The first poloroid camera was available to buy 1948 and was created by Edwin Land, an American inventorand physicist. Poloroids before 1963 used instant roll film which is no longer aviailable to purchase, it came in two rolls, posotive and negative. Later cameras changed to using pack film, this required the photographer to take the film out and split the posotive from the negative for developing. In 2001 poloroid goes bankrupt and two years later digital SLR cameras are released (Olympus E-1 and the Canon Digital Rebel)
This is the rule of thirds and is a rule that every photograspher should abide by on nearly every occasion. This rule is put into place to help get the best composition out of your shot as possible. The rule of thirds a grid consisting of rectangles sections which are split up into three rows and 3 collumns. a well composed shot should have the main focus on where two of the lines cross.
The ruler of thirds was written by John Thomas Smith in 1797 in his book 'Remarks on Rural Scenery'
It is important to know your way round your camera as you might need to change something very fast if you are shooting something unpredictable. for example wildlife or sports. On this perticular model it has a main dial which spins to change what you are selecting on the screen where as some others may have a pad with arrow buttons you can use, its all down to personal preferance and onbiously what that camera manufacturer chooses best for the perticular model. Every DSLR camera will roughly have the same buttons which all do the same thing but it is all down to how the manufacturer want to lay out the buttons for use on there cameras. Most DSLR cameras will come with a mount for flash that caqn be used directly for the flash or a flash reciever which will connect the camera up to a flash wich is being used elswhere. This is often used in studios.
This is the screen of a DSLR camera and holds the most important information when you are using the camera. It shows you information such as shutter speed, ISO, battery life, how many photos you can still take and much more. This is very useful because it is shown just underneath the view finder so you can take a glance at it to check on your settings very quickly if needed. Most of the settings shown on the screen can be altered and changed by using the top dial on the top of the camera and the navigation pad.
When preparing a camera for a shoot it is very important to check you have your equiptment and spares, you should check:
When preparing your camera for shooting to give you more control over your end shots you should shoot in RAW instead of JPEG as RAW does not compress your data into a picture for you but lets you do it yourself letting you take control over getting the results that you want.
Shooting in RAW gives you a lot higher results in dynamic range which gives you the ability to display highlights and shadows. At first glance RAW images are flat with not too much vibrance in the colours and not as sharp as you would expect. This is because you are to process the photos yourself where as JPEG once you have taken the picture you cannot change its origional settings.
If you are on a shoot and you have only one card with you that isnt completely empty and you are explecting a rather large ammount of photos shooting in JPEG could even tripple the ammount of images you could capture if you were shooting in RAW.
When setting up your camera it is important to take control by entering the settings yourself rather than shooting in auto to get the best of the images you are shooting. You should set your ISO to the lighting you feel neccasary as this will completely change the outcome of your image.
Other key things you will need to dail into your camera is your shutter speed and aperture settings as these two combined control the ammount of light you choose to letinto your image and simply how good your image outcome is.
The shutter speed is the speed in which the shutter closes, if it is set to a fast shutter speed for example 1/4000 of a second it will capture a much sharper image than say if you were shooting on 1/60 but will be a lot darker as the light does not have as much time to go into your camera therefore making your images a lot darker but this may not be a problem if you are shooting in bright day light as day light in most cases will be enough to light up any photo you are wanting to take. The aperture controls the depth of the image. If you set a shallow aperture for example F3.5 you will have a shallow depth of field as apposed to a deeper aperture for example F20.
The image below was shot using an aperture of F3.5
The image to the left was shot using an aperture of F9
As you can see by using a lower aperture even on the most simplistic like I have used the photograph looks more structured and gives it a sense of composition.
shallow depth of fields are very commonly used in wildlife photogrpahy because if you get a very sharp focus on the object it really tops the image off nicely by highlighting what you want in your image and blurring out the background. The image below is shot using a low aperture.
When choosing a shutter speed you need to take into consideration what you are shooting for example if you are shooting something that will be moving for example a racing car you will need a very high shutter speed to capture the image in full sharpness. The lower the shutter speed the more blurred your image will be. Using a tripod to keep your camera completely still is advised when shooting using a low shutterspeed. If your camera is on a tripod you can shoot using a slow shutter speed and still keep your image in perfect focus but whatever is moving on your image will become blurred, you can use this to your advantage for example shooting waterfalls.
As you can see by the photograph below when used properly a slow shutter speed can create breath taking photographs.
Adobe Bridge
It is important to know your way round your camera as you might need to change something very fast if you are shooting something unpredictable. for example wildlife or sports. On this perticular model it has a main dial which spins to change what you are selecting on the screen where as some others may have a pad with arrow buttons you can use, its all down to personal preferance and onbiously what that camera manufacturer chooses best for the perticular model. Every DSLR camera will roughly have the same buttons which all do the same thing but it is all down to how the manufacturer want to lay out the buttons for use on there cameras. Most DSLR cameras will come with a mount for flash that caqn be used directly for the flash or a flash reciever which will connect the camera up to a flash wich is being used elswhere. This is often used in studios.
This is the screen of a DSLR camera and holds the most important information when you are using the camera. It shows you information such as shutter speed, ISO, battery life, how many photos you can still take and much more. This is very useful because it is shown just underneath the view finder so you can take a glance at it to check on your settings very quickly if needed. Most of the settings shown on the screen can be altered and changed by using the top dial on the top of the camera and the navigation pad.
When preparing a camera for a shoot it is very important to check you have your equiptment and spares, you should check:
- Batteries
- Memory Cards
- Lenses
- Flash
When preparing your camera for shooting to give you more control over your end shots you should shoot in RAW instead of JPEG as RAW does not compress your data into a picture for you but lets you do it yourself letting you take control over getting the results that you want.
Shooting in RAW gives you a lot higher results in dynamic range which gives you the ability to display highlights and shadows. At first glance RAW images are flat with not too much vibrance in the colours and not as sharp as you would expect. This is because you are to process the photos yourself where as JPEG once you have taken the picture you cannot change its origional settings.
If you are on a shoot and you have only one card with you that isnt completely empty and you are explecting a rather large ammount of photos shooting in JPEG could even tripple the ammount of images you could capture if you were shooting in RAW.
When setting up your camera it is important to take control by entering the settings yourself rather than shooting in auto to get the best of the images you are shooting. You should set your ISO to the lighting you feel neccasary as this will completely change the outcome of your image.
Other key things you will need to dail into your camera is your shutter speed and aperture settings as these two combined control the ammount of light you choose to letinto your image and simply how good your image outcome is.
The shutter speed is the speed in which the shutter closes, if it is set to a fast shutter speed for example 1/4000 of a second it will capture a much sharper image than say if you were shooting on 1/60 but will be a lot darker as the light does not have as much time to go into your camera therefore making your images a lot darker but this may not be a problem if you are shooting in bright day light as day light in most cases will be enough to light up any photo you are wanting to take. The aperture controls the depth of the image. If you set a shallow aperture for example F3.5 you will have a shallow depth of field as apposed to a deeper aperture for example F20.
The image below was shot using an aperture of F3.5
The image to the left was shot using an aperture of F9
As you can see by using a lower aperture even on the most simplistic like I have used the photograph looks more structured and gives it a sense of composition.
shallow depth of fields are very commonly used in wildlife photogrpahy because if you get a very sharp focus on the object it really tops the image off nicely by highlighting what you want in your image and blurring out the background. The image below is shot using a low aperture.
When choosing a shutter speed you need to take into consideration what you are shooting for example if you are shooting something that will be moving for example a racing car you will need a very high shutter speed to capture the image in full sharpness. The lower the shutter speed the more blurred your image will be. Using a tripod to keep your camera completely still is advised when shooting using a low shutterspeed. If your camera is on a tripod you can shoot using a slow shutter speed and still keep your image in perfect focus but whatever is moving on your image will become blurred, you can use this to your advantage for example shooting waterfalls.
As you can see by the photograph below when used properly a slow shutter speed can create breath taking photographs.
When using a tripod you must remember to balance it correctly, most tripods will have a bubble at the top which is to help you get it perfectly level. This is imprtant as it will keep your image in frame.
Although at first glance using a tripod may seem as though you can only adjust the from the top if you have a bit more creativity with them you can see that you can use them in more ways than one for example flipping the centre column to give you a lower angle.
This technique can come in very handy because on some tripods the legs do not extend all the way out enabling the camera tobe able to practially rest on the floor.
Tripods can also be used to ultra high angles aswell by attatching the camera to the end as usual and holding the tripod in the air to give a very high view point.
When working in a studio lights are very important, wheather you are using one light or you are using 20, the lighting will make or brake your image.
There are many types of lights and attachments that are often used in studios
Here are a few:
- Snoots
- Softbox
- Strobes
- Umbrellas
- Barn Door
These are the three pictures that I took for the MC Tech project. They were all shot in the studio using lighting set up by myself and angles and composition set up by myself.
Adobe Bridge
