A little known fact about camera meters is that they want to make everything look gray... 18% gray as a matter of fact. No, I'm not making this up...it's true. The easiest way to prove this to yourself is to load up your camera with a roll of slide film. This demonstration won't work as well with prints since your photoprocessor will adjust the color and exposure of your prints.
Next, using only the exposure that your camera meter indicates (don't use flash -- go outside if you have to), take photographs of a white, gray, and black pieces of paper (one at a time). Get close enough so that the paper fills up most of your viewfinder. Do something similar with other objects such as a snow or beach scene, a medium colored object, and a dark colored object.
When you get the slides back, you should notice that the white, gray, and black papers all look the same. While the other objects may not quite look as gray as the papers, you should begin to see a pattern.
The way around this problem is to use "exposure compensation." That is, when taking pictures of very light colored objects you need to OVEREXPOSE the picture by 1 - 2 f-stops. For dark colored objects, UNDEREXPOSE 1 - 2 f-stops. That way, your light colored objects will be light and your dark colored objects will be dark!
In photography at least, vibrations are not good. Vibrations or unsteadiness while taking a photograph are one of the primary causes of unsharp images. As a general rule, your shutter speed when making a hand-held photograph should be greater than or equal to 1/Focal Length of your lens. For example, if you are using a 200mm lens, your minimum shutter speed for a hand-held photo should be 1/200s, or the closest shutter speed on your camera - likely 1/250. For a 500mm lens this equates to 1/500s shutter speed. As you can see, the longer your lens, the faster the shutter speed.
This problem can more or less be eliminated by using a tripod and cable release. Tripods are one of the easiest and best ways to improve the quality of your photographs. When you can't use a tripod (or didn't carry one with you), try to brace yourself against an object such as a tree for extra stability and keep you elbows in near your chest instead of pointing them out.
Light has color. You usually don't notice it because your brain compensates for it, but the film in your camera doesn't. Just try taking a photo indoors under artificial lighting without a flash. If it's incandescent lighting, your photo will have an orange color cast. If it's fluorescent lighting, the color will be greenish.
The color of light is measured as a temperature in degrees Kelvin (K). On a bright sunny day, the color temperature of sunlight is about 5500K. In the shade or when there are clouds, the color temperature of the light increases making it more blue. At sunset, when the suns rays have to travel farther than usual, the color temperature of light decreases, making it more red.
You can adjust for these changes in the color of light by using Color Compensating (CC) filters on your camera. The most popular of these is the Kodak Wratten series of filters. For example, to warm up a scene (make it more red), use a Wratten 81A or 81B filter (B is more powerful than A). To cool the light down or to correct for tungsten lighting used with daylight film, use the Wratten 80 series of filters. There is even a special filter for correcting for fluorescent lighting - -- the FLD filter (fluorescent -- daylight). Be careful not to use this filter with flash unless you put a green filter on it- - otherwise, you will have just changed the color of your photos from green to magenta!
This is a pretty big subject, so I am going to make it into several short tips.
One of the things I get asked most about my photographs is how I get water to have a milky appearance. See Misty Mountain Stream for example. It is not the result of filtration or darkroom magic, it is simply the result of using a long shutter speed (i.e., 1/2 second or longer) during the exposure. As the water rushes by quickly, the image is blurred on the film, causing the milky appearance. You can change the effect by changing your shutter speed. Misty Mountain Stream was created with a 4 second shutter speed which is the cause of the extreme appearance of the water.
Most of the time I need a long shutter speed in order to achieve the depth of field that I require, so the milky appearance happens by default. However, you can consciously affect the way your water pictures look.
I have found that the shortest shutter speed that will cause good water blur is 1/15s. Adjust this figure up or down to suit your tastes. I personally like the effect, and, for my tastes, a shutter speed of 1/2s is ideal.
To achieve the opposite effect...that is to freeze the motion of the water...you need to use a fast shutter speed such as 1/250s. Freezing the motion of the water is very dependent upon the speed at which it is moving. So while I may be able to freeze the motion of the Hudson River at 1/60s, Niagara Falls would need at least 1/500s.
Ever wonder how to get rid of the glare that you see on water on a bright day?
Use a polarizing filter (one of the two filters that I use regularly).
Once the filter is mounted on your camera, rotate the filter while looking through the viewfinder. Hold the filter in the position where the glare is reduced or no longer visible!
If you have a point and shoot type camera or another camera that does not accept screw-in filters, don't fret....follow the steps above and just hold the filter over the lens of your camera!! Be sure not to block any gadgets such as flash or focusing beams that may affect the picture. Oh..and watch out for those fingers!
As always, take out that camera a shoot some film!
Properly exposing a scene which includes a large body of water can often be difficult because water is highly reflective. Thus when your camera's light meter senses a highly reflective object it wants to underexpose it (make it appear darker). Doing so will result in a loss of detail in your subjects that may be on or near the water.
The solution: When highly reflective water makes up a large percentage of your image, overexpose from the camera meter reading by one stop or more (depending on the lighting conditions, etc.) Your best bet is to meter off an object other than the water (exclude the water from the meter reading) and set your camera to expose for these objects. This situation also applies to snow and beach scenes.
Beware of the opposite situation (a large dark object). In that case, underexpose from the camera meter reading.
See Also Tip #1.
Here are some tips to enhance your photos of those beautiful fall colors.
Film: Try to use a saturated film. These are generally the slower-speed films (ISO 100 and less). These also tend to be higher in contrast. Try Kodak's Elite slide film and Royal Gold 100 print film. In Pro films, try Kodak E100SW slide film, or Pro 100 print film. Also, Fuji's Velvia slide film can't be beat for its incredible color saturation (however it comes at the expense of contrast and shadow detail).
Filters: On sunny days, a polarizing filter will reduce glare and help increase saturation as a result. If the day is cloudy or overcast, a warming filter may help to reduce the bluish light that is dulling the fall colors. There are also some very specialized (and expensive) filters called enhancing filters, or rare earth filters that enhance certain colors.
Other Effects: Try photographing early or late in the day when the light tends to be warmer. Also, try photographing right after a rain or heavy dew, and experiment with backlighting.
I am often asked "Which is better, Slide Film or Negative Film?"
My answer is always...."It depends on what you want to do>"
For most people, negative film will be the best choice. Negative film is the ideal choice for making prints because of the wide availability of services and the film's latitude. Latitude is a film's range of exposure capability from the darkest to the brightest areas that a film is able to record. A wide exposure latitude makes a more forgiving film...in other words, you might still end up with an acceptable print even though an error may have made in exposing the film.
Slide films are the choice of those who like to project their images in a slide projector, or for anyone who aspires to have their images published in magazines or other publications. Art directors and editors prefer to see a slide rather than negatives or prints. Slide films tend to have higher contrast, less exposure latitude, and more saturated colors than negative films. It is also easier to edit slides versus negatives because poor images are readily visible and, if you are a 35mm user, each slide is individually mounted. To discard a negative, you generally have to cut it from the rest of the exposures on a strip of film. If you like to experiment with filtration and over or under exposure, slide film is also the one to use since printers will try to compensate for these effects when making a print from a negative.
It is more difficult and more expensive to make a print from a slide but there are two ways to do it. The first way is to make an internegative. This is a negative of your slide. Since this method involves making the print from a second generation image, it is not generally the preferred way of making a print. The most common method is an Ilfochrome print (formerly known as Cibachrome). This is a print made directly from your slide using a special process. Ilfochrome prints are beautiful and very stable but can be very contrasty. There are methods to combat contrast problems including the use of a contrast mask to increase detail.
In this part of the country (upstate New York) we have 5 months of winter, so I'm going to get into some detail on this topic.
My first tip is this: You can't get any great winter photos if you sit next to the fireplace. If it's cold and snowy, put another sweater on and get out there.
Seriously now, one of the first problems with winter photography is the cold.....particularly how cold affects batteries. Almost everyone uses batteries in the photographic pursuits whether they are actually in your camera, or in a separate light meter. If you've ever attempted cold weather photography (or tried to start a car when it's very cold) you know that cold temperatures reduce a battery's usefulness. Here's how to fight back.
Different batteries work better in the cold. Some may argue with me, but I've found that I get more power from my NiCads than alkalines. However, lithium batties are the most resistent to cold. If your camera takes the 2CR6 battery, you're in luck. If not, there are AA size lithium batteries available. Some camera manufacturers are staying mum about their use, but I haven't had any problems. The only downfall is cost... about 3 times more than an alkaline AA. But, you get a longer battery life.
Keep 'em warm: Yeah right...that's easy to say isn't it? The trick is to have at least two sets of batteries. One in the camera, and a second in a waterproof container staying warm near your body (chest pockets on coats are great locations). When the set in your camera dies, rotate it with the warm batteries. The waterproof container is important to reduce condensation on the batteries. For quick warming, use one of those chemical hand warmer packets.
Use a manual camera. Obviously, if your camera doesn't rely on batteries, you're better off. Also, those that have manual cameras that only use a button cell battery for the meter have it made when it comes to keeping a spare battery warm. When I use my Hasselblad, which is totally manual, I keep my hand-held Minolta spot meter in my pocket.
If you are lucky enough to own one, some cameras can operate from an external battery pack which can be kept in a warm place.
Here's another practical tip for surviving winter photography. As anyone who wears glasses knows, bringing a cold object suddenly into a warm area causes immediate condensation. The same is true for cameras, but the consequences can be deadly for electronic cameras in particular.
So, when you are bringing your cold camera back into your home or studio, be sure to warm it slowly by keeping it in a case. Also, placing your equipment in airtight bags will greatly reduce condensation.
Condensation caused by bringing a warm camera into the cold air is generally not as significant. However, the same rules apply: cool the equipment as slowly as possible. If possible, leave the equipment in a cold place long before you need to use it, removing any batteries to preserve their power (see Tip #9).
On a similar note, if you are like me, you will have a problem with fogging your viewfinder with your breath. The only way that I have found to prevent this from happening altogether is to hold my breath (no kidding). When I have to breathe, I exhale forcibly through my mouth, in a direction away from the camera. Anti-fogging solutions help, but don't seem to work 100% of the time. If you try one of these, be sure not to use it on your optics (lenses). For the same reason, never try to blow snow off of a cold camera or lens - the ice that forms instantly will tell you that it was a very bad idea.
