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- Name
- Pat MacInnes
- Edit My Images
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Just knocking up a flight-check for our journalists to follow whenever they're out shooting.
Bear in mind these are guys who can use a camera (i.e. press the shutter) but aren't David Bailey
Have a butchers and see if there's anything noteable in terms of mistakes or ommisions
Pat
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Photography ‘flight-check’
1) Set Your ISO
Your ISO must allow you to input useable exposure values (shutter speed and aperture) without flash because there are instances – such as shooting on a telephoto lens – where flash will have little or no impact so therefore can’t be relied on to light the scene.
I tend shoot on ISO100/200 during summer when light is strong, moving to ISO800 or 1600 during dull winter days.
ISO is much more important during dull weather because it’s the lifeline to getting useable exposures. Think of it like this;
Set your ISO to 400, your shutter speed to 1/60th and your aperture to f/5.6 to get a correct exposure.
If you want to move to a long telephoto lens that will induce more camera shake, you will need to increase your shutter speed to compensate. With the above settings there is little leeway to do this; moving the shutter speed from 1/60th to 1/250th (two stops) means you have to adjust the aperture down to f/2.8 from f/5.6.
But what if you’re lens doesn’t go below f/5.6?
This is where an ISO adjustment comes in; to get the exposure (1/250th @ f/5.6) you need to increase the ISO two stops from 400 to 1600.
Many people think that the extra ‘noise’ (grain) from higher ISO values will ruin a shot. Personally, I would ALWAYS opt for a higher ISO with additional grain, than chance A) a shutter speed that’s not fast enough to capture action and give camera shake, and/or B) an aperture that will not give enough depth-of-field to get a sharp shot.
2) Set Your White Balance
Auto WB is very reliable and I use it for the majority of my shooting. However, it can be easily fooled by changing light conditions, and/or shooting in shade (cold light) when the background is fully lit (warm light). If you feel Auto WB is underperforming, select one of the WB presets until you get colour rendition that works for you.
In winter when light is cold for the majority of the day (particularly in shade) then select the CLOUDY setting, which will add a warmness to the shot.
3) Choose Your Mode
Program mode is reliable because modern cameras are so reliable, but it’s by no means perfect and isn’t intuitive or fully adjustable.
Because you’re generally working to either get a shutter speed that freezes action, or an aperture that gives you sufficient depth-of-field (sharpness), use Tv, Av or full manual mode. I generally shoot in Av because it’s the depth-of-field that I feel is most important to creating the look I want, although I am always mindful of retaining useable shutter speeds (which is dealt with by changing the ISO). Tv is better suited to freezing action by choosing a fast enough shutter speed. Manual mode is a combination of both.
4) Exposure Compensation
Make sure the exposure compensation dial is set to 0 so there is no EC in effect. If it’s set anywhere else on the marking (along the bottom of the LCD) the shot will appear too light or too dark, regardless of the camera apparently giving you a correct exposure reading.
5) Other Checks
Make sure the memory card you’re using is formatted with enough space for a full shoot and makes sure the image settings are on their highest possible setting, be it RAW, JPEG or RAW+JPEG.
If you’re shooting action then switch the camera to multi-shot mode (indicated by three overlapping rectangles on the LCD). Also make sure the AF mode is set to ONE-SHOT and not SERVO, the later being for tracking moving objects (unless that’s the aim of the shoot).
Make sure your batteries are fully charged.
6) Reviewing Images
Use your histogram and blinkies…. Always! When reviewing an image, press the info button to bring up blinkies (blinking areas of the image to indicated blown highlights that can’t be recovered), and again for the Histogram.
The histogram shows you when the image is clipping. Clipping is when highlights are becoming blown out and unuseable. If the peaks are all bunched to the right, this is clipping. To get round this in manual mode, input a faster shutter speed, higher aperture value or lower the ISO; in TV or AV, dial in negative (-) exposure compensation so the shutter speed increases and/or the aperture number increases. This is underexposing the shot.
Bear in mind these are guys who can use a camera (i.e. press the shutter) but aren't David Bailey
Have a butchers and see if there's anything noteable in terms of mistakes or ommisions
Pat
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Photography ‘flight-check’
1) Set Your ISO
Your ISO must allow you to input useable exposure values (shutter speed and aperture) without flash because there are instances – such as shooting on a telephoto lens – where flash will have little or no impact so therefore can’t be relied on to light the scene.
I tend shoot on ISO100/200 during summer when light is strong, moving to ISO800 or 1600 during dull winter days.
ISO is much more important during dull weather because it’s the lifeline to getting useable exposures. Think of it like this;
Set your ISO to 400, your shutter speed to 1/60th and your aperture to f/5.6 to get a correct exposure.
If you want to move to a long telephoto lens that will induce more camera shake, you will need to increase your shutter speed to compensate. With the above settings there is little leeway to do this; moving the shutter speed from 1/60th to 1/250th (two stops) means you have to adjust the aperture down to f/2.8 from f/5.6.
But what if you’re lens doesn’t go below f/5.6?
This is where an ISO adjustment comes in; to get the exposure (1/250th @ f/5.6) you need to increase the ISO two stops from 400 to 1600.
Many people think that the extra ‘noise’ (grain) from higher ISO values will ruin a shot. Personally, I would ALWAYS opt for a higher ISO with additional grain, than chance A) a shutter speed that’s not fast enough to capture action and give camera shake, and/or B) an aperture that will not give enough depth-of-field to get a sharp shot.
2) Set Your White Balance
Auto WB is very reliable and I use it for the majority of my shooting. However, it can be easily fooled by changing light conditions, and/or shooting in shade (cold light) when the background is fully lit (warm light). If you feel Auto WB is underperforming, select one of the WB presets until you get colour rendition that works for you.
In winter when light is cold for the majority of the day (particularly in shade) then select the CLOUDY setting, which will add a warmness to the shot.
3) Choose Your Mode
Program mode is reliable because modern cameras are so reliable, but it’s by no means perfect and isn’t intuitive or fully adjustable.
Because you’re generally working to either get a shutter speed that freezes action, or an aperture that gives you sufficient depth-of-field (sharpness), use Tv, Av or full manual mode. I generally shoot in Av because it’s the depth-of-field that I feel is most important to creating the look I want, although I am always mindful of retaining useable shutter speeds (which is dealt with by changing the ISO). Tv is better suited to freezing action by choosing a fast enough shutter speed. Manual mode is a combination of both.
4) Exposure Compensation
Make sure the exposure compensation dial is set to 0 so there is no EC in effect. If it’s set anywhere else on the marking (along the bottom of the LCD) the shot will appear too light or too dark, regardless of the camera apparently giving you a correct exposure reading.
5) Other Checks
Make sure the memory card you’re using is formatted with enough space for a full shoot and makes sure the image settings are on their highest possible setting, be it RAW, JPEG or RAW+JPEG.
If you’re shooting action then switch the camera to multi-shot mode (indicated by three overlapping rectangles on the LCD). Also make sure the AF mode is set to ONE-SHOT and not SERVO, the later being for tracking moving objects (unless that’s the aim of the shoot).
Make sure your batteries are fully charged.
6) Reviewing Images
Use your histogram and blinkies…. Always! When reviewing an image, press the info button to bring up blinkies (blinking areas of the image to indicated blown highlights that can’t be recovered), and again for the Histogram.
The histogram shows you when the image is clipping. Clipping is when highlights are becoming blown out and unuseable. If the peaks are all bunched to the right, this is clipping. To get round this in manual mode, input a faster shutter speed, higher aperture value or lower the ISO; in TV or AV, dial in negative (-) exposure compensation so the shutter speed increases and/or the aperture number increases. This is underexposing the shot.
