Das Bild des Tages von: Peter Drach
Im Ausblick: Diane Arbus, Burlesque und Schneeflocken.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity
Month: December 2015
-
7. Dezember 2015
-
Die Berlinerin von Ashkan Sahihi
Der amerikanisch-iranische Fotograf Ashkan Sahihi portraitierte über den Zeitraum von zwei Jahren 375 Berlinerinnen und legt damit ein feinfühliges fotografisches Forschungsportrait der deutschen Hauptstadt vor. Das Ergebnis ist noch bis zum 10. Januar 2016 in der Galerie im Körnerpark in Berlin zu sehen.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity -
Lightroom Mobile for Android is now free to use
In October, Adobe released Lightroom 2.0 for iOS which, unlike previous versions, can be used as a stand-alone app on your Apple mobile device, without a paid subscription to the company’s Creative Cloud services. Apparently customer response to the move has been very positive and Adobe has decided to do the same with the Android version of the app. Read more
-
Primer: Why would I buy a mirrorless camera?
It seems like just yesterday that we were trying to come up with a sensible name for mirrorless cameras but 2016 will mark the eighth anniversary of the first Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera. In that time they’ve gone from being an interesting new development to an credible alternative to APS-C and full-frame DSLRs.
Mirrorless cameras are interchangeable lens cameras that don’t have the mirror and optical viewfinder that define a DSLR. In most other respects, they’re extremely similar: with only a few exceptions, most mirrorless cameras these days are built around the same sized sensors as DSLRs, increasingly have similar lenses available, and can offer the same image quality.
Other than the presence of a through-the-lens optical viewfinder, the only other significant difference is that DSLRs have a separate, dedicated autofocus module, whereas mirrorless cameras use their main imaging sensor for focus. Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the two: mirrorless and DSLR cameras are available for a variety of needs and budgets and there isn’t a major manufacturer that doesn’t have some mirrorless cameras in its lineup.
What are the advantages?
Size
As mirrorless cameras have matured they’ve also diversified, making it harder to generalise about their strengths and weaknesses. It remains true though that mirrorless cameras are generally smaller than their DSLR peers. Taking the mirror out means that the lens can be mounted closer to the sensor, helping to reduce the size of the system. Furthermore, without the need to be backwards-compatible with film-era systems, the lenses tend to be designed to match the size of the sensor, meaning many of these are smaller, too. Just as in the DSLR world though, more expensive, faster lenses – especially those designed for Sony’s full-frame Alpha a7-series – are still pretty big and bulky.
Autofocus
Another advantage is autofocus. Once considered a weakness of mirrorless, hybrid autofocus systems (using a variant of the phase-detection method used in DSLRs to determine how far away a subject is) have essentially closed the gap between DSLR and mirrorless focus performance for all but the most demanding applications. Not all mirrorless models offer hybrid AF though, so it’s worth doing a little research if you need a camera with good continuous autofocus.
The Sony a6000 is much smaller than a DSLR but offers impressive autofocus tracking performance In fact, because all mirrorless cameras assess focus from their imaging sensor rather than a separate module, they are able to be more accurate and consistent, especially when focusing wide-aperture lenses. Combined with awareness of the scene that allows cameras to track and maintain focus on a subject’s eye, it’s increasingly the case that autofocus is one of mirrorless’s strengths.
Video
Mirrorless cameras already use their sensors’ continuous output to constantly preview the scene, so it’s not a big leap (or change in behavior) for them to capture this output as movie footage. The most obvious advantage of mirrorless cameras is that there isn’t a mirror blocking the sensor. This means that unlike a DSLR, you don’t have to completely change the way that the camera works in order to shoot video: you can continue to use the same means of previewing and shooting when you switch from stills to video. As a result, it’s mirrorless cameras that have led the charge towards offering better and better video and the clever photographic tricks that can stem from it.
System
Many mirrorless systems are now mature enough to include a broad range of lenses, such as Fujifilm’s X-mount lineup, pictured here. Because all mirrorless systems are less than eight years old, their systems aren’t as fully developed as legacy DSLR systems. The flip-side of this novelty is that most of the lens designs are relatively new and are well optimised for use on the latest high-resolution models. It’s worth checking that the lenses you might want are available for the system you’re considering, but you may find that there are more modern, more interesting or more affordable lenses available for some mirrorless systems than are available for the big DSLR brands.
What are the disadvantages?
The disadvantages of mirrorless are decreasing with every new generation of camera and only a few of the remaining drawbacks are directly related to the lack of a mirror. The relative novelty of mirrorless mean that manufacturers are still finding their feet, so there’s less consistency of performance and behaviour across brands: ergonomics and user interface are still the subject of experimentation and not every company has worked out how to design lenses that autofocus quickly.
Furthermore, the need to constantly power the sensor and screen while shooting, combined with attempts to capitalize on the size benefits of mirrorless mean that battery life is much more limited on most mirrorless cameras – sometimes to a restrictive degree. We’d strongly recommend you read our reviews or roundups to find out about these details before making a purchase.
Most mirrorless cameras allow SLR lenses to be mounted using adapters. The Sony a7R II is the first that can autofocus other brands’ DSLR lenses successfully. Finally, of course, there’s the absence of an optical viewfinder. While electronic viewfinders are constantly improving, aren’t limited by the size of the image format and can more accurately preview the image you’re going to get, most contemporary cameras’ live view feeds still lag behind the action when continuous shooting. On top of that, some people simply prefer the ‘part-of-the-scene’ feeling that an optical finder gives. These factor, as much as the vast number of photographers already invested in DSLR systems, pretty much guarantees that mirrorless cameras won’t totally replace the DSLR in the near future.
Just as mirrorless cameras have started to compete in areas the DSLRs have traditionally dominated, we’ve also seen DSLR makers beginning to respond to that challenge, with mirrorless-style on-sensor phase detection being added to offer a faster live view experience and better autofocus during video. As such, it’s getting to the point that personal preference for one particular feature or one specific lens might sway your decision more than the presence or absence of a mirror in the camera. Whichever you choose, advances in technology and a broader range of choices can only be a good thing.
© 2015 www.dpreview.com
-
Cardboard That Shreds: Working Corrugated Fender Stratocaster
[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]
If you can build a foosball table, a desk or an entire full-scale chapel out of cardboard, perhaps it’s not too surprising that this notoriously flimsy material can form the basis of a working Fender Stratocaster guitar. Signal Snowboards previously teamed up with Ernest Packaging to create a corrugated cardboard surfboard, and now they’ve built a custom Strat that even impressed the expert guitar techs at Fender.
The way the cardboard is assembled and shaped makes it surprisingly structurally sound, which is a good thing considering the strings put about 250 pounds of torque on the neck of the guitar. Once it was all glued together, Signal took it to Fender and had their techs cut it into shape and add three 50s single coil pickups, a Stat scratch plate and other Fender components. When held up to light, the body and neck of the corrugated Fender is nearly see-through.
Check out this video to watch the entire building process and listen to the cardboard Fender in action. “The fact that it plays at all is kid of remarkable, honestly,” says Dennis Galuszka, Fender Master Builder. “It’s cardboard.”
Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:
Cardboard Contradictions: 13 Clever Corrugated Creations
Flimsy and disposable, cardboard doesn’t exactly seem like a natural fit for applications like architecture, furniture, surfboards or bike helmets, yet these …
Click Here to Read More »»
Rapid Packing Container: Students Reinvent Cardboard Box
Faster, leaner and just plain better, this ingenious resign reduces wasted cardboard, eliminates excess tape and is also more convenient to build, open and …
Click Here to Read More »»
Out-of-the-Box Sculptures: 5 Amazing Cardboard Artists
Cardboard art can be sustainable or simply structurally challenging – or anything in between. These artists warp a generic material to create magnificent works.
Click Here to Read More »»
[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]
[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]
-
Panasonic to restart development of image sensors to fast-track 8K video
According to a report from the Nikkei Asian Review, Panasonic has decided to resume image sensor development in order to speed up the drive for 8K video. The company suspended its development program a few years ago, the report says, but now Panasonic is preparing to invest ¥10bn/$ 80.8m to get its R&D back up to speed.
The renewed effort is said to be aimed at producing sensors for 8K video output for its consumer and broadcast cameras, with production models expected on the market by 2018.
Recently, Panasonic has used its 4K video functions for a range of applications in addition to video, such as 4K Photo, where a still is extracted from a 30fps burst, and the Post Focus feature that allows users to change what is in focus after the picture has been taken. Presently, the stills extracted from clips made using these modes are only 8MP, but if that clip were recorded at 8K video (around 7680 x 4320) the stills would be in the region of 33MP, depending on the image proportions chosen. This is very much in line with Panasonic’s previous promise that we will be extracting 33MP still images from its cameras by the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
The report says that the introduction of 8K video in cameras will eliminate the boundary between videos and stills. It will certainly change the way images are created in quite a dramatic way.
-
6 Benefits of Using Cameras With Larger Sensors
With ever increasing megapixel counts in smartphone cameras, do you need a dedicated camera at all? Or perhaps could you just get a really tiny compact camera?
At this point in time at least, the answer is probably no. Or at least not if you really want consistently good image quality. The reason is, that these devices don’t have large enough digital sensors.
The digital image sensor is the part of the camera that actually captures the image, from the light that is reflected onto it by the lens. The sensors are of a good size in any DSLR or mirrorless camera you are likely to buy, but in an iPhone or compact camera they are tiny.
It may be obvious to you that a larger digital sensor might result in higher resolution in your pictures. But, there are other benefits of a larger sensor that you might not be aware of, which go well beyond resolution. Therefore, in this article, I want to explain why a digital sensor is so important to your photography. The fact is it may be the most important factor to consider when purchasing a new camera.
1. Larger sensors generally provide higher resolution
Sensors in DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are generally either Micro Four Thirds, APS-C, or Full Frame. Any of these will usually work fine, and as you can see they are all of good size. The sensors for smartphones and compact cameras, on the other hand, are extremely small in comparison.
Let’s start with the obvious thing – resolution. Having a digital sensor with a larger surface area provides the opportunity to include more pixels. Assuming the pixels are the same size, having a digital sensor that is 40% larger, reads that there can be 40% more pixels. That means higher resolution for your images, which in turn means more detail and the ability to make them larger.
A larger sensor can also lead to larger pixels, which has significant benefits for your pictures. If you see a Full Frame camera with the same number of megapixels as an APS-C camera, that doesn’t mean they will have the same image quality. Rather, that means the pixels will have been spread out over a larger surface area in the Full Frame model, and as you will see in the remainder of this article, having larger pixels spread out over a wider surface area has a whole host of benefits for your photography.
2. Larger sensors result in improved low-light performance
The number one predictor of whether a camera will have good low-light performance is the size of the digital image sensor. The camera testing that has been done shows a direct correlation between larger image sensors, and improved low-light performance.
A company called DxO Mark tests all digital cameras and assigns them a low-light performance score, which it calls its “sports” score (presumably because using high ISO is important to sports shooters, who often face poor light and need to use fast shutter speeds). This score is actually an ISO value. Specifically, the score is the highest ISO at which the camera will create a picture, without noise becoming too large of an issue (there is actually a technical formula they use involving decibels and signal to noise ratio, but that is my layperson’s definition of their score). The higher the score, the higher the useable ISO for that camera. For example, if a camera scores 900, that means the highest usable ISO for that camera is ISO 900. A camera with a score of 1250 would mean that its low-light performance was better, and performed well up to ISO 1250. And so on.
When comparing the scores for the current models of DSLRs and mirrorless cameras being sold right now, and then separating the results by sensor size, the result is rather striking:
To explain this chart a little further, the range on the bottom is DxO Mark’s “sports scores,” which as mentioned above are really ISO values. Each camera was assigned a score, and I sorted them by sensor type. The range of values for Micro Four Thirds cameras is between ISO 757 and 896 (with the average at 825). The range for cameras with APS-C sensors is ISO 915 – 1438 (with an average of 1161). The range for full frame cameras is ISO 2293 – 3702 (with an average of 2811).Notice that even the lowest rated APS-C camera performs better than the highest rated Micro Four Thirds camera. Similarly, even the lowest rated full frame camera performs better than the highest rated APS-C camera. When it comes to low-light performance, sensor size appears to make all the difference.
3. Dynamic range will likely be increased with larger image sensors
A larger digital image sensor also appears to lead to an increase in dynamic range for your camera. This is the range of tones that your camera can capture between pure white and pure black. The wider the range, the better.
There is no simple measurement for dynamic range, so comparing cameras is difficult. Finding the low-end of the spectrum (black) has a lot to do with the low-light performance of the camera, because digital noise increases when capturing very dark tones. At some point, the noise overwhelms the picture, so the bottom end of the dynamic range scale is not really “pure black” but rather “usable black.” What that means for us is that low-light performance determines part of the dynamic range of the camera, and as we saw in the previous section, low-light performance is largely a function of sensor size. Therefore, it would appear that a larger sensor would mean a higher dynamic range.
The digital image sensor testing done by DxO Mark bears this out. They call this their “landscape” score, and their results show a correlation between sensor size and an increase in dynamic range. The average for Micro Four Thirds cameras I looked at was 12.5 stops of dynamic range. That increased a bit to 13.0 for cameras with APS-C sensors, and then to 13.4 for full frame cameras. Therefore, a camera with a larger digital image sensor is very likely to have a larger dynamic range.
All these scores are pretty comparable, and my point is not so much to compare these sensors (which will all get the job done), but rather simply to show that sensor size matters. Based on this, we can see that a camera with a much smaller image sensor (like a phone or compact camera) would not perform as well when it comes to these measures of image quality.
4. A larger sensor lets you create more background blur
If you want an appreciable degree of background blur in your images, you will need to use a larger digital image sensor. It is not just a function of aperture size (although that is obviously a very big part of it). In fact, it is virtually impossible to achieve a strong amount of background blur with a camera that has a tiny image sensor.
The relationship between digital image sensor size and background blur has actually been tested by the folks at DP Review. Here is a link to their testing and results. Be warned that they use a lot of math and technical terms. Here is a chart with some of their results:
The results are that cameras with very small digital image sensors like smartphones and compact cameras are worthless if you aim to include background blur in your pictures. They go on to show that the larger the digital image sensor, the more blur you can include in your pictures. Therefore, sensor size is an important consideration if you want to achieve any amount of background blur in your photos.
5. A larger sensor can mean less diffraction
One other impact that the size of the digital image sensor has on your photos – and one of which you might not be aware – is on the amount of diffraction in your photos.
This may come as a surprise to you, if you are somewhat familiar with diffraction, because it is largely a function of using a very small aperture. Here’s how diffraction affects your pictures: When you use a small aperture, light reaching the edges of the image sensor can only get there after passing through the small aperture and then spreading out. That spreading of light causes the light rays to hit adjacent photo sites. Essentially, this spreading causes the light to sometimes hit the wrong photo site and leads to blur.
What does that have to do with the digital image sensor? Remember that diffraction is caused by a scattering of light across photo sites. Therefore, if you cram a lot of megapixels on a digital image sensor, the photo sites will be very small, and the scattering of light will cross over onto other photo sites more easily. That will mean an increase in diffraction. But in a camera where megapixels are more spread out, the same amount of scattering, will have less of an impact on your pictures.
As a result, larger image sensors where pixels are more spread out, tend to result in less image diffraction.
6. Larger sensors reduce the crop factor
Finally, let’s not forget about the crop factor that results from using a smaller digital image sensor. This chart shows the impact of crop factors. Notice in particular the yellow square in the center that shows the range of view for compact cameras:
Of course, camera manufacturers have adapted to this by introducing extremely wide angle lenses which are designed for cameras with smaller sensors. Still it is generally much easier to obtain wide angle pictures using a larger image sensor.
Conclusion
It is not my intent to trash any particular camera, or system. The fact is that any camera is better than no camera, so use what you have. What I want to show here is that there are significant benefits to lugging around your DSLR, or mirrorless camera. That is true whether it is a Micro Four Thirds, APS-C, or a Full Frame camera. The benefits go well beyond resolution, and affect your overall image quality.
Larger sensors help you take better pictures in low-light, capture a greater dynamic range of tones, result in reduced diffraction, and let you achieve more background blur. So keep lugging around those cameras rather than trying to get it done with a phone or a compact model.
Do you have any additional data or questions you’d like to add? Please share in the comments below.
googletag.cmd.push(function() {
tablet_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_tab-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78623” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );googletag.cmd.push(function() {
mobile_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_mob-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78158” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );The post 6 Benefits of Using Cameras With Larger Sensors by Jim Hamel appeared first on Digital Photography School.
-
Field Test: Kiliii Fish and the Canon EOS Rebel T6i in Alaska
Field Test: Kiliii Fish and the Canon EOS Rebel T6i in Alaska
In this field test we follow photographer Kiliii Fish to the Arctic – specifically, the tiny fishing village of Barrow, Alaska. Using the Canon EOS Rebel T6i – Canon’s 24MP entry-level DSLR – Kiliii has come to Barrow to document how the indigenous population is adapting to the changing environment up here in the far North.
See more Field Test videos
-
Urban Rainbows: 14 Colorful Art Installations in the City
[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]
Nighttime rainbows shimmer across the skies in cities from Istanbul to New York, traversing rivers, illuminating underpasses and highlighting monuments. Bringing splashes of ultra-saturated color to gray concrete scenes in urban areas as well as historic structures and even waterfalls, these rainbow light art installations seem to symbolize the ability to look on the bright side.
35-Mile Laser Rainbow
‘Global Rainbow, After the Storm’ by Yvette Mattern shone from the rooftop of the Standard High Line Hotel in New York City to 35 miles in the distance, symbolizing hope after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Despite their incredible range of visibility, the lasers used for the installation required the equivalent of two hairdryers’ worth of electricity.
100 Colors by Emmanuelle Moureaux
Lay down on a tatami mat and watch a rainbow of colors shift, swirl and change at the ‘100 Colors No.9’ installation by Emmanuelle Moureaux. Set against Tokyo’s Zojoji Temple, the work has a big impact for its size, with the colorful strands rustling in the wind.
LightRails by Bill FitzGibbons
A neglected Art Deco railroad underpass gets the attention it deserves with the addition of a network of computerized rainbow LEDs. LightRails by artist Bill FitzGibbons illuminates the passageway for safety, and to encourage its use as a gateway between downtown Birmingham, Alabama and a new urban space called Railroad Park.
Reflective Palace of Rainbows
Built in the late 19th century, Madrid’s stunning Palacio de Cristal feels even more magical and otherworldly with the addition of iridescent panels by Kimsooja. The installation, entitled ‘To Breathe – A Mirror Woman,’ created the feel of stepping inside a rainbow by reflecting the lighting effects on the windows with mirrors installed on the floors.
Night Rainbow
A ghostly-looking rainbow stretched 100 feet across London’s Trafalgar Square even after dark as part of a promotion for three new LGBT shows on British television in January 2015.
Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Urban Rainbows 14 Colorful Art Installations In The City
Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:
Street Origami: 30,000 Pieces Folded to Create Colorful Art
An urban art play in multiple acts, this staged installation colorfully spans brick walls, stone steps and wood facades as part of an art festival in Angers, …
Click Here to Read More »»
Cardboard Ferrari: Urban Art Installations by Benedetto
Ordinary cars become Ferraris with cardboard camouflage, campers stretch high into the sky and disused telephone booths transform into glowing sidewalk …
Click Here to Read More »»
Abandoned Bridge Amphitheater Reclaims Urban Space
An abandoned, deteriorating bridge in the city of Kosice in Slovakia has been rehabbed and modified to serve as an amphitheater and public gathering space that …
Click Here to Read More »»
[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]
[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]
-
A Helpful Checklist to Use Before Photographing Anything
If you are reading this you probably find photography exciting, maybe even so exciting that from time to time you forget changing your camera settings according to the subject you’re shooting. You have probably already missed at least one amazing shot, just because you forgot to change the ISO or shutter speed.
You are not alone. This happens to both amateurs and professionals, however there are a few simple tricks to avoid ever missing that shot again due to unpreparedness. In this article I’m going to share with you the simple steps I follow before going out to photograph, the steps I have learned the hard way. A helpful checklist to use before photographing anything.
Why do you need a checklist?
Okay, before I start sharing the steps, let’s briefly talk about why you need a checklist. The reason I need a checklist might be different than yours, and it all comes down to your needs. What are you photographing? Are you photographing to make huge prints? Are you capturing a moment that only lasts a brief second?
My main field of photography is landscapes and nature. It is rare that my window of opportunity only lasts for a brief second, meaning that I often have the time to find the best settings. However, if you are more into wildlife photography, travel, or perhaps street photography, your window of opportunity is much shorter, ergo you must be able to quickly take up your camera, and fire off some shots without spending much time fiddling with your settings.
The feeling of coming back home after an amazing evening, importing your photos, and realizing all the shots are ruined as a result of forgetting to change the settings is a feeling I don’t wish upon anyone. No matter what type of photography you do, quality is the most important.
Point one – Before you leave
Step one takes place before even leaving your home. This might very well be the most important step, and I know for a fact it’s one that many often forget.
Part one of the checklist consists of four basic, yet crucial elements to check:
- Are your batteries charged?
- Is your memory card full?
- Did you clean your equipment?
- Is all your gear packed?
Are your batteries charged?
You may laugh and think, “Do’h, obviously I won’t go out with empty batteries”. Well, that’s exactly what I thought too until one time when I drove seven hours to the west of Norwa,y where I would spend the weekend in a tent photographing epic landscapes. After one hour of shooting my first battery died, and I realized that all my spare batteries where empty too. Since I was camping I did not bring a charger.
In deep frustration I ended up driving the seven hours back home, as I did not want to spend the weekend in some of the greatest nature of Norway without my camera (Yes, I should have stayed and enjoyed the nature – but my thoughts where not rational at the time). Luckily I managed to pull off one descent shot from that evening, which I did not realize before writing this article!
I have made a habit to always set my batteries to charge as soon as I get home from photographing, yet I also double check that all batteries are charged when I leave on trips.
Is your memory card full?
Now, leaving home with a full memory card is not as critical as not having any battery time. However it is rather annoying to get the message “Memory card full” after taking 10 pictures. You then have to waste time deleting images one-by-one. Make sure there is enough free space on the card when you head out on your adventures!
Is your equipment clean?
Most of us are guilty of not cleaning our equipment from time to time. It’s more exciting to process your images when you get back home rather than clean your gear, right?
Regardless of what is fun or not, cleaning your equipment needs to be done, especially after photographing in rough conditions or by the sea. I recommend always bringing a microfiber cloth, air blower, and some cleaning spray when you are out, but the more you clean at home, the more time you have to photograph when you’re out.
Personally, in my earlier days I had a couple shots ruined due to forgetting to clean my filters after being out photographing by the ocean.
The image below is a typical example of what your files might look like if you forget to clean your lens before shooting. This shot was luckily not ruined, but it took some time removing all dust spots.
Did you pack all your gear?
This is something I have yet to experience myself, probably due to my paranoia of forgetting something. But it’s happened more than once that I have been out with someone who forgot their memory card, remote shutter, or even their camera. So make sure that all of the equipment you need is in your backpack when you exit the door!
Point two – In the field
Now that your batteries are charged, your memory card has available space, your gear is cleaned, and the equipment you need is packed, let’s head out to capture some beautiful images! But don’t get too excited, remember to go through these quick steps first:
Determine the subject you are about to photograph
Before you look into the settings themselves, start by reflecting upon the subject you are going to photograph. Is it a landscape, animal, people, or something else? By spending a few seconds becoming aware of what you are about to photograph, it will be much easier for you to remember to set your settings accordingly. You will then avoid photographing a bird with a narrow aperture when you want to blur the background.
At this stage I would also recommend putting some thought towards what lens you will need most. If you’re photographing birds, you normally need a long zoom, more than the wide angle. Prepare the correct equipment right away, so you avoid having to change lenses while you watch the bird fly away.
Check your ISO
If you are a landscape photographer like myself, you want the ISO to be as low as possible in most situations. However, you are also outside photographing sunrise, daytime, sunset and nighttime. These hours often require different settings.
It sucks to photograph a beautiful sunrise, just to come home and realize you forgot to change the ISO from 1600 after photographing the stars last night.
As a default I always check that my ISO is set to 100 when turning my camera on, as this is the setting I use for most of my shots. If you are photographing wildlife you might use 400 as a default to make sure you freeze the moment.The image below is a unfortunate example of one time I forgot to reset my settings from the night before. This resulted in me missing that small moment when the bird spread its wings.
Check your White Balance
Most of us look at the image preview after firing of a couple shots so we quickly become aware of any visible mistakes we have made, such as not setting the White Balance. Sure, the White Balance is easy to fix in post processing, but I prefer to make the shot as complete as possible in the camera. Quickly check that the White Balance is set to what you normally use (even if it is Auto, Cloudy or any other pre-made setting).
Don’t forget the focus!
Have you ever quickly taken up your camera to photograph the bird that just passed you, and later noticed that the image is out of focus because you forgot to change to Autofocus? It’s an easy mistake to make, so before you start photographing, be aware of how you have set the focus.
This also applies for the other way around as well. Say you are about to photograph a long exposure, you set the focus perfectly and slide on the filters. Then, just as you are about to start taking the picture, your autofocus starts going. No, it’s not a disaster, just simply annoying.
Point three – Back home
At this point your memory card is hopefully filled with amazing images. This is the last step, and it loops right back to point one. Now it’s time to set your batteries to charge, import your photos, and clean your equipment. If you make a routine of doing this after every session, you will avoid making the mistake of heading out unprepared.
That’s it for this checklist, and I hope it helps the next time you are out photographing. These steps don’t take much time to follow, and you don’t need to spend hours in post-processing trying to save a image anymore.
Do you have any “rituals” you do before going out to photograph? Please share in the comments section below.
googletag.cmd.push(function() {
tablet_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_tab-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78623” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );googletag.cmd.push(function() {
mobile_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_mob-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78158” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );The post A Helpful Checklist to Use Before Photographing Anything by Christian Hoiberg appeared first on Digital Photography School.