Tag: photography
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Manual Mode – Finally
After paying way more than you thought possible for a new complex digital camera with all kinds of modes and controls and menu items why oh why would you want to shoot in manual mode? In the old days before digital cameras and even before automation came to 35 mm film cameras all cameras from…
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“S”-mode
Shutter speed priority (S mode) allows the photographer to manually set the shutter speed for a given exposure while the camera then automatically sets the appropriate aperture and ISO setting. Usually labelled as S on your camera, it is also shown as TV (for time value) on Canon cameras. So why use S mode? Using…
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What’s “A” Mode?
Aperture mode is often the preferred mode of the professional photographer. In aperture mode the photographer sets the preferred aperture value and the camera auto selects the proper shutter speed based on the available light. Aperture mode gives the photographer full control over one of the most important settings in photography. With it the photographer…
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What’s “P” Mode?
“P” mode stands for “professional” mode! Just kidding but seriously a lot of professionals use P mode and so should you at least for awhile. P mode is a lot like automatic mode with the exception that you get to choose when to use the flash. In other words in P mode the camera still…
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Automatic Mode
Photo by Marion West So you got a new camera. Congratulations! Maybe it’s one of the newer complex mirrorless camera or a simple point-and-shoot but all digital cameras whether complex or simple have an automatic mode. Should you shoot in automatic mode? Professional photographers won’t admit to shooting on auto mode but there are times…
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Photo Editing Software
First of all yes you need one. But you don’t necessarily need (well you might want) Lightroom or Photoshop or any of the other top-of-the-line editors. Here’s why: If you’re shooting images of the kids or the dog or the cat you’re going to want to crop out unnecessary stuff out of the background. You…
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Saving Your Images
Photo by Marion West So how do you save your images once you’re back home with your memory cards filled with precious images? First if you’ve been out shooting all day consider whether it might be wiser to do this important job the next day after a good night’s rest. Don’t ask why I know…
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RAW vs JPG
Let’s get the great debate over right away shall we? Is it better to shoot in RAW or JPG format (or both)? Well first of all let’s understand what these formats do. RAW images are like cakes where all you have are the ingredients. Nothing has been mixed and nothing has been baked or frosted.…
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What’s A Camera?
I usually start teaching my photography classes with this question: What’s a camera? My answer is a camera is basically just a light-tight box. That’s it. Early cameras were just wooden boxes with a back mechanism that would hold a piece of film (often 4X5 inch or 8X10″) and at the other end a very…
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Film or Digital
Why has there been so much interest in black and white film photography when digital is so much easier to use and so much improved when it comes to quality of the images? The simple answer is dynamic range. So what’s dynamic range and why is it important? The simple answer actually lies in our…
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