After a recent wedding shoot (early February 2012), viewing the images captured afterwards and the resulting criticism / complaints / discussions with photographers involved, I got the idea to write a brief post about the most basic mistakes every photographer can make...
Do you really know your camera well? Do you know how to shoot in different lighting conditions? Do you know the relationship between shutter, aperture (aka f-stop) and ISO that will allow you to have artistic control over DOF (depth of field)? I do not think so....
1. See these icons on your camera's dial?
It is not for decoration. Read (and learn) from your camera manual (yes, that thick white booklet which you threw aside, when unbundling the brand-new camera from its box) what these icons stand for and use these manufacturer pre-sets to learn what photography is all about! After some time you will, hopefully, understand from these images' EXIF how the camera worked out what is an ideal combination of shutter speed, aperture and ISO setting.
My advice to you? After experimenting with the pre-sets, start thinking creatively and change the camera to another mode, such as Aperture Priority ("Av" for you Canonians, or "A" for you Nikonians) and try to improve on that automatic setting(s).
2. What is white balance?
This is the most common mistake amongst beginner photographers. What one should understand is that all light sources have a specific colour cast and the camera can "see" this BUT the camera must be configured to balance the colour to "white".
In other words, when a WB (white-balance) icon like "sun" is selected, the camera is told that it is being used in light with a blueish tint (ie, outside) and therefore it compensates by adding a bit of orange in order to achieve a white balance. What happens if you leave the "sun" setting, goes indoors and start shooting under incandescent lights? Your images turn out orange because of the wrong WB setting!
My advice to you? Always return your WB setting to Auto after manually choosing a setting. If you shoot in RAW, your WB should remain in AUTO (never mind if you are inside or outside).
Another tip: when shooting a sunset, choose a "cloudy" WB. Why? Figure it out for yourself...
That is why you should experiment with WB settings in various light scenarios :-)
3. Exposure compensation!
There is a setting on your camera that some would call "a lazy man's control". It is the exposure compensation control (EV) on both the Canon and Nikon cameras, in which you simply move a vertical pointer with a plus / minus symbol into figures like +1, +2, or -1, -2, etc.
If you do understand the "deadly triangle", aka triangular formula, of shutter speed, aperture and ISO, an user can force a camera to brighten or darken an image. It is basically like opening or closing the window blinds (those horizontal / vertical strips). The "-" symbol will darken the image. The "+" symbol will brighten the image.
My advice to you? It also works inside, not only outside scenery. For example, lock on a bright object inside house (like a pot plant), then recompose to something else, maybe on that hairy dark dog, focus and take the shot.
Another sun-set tip: when shooting sunrises, reduce your EV to -2 to deepen your exposure. If the sun goes down, increase it and the sun light will diminish...
4. Focus points
The wrong use (or accidental setting) of a focus point can cause lots of grief for the user by having that shot out of focus. It is those red blocks inside the viewfinder of your camera. If you activate all the focus points, the camera will always focus on the closest object even if you don't want to. If using only the centre focus point, you have more control by moving the centre point around and focus where you point it.
My advice: after a photo-session, always return all focus points to ALL points.
And lastly,
5. Composition!
It is basically framing, positioning or whatever action you would call it, to place the image you see through the view-finder to a layout you personally like.
Nothing wrong with that because everyone is creative in their own unique ways and see things different from others. But it still does not mean you can place the horizon of a sunset scene totally skew or slap-bang straight in the middle.
Use "rules of third" and move the horizon to the top or bottom third of your image. Improve your composition even more by putting the object (eg. sun) to the left or right. And if it is a macro shoot, do it closer (as well as moving the focus point of object to the left or right, upper or bottom third). Take care to look for natural lines that will lead one's eye to the object.
Remember, horizons always but always should be straight. Use your camera's viewfinder grid (or even a bubble level, if equipped) to draw lines straight.
And that is it...if you follow these basics, you will always be ready and prepared.
Do you really know your camera well? Do you know how to shoot in different lighting conditions? Do you know the relationship between shutter, aperture (aka f-stop) and ISO that will allow you to have artistic control over DOF (depth of field)? I do not think so....
1. See these icons on your camera's dial?
It is not for decoration. Read (and learn) from your camera manual (yes, that thick white booklet which you threw aside, when unbundling the brand-new camera from its box) what these icons stand for and use these manufacturer pre-sets to learn what photography is all about! After some time you will, hopefully, understand from these images' EXIF how the camera worked out what is an ideal combination of shutter speed, aperture and ISO setting.
My advice to you? After experimenting with the pre-sets, start thinking creatively and change the camera to another mode, such as Aperture Priority ("Av" for you Canonians, or "A" for you Nikonians) and try to improve on that automatic setting(s).
2. What is white balance?
This is the most common mistake amongst beginner photographers. What one should understand is that all light sources have a specific colour cast and the camera can "see" this BUT the camera must be configured to balance the colour to "white".
In other words, when a WB (white-balance) icon like "sun" is selected, the camera is told that it is being used in light with a blueish tint (ie, outside) and therefore it compensates by adding a bit of orange in order to achieve a white balance. What happens if you leave the "sun" setting, goes indoors and start shooting under incandescent lights? Your images turn out orange because of the wrong WB setting!
My advice to you? Always return your WB setting to Auto after manually choosing a setting. If you shoot in RAW, your WB should remain in AUTO (never mind if you are inside or outside).
Another tip: when shooting a sunset, choose a "cloudy" WB. Why? Figure it out for yourself...
That is why you should experiment with WB settings in various light scenarios :-)
3. Exposure compensation!
There is a setting on your camera that some would call "a lazy man's control". It is the exposure compensation control (EV) on both the Canon and Nikon cameras, in which you simply move a vertical pointer with a plus / minus symbol into figures like +1, +2, or -1, -2, etc.
If you do understand the "deadly triangle", aka triangular formula, of shutter speed, aperture and ISO, an user can force a camera to brighten or darken an image. It is basically like opening or closing the window blinds (those horizontal / vertical strips). The "-" symbol will darken the image. The "+" symbol will brighten the image.
My advice to you? It also works inside, not only outside scenery. For example, lock on a bright object inside house (like a pot plant), then recompose to something else, maybe on that hairy dark dog, focus and take the shot.
Another sun-set tip: when shooting sunrises, reduce your EV to -2 to deepen your exposure. If the sun goes down, increase it and the sun light will diminish...
4. Focus points
The wrong use (or accidental setting) of a focus point can cause lots of grief for the user by having that shot out of focus. It is those red blocks inside the viewfinder of your camera. If you activate all the focus points, the camera will always focus on the closest object even if you don't want to. If using only the centre focus point, you have more control by moving the centre point around and focus where you point it.
My advice: after a photo-session, always return all focus points to ALL points.
And lastly,
5. Composition!
It is basically framing, positioning or whatever action you would call it, to place the image you see through the view-finder to a layout you personally like.
Nothing wrong with that because everyone is creative in their own unique ways and see things different from others. But it still does not mean you can place the horizon of a sunset scene totally skew or slap-bang straight in the middle.
Use "rules of third" and move the horizon to the top or bottom third of your image. Improve your composition even more by putting the object (eg. sun) to the left or right. And if it is a macro shoot, do it closer (as well as moving the focus point of object to the left or right, upper or bottom third). Take care to look for natural lines that will lead one's eye to the object.
Remember, horizons always but always should be straight. Use your camera's viewfinder grid (or even a bubble level, if equipped) to draw lines straight.
And that is it...if you follow these basics, you will always be ready and prepared.
