Learn Something New
PHOTO CHALLENGE | Try one of the new features listed, or find a setting in your camera you’ve never tried before.
LR TIPS | Practice creating a consistent step-by-step process of editing. This tip will help you with next week’s Lightroom tutorial!
Read the Manual?!
Let’s be honest, just like you have to read the instructions to play with a new gadget, you really benefit from reading the manual for your camera. Of course, you might be steps ahead of this point already, but bear with me…
Remember the exposure triangle? Ok good, just checking before introducing new things…
ISO measures the amount of light sensitivity required to achieve your desired exposure and can be used to add grain.
Aperture is the size of the opening within your lens and can be used to isolate a focus area or capture a full frame of focus.
Shutter Speed controls the amount of time the shutter is open and can be used to capture movement or freeze motion.
Find a new feature
It’s likely there’s a setting in your camera that you don’t know what it is. Here are some ideas to look for and practice:
BRACKETING | Bracketing is often used for creating HDR (High Dynamic Range) images, where three to five photos are taken in succession at different exposures you can set (underexposed, properly exposed, overexposed). From there you’re able to load the photos into your preferred HDR tone mapping software. However, you’re also able to use this feature to get multiple exposures of the same image and manually increase your dynamic range.
Another popular use of bracketing is to ensure you get a proper expose. In fact, this is why it was initially introduced. You can take several photos in a row all at varying exposures, and you're almost guaranteed to get one that's perfect.
BACK BUTTON FOCUS | The standard setting for most camera systems is that when you press the shutter button down halfway, your camera will automatically focus. This is the common setting, but there’s another option to try. Try the ‘AF On’ button on the back of the camera to focus with your thumb, you’re able to steady the camera better, and reduce motion blur at slower shutter speeds.
Typically, back button focus can be set on all modern DSLRs from the major manufacturers. Be sure to check with the manual as to how to enable this setting and give it a try. You may find that it helps produce sharper images, by simply adjusting how you hold your camera while shooting. I’ve tried this setting, enjoyed practicing, but old habits die hard and I reverted back to my regular shutter focus. Also, if you ever hand your camera off to someone else to take a photo for you, it can be difficult to explain.
CONTINUOUS SHOOTING | If you’re wanting to capture a fleeting moment, especially if there’s movement, and need to take a series of images to capture the scene, it helps to be able to hold the shutter down and quickly take a set of photos (also known as burst mode). Some cameras have a button or lever option on the top left of their camera, others will have that as a menu setting adjustment.