BS Photography.

A Collection of Photography Tips and Guides

Contents:
misc. tips.
night
--light grafitti
--cityscapes
camera choice
glossary

Miscellaneous tips:

--Take lots of pictures, memory is cheap, memories are priceless.

--Keep your camera available, photo opportunities don't wait

--When using a digital camera, always shoot in color, you can always convert it to black and white. *Video Slideshow

--One shot is never enough, take multiple shots of the same subject using different settings, angles, and framing

--When the sun goes down, do not put your camera away! Night time is as good a time as any to take pictures!

--To reduce blur when hand-holding the camera, the slowest shutter speed you should use is 1/60 second, faster if you are zoomed in, as this amplifies the effect of the shake. (I go with 1/250 when zoomed in 4x)

--When possible, use a low ISO to reduce grain. High ISO is OK when it's needed for action shots in low light, but grain will be noticeable. On some cameras, this is found under ASA or Sensitivity

--On most decent digital cameras, you can hold the shutter button down halfway, you will feel a little bit of a stop, this "meters" the scene, focuses, charges the flash, and chooses settings if applicable, so when you press the button down the rest of the way, it will take the picture instantly.

--Consider the rule of thirds, that is, when you are photographing something, offset the subject into a different third of the frame, horizontal or vertical, dont center the horizon, but rules were meant to be broken, if you think the scene would be right with the subject in the center or the horizon right in the middle, go for it. The rule of thirds gives the subject somewhere to "go" or "look."

--Invest in a tripod, this will allow for sweet night pictures, reduced blur in low shutter speed shots, and natural self portraits.

--If you don't have one, buy a good camera ASAP! Photo ops don't wait. (I've always been a fan of the Canon Powershot series)

--Make sure you have plenty of memory.

What to Look for in a Digital Camera:
---Price, don't kill yourself paying for it.
---Batteries: Choose a camera that you can buy replacements for, you wont always have a charger available so you'll want spare batteries no matter the capacity, proprietary LI-ION batteries may be rated for more pictures, but standard batteries, such as AAs can be purchased anywhere for a low price. Rechargeable NIMH AAs give the best of both worlds.
---Memory: be sure to have plenty, more than you think you need, pick a camera with a memory that's easy to use and affordable
---Size: Compact cameras may fit comfortably in your pocket, but often, they are not as comfortable to use as larger cameras. I like the size and feel of the Canon A-500 and higher series. Tiny cameras often lack features such as long shutter speeds, optical zoom, and optional accessories. Ultra-compact cameras often leave a significant hole in your monetary funds as well.
---Manual controls: get something with manual controls, you'll want to be able to adjust ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture size.
---Resolution: 3 Megapixel will produce decent 11x14 prints, 5 megapixel will produce decent 16x20 prints. Higher resolutions offer more freedom to crop.
---Brand name: In my not-so-humble opinion, the best brands are Canon and Nikon, accept nothing less.
---Zoom: Optical Zoom is all that matters. IGNORE COMPLETELY DIGITAL ZOOM! IT MEANS NOTHING! IT'S A SHAM, it simply increases the space between pixels and makes the picture grainy, I just disable digital zoom on my camera...
(no need to avoid buying a camera if it has digital zoom, just dont use it as a buying factor.)
---Video mode: Video from a digital camera is low quality as a rule, but it's nice to have.
//--Where to buy digital camera: JR.com and Overstock.com ...Typically, these stores offer MUCH lower prices than local stores.

Take Cool Night Pictures

You know how it goes, you see this beautiful cityscape and pull out your camera and snap a shot, and then try again and again because it just wont turn out, it looks something like this right?

That's obviously not your intent.

You want to take stunning night pictures, maybe the way it really looks, or maybe something even more stunning. Here's the equipment you need:
--Decent Digital Camera, with Adjustable Aperture and Shutter, such as the Canon A530
--Tripod
--A Scene, such as a cityscape, road, fireworks, building...anything really.
--Imagination, patience, a source of warmth

There are three settings that control the exposure to your "film" or picture.
1. ISO, this is the density of the film, lower ISO means it's got higher density, more dots per inch, this produces smoother, less grainy pictures, but takes longer to expose.
2. Shutter Speed: This is how long the picture is exposed.
3. Aperture: Also known as F-Stops, this is the size of the opening in the lens, smaller aperture lets less light in, and requires a higher ISO or lower shutter speed for a correct exposure, but smaller aperture also allows more of the scene to be in focus. This setting controls the depth of field.

For night photography, you have a lot of options, F8 at 5 seconds or more captures the scene as it really is, and lower apertures, such as F3.2 and 5 seconds or more brings the scene to life, illuminating it more and giving a nightscape a stunning glow to it. Also keep your ISO as low as possible to eliminate grain and get a higher quality photo. Basically you want to have the camera on a tripod and play with the various settings, I recommend you use full manual mode on your camera and experiment. Put the camera on self timer or use a remote to eliminate camera shake.

San Francisco, CA at night.
Shutter Speed: 15 Seconds
Aperture: F8
Camera: Canon A510
Shooting Mode: Manual

Public Transit in Petaluma CA, started exposure when light turned green, bus slowly accellerated.
Shutter Speed: 2.5 Seconds
Aperture: F8
Camera: Canon A510
Shooting Mode: Manual

Man Crossing Street, Panning shot, turned off LCD and kept him in part of the viewfinder by moving the camera with him. Glow on ground is reflections of the surroundings on wet pavement.
Shutter Speed: 4 Seconds
Aperture: F8
Camera: Canon A510
Shooting Mode: Manual

Shore Acres State Park Christmas lights near Coos Bay, Oregon
Shutter Speed: 1 Second
Aperture: F2.6
Camera: Canon A40
Shooting Mode: Stitch Assist (3 shots stitched together automatically using Canon Photostitch)

Golden Gate Bridge... April 22, 2005 at 7:05PM, yes it was dark out!
Shutter Speed: 3.2 Seconds
Aperture: F6.3
Camera: Canon A510
Shooting Mode: Manual

Independence Day Fireworks
Shutter Speed: 8 Seconds
Aperture: F8
Camera: Canon A510
Shooting Mode: Manual

Running around the Strobe (Firework)
Shutter Speed: 5 Seconds
Aperture: F8
Camera: Canon A510
Shooting Mode: Manual

My Car
Shutter Speed: 2.5 Seconds
Aperture: F3.2
ISO: 50
Camera: Canon A510
Shooting Mode: Manual

My Car in San Francisco
Shutter Speed: 13 Seconds
Aperture: F3.2
ISO: 50
Camera: Canon A510
Shooting Mode: Manual

Light Grafitti!
One day, I was walking in downtown Petaluma with my girlfriend, we were taking pictures and as we were walking back to my car, I was thinking how cool it is that cars driving by at night with a long exposure setting leave red, white and blue streaks. And then it hit me, I could do the same thing with a flashlight! And so, a monster was born....

I like to use an LED keychain flashlight, preferably with a single bulb, these are available in many places, my LED light of choice is the one attached to my keychain, it came from LEDshoppe.com and came free with my order, but you can buy one for $3 from there.

Next, you'll want a camera that allows for 15 second exposures, such as the Canon Powershot A540.

Set your camera on the longest shutter speed possible, and put the other settings around that, it varies depending on how bright you want the scene.

With your flashlight, make your desired shapes or letters. Remember that you need to write backwards if you're writing a message, this takes a lot of practice and normally takes me about 3 tries for each image, sometimes more, sometimes less. (Cmon, write backwards, dont write it forwards and then flip it on the computer, that's CHEATING!) My light painting or grafitti images are 95% unaltered, the only altering I do with them is cropping, leveling the horizon, and resizing them.

TIP: if you want to be harder to see, wear dark clothing

TIP: If you want to show up as a ghostly image, keep your feet planted on the ground rather than moving, or you could make blurs by moving as you write. It's totally up to you.

TIP: There are countless places you can do this, do it over a cityscape, on a wall, in a parking lot, at the beach, in the woods, against a barn, the list goes on!

WARNING: Bring a friend, concealed weapon, running shoes, or kung fu skills with you when you're shooting pictures at night, especially in a city.

WARNING: If mugged, give up your stuff, it's better to be broke than dead.

Glossary:

aperture:
same as fstop, this is the size of the opening of the lens, it determines how much light is let into the camera's sensor. Higher numbers indicate smaller apertures, as this number is a fraction. A large aperture will let more light in, allowing for a lower ISO and a faster shutter speed, the tradeoff is that the larger the aperture, the smaller the depth of field.

ASA:
same as ISO and Sensitivity, higher ISO allows for larger apertures and faster shutters. The downside is, the higher the ISO, the more grain you will encounter.

Flash Memory:
Typical medium for storing pictures on a digital camera, most common format is Secure Digital (secure digital), Sony cameras tend to use Memory Stick (MS), many high end SLRs and older digital cameras use Compact Flash (CF), a few older cameras use the outdated Smart Media (SM)

F-Stops:
measurement for aperture, this is the size of the opening of the lens, it determines how much light is let into the camera's sensor. Higher numbers indicate smaller apertures, as this number is a fraction. A large aperture will let more light in, allowing for a lower ISO and a faster shutter speed, the tradeoff is that the larger the aperture, the smaller the depth of field.

ISO
same as ASA and Sensitivity, higher ISO allows for larger apertures and faster shutters. The downside is, the higher the ISO, the more grain you will encounter.

Image Stabilization (IS):
Proprietary technology to Canon, uses cool hardware that I dont understand to stabilize an image, allows the photographer to produce images with little or no blur, while hand-holding the camera and using low shutter speeds, typically as low as 1/8 seconds, but I have seen awesome images handheld with an IS lens at shutter speeds of up to 2 seconds!

MegaPixel:
A term used to measure the size of pictures a camera will take. Typically 3 megapixel is good enough for an 8.5"x11" print. 5 Megapixel is good up to 16x20. Most cameras these days are 5 megapixels and up. Cameras with higher megapixel ratings, or resolution, typically fill up memory cards faster, and cost more, but they also allow for the photographer or editor to manipulate the images further on a computer, using Fireworks, Photoshop, or other image editing software.

Photostitch:
Image "stitching" software proprietary to Canon, photographer uses "stitch assist" mode on his or her camera to take multiple images, typically of a panoramic scene, and then with Photostitch, can piece the pictures together for one big picture.

Resolution:
Typically measured in Megapixels, commonly thought to indicate the quality of a camera.

Sensitivity:
same as ASA and ISO, higher ISO allows for larger apertures and faster shutters. The downside is, the higher the ISO, the more grain you will encounter.

Shutter Speed:
Amount of time the film is exposed. Example, 1/60 is the typical slowest most people can hand hold a camera without blur. 1/250 is the typical limit for a 200mm zoom

SLR (Single Lens Reflex):
Single Lens Reflex, a camera type used by most professionals, lenses are typically removable, these cameras contain a full range of manual controls, including focus. The viewfinder, through a series of mirrors, gives the photographer a view through the lens.

Tripod:
A stabilization platform for a camera, binoculars, or telescope. Has 3 "legs" and a mount for the camera.

Search for "Canon Powershot" on this website and pick out something for now, buy it, and get out the night you get the camera and have fun. Dont forget your tripod. Be sure your camera has the capability to shoot long exposures, shutter speed should go up to at least 15 seconds, preferably more, but I work with 15 seconds.