know thy equipment ...
21/09/09 12:08
one of the interesting things about photography ... well for me anyway is the great opportunity to ‘bond with my equipment’! i know this sounds odd, but its true ... i love the experience of learning and one of my very natural curiosities is to get very techie. i realize that does not at all sound appealing to some of you who are very non- technical. but for those of you who have a desire to jump in and take that camera off of “automatic” [or what I love to call the “auto-magic” setting] and learn some cool new things ...well its worth the time.
i often hear from people how they don’t know how to use their cameras and well this concerns me a bit! and yes i am talking about all of you who are not photographers but who like to take snapshots and pics of your friends and family and etc. and all amateur photographers out there ... go ahead read the manual and learn about all of the cool things that you can do with your digital camera!
cameras are so sophisticated these days and there are limitless ways that you can create unique images. but you just might have to take that camera off of its auto-magic setting to create a new and interesting image. i always urge people to play around with your camera settings and get to know the different options that you have. did you know that your camera probably has a setting that is specific for portraits and then another for a landscape image? these settings contain common presets that work best for creating the best focus range, light metering, color temperature, and etc... i know, i know, you are thinking that you don’t know what all of that means. well you don’t have to worry they have chosen a formula for you. but you do have to at least get in there and be adept at using those controls. so go ahead get into that camera menu and change some settings and start shooting! you will learn some new things and you will take better shots as well!
i often hear from people how they don’t know how to use their cameras and well this concerns me a bit! and yes i am talking about all of you who are not photographers but who like to take snapshots and pics of your friends and family and etc. and all amateur photographers out there ... go ahead read the manual and learn about all of the cool things that you can do with your digital camera!
cameras are so sophisticated these days and there are limitless ways that you can create unique images. but you just might have to take that camera off of its auto-magic setting to create a new and interesting image. i always urge people to play around with your camera settings and get to know the different options that you have. did you know that your camera probably has a setting that is specific for portraits and then another for a landscape image? these settings contain common presets that work best for creating the best focus range, light metering, color temperature, and etc... i know, i know, you are thinking that you don’t know what all of that means. well you don’t have to worry they have chosen a formula for you. but you do have to at least get in there and be adept at using those controls. so go ahead get into that camera menu and change some settings and start shooting! you will learn some new things and you will take better shots as well!
cool new things ...
01/09/09 15:23
from time to time i like to share some cool finds about photography related stuff and this week i would like to share 2 cool new things that i am using.
i recently ordered a product called ‘camera armor’ for my canon (which is kind of my beater camera). its the camera that i take with me trail riding because i would never take my baby ... which is my nikon along for a bumpy trail ride where it could possibly get hurt! well, i also don’t necessarily want my canon to get all banged up either ...so i went searching for something to protect it a bit more and found ‘camera armor’! check out their site - camera armor; they make a very rugged silicone skin for your camera that fits your (nikon or canon) model like a glove. so i now have my canon all wrapped up in its protective armor and i feel much better when i am out there riding around and takin pics! love the product. good stuff.
the other cool new thing i recently discovered .. just today in fact ... is a product called SneakPeek Photo. so this is a mac product (sorry pc users) and its basically a “quick look” plug in that allows you to get a quick peek at your images and even some of the data that is attached like the fstop and iso used and etc... so obviously the benefit is that you don’t have to open up your image application (for me that is aperture) and depending on your workflow process - if you are like me - then you load images into aperture after they are on your mac .. and so i would have to take all of these steps if i just want to view an image quickly. sneak-peek allows a nice quick view at your image and its very cool! love it. check them out here: SneakPeek Photo
i recently ordered a product called ‘camera armor’ for my canon (which is kind of my beater camera). its the camera that i take with me trail riding because i would never take my baby ... which is my nikon along for a bumpy trail ride where it could possibly get hurt! well, i also don’t necessarily want my canon to get all banged up either ...so i went searching for something to protect it a bit more and found ‘camera armor’! check out their site - camera armor; they make a very rugged silicone skin for your camera that fits your (nikon or canon) model like a glove. so i now have my canon all wrapped up in its protective armor and i feel much better when i am out there riding around and takin pics! love the product. good stuff.
the other cool new thing i recently discovered .. just today in fact ... is a product called SneakPeek Photo. so this is a mac product (sorry pc users) and its basically a “quick look” plug in that allows you to get a quick peek at your images and even some of the data that is attached like the fstop and iso used and etc... so obviously the benefit is that you don’t have to open up your image application (for me that is aperture) and depending on your workflow process - if you are like me - then you load images into aperture after they are on your mac .. and so i would have to take all of these steps if i just want to view an image quickly. sneak-peek allows a nice quick view at your image and its very cool! love it. check them out here: SneakPeek Photo