Photography Tips and Tricks!

[VicSkimmr]

Photography Tips and Tricks

Contents:
Intro
Beginners Tips
Intermediate Photography
Advanced Photography
Post Processing


Introduction

Everybody has been there. You put your blood, sweat and tears (not to mention hard earned money) into a really nice frog tank. You naturally want to share it with the community, with people who can truly appreciate all the work that went into it, but when you go to take pictures of it nothing you do seems to really show it off. It's frustrating, it's annoying. So here's a thread with some hints, tricks and techniques to try and help out.

First, a little about me. I'm not a professional, and I would never claim to be. I'm self-taught with no formal training, so if I say something stupid please correct me. I'm hardly perfect and I have a lot left to learn. I've gotten to where I am from reading, a lot, and by practicing... a lot. I do think I'm at the point where I can help new upcoming photographers though. The majority of my work can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonwithers/sets/

Photography is just one of the hobbies I picked up as a result of all my other hobbies. My primary focus is automotive work, but I also recently picked up macro photography a couple of years ago as a result of my reefkeeping hobby. It's just another expensive hobby in a long line of expensive hobbies.

So anyway, I'll be laying out this thread based on the table of contents above. To be continued...

[VicSkimmr]

Beginner's Tips

I understand that not everyone is interested in delving into the depths of photography, it's incredibly overwhelming and most people just want to be able to take a picture that comes out clear. The majority of the time it seems like everyone assumes that they need to go out and buy a newer camera, but that's rarely the case nowadays. If you've bought a digital camera in the past 5 years it should be more than capable of taking decent pictures. So, here's a list of things that you can try that don't cost any money (ok, not a lot of money).




1. Use a tripod.


I know I said this list wouldn't cost any money, but spending $20 here is invaluable. Your frog tank has very little light as far as the camera is concerned. What that means is that you're going to need a longer exposure in order for the camera to receive enough light to create the image. So if all your pictures look blurry, chances are you need to be using a tripod. They give the camera a solid surface so it doesn't move when taking the picture. This is absolutely the most important piece of equipment to have when taking pictures of frogs.




2. Minimum focus distance
How many times have you taken a picture to have it end up looking like this?


The background is in focus but what you're actually trying to take a picture of isn't. It's frustrating, right? The reason is because you're inside the camera's minimum focus distance.

Every camera has a minimum focus distance (MFD). What it means is that the camera has to be at least this distance away from the subject to be able to focus on it properly. If you're inside it, the camera will focus on the first thing it can, which is behind the subject. You'll need to open your camera's manual to find out what it is for your camera, but you should also know that as you zoom in the MFD will change, so be prepared to practice a bit to get used to it. The solution to this problem is, of course, to simply back up. Here I've backed up approximately a foot and now as you can see the subject (hole in the wood) is in focus.





3. Timer


A lot of cameras today have a built in timer feature. This is usually used for you to set the camera, hit the shutter release button and then run in front of the camera so you can take a picture of yourself, but it works even better in this application. If you're using a tripod, there's a good chance that just hitting the shutter release button will be enough to shake the camera, resulting in a blurry picture.

The timer feature is the solution to this issue. By setting a 2 second timer, you can press the shutter release button and step away from the tripod, reducing any chance of camera shake dramatically.




4. Clean your glass
What's the point of taking a picture if the tank is dirty? Do everything you can in preparation for taking the picture to give it the best chance of turning out good. If you're going to shoot through the glass, clean it first if possible. And that leads into the next tip




5. Shoot parallel to the glass
Always shoot parallel to glass. The more of an angle you shoot through it the more the picture will be distorted. If possible don't shoot through glass at all as it reduces the light being received by the camera, requiring a longer exposure.




6. Take lots of pictures
This is the last tip, and it's probably the best one. Nobody uses film any more, and digital pictures are free, so take lots and lots of pictures. Every one you take gives you a greater chance of coming up with something you're happy with. Take multiple shots of the same subject. My first photo rarely ever turns out to be the best, which is why I typically take 3 or 4 of each shot. Take pictures from different heights, from different distances from the subject. Straight on isn't always the best angle to shoot from. Take some from down low, some from up high, etc. Just go out and take a lot of pictures.

I hope this helps! If anyone else has any other good beginner's tips to add, please feel free to share and we'll add them to the list.

Next will be intermediate photography, in which I'll delve into shutter speeds, aperture and film speed (ISO) and how they all inter-relate to each other.

[Whistly]

Great info I didn't have a clue about the MFD. I think I'll have to retake some photos of my frogs when they sit in their favourite spaces.

[VicSkimmr]

Thanks!

Do we lose the ability to edit posts after a certain time period?

[DonLisk]

Yes, after a certain amount of time or if another post is posted after the one you want to edit.

[VicSkimmr]

well crud, that's going to make things difficult

[UncleChester]

Hi Jason! I had been thinking about posting some photo tips as well, but had not got around to it (obviously!) so I think this is a terrific idea, and great work so far.

(As a small aside, I was wondering if the forum would have use for a photo sub section for equipment and technique discussions as well as a general area for gratuitous frog related photos? Your thread here would make a great first sticky. Just a thought, I don't know if it would be used enough.)


You solicited more advice, so I'll add my 2 cents worth:

1. Small table top tripods are also handy for confined areas around vivariums. If possible, test out your camera on a tripod to see if it's solid enough before you buy it.

When using a tripod and a long exposure- turn off your flash. The colour temperature of the flash and your vivarium lights are most likely not the same and you will end up with funky colour casts. This isn't necessarily bad, but worth noting (see attached pic- Hot&Cold for an example of mismatched lighting temperatures).

2. For macro focusing, lock the cameras focus then move the camera forward and back until the subject is in focus. If your camera has a manual focus setting, use it to set the focus near where you want, then move the camera forward and back to fine tune. If it only has auto focus, half press the shutter until it locks focus, then continue to half press the shutter while you move the camera forward and back until your subject is in focus. Practicing nailing the focus is well worth it as missed focus will make an enormous impact on picture quality.

3. An infrared or cable remote are good options as well. If using a DSLR/SLR, check your manual for something called "Mirror Lock-Up" (MLU), it's often integrated into the timer but you may need to enable it. This will cut down on vibrations/camera shake.

5. This depends on your point of view, but I think of it as perpendicular to the glass- the lens axis being the imaginary line that is perpendicular to the glass plane. At any rate, I agree to shoot 'head on' when possible (image attached). However this is *much* less important when there is air on the other side of the glass and not water (i.e. fish), so don't be shy about breaking this advice if needed.

Other glass shooting advice:
a. The closer the camera is to the glass, the less it will turn up.
b. The further away from the glass the frog is, the less in focus the glass will be.
c. Turn off your cameras built in flash when shooting head on at glass- it will reflect back and look icky.
d. Keep as much light off you and your camera as possible- you will turn up as reflections in the glass. Cover yourself with a black/dark sheet if necessary.
e. Build your vivarium with front opening doors so you don't have to worry about glass

6. In addition to taking lots of pictures- learn to delete the bad ones after you've figured out what's bad about them and how to improve!

7. Use reflectors. Typical vivarium lights come from directly above. Tape pieces of white paper all around your vivarium to bounce some light back from below. This will reflect light into the otherwise dark shadows. This isn't necessarily better depending on the look you are going for, but it is a cheap/free thing to experiment with. Cheap white pieces of paper work great as reflectors outside on wild frogs too.

8. I'll end with a compositional tip- animal portraits/pictures are often more engaging when taken at or near eye level. So give it a try, and definitely experiment with different shooting angles whatever you do. If photography isn't hard on your knees you aren't trying hard enough

Hope this is some help, keep up the good work