A Word About Photography

There are also a few tricks if your camera is fancy enough.  For greater depth of field, change your aperture to as high as it will go (my camera goes to f/11).  This will allow the entire frame to be in focus.  Ever see some pics of models where the front is in focus, but not the rear?  Upping the F stop will fix that.

For cleaner images, you can set your iso to 100 and the shutter speed to about 1/160.

Of course, if your camera doesn't allow for that, I agree with Gerald - a tripod or stationary point and either a self timer or remote trigger is the way to go.

Here are some pics I took at the zoo recently.  All hand held, camera was set to iso 100 with auto apperture and shutter.  Some were through glass, some were from across a field:

And here are some indoor "studio" shots

Enjoy.

-Fred

Gigatron wrote:

For cleaner images, you can set your iso to 100 and the shutter speed to about 1/160.

Uh... not quite.  Your shutter speed is always dependant upon aperture and available light, regardless of ASA/ISO.  Otherwise, your advice will work well.

Dre wrote:

Gigatron wrote: For cleaner images, you can set your iso to 100 and the shutter speed to about 1/160.   Uh... not quite.  Your shutter speed is always dependant upon aperture and available light, regardless of ASA/ISO.  Otherwise, your advice will work well.

My camera has several manual and auto programs.  One of the programs I built has the shutter speed set to 1/160 and iso 100, among other customizations such as custom white balance, flash speed, color and saturization. 

Even when I use shutter priority, I force the camera to iso 100.  I could force it to 50, but it makes no real difference.

I  have programs for indoor studio work, outdoor casual, indoor portrait (like at parties) and outdoor action (sporting events and races).

-Fred

All good points...but to take the simplistic approach...I'm using a couple of different digital pocket cameras. I let the device do the thinking...if I wanted more flexibility I would fire up the 'ol Cannon AE's I have.

I've been noticing a lot of blurry pictures posted on the various forums lately. I know when I travel somewhere to get to view something firsthand and photograph, nothing pisses me off more to find every shot I took look like I using a Coke bottle bottom as my lens.

I agree. There really is no reason to post blurry, shaky pictures. Just about every digital camera alllows you to preview your pictures. If you can't tell in the camera, your computer screen will point out every error. It costs only a few seconds to reshoot a bad image, unlike the old days when you never knew if the image was perfect until the film was processed at the cost of film, chemicals, time, lost opportunity or professional processing.

More tips.

Keep the background simple or scenic. Your cluttered work bench is not a good backdrop for a picture.

Avoid a white background unless you have very tight spot metering in your camera. The camera wants to average everything to 18% reflective gray (IIRC). A dark OD tank against a white sheet will give you a tank with 0 details visible.

Avoid backlighting. Maybe you want to give a special effect to your image, but if you want people to see your work, the lighting has to come from the sides or behind he camera.

Generally, direct sunlight creates shadows that are too harsh and contrasty . A pro shooting outside will have fill in flashes, reflector screens and umbrellas, etc. to control the light unless he/she is taking news photographs. Virtually no publicity photograph is taken in direct natural sunlight.

Use at least two directed light sources to reduce unwanted shadows. One of the beauties of digital photography is white balance. You no longer have to worry about filters or special films to shoot under flourescent or incandescent light.

Both make very good points.

I think the biggest cause of blurry pictures is that most people don't realize that they have a macro function on the camera.  There isn't a digital camera out there (except maybe some of the disposables) that doesn't have a macro feature.  Even without it, you can stand back a few feet and zoom in; at lest the subject will be in focus.

You can shoot on white, just make sure to set a custom white level.  Shoot it with the lights on and your flash.  It gives the camera an idea what the white level is and allows it to adjust the other colors in the shot accordingly.

If you are shooting indoors, try to replace the bulbs with natural daylight bulbs.  They run about $3-$4 and are readily avalable in the grocery store.  It negates the yellow of incandescents and green of flourescents.

-Fred

O.K gents, photography is a subject I know a great deal about. I'm not trying to toot my horn but I studied photography for two years in college plus I took the NYI Photography course.

1.    Always use a tripod for stabilization.

2.    Always use a release cable or self-timer to avoid camera shake.

3.    Use a hand held light meter or flash meter to get correct exposure.

4.    If you want crisp clean close-up shots use a macro lens or a camera with a macro setting. This will allow you to get close to your subject without using a zoom lens.

5.    The ISO rating is the "International Standards Association". This system was currently known as the ASA. (American Standards Association.)

6.    ISO refers to the sensitivity of a given film. The higher the number the less light needed to activate the silver-halide of the film. The higher the number also yielded a grainier image. Digital tries to emulate the same standard.

7.    Film Latitude, anybody? This is a lengthy subject but a subject well worth knowing. Here's a quick explanation.

(Your camera lens sees a wider range of light than your camera will actually be able to record.)

This can cause many of our exposure problems. The human eye has latitude of 50,000. This means that the brightest light the eye can see is 50,000 times greater than the faintest light we can see. Now lets consider film latitude. Black and White has the best latitude at about 500 for Tri-X  and Plus-X about 125. That's a huge difference from the human eye of 50,000. Digital still hasn't solved its latitude problems.

8. Hyper-focal is another way of achieving the best depth of field for any given lens. You need an SLR camera for this type of shooting. I wont continue on because this could take about 50,000 words to wrap up. If anyone wants to know about Hyper-focal settings just pm me. I'll be happy to share.

Like I said...keeping it simplistic...to avoid blurry pictures use a rigid support...tripod or set the camera on something. Point camera in direction of what you want picture of. Push self timer button...push shutter button....RUN to get into picture if you want to be in picture. Remember to pick camera back up and stick in pocket to take home.

SIMPLE! No more blurry pictures...even a caveman can do it!

Like I said...keeping it simplistic...to avoid blurry pictures use a rigid support...tripod or set the camera on something. Point camera in direction of what you want picture of.

I agree but...

There are many ways to get a good clear pic. Macro photography is the best bet for close-up shots. My post was for those who are actually interested in photography.