Photography and Digital Camera

           In portrait photography there are a few guidelines that you should review and think about when you take pictures of people.  The  three general types of portrait photography are: close-ups or facial shots, upper body shots, or environmental portraits (where you focus on the subject and the surrounding environment that gives the subject character). 

           Some of the best portraits are where the subjects look completely comfortable like their not looking at a camera.  When people try to smile or make a certain kind of face for the camera it usually doesn’t seem very genuine.  The trick is to capture the image when the subject(s) aren’t necessarily focused on the camera.  The main purpose of portrait photography is to capture the essence of the subject(s).  Different people have different techniques for doing this, one of which is taking a picture while the subject is planning on smiling and then take another couple while they are recovering.  Or another way would be to tell a funny joke where they can’t help but genuinely laugh and smile.  But probably the best way is just to catch them off guard by waiting for the right opportunity and snapping a picture right when they look at you not expecting a camera.

           Close-up portraits usually have the subject’s shoulders and head or less.  They are basically framed around the face.  These are the best to capture expressions and glamour shots. It is very important to have the light coming from a good angle for these.  If you want to accent wrinkles or small details you should have the light coming from the side or from the top.  If you want flattering pictures you should take these on a day that’s cloudy so there is a lot of diffused light and therefore no shadows. 

           You will get the best results if the subject is brighter than the background so there is not much distraction.  For these you should use a wide aperture (low f/stop) to make the background out of focus and less of a distraction.  Professionals usually use a fixed telephoto lens that’s 90 mm or a little higher for portraits for the reason that it de-emphasizes the subjects nose or any other unflattering feature because at that far away the nose or any other significant feature doesn’t seem closer to the camera than the rest of the face.

           Upper body shots or midrange portraits are a little less personal than close-ups.  These are easier to get satisfactory results from mainly because your subject is probably more relaxed plus you can include a little of the background.  These are probably the most commonly used for single subjects and multiple subjects.  The ideal lens would be around a 90 mm fixed telephoto lens but if there’s many subjects in your frame you will need more of a wide-angle lens.  These are usually used to mark occasions such as graduation, school yearbook, birthdays etc…

           Environmental portraiture are portraits that let us into the life of the subject.  These usually include the whole subject in a scenario or partaking in some hobby that they enjoy.  These are best for telling a story to the viewer about the subject in the pictures.  Photojournalists almost always use these to look into the lives of interesting people.  These also work very well in Black and White.

           Exposure is the amount of light collected by the sensor in your camera during a single picture.  If the shot is exposed too long the photograph will be washed out.  If the shot is exposed too short the photograph will appear too dark.  Almost all cameras today have light meters which measure the light in the given shot and set an ideal exposure automatically.  Most people  depend on the light meter which is fine, but if  you know how to control your exposures you can get some creative and sometimes better pictures.  (The photo on the left is with low shutter speed and narrow aperture (high f/stop).

           The two primary controls your camera uses for exposure are shutter speed (the amount of time the sensor is exposed to light) and aperture (the size of the lens opening that lets light into the camera).  Shutter speeds are measured in seconds and more commonly fractions of a second. (1/2000 of a second is very fast and 8′ seconds is extremely slow).  Apertures are measured in something called f/stops (a very wide aperture is f/2.8 and a very small aperture is f/19).

           You might wonder why there is not just a constant shutter speed or a constant aperture so that you would only have to worry about one control.  The reason is that even though they both control the amount of light getting to the sensor they also control other aspects of the picture.  Shutter speed for example can be used to freeze subjects in midair with a fast speed or it can be used to blur water with a slow speed.  Aperture controls the depth-of-field which is what is in focus in the picture.  Aperture can be used to draw attention to one subject (like the flower on the right) by blurring the background with a wide aperture (low f/stop).  Aperture can also be used to focus everything in a picture with a narrow aperture (high f/stop).  (The photo on the left is with Wide aperture (low f/stop) and corresponding shutter speed).

           On most digital SLR’s (Single Lens Reflex) cameras today you can even change the sensitivity of the sensor when collecting light which is called the ISO speed.  The common span of ISO speed is 100 to 800.  The higher the ISO speed the faster the camera collects light but it also adds more noise to the photograph than the lower speeds.  For example if your trying to take pictures in dim light without a tripod you might want to raise the ISO speed in order to get a picture that’s not blurry.  Most of the time you should keep it at a lower ISO speed if there is enough light, but it makes a big difference when there isn’t.

Low shutter speed and slightly narrow aperture (pretty high f/stop)

The best way to learn how to use shutter speed and aperture is to just keep experimenting with them.

Source : www.picturecorrect.com

Red eye is a major problem for amateur photographers and occurs when a built-in-flash unit is positioned too close to the camera. This is down to poor design of cheap cameras, but can also happen with the built-in flash units in most SLR cameras.

Red eye is caused by light reflecting back off the retina at the back of the eye.

The chances of red eye happening and destroying an image are high if you are new to photography. One trick that usually works is to ask the subject to look at a bright light seconds before you take your image. The best way to avoid it is by placing your flash off camera and at a 45 degree angle to the subject.

One of the handiest tricks for avoiding red eye is to use the double flash technique. When you are ready to take your shot pre-program your camera to give a double flash. The first flash will make the eyes of whoever you are photographing react by narrowing their pupil size. The second flash is for the images that you are taking. Not all cameras have the pre-program for a double flash facility; but a flash on an old camera will do the same if you time it correctly.

Another technique is to angle the camera so that you are not shooting head-on portraits. This should also help to avoid any unwanted glare from the image. Some photographers use tracing paper to diffuse the light. The tracing paper is placed over the flash window. It is a method that can work, but it would be my least favourite.

While all the above may work well, the best way to avoid red eye in photography is by using a flash off camera or by bouncing the light of a surface that will direct the light back onto the subject.

Camera designers have gone to great efforts to minimize the effect of red eye, and there are many software programs that claim to remove it digitally. For those who are into digital photography and have access to Adobe Photoshop the red eye can be removed in two minutes.

To remove red eye in Photoshop follow these instructions.

1. Select the Red Eye brush tool from the toolbox.
2. Zoom in on the eyes.
3. You may need to click on the Default Colour button and reset the colours. Once done make sure that the Sampling tab is set to First Click.
4. Resize the brush tool to suit the image.
5. Place the brush pointer over the red eye and click.

This method works by changing the colours of pixels in the area affected. If it does not work completely the first time restart the process and set the Tolerance tab to a higher percentage. When the tolerance tab is set correctly all the red eye should be removed.