Taking Better Pictures: Part II 'Photography is Light'

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Taking Better Pictures: Part II 'Photography is Light'

Post by Namuna »

Taking Better Pictures: Part II "Photography is Light"

There it is, I've just summed up in 3 words the whole of what Photography is ALL about! ...Photography is Light!

Ahhh, but how can it be so easy you might ask? Well, it AIN'T! though it seems these days that everybody and their glaucoma-eyed grandmother is buying digicams and taking pictures that seem 'nice', even a monkey will eventually take a 'nice' picture after snapping off a few HUNDRED shots (which is quite easy to do these days that digital makes it FREE to take as many pictures as you want). But it is the person that's got a clue about dealing with Light that's going to come out with results as they WANT (instead of doing a best of 500 kind of thing)

but what do I mean by 'Light'? That's where things get confusing, complicated and frustrating...But the people that have learned to master it are the ones that can make a living from it.

Whether you've got a fully automatic (aka Point-and-shoot) digital camera or a Digital SLR that lets' you control every detail...You (or the camera, in the case of the full auto) are working and adjusting how you take your picture based on the situation of Lighting. The success of taking a 'good' picture is if you've properly compensated and configured your settings for the Lighting situation.

In this installment I'm going to go over some of the details of what it is to deal with 'Light' and the tools you have at your disposal to conquer it. Unfortunately this tutorial is gonna be just about meaningless for anyone that doesn't have manual camera controls though, but it's info that might be of use anyway.

Let's begin...

In essence, when we're dealing with Light it's about compensating for too much or too little of it. So let's first discuss the tools a camera with manual controls gives you to compensate for the situation.

- Shutter Speed
- Aperture
- ISO
- White Balance


While each one of these settings allows you to adjust for more or less light, there's a give-and-take with them each! Here's more detail about that...

Shutter Speed
Shutter Speed allows you to control motion, or rather to capture motion. Depending on how fast or slow your settings are, you might have a blurry picture of a turtle walking or make a hummingbird look perfectly still in-flight. The faster you want to set the shutter though, the more light you'll need!

Aperture
Also called F-Stop. Aperture controls your 'Depth of Field'. Depth of Field can be defined as "amount of space that remains in focus in front of and behind the object you are focusing on." Imagine a portrait of a person where only their eyes are in focus and everything else is out of focus, or imagine a picture of a landscape where it seems EVERYTHING from an inch away all the way to inifity is focused. This is what Aperture settings allow you to do, but the more area you want to be in focus, the more light is needed!

ISO
What the acronym stands for doesn't matter, but how it affects your pictures does. ISO settings come in ranges like 50, 100, 200, 400, etc... In the digital world it works the exact same way as in the Film world, which is to say the higher the number the less light is needed to get a properly exposed shot. Unfortunately the downside here is that the higher the ISO setting the grainier the picture will be.

White Balance
White Balance is your tool for compensating for 'colorcast'. Ever see a picture that looks too yellow or too blue? Results like that are because when you're shooting under certain conditions (like when using the flash, or in flourescent lighting and such) causes the picture to have a disproportionate amount of a certain color. The camera's White Balance settings allows you to compensate for such situations. No real give-take here except if you use the wrong WB setting and still get a wacky hue to your pictures, usually whatever picture enhancing software you use (like Photoshop) will allow you to correct for this.


Alright, so those are the tools available and a little explanation on their strengths and shortcomings. So now you might be thinking; That doesn't seem so bad, I can probably just worry about 1 of the settings and adjust things to my liking from there and learn the others as I need to...HA! You poor FOOL to think that! What if you're at a night football game and want to take action shots of your son/nephew/friend on the field? Alright, so it seems you're going to need at least a speed of 1/500th of a second shutter speed to properly get the action without blur...But it's a NIGHTGAME, so your fast shutter setting results in completely black pictures because you don't have enough light for such a fast shutter speed!

This is what sets the Point-n-Shooters from the Pros. You've got to learn how to INTERACT your tools to get the results you WANT! In the example above, you already know you need the 1/500th shutter so now you go to Aperture setting and set it as wide-open as possible. Well, now you've got proper exposure so that everything isn't all dark anymore...BUT because you had to use such a wide-open aperture, ONLY the football your son/nephew/friend is running with is in focus and EVERYTHING else is out of focus (remember, setting the aperture for more light = less depth of field)! Well, now you've got no choice but to resort to using a higher ISO. So finally you've got a properly focused, action shot and it's exposed properly so as to not be too dark, and even though it's a little grainy you were able to get that shot of the game winning catch!

Now, there's already so much info out there on the Net I'm not going to bother going into all the fine details and all the crazy ass mathematical formulas you can use to figure things out with these settings, but here's a few noteworthy things to keep in mind:
- If you're taking handheld pictures, to compensate for being human and having hands that shake no matter how still you try to be, a general rule of thumb is that you need at least a speed of 1/90th of a second shutter to compensate for hand shake.
- The lowest possible ISO setting is preferrable (for sharpness), but in general an ISO of 200 is considered decent.

I'll wrap this installment here. Learning and getting adjusted to just these items is going to take practice. Start your projects off by figuring out the priority of your settings (like for action shots Shutter Speed is priority, or for product shots you'd want to control what's in focus and what's not so Aperture is priority there.) then go down the line with what you want the other settings to be and that should set you on the way to getting better results. Some cameras will also allow you semi-auto settings, I use this option quite often with my Digital SLR (it's cheating a little bit, but goddamned it I LIKE it!). These settings are usually called Shutter-Priority or Aperture-Priority where you set what Shutter or Aperture you MUST have and let the camera fiddle with the other settings to get proper exposure.

My next piece will go further into the tools available (external tools that is), such as Tripods, Flashes, Light Meters and Lenses with built-in Image Stabilizers.

Over and out (for now).
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Post by CaboWabo »

So the higher the Aperture setting, the less that is in focus?
BUT because you had to use such a wide-open aperture, ONLY the football your son/nephew/friend is running with is in focus and EVERYTHING else is out of focus (remember, setting the aperture for more light = less depth of field)!
Higher Aperture = More Light = Less Depth?
Say for instance you're taking a shot in macro mode, shooting with a low Aperture setting would give us only our subject in focus. While shooting with a high Aperture setting would give us our subject and background in focus?
Would there be any quality difference in the 2 shots with 2 different Aperture settings? (Not including the background in focus obviously)


ISO, so would you say you normally don't even mess with that and just adjust your lighting or some other setting to compensate for more lighting?


excellent article my man - it's Monday and now I feel really stupid. lol
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Post by Namuna »

The idea of 'Aperture' or 'F-Stop' is definitely tricky until you get some practice, and the idea of 'the higher the f-stop number, the smaller the hole' (or diaphram) is definitely confusing until you get used to it so you've got some good questions.

Aperture (aka F-Stop) works as a ratio. The biggest possible opening you can get is at a 1-to-1 ratio (or stated in f-stop terms; f/1 or f1)...Which is considered the 'smallest' f-stop setting. Whereas if we shut the hole all the way down (say to F/22) so that it barely lets any light in, this is considered your 'biggest' f-stop setting. Just try to remember the f-stop numbers pertain to a ratio, so the higher the number the smaller the hole (because 22-to-1 is a smaller hole than 1-to-1, but the number is bigger).

Better yet, check out this page with a picture of 2 diaphrams:
http://www.tpub.com/content/photography ... 209_86.htm

The one on the left looks like it's set to the biggest setting of F/22 (remember, f/22 is a ratio so that means it's set at 22-to-1, which is VERY small). While the one on the right might be at F/11.

So, on the ratio scale from 1:1 being fully open, to 22:1 being a tiny pinhole and almost fully closed...The 'BIGGER' the ratio (f/5.6 or f11 up to f/22) the 'SMALLER' the hole.

Now, as to the EFFECT of DOF, check out this page:
http://www.photozone.de/3Technology/demos/depth.htm

Notice the picture of the Lamp, in all 3 aperture settings (f/2.8, f/5.6 and f/11) the lamp was the item being focused on and as the person used 'BIGGER' aperture settings (which means the 'hole' or diaphram gets smaller and smaller) you notice how much more of the background is then in-focus.

So, the Higher the Aperture (from f/1 to f/11 to f/22) = the SMALLER the diaphram or hole = the more light is needed = the more depth-of-field you have (or the more area in front of and behind the thing you focused on, is in focus).

Quality is uneffected, except for what's in focus.

ISO is where graininess comes into play, personally, I try to keep my ISO at 200 or lower for maximum sharpness...But if you've done everything else and still don't have enough light, then you have no choice but to use a higher ISO.
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Post by Nasphere »

Hey CaboWabo, I just read your post and thought i'd play with the cammy a bit. OMG! check out the difference between the two pics, both have different aperture settings.
A=aperture, S=shutter speed.

Left=A-8.0, S-0.3... Right=A-2.0, S-1/40

http://img48.exs.cx/img48/2649/aperture7xm.jpg

Notice the mouse pad isnt in focus closer to the cam in pic 2 compared with pic 1, and the obvious differences in focus of the background.
Hope this helps!

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Post by CaboWabo »

holy shit that seems backwards.
I mean, I guess it makes sense the way you explain it, but you'd think the smaller the aperture, the wider the lens so the more it can focus on.

It's easy to get lost in the terms and forget to abstract it to something as simple as "bigger" or "smaller" lens opening. That helped me a lot when you put it like that.

okay, I can Aperture affects a lot. So in those 3 pictures of the lamp, was the amount of light the same? Is this considered White Balance?
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Post by crazydave »

CaboWabo wrote:holy shit that seems backwards.
I mean, I guess it makes sense the way you explain it, but you'd think the smaller the aperture, the wider the lens so the more it can focus on.

It's easy to get lost in the terms and forget to abstract it to something as simple as "bigger" or "smaller" lens opening. That helped me a lot when you put it like that.

okay, I can Aperture affects a lot. So in those 3 pictures of the lamp, was the amount of light the same? Is this considered White Balance?
That's probably why they have them make those pinhole cameras first thing in the photography class. I always seem to understand the technical stuff if I can actually see how it works first hand with a little hands on experimentation.
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Post by CaboWabo »

crazydave wrote:I can actually see how it works first hand with a little hands on experimentation.
just like my weiner. lol

(missing hog)
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Post by Namuna »

CaboWabo wrote:...So in those 3 pictures of the lamp, was the amount of light the same? Is this considered White Balance?
Nope, each time the person used a higher f-stop setting (higher f-stop = smaller diaphram/hole remember, and the smaller the hole the MORE light you need) he must've slowed the shutter speed down to compensate...I wouldn't doubt if he had the camera setup on a tripod.

No, improperly set White Balance just means when a picture comes out looking too saturated with 1 color...Here's a page with a decent example:
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~beowulf/photog ... lance.html

The top picture is WAY too oversaturated with Blue...So his 'White Balance' was skewed toward blue...So he fixed it in the bottom picture.
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Post by Nasphere »

Namuna! You are awesome!!! I was always putting the aperture at 2.0 so that way i could get the fastest shutter speed, i thought shutter speed is what made it clear, ISO was just explained to me on new years and since then i've always had that on 50. Pictures are coming out so clear now... thanx namuna!!!
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Post by Namuna »

Nasphere,
Great! I'm glad to hear the info was helpful!

Alright, I've been rackin my brain trying to come up with an easy way to remember the whole deal with bigger = smaller with Apertures...Here's what I came up with:

When people talk about their aperture settings, you'll see numbers like f/5.6 or f/11 or f/32. Here's what you do; substitute the 'f' with the number 1, so now you've got 1/5.6 and 1/11 or 1/32...Fractions

So that should make it easier to see that the 'BIGGER' the f/# (f/2.8, f/5.6, f/11), the 'smaller' the hole is (1/2.8, 1/5.6 or 1/11).

Now think of light as being water and to get the correct exposure (so that the picture isn't too bright or too dark) you need 1 gallon of water....

What happens when you're pouring that 1 gallon of water though a funnel with a 1/2 size hole vs a 1/11 size hole?...Since the 1/11 size hole is WAY smaller, that means you need MORE TIME (time = slower shutter speed) for the 1 gallon of water to pour through the funnel right? That's why I was saying the guy used slower shutter speeds when taking those pictures of the street lamp.

Finally, what happens when you pressure water to go through a hole? You get a stream of water right? Okay, think of that stream of water as the Depth Of Field...If you applied the same amount of pressure, but only changed the size of the hole (aperture)...Then the smaller the hole got, the tighter and further out the stream would go....Hence, the larger the f-stop setting (meaning the smaller the hole), the further out the 'stream of water' (aka Depth Of Field) would go.

Phew!
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Post by crazydave »

I went ahead and stickied this, got sick of scrolling down the page.

Thanks for the water metaphor Namuna. It's amazing how handy water metaphors are. That's what helped me understand electronics. :lol:
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Post by betty.k »

and on the topic of light

i'm a big fan of diffused and reflected light. f'rinstance, taking pics of things in direct sunlight can sometimes be too harsh. you could move your subject to a shaded area and use the reflected ambient light, wait for a cloud to diffuse the sunlight, or leave it in the sun and place a bounce board (white sheet, peice of paper, etc) on the opposite side to the sun and reflect the light back, bringing up those shaded areas.

same deal applies to your indoor studio. try having your light come from the left of the subject and place a bounce board on the right, just out of shot. or tone down a harsh light by placing some diffusing material over it, a white t shirt maybe or some non stick baking paper, etc.

all this helps to soften the shadows and give a more even coverage of light.
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Post by codesuidae »

Ya'll might be interested in the free lessons at webphotoschool.com. They also have some pay lessons you can get access to for 8 bucks.

You can also find good info at photo.net and FredMiranda.com.

You're probably mostly looking for product lighting tips.
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Post by Namuna »

betty.k,
That's good stuff! When I get to Part. III your suggestions will fit the topic nicely. I didn't go more into actual setup details because I wanted folks to get familiarized with the concepts first, before jumping into setups.

codesuidae,
This Part. II tutorial I put together is more about the practical understanding of the tools available and hopefully some analogies for folks to grasp the concepts easier. Those sites you mentioned are definitely worth looking at (I know I do all the time, especially the DPReview forums), but not everyone really bothers to break things down so it's easier to digest.
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Post by arch2b »

nice thread :-)

taking good pictures will do miracles for whatever it is your trying present. it was a big learning curve for me. for every 1 picture in my gallery there are atleast 3 that didn't make the cut. i use the suto bracketing feature alot as well.... under expose, just right and over expose. between the 3 you usually get 1 nice image
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