Which camera hardware is right for me?

• Try to get the photo right in the camera, rather than relying on post production
• Film vs digital…
• Many of the world's best shots are done on older cameras (decades old).

Tripods:

• Clean them under running water if you’ve been out in dust or salt water
• Gimbal head
• Carbon fibre, try to make the tripod as light as possible

Smart Phone vs larger camera

• The smart phone only has a tiny sensor, you’ll never be able to get the quality you need
• Smartphones only save compressed format, not RAW etc

Filters  

• If using filters, use high quality filters. Even if the lens and sensor are very high quality, if the filter is bad, the shot will be bad.
• Neutral/constant density filters are important. Especially if doing sticking.
• Polarising filters bring out richer colours, especially between 10 AM and 3 PM outdoors. But they take away some of the crispness from the shot.
• Don’t use polarising filters for wildlife etc, you lose a few F stops.

Cleaning (lens / sensor / etc)

• High quality microfiber cloths
• Camel hair brushes
• Visible Air Air Blower (this brand/model has a filter so you’re only pushing clean air onto the surface)
• Sensor swabs
• Sensor cleaners
• Sensor Loupe (a light which highlights whether there’s any dust on your sensor)

Cleaning (exterior)

• Air blower
• Old (clean) cotton t-shirt (e.g. wipe ocean-spray off the filters / exterior)

Lenses

• Wide angle lenses exaggerate space. Near objects become more prominent, they emphasise depth
• Telescopic lenses make objects appear to be closer on the same plane, producing a more compressed image
• Prime Lens – this is a fixed lens for a specific purpose, does a better job
• Zoom Lens – it covers a lot of functionality in one lens, but there are compromises
• Fast Lenses with lower F-Stop can be used in lower light, as they let more light in, allowing faster shutter speeds. They are more expensive and heavier.

Focal Length

• This is the distance between the sensor and the lens
• Larger sensor sizes achieve the same as a lower focal length

Try to use a shutter speed lower than the focal length of the camera, e.g.

• 20mm = 1/30^th of a second
• 200mm = 1/250^th of a second
• 600mm = 1/600^th of a second

Focus

Creative blur is OK, but otherwise try to avoid it

• Subject movement
• Correct shutter speed
• Camera movement/shake
• Mirror lock-up
• Image stabilisation (turn it off when using a tripod)

Test your lenses for their sweet spots, in the field, ensure the focus is correct.

• Consider using a camera test chart
• Check a few zooms within a zoom lens (e.g. 50, 100 and 200mm
• Check every aperture at each zoom level. Some F-Stops will have issues and it isn’t worth using those F-Stops as the photos won’t be sharp
• Use manual focus
• Turn of image stabilisation and use a tripod
• Low ISO setting for maximum sharpness
• Use a cable or remote release
• Use mirror-lockup if possible

During shooting, try different focal points (e.g on clouds, then see what comes into focus elsewhere)

Use layering to shoot two photos with different focuses etc

Stiching

• A technique taking multiple overlapping images and combining them to produce one final image.
• It is useful when the scene you want to capture is wider than your widest lens or when you want higher resolution images

When stitching

• Use RAW
• Set white balance manually (consistent)
• Set exposure manually (consistent)
• Ensure the stitching head is level
• Overlap images by at least 25% (or more with wider lenses)
• Stitch from left to right

Programs

• E.g. Photoshop or Lightroom
• The software will automagically stitch it together

Nodal point

• This is the centre point within the lens between the lens and sensor, which when consistent, makes stitching much easier.
• A camera not mounted on the nodal point, will create perspective issues/differences when panning the camera. When it is mounted correctly, you can pan without any depth differences between shots
• A stitching bracket allows a camera to be mounted on the nodal point

Apetures

• Lenses are generally not designed to be used at their maximum or minimum aperture (i.e. not fully open, not fully closed)

Shooting Modes

Fully Automatic:

• The only creative input into the photo is the composition and the timing of the picture.
• Everything else is looked after by the camera
• Automatic mode can’t place any priority on focus / speed / etc

Program Mode:

• Camera sets a suitable shutter speed and aperture combination for correct exposure. It takes into account lens, light level, ISO setting and sull dynamically update this combination to reflect any changes in conditions.
• If the focal length is increased, a shorter exposure time is set to anticipate any camera shake
• This is the most convenient most in transient situations, whena rapid and frequent change of lenses or zooming is required.

Manual Exposure

• Shutter speed, aperture and flash are set manually.
• Expisure levels can be adjusted by loking at the exposure level indicator in the viewfinder
• Manual exposure keeps each shot consistent
• Ideal for backlit, high-contrast scenes and reflections, when a light source is in the frame, for low and high-key subjects, for copying and stitching

Aperture Priority

• Camera automatically sets the required shutter speed for correct exposure, depending on ISO setting and manually chosen aperture
• Flash is activated manually, and when ready, sets a suitable shutter speed for correct fill-flash exposure
• Useful for where greater  depth of field control is required

Shutter Priority / Tv (Time Value)

• Automaticall sets the required aperture to obtain correct exposure, depending on the manually chosen shutter speed and ISO setting. Flash behaves as per Av.
• Useful for sports, moving objects, birds in flight, or other moving objects which may be impacted by camera shake.

Exposure Triangle

ISO vs Aperture vs Shutter speed

• Aperture provides depth of field
• Shutter speed controls blur
• ISO controls noise

Also consider Neutral Density filters to slow down moving components (e.g. running water)

Lighting

Use what you have

• Car lights
• Torch
• Light cubes
• Sunrise
• Sunset

Sometimes flash will help even lighting in sharp contrast environments (outdoor with sunlight)

• Night shots can be ‘painted’ with flash
• Reflectors
• Black will add shadow
• White will reflect white light
• Silver, gold etc can add other colour tones

Bokeh / Blur (Aperture)

• Allows us to focus the viewer on particular areas of the photograph
• Fast Lenses are very important for leveraging Bokeh

Image Stabilisation

• Yaw / Pitch (Lens stabilisation)
• X/Y (Sensor)
• Roll (Sensor)

ISO

• Every sensor has a native ISO speed. Try to find the sweet spot.
• If you’re shooting astro / northern lights / etc, find a camera that performs well at 1600 or higher (but preferred, get a lens with a lower F Stop)

File Formats

JPEG

• A compressed format picture. Information is lost.
• Highlights and shadows are retained, a lot of everything else is lost
• Colour depth is lost, less colour gradients. Using the sRGB colour space, much more limited than the RGB colour space
• Most monitors only see the sRGB colour space – only specialised monitors will display the full colour depth

TIFF (Tagged Inage File Format)

• Lossless and world-standard image file format
• More latitude for corrections than JPEG
• Critical for archiving master copies of photos
• TIFF Files are good for the master file to print from (but keep the RAW file for further processing/editing later)

RAW (uncompressed Data)

• The data can be processed later on a computer
• It captures all the data captured by the camera’s sensor
• Many creative decisions can be made later
• Max image quality
• No need to set white balance
• Able to change contrast and saturation without image degradation
• Able to work on a 16-bit image after post-production
• 65535 (16-bit) levels of colour, instead of 256 (8-bit) levels of colour
• Useful for stitching

Histograms

• A simple graph which shows the brightness levels contained in the scene, from the darkest to the brightest.
• The left hand side represents black, then tonal through to the whites, showing the densities of pixels at each level
• Ensure there isn’t much density on either the right or the left hand side of the graph.
• High against the ‘wall’ of the whites is over exposed.
• High against the ‘wall’ of the blacks is under exposed

Peaks in the middle provides optimum exposure

• Equivalent to signal to noise control for audio signal – don’t want too little, don’t want too much.
• Different histogram channels are available too – R/G/B/Y (i.e. show density for each colour)
• Highlight warnings – some cameras will show a warning when over-exposed
• There is no perfect one-fits-all histogram shape – e.g. if shooting silhouettes during a sunrise, the histogram will show it as over-exposed. Or a sky shot may highlight some details which result in very little blacks.

Focus Types

• Auto areas (camera chooses what to focus on) – this can be good
• Single Point (in the middle of the frame)
• Multi point (auto focus on a selected spot within the frame, non-centred)
• Tracking mode (it will track a subject and focus on it, such as a moving animal)
• Face recognition
• Post-focus (after the photo has been taken)

Auto focus modes

• Single-shot auto focus (hold the button half-way, focus, then it will take the shot) - But it will reset after the single photo, there will be a different focus for the next shot)
• Flexible (adjusts focus if it detects the focus moving)
• AFC (continuously looking for focus)

Focus Lock

• Allows you to lock the auto focus, so you can take multiple shots with the same focus

Manual Focus

• Avoids hunting (searching for the right focus, and missing the shot)

Focus peaking

• Places an outline on the areas of focus
• The colour of the peaking can be changed (e.g. if taking a picture with a lot of blue, don’t use blue peaking)

Taking better photos

• Camera with you and be ready to shoot
• Don’t procrastinate, the opportunity could be gone tomorrow
• Have your camera with you
• Seeing the picture – identify the picture within the picture and wait for the right moment
• Be open to what is happening (even if it isn’t part of “your plan”)
• Patience (sometimes you need to wait for the right moment)
• Passion (gives you energy)
• Persistence (keep trying until you get the right shot)
• Peace (be a calm photographer, don’t allow the circumstances to pressure you during the shot)
• Remember the stories behind the photos
• Getting into the zone
• Putting the elements together (sometimes you need to place things into place in the scene to create some interesting parts of the picture)
• Learning to paint with shape or light. Try something different, use back-light, use side-light use twilight, use different weather conditions etc to respond to circumstances you didn’t expect.
• Side-light adds texture to a picture through directional shadows
• Soft light can add depth to a picture
• Look for textures – leaves, wooden panels, feathers, grass, etc
• Always look behind you – there may be another amazing shot which isn’t obvious
• Create good working relationships with others – it helps to be polite (ask to use someone’s property for a photo, ask to borrow a boat, etc). You may be surprised how far people will go to help you get a good photo
• With digital photography, shoot less photos. With film, there was a cost for each shot, so you were forced to think about each shot. With digital, the cost is low so people shoot before thinking.
• Get the shot right in the camera, avoid spending time in post production
• Cull the unwanted photos. It is difficult managing large volumes of photos you'll never look at again.

Know the medium you’re working with

• Understand your camera
• If you don’t understand a particular setting on the camera, use auto-mode

Creating the 3rdDimension

• Use some foreground in landscape photography to create some depth
• Try different angles (e.g. shooting from higher than the subjects) to create depth, or try from ground level (i.e. not standing).
• Reflections – use a pool, puddle, etc. Put the camera right on the surface of the water to get a reflection effect. This creates the butterfly effect.
• Shape the picture with light, use shadows to highlight the depth
• Use a lead-in, e.g. a Jetty which narrows toward the background, to demonstrate depth through diminishing scale
• Use focus to blur the foreground and background, focussing on a single spot in between
• Use opposing colours between the subject and the background (e.g. a bright yellow boat against a pink/red/blue background)
• Use people or common items to demonstrate scale (e.g. a person standing next to a huge tree)
• Separate the lines in a picture to highlight the subject. E.g. if a car rooftop aligns with a cloud, move a metre to the left so there’s separation between the edge of the cloud and the edge of the car

Night Time Photography

• Make sure you’ve got an interesting foreground / subject (shooting just the stars can be boring)
• Use a sturdy tripod
• Manual focus and exposure
• Set camera to f2.8 to f4.0 with ISO1600-3200
• Remote cable release
• Expose for 15 to 30 seconds
• Best with new moon
• For circular star trails, shoot towards to polar south
• Don’t forget your head torch
• Fast lenses!
• Find the infinity focus point at dusk (when the temperature gets close to what it will be at night), then tape the focus point
• Acclimatise your camera – e.g put it outside before you shoot, so it doesn’t need to warm up or cool down
• Try shooting with full moon – with long exposure you can use the moon to light up the landscape

Capturing lightning

• Mount camera on a sturdy tripod
• F5.8 or F8 with ISO 200
• Lock shutter on bulb
• Wait for lightning strike then close shutter
• Or - Use a lightning trigger (which triggers a shot when the lightning first occurs)
• Or – Lumix – use a 4k burst mode (it will shoot 30 frames before you press the trigger)

Aerial Photography

• Depth of field is not an issue
• Use the highest speed possible
• Use manual focus
• Use the sweet spot (F Stop) on lens
• No loose equipment in a helicopter
• Doors off helicopter if possible
• Ensure the blades and skids are not in shot
• Make sure your harness or seatbelt is on
• Wear dark clothing to stop reflections
• Watch the horizon line, if included

File Management

• Format the Memory cards on the camera, not on the PC. The Camera will set up the filesystem appropriately and this will avoid possible corruption issues
• Ensure you use fast storage on the cameras

Culling old photos

Remove unnecessary photos:

• out of focus shots
• Check for sharp focus on eyes of people or animals
• unfavourable facial expressions
• unrecoverable over or under exposed shots
• Accidental images which don't work
• Bad competitions
• Corrupt files