Photodigitary

Back to Basics

For many of you, I know this is way basic. But several questions in recent classes have made me rethink what new photographers know. This is very basic information about f-stops and ISO settings, but it is critical to know, and not everyone knows this. 

Aperture priority is a fine way to use auto exposure. Many pros do exactly that (including me). I know some photographers would have you always do manual exposure. I used to feel that way years ago, but having worked with so many great camera models over my years at Outdoor Photographer magazine, I don’t feel that way at all. You can use auto exposure just as effectively as manual exposure if you pay attention to such things as highlight warnings and histograms. You can be just as accurate as manual exposure and faster in  many cases. This is not a case for quitting using manual exposure if that works for you, but for feeling guilt-free if you don’t use manual exposure.

The challenge is in what apertures to use and how to balance ISO settings for the best shutter speeds and image quality. Here are some ideas: 

ISO settings:

• 100-400 good for all around use, lower number for bright daylight, higher number for lower light.
• 800-1600 (depending on camera) good for low light and higher shutter speeds when some noise is not bad
• above 1600 for really dark situations only when this is the only way to get a shot.

And some ideas for choosing and using f-stops:

• f/5.6 and larger (such as f/4, f/2.8) — used when limited depth of field is needed, i.e., to make a subject stand out from background or when faster shutter speeds are needed.
• f/8-f/11 — mid-range f-stops used when depth of field or shutter speed is not critical as this is usually the sharpest range for a lens. Distant scenes can always be shot at these f-stops.
• f/16-f/22 — small f-stops used for maximum depth of field or sharpness from foreground to background; limitation is slower shutter speed is often needed.
• smaller than f/22 — avoid if possible as these are usually not as sharp; you may find that some lenses, especially wide-angle lenses, have a distinct drop in sharpness at even f/22

The photo shown here is of a flowering yucca in the chaparral north of Los Angeles California in the amazing Santa Monica Mountains. A wide-angle lens and a small f-stop were used for max depth of field, plus a low ISO of 100 was used for best image quality. Olympus E-3, 8mm full-frame fisheye.

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Custom white balance

White balance continues to be a challenge for many digital photographers. Manufacturers don’t tell you much about it in their marketing. Traditional film photography never used it. (Technically, that is not true — a lot of pros would use a color temperature meter to check the color of light, then use special filters for that, but this was not a common way photographers dealt with color. Also, we did choose at times between tungsten and daylight film, but this was a distinct choice you had to make before anything went into the camera.) So a lot of photographers don’t realize the challenges that auto white balance tends to bring. Those have been covered before in this blog. 

I want to talk a little about custom white balance. I frequently get asked about it. Custom white balance works very well. This was what we all had to use when shooting professional video back in the 1980s and 1990s. A video camera had to be set to use the color of light correctly, so we would put a piece of white paper into the scene, being careful it was in the same light as the subject, then use that to white balance the camera. 

This is how white balancing got started. To help photographers (and to appeal to the gadget minded photographer!), a lot of small “devices” (for lack of a better term) have been created and marketed to make white balance “easier and better.” They all work to some degree. The challenge is that some of them can lead to misleading results if you aren’t careful.

When doing custom white balance, it is very important that whatever you are using for this can be placed in the light on the subject. For example, you could be shooting a small waterfall in the woods — the waterfall is lit by open sky, but the light falling on your camera comes from the very green trees all around you. A white balance device that mounts to your lens will then give an inaccurate reading if you do not move your camera. Or you might be shooting a family portrait using some beautiful light from a large window — the people get the light from the window, but you happen to be facing a tungsten light that only hits the people’s heads. If your device is on the camera and you do not move the camera to the people’s position and point it back toward the camera position (like an incident meter), your white balance will be way off.

An advantage of a white card used for custom white balance (or a gray card. for that matter) is that it is easy to put into the exact light that is on your subject. A camera mounted white balance device of any kind is easy to use at the camera position, which might not always be the light that is on your subject, and not always so easy to place in position where the subject is and pointing in a direction to actually read the light landing on the subject. You do have to be careful of some white papers, too. A lot of papers used for inkjet printing (of any kind) have built-in fluorescers that make the white look brighter, but also add a blue component to the light that is read by the camera. That can cause your white balance to be too warm. But you can always test a white card to see if it does the job you need.

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HDR Yosemite

I have been spending the past few days with my friend, Chuck Summers, photographing in Yosemite. Yosemite is a remarkable place.  And at this time of year, the waterfalls are amazing.

But photographed a lot! The whole valley is photographed a lot. Photographers practically line up for the best views. Tripods are everywhere.  And frankly, a lot of the best views of many of the falls are only available from certain, limited locations. So how do you take a picture that is not duplicating 3,567 others just the same (and that is probably from one day! Well, I exaggerate, but maybe not so much)?

So I was photographing Yosemite Falls from across the valley floor, looking at reflections, looking for frames, etc. All the standard stuff. Then I looked over and saw these wonderful trees. But they were in total shade. There was no way to photograph them with the falls in the distance in any condition other than silhouette. Yet, these trees with the falls and the rock cliffs really said Yosemite.

HDR, of course! I would never have even thought of taking such a photo before. So I shot a bracketed series of images (five total), then checked them to be sure the darkest one had good detail in the falls, while the brightest one had good detail in the trees. I processed the images slightly in Lightroom, then put them together using LR/Enfuse. While technically not a true HDR program, I like the way LR/Enfuse works with such images and with the Lightroom workflow. The result needed a little tweaking in Photoshop, and I may redo this when I am back home, but overall, I was really pleased.

No, I was amazed! I was thrilled to be able to get this shot. This is exciting for photographers, now being able to take photos that were impossible before.

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Using the LCD

I believe that the LCD is one of the most important new tools that we have for digital cameras. It is like an instant Polaroid. You can use it to check composition, sharpness, flash exposure, color balance, regular exposure and more. While it is true that it is not color managed the way your computer monitor is and you are not seeing a complete representation of a RAW file, it is still extremely helpful. You can learn to interpret your camera’s LCD so that you know how it responds to images and how that relates to the same images open on your computer monitor. 

LCD monitors are a lot better today and easier to see in bright light, but still, bright light can make them hard to see. You have to “train” yourself to see the LCD.  If you simply decide that you “can’t” use the LCD, I will guarantee that you won’t. However, if you push yourself to really use the LCD,  you can use it for more than just composition checks. Sharpness checks, fore example, is an important use. I use the LCD for that all the time. You do need to magnify your image in the LCD to really see focus, however, but that is easy to do on all cameras. 

Here are some tips on using the LCD:

1. Shield it from direct sunlight. Turn your body or use a hat to block the sun.

2. Get one of the Hoodman magnifiers that also blocks the light (hang it around your neck or put it into a pocket) — these magnifiers work really great with the latest high resolution LCDs on new cameras. 

3. Learn to interpret it. This means paying attention to how it displays images then comparing that display to how the images look on the computer. 

4. For exposure, check highlight and shadow detail, as well as the histogram. 

5. Look at the LCD as a little picture, not just a view of your image file. Do you like that picture? Would you change it?

6. Scan the edges of the LCD to be sure the photo works there as well as in the center and other key points. 

If you are shooting action, avoid checking the LCD constantly as this will take you away from the action. Do your checking when there are breaks in that action. 

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