outdoor photography

One of the great advantages of digital cameras is that you can look at the image right after taking the picture.  You can zoom in on your photograph to see if your subject is sharp where you want it to be sharp.  If parts of your image are overexposed so that they do not have detail in your preview screen , those parts of your image will blink black & white (I admit it: I call this the "blinkies").  You can know ahead of time if you have exposure problems with your image.   If you are shooting in RAW , you still might have detail in those parts of the photograph, but don't count on it--take the picture again if you can. But in terms of exposure , the most useful part of the preview screen is what's called the histogram.  A histogram is a graph of the exposure values in your image.  On your preview screen, it will look something like this: The left side of the histogram represents the darker parts of your image, and the right side represents the light...

Northern Mockingbird Silhouette Just saying the word "manual mode" can be scary for new photographers.  The thought of being in complete control of your camera's exposure  often causes beginners to shy away from using it all together.  The sad part about this is that manual mode is actually the easiest way to get proper exposure in certain situations.  There is no shooting mode that is inherently better than any other.  I believe you should use the shooting mode that allows you to most quickly and reliably get the exposure you want.  In at least three situations, this mode is very likely to be the manual mode: Whenever you are using your spot meter.  Zoom in to the area you want to spot meter , set your exposure manually, and you have it set until lighting conditions change. For Exposure Compensation more than 2 Stops . In many camera models,  aperture priority  and  shutter priority  modes limit your  exposur...

Your camera is equipped with a light meter that can read exposure values all over the scene you're shooting, and for the most part,your camera uses these readings to give you very reliable exposure settings so you can get the exposure you want.  There are four main types of metering modes that you can choose from: Matrix/Evaluative Metering.  The default metering mode for any camera is usually called matrix or evaluative metering.  This mode takes exposure readings from throughout the frame and averages them together to give you an exposure reading that gives roughly equal value to every part of the frame. Spot Metering.  Spot metering takes all of exposure values from the center of the frame.  The center "spot" usually covers about 2 or 3 percent of the frame. Partial Metering.  Partial metering is very similar to spot metering, but the "spot" is larger, covering around 10% of the frame.  Some cameras may have partial metering with no spot met...

One of the challenges of outdoor photography is that you have very little control over your lighting.  Perhaps you've taken pictures on bright, sunny days only to find that on  your computer they simply don't look right.  The bright parts of your image have lost all detail, even though you could see detail when you were there.  Perhaps the colors just don't look as brilliant and saturated as they should look.  The scene looked beautiful when you were there, but your photograph simply does not do justice to your experience outdoors. This frustration is common among beginning photographers.  The problem comes from the fact that your camera simply cannot see as much light as you can see. You can see about twelve stops of light. Your camera only sees about five to nine stops. This means that your camera cannot record many scenes like you can see them. High contrast scenes, like scenes with direct sunlight and shade, will simply have more contrast tha...

Shutter Priority MOde Gives you the most control over your shutter speed Shutter Priority Mode (Tv or S) works just like Aperture Priority Mode except the dial operations are reversed.   The main dial (by the shutter release) controls the shutter speed.  You set the  shutter speed  you want and the camera will choose the  aperture  that it believes will give you the right exposure.  You dial in your exposure compensation, either by turning the second dial or by holding down a button and turning the same dial by the shutter release. This shooting mode has some very useful purposes.  Whenever you care more about the shutter speed of your camera than the f/stop, consider using this mode.  Here are some possible applications: Panning shots.  Perhaps you've seen photographs where a fast moving subject (car, bike) is in focus but the background shows a lot of motion blur.  This is achieved by choosing a relatively slow shutter ...

Aperture Priority Mode gives you the most control over your depth of field Now that we have the basic concepts concerning  exposure , balancing exposure and exposure compensation in our heads, we need to look a little more closely at how these concept translate into the mechanics of taking a picture.  We need to consider the "shooting modes" or "exposure modes" on your camera that you can use get the image you want.  On your digital SLR, you'll notice a dial near the top, and among other things, you'll see a series of letters.  On a Canon, those letters will be P  Tv  Av  M On a Nikon or Sony, they will be: P  S  A  M These are all shooting or exposure modes that you can use.  In the grand scheme of things, it makes no difference which one you choose.  As long as you get the  shutter speed ,  aperture , and  ISO  you want, the shooting mode has accomplished its purpose. But some modes are mor...

So far, we've focused mainly on accepting your camera's light meter reading and balancing your camera's automatic exposure calculations .  This approach works well most of the time.  Current cameras take light meter readings from all over the frame and calculate what it believes will give you proper exposure.  But as good as these calculations are, they cannot give you the results you want all the time.  There are generally three kinds of situations that can can require you to adjust your camera's calculations to suit your purposes. Light or Dark Scenes: When your scene has average tonal values that are either very dark or very light, your camera will try to make them average the tonal value of 18% grey.  This means that in very dark scenes, your camera will be likely to overexpose your image.  In very light scenes, your camera will be likely to underexpose your image.  You will have to adjust your camera's reading to get the results you want. Hig...