With the popularity of digital cameras, computers, and of course, message forums, sharing photos over the internet has enabled people to share these memories instantly with other people literally all over the world. It seems that almost everyone owns a digital camera these days and if you don’t own one now, you’ll likely be purchasing one in the near future.
In addition to sharing moments at events, we love taking photos of our pride and joy as well as some of the wild high performance boats we often see at one of the many yearly boating events or races. The purpose of this feature is to provide you with basic photography information and techniques that could help you make better use of your camera. Although the focus of this article is digital cameras, most of the photography techniques here apply to film cameras as well. So sit back, relax, and use the winter months to hone your photography skills for the upcoming boating season!
Digital Camera Types
Digital cameras fall into two basic categories; ‘point and shoot’ type and Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR). Most cameras fall into the point and shoot category, offering ease of use and a lot of features into a compact body.
Point and shoot cameras are by far the most popular solution today. These cameras offer many features, chief of which is their compact size and ease of use. Although these smaller units cannot offer all of the features of their professional DSLR cousins, point and shoot cameras have come a long way, and today’s digital point and shoot cameras can achieve professional results in the hands of a skilled photographer.
DSLR cameras are much larger and heavier, and offer many features such as the ability to change lenses, add accessories such as outboard flash units, and full manual control over exposure and aperture. The SLR cameras are capable of accurate, high speed focusing which is crucial to capturing sports photos. SLR cameras are generally used by photography enthusiasts and professionals, and they can cost considerably more than point and shoot units.
Rather than film capture, which is a chemical process, a digital camera captures images on an electronic imager that is exposed to light when the camera shutter is opened. These electronic imagers generally fall under two technologies – the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) and the Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS). Both types perform the same task, however the imager itself determines the megapixel rating of the camera, which is the resolution is is capable of outputting an image.
Point and shoot cameras have small imagers, which is one reason why they can offer powerful zoom lenses in such a small package. There is a penalty for the smaller imager size though, in terms of image ‘noise’ or grain at higher ISO settings – especially as the megapixel rating increases. This brings us to ISO (an acronym for International Standards Organization), also known as ASA; which, in traditional terms was a specification for film speed. Higher speed film may carry ISO ratings of 400, 800, 1600, or even 3200 and 6400.
The higher the film speed – or sensitivity, the more sensitive the film is to light, permitting higher shutter speeds in lower light situations. But higher speed film also produced film ‘grain’ (think of night vision images), which degrades the image, although it can be used as a desired effect in some photograph compositions. Standard film speeds, such as ISO 100 are better suited to slower moving objects or landscape scenes, and produce smoother, cleaner images.
These rules apply to digital cameras, which carry ISO equivalency ratings. Instead of high-speed film, digital cameras increase their sensitivity by boosting the gain on the image sensor. Again, the advantage of increased sensitivity to light also includes the penalty of image grain, or ‘noise’ as it is known as with digital images.
Understanding Digital Camera Terminology
Today’s point and shoot cameras are capable of taking fantastic photos, and understanding basic techniques in photography will help you get the most out of any camera you own. Before we get into that, let’s first get into some basic terminology and what it means to you.
Megapixels: Perhaps the most touted feature of any consumer camera. This is simply an indication of the maximum picture resolution or size that can be produced by the camera. Most people associate a higher megapixel rating with better quality photos, but this is not necessarily true. Some factors that determine image quality are image noise levels (discussed later), exposure, color saturation, white balance, lens distortion, and image sharpness. A higher megapixel camera will enable the user to crop the image more (reduce the border size), however many 3-5 megapixel cameras on the consumer market will outperform their 7-10 megapixel counterparts in terms of image quality, especially at higher ISO settings.
Zoom Ratio - Optical and Digital: Most cameras include a zoom telephoto lens that carries with it a multiplier, or ‘X’ rating, such as a ‘4X’ zoom. Since consumer-level cameras are marketed in much the same way as camcorders, the ‘X’ rating is provided as a simple ‘consumer friendly’ way of determining how far the zoom lens will reach. For example, a typical point and shoot camera might be rated as having a 4X zoom. This just means from widest setting to maximum telephoto the image is multiplied approximately four times.
One marketing gimmick that runs rampant in the consumer camera and camcorder market is a feature tagged "Digital Zoom". This is not to be confused with the actual mechanical zoom ability of the lens itself, which is known as Optical Zoom.
While the optical zoom ratio is achieved by mechanically extending and retracting the lens with servo or stepper motors (think of a telescope), digital zoom is simply an electronic interpolation or magnifying of the image in the camera, simulating a zoomed in image. The result of digital zooming is a photo that is comparatively lower in resolution and quality all around. When purchasing a camera, your concern should be its optical zoom capability, not the digital zoom indication. Whenever possible, avoid using digital zoom altogether.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Image Post Processing: Making A Good Photo Better
In the days before digital cameras and the Internet, airbrushes and special developing techniques were used to improve photos for publication. These days, we use personal computers and image editors to easily adjust images to improve their quality. Thanks to this technology, powerful photo editing tools are now available for professionals and home users alike. Adjustments to color balance, exposure, and sharpness can improve the quality of your photos greatly.
Most images ‘out of the camera’ can benefit from some degree of post processing, and most DSLR cameras perform minimal in-camera processing, allowing greater latitude for post processing by the photographer. This is especially true of RAW files - a type of file format that contains the raw image data right off the camera's sensor. RAW files are generally used most by advanced photographers, however, most of the usual processing techniques are similar for all image file types, including the JPEG image, which is most popular.
Fortunately, there are many excellent image editors available on the internet for free. These programs can help you edit and organize your important photos. It is important to organize your images as originals and edits. You’ll always want to keep a ‘digital negative’ of your original image archived. Edited images can be used for prints, sending to friends, or posting on the forums and online galleries.
Although advanced editing techniques are beyond the scope of this article, basic editing takes only minutes, and can improve your photos dramatically. While most professionals use Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro for editing, retouching, and color correction, there are many powerful editing programs that are very affordable, and some are even free. Three free image editors worth noting are Picasa, The Gimp, and Irfanview. All three offer an amazing array of editing and organizing options, and in the case of The Gimp – professional level tools with support for image layers.
Basic image editing will include the following:
- Adjusting brightness and contrast
- Adjusting color hues and saturation
- Cropping an image
- Using a clone tool to remove unwanted objects in an image that may be distracting
- Resizing for posting on a website or email
- Editing For The Internet: Compressing And Resizing Images
There are two basic ways to reduce the size of an image – changing the image file format and changing its dimensions. The term ‘resizing’ is often used to describe these processes.
Almost all digital cameras (and scanners) will output an image file in JPEG format by default, which is a compressed file type. Unlike a bitmap or TIFF file, JPEG allows varying degrees of file compression, at the penalty of image quality. This is important to reduce the image size for quick downloading through websites or sending in email. Nobody wants to download a three-megabyte, ten-megapixel image
All image editors will allow a “Save As…” function with options for JPEG compression. Using more compression will reduce the disk space an image uses, while reducing the image dimensions will reduce its virtual size. For emailing or posting on most message forums (including Scream And Fly), images should be in JPEG format, compressed to yield an output file of no greater than 100KB in size. You’ll also have to resize the image’s dimensions to 800 pixels wide or less. Remember to keep the original, high quality file archived, in case you wish to print from it later. The original file from the camera is your 'digital negative' and should always be safely stored.
Remember to practice and experiment and post those images!
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