Perfect Angle Photography

Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category

Easy Way to Capture an Image

Published by totoy on 4th April 2010

Filed Under Photography, Tips

Sometimes it’s very useful to be able to capture an image of whatever is on your screen. For example, if you encounter an error or a web site is displaying unusually, it can be a lot easier to take a picture of what’s going on than trying to describe it. A picture of what’s on your screen is commonly called a “screen capture” or just “screenshot.” I’ll refer to it as the latter in this article.

Print Screen, but not really

In Windows, the simplest way to take a screenshot is to press the Print Screen (often abbreviated to “Prt Scr”) key on your keyboard. You’ll find it on the right side of your keyboard, above the Insert/Home/Page Up keys. Despite the label, in Windows this key doesn’t actually print anything. It simply copies the contents of your screen to the clipboard, the invisible area in your computer’s memory that holds thingsï¿½like text, files, and picturesï¿½while you Copy and Paste them. Once you’ve got a screenshot in the clipboard, you can now paste it into an image. You can use any image-editing program for this, but the obvious choice is Paint, Windows’ built-in drawing program. You can usually find Paint in the Start menu under Programs > Accessories.

Once you’ve pasted the screenshot into Paint you can edit, crop, or resize it there or you can go ahead and save it like you would any document. And that’s pretty much it.

Oh, but here’s one more tip: If you want to take a screenshot of just the window you’re working on, instead of everything on your screen, all you have to do is hold down the Alt key when you press Print Screen.

Something more advanced

Print Screen and Paint will take you a long way, but if you’re making a lot of screenshots or want a few more options, I recommend kicking it up a notch with FastStone Capture. FastStone Capture is a great freeware utility that’s a quick download and uses very little memory. When you run it it just sits in your system tray (on the taskbar next to the clock) and waits for you to call it. While FastStone Capture is running, you can still use the Print Screen key, but instead of copying a screenshot to the clipboard, FastStone will launch its own image editor. Its editor works a lot like Paintï¿½click on the Draw button if you want to add lines or text to your screenshotï¿½but it also has a few features that are especially useful for screenshots. The Comment button lets you quickly add a caption to the screenshot with the date and time (this is configurable, as are the font and colors), and the Edge button lets you add a decorative border and drop shadow, and even a watermark. You can also crop and resize your image here, which is good if you’re putting the screenshot online or want to crop out unnecessary information. When you’ve got the image you want you can click on the Email button to email it directly to a friend or colleague, or Save As to save it to your hard drive for later use. Read the rest of this entry »

Beginner’s Guide to Photography

Published by totoy on 12th February 2010

Filed Under Photography, Tips

Introduction to Exposure

Even if you leave the calculations to the camera,

Understanding the basics of exposure will take

your photography skills to the next level.

The moment of exposure:

Most of the time, the inside of the camera is totally dark. When a photograph is taken, the camera opens and light from outside floods in through the lens. Light is projected onto film to make the exposure.

Exposure is the measuring and balancing of light

Too much light and the picture will be washed out. Not enough light and the picture will be too dark. A good photograph depends on calculating the exposure settings that will give the film the “right” amount of exposure.

The photographer can control how much natural light reaches film

by adjusting the camera’s shutter, aperture, or film speed.

Measuring light (technical exposure)

A good technical exposure will produce a final image that accurately represents the original scene.. Film is light sensitive, and if the exposure is too dark or too bright, the result will not look like “real life”.

Balancing light (artistic exposure)

Just to make things interesting, in any situtation there are several camera setting that give exactly the brightness but with very different outcomes. Which to choose is up to you, the photographer.

Introduction to Exposure Even if you leave the calculations to the camera,Understanding the basics of exposure will takeyour photography skills to the next level.The moment of exposure:Most of the time, the inside of the camera is totally dark. When a photograph is taken, the camera opens and light from outside floods in through the lens. Light is projected onto film to make the exposure.
Exposure is the measuring and balancing of light
Too much light and the picture will be washed out. Not enough light and the picture will be too dark. A good photograph depends on calculating the exposure settings that will give the film the “right” amount of exposure.
The photographer can control how much natural light reaches filmby adjusting the camera’s shutter, aperture, or film speed.
Measuring light (technical exposure)A good technical exposure will produce a final image that accurately represents the original scene.. Film is light sensitive, and if the exposure is too dark or too bright, the result will not look like “real life”.
Balancing light (artistic exposure) Just to make things interesting, in any situtation there are several camera setting that give exactly the brightness but with very different outcomes. Which to choose is up to you, the photographer.

12 Tips for Taking Great Group Photos

Published by totoy on 23rd December 2009

Filed Under Photography, Tips

One of the most common types of digital photographs is the ‘group photo‘.

They happen everywhere from weddings, to camps, to parties, to sporting teams, to school etc.

There must be thousands of group photos taken each day around the world – however unfortunately many of the group photos that I see in my friendship group and on Flickr would leave their photographers disappointed with the results for a variety of reasons.

Common group photo mistakes and problems include:

one or more subjects always seem to be looking away or in different directions (ie at different photographers)

subjects blinking (there’s always one)

someone being missing from the photo

different moods in the group (some smiling, some serious, some playing up to the camera etc)

the group being too far away or not all fitting into the shot

While there will always be such challenges with Group Photos there are a number of things you can do to help improve your chances of getting the shot you’re after:

1. Prepare

There is nothing that will make of people posing for a photograph turn upon you faster than you not being prepared. People don’t like to be kept waiting so think ahead about some of the following aspects of your photo:

scope out the location of your shot before hand

think ahead about how you will pose people and frame your shot

one of the group’s head hiding behind another person

make sure everyone you want in the shot knows you want them a few minutes ahead of time

make your your camera is on and has charged batteries

2. Location

The place that you have your group stand is important to group shots for a number of reasons. For starters it can give the photo context – for example a shot of a sporting team on their playing field means more than a shot of them in front of a brick wall. The other reason that choosing locations carefully is important is that it can have distractions in it.

Choose a position where your group will fit, where there is enough light for the shot and where there is no distractions in the background. Also avoid setting up a group shot directly in front of a window where the light from your flash might reflect back in a way that destroys your shot.

3. Take Multiple Shots

One of the best ways to avoid the problems of not everyone looking just right in a shot is to take multiple photos quickly. I often switch my camera into continuous shooting mode when taking group shots and shoot in short bursts of shots. I find that the first shot is often no good but that the one or two directly after it often give a group that looks a little less posed and more relaxed.

Similarly – shoot some frames off before everyone is ready – sometimes the organization of a group shot can be quite comical with people tell each other where to go and jostling for position.

Also mix up the framing of your shots a little if you have a zoom lens by taking some shots that are at a wide focal length and some that are more tightly framed. Read the rest of this entry »

A Lifetime Memory

Published by totoy on 13th December 2009

Filed Under Photography, Tips

People will often say that their whole lives flashed before their eyes after they experienced a traumatic event. Perhaps it’s a bit morbid, but we think that sounds pretty incredible.

When Taylor McKnight started taking a photo a day on January 1st, 2004, he never imagined the project would not only serve as a way to remember a year, but also help him understand what was important to him in his life.

Whether it was his relationships, his career, or his fashion sense, recording a photo a day for a whole year left him with a rich visual history of his life. And it made him a better photographer to boot!

Now that he’s in the middle of doing it for a second time, we asked Taylor to write about it for us. Read on for our tutorial on how and why to create your own daily photographic history.

WHY DO IT?

Taking a photo a day is a big undertaking with big payoffs. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider doing it:

Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned… (Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago!)

Your year-long photo album will be an amazing way to document your travels and accomplishments, your haircuts and relationships. Time moves surprisingly fast.

Taking a photo a day will make you a better photographer. Using your camera every day will help you learn its limits. You will get better at composing your shots, you’ll start to care about lighting, and you’ll become more creative with your photography when you’re forced to come up with something new every single day.

TIPS ON HOW TO DO IT

Here are six tips on how to create your own Project 365:

Bring Your Camera Everywhere

Yes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.

Make Posting Easy

You can install blog software like Movable Type or Wordpress on your own site and create an entry for each photo, but for true ease of use, try a photo sharing site. Flickr will let you post a week’s worth of photos in 2 minutes flat, and fotolog and Photoblog.com are geared toward a photo-a-day workflow. Making it fast and easy means you’re much more likely to do it.

Vary Your Themes

Try to capture the day’s events in a single photo. Perform photographic experiments. Take a photo of someone new you meet, something you ate for the first time, or something you just learned how to do. Take a photo of something that made you smile. And don’t forget to take a photo of yourself at least once a month so you can remember how you’ve changed, too.

Tell a Story

Use your blog entry, or your photo description, to explain what’s going on in each day’s photograph. How good did that dinner taste? What made you want to take a photo of that stranger? It’ll help you remember down the road, and it gives friends following along a better appreciation of why you took the photo you did. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to add some color.

Don’t Stop, No Matter What

This is perhaps the most important tip of all. You will get tired of taking a photo every single day. Some days, you will consider giving up. Don’t. The end result is worth the effort. Remind yourself why you wanted to do it in first place.

There will be times you’ll think there’s nothing interesting left to take a photo of, and times you’ll think you didn’t do anything exciting enough to take a photo of. There’s always a great photo to be made.

Get out of the house and take a walk. Or stay inside and look around. Take a photo of something important to you. Take a photo of the inside of your house so you can see how your taste has changed over the years. Take a photo of anything, just don’t stop.

N.b. It helps if you’ve told your friends about the project and asked them to follow along. Their encouragement will keep you going!

Post early, post often

Plan on going through and posting your photos at least once a week so you don’t get backlogged and feel overwhelmed. Ideally, post every day or two. Again, spend the time up front to make sure it’s quick and easy to post. It’ll make all the difference.

People will often say that their whole lives flashed before their eyes after they experienced a traumatic event. Perhaps it’s a bit morbid, but we think that sounds pretty incredible.
When Taylor McKnight started taking a photo a day on January 1st, 2004, he never imagined the project would not only serve as a way to remember a year, but also help him understand what was important to him in his life.
Whether it was his relationships, his career, or his fashion sense, recording a photo a day for a whole year left him with a rich visual history of his life. And it made him a better photographer to boot!
Now that he’s in the middle of doing it for a second time, we asked Taylor to write about it for us. Read on for our tutorial on how and why to create your own daily photographic history.

WHY DO IT?
Taking a photo a day is a big undertaking with big payoffs. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider doing it:
Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned… (Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago!)Your year-long photo album will be an amazing way to document your travels and accomplishments, your haircuts and relationships. Time moves surprisingly fast.Taking a photo a day will make you a better photographer. Using your camera every day will help you learn its limits. You will get better at composing your shots, you’ll start to care about lighting, and you’ll become more creative with your photography when you’re forced to come up with something new every single day.TIPS ON HOW TO DO IT
Here are six tips on how to create your own Project 365:
Bring Your Camera EverywhereYes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.Make Posting EasyYou can install blog software like Movable Type or Wordpress on your own site and create an entry for each photo, but for true ease of use, try a photo sharing site. Flickr will let you post a week’s worth of photos in 2 minutes flat, and fotolog and Photoblog.com are geared toward a photo-a-day workflow. Making it fast and easy means you’re much more likely to do it.Vary Your ThemesTry to capture the day’s events in a single photo. Perform photographic experiments. Take a photo of someone new you meet, something you ate for the first time, or something you just learned how to do. Take a photo of something that made you smile. And don’t forget to take a photo of yourself at least once a month so you can remember how you’ve changed, too.Tell a StoryUse your blog entry, or your photo description, to explain what’s going on in each day’s photograph. How good did that dinner taste? What made you want to take a photo of that stranger? It’ll help you remember down the road, and it gives friends following along a better appreciation of why you took the photo you did. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to add some color.Don’t Stop, No Matter WhatThis is perhaps the most important tip of all. You will get tired of taking a photo every single day. Some days, you will consider giving up. Don’t. The end result is worth the effort. Remind yourself why you wanted to do it in first place.There will be times you’ll think there’s nothing interesting left to take a photo of, and times you’ll think you didn’t do anything exciting enough to take a photo of. There’s always a great photo to be made.
Get out of the house and take a walk. Or stay inside and look around. Take a photo of something important to you. Take a photo of the inside of your house so you can see how your taste has changed over the years. Take a photo of anything, just don’t stop.
N.b. It helps if you’ve told your friends about the project and asked them to follow along. Their encouragement will keep you going!
Post early, post oftenPlan on going through and posting your photos at least once a week so you don’t get backlogged and feel overwhelmed. Ideally, post every day or two. Again, spend the time up front to make sure it’s quick and easy to post. It’ll make all the difference.

Know How to Zoom

Published by totoy on 29th November 2009

Filed Under Photography, Tips

Before looking at the advantages and disadvantages of both, we first need to know ‘what is a zoom lens or prime lens’.

What is a zoom lens?

A zoom lens is one that has a retractable zoom ring, making it easier to get in as much or as little of the scenery as you want, without the need to physically move yourself. If the lens name has a hyphen between two mm extreme’s, then it is a zoom lens. For example, a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM is a zoom lens. The focal length can be set from 17mm to 85mm.

What is a prime fixed focal length lens?

A prime (fixed focal length) lens is set to one mm focal length. In other words, the focal length cannot be adjusted. If you want to get more or less of the scenery or object in the photograph, then you need to physically move yourself in or out. For example, a Nikon AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens is a prime lens because it has a fixed focal length of 105mm.

Other differences between zoom and prime camera lens

Prime lenses take sharper photographs than their zoom counterparts, because from a design point of view they have fewer compromises. It makes sense that if a lens is designed to zoom from between 17mm and 85mm, then it’s going to be harder to make than one that has a fixed 105mm focal length. A good example of compromises found in zoom lenses, can be seen in the distortion problem many of them have.

While it’s true a zoom lens may not be as sharp as a prime lens, they are however cheaper. Therefore the tradeoff for sharpness, is price cutting costs.

As explained earlier, a prime lens requires the photographer to physically move themselves closer or further away from the subject depending on the situation. Many amateurs find this annoying, therefore opting for zoom lenses.

Should you buy a zoom lens or a prime fixed focal length lens?

Personally, I think both have their place when it comes to good photography. If sharpness is the main concern and you are photographing a subject where you can easily position yourself physically, then a fixed focal length lens (prime) is the way to go.

However, there are times when physically moving yourself closer or further away from the subject isn’t a possibility. For example, if you were on a whale watching cruise, the restrictions of a prime lens would be useless. For times like this, a zoom lens would be more beneficial.

Experienced photographers who have been around for a while, often prefer prime (fixed focal length) camera lenses over zoom models. Photography magazines always suggest the sharpness of fixed focal length lenses far outway the flexibility of zoom lenses.
Before looking at the advantages and disadvantages of both, we first need to know ‘what is a zoom lens or prime lens’.
What is a zoom lens?
A zoom lens is one that has a retractable zoom ring, making it easier to get in as much or as little of the scenery as you want, without the need to physically move yourself. If the lens name has a hyphen between two mm extreme’s, then it is a zoom lens. For example, a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM is a zoom lens. The focal length can be set from 17mm to 85mm.
What is a prime fixed focal length lens?
A prime (fixed focal length) lens is set to one mm focal length. In other words, the focal length cannot be adjusted. If you want to get more or less of the scenery or object in the photograph, then you need to physically move yourself in or out. For example, a Nikon AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens is a prime lens because it has a fixed focal length of 105mm.
Other differences between zoom and prime camera lens
Prime lenses take sharper photographs than their zoom counterparts, because from a design point of view they have fewer compromises. It makes sense that if a lens is designed to zoom from between 17mm and 85mm, then it’s going to be harder to make than one that has a fixed 105mm focal length. A good example of compromises found in zoom lenses, can be seen in the distortion problem many of them have.
While it’s true a zoom lens may not be as sharp as a prime lens, they are however cheaper. Therefore the tradeoff for sharpness, is price cutting costs.
As explained earlier, a prime lens requires the photographer to physically move themselves closer or further away from the subject depending on the situation. Many amateurs find this annoying, therefore opting for zoom lenses.Should you buy a zoom lens or a prime fixed focal length lens?
Personally, I think both have their place when it comes to good photography. If sharpness is the main concern and you are photographing a subject where you can easily position yourself physically, then a fixed focal length lens (prime) is the way to go.
However, there are times when physically moving yourself closer or further away from the subject isn’t a possibility. For example, if you were on a whale watching cruise, the restrictions of a prime lens would be useless. For times like this, a zoom lens would be more beneficial.