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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Take photos like a pro without breaking the bank by using FREE and nearly FREE software and hardware explained in this book.
- Get professional looking shots from a low-cost camera
- Save money by building your own lighting rigs, tripods, monopods and stabilisers for next to nothing
- Learn how to use older lenses on modern digital cameras, and make your own macro lens, lens hoods, flash diffusers, flash concentrators, decorative Bokeh effect lenses and more
- Use dozens of FREE and low cost photo applications for processing, viewing, cataloguing, editing, creating HDR, and photo stitching
- Build powerful photography processing and editing suites with free software and plugins that go head to head with expensive tools like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom
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Seitenzahl: 614
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Preface
The Initial Outlay
The Sky is not the Limit
The Virtues of FREE Software
Why FREE?
Part I: Taking Better Snaps With a Cheaper Camera
Chapter 1: Getting the Best from a Low-Cost Camera
How Cheap Is “Cheap”?
Getting to Know Your Camera
Ten Universal Questions for Every Shot
Chapter 2: Why Most Snaps Fail to Impress
Some Common Errors
What Makes a “Good” Snapshot?
Ten Cost-Nothing Tips for Better Snaps
Chapter 3: First Steps in Portraiture with FREE and Low-Cost Lighting
Creating One-Lamp Portraitures
Making Your Own Low-Key Lighting Kit
Creating No-Lamp Portraitures: Taking It Outdoors
Using Scrims to Soften Sunlight
Getting More Lights for Less
Resources
Part II: Getting Serious About Photography
Chapter 4: Choosing a Better Camera
The Four Digital Camera Types
Shopping Around for a New Camera
Users' Recommendations
Getting an Entry-Level DSLR at a Rock-Bottom Price
Read FREE Reviews Online: 10 Leading Review Sites
Chapter 5: Keeping It Steady: Tripods, Monopods, and VR Lenses
Blur Reduction: A Big Step Towards Better Photographic Technique
Using Tripods and Heads
Low-Cost Tricks for Reducing Blur
Chapter 6: Saving Money on Lenses
Why People Argue About Lenses
Recommended High-Value Lenses
Using Older Lenses on a New Camera
Chapter 7: In Praise of the 50mm Lens
Using a Lens Chart
Using 50mm with Full-Frame, 1.5x, 1.6x, and 1.7x Crop-Factor Sensors
Five Reasons to Buy the “Nifty Fifty”
Shooting with a 50mm Lens
Part III: Keeping Costs Down
Chapter 8: Cost-Cutting Tips for Better Photography
Setting White Balance
Setting Exposure
Cropping: The Pro Technique Available to All
Chapter 9: Shooting RAW and Processing It For FREE
The Rise of the RAW Format
The Snags of Using RAW
Software for RAW Processing
Chapter 10: Shooting Macro Without a Macro Lens
Four Ways to Get Macro Shots
Lighting for Your Macro Shots
Using Lens Stacking to Take Macro Shots
Making a Tabletop Studio for Macro Photography
Building a Mini Light Box for Small Product Photography
Chapter 11: DIY: Cleaning Your DSLR Sensor
Common Contaminants and How to Get Rid of Them
Cleaning the Chamber
Testing Your Cleaning Method
Chapter 12: DIY: Making Your Own Lens Hood
Considering Lens Hood Types
Finding Lens Hood Templates Online
Making a Superhood for a 50mm Lens
Making a Flexihood for a Telephoto Lens
Chapter 13: More DIY Photo Fun Accessories
Making Pop-Up Flash Diffusers
DIY Accessories for Flash Guns
Making Your Own Lenses
Getting Decorative Bokeh Effects
Getting Soft Focus Without a Special Lens
Finding Low-Cost Tripods for Your Compact Camera
Emulating Aerial Photography Without the Airplane
Chapter 14: FREE Photo Calculators
Printing, Cutting, and Assembling Your Own FREE Exposure Calculator
Using the Golden Ratio
For a Few Dollars: Photo Calculation Software for the iPhone
Optical System Calculators
Print Size Calculation
Chapter 15: FREE and Low-Cost Utility Software
FREE and Low-Cost Exif Tools
FREE and Low-Cost Screen Capture Utilities
FREE Color Pickers
FREE Online Color Analysis
FREE File Archiving Utilities
Low-Cost Image Compression Software
FREE JPEG Lossless Rotation
FREE and Low-Cost Data Recovery Software
“Free Scan” Photo Recovery Software
Part IV: Scrutinizing, Sorting, and Resizing your Images
Chapter 16: Monitor Calibration for Next to Nothing
Understanding Gamma
Calibration for Windows and Mac
FREE Online Monitor Calibration
FREE Online Tutorials on Monitor Calibration
Chapter 17: FREE and Low-Cost Image Viewers
Top FREE and Low-Cost Image Viewers for Windows
Image Viewers for Mac: Why the Mac Is Different
Chapter 18: FREE and Low-Cost Photo Organizing Software
The Difference Between Sorting and Cataloging
Searching Through Untagged Images
Other Good FREE Photo Organizing Software
For a Few Dollars: More Photo Organizing Software
Chapter 19: FREE and Low-Cost Image Resizing Tools
Choosing the Right Tool
FREE Desktop Image Resizing Software
FastStone Photo Resizer
FREE Software for Batch Resizing
FREE Online Image Resizing Tools
For Just a Few Dollars
Part V: Improving your Images
Chapter 20: FREE and Low-Cost Image Enhancement Software
Enhancement and Editing: What's the Difference?
Recommended FREE Basic Image Adjustment Tools
Other FREE Image Adjustment Tools
FREE Batch Correction Image Adjustment Tools
For a Few Dollars
Chapter 21: FREE Image-Editing Software
What to Look for in a FREE Image Editor
The Top Four FREE Windows Products
Seashore for Macintosh
The Best of the Rest: All FREE
Chapter 22: FREE Online Image Editors
Online Software: The Long-Term Winner
Featured Software: The Top Five
Best of the Rest
Chapter 23: FREE and Low-Cost Denoising Software
Noise Reduction Software
Recommended FREE Denoising Software
FREE Multiplatform (Java-Based) Denoising Software
For a Few Dollars: Low-Cost Denoising Software
Chapter 24: Building Powerful Software Suites with Plug-ins
Adobe Photoshop Elements: The Low-Cost Host for Best-of-Breed Plug-ins
GIMP: Pimp Your GIMP with Dozens of Great Plug-ins
Enhancing Paint.NET with Plug-ins
Part VI: Making Hi-Res Mosaics, Panoramas, and HDR Images
Chapter 25: Getting Hi-Res Images from a Low-Res Camera
FREE Versus Commercial Stitching Software
Chapter 26: Panoramic Photography
Taking Panoramas Without a Tripod
Finding the Optical Center of a Lens
Why Is Panoramic Photography Normally Expensive?
The Panosaurus: a Low-Cost Panoramic Head
Building Your Own Panoramic Head
Useful Resources
Chapter 27: Low-Cost Panoramic and Virtual Tour Software
Software for Making Panoramas
Software for Displaying Panoramas
Chapter 28: Creating High Dynamic Range Images
Two Reasons to Use HDR
Commercial or FREE? Which Software Is Best for HDR?
FREE HDR Software
Low-Cost HDR Software
Part VII: Sharing & Publishing your Work
Chapter 29: FREE Image Hosting
What to Look for in a FREE Image Host
Directories
Selected FREE Image Hosting Providers
Chapter 30: FREE Online Photo-Sharing Sites
Must-Have Photo-Sharing Features
Selected FREE Online Photo-Sharing Sites
Photo-Sharing Sites with FREE Basic Accounts
FREE Sites with Additional Features
Chapter 31: Online Photo Communities
What Online Photo Communities Can Do for You, and You for Them
Communities FREE to Registered Users
Low-Cost Photo Communities
Smaller and Specialist Photo Communities
Chapter 32: FREE Web Publishing Software
Using PHP to Create Your Online Gallery
FREE PHP-Based Photo Gallery Software
FREE Flash Gallery Creation Software
CSS-Based Image Galleries
FREE Java-Based Photo Gallery Software
Creating AJAX-Based Photo Galleries
FREE Website Design Software with Gallery Features
Part VIII: Getting Ready to Print
Chapter 33: Low-Cost Image Rescaling Software
Why Is Most Up-Rezzing Software So Pricey?
Some Low-Cost Image-Rescaling Alternatives
Chapter 34: Low-Cost Online Printing Services
Cheaper Than Home Printing
Online Photo Printers with Opening Offers (U.S. and International)
Online Photo Printers with Opening Offers (U.K.)
Directories of FREE Photo-Printing Offers
Premium Printing Services
Part IX: Learning More About Photography, for Next to Nothing
Chapter 35: FREE Online Tuition
How to Evaluate Online Instruction
Highly Recommended FREE Online Tutorials
FREE Video Tutorials on Photography
FREE Photoshop Tutorials Online
Chapter 36: FREE Online Photo Resources
Photo Megasites You Have to Visit
Leading Camera-Specific Websites
FREE Photography Magazines Online
FREE Art Photography Magazines Online
Sites for Landscape Photographers
Sites for Nature and Wildlife Photographers
Sites for Photojournalists
Sites for Portrait Photographers
PhotoStartSheet.com
Index
This edition fi rst published 2010
© 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Registered office
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
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For Oi and Jonathan
About the Author
John Lewell is the Editor of PhotoSoftwareNews.com, the Internet's premier guide to photographic software. His previous books have included Computer Graphics (Van Nostrand Reinhold), The A–Z Guide to Computer Graphics (McGraw-Hill), Multivision (Focal Press), and, more recently, The Digital Photographer's Software Guide (Cengage). A graduate of Peterhouse, Cambridge, John Lewell has worked extensively in both the United States and the United Kingdom as a freelance journalist for dozens of publications. He is married to Thai cookery writer Oi Cheepchaiissara.
Acknowledgments
I'd like to thank my editors Kezia Endsley and Abi Saffrey for their many helpful comments and recommendations. I also wish to thank all the staff at John Wiley & Sons who have helped to bring this book to publication, especially Chris Webb who commissioned the original project and Ellie Scott for her meticulous day-to-day liaison.
Publisher‘s Acknowledgments
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Editorial and Production
VP Consumer and Technology Publishing Director: Michelle Leete
Associate Director–-Book Content Management: Martin Tribe
Associate Publisher: Chris Webb
Executive Commissioning Editor: Birgit Gruber
Assistant Editor: Colleen Goldring
Publishing Assistant: Ellie Scott
Project Editor: Juliet Booker
Development Editor: Kezia Endsley
Content Editor: Céline Durand-Watts
Copy Editor: Abi Saffrey
Marketing
Senior Marketing Manager: Louise Breinholt
Marketing Executive: Chloe Tunnicliffe
Composition Services
Compositor: Thomson
Proof Reader: Sarah Lewis
Indexer: Thomson
Preface
Every year people spend billions of dollars on camera equipment, yet the actual activity of digital photography costs next to nothing. Go click, click, click (times a thousand) and you've spent only your valuable time. By contrast, photographers who use film incur a significant cost whenever they press the shutter button. That's why owners of digital cameras take more shots and why they become accomplished photographers more quickly.
In preparing this book, I've kept several ideas to the fore, the first of which is the premise that your time is indeed valuable. You would be unlikely to find all the FREE software and low-cost DIY items described here unless you were to spend countless hours searching the Internet for similar information. Please make full use of the hundreds of links I've included and look upon this book as a key that will unlock many unexpected and hard-to-find treasures on the Internet.
My second governing idea is that there is a huge world of snapshot photography and a much smaller one of “real photography” to which millions of snapshooters aspire. With this in mind, I've organized the book by suggesting ways you can improve your snaps without spending much money; then I've proceeded to real photography–-by which I mean carefully considered shooting, undertaken with thought, care and preparation–-looking at all the ways you can keep costs to a minimum.
The Initial Outlay
When casual snapshooters get bitten by the photography bug they soon find a need to upgrade their camera. I don't blame them. While it's true you can take a great photograph with a really cheap camera, it's also true that you need to invest more to take pictures under a wide variety of conditions. What's important is not the capital cost of the equipment but the cost-per-photo, or rather, the cost-per-great-photo–-because great photos are your objective once the photography bug has sunk its fangs into your bloodstream.
By “next to nothing,” therefore, I'm not suggesting that you never make any sensible investments in cameras and lenses. Quite the opposite: I'm recommending that you save money on all those tempting accessories and software packages which can soon outstrip the cost of buying both a decent DSLR and some great chunks of glass to go with it. Digital photography is, after all, digital–-and that means it is part of the remarkable phenomenon of FREE, as described by Chris Anderson in his book “FREE: The Future of a Radical Price.” He writes: “The rise of “freeconomics” is being driven by the underlying technologies that power the Web . . . Once a marketing gimmick, FREE has emerged as a full-fledged economy.”
Digital photography can never be entirely FREE because you still need quality optics and various servo mechanisms to control shutter and focus. Yet by any standard, today's digital camera represents incomparable value and even more remarkably has an almost-zero running cost. When you combine this with FREE or “next to nothing” software, you have a value proposition that is second to none.
The Sky is not the Limit
I firmly believe it's possible to devise an ingenious, low-cost way of taking practically any type of photograph. Suppose, for example, you wish to take a photo of the upper atmosphere. Most people would think it necessary to go up in a rocket to get such a shot–-following Guy Laliberte (the first clown in space) who paid $35 million for a trip to the International Space Station. Yet four Spanish teenagers recently succeeded in getting perfect photos showing the curvature of the Earth and the layers of the atmosphere at 100,000 feet by using a helium balloon and a digital camera. The cost? $56.
Much the same approach holds true for general photography. There is the expensive way of doing it; and the cheap way. Sometimes the cheap way is equally good or even better. For example, some photographers spend money on a special lens cap to set white balance–-whereas others use a coffee filter and get exactly the same result. When professional photographers make their own accessories such as scrims, lighting rigs, or table-top studios, they do so because they know they'll achieve better lighting with a customized unit. DIY is an integral part of advanced photography. Sometimes a gift for improvization is as valuable as an eye for a great composition.
My point is this: please don't think that “next to nothing” involves any compromise in the quality of the final image. In fact, “no compromise” is my third governing idea. Most of the DIY projects in this book will enable you to get top quality shots while all the rest are grouped together in Chapter 13: “More DIY Photo Fun Accessories.” Even these can yield good results, especially the various types of pop-up flash diffuser. Many of the chapters are designed to introduce the reader to particular genres–-such as panoramic or high dynamic range photography–-without incurring significant costs. If, after trying my suggestions, you become inspired to go further, then you can invest in purpose-built equipment and professional software.
The Virtues of FREE Software
The day has long since passed when Adobe Photoshop was the only worthwhile photo editing package. Although it remains the software of choice for professional graphic artists–-and you need to learn your way around it if you're thinking of a career in the graphic arts–-there are plenty of alternatives, all of them a lot less costly. I have been amazed at the facilities offered by FREE photo software, not least by some of the full-service editing packages and by one or two of the top online editors. There is, incidentally, a distinct trend toward placing more and more services online, such that you can now enhance, resize, and edit your images without having any software at all other than an operating system and a web browser.
If, as Chris Anderson says, “we are entering an era when FREE will be seen as the norm, not an anomaly,” then there are likely to be many more FREE photo editing and sharing services on the web, supported by advertising, cross-subsidy, and the increasingly ubiquitous “freemium” business model (free basic service; multi-featured premium service). In this book I occasionally remind the reader to check exactly why the software is being given away. Whatever contemporary economists say, there is really no FREE lunch–-someone, somewhere, pays the bill.
Why FREE?
Finally, I must explain why I've decided to capitalize the word “free” in most (but not all) instances. If I say FREE, the software or service really is FREE, without a lot of strings attached. Software that comes on a FREE 30-day trial is not FREE in any meaningful sense because it expires at the end of the period. Likewise, software that leaves a large watermark on your finished images can scarcely be called FREE. I think “hobbled” would be a better word. In turn, this is distinct from “crippled” software that suffers from having useful features cut deliberately from a supposedly FREE edition. Here again I've reduced FREE to “free” so readers can lower their expectations.
Whatever your style of photography–-and especially if you are still developing a style of photography–-you will find something helpful in these pages. Photography can be one of the world's most or least expensive hobbies, depending on how you approach it. I think it is true to say: the more you know, the less money you need to spend. By providing this information I am aiming to save you money and help you take better and more varied pictures.
John Lewell, April 2010
Part I
Taking Better Snaps with a Cheaper Camera
Chapter 1
Getting the Best from a Low-Cost Camera
If you read what great photographers have to say about cameras, you will find two apparently conflicting opinions. Some place emphasis on buying the most expensive equipment. Edward Weston, one of whose vintage prints sold for over a million dollars, said: “I was extravagant in the matter of cameras—anything photographic—I had to have the best.” Others play down the need for it. “No photographer is as good as the simplest camera,” said Edward Steichen, whose photograph “The Pond-Moonlight” (1904) sold for $2.9 million in 2006.
In fact, they were both right. If you want to get serious about photography, invest in a good camera. That's why I've written this book for the reader who decides to “buy a better camera” but doesn't have a budget left over for expensive lenses, software, and accessories. However, you don't need an expensive camera to get some great shots. As photographer Brooks Jensen points out, “All the great photographs in history were made with more primitive camera equipment than you currently own.” Even a cheap digital camera is a miracle of high technology, capable of producing a masterpiece of fine art if you use it properly.
How Cheap Is “Cheap”?
The least expensive digital cameras cost about twice the retail price of this book. Some disposable film cameras cost even less. There has even been a craze for “toy cameras” such as the Chinese Holga brand, the Diana-F, and the four-lens Lomo Action Sampler. These are all much loved by enthusiasts who strive for a certain “look” that actually emphasizes the poor quality of the image for artistic effect—similar to wearing tatty, secondhand clothing to show a sense of style.
At the time of writing this book, I have settled on “$100” as being a very low-cost price point for a compact camera. You can take this to mean “just over” $100 in the United States and £60—£80 in the United Kingdom—throughout the book, I don't show the £ equivalent on every mention of the $ price, and prices are always taken to be approximate. Although some cameras are even cheaper, at this price level you can currently get 10 megapixels and reasonable quality optics in cameras such as the Fujifilm A100 or Canon PowerShot A480 (see Figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Simple, but effective. The Canon PowerShot A480.
Image courtesy of Canon
How Much Camera Can You Get?
The two key components of a low-cost digital camera are the lens and the sensor. Today you can find both of them integrated into mobile phones, but it is still better to buy a dedicated camera because the lens will almost certainly be superior, even if the sensor is identical to the one on your phone.
For around $100, you can obtain a camera that has a resolution of 10 megapixels, a decent lens with a three-times optical zoom, built-in flash, automatic focus, motorized zoom, continuous shooting mode of about one frame per second, and shutter speeds up to 1/2000th of a second. This is all you need for great snapshots. If you pay more, make sure the money is going into a better quality lens and not into the styling of the camera.
Bigger Cameras Deliver More for Less
Despite being smaller—in fact, because they are smaller—ultra compacts cost more than ordinary compacts. Avoid them. Why pay more for less? You may as well use the camera on your mobile phone. It is far better to get a compact that has a bigger lens, a larger battery, and a better LCD screen. If size and portability are not issues, you may opt for a larger point-and-shoot at the low end of the superzoom range. This type of chunky, all-black camera with a large, permanently attached zoom lens weighs twice as much and will cost you twice or even three times as much, but it's a very good option from a photographic point of view. One example is the Panasonic Lumix FZ38, superbly specified with an 18x optical zoom, 12.1 megapixels, and a powerful movie mode (see Figure 1.2).
Figure 1.2 Bulky, but brilliant. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38.
Image courtesy of Panasonic
Lowest-Cost Models
All the major manufacturers have extensive ranges of compact cameras, with prices to match. You can buy the cheapest—which are perfectly adequate for great snaps—or pay two, three, or four times as much for a model with more features. Check out Chapter 4, “Choosing a Better Camera,” for advice on how to buy at a rock-bottom price. Here are some of the ranges:
Panasonic LumixFujifilm FinePixNikon CoolpixKodak EasyShareCanon PowerShotSee What Other People Achieve with Each Camera
Before you buy a very low-cost camera, check out the kind of pictures that other people have been able to achieve with it (see Figures 1.3 and 1.4). How do you do this? Easy. Visit one of the FREE online photo galleries that categorizes images by the make and model of camera. One of the best in this respect is PBase.com—go to the Camera Search page (www.pbase.com/cameras) to find the right set of images.
Figure 1.3 With a $100 camera (Fuji, 10MP, at max aperture f/3.1), picture quality is great but it's hard to isolate any part of the subject.
Figure 1.4 With a DSLR (Fuji S5 Pro, 6MP, 50mm lens at f/1.6), you can throw the background out of focus and make the subject stand out.
The first point to notice is the number of photos in the database that have been taken with your model (or intended model) of camera. This is not a completely reliable guide, but it does at least give you some idea of how many people have chosen this camera. You can also look at the “Most Viewed” table, which gives you an indication of the level of interest being generated by a particular model. Don't take too much notice of it. Everyone wants to look at images from the latest camera—not necessarily the low-cost model you have in mind.
Some of the PBase camera index pages have hundreds of entries, so you may have to use Ctrl+F to bring up the finder and make a search. Insert the model number—and there (most likely) you are. If your model is missing, which is improbable but not impossible, it may be because it's new and no one has gotten around to uploading any pictures from it. Popular models may have tens of thousands of sample images, a random selection of which is displayed each time you click “More.”
When you view the images, remember that some may have been taken by incompetent photographers, so examine the better ones for sharpness, clarity, contrast, and depth of color. To do this, choose one that has been shot in natural light on a bright day with light cloud cover (ideal conditions). Download the largest size, and look at the corners as well as the center. Is it still sharp at the edge? Is there any color aberration such as purple fringing, typically found around foliage taken against the sky? Can you detect lens distortion at the edges of the image, such as “barrel distortion” (straight lines bowed outwards) or “pincushion distortion” (straight lines pinched towards the center)? Is the image “noisy,” especially in the shadows where the speckled effect of image noise, caused by insufficient data reaching the sensor, is most likely to show up? By looking at several examples, you will soon get a feel for the camera's capabilities. You can trust well-composed shots more than those that lack artistic qualities. They have probably been taken by people who have some technical ability.
Getting to Know Your Camera
Once you're in possession of a camera—any camera—you need to familiarize yourself with it before taking it on the road. The first step is to read the manual. It's surprising how many people refuse this obvious task, but every camera has unique features—and even if you've handled something similar you need to know what they are.
Finding Your Camera's Limits
When you've discovered what all the buttons do, the next step is to find out the camera's limitations. You'll need to bear these in mind when you're taking pictures. If you go beyond them you may—or may not—be able to rescue the photo at a later stage. For example, if you blow a few highlights because you've gone beyond the camera's dynamic range, you may be able to darken them satisfactorily using software. But if you get too close to the subject and step inside the minimum focusing distance, nothing can remove the blur from the photo.
So, what limitations should you look for? First, consider the lens that's permanently attached to your low-cost camera. What is its angle of view when fully zoomed out or in? Only optical zooming provides any real magnification. Digital zooms simply fill the live viewfinder with a cropped portion of the image, significantly lowering the resolution.
Second, consider how powerful your flash is. If you exceed the range of your flash in dull conditions you'll get dark images—one of the most common faults of snapshot photographers. With an inexpensive camera and low-powered flash, you are very likely to fall into this trap when the subject is more than four or five steps away. Cameras can automatically reduce the amount of flash, but they can't increase it above the maximum rating of the flash unit.
Third, think about the focusing distance. Luckily, focus is one of the least of your problems with modern digital cameras. They are all good at identifying your likely subject and then adjusting the focus automatically for you. Make a note of the minimum focusing distance and don't go any closer. With a typical wide-angle lens on a compact camera you will not have to worry too much about depth-of-field (the depth of the scene in sharp focus). In fact, you may often have too much depth-of-field, which is a major limitation of compact cameras, preventing you from throwing the background out of focus by opening up the aperture of the lens. The relatively small lenses on compacts are not large enough for this kind of effect.
There are other limitations to bear in mind, for example: the resolving power or sharpness of the lens; the ISO setting (such as ISO 400 or ISO 800) at which the images become noisy; and the start-up speed from when the camera is switched off. Once you know where the boundaries lie, you can operate safely within them—and take many great pictures.
Playing to Your Camera's Strengths
I have examined thousands of images on PBase and I'm constantly struck by how the same low-cost camera—whether it's a Nikon Coolpix or a Sony Cybershot—can produce mediocre images on one occasion and brilliant photos on another. Most experts explain this by saying “it's the person behind the camera . . .,” which is partly true but it's not the whole story.
Every modern compact camera can take great snaps in natural light under ideal conditions. As long as you don't want enlargements, say, beyond 5 × 7 inches, you can get results that rival those from any camera, especially if you tweak the image in FREE editing software. But if your subject is a long way off, or if the light is failing, or if there is a lot of movement within the frame, you will soon start to wish you had more expensive equipment. Most users get good results occasionally, when the camera is suited to the situation (by which I mean the subject and lighting conditions). Yet only by playing to your camera's strengths and not going beyond its limitations can you get terrific results consistently.
Ten Universal Questions for Every Shot
Whenever you take a photo—any photo—there are some questions you can ask yourself about the shot. It's hard to think about them all at once, but experienced photographers can come up with the answers almost automatically. The more you practice, the sooner you'll be able to do the same.
1. What Is in Front of the Camera?
This might seem obvious, but a camera can only take what's in front of it. Yet time and again a photo can surprise you, even though you saw the identical scene when you pressed the shutter release. Why is this? It's partly because there's often too much happening in front of the camera for you to take it all in until you've frozen the moment; and partly because the camera interprets the scene in its own way instead of reproducing your experience of it. What may seem ugly or ordinary in real life may look striking and even beautiful in a photo.
2. How Is the Subject Framed?
Even after all the experiments of modern art, the rectangular frame remains predominant in photography. The digital era has partially liberated photographers from “standard sizes” because you can now reframe the image in software. When you take a snap you need to consider whether holding the camera horizontally (landscape) or vertically (portrait) is more appropriate. Use whichever is likely to be least wasteful when you crop the image later.
3. What Is the Camera's Lens Angle?
You can fill the frame with your subject by standing close and using a wide angle, or by moving back and zooming into the subject. When you move your position backward or forward you change the perspective (that is, the size of objects in the frame change in relationship to each other). However, if you remain where you are and simply zoom, the perspective stays exactly the same.
4. What Depth-of-Field Will You Capture?
Don't worry too much about DoF for snapshots, but just bear in mind that people or objects on either side of your subject will be in focus, whereas those in front or behind may not. There are plenty of FREE ways to work out the depth-of-field (see Chapter 14, “FREE Photo Calculators”), but they are normally beyond the scope of snapshot photography.
5. What Is the Dynamic Range of the Scene or Subject?
This is a key question you need to consider in order to shoot decent pictures. If there is a huge difference in the values between the darkest shadow and the brightest highlight, no digital camera—least of all an inexpensive one—can capture detail in all parts of the scene. You can reduce dynamic range by lighting the shadows (“fill light”) or by filtering the sun's rays with a translucent material.
6. What Is the Quality of the Light?
Is it harsh or soft, warm or cool, unidirectional or multidirectional? “Light makes photography,” said George Eastman. “Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.”
In landscape photography you have to rely chiefly on light from the sun, but the actual quality of light changes dramatically according to the sun's position in the sky, the amount of haze or cloud cover, and reflected light from clouds, water, and large objects. The best light for landscapes and “natural light” portraits is often when the sun is low in the sky, while clouds form a giant “light tent” overhead.
7. Will Color Play a Major or Minor Role in the Image?
On an abstract level, a photo consists of form and color. It is mostly light and shade that delineate form (shape, pattern, rhythm) while color plays a secondary role. But color can also define form quite independently of light and shade. Once in a while, you should forget content and think about these abstract elements when you take snaps.
8. Is the Exact Moment of Capture Significant?
Sometimes the exact moment of capture is the whole point of the shot: especially in sport. Yet whatever the genre, if your snapshot says “this is a unique moment,” it is bound to be successful on one level. Viewers will even forgive technical imperfection if you have a “great capture.”
9. Is the Exposure “Right”?
Although you can often create several successful versions of (for example) a landscape using different exposures, many snaps would be improved had the exposure been longer or shorter. If the most important feature is washed out or too dark, the exposure is surely wrong. Understand which parts of the image your automatic exposure system samples. This is especially important when the subject is off-center.
10. Is the Camera Stable?
The typical snapping technique of arms extended—camera waving in the air—is the worst for taking sharp photos. Flash will freeze most camera movement, but try turning it off and keeping the camera steady. Where possible, rest the camera on something solid. If you don't have a tripod or monopod, try new positions. Squatting on the floor and resting your elbows on your knees is a good position.
When you no longer have to ask yourself these questions, but instead start to provide the answers instinctively whenever you take a snap, that means you're well on the way to becoming a photographer.
Summary
You can take stunning photographs with even the cheapest digital camera, but not in all circumstances. If you have an inexpensive camera, you must understand its limitations. When you buy any camera, always examine photographs other people have taken with that model. Full-size images from most camera models are easy to locate on the Internet.
Even before you start to get really serious about photography, you can improve your snapshots by asking yourself simple questions each time you press the button. Bear these points in mind and you will soon be taking better quality shots. Even so, sometimes you'll be in the right place at the right time, but fluff the shot because of a technical error. Chapter 2 identifies mistakes that occur all too frequently, but are easy to correct if you know what they are.
Chapter 2
Why Most Snaps Fail to Impress
A snapshot, by definition, is a picture taken quickly without too much thought. If it has good exposure, great lighting, and satisfying composition it has the potential to be a good photograph, perhaps even a great photograph. Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of the greatest of all photographers, was a master of the snapshot and turned it into a fine art. He once said: “We photographers deal in things that are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance on earth that can make them come back again.”
The high level of automation in modern cameras has greatly improved the standard of snapshot photography, but it's still up to the individual to stand in the right place, frame the subject intelligently, and choose the right moment to press the button. Some people do all these things and more, but most of us don't. When the moment comes, we fluff the shot out of haste, or else we come really close to a great shot but the subject blinks or moves—and it's another lost opportunity. However, when we have time to think and prepare, the outcome is much more likely to be positive.
The point I'm making can be illustrated by visiting two websites where the quality of snapshots differs dramatically from one to the other. At Upside Down Dogs (www.upsidedowndogs.com), people take photos of dogs lying on their backs, and then turn the image upside down to make it look as if the dog is stuck to the ceiling. It's a very amusing idea, but the images would have more appeal if they were technically more accomplished. Now compare these pictures with those on the website called Cats That Look Like Hitler (www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com). Here, the contributors have had more time to think about each shot, and as a result the images are better and more entertaining.
Despite the evidence, I cannot believe that cat owners are better photographers than dog owners. The reason why the “cat snaps” are better is because the subjects don't change their basic appearance (they will look like Hitler whether they are sitting down or standing up), which means the photographer is not forced to hurry and take the shot.
Unfortunately, snapshot photographers—like the owners of lively dogs—are usually hurried when they take a shot. The moment is upon them before they've worked out the best angle, best framing, and right combination of settings. Afterwards, they realize: “I should've turned off the flash,” or “What a pity one of them blinked.” Before thinking about what makes a really good snap, it's a good plan to cut out the common errors.
Some Common Errors
Unless the subject holds intrinsic interest for the person viewing the photo—and even if it does—there needs to be some technical and artistic merit to make the photo worth seeing. Having looked at countless snaps, I suspect that around 90% of them would fail to impress the average person, while even fewer would impress an accomplished photographer. Most casual snaps are riddled with common errors. Here are just five examples of common errors.
Incorrect White Balance
I've put this first because it's become a glaring error in the digital age. You must adjust the setting on your camera for sunlight, shade, tungsten, or fluorescent lighting. The huge difference in color temperature can turn skin colors to amazing shades of green, yellow, orange, or even blue, if the setting is wrong. In landscapes the difference can be subtler, as illustrated in Figure 2.1. Some people prefer the scenery to look warmer than it really is.
Figure 2.1 Incorrect color temperature can be harder to see in landscapes, until you vary it in software. Too blue or cool (left) or too red or warm (right) can make the scene look as if it were taken at a different time of day. The image in the middle is the balanced one.
Camera and Motion Blur
Brave attempts to use natural light often fail when the automatic exposure uses a slow shutter speed. The result is camera shake or a failure to stop the natural movement of the subject, either of which will produce a blurred image.
Standing Too Far Away
Every day, people are taking millions of photos of subjects that are simply too distant to be the main component of the composition. Admittedly, it can be difficult to get close to many of the subjects we'd like to capture, but that's why telephoto lenses were invented. Use them, or choose a different subject.
Missing the Moment
It's easy to miss the moment—especially when there is a lengthy delay between pressing the shutter and the flash firing—and many snapshots betray this fault. The point of interest, the whole reason for taking the shot, can disappear if you're a split second too slow.
Too Much Contrast
Buildings and hard-edged machinery can look great under the intense light of the midday sun, but landscapes, people, flowers, and animals do not. Too much contrast ruins the average sunny-day snap because it removes vital information from the image (see Figure 2.2).
Figure 2.2 Even low-level sunlight creates far too much contrast between this tree and its shaded background.
Here's the good news. None of the errors I've mentioned is necessarily the result of using a low-cost camera, although blur (the wrong sort of blur) can be lessened by using a camera with a faster and more expensive lens.
What Makes a “Good” Snapshot?
A good snapshot captures something of significance in the world: a unique moment, a look, a gesture, an unusual juxtaposition, or even a chance arrangement of shapes and colors that seems to form a coherent composition. With a little forethought, snapshots can be engineered—at which point they edge perilously close to becoming photographs. For example, some people like to snap themselves or their friends lying down in unusual places—the middle of the road, inside a supermarket, or on top of a crocodile. These are “ersatz” (imitation) snaps. A true snap would occur if the subject were (respectively) run over, arrested, or bitten.
Three elements combine to create a good snapshot. At the very least, the shot needs to be technically acceptable on all main counts: exposure, focus, and color balance. After that it needs artistic input: a regard for form, texture, light and shade, and color and pattern. The third and final element is content. This is mostly the subject itself—which you may have chosen carefully or stumbled upon by chance—but it also includes the background and maybe some foreground, both of which will show up in the final image.
When a snapshot is exceptionally good, it is usually because the person who took it has (by design or good fortune) combined all three elements into one, using the technical and artistic components to enhance the special qualities of the image content.
Ten Cost-Nothing Tips for Better Snaps
It costs nothing to improve your snapshot photography. You don't even need to buy a better camera. Just follow these 10 tips and you'll be taking better snaps in no time at all.
1. Keep Your Camera Ready
If you want to capture unusual or spontaneous shots, you need first to carry your camera with you, and then to keep it ready for taking photos at a moment's notice. Imagine a gallery composed entirely of the snaps that would have been taken on all those occasions when people have said: “Oh, if only I had a camera with me!”
2. Turn Off the Flash
On-camera flash may give you sharp images, but its light is harsh and flat. Try turning it off in favor of natural light, especially outdoors. Digital cameras are capable of making correct exposures in poor light—but you need to discover the limits of your particular camera in this respect.
3. Stop Posing!
Not you—I mean stop posing your subjects, unless you're doing a fashion or glamour shoot. It's far better to get people engaged in some activity until they forget about the camera altogether. At this point, you'll get some great snaps that will reveal your subjects' personalities.
4. Watch the Subject
Take your cue from press photographers. They all snap at once when the subject makes any kind of gesture (and not always the visionary “pointing” gesture beloved of politicians). A sidelong glance, a flashing smile—miss it, and you've missed a great shot.
5. Get in Close
By getting in close to your subject, you simplify the photo, declutter the background, and make the image easier to “read.” There's a huge amount of information in human and animal expressions, all of which can be lost if you're too far away.
6. Find the Angle
Ansel Adams said “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” After that, you need to find the right height for the camera. With children, get down to their level. Do the same for small animals and to get a fresh perspective on familiar scenes.
7. Avoid Harsh Sunlight
If your subject is people, ask them to move to the shade of a tree or a building rather than snap them in the glare of the sun. But be aware that a sunny background may appear washed out when you expose for shade.
8. Simplify the Composition
Viewers are never going to marvel at a cluttered photograph, as they might a painting. Cameras are just too darn good at showing detail. Throw the background out of focus, move closer, and do anything to simplify your composition.
A Decent Snap
Figure 2.3 shows a snap that meets all the criteria, although the direct sunlight was unavoidable. I was photographing a cookery demonstration when these musicians struck up a tune nearby—so I snapped them quickly. I used a low viewpoint to eliminate onlookers and any background except the mast of the barge. Suddenly, the trumpeter put down his instrument and took up a megaphone. A puzzled listener moved into shot. . .
Figure 2.3 With cropping to improve the composition, this snap could even become a photograph.
9. Focus on a Point of Interest
Even a trivial feature or gesture can serve as a point of interest in a snapshot. It needn't be the whole story, but it brings the photo to life—much as a quirky feature helps to bring a character to life in a novel.
10. Capture the Moment
This is the essence of a great snapshot. It's not easy to achieve if your camera has shutter delay, but you can anticipate the right moment in certain situations. Always be watchful. Once you've framed the image on the LCD screen, look at the subject directly until the right moment comes to take the shot. If your camera has a viewfinder, you can see the subject directly without peering around the camera.
Summary
Snaps are pictures taken “on the fly,” without too much forethought. If you eliminate major technical errors and follow a few simple principles, you'll get more consistent results. The best snaps have something to intrigue the viewer: a gesture, a point of interest, or a captured moment. You can carry these ideas through to improving your portrait snaps, where light becomes the governing factor.
Chapter 3
First Steps in Portraiture with FREE and Low-Cost Lighting
Before you acquire a better camera, there is plenty you can do to improve your casual snaps of friends and relatives, beginning with rule one: make them less casual. By this, I don't mean more formal, but I do mean you should take more care over lighting, composition, and background. Of these, lighting is the overriding factor. It makes the difference between a snap and a portrait.
Although this chapter is mainly about lighting and how to achieve good lighting on a budget, there are plenty of non-technical considerations too. Interaction between photographer and subject is even more important than technique. If your “sitter” is impatient, bored, and wondering “why is this person taking so long?” you may not get a shot that will please either of you. The key to great portrait snaps (apart from good lighting) is for everyone to have fun taking them. You will be able to take more shots and stand a better chance that one or two will turn out really well.
Creating One-Lamp Portraitures
You cannot take decent portraits using pop-up flash directly on the subject; the light is too harsh. This is partly because it comes from a tiny source, but also because it illuminates the subject from the camera's position and eliminates the shadows that are needed for modeling three dimensions. (See Chapter 13, “More DIY Photo Fun Accessories,” for information on flash diffusers.) If you turn off the flash and use just a single photographic lamp, you can achieve a better result. If you don't have one, you can improvise and use a standard desk lamp or table lamp with a high wattage bulb.
Using Corners to Balance the Light
With only one light you may think you have the same, single-source problem created by a pop-up flash. But no—when the source is separated from the camera, you can position it to get evenly balanced light in a corner of the room. This assumes the room is a neutral color; if the walls are a bright color they will affect the subject disproportionately. With white, gray, or lightly tinted walls you have almost the equivalent of a proper reflector.
1. Position the subject in the corner, facing the room.
2. Position the light to the right of the camera, just above head height to the subject.
3. For best results, diffuse the light with muslin or thin cotton.
4. Support the camera on a tripod, or against furniture.
Portrait photographer Irving Penn liked to wedge his subjects into a tight corner, which he deliberately constructed from two background sheets. His subjects felt either trapped or secure—but either way he got a reaction from them. If your own subjects don't like being in the corner, you can tell them how Penn photographed Spencer Tracy, Marlene Dietrich, Georgia O'Keeffe, W. H. Auden, Noel Coward, and the Duchess of Windsor in much the same way.
Reflectors: As Good As Another Lamp
If you buy just one lamp for your portraits, the preferred choice is a softbox, which is a directional light on a stand, with a large, square diffuser in front of it. Using one of these as your main source, you can balance the light with reflectors, which are almost as good as having another lamp.
Reflectors can be made of any lightweight material that reflects light reasonably well, but not too well. If you use a fully mirrored surface, you are in danger of putting too much light on the opposite side of the subject to the key light. Instead, use a white card, or, if you need the reflector to be lighter in weight, white fabric stretched within a frame.
Lastolite (www.lastolite.com) supplies professional photographers with white, silver, and gold reflectors in various shapes, such as circles and rectangles, and sizes from under a meter to nearly two meters across. With the material mounted in sprung frames, collapsible for easy transportation, they are rated at different color temperatures and include a mixture of gold and silver called Sunfire.
For outdoor portraits, reflectors make an ideal “uplight” when held at an angle below the subject. A quick survey of the market reveals the reflector pack made by Lee Filters (www.leefilters.com), consisting of eight rectangular sheets, each about half a meter across (610mm × 530mm) to be among the best value at about $38 (£25). For this, you get white-backed sheets in mirror gold, mirror silver, soft gold, and soft silver, but you need to mount them on polystyrene or board for added rigidity. Because they are smooth, they cast a harsher light than the crumpled, collapsible reflectors from Lastolite.
Make Your Own Low-Cost Reflector
It's easy to make a silver-colored reflector using kitchen foil—and you can make a gold one from Christmas wrapping paper. Figure 3.1 shows a homemade reflector with handle. Use the Lee Filter sheets if you feel like spending a bit more.
1. Cut a large rectangle from a heavy-duty cardboard carton.
2. Spray it with an adhesive such as 3M's Super 77 spray adhesive.
3. Crumple the foil slightly before sticking it to the cardboard.
4. Edge the rectangle with 1-inch black masking tape, as shown in Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.1 A homemade reflector made from kitchen foil.
I used the side of a Dell carton (the rest of which made a mini light box; see Chapter 10). Its cut-out carrying handle proved useful for holding the reflector.
Umbrellas Are Even Better
In portrait and product photography, the photography umbrella is a multi-purpose tool that can be used as a reflector or as a light diffuser, or as both together. It has a unique ability to diffuse light without affecting its directionality. Typically, such an umbrella would have a black exterior and a light, reflective interior. Point the strobe or lamp away from the subject towards the open umbrella and light is reflected back to the subject more evenly. Alternatively, with some photography umbrellas, you can remove the outer black layer and use the remaining layer directly as a diffuser. In this instance, light goes through the umbrella on to the subject in what is called shoot-through mode.
Photography umbrellas are not expensive ($30/£20 each); much cheaper than an extra lamp. In comparison with what they can contribute to your photography, they cost next to nothing. They enable you to aim the light where you want it, without creating harsh shadows. They can be silvered or white on their reflective surface, or highly translucent for use as a diffuser.
If You Insist: Making Your Own Umbrella
I have decided not to include full instructions for a homemade photography umbrella. Frankly, you are better advised to buy a proper one. To make your own, you need to take a normal umbrella (or one that collapses to fit in a handbag or briefcase), and then replace the regular fabric with fabric that is silver on the inside and black on the outside. This involves using one “wedge” of the original fabric as a guide for cutting similar wedges from the new material and then sewing them together. The process has been fully described online by Finnish photographer Marc Englund (search for “Cheapshott Collapsible Umbrella”) and he reports that it took him six hours to complete. Yes, it did cost next to nothing, but took six hours to save around $20. My opinion is that your time is better spent elsewhere.
One quick method of making a reflective umbrella is to spray the inside of an ordinary umbrella with reflective spray paint, such as KDL Silver Retro Reflective Paint. It works, up to a point, but it's a messy process, and needs to be done outdoors in a safe area. You may even have to spray two or three times before you get a proper finish. The cost is about $15 for the paint (if you have to buy a new can) and $10 for the umbrella (if you have to buy a new umbrella). The result will never be as good as a genuine photo umbrella, and the cost is comparable.
Making Your Own Low-Key Lighting Kit
If you have just a single light you can create profoundly dramatic portraits with “low-key lighting,” a technique used by the Italian master Caravaggio (1571–1610) who developed a form of this technique in painting called “tenebrism.” Photographers can re-create the effect at very little cost, either by buying a ready-made kit or acquiring the components separately.
For professional photographers, there is the Lastolite Low-Key Lighting Kit ($350/£225), which consists of a black velvet collapsible background unit that reflects no light whatsoever; an Ezybox Hotshoe softbox-style reflector for portable flashes, with stand, tilt-head, and extendable handle; and one large reflector with two reflective surfaces and a handgrip.
Although the professional kit is designed for easy transportation and setup, you can easily make the individual items for use at home or in the studio.
For the black velvet background, buy three meters of black cotton velvet (available from mail order suppliers such as Meadow Fabrics in the United Kingdom; see www.meadowfabrics.co.uk) and attach it to the wall.You can simulate the effect of the Ezybox Hotshoe by stretching muslin around a thick picture frame, and then placing the frame on a table in front of your flash or photo lamp.For the reflector, see “Make Your Own Low-Cost Reflector” earlier in this chapter.The total cost of making these items is less than a third of the price of the pro kit. The drawbacks include lack of flexibility and no stands for either the Ezybox Hotshoe simulator or the background.
Creating No-Lamp Portraitures: Taking It Outdoors
Now you're getting really Spartan—no lamps at all! Can you still make a decent portrait? Yes, if you hunt for the best location. Even food photography (essentially portraits of food) is possible outdoors in natural light. I've just taken a series of “Summer Salads” by placing the dishes in dappled sunlight. You can do much the same with people if you explore the shade of trees and buildings until you find the right combination of key (main) and fill (secondary) light, created by reflections from walls and windows.
Use Your Hands to Find the Best Light
One way to find the best light is to use your hands. Extend a hand well away from your body and move it around at different angles. In this way, you can quickly find the direction of the light. As you walk around, you can see how the direction, strength, and even the color of the light change.
Why Light, Cloudy Days Are Better
There is no better day for outdoor portraiture than one with a thin layer of cloud across the sky. It turns the whole location into the equivalent of a vast light tent. On this kind of day, your subjects will be evenly lit, with none of the ugly shadows that are so unflattering. If the day is bright enough, you will not need flash. Take care if the sun is overhead; just out of shot, use a reflector under the sitter's chin to gain some uplight fill.
Choosing Your Spot: Try Open Doorways
If it's a sunny day—too bright outside and too dark inside for natural light portraits—try the halfway point: the open doorway. Ask your subject to stand just inside the room, in light shadow, while you take the shot from outside. One of the advantages of choosing this location is the ease with which you can diminish the importance of the background. It will not only be out of focus but also in deep shadow, making your subject stand out more clearly.
Using Scrims to Soften Sunlight
A scrim is a large, free-standing unit that consists of a frame and some translucent material to diffuse the light. You can place it between your subject and the low-lying sun in the early morning or late afternoon, or use it with artificial lighting. It diffuses the light more effectively if the light source is farther away. In this respect, the sun (at 93 million miles away) has a distinct advantage. Because the sun is vastly bigger than the Earth, its rays are essentially parallel when they arrive here. A scrim will soften this light over a sufficient area to enable full-length, evenly-lit portraits and glamour shots.
You can make your own scrim from inexpensive materials. Here are two options:
The quick scrim. By far the easiest way to make a scrim is to acquire a portable clothes rail, like those used in shops for holding full-length dresses and coats (see Figure 3.2). You can pick these up for next to nothing when a store closes down—or from auctions of shop fittings. Stretch a sheet of translucent material, such as a shower curtain, from the top rail to the bottom of the unit, attaching it firmly at both ends (see Figure 3.3).Figure 3.2 A clothes rail makes a good support for a scrim.
Figure 3.3 Secure the translucent material to the rail.
For this project, I used the material I bought to make the Gary Fong-style diffuser (see Chapter 13, “More DIY Photo Fun Accessories”) and it worked perfectly, but you can use any material as long as it is both translucent and neutral in color. It is difficult, sometimes impossible, to use a scrim in windy conditions, but even a light breeze will cause problems if you have not secured the material properly. Once in place, it shields the subject—any subject—from direct sunlight, softening shadows while gently shaping objects and features (see Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4 The scrim diffuses the glare of the sun.
