Handy Hints &Tips

[CanonChrissy]

Thought I would start a little Handy Hints thread where we can share some of the little things we have learned/invented/discovered.  I will go first...

A rolled up Scarf can make a great bean bag for resting your camera on when you don't have/can't use a tripod.

[Black Pearl]

Being both a man and a northerner I don't own a scarf - would a pair of undercrackers be acceptable as a camera support?

[CanonChrissy]

Depends how big they are......korkys matrons would be fine but it u r a thong man which im guessing u might be, u r liable to damage said camera!

[JHFoto]

I already use a home made bean bag, easy........

[CanonChrissy]

30 minutes ago, JHFoto said:

I already use a home made bean bag, easy........

Do you have any tips though JH?

[JHFoto]

When photographing birds, no one likes to see the bird on the feeder so always scatter some seed around where you intend shooting, this way you can often get them in their natural habitat like sitting on a branch or fence or even the ground.

[ChrisLumix]

When photographing in Macro mode, you can lock focus with the usual half-press. But what happens if you move slightly forwards or back when you press the shutter? That could be enough to move the focus slightly away from the most important point. (It applies to both manual focus, and AFS mode).

Changing to AFF mode instead, means the camera will refocus when you press the shutter, and you get the focus you want.

[CanonChrissy]

Nice tips. Keep them coming

 

[ChrisLumix]

Ok, here's another!

If you hanker occasionally after the lovely grain we used to get with film (unlike the awful digital 'noise') here's how to get it in Photoshop:

Go to Filters/Textures, and choose Grain. Go for the 'enlarged' or 'clumped' style - according to taste - and set the contrast and intensity to around 40% each (or to taste). You may find the end result is too much, so you can Fade the effect until it looks what you want. Or if the grain looks right but too much colour, you can desaturate slightly.

Play around with it - it's not something that gets used often enough, I think. 

[Ryewolf]

Well I have only a few tips based on things that's hapenned to me they might seem very normal things to do but it;s surprsing how often it;s happens,

1. Check your camera settings, nothing worse than thinking you're lens geting a 1/500th second and get a 5 second shutter speed instead

2. Make sure you haven't Accidentily set your focus to manual when you were exxpecting autofocus

[JHFoto]

When photographing Deer or any other wild animal try and approach from the down wind direction, you will find if you are lucky you will be able to get much closer without spooking it............

[CanonChrissy]

9 hours ago, Ryewolf said:

Well I have only a few tips based on things that's hapenned to me they might seem very normal things to do but it;s surprsing how often it;s happens,

1. Check your camera settings, nothing worse than thinking you're lens geting a 1/500th second and get a 5 second shutter speed instead

2. Make sure you haven't Accidentily set your focus to manual when you were exxpecting autofocus

I have done both of these!

[Korky]

Free Panel is a great download for Photoshop.

Don't forget to unsubscribe once you're up and running - although the emails aren't too much of a nuisance, they only turn up now and again.

Korky

[Black Pearl]

Don't be afraid of high ISO's.
A grainy image is better than one with blur due to camera shake so if you are currently concerned about using very high ISO's don't be, embrace them, love them.

Expose to the left.
What I mean by that is when you have  a scene with a very large dynamic range make sure your highlights are holding detail by using exposure compensation or manual exposure to shove your histogram to the left, under exposure in other words. While it is possible to recover highlight details from your RAW files (expose to the right) there is a limit and it does tend to produce clipping with harsh transitions. My preferred method is to keep the detail in the highlights with a dark file then lift the shadows from the RAW data. Yes this can introduce noise but this is easily controlled and the overall image will end up far more balanced.

Look behind you.
When you are out and about it is easy to become fixated on a shot you have seen and miss another - potentially better - shot. Turn round, you never know what you might capture. Along similar lines take a few steps to the left an right (where safe to do so) just to alter your point of view, this can often massive change the end image. 

Pretend you're short.
There is a tendency when out taking picture to see a shot (please do the above) and shoot with your camera at eye level. I would say 7 out of 10 times your shot will look better when taken from a lower position and if not it will look different and might get you to a better final image.