Tips and Tricks Photography

PhotographyTIPS & TRICKS

Inside the Musee D’Orsay Photographer Julia Xiao

ISSUE TEN T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Implying Motion Vacation Photography Impressionistic Art Adding Rain Patience is necessary Doug Ward has a few Creating Monet like A few simple steps to when trying this tips if your planning on paintings with your cam- add rain to your photos. technique out, but the going on vacation. era and a little post proc- results are worth it. Page 7-9 essing. Page 10-12 Page 13 Pages 3-6

Either Good Timing or the Wildlife is Sick of Me!

Well I’ve managed to get out and take some photos this summer and have been having good luck with wildlife. A couple of Blue Herons, ducks and geese galore and this guy who after spending twenty minutes photographing him ﬁnally showed me his feelings for my presence! Anyways, in this issue we have a new contributor, Doug Ward. With vacation season pretty much upon us right now, Doug has put together a few tips that he uses when on vacation with his family.

If you have any tips or ideas you want to share with us, let us know at [email protected]

Implying Motion - The Art of Panning Written by Jeff Tindall

This year I’ve decided to try ter speeds when photograph- in focus, but as you can imag- and jump into more unfamil- ing waterfalls or making light ine, having both the subject iar territory with my camera. trails when painting with and camera in motion and My goal aside from learning light. In these cases, the cam- obtaining a clearly focused new things is to also share era remained static and we subject can be tricky. This ar- with you my experiences and used long exposures to imply ticle is titled “The Art of Pan- advice when trying out new movement. ning”, after my experience an things. One of my favorite The panning technique works alternative suitable title could things about taking pictures differently in that both the be, “Testing your Patience”. is the idea of implying mo- camera and subject are mov- tion through the use of slow ing; the effect is stunning, The ideas behind panning are shutter speeds. I previously creating a streaked blurred fairly simple: Locate your talked about using slow shut- background with the subject moving subject in the view

© 2008 Tips and Tricks Photography 3 T I P S & T R I C K S P H O T O G R A P H Y ﬁnder, compose the photo, of you interested in learning to make sure there aren’t any keep your camera following panning. obstructions (e.g. trees, poles, the subject, release the shutter people etc...) between you while your still following I found that panning is all and your subject even minor your subject. Simple! about anticipation and think- obstructions can ruin a photo because the obstruc- tion will drag across the sensor area.

2) Choose a slower shutter speed then normal, this is a matter of taste and practice. A slightly slower shutter speed will allow you to capture a blurred background. Choosing a fast shutter speed may stop the subject dead in its While the idea of panning is a ing ahead. Before you start tracks causing a static frozen simple one to grasp the tech- tracking subjects check out picture. It’s tough to judge niques in perfecting it are these ideas that might help what a proper speed is be- hardly the same. When done make it more successful. cause it depends on lighting correctly, the result is a well conditions, steadiness of the focused subject that conveys 1) Scope out your area, re- photographer and the desired a sense of motion, when done member you are dealing with effect. I would suggest a badly it just looks like a a subject that is going to be good guideline to start with is blurry drunken photo with constantly changing positions choose a shutter speed no sense of order. and often there will be a large slightly slower than what the After practicing for a while I area between you and the cameras meter recommends managed to come up with a subject that could be full of and in the range of 1/30th. few ideas that may help those obstructions that may inhibit Take a few shots and change your photos. Survey the area speeds until you ﬁnd the ef-

3) Consider your background. I’ve found that a panned photo works best when it has a good background to contrast off of. The subject itself can al- most take second priority, because if the background is not done well than it will certainly distract from the subject. For motion blur rather. If you’re i’ll include it in an up and example, consider a forest hand-held panning keep your coming issue. background it’s dark rela- feet comfortably spaced and tively uniform in colour and stuck on the ground. Use 5) Try and position yourself brightness if the photo just your torso to rotate and track. or you subject to follow a has that as a background it Rest your camera comforta- straight trajectory. I found will likely work well. If how- bly and steady in your hands. that panning works best from ever there is a secondary light Try not to move your camera side to side, similar to you source (like a light pole) in up or down as motion blur standing at the side of a road the picture that dramatically will be evident. If you have a and watching cars pass from contrasts it will also streak tripod with a pan-tilt head left to right. Having your across the scene and distract. you can often get smoother subject (or positioning your- results. For those of us with a self in a manner) that has 4) Your speed and motion. ball-head I’m working on a your subject moving at an This is the most crucial and simple DIY attachment you angle (like up or down a hill) frustrating aspect of panning. can make yourself to secure will make things more diffi- To make this shot work the your ball-head to function cult. That’s not to say that photographer needs to be more like a pan-head. When you can’t do it, in fact I imag- fluid, smooth and consistent. I get something figured out, ine some pretty creative shots Deviating from this will cause could be made, but for the

© 2008 Tips and Tricks Photography 5 T I P S & T R I C K S P H O T O G R A P H Y purposes of someone like shoot again later on in the se- ject. It’s all about probability myself just starting mastering quence. and chances. side to side first should be a priority. 7) Lens choice. This generally 9) Practice. Clearly this is a applies to all photography, must, just reading these ideas 6) Follow through. Just like the bigger the lens the better and tips will not allow you to those of you who golf, play chance for motion blur, tele- go out and taking great pan- baseball, hockey or billiards. photo or zoom lenses may ning photos. These tips are The trick to this working well not be a good choice to begin directed at helping you out is to follow through with with. Since camera shake can with common problems that your motions. Once the shut- be pretty evident with them. may occur when panning at ter is released does not mean Try wider lenses that are first. Expect and prepare to you’re done. Remember more forgiving. be disappointed at first, most you’re using a relatively slow of the shots will look bad, but shutter speed and a moving 8) Continuous Mode. For as with most things, the more subject, the shutter will stay those of you who have a practice you have, the better open longer than normal and camera with continuous you will become. Play if you deviate in your pan- shooting. It might be a good around with shutter speed ning speed or shift up or idea to use. There likely will and get a feel for how to down this will affect the shot. be a lot of garbage shots, but move your body to reduce up Following through not only there is also a better chance and down motions and im- ensures that this is not a that you will take a picture prove a continuous fluid mo- problem but also keeps you when your panning speed tion. ready incase you want to matches the speed of the sub- Good Luck and be Patient

Vacation season is once again what’s the purpose of the trip The last thing you want while here and a must while on va- (sightseeing, relaxing at the on vacation is to be uncom- cation is to take pictures. Of hotel or beach, nature expedi- fortable from lugging around course, if we packed all our tion? Is space a concern, will all your gear. Here are a few photography equipment, your gear be subject to theft? thing that I try to bring every there would be little room left I hope to help with your deci- time on vacation. for our clothing, therefore it sions by providing some tips •Waterproof case for small can be difﬁcult to decide I have learned from my expe- camera what equipment to bring. riences when deciding what •Point and shoot camera When deciding what to take must go and what can stay •SLR Camera there are factors to consider; home. •Zoom Lens how long will is the trip, •Wide angle lens

•Lightweight tripod protects it from sand, water, •Filters impact damage and allows •Spare memory cards you to get underwater shots. •Digital Wallet •Spare batteries 3.) If you are going to an •Charger amusement park or a place •A good camera case or with lots of activities, take backpack to hold everything pictures of the kids ﬁrst. Pick out a spot when you ﬁrst get 1.) Always bring a little cam- there with a good back- 4.) Make it interactive- era, it takes up little space so ground and take your photos. Whenever possible, take pic- there is no reason not to bring The kids will be fresh faced tures of your family interact- it. It’s great for areas where and be energetic. After 3-6 ing with the surroundings, you want good photos and hours of rides, sugar highs this will bring action and life don’t want to be bogged and walking in the sun, they to your photos. down with all your gear. will probably look tired and not have such an excited 5.) Digital Wallet- This is a 2.) If your going to be near look. great tool to store photos on if water, pack the little camera you are on a long vacation in a waterproof case. This

8 © 2008 Tips and Tricks Photography T I P S & T R I C K S P H O T O G R A P H Y and will fill up your memory 8.) DSLR Zoom Lens- for far cards before your trip ends. away shots where the small 12.) Pack everything into a There’s nothing more frus- camera or the smaller lens good camera case/bag- No trating than getting half way won’t fill the need. matter what you use, make through the vacation and sure that all your equipment have very little or no room 9.) Wide Angle Lens- This is a is in one good bag/case and left for photos for the rest of must if you are going to do a that it is packed well so noth- your trip. lot of sightseeing or hiking ing is subject to movement so and you want to get some hard surfaces that can dent or 6.) Bring spare batteries and great landscape and pano- scratch any of your equip- chargers-These are a must rama shots. ment. Also, because you like the extra memory cards, packed everything in one it is even more frustrating 10.) Lightweight Tripod- A case/bag, you won’t have to than running out of memory must for nighttime photogra- rummage through multiple card space, with no juice, no phy or shots where every- bags to find what you are photo, no matter how much body is in the photo and you looking for, thus saving time. memory you have left. Al- can use the cameras timer. Or ways take an extra battery whatever else it can help you with you when you are out with to get that great shot. and about. 11.) Filters for DSLR Camera- 7.) Bring a DSLR Camera- depending on where you are This a great camera to have going on your vacation will for those special shots where depend on what filters you everything has to be perfect, should bring. For Instance, if or for the difficult shots you are going to the beach, where you can use the cam- you will want to bring a good eras tools and settings to Polarizer filter for your DSLR make proper adjustments. camera, this will help in Plus you also have the flexi- blocking out some of the bility of interchangeable bright reflections off the sand lenses. and water and allow the true colors to come through and end up with a great photo.

Impressionistic Photography Creating works of art with your camera — Written by Jeff Tindall

A few months ago I was surﬁng the web and multiple exposure, but many of them. We ran across a set of photos that were com- previously talked about doing a multiple ex- pletely different from what I typically saw. I posure in a past issue, however the major dif- didn’t consider these photos, these resem- ferences between the previous article on mul- bled impressionistic art, the likes of Monet. tiple exposures and using them to make a After doing a bit of research into how these Monet like photo is rather than 2 or 3 expo- photos were made and playing around with sures, we are talking 15-30 exposures, and we the technique I was pretty impressed with are moving the camera slightly between each my beginner results and thought I would exposure. share them with you and the techniques I It’s actually a pretty simple technique, forget used. about adjusting exposure compensations, this Impressionistic photography broken down technique is more about post processing. into its simplest form is pretty much just a

Step Zero: This isn’t really a step (hence step slightly to the left while it was mounted on a zero) more of a hint, but a good one. Re- tripod. member your going to be taking lots of pho- Step Three: Repeat step two! This is where tos. Take a picture of your hand before start- you can be as creative as you want. You can ing the picture sequence and then again after move to the left, to the right, up, down, spin your done. This way when you leave your the camera or any combination you want. camera for a few days and come back to it For example in the photo on the last page of later you will be able to easily identify what this article I decided to focus on on part of photos belong to what picture. the photo and rotate the camera around that Step One: Simply set up your camera and take part, creating a spiral effect. a picture. I typically used a tripod, but hon- Step Four: Load your photos into a photo estly this techniques is entirely about creativ- program (like Photoshop or GIMP) and cre- ity so depending on how you want your ate one file with each photo on its own layer. other exposures to be it’s entirely up to you. Essentially the file will contain 15-30 layers, Step Two: Move the camera slightly and take were each layer is one of the photos. This can another picture. In the photo at the begin- be a fairly large file, so be aware your photo ning of the article I moved the camera very program may bog down.

Step Five: The file should now contain all the Just a note: If you start from layer one and individual pictures on layers, however only move up the layers you wont notice any the top layer is showing. To make the im- change until the very end simply because the pressionistic photograph and start to see the last layer has a default of 100% and will block rest of the layers you need to adjust the opac- all the blending until it is changed. ity of each layer. A rough guideline for ad- Step Six: After all the layers are adjusted to justing the opacity and blend each layer is to their specific opacity, feel free to play around have an each amount of visibility (or the with changing the opacity. Changing the opacity) is to divide 100% by the layer num- blending of the layers will produce quite dif- ber (100%/layer number). For example, layer ferent and dramatic effects. So play with a 1 is the bottom layer (also known as the few of them until you find a look that you background layer), thus the opacity would like. equal 100%, because 100/1 = 100. For layer 2 the opacity would be 50%, because 100/2 = Step Seven: Enjoy, and send us a few of your 50. Layer 10 would be 10% (100/10=10) and attempts for the cover. layer 28 would be 100/28 = 3.57, so roughly 4%. Get the idea!

Here is a Photoshop technique to add a bit of rain to a photo.

1.Open up your ﬁle in and duplicate the layer. 2.Goto Filter--->Pixelate--->Pointillize and choose a cell size. The cell size is equivalent to the raindrop size. Small cell size = small rain drops. 3.Goto Image---> Adjustments--- After >Threshold and set the level to 255. Set this layers blend mode to screen. 4.Goto Filter---> Blur ---> Motion Blur. There are two characteristics to choose: The angle, this value determines how powerful your rain will be. Set it to 90 the rain will come straight down (i.e. not much wind), set it to 0 the rain will move across the photo (i.e. a category 5 hurricane). The distance equates to how long you left the shutter open when photographing the fake rain. The larger the distance the more each raindrop will streak. 5.Flatten the image and save.

Experiment with the values, I ﬁnd that for the angle values between 25 to 45 work well and distances between 40 and 80 work well. Keep in mind that you can make the angle negative to get the rain to go in the other direction.

Before