photos. In most cases, shooting in Auto modes will yield satisfactory results, however if you’re shooting a moving object, such as a fast boat, you’ll want to regain control over certain camera functions for best results.

Most cameras have programmed auto modes, which allow the user to change a specific setting while the camera will automatically control the rest.  These modes are very useful since it allows you to gain an understanding of each function while working within the safety net of automatic controls.  Some of these modes may include:

• Shutter Priority:  Allows the user to set the shutter speed while the camera will attempt to set exposure.  Keep in mind that you cannot just dial in any shutter speed here, but experimentation is the key.  The camera will usually indicate to the user which speeds are within the proper exposure range.

• Aperture Priority:  Allows control over lens aperture while the camera will control shutter speed to produce the proper exposure.  This is useful if you want to control the image's depth of field, or if you're looking for the fastest possible shutter speed for freezing action or a slower shutter speed for panning shots that show movement.

• Manual:  This allows the user full control of all functions, including shutter speed and aperture.  Recommended for more advanced users or if you need to dial in specific settings for a particular situation.

Many consumer models will also include preset 'scene modes', which are preset modes specific to sports, portrait, low light, etc.  While I generally advise people to stay away from these type of automatic modes, they can prove useful for beginners.

To understand how fast you can shoot in a given situation, you must also understand lens aperture and how it relates to your image and chosen shutter speed. The lens aperture or F-Stop indicates how ‘open’ the lens is to capture light. Most lenses have a multi-blade aperture diaphragm inside the lens barrel. This opening can increase or decrease in size, which is indicated by the ‘F’ number. For example, F2 would indicate a wider aperture than F10. But what is aperture, and why control it?

Controlling the amount of light that enters the camera lens is crucial for many reasons. Think of the aperture as the pupil of your eye – it opens when you enter a dark room, allowing your eyes to capture more available light, and reduces in size when you’re outside on a sunny day.

Always consider your light source. Sometimes breaking traditional photography rules of proper lighting can provide a desired effect, such as this early morning photo.

With this in mind, it’s logical to assume that the wider the aperture, the faster the shutter speed you can shoot your subject at since more light will expose the image at a given time. This indeed is the case, however, shooting ‘wide open’ as it’s called, has a penalty. First of which is depth of field. At wide open apertures, your images will lack depth of field, meaning that your subject will be in focus while the background and foreground will not. In many cases, this is a desired effect, especially if you want to emphasize the subject being photographed. Also, most lenses do not perform at their best at wide open apertures. This is because a wide aperture requires the lens elements to direct more light rays at a given time. No lens is ‘optically perfect’ and some light distortion could occur, resulting in softer images and washed out colors. Experimentation will tell you where your lens performs best. For example,  a Nikkor 200 F2 is capable of a very favorable aperture of F2, however it produces its very sharpest telephoto images at F4-F8. In order to maintain an aperture of F8 and shoot at a very high shutter speed, I could increase the ISO (or ASA). This brings us to light sensitivity settings, or ISO.

As mentioned, ISO is a camera setting for light sensitivity. Greater ISO settings allow faster shutter speeds in low light. In a digital camera, increasing the ISO setting ‘gains-up’ the CCD or CMOS imager by increasing its input voltage. The result is more sensitivity to light, but at a cost in image quality. A typical situation where I would want to adjust the ISO would be as follows:

While covering the ODBA Jasper race in 2004, the weather was less than favorable for photographing fast boats. It was cloudy and hazy, and capturing fast boats required a high shutter speed. At ISO 100, F4, I could shoot at a maximum shutter speed of 1/250 second. By increasing the camera’s ISO setting to 800, I was able to effectively shoot at a might higher shutter speed.

Finally, most camera lenses have what is known as a “sweet spot” – settings for telephoto and aperture that produce the sharpest images with the least amount light fall-off at the edges. As we discussed, most lenses will not produce their sharpest images at wide apertures. A Nikkor 300mm F4 telephoto prime lens has a tendency to produce its sharpest image at F5.6, but this is in ideal situations. If I was shooting in a low-light situation, I might choose the Nikkor 70-200mm AF-S VR, which has a maximum aperture of F2.8 across its zoom range, allowing the lens to gather more light, permitting me higher shutter speeds to freeze action. This might be considered a ‘faster’ lens than a Nikkor 300mm, which has a maximum aperture of F4. If I were shooting a landscape, I would want as much depth of field as possible while maintaining an adequate shutter speed. This would ensure that the entire image is in focus and richly detailed. In this case, I might choose a much smaller aperture and mount the camera on a tripod.

Page Three:  Image Processing