Photography 101

PambyPanda · Jan 16, 2016

I figured I would start a thread to help others who are either into Photography or who are looking to get into photography.

I studied 5 years of photography in college and 4 years before that in highschool. I started in the darkroom and moved to digital.

I would like this thread to be civil and not a measuring contest so please if you disagree with help given from other users or I don't post things such as;

"X is wrong you need X"

Simply give your advice and move on.

Also try to bare in mind this is general advice. So questions such as "why is my monitor printing reds that look orange?" I won't have an exact answer because many things are taken to account and with a case like that but I can help figure it out.

Topics to ask about

Cameras
Composition
Printers
Lenses
Paper
Color Calibration
Effects
Editing
Softwares
What kind of gear?
How to shoot X?
Film
Film Camera
Large/Medium Format
History
Porcessing Film
etc...

Finally if I don't know the answer I will find the answer and give you links to the best of my ability.

Also for those that don't photograph or are not into photography feel free to ask questions if you are just curious, I have always liked teaching.

Disclaimer I strongly discourage asking business related questions as those are better left to business personnel. Here are some links to help you in that direction

http://www.tonylunacreative.com/ Great career developer
http://asmp.org/ Great association that can help with pricing, model releases, invoicing etc.. I strongly recommend becoming a member if you want to be a professional photographer
http://www.macgroupus.com/LeftMenu/AboutUs.aspx Great place to learn about what gear the industry is using.
http://www.photovideoedu.com/shop.aspx Student Discounts for gear. Read the Eligibility Requirements section to find out how to get gear.

Lastly If you want to talk I am usually in the team speak some time after 6:00pm PST

diapernh · Jan 17, 2016

Cool photo nerds!!! A good podcast is the improve photography podcast and any of their sub podcasts. To answer why your reds look orange... Your monitor either needs calibrated or is going bad. Never edit photos on a laptop screen, your color calibration cannot be achieved

siysiy · Jan 17, 2016

Hi

I would like to know how to take photos of fire works please

As they are prity.

PambyPanda · Jan 17, 2016

diapernh said:
Cool photo nerds!!! A good podcast is the improve photography podcast and any of their sub podcasts. To answer why your reds look orange... Your monitor either needs calibrated or is going bad. Never edit photos on a laptop screen, your color calibration cannot be achieved

That is one of many reasons that can cause that. Others can be but not limited too

"Is the monitor calibrated to the printer"
"Are you using a pigment or dye ink printer"
"Are you using the correct paper type, Matte vs Glossy for the your printer" Matte absorbs more ink so it can cause colors to look lighter
"Do you have the correct ICC profile for the paper? Did you make it yourself or download one?"
"Did you proof your image and then edit with the paper profile enabled on a calibrated monitor?"

Their are many reason that can cause color shift, its a matter of checking them off one by one. Sometimes it is even just a bad batch of inks that either you had sitting too long or the retail store did.

diapernh · Jan 17, 2016

I have 3 photo printers I run. A hiti 510, a Shinko 1245 and a canon selphy. I do onsite event photos and have a photobooth.

I cannot wait till April when I go n vacation, driving from Ohio to the Grand Canyon al g rt 66 when possible

PambyPanda · Jan 17, 2016

sisi said:
Hi

I would like to know how to take photos of fire works please

As they are prity.

Hey SISI okay so taking photographs of fireworks can be a bit hard first lets start with what you will need.

Gear
A Tripod this is a must. You need something that will not move the camera at all.
A Camera with at least a bulb option Bulb is a shutter speed or more so lack of a shutter speed. Bulb allows you to keep the shutter open so light can hit the film or sensor (digital cameras) for as long as you determine. Most camers do this by keeping the shutter open for as lone as you hold down the shutter release button (the button that lets you take a picture)
A Remote Shutter Release this connects to the camera and allows to take an image without touching the camera. Humans are not physically stable, so if you try to hold done the shutter release button on the camera itself for any longer then a sec you will vibrate the camera and create blur in your image. **Note** Remote shutter Release are made either by a third party or the camera manufacture and can range for $20 to $120 as some are paired with an intervalometer. Not beware of fakes and crappy third party releases. So read reviews, test in store, and above all else MAKE SURE IT CONNECTS TO YOUR CAMERA there are many times when a person buys a release or any camera attachment that does not have the same connection for their camera because they brought a release for another model camera or they didn't know that they need an adapter for their camera.

Ok now on to the shooting, please note I will try to keep this as simple as possible. Their are many principles at play in taking images of fireworks, so I will try to explain them as simple as possible to avoid confusion.

Ok so at this point it is usually a good idea to scout the location where the fireworks will be launched from. Because fireworks are aerial in nature you may need to scout up to a 5 mile radius. All really depends on the area.
Basically what you are looking for a a spot that will give a a nice bottom half of the image. What this means is you are looking for contrast. Every image is cut into thirds; foreground, middleground, and background. So when you see images of fireworks above a lake the contrast between the shiny water with the reflections a bit blurry and the dark sky with sharp detail is appealing.

So find a spot that gives you a nice lower half that won't take away from the point of the image. The Fireworks. A few tips, the eye is drawn to the brightest part of the image. If something is too low in the image why is it there? If something is too small and can't be defined, Why is it there?

So think if these things when composing your image. Give enough visual information for the reviewer to be able to tell what he/she is looking at.

Okay now that you have your location its time to set up. So connect your shutter release to the camera and connect the camera to your tripod. Level out the camera and tripod. I recommend a spirit level with a hotshoe attachment with three axis such as http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._Axis_Hot_Shoe_Bubble_Level.html/prm/alsVwDtl Side note* Vello is a third party camera manufacture that makes C grade gear that may have a Remote Shutter Release for your camera at a decent price.

Once everything is leveled it's time to compose the image. Take a look at your horizon line which is usually a city skyline in firework images. Place this where you want in the image. Not too high that you cut out fire works and not too low that it looks like it shouldn't be there.

Now adjust the camera to make the horizon line parallel to the bottom of the image. The last thing you want is an image that appears crooked unless you are "Dutching" the image. Dutch is to angle the image to get a certain style or look more on that here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_angle

Now that you have it lined up and composed to how you want it. Lets talk how to get the fireworks to show.

So focus on where the fireworks are coming from. E.I if they are coming from a sports stadium focus on the stadium . If they coming from a park focus on a section parallel to the fireworks of that park. The concept here is to focus on something that is either directly under the fireworks or close to it in respects to your image.

Now the setting of your camera. This is the hard part. You have to know how to mess with ISO, Shutter Speed and FStop

You want to have an F Stop around 8-16 because you want to be able to play with it to control expose.
Your Shutter release will be based on how long it takes a firework to go from explosion to full expansion. Usually that's about 1 sec.
Your ISO will be needed if say you can't open your f STOP NUMBER any more to allow more light in but this is a give take option. Higher ISO number means Higher Noise and that means lower quality image.

Now if you have a compact camera it doesn't allow for this control. So you might have to tell what compact your have, brand and model number, and I may be able to find out what control you do have and give you better exact settings.

I know this is a lengthy read but proper fire photography is a bit advanced.

NabePup · Jan 17, 2016

I love just about all art (especially digital creation, as in animation, music production, and illustrations), but I absolutely love photography as well and just got myself a Nikon D7100. I mainly got it to get better pics of stuff I sell online, but eventually I wanna start shooting automobiles (both showroom and live action) and landscapes and possibly start compositing with some of my shots (with both stills and video). I can't think of anything in particular to ask about atm, but I like the sound of this thread and am interested to see what posts will appear here.

Moonshot · Jan 17, 2016

I liked your reply on the camera shutter release. I shoot Canon and use my RC-6 a lot. It was a must for night photos. I shoot some for as long as 25 minutes if I want star tracks. I am an old film guy that is still learning digital photography. I will check into this thread from time to time as there are some great pointers here. When you are able to look, there is a photography group on here. I hope you find it and join.

PambyPanda · Jan 17, 2016

TheCaptain said:
I love just about all art (especially digital creation, as in animation, music production, and illustrations), but I absolutely love photography as well and just got myself a Nikon D7100. I mainly got it to get better pics of stuff I sell online, but eventually I wanna start shooting automobiles (both showroom and live action) and landscapes and possibly start compositing with some of my shots (with both stills and video). I can't think of anything in particular to ask about atm, but I like the sound of this thread and am interested to see what posts will appear here.

The D7100 is a great starting camera. A few tips I don't know if you know.

- Dig through the manual and turn on the ISO Extended Mode if isn't on already it will get your ISO to go to 25600. You might never use it but it's learning what a photo shouldn't look like.
- Take images in RAW and Jpeg with max resolution which is 6000x4000 and look how big the file size is in your editing program and eidt them, just to learn the tech side of things to understand how images change from file types and information.
- Do the same as above but with all the different video formats.
- Take an image where you need the on camera flash such as shade and then adjust settings so you can take the same image without the flash and look at the lighting and see why on camera flash is disliked.

As for selling things online if you can afford it try buying this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/460097-REG/Impact_402056_Medium_Digital_Fluorescent_Light.html the light tent is basically a soft box and with the three lights you can do a lot as far as highlights and background lights.

As for cars I had two instructors in school who shot cars was John Thawley who shoots for some local magazines http://www.johnthawley.com/ his website is odd when you get there click on "work" and then click on the next image or the previous one to move left and right. His car images are mixed in.

The other is named Tony Labruno who is more show room photography http://www.tonylabruno.com/vehicles/ his site is more organized, just click on Vehicles at the top. I think you will enjoy his sight.

Thanks for replying. I kinda want this thread to get of a decent size and maybe we can do little Adisc Photography competitions.

PambyPanda · Jan 17, 2016

Moonshot said:
I liked your reply on the camera shutter release. I shoot Canon and use my RC-6 a lot. It was a must for night photos. I shoot some for as long as 25 minutes if I want star tracks. I am an old film guy that is still learning digital photography. I will check into this thread from time to time as there are some great pointers here. When you are able to look, there is a photography group on here. I hope you find it and join.

Thanks for your reply Moonshot. I agree the shutter release is very important. Film will never die! Im actually trying to save up for an old medium format film camera and create a make shift dark room in my house.

ade · Jan 18, 2016

acorn said:
Has anybody got experience of converting negatives (35mm) to digital format?

it can be done using a standard flatbed scanner or an AIO printer, but best results seem to be with dedicated devices. Aldi and Lidl sometimes have negative scanners, and Amazon is always there elsewise.

if using a flatbed/AIO, you may need to tweak the colours and stuff; any freeware will be able to do that.

with the fireworks thing, and seeing as the poster is in the UK: be aware of the weather! a tripod may need to be weighed down, against the wind, and come Bommy Night or New Year's Eve, a camera heater may be needed. and you can see why i don't bother

additionally, if out in the sticks, levelness isn't such a great issue as most structures go cockeyed with time and rainfall (even the new wind turbines 'round our end are going wonky!). try, and something will always look cockeyed.
best to just go for a natural balance in the view and you can make adjustments later, once reviewed.

PambyPanda · Jan 19, 2016

acorn said:
Has anybody got experience of converting negatives (35mm) to digital format?

Hey Acron converting 35mm negs to digital can be done a few ways. Let's go over them. These are in no particular order.

First and foremost; services. Basically this is where you send in your negatives and get them back along with a disc that has all the images on a CD in a RAW or Jpeg format. Depends on what you pay for. This is something you may need to google in your area and do a little research in your area to see who is preferred.

Second You purchase your own scanner. Now this has two HUGE cons; price and knowledge, if you don't know what you are doing, and more pros then I can list! First it's about getting a good scanner. This is what was recommended to us at a COLLEGE level. An Espon Perfection V800. This is one of those Read-the-Manual type things. Their is a steep learning curve to this. So take your time. The benefit is the amazing quality you will get with this as well as the film holders to scan your negatives. You get a enough holders to do large 4in X 5in Images. Once you get the hang of using this and the included software you can then download other softwares that can give you much more control.

Third This method assumes you already have a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) Camera. Basically what you are doing is taking an image of your negative with your DSLR to get a digital file. I will link this PetaPixel Article. What to note about this article is that it only shows ONE method of how to capture and edit your image of your 35mm negative file. There are other ways to do this. What you basically need is a way to have your film at a 90 degree with flat even light behind it and then your camera at 90 degrees as well at the same level as your film and take an image. Editing at that point is about inverting the colors and editing to your style.

Hope this helps!

PambyPanda · Jan 22, 2016

acorn said:
Has anybody got experience of converting negatives (35mm) to digital format?

Just letting you know that I did reply to your post, but because I am not EC I am still waiting for it to be approved.