LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY with Tom Grill

Understanding Exposure Part 1: Moving your camera into Manual mode

2011-08-28T17:07:00.004-04:00

Modern cameras with their built-in modes for every anticipated photo situation from macro to landscapes have actually made it more difficult to learn camera basics by separating the photographer from the essential elements that make up a correct exposure. The purpose of this lesson is to break down camera exposure into three basic elements -- what I will be calling "speeds" -- and show how each of these elements relates to the others. From there you will find that it is easy to determine the correct exposure in any situation and that mastering control over exposure is what will provide you with creative control over your photograph.

Most cameras meters will read a scene and try to average it out to a neutral exposure. In situations like this the photographer must determine in advance what is important and adjust the exposure to obtain the proper results. Here, setting the exposure for the face of the statue rendered the deep background shadows a dramatic black in contrast.

Only a knowledge of camera exposure will allow a photographer to capture a scene such as this. The interior of the barn shows detail while the exterior if over-exposed. Knowing where to place the exposure made all the difference in this image.

The Three Speeds:

There are three elements that affect the amount of light hitting the camera sensor. We will refer to each of these elements as a "speed" in the sense that each controls in its own way how fast light is deposited on the sensor. The three speeds are: shutter speed, lens speed, and sensor sensitivity speed. the three need to be in harmony to produce a correct exposure. Sounds simple so far but gains in complexity as you realize that you can in fact make changes to any of these speeds (usually for aesthetic reasons) so long as you make an equal and opposite change in any of the other two speeds. Let's look at each speed separately and then see how they are related.

Shutter Speed:

Shutter speed is usually the easiest to understand. It simply refers to how long the camera shutter is open to allow light to pass on to the sensor. This is measured in seconds and fractions of seconds. The typical increments of shutter speeds starting from one second are:

1 second, 1/2 second, 1/4 second, 1/8 second, 1/15 second, 1/30 second, 1/60 second, 1/125 second, 1/250 second, 1/500 second, 1/1000 second, 1/2000 second.

Shutter speeds exist above and below these increments, but you will notice a trend in this list. Each shutter speed halves or doubles the speed of the shutter speed immediately before or after it. For instance, 1/125 second is twice as fast as 1/60 second and twice as slow as 1/250 second. Looked at another way, 1/125 second allows half the amount of light to pass as 1/60 second and twice the light as 1/250 second.

A very slow shutter speed of 1/4 second was necessary to allow the running water to blur. To keep the rest of the scene in sharp focus it was necessary to have the camera on a tripod.

In the past, full increments were the only shutter speeds cameras had. The advent of electronic shutters has allowed manufactures to create fractional shutter speeds. Adding to the confusing, the user can actually set the fractional increment in a menu option on most DSLR cameras. For now, it is important to grasp the basic shutter speed units listed above. The fact that they can be further divided into 1/3rd or 1/2 units won't alter the principle of inter-related speeds.

With a hand-held camera the photograph panned the camera from left to right as the taxi went by. This created some blur in the scene of New York's Times Square that accentuates the excitement of night time in the city.

There are, of course, reasons why you would want to select one shutter speed over another. Typically these reasons have to do with selecting a fast shutter speed that will freeze a particular action, or selecting a slow shutter speed because it will allow you to close the lens aperture further to increase the area of focus, called "depth of field". We will cover these creative reasons in more detail individually in a future lesson. For now, let us stick to how the three speeds are related on one another.

Lens Speed:

The speed of a lens is controlled by its aperture, and reflected in a number called the "f/stop". The aperture is a moving diaphragm inside the lens that changes in size. As it opens, it allows more light to pass through the lens to the sensor. As it closes, it cuts the amount of light passing on to the sensor. Here is a list of the common f/stop apertures found on camera lenses:

f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32

In situations where you want a very shallow depth of focus, the lens aperture needs to be very fast (i.e. open). For this photo an aperture of f/2 was used on a 135mm telephoto lens to pinpoint the focus on the shell while the little girl's face was completely out of focus.

As with shutter speeds, there are further aperture openings beyond this list, but this is the practical limit. Like shutter speeds, these apertures also half and double each other so that an aperture of f/4 allows half as much light to pass as f/2.8, and twice as much light at f/5.6. Also like shutter speeds, apertures can be further broken down into thirds or half units by setting the camera menu. For now we will stick to the full one-stop increments as an easier way of understanding exposure relationships.

Selecting a very slow lens aperture of f/16 and maintaining the native 100 ISO of the camera contributed to the overall sharpness and depth of focus in this image of dunes at Death Valley. Knowing this going in the photographer realized that the camera needed to be on a tripod to compensate for the very slow shutter speed of 1/15 second.

Sensor Speed:

Sensor speed is the speed at which the sensor captures light. It is measured in ISO. Most modern sensors have a base ISO of 100 or 200. From there sensors increase in speed in increments similar to the other two speeds, namely by doubling the light sensitivity of the prior speed as follows:

ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800.

Each unit doubles or halves the nearest unit. For instance, ISO 400 has the sensor capturing light twice as fast as ISO 200 and half as fast as ISO 800. You might ask why not go for the highest available ISO? The answer is that any increase or decrease in ISO speed from the camera base unit (referred to as the "native ISO") degrades image quality by introducing noise (similar to "grain" in film) , and loses detail. So increasing (or decreasing) ISO speed from the norm is a trade off.

Many locations to not allow a tripod. This photograph of the interior of a mosque in Istanbul was achieved by increasing the ISO of the camera sensor to 1600 and selecting a fast, open aperture on the lens that allowed the camera shutter speed to be set high enough for it to be hand held.

As with the other speeds, ISO can be further broken down in 1/3rd increments. (e.g. 200, 250, 320, 400, etc.) For the purposes of our discussion, let's not confuse the issue and stick to the full units in all speeds.

Putting it all together:

A light meter is used to measure the amount of light falling on a scene. Modern DSLR cameras have a light meter built into them. Professional photographers will usually also have a hand held separate light meter to determine accurate readings of a scene and to record the differences between the shadows and highlights. For now, let's just work with the built-in camera meter.

When you look through the viewfinder of your DSLR you should be able to see the light meter scale. If you don't know where it is, consult your camera manual. Most scales have a center mark, usually a line, that marks when the exposure is correct. There should also be a plus (+) and minus (-) indicator on either side of the center line. In between there are usually marked scale increments. These may be given in thirds, halves, of full speed increments.

The correct exposure for any scene is measured by the central indicator of the exposure scale. There should also be a second moving element -- a line, dot, or light -- that indicates the manual setting of the camera as it relates to the correct exposure. Simply put, when your camera is in manual (M) mode and the center of the exposure scale is lined up with the moving element of the scale the camera is set for a correct exposure. If the moving part of the scale is on the minus (-) side of the scale, your camera setting is under-exposed and the picture will be too dark. If the moving part of the scale is on the plus (+) side of the scale, your picture is over-exposed and will come out too bright.

Deciding to have the cathedral in silhouette and the foreground lamp out of focus were creative decisions the photographer used in determining the exposure for this scene.

How to achieve a correct exposure in manual mode:

With your camera in manual (M) mode, you first need to select an ISO setting. This is usually done from either a menu option of a button or dial marked "ISO" on the camera body. Sensor speed (ISO) degrades image quality as it increases so you want to keep it set as close to the native ISO of the camera as you can. Circumstances will dictate what you can do. On a normal, sunny, or lightly overcast day, it is usually best to leave it at the native ISO setting of 100 or 200. Indoors or on an overcast day or deep shadow area, you will want to increase ISO. For this a range of ISO 400-800 will do the trick -- keeping in mind that lower is better. In very dimly lit situations, such as at night, in a darkened room or club, you will need to boost the ISO towards its maximum level - a range between 800-6400. As a rule of thumb, try not to boost the ISO beyond 1600. On most cameras image quality deteriorates dramatically above that.

Once you have set your ISO, open your lens aperture (f/stop speed) to its maximum opening. Next change the shutter speed until you zero out the exposure scale that is in your camera on the camera display. By "zero out", I mean move the needle, or whatever mark your camera has, until it coincides with the middle setting of the exposure scale. At this point, you have achieved a correct exposure setting . The next thing to understand is that there can be more than one correct exposure. Understanding this and how to make exposure changes is at the heart of why you would want to use the manual setting at all.

Relationship of the three speeds:

We have already seen that each of the three speeds -- shutter speed, lens speed (f/stop), and sensor speed (ISO) -- half and double the increment above and below it. That means that all three speeds are related in the same way. If you make a change in any one of them, you can equalize that change with a move in the opposite direction of one of the other speeds. Let's look at an example.

Suppose you have a correct exposure of ISO 200, f/2.8, and 1/500 second, but instead of f/2.8, you want to have an aperture of f/5.6. f/5.6 is two steps away from f/2.8 (f/2.8 to f/4 to f/5.6). To compensate for that move you have to make an opposite move with one of the other speeds. For instance, you could decrease the shutter speed to 1/125 second (1/500 to 1/250 to 1/125 equals a move of two increments). Alternatively, you could increase the sensor speed from ISO 200 to ISO 800 (ISO 200 to ISO 400 to ISO 800 is two speed increments). Instead of either of these moves you could have decided to make one incremental change in the ISO from ISO 200 to ISO 400, and one shutter speed change from 1/500 second to 1/250 second. That also would have equaled a two stop speed change to equalize the 2-stop change you made to the aperture.

Most cameras set to automatic would darken this image and yield the background more in focus. Creative control over the aperture and knowledge of exposure was necessary to arrive at a light and airy image with a soft, out-of-focus background.

Conclusion:

The question all this raises is "why" you would want to have control over your exposure speed settings. The answer to this is that selection of aperture, shutter speed, and to some extent ISO is a creative decision. There are specific reasons why you would want a slow or fast shutter speed or why you would want to select an open or closed aperture. There are practical reasons also.

Sometimes exposure alone can completely alter the outcome and interpretation of the image. These two photos were taken within minutes of each other. Creative choices of exposure and lens choice made the difference. Each is a different way of seeing the same scene. Knowledge of exposure and the ability to change it resulted in varying interpretations.

Knowing when and why to veer off of the "correct" exposure is what creative photography is all about. The next three lessons will cover each of the three speeds in depth and explain the practical and creative potential of each.

Lighting: Using a pop-up flash

2011-08-06T14:44:00.006-04:00

Recently, someone asked me to write an article for this blog on how to use pop-up flash to obtain natural looking photos. I have to admit that I do not use a pop-up flash very often due to its limitations. For one thing, it has a short range, usually around 12'. But worse than that, it is positioned on the camera so the light it throws is very harsh and directional, and casts hard shadows. This last feature is worsened when the camera is turned vertical so the shadow falls off to one side of the subject instead of down and behind where can be hidden. Nonetheless, I thought the project would be interesting to explore so here it is.

The real trick to using on-camera, pop-up flash correctly is in not allowing it to dominate the scene. When used as the major light source, the flash creates an artificial, flat, and overly bright light that destroys the natural ambiance of the scene. What we are going to try to do here is look at methods of applying the flash to enhance the naturally lit scene rather than dominate it.

Let's examine some of the uses for on-camera flash as an auxiliary light source.

Outdoor fill flash:

It might seem counter intuitive to use a flash outdoors on a sunny day, but this is a situation that can benefit the most. Harsh shadows on the face from a strong overhead sun can ruin an outdoor portrait. The difference in exposure between the bright highlights and deep shadows is so great that important detail may be lost in one or both areas. There are two ways of dealing with this, both involve what is known as "fill flash". When the subject is facing into the sun, flash fill can be used to brighten the shadows and equalize the exposure between them and the highlights.


Harsh shadows on a sunny day can ruin an outdoor portrait. Popping up the on-camera flash to fill in the shadows with extra light results in a much more flattering look. Most cameras can handle this by placing them in TTL flash mode.

Light from most built-in flash units are of very low power so you may need to use them in close to achieve full benefit. Over powering the sun is no small task.

A better solution for an outdoor portrait might be to turn the person to face away from the sun. This puts them in a back lit situation, which is much easier to fill, and often more flattering.

Positioning the subject with the sun behind them results in a very flattering back lit scene. Using the on-camera flash here adds more detail to the face and a catch light to sparkle the eyes.

Outdoor flash fill situations are usually very bright so determining proper exposure is primarily a matter of using your normal camera exposure, setting the flash on TTL, and allowing the camera/flash derive its own output. Working in the manual setting you can select the correct exposure reading for the overall scene. You don't have to worry about the shadows because this is the area that the flash is filling to bring its exposure up to the level of the overall scene.

You will need to check to see that you are not inadvertently overexposing the scene. Most cameras have an upper shutter speed limit at which a flash can be used. This may not be high enough to properly expose the scene. Often this is a result of the ISO being set to high, or may be a result of trying to use a lens aperture setting that is too open.

Indoor flash fill:

Indoor flash fill is usually not as necessary as outdoor fill, but it may add clarity and detail to the subject. In addition, it will add a flattering "catch light" in the subjects eyes. Catch light is the bright dot of light that is reflected in the subjects eyes making them sparkle.

An indoor situation that might require flash fill would be one where the available light is sufficient to take the picture, but the shadow exposure is beyond the range of an overall even exposure. Filling the shadows with light is similar to outdoor flash fill, although a major difference, light intensity, will likely be much less and may lead to overexposing the subject. Care must be taken to achieve an overall even exposure that does not washout the background.

Even though you can take a photo indoors without a flash, you may want to add it to create a more even, flattering light.

Slow synch flash:

This technique is used when the background scene is very dark relative to the foreground subject, as with a person photographed against a night city scene, or a person photographed indoors where the scene is quite dark. Slow synch derives its name from the slow shutter speed necessary to allow the background to record more naturally in the photograph. Typically, on most cameras, particularly when using them in auto setting, the flash is synchronized to a shutter speed between 1/60 - 1/250 second. The flash will only function at a speed slower that this synch speed, and the camera tries to use the highest synch speed available. This is much too fast to record any detail in a dark scene.

A scene like this is very difficult to light and achieve a natural look. Typically, the scene would be dark and the warm glow from the candles would be lighting the subjects face. Pop-up flash distorts the natural feel of the scene and produces an false interpretation of the scene. Direct, on-camera flash gives off a harsh, directional light that produces distinct shadows, particularly when the camera is in a vertical position as it is here. Furthermore, the color of the flash light seems false because it is balanced for daylight, while the scene itself usually has a warm, yellow glow associated with indoor lighting. Finally, the flash completely overpowers the light from the candles falling on the subjects face.

In order to achieve a more natural look that harmonizes the background exposure with the foreground subject receiving light from the flash, it is necessary to decrease the shutter speed to a point where the background brightens up to normal exposure. This may result in a very slow shutter speed, one that will normally blur a photo. Since the flash is lighting the primary subject, it is not contributing any blur from the slow shutter. Only those areas receiving no light from the flash are subject to blurring. So slow synch flash is a technique where a shutter speed slow enough to record the background properly is combined with the on-camera flash lighting the main subject. You want to try to harmonize the two lights.

Many modern cameras have a mode setting for accomplishing slow-synch flash automatically, but they do not always work properly because they are not tied into the nuances of the variety of scenes you may come across. Furthermore, in these auto modes the camera selects both shutter speed and aperture. You might want to use a different aperture for creative reasons,as we did in the sample below.

To accomplish slow synch flash yourself, set the camera to "M" for manual mode. Select an aperture setting that you find works best -- wide open to blur the background, or stopped down to bring the background more into focus. Take a light reading of the background scene, but select a shutter speed that will under-expose it approximately 1 1/2 stops. Keep your flash in TTL mode so the camera will determine the correct amount of flash to deliver onto the foreground subject. Take a test photo and examine it. If you would like to have the background brighter, slow the shutter speed a bit more. If you want it to be darker, increase the shutter speed.

Here is the same scene as above shown in slow synch. The background is brightened considerably, plus it is softly out of focus because the slow synch lighting method allowed the use of a wide open lens aperture. A natural, overall warm yellow glow permeates the scene and some light from the candles still falls on the subjects face.

Flash softening aides:

Direct light from the on-camera flash is very harsh and directional. It produces a false impression of the actual scene with a hard edged shadow, normal color balance, and unflattering detail. Slow synch already helps this, but using a diffusing element in front of the flash can help soften it more. I researched several inexpensive, commercially available devices to discover which would work best at producing the most natural light.

Number 1 is the Gary Fong Puffer. Number 2 is the Interfit small camera diffuser. Number 3 is the LumiQuest Soft Screen.

No diffuser was used in the photo on the left. The shadow is hard, and there is a distinct hot spot on the models forehead reflecting the light of the flash. Number 1 shows the results of the Gary Fong Puffer. Light on the models face is softened. The glare on the forehead is diminished, and the shadow on the wall is softer and less pronounced.

Number 2 shows results from using the Interfit diffuser, and is the best of the three devices. The models shadow has completely disappeared and the light on her face is soft and even with no hot spots. Number 3, the LumiQuest is little better than using no diffuser at all.

Flash diffusion works best when the diffusing surface is large and placed far enough away from the flash to spread out the light. When it is too close, it might be diffused but it is still directional and will cast a distinct shadow. As distance and diffusion surface increase the light is more evenly distributed and falls on the subject softly and naturally. In the samples above, one reflector, the Interfit small camera difuser, accomplishes this softening effect better than the others.

Conclusion:

In many situations an on-camera flash can supply the extra light needed to add detail to a dark scene or fill a harshly lit situation. Using the light properly is the key to success on whether the resulting photos have a false or natural look to them.

Camera pop-up flash is not necessarily the best choice for lighting, but it certainly is the handiest and often the only choice available. Learning to use it properly can greatly enhance capturing your candid moments.

In a future article I will expand the use of camera flash by showing the use of more powerful, auxiliary flash units that can be used either on or off the camera, and can be used in tandem with other flash units.

Technique: Capturing a Splash

2011-07-20T20:44:00.000-04:00

The photo technique for capturing a high speed splash is not difficult once you understand the basic setup. When taking pictures of water, or glass for that matter, you need to begin by lighting the subject from behind. Since transparent liquids and glass allow you to see the background, this is the surface you need to light first. If your subject is highly transparent, like water, the background may be all you need to light. Otherwise you can add two more lights, one pointing directly at the subject from behind, and the other aimed at the subject from the front.

Blue gels were put over the lights to add some color to this scene. The background lights were aimed low so there would be a fall off of light causing a gradual shadow towards the top. Note the black lines in the water. These are caused by reflections from the black tub placed beneath the water to catch it. The lines help sharply outline the water shape against the light background

Equipment:

The key to freezing high speed action is having a light that gives off a very short duration of flash. Most flash units made for SLR cameras fall into this category. The flash duration is even shorter when the flash unit is used at a lower power rating, such as 1/16th or 1/8th power. The trade off here is in depth of field. In order to keep the splash in full focus you will need to stop the lens down to a low aperture, such as f/11 or f/16.

A light meter that can measure light from a flash is helpful, but not absolutely necessary. You can probably come close enough to the correct exposure with some trial and error tests.

This setup uses four Nikon SB-900 flash units. Two are aimed at the background. The other two are aimed at the subject, one from behind right, the other from the front left. Two units are used on the background to keep the flash power on a low setting that will allow for even shorter duration of flash. The black tub does double duty. It catches the water from the splash, but also caused black reflections in the liquid and glass to help define its outline.

Setting up the camera:

Your camera may have trouble focusing on the splash so set it to manual focus and, with the camera on a tripod, take a manual focus reading of an object placed in the spot where the splash will occur. Put the camera in its manual exposure setting and choose the highest shutter speed you can for your camera/flash combination. This is usually in the range of 1/250th of a second. A lens of medium focal length is a good choice. The ISO setting should be set low to maximize quality.


An assistant dropped one ice cube into the soda from about a foot above the glass. Timing has to be perfect to capture the splash at the right moment. Try keeping both eyes open so you have a peripheral view of the hand dropping the ice cube and can be prepared to snap the shutter at the right moment.

The exposure on the background should be approximately 1-2 stops brighter than the light falling on the subject from the front. With the camera set to the correct exposure for the subject, the background will now be pure white.

A shot like this requires pinpoint timing and very good hand-eye coordination. An assistant threw a dart at the water balloon, and the shutter had to be pressed just as the dart entered the frame. Keeping the shutter button half-pressed will shorten the length the finger has to travel to complete the exposure.

This is a combination of two water splashes similar to the one that began this article. They were put together and twisted with post-processing software. The exposure setting for all the images in this article were done at 1/250th second, ISO 200, and f/14.

How to Photograph Manhattanhenge

2011-07-14T16:29:00.000-04:00

Twice a year, approximately three weeks both before and after the summer solstice, the sunset lines up with the street grid of Manhattan. The term for this, Manhattanhenge, was coined in 2002 by astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson of the American Museum of Natural History as a reference to Stonehenge in England. It only applies to those streets beginning with 14th and going to upper Manhattan that were laid out in 1811.

The edges were allowed to go dark to enhance the effect of New York as a canyon of buildings framing the setting sun. See the photo at the end of this blog for a different interpretation of this same image.

Although the exact date for Manhattanhenge is when the sun is a full ball centered on the street as it sets on the horizon, it is possible to obtain great photos for at least five days before and after the main event.

Be sure to allow plenty of time in advance of actual sunset. You will have approximately ten minutes from when the sun peaks around the corner of the southern building until it finally sets. So get to your shooting site at least a half hour before the time listed for actual sunset.

Photographing the sunset event is not too difficult, if you don't count taking your life in your hands to dodge street traffic. The three things you will have to deal with are: finding the right location, selecting the proper lens for what you want to capture, and setting the proper exposure when shooting directly into the sun.

Location:

While any cross street on the grid above 14th Street will provide the proper vista, a good choice is usually one of the wider streets, such as 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, etc. Two streets that make particularly good vistas are 34th and 42nd Street. That is because they contain two important New York buildings that look distinctive in silhouette. The Empire State Building is on 34th Street at Fifth Avenue. The best place to record its silhouette and the sunset is from the East side of Park Avenue.

A similarly dramatic view can be had of the Chrysler Building, which is located on 42nd Street at Lexington Avenue. The best place to include it in your photograph is from an overhang that crosses 42nd Street near First Avenue. Unfortunately, this is one of the most popular views and is very crowded with people, some of whom show up in the early afternoon to reserve a spot. Another view of 42nd Street including the Chrysler Building is from street level where 42nd crosses Second Avenue.

The shooting spot happens to be right in the middle of the Street. People wait for the "walk" signal and then quickly take a few photos before scurrying back to the safety of the sidewalk when the light changes to give the traffic the right of way. Large groups also gather on the 42nd Street overhand that goes up Park Avenue to Grand Central Terminal. The problem with this view is that the Chrysler Building is not in the shot so you have to be content with a simpler shot.

Whatever location you choose, it is best to scout it out ahead of time. The Sunset event happens quickly in less than ten minutes. When you couple that with all the traffic and crowds, you really do not have much time to prepare on the spot.

Lens choice:

There are basically two types of shots to this event: One is a wide view that includes some of the story-telling detail of the city. The other is a tight, telephoto shot of the ball of the sun, perhaps combined with some to the city traffic to add interest.

In this case a moderate wide angle focal length of 35mm includes a full view of the city with the Chrysler Building on the right framing the setting sun.

Here a long telephoto lens of 400mm compress the space. This enhances the congestion of traffic and provides a solid circular shape to the sun. The refracted blurs over the traffic were caused by shooting directly into such a powerful light.

For a vertical wide angle view you will need the equivalent of a 24-50mm lens. (All focal lengths here are expressed for full-frame format cameras. On a camera with an APS format divide the focal length numbers by 1.5. For instance a 24-50mm in APS size would be approximately 16-33mm). To obtain a horizontal shot like the first one on this blog entry you will need a lens between 16-28mm.

To capture the ball of the sun takes something between 200-600mm, with 300-400 providing a good combination of full sun and some compressed areas of the city traffic and buildings.

Exposure:

Shooting directly into the sun, especially with a telephoto lens will usually fool the camera light meter into under-exposing the image, resulting in a very dark silhouette with no detail. It is best to put your camera on manual exposure mode and take a light reading. Do not read the light with the camera pointed directly into the sun. This will result in an under-exposed image. Instead, point your camera to an area of the sky where the sun is just a tiny bit out of the frame, and take a light reading of this area. Use that as the basis of your starting exposure. To play it safe, bracket your exposure by shooting one full stop lighter and one darker than the correct exposure.

You probably do not need a tripod because you will be shooting directly into the sun. This will provide an exposure with plenty of motion-stopping shutter speed. An ISO setting of 200-400 should work fine for this, and should be sufficient to allow a fast enough shutter speed to hand-hold the camera at a lens opening of f/4-5.6.

Special effects:

The exact same six-sided star filter was used to create these two photos. The lens on the left was set to 24mm, while the one on the right was set to 44mmm. This resulted in a much more exaggerated star effect.

A star filter can enhance the effect of the sun with a wide angle lens. On a lens of normal to telephoto length it can become a bit over-powering.

Conclusion:

In a situation like Manhattanhenge where you include a very bright light object and dark areas of shadow, it is best to take the photograph in RAW format. This will give you a wider color and exposure latitude to make corrections and adjustments afterward. All of the photos used above were done in RAW and enhanced later in Photoshop to bring out the color and details where desired.

This is the same photo as the one at top that opened this blog entry, but it shows far more detail in the shadow areas and a different tint to the sunset. Bringing out an image like this was only possible because it was shot in RAW, providing plenty of color and detail with which to work in Photoshop.

Filters: Using a polarizer

2011-07-09T11:39:00.001-04:00

The ability to alter images in post-processing of digital photography has eliminated the need for most of the enhancement filters that had been so popular in film photography. In fact, the digital sensor is so much more sensitive to optical quality that placing any filter -- especially one of poor optical quality -- in the optical path will most likely be detrimental to the quality of the final image. One filter effect that does not lend itself to complete obsolescence in the digital age is the polarizer -- although one of the more common uses of the polarizer, darkening blue skies, can usually be done with simple post-processing.

A popular use of a polarizing filter is to darken a blue sky. With modern digital photography and post-processing this is not as important a use as it once was. In the photo above a polarizer was not necessary. The sky was simply darkened and contrast added afterwards in Photoshop.

What to look for:

Polarizing filters come in two varieties: linear and circular. On a camera incorporating either AF (auto-focus) or built-in metering -- which is to say all modern DSLR cameras -- use a circular polarizer. A linear polarizer will disrupt the AF ability of the camera and give false readings to the built-in light meter.

A polarizing filter must turn to produce its result. This necessitates a filter mount that may be thicker than an ordinary filter, and can cause vignetting with wide angle lenses. Better quality polarizing filters are specially made with thinner mounts. As with any filter used in digital photography, it is best to spend a little extra for a higher grade filter mount, optical glass, and coating of the glass. This will have the least negative impact on the optical system of the camera.

Darkening blue skies:

A polarizing filter can be used to add punch to a landscape or travel shot by intensifying a blue sky, particularly if there are interesting cloud formations present. The clouds will stand out more dramatically against the deeper blue.

The photo of the Empire State Building on the left is without a polarizer; that on the right is with. Notice how the sky is darkened, plus additional color and contrast are added to the building in the polarized image.

As already mentioned, much of this darkening can also be done in post-processing of the image. Nonetheless, when you combine the ability of the filter to also add deeper color to other reflective surfaces in your shot, using the polarizer may be a better solution that post-processing. Keep in mind that a polarizer will only work on a blue sky. It does nothing for a cloudy sky. The ability of a polarizing filter to darken a sky depends on the type of sky and your shooting angle in relation to the sun.

A polarizing filter has its greatest darkening impact on a sky when the section of the sky being photographed is at a 90 degree to the sun, as in the illustration above. At sunset, with the sun directly behind you at 180 degrees a polarizer will have no effect whatsoever

The polarizer works best when it is used closest to a right angle (90 degrees) from the sun. With the sun behind you or overhead, turn the polarizer in its mount until you see the darkening effect in the camera viewfinder. A polarizer can darken the exposure by as much as 2-stops. Be aware of this and make any necessary exposure adjustments in your cameras, if you are in manual exposure mode. Your camera meter should be able to compensate for this adjustment automatically.

This image illustrates two potential problems with adding a polarizer to a wide angle lens. First, the filter mount was too thick for the 28mm wide angle lens on this full-frame camera. This resulted in dark, vignetted corners in the image. Second, the sky varies in darkness from left to right resulting in uneven exposure. This is amplified more through use of the polarizer. Here is an instance where no polarizer would have been better.

Using the polarizer in conjunction with a wide angle lens may cause other problems. The blue sky changes intensity as it moves from the 90 degree angle in relation to the sun. A polarizer can negatively emphasize this exposure contrast when using very wide angle lenses.

A second thing to look for with a polarizer on a wide angle lens is vignetting, which is the darkening corners in the image. This is caused by the lens actually seeing part of the filter mount and recording it as a dark out-of-focus area. Be aware of these problems. You may not actually be able to see them occurring through the viewfinder. When using an extreme wide angle lens, it is best to also take a backup shot without the filter in place.

Restoring color to foliage and other reflective surfaces:

One of the most useful implementations of a polarizing filter is in landscape photography for bringing out the saturated color of foliage. A polarizer also cuts down the exposure, sometimes by as much as one or two stops. This can be an aid to photographing moving water where you want to create a blur of the water by using a slow shutter speed.

Without a polarizer to cut the reflections the leaves in the top photo are completely washed out through over-exposure. In the bottom image the full color and saturation of the leaves is restored by turning the filter to eliminate the unwanted reflections.

A typical example of where a polarizing filter is important. It was used in conjunction with a neutral density filter to lower the exposure to 1/2 second which added a blur motion to the moving water. At the same time the polarizer cut out the reflections on the foreground leaves and rock surfaces to result in a deeply saturated photo with plenty of color and detail.

One of the most important reasons to use a polarizer is so you can restore color to reflective surfaces. This is particularly prevalent when photographing landscapes with foliage. The surface of leaves are pointed skyward. Since the leaf surface is glossy, it will reflect the pure light falling on it from the sky. This will result in loss of color and actual over-exposure of the bright, reflective surface on the leaf. A polarizer can eliminate this reflection and restore the natural color beneath it.

This is a dramatic example of how a polarizing filter can eliminate the sky reflections in foliage and bring out the true colors of the leaves and flowers.

Here the polarizer is doing double duty by darkening the blue sky and also bringing out the colors in the autumn leaves.

Eliminating unwanted reflections:

The ability to remove unwanted reflections can be beneficial when photographing any reflective surface, such as glass, metal, water surfaces, or even shiny skin.

The polarizer works best at a 90 degree angle to what is being reflected. The photo on the left of a store window reflects the street scene to such a degree that the sign in the window is almost illegible. On the right the polarizer almost completely eliminates the distracting reflection and now the sign behind the window is clear

Use of the polarizer on the right image eliminated the white sky reflections in the statue and brought out more color in the metal.

The only difference between these two images is that the polarizer was used for the photo on the right. Color saturation is restored, glare is eliminated.

The polarizing effect can sometimes be overdone. It is not always necessary to turn the polarizer to its full effectiveness. This may eliminate reflections that are integral to the final photo.

In this instance, the polarizing filter totally eliminated the reflection of the sailboat in the water. Including some degree of the reflection would have made the shot more interesting.

Here the polarizing filter was only partially turned -- just enough to deepen the colors in the water and the shiny skin of the model, but not so much that it eliminated the important reflection of the girl in the sand.

As always, proper use of an aid to photography should enhance the creative outcome of the image, not detract from it. Know the limitations and abilities of your equipment and accessories. Sometimes knowing when not to use a piece of equipment is as important as knowing when to use it.

2011-06-29T16:51:00.000-04:00

Photographing Fireworks

Obtaining colorful and exciting photographs of firework displays is not difficult, but it does require an ability to work a camera in manual mode with a remote release. Digital cameras have made photographing fireworks much easier and fun to do. Here is how it is done.

You will need a steady tripod for your camera, a remote release to hold the shutter open, and a lens that will enable you to fill the frame with the fireworks display. A zoom lens is best because you can modify the cropping as you go by zooming in or out.

Fill the frame with the bursts for the most dramatic effect. On a dark night you can even leave the camera shutter open to capture several bursts in the same exposure.

The first thing you need to do is determine where to aim the camera. Fireworks displays usually go off from a fixed location and cover a limited area of the sky. You should be able to see the individual fireworks trail as it shoots up from the launch area. Fix you camera so that it covers the area of the sky where the full burst occurs. It is usually best to fill the frame with the burst. Including too much of the dark sky is dull and uninteresting.

Set your camera to manual exposure mode. You will need to also set the shutter speed to B, or Bulb, which will keep the shutter open as long as you are holding in the button on the remote release. Choose a low ISO setting -- preferably the base ISO of your camera. This will usually be ISO 100 or 200. Set your camera menu to turn off the noise reduction for long exposures. This will only slow your camera down and is unnecessary where the dark areas are pure black.

Your lens should also be set to manual mode. The auto-focus mode may have to hunt for a focus point that will result in many out of focus images. Note that on most modern auto-focus lenses the actual infinity setting of the lens is often not at the very end of the focus ring range. You will need to set the infinity symbol on your lens by eye. Set it for the very center of the symbol. The focus ring can easily be bumped off of its setting so it is wise to tape the ring securely in place while shooting.

Over-exposing the photo will result in a colorless image, like the one on the right. Close the aperture down another f/stop or two until you can see some color on your camera display.

The proper selection of lens aperture is a bit of a variable. Fireworks differ from one another in terms of brightness. So you will need to do some on the spot testing to determine the best f/stop to use. The range is usually between f/8 and f/16, but can go as low as f/22. With an ISO of 100, I would recommend starting with f/8 (f/11 for ISO 200). Overexposing the fireworks results in washed out bursts lacking in color. So it is best to keep the exposure toward the darker end and bracket by at least one full f/stop, or even more. For instance, you could begin with f/8, then try f/11 and f/16. Check your camera display to see if the color is in the burst.

To avoid your fireworks photos looking like the bad example above you need to keep your shutter open long enough for the bursts to record in the frame. When the exposure is too short, the burst does not have enough time to "paint" itself in your picture. That is why the burst streaks in this photo are so short. There is also far too much dull, black sky in the photo. This photo needed to be cropped tighter.

Here the crop was tighter and the shutter was open long enough to capture several bursts of fireworks that allowed them to create long, bright streaks that completely fill the frame.

Timing is very important. You want to keep the shutter open long enough during the burst so that it "paints" itself on the camera sensor. This will give you the fullest color. Too short a shutter speed will only record a small part of the burst. You want to record as much of the burst as you can without over-exposing the photo. The length of exposure depends upon the brightness of the burst and the sky. If you have set your camera up properly, you can release the shutter as soon as you see the firework begin its upward motion. Keep the shutter open during the full burst. This is usually between three and eight seconds, but could be longer if the sky is really dark.

If your camera can double expose, you might want to experiment with capturing more than one burst in the same photo. Alternatively, you can capture a number of bursts and combine them later into one frame during post-processing.

As the display goes on, the sky begins to fill with smoke. This smoke reflects the light from the fireworks and can affect the exposure. You may need to darken your exposure by stopping down your lens aperture by another stop or more.

These rules should give you a good starting point. Experiment by varying the lens aperture and the time the shutter is open. Above all, be aware of where in the frame your bursts are recording and tighten up the crop if there is too much black area from the night sky.

Composition: Making clouds work for you

2011-06-12T09:08:00.000-04:00

Every year over 3 million people visit the Statue of Liberty in New York. It is a safe bet that all of them have a camera and take one or more photos. That means that over 3 million images of the Statue of Liberty are taken annually. With odds like these you may wonder if it is still possible to obtain a unique photograph of the famous statue of the lady in the harbor.

The photo on the left is what anyone can achieve -- and millions do -- on a nice, cloudless day. The photo on the right was taken from a scenic boat tour at sunset. The uniqueness of the clouds and careful timing to include the sun just peeking out from behind the statue make this shot a one-of-a-kind composition.

You will need to shift your main focus from the static subject of your scene and concentrate instead on the changing landscape around the subject if you hope to create a composition that is uniquely your own. Keep in mind that while the subject is fixed in space two things are not: you and your position relative to the subject, and the weather. Taking advantage of these changing elements will result in an image you can call your own. One thing is certain: the weather as reflected in the cloud formations over your subject is constantly changing and will never be exactly the same twice. Make a compositional design relationship between the weather and the subject and you will have something you can call uniquely your own.

This photo is of a statue at the Gettysburg Battle Field monument. Careful placement of the clouds create a swirling effect that emphasizes the running motion of the soldier.

First you must train yourself to look beyond the subject to the surrounding area. Too often photographers "see" only the main subject they are photographing and ignore the subject's environment.

These samples show the difference that a cloud formation can make to a photo when it is incorporated into the overall composition. In the left photo the castle is centered in the frame without much relationship to its background. In order to incorporate a large cumulus cloud formation into the right image, it was necessary to place the castle down towards the very bottom of the frame. Inclusion of the cloud formation dictated compositional placement and lens focal length, both of which make for a much more interesting shot.

Working with clouds can often make a bad day look good.

I arrived at Stonehenge on an overcast winter day at mid-day. This is usually the worst time to photograph a travel scene. There was just enough blue sky peeking through the clouds to provide some color. I decided to create a shot that would illustrate how the monument would look in relationship to its bleak landscape. A 28mm wide angle lens allowed me to include the upper limit of the sky. This is important because the sky is a deeper blue higher up. The actual subject takes up very little space in the frame. Nonetheless, it stands out dramatically against the sky and surrounding plains, and further emphasizes the important relationship Stonehenge had to the environment. About 80% of this photo is taken up by a rather humdrum sky. Relating it to the main subject gives it a new meaning and makes this shot unique.

Sometimes you luck out with an unusual cloud formation. Here the clouds form a halo effect above the church cross on the Island of Mykonos. All I had to do was change my position to align the clouds with the cross.

Two completely different cloud themes of western scenes: On the left a small, single cloud suggests a dry, remote desert area. In the example on the right a huge cumulus cloud formation over the Grand Tetons in Wyoming emphasizes the grandeur of the mountains and the landscape.

The weather does not have to be sunny to provide an opportunity for dramatic cloud compositions.

The church was placed over the bright area of the stormy sky to help define its silhouetted shape.

I found this storm cloud formation while driving though the South Dakota plains. Pulling off the road at the next exit, I was able to grab a shot of the immense storm over the landscape. The plains themselves take up a very tiny area at the bottom of the frame, and further emphasizes the relationship of the landscape to the sky.

These oil tankers were anchored off the shore while I was sailing in the Aegean Sea just before dawn. A typical shot of this scene would be to make a horizontal composition by coming in tight on the ships with a telephoto lens. To make the photo more unique I included the tops of clouds over the scene and changed the composition to a vertical.

Forming your composition by incorporating cloud formations in relationship to your main subject is a great way to give your photos a special look, and one that is impossible to duplicate ever again. The photo becomes a reflection of your personal experience with a scene at a particular time and place. Isn't that what good photography is all about?

Lenses: Introduction to Focal Lengths

2011-05-23T12:16:00.000-04:00

The focal length of a lens refers to the actual length of the lens from a point inside its front lens element to the point where it comes to focus -- in our case, that is on the camera sensor -- when the lens is focused at infinity. Modern optical systems and zooms can make this calculation more exacting, but this definition is sufficient to understanding the elementary difference between lenses and how to use them creatively. Focal length is typically expressed in millimeters for modern DSLR lenses.

What we call a "normal" lens is one where the focal length is approximately equal to the diagonal of the sensor plane. On a full-frame (35mm) sensor that would be a 50mm lens. On the smaller APS sized sensor that would be a 35mm lens. All other focal length categories are given relative to what is "normal". For instance, a wide angle lens is one that is wider that a normal lens, while a telephoto lens is longer than a normal lens.

Wide angle lenses take in a larger visual area that makes them most suitable for wide landscapes, while telephotos act more like telescopes for close-up viewing of distant subjects. These are the obvious, practical reasons for selecting one focal length over another. More importantly, however, are the creative characteristics each focal length has.

This introduction will give a brief overview of the most common focal length categories and their characteristics. Later posts will cover each focal length separately and in more detail.

These photos illustrate the difference between four common focal lengths. All were taken at the same distance from the subject. Upper left is a 28mm wide angle (18mm on APS sensor). Upper right is a 50mm normal lens (35mm on APS sensor). Bottom left is a 100mm portrait lens (65mm on APS sensor). Bottom right is a 200mm telephoto (135mm on APS sensor). You can notice from the relationship of the lions head to the background columns that when different focal lengths are used from the exact same distance all they do is crop or take in more of the scene. To gain a creative benefit from the different focal lengths you need to take alter the distance of the lens to the subject. This is illustrated in the samples below.

The four broad categories of focal lengths are: wide angle, normal, portrait, and telephoto. The main creative difference between focal length categories is the sense of perspective they give. Wide angle lenses tend to expand space, while telephoto lenses compress space.

Take a look at the sample photos. The 400mm telephoto lens used for the photo on the left produces a compression of space between the jumps and the jumper. The 24mm wide angle lens used on the right produces a more "rounding" effect on the jumper and puts the viewer right into the action.

The long 200mm telephoto lens on the left compresses the scene by bringing the Independence Hall building in Philadelphia right up to the statue in front. A 35mm wide angle lens used on the right relates the two in a very different way.

For any given aperture a wide angle lens will have more depth of field, that is it shows more of the background in focus when the lens is focused on the foreground. Depth of field will be covered on its own in a later blog entry.

Wide angle lenses:

A wide angle lens is one with a focal range from around 14mm to 35mm on a full frame sensor, or 10mm to 28mm on an APS sensor. The smaller the focal length, the more area the lens covers. A 14mm lens (10mm on APS) would cover a viewing angle of 114° (81° with APS). On the other, longer end of the wide angle spectrum, a 35mm lens would have an angle of view of 63° (44° with APS).

The most obvious use of a wide angle lens is to gain a wide view of the subject.

In this photo of a departing storm and rainbow over the Grand Canyon, a 24mm lens on a full frame camera provided plenty of surrounding detail by including the blue sky in contrast to the departing stormy sky. Relating the central subject of the storm and rainbow to its larger environment told more of the story of what this scene was all about, and gave a better sense of the immense scale of the Grand Canyon.

Wide angle lenses could be used creatively by placing them very close to the foreground area of a scene. This establishes a relationship of the foreground detail to the background scene. When doing this it is often best to place the focus in the front, and by stopping the lens down to around f/8-f/16 to provide a very deep area of focus, called depth-of-field (more on this topic in a later blog).

In this photograph of the giant sequoias a 24mm lens on a full frame camera was place right next to the tree trunk on the left and the camera pointed upwards. This enhanced the sense of scale and provided a better idea of how large the trees are.

In this cityscape a 35mm wide angle lens was used to create an interesting sculptural frame of the Chicago city skyline

Normal lens:

The normal lens of 50-60mm on a full frame camera (35mm on an APS sensor) is most closely related to the natural perspective the human eye has of the environment. It is best used when you want to recreate a scene that feels natural, as if the viewer is actually part of it. In a creative sense, a normal lens places the viewer in the scene without drawing attention to the fact that the camera was even present. It downplays the role of the photographer in the scene.

Use a normal lens when you want to achieve a realistic perspective between the foreground subject and the surrounding scene as in the samples below.

Many normal lenses come with a very "fast", or wide open, aperture. This enables them to be used in very dark situations without a flash. The photo above was taken with available light in a dark barn using a 50mm lens set to f/1.4. A normal lens is very good at relating a subject to its background without distorting the perspective.

In portraiture the normal lens provides story-telling detail by relating the subject to the surrounding area

Portrait Lens:

A "portrait" lens is so-named because it causes the most natural perspective on the human face. In addition, it has a slight telephoto effect that throws the background gently out of focus. This serves to put more attention on the main subject.

This illustration shows the difference in the perspective properties of a wide angle lens versus a portrait lens. The photo on the left was taken with a 35mm lens on a full frame camera, while the one on the right was taken with a portrait lens of 85mm. You can easily see how the wider 35mm lens distorts the face, making it unnaturally rounder, while the 85mm lens produces a flattering, natural look.

Portrait focal lengths range from 70-110mm on a full frame camera (50-75mm with an APC sized sensor)

Here an 80mm lens kept the background scene of the mountains slightly out of focus so that they tell a story of where we are but do not compete with the main image of the cowboy.

Two examples of the 100mm lens delivering a natural perspective to the faces. Placing the mother and baby on the same plane in the top photo kept both of them in focus and at the same time kept the background softly out of focus.

Using the same lens for the bottom photo but placing the mother and the baby on different planes allowed the mother's face to be sharp and the baby's to be soft -- a result of the longer focal length of the portrait lens.

Telephoto Lens:

Telephoto lenses range from 135mm on up. The upper practical limit of the telephoto range is 200-400mm (135-300mm in APS), but even longer lenses can be had at 600-800mm. In addition to magnifying distant objects, telephoto lenses have the drawback of also magnifying camera movement. A shutter speed that might be sufficient to stop camera motion with a 50mm lens needs to by three times greater to stop the same motion with a 200mm lens. In other words, every time you double the focal length, you will need to increase the shutter speed the same amount. For instance, 1/250 second with a 100mm lens is equivalent to 1/500 second with a 200mm lens.

Fortunately, most modern telephoto lenses are equipped with a vibration reduction technology that can effectively freeze the action for you and allow lower shutter speeds to be used hand-held with long lenses. Still, it is best to use very long focal length lenses on a tripod to minimize motion blur by increasing steadiness. With extremely long telephotos it is almost impossible to steady them without a tripod or monopod.

Compressed perspective and shallow depth of field are typical characteristics of the telephoto lens.

This photo of a football shot with a 200mm lens compresses the lines on the field and makes them very out of focus due to the shallow depth of field.

Notice how in this picture of Prague all the buildings and statues are compressed together in a "telephoto effect".

A telephoto lens is a great way to relate a foreground shape to a background as in this example of the pine trees echoing the shape of the Grand Teton mountain range.

Conclusion:

The real reason for choosing one focal length over another is not necessarily the practical one of simply including more or less of a scene, or putting you closer to your subject. A more important point to consider when choosing a focal length is how it can contribute creatively to your image. When you want to bring the viewer right into the action, a wide angle lens used up close would be the best choice. The compression effect of a telephoto lens will relate a foreground to background in a very different way than the expanse created by a very wide angle lens. You might want to switch to a normal or portrait lens in situations where you want to illustrate the subject in a more natural way.

In later blogs I will be providing an explanation of the important creative role the lens aperture of each focal length plays in the area of focus, or the "depth of field".

Photographing cities at night

2011-05-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

The moment of perfect harmony:

The modern DSLR has made night photography easier than ever. There are a few tricks you need to know to improve your photos beyond the ordinary. First of all, let's discuss the equipment you will need.

A tripod or some sort of steadying device is mandatory. Night exposures are long and camera blur will occur if the camera is not rock steady. A cable release, while not necessary, is helpful for keeping your images blur-free. The simple act of touching the camera to press the shutter button is enough to add some motion blur to the shot. That said, I will also discuss some alternative work around for dealing with situations where you do not have a cable release or tripod.

Timing is the most important aesthetic element in taking night photos. Photographs look better when there is some detail and color in the sky. The ideal time to take your night shots is 10 to 20 minutes after actual sunset. I call this time slot the "moment of perfect harmony" where the exposure for the sky is perfectly balanced with the exposure of the city lights. At this moment you will be able to record some detail in the sky, which often goes a bluish color. Don't be afraid of taking night photos on cloudy days. The sky will still turn into a nice deep blue background. This is due to reciprocity failure, a topic I will cover in a later post.

Photographing into the west 10-20 minutes after the sun has set can add nice color and detail to the sky. Notice how the lights of the city and the light in the sky are perfectly balanced. In this case, proper timing of the shot gave plenty of detail everywhere with no heavy black areas. The exposure was f/5.6 at 4 seconds.


Here the photo of Washington DC was taken facing east so the setting sun was behind me. The sky had no color or detail that was visible to the eye. Nonetheless the camera recorded a very pleasing overall blue balanced against the lights of the Capital Building. Both situations had water foregrounds to reflect and amplify the colors of the scene. This also avoided a foreground that might have gone dead black. Exposure of f/4 at 1/2 second.

Proper exposure is very easy with modern DLSR cameras. For the most part, I find it easiest to put the camera in its "A" for "Aperture Priority" setting. This allows you to select the lens aperture you want and have the camera choose the shutter speed. While almost any aperture will do, f/5.6 or f/8 is often the most optimum optical setting for a lens. You can check your results on the camera display and by looking at the histogram to see if it is balanced. You want the high parts of the histogram graph to be in the middle. But be careful because your histogram can be skewed to one side or the other if there are large dark areas of very bright lights in the scene. Best bet is to bracket your shot. Do this by setting your camera to over expose by plus one stop and under expose by minus one full stop. You can set most DSLR cameras to do this automatically for you, but that might be more trouble than it's worth for the few exposures you are going to take of a scene such as this. My preference is to use the over/under (+/-) exposure button and dial on your camera. With your camera still on the "A" setting, change the +/- setting to +1. Take a photo. Change it again to -1 and take another photo. That should do it, but you could play safe and go for a +2 and -2 also. You should be shooting in RAW because this will provide the most options for adjusting the exposure afterwards. The JPG format will be too limiting if you do need to make exposure corrections on the image later on in post processing.


For this scene of the El Morro Castle in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, I took the same photo several times over the 10-20 minute time frame. My camera was pointing north. The sun had just set to the left so the sky was brighter on that side. In addition the lights on the castle were very dim and I wanted to be certain the exposure was perfectly balanced in both the sky and on the castle. Later I had to dodge some of the light off the right side of the photo to bring it into further balance with the left. To complicate matters even more, this photo was done in two shots that were later put together to make a panoramic image. A steady tripod is absolutely essential for a shot like this done at a 1/2 second exposure.

Working without a tripod or cable release:

There are times when you do not have a tripod or cable release with you. To steady the camera you will need to find a firm place to rest it. Then you can prop something under the lens to gain elevation and angle it in the right direction. I usually use my wallet or keys. You can use the camera's self-timer feature instead of a cable release. I usually set the time for a delay of 2 seconds. Press the shutter and remove your hand from the camera and 2 seconds later it will take the exposure. For extreme steadiness I often use a feature most DSLR cameras have to lock up the mirror. When the mirror slaps up and down it causes a vibration that can blur your shot, particularly if you are using one of these emergency techniques for propping up the camera. That is the method I used to take the photo of the Coliseum below.

By the time I took this photo of the Coliseum in Rome the sky was already past its prime in the light envelope and came in dark. To offset this I did a time exposure that included the light streaks from moving autos in the foreground. The camera angle was very low. In fact I placed the camera directly on the sidewalk and propped my wallet under the lens to angle it up. In this case I used the camera in Manual mode and read the exposure for the scene without the car lights. I wanted to keep the shutter open long enough to blur the lights of passing cars as streaks in the scene. The exposure was f/8 at 5 seconds. I waited until I saw a large group of cars coming by and opened the shutter. It took several tries to get it right, but the lights added interest to an otherwise dull foreground.

This scene of the Flatiron Building in New York was taken 10 minutes after sunset facing south. There is still plenty of light in the sky. An exposure of f/4 at 3 seconds was enough to record the passing cars as blurred lights.

The important thing to remember is that you want your pictures to have plenty of detail. Try to avoid dead spaces of deep black. Choosing the right time of day to shoot is critical, but proper placement of elements is just as important.

This dusk shot of the arch in Washington Square framing the Empire State building in New York is the result of carefully balancing the time of night with the artificial lights in the scene. Photographed facing north the sky is a deep blue. Any later and it would have been totally black and the shot would not be as interesting. Adding to the interest is the light post on the right. All of this is a result of achieving a perfect lighting harmony in the scene.