Tips and Tricks (for Photographers)

I got to thinking about little tricks I have made for myself to make life on the photography-footpath a little easier … and figured it would make a great thread on the RB forums.

Therefore:
If you have a tip or trick for photographers, post it here.

Here’s the first one:

<sup>Need to clean your glass/lens, but the cleaning-cloth is buried somewhere in your camera-bag? Here’s the solution – attach it to the neck-strap of you camera.
How?
1. Cut a tiny hole in one corner of the cloth.
2. Grab that corner and the corner diagonally across.
3. Wrap around neck-strap – and push all of cloth through hole you made.
4. Position on neck-strap as close to camera as you desire – and pull material tight, but not so tight that it rips fabric! (You might need to loosen and reposition.)</sup>

I hope that makes sense!

Now it’s your turn. What little tip or trick do you have for us photographers?!

Macro Photography.

I don’t know if this is a tip or just an example of what has worked for me.

I found the difference between a good macro and a poor macro on be a couple of millimetres. So you need a large depth of feild. To get a large depth of feild you need lots of light. What I have tried and seem to be working is placing a white peice of cardboard across the top of my flash.

Here’s a picture to show what I mean.

This is what it turned out like

Here’s one from this morning using the same setup

Here’s some more marco examples

Wow, I love this idea – and exactly what I am asking people to submit! Thanks Dennis. Photographic examples is always good!
I will have to do the same for mine.

I was reading a mag and come across 10 tips. I found them quite good, thought i would post them!

1. Read the Manual – get the most out of your equipment
2. See the light – Sunrise, Sunset, midafternnon, indoor, artificial
3. Get in Close – try shooting it when your closer
4. Make Clean Images – Clutter, rubbish, unwanted stuff
5. Vertical or Horisontal – Turn you camera
6. Change your location – Up, Down, Left or Right
7. Rules of thirds – Like a noughtrs and cross grid
8. Foreground/Background – give photos depth
9. Use a Polarising Filter – reduce the glare
10 Try a flash – even outside in sun

Purchased the B+W circular polariser instead of going for the HOYA which i have favoured in the past.

I was not dissapointed.

Thanks for all the tips!!! Most useful!

Love that idea for the macro, Dennis! Might have to give that a go.

I learned fairly early on that 5’ 9” is not necessarily a good height for a photo – so my first rule is always “Change Your Angle”. Change your viewpoint, even to the extent of lying flat on the ground (which the wife finds really embarassing! Especially when I do it in a public space!)

It’s good to see people contributing great ideas. But rather than posts of thanks, let’s focus on giving and sharing. (The best thanks is to use the tips wisely and upload your results to RB !)

Earlier this week I purchased a UK Magazine entitled Photography Monthly . Not only is it highly informative, but it also gives a lot of interesting tips and tricks in every article. For example, page 37 talks about how to create a “Zoom Burst” either with your camera or with multimedia.
Here is the camera-method:

1. Your camera should be on a tripod, but it can be achieved without.
2. Set a long exposure of one second or more.
3. Operate the zoom barrel when the shutter is open. It’s easier to start at the shortest focal length and zoom to the longest.

This is tricky because moving the barrel may blur more of the picture than you intended. I’ve seen some great results of this method right here in Adelaide by some friends. It’s definitely worth a bit of experimentation.
Have a bit of fun with this tip. I’m going try this trick tonight, so I hope to have some pictures uploaded shortly!

(posted at 6:39 PM 27/06/2007)

Nice tip. Might give it a shot :)

When shooting long exposures on a tripod, if you don’t have a cable release (or like me you forget it all the time) then use the self timer on the camera to avoid camera shake.

I just resently figured out how to minumize the glare from glass reflections while shooting at the Zoo exhibits. I had a rubber lens hood on my camera and used that as a barrier between my lens and the glass. Placing the hood right on the glass. Remember to focus the lens before you place the rubber hood on it other wise you feel the hood gripping the glass as you focus.

When you can, use manual focus instead of auto focus. I have noticed that when I focus manually, my shots are MUCH sharper. Then again, this might be because I have cheap lenses :)

Either way, don’t be lazy.

Anybody got any tips for landscape photography? What makes a great landscape? I’m thinking particularly of rural landscapes.

For Landscapes, make sure you have large apertures (particularly around f/16) to maximize your depth of field and to get the best colors, shoot during the “golden hours” – approx. sunrise and sunset. Also, when dealing with horizons, keep the “rule of thirds” in mind and make sure your horizone line is straight. Check these links out:

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/11-surefire-tips-for-improving-your-landscape-photography/

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php?lesson=6&MORGUEFILE=d0709ck4h6g2em16jkel6nis53

Both websites are full of photography tips and techniques (not just on landscape photography) and have helped me out tremendously. It should at least help pass the time at work. Hope this helps…

Just to clarify what aenriquez said and avoid confusion, what you want to do is have a small aperture which means a large F-stop value to give you depth of field. Yes I am being pedantic but hopefully it will avoid confusion later. Also due to the laws of physics (don’t ask coz I don’t know the details) if you go much over f16 you will start to loose sharpness due to diffraction therefore you need to think a bit about what your priorities are.

Rule of thirds is a good starting point but don’t be afraid to break the rules.

One of the most important things for landscapes is to have depth, having one interesting element is often not enough to make it a great photos so if possible you need something in the foreground, middle-ground and background. A good way of doing this is to have elements (typically some sort of line) to draw you into the photo, like here and here . But as I said before, rules are there to be broken!

using small aperture like f16-22 causes lose of sharpness due to diffraction. Though it varies with lenses
Using small aperture to increase depth of field is less effective with telephoto lenses depending on the focusing distance

Thanks for the clarification Will and well put.

I found that using the flash indoors works quite well with some tissue around the flash to soften it. Works good for portraits where regular flash would be too harsh, just experiment with the tissue layers a bit beforehand.

On the topic of depth of field, check out the following web info on Hyperfocal distance, and getting the most depth of field out of your lens settings:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/dof.shtml
Great information on this site.
Cheers all!
Charlie

hi guys

barb, I use tissue all the time, if you want even softer just turn the flash around 180 degrees to face above, behind you.

It will bounce of the wall behind you and give you a nice soft light on your subject.
As always the more practice the better.

I use tissue for another reason , to wipe away my tears, when I cry in frustration, I’m a lousy photographer… but what do I know? nothing!

The Rules of Photography:
1. BE THERE.
2. WITH YOUR CAMERA
3. SHOOT LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF FRAMES.
4. FROM MANY DIFERENT ANGLES AND DISTANCES.

As for the Rule of Thirds: never put the horizon in the centre of the image UNLESS you plan to crop down to panorama format.

Making an eye-popping landscape is notoriously hard. Pretty scenery with pretty colours just wont hold anyone’s interest for very long. Study the works of Ansell Adams, Weston etc…
-Landscapes often work best as a study of light and dark so consider shooting for B&W.
-Keep the sun off your right or left shoulder to emphasise shadows.
-ALWAYS USE A POLARISER.
-ALWAYS ALWAYS USE A UV/SKYLIGHT FILTER TO REDUCE BLUE-HAZE IN THE DISTANCE.
-Compose with interest in the foreground, mid-ground, and background wherever possible.
-Try to create lines or flow which draw the viewers eyes thru the image.
-Under-expose 1-2 stops to increase colour density.

NEVER EVER put your flash gun lens against your leg just to see how hot it gets when you fire it off.

NEVER EVER put your flash gun lens against your leg just to see how hot it gets when you fire it off.

Do you speak from personal experience? ;-)

FYI, flickr has various photos of people setting off flashes in their mouths, such as this one:

It’s been a few months since I started this thread, so I should contribute something new:

Keep at least five resealable bag’s in your camera bag or pocket. Why?

(1) If you still shoot with film, and plenty of people do, it’s the safest way to keep the cannisters from getting wet. The better LowePro bags are water-proof, but it’s better not to take chances!

(2) If you use a backpack or trek-bag, rather than a proper camera-bag, your lens will love you for knowing they are safe from rain or leaking water-bottles!

(3) For collecting artefacts to take home for further macro-photography. When I collect shells, rocks and other weird stuff from beaches, I always end up having them in bread-bags!

(4) For wet socks. How many times have you ended up with a foot in a puddle or creek because you didn’t see it whilst staring into you camera?

(5) For baby diapers. Self-explanatory.