1) Lots of Sunshine, Lots of Auto!
Keeping the camera in Automatic Mode is a good idea with pocket cams. Where they excel or do their best is when they are used in bright sunny conditions. Keep it in Auto Mode as much as you can during the day. Try to use available soft light. The sun has a lot of strong harsh light that cast ghastly shadows on people and subjects. Try to walk around your subject and getting a different angle of lighting. There's always a good angle, it's just up to you find it :)
2) Auto Sucks - Snow Scenes
Now that winter will be hitting us soon, we'll be getting into our winter challenge themes. As a result this will involve some shooting of the white stuff. Your point and shoot camera fails miserably here. The newer camera models are getting better at this, but it's still a good idea to know what to do when your snow scenes are looking a little dull or gray. Your camera reacts to the amount of light coming in. Snow conditions are bright and as a result the camera thinks the scene is too bright so it underexposes the image. The result is flat photos. This is what you do to override that.
Keep the Camera in Auto Mode. Look for the EV (exposure value) controls. It will normally be at '0'. Tell the camera to overexpose the image by going to +0.3 or +0.7 depending on your camera model. Take your shot and look at your LCD and you'll notice your snow looks white!
3) Pop up the Flash!
The sun is behind your subject, or you have an amazing subject in the background but you want some detail in the foreground, say having a person not just be a shadow in your photo. Pop up the flash or set the flash to on. The camera will expose for the background but will add the flash to lighten up the foreground subject (usually a person). I know it's weird saying pop up the flash in the middle of the day but trust me, it'll do wonders for your photos. If the photos look like they have too much flash, dial down the flash power or set your camera to rear sync flash or 2nd sync curtain.
Before Flash
After Flash
4) Awesome Sunset/Night Portraits?
This one may require a tripod if you've got shaky hands but if you don't, try this one out. It's very similar to number 3), in fact it's really the same tip. You have an amazing sunset but you want your significant other in your photo to be something more than a shadow in the sunset or to show up in the night shot but not look like a deer in the headlights. Or you want the background to show up vivid or to even register some detail. Switch your camera to night portrait (even if there is available light) and or also pop up your flash.
This shot was done just after the sun had gone down. I put the camera on my bag as a makeshift tripod and set my camera to an equivalent of the night portrait mode for point and shoot cameras.
Sunset Shot
5) Light is key!
Available light is the most important part for point and shoot cameras. It has to be a good amount of light especially with indoor shots. Avoid using the flash if you can, but if you can't use tips 3) & 4). When shooting indoors and you really don't want to use flash, try to turn on as many lights as you can. Get your subject near lamps that are off image. Try to avoid shooting in dark conditions with your point and shoot otherwise you'll notice a lot of noise in your photos. Unless of course, this is what you're gunning for... To each their own.
I hope these 5 tips help just a little bit more with your everyday shooting.
Happy Shooting,
Shutter Nirvana
No comments:
Post a Comment