Tips and tricks on photography

Can we get some tips and tricks for photography. I mean for the non professional (semi idiot) photographers like me.

I know there are some high funda sites for photography. What i'm looking for is some tips etc of in getting a better shots with basic camers...

What difficulties are you having? It's hard to offer general tips without knowing where the trouble lies.

I assume you have removed the lens cap.

yep! most of the times

If i'm shooting say in the overbright sunlight (in auto mode), the picture comes as 'fade' or someone called it 'burnt'!!

How do we decide what exposure time is right (in the manual mode when you have an option to select the shutter speed). I'm using a basic sony camara

ok that's the first question....

i like the way this thread is going!! always good to start from scratch! beach, i am not accomplished enough to answer, so i will rather sit back and read the responses, and ask a few questions myself!

Are you saying the shot is overexposed (too light)?

Bright sun is no good for any sort of photography, really, but unavoidable in India. The best thnig to do is to "bracket" your shots--shoot one at the "normal" exposure, one slightly overexposed, and one slightly underexposed. Then see which one you like best.

Shutter speed alone, if you camera allows shutter priority exposure, won't affect anything except motion blur. Once you choose the shutter speed, the camera selects the aperture. If you change the shutter speed, the camera will select a different aperture. The net effect is enchanged--the camera is still functioning at the same overall exposure value.

You have to be able to set both shutter and aperture values in order to override the camera's automatic mode.

Slow shutter speeds (less than 1/30 or so) will show moving objects blurry. Faster speeds eliminate the natural shake that attends handheld shooting, so faster is often sharper. Also, if you zoom out, you should use a faster shutter speed, since camera shake is magnified by the length of the lens.

Hi,

The exposure of a film depends on the following three factors:

1. The intensity of light (How bright the ambient light is) (Aperture setting can control the maximum light coming into a camera)
2. The film speed (e.g. ASA 64. ASA 100, ASA 200 etc.)
3. The shutter speed (or the exposure time)

Practically speaking a right mix of these three factors leads to an optimum exposure.

I think you camera's user manual should be able to illustrate on how to set the right mix of these three.

You can check up following steps to begein with.

1. Set the speed of the film correctly in your camera.

2. You can refer to "Exposre Chart" provided with the camera films (of a given speed) to set a mix of shutter speed and aperture for a given light (lux) meter. Most of the good cameras have an inbuilt lux meter. I am not sure but I think some of the cameras also allow you to set this mix by fixing up any two variables

For Example:

Light is fixed, film speed is fixed, you can vary the shutter speed to achive an optimum exposure. Another example could be suppose you want to take a picture of a fast moving subject in bright day light, you will have to fix the shutter speed to a very fast level, the film speed is fixed and you are left with the aperture setting to be adjusted to acheive a optimum exposure.

Another example can be if you want to shoot a speeding object in low light, then you will need to increse the film speed and then set other things to create a perfect mix.

I hope it was not too complicated.

Cheers!!!

I'm a beginner at photography too and I absolutely LOVE the way this thread is going.

Merchant, this one's for you and all the other photography experts here - Supposing I'm shooting with 100 ASA film, morning (after sunrise) or evening (before sunset) light in the mountains.

I know this one sounds really stupid. Bracketing, like you said, is one way out. But to get it closer to accuracy, what shutter speed would you suggest, let's say at an aperture of F 11?

Better still, what is the best combination (aperture/ss) for normal landscape shots? (With greater detail in the background)

Thanks!

Brilliant thread - i'm taking notes!

OK! that's a first lesson

some times i realy get 'rich' images. so that means my camera (and me) are ok as a photohraphic duo. But why has it became a great picture is a mistery. May be great luck. Some how i wants to tame this luck to the possible extend.

also i may have to develop a sense of the light level to adjust my exposure time and also the aperture values (focus length ?).

This manual focusing is my Waterloo (or Panipat, to make this thread a bit Indian!)

Currently I use my camera like an AK47, I wish i had the skills of a camera sniper

If I had one over-arching tip to offer, aside from just learning the basics of the camera, it's that the success of your photograph is proportional to how much you invest in getting the shot.

If you just walk up to a shopkeeper, take one frame, say thanks, and walk away, you will have a shot that looks like that.

If you spend some time with the person before you go into the photography phase, he or she will be much more comfortable. Then you can move to find the best light and take 20 shots from different angles, different exposures. A few of those will be really good, and you'll be quite satisfied. You'll probably also have made a new friend.

So--you can spend 30 seconds on getting a shot, or 30 minutes. And the shot you get will probably reflect that.

Hi!

Checkup the following link. It's a good primer and also have a exposure chart for various film speeds, shutter speeds and light conditions.

This page also mentions some thumb rules

http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm

Cheers!

Yep! that multiple shoot 'tip' is a simple thing to try....why did'nt i do that earlier

After all mine is a basic digital camera, so there is no bit expenditure in fiddling and experimenting with it a bit.

Now for sure, beach's AK47 will spit 3 bullets each at a target

Random tips:
1) almost all of the photos in National Geographic are underexposed on slow slide film (e.g. Kodachrome 25) or low digital ISO settings - so if that is your idea of "richness" use slow film/ISO settings and deliberately underexpose by half an f stop (alternatively, you can use ultrafast film/ISO and very short shutter speeds for that "grainy effect.")
2) Shoot from shadow into sun (never vice versa). This works especially well in India with the high bright sunlight. If you can't hide in a shadow to get the shot, use a lens hood (or a hat shadowing the lens) - many photos that are judged to be overexposed are actually the result of lens flashing.
3) Look first - shoot later.

Ok! great , more such "photography for dummies" style tips please.

Brilliant!! I'm overwhelmed!!!