Tip: Shutter + Aperture Priority for Nikon (Intermediate)

Some Pentax DSLRs have a nifty exposure mode called Shutter and Aperture Priority (TAv), which allows you to dial in the aperture you want, the shutter speed you want, then let the camera pick the ISO automatically.  This is useful if for example you have a specific aperture and shutter speed combination that you want.


At least some Nikon cameras can emulate that TAv function to some extent.  Here's how:
1. Switch to manual exposure mode.
2. Turn on Auto ISO.
3. Dial in the aperture and shutter speed that you want.
You'll notice that Auto ISO will adjust your exposure upward or downward, up to as low as the base ISO to as high as the ISO limit that you set in the menus.  You'll also notice that the light meter won't move as it usually does, instead showing 0 until you go beyond the minimum or maximum ISO.  If you do want to adjust exposure to match your intent, you can use exposure compensation.

Here are test shots.  The baseline shot is at ISO 800, f/4, 1/25, taken on manual exposure mode, matrix metering, with the light meter at 0.  Let's assume that this is the correct exposure.

In the next shot, I activated Auto ISO, then changed the aperture and shutter to f/5.6, 1/50, with ISO initially at 800.  ISO automatically adjusted to 2800, showing that Auto ISO will adjust upward as needed.

In the following shot, I changed the aperture and shutter to f/2.8, 1/13 with ISO initially at 800.  ISO automatically adjusted to 220, showing that Auto ISO will also adjust downward as needed.

In this shot, I changed the aperture and shutter to f/2.8, 1/6.  ISO could not adjust below the base ISO (ISO 200 for the D300), resulting in overexposure (you do get a warning of sorts because the light meter will show an overexposure).

Technical vs. Emotional (Intermediate)

In my view, a photo's emotional qualities generally trump its technical qualities.  I took the shot above to sell my helmet.  Technically there are many flaws with the photo -- the light stand is showing up in the photo, there's flare, the postprocessing is excessive, the noise is excessive.  Yet it's the one I chose over a much cleaner shot because I liked the emotion that it generated in me.


I started out with the idea of shooting the helmet with a spotlight type effect, with the helmet emerging out of the shadow into the light.  To do that I used a snoot on the flash which I positioned with a light stand.

I next wanted to work on illuminating the face shield --  I wanted a reflection that showed its nice clean shape.  To illuminate a reflective object like that, you don't illuminate the object itself. Instead, you illuminate the object that you want to be reflected on the surface.  See Light: Science and Magic.  Based on photos of helmets on the manufacturers' websites, it seemed like a large square or rectangular light source would be needed.  I didn't have anything like that, so I thought about illuminating our patio doors to put vertical lines on the face shield.  When I was trying to put the flash in the right position, I got this image:

Not what I intended but I liked the light in the background and the flare it created. It seemed more exciting.  Until now I didn't really understand those photos in the Strobist Flickr pool with lights in the background.  For this shot, I liked the effect it created.  I went back to the original concept a few times but kept coming back to this shot.  

When I later tried to recreate the flare, I had trouble getting it at first, even with the flash aimed at the lens (credit to the Tamron 17-50 VC's flare resistance).  It wasn't until I increased the power by a couple of stops when the flare started to show up.  I then illuminated the patio doors to get lines on the face shield.

I felt that the visibility of the light stand, which makes the shot look a bit crude, was consistent with the devil-may-care emotion of the shot.

In postprocessing, I continued with the in-your-face feel of the shot by using a lot of local tone mapping, high pass sharpening to create a gritty look.  It created a lot of noise in the dark areas of the shot but I thought it was consistent with the edgy theme.

By comparison, here is a similar shot, executed more cleanly (I used bounced light to illuminate the face shield and helmet, and also amped up the local tone mapping):

I think it looks ok too. Definitely cleaner from a technical point of view.  However, I think it has a more 'pop' feel than a 'grunge' feel, and I think the grunge one may be more appealing to the target market.


Here's another example where in my view emotion trumps technicalities.  First, the conventional shot:

Compare that with this abstract shot by my brother-in-law at our toddler's birthday (with a D3S no less!), which I really like.  I feel that it captured the emotion and energy of the moment better than any of the other shots of that scene.

Being more of a technical person myself, I will endeavor to be more mindful of the emotional aspects of a photo.

Video of Neil van Niekerk's flash techniques

Renowned wedding photographer Neil van Niekerk gave a presentation to discuss his flash techniques.  His presentation is entitled, "Just Give Me the F-Stop."  You can watch the 4-part video from the link posted at Neil's website.

Post-Processing with Picnik and Picasa

I have been a huge fan of Picnik, the online post-processing application.  It's very user-friendly, has pretty good capabilities, and is reasonably priced (free for basic; $24.95/year for premium). I had previously been flustered by Photoshop and similar apps, and Picnik was the first app that allowed me to start actually learning post-processing because it was so intuitive.

One thing I didn't like about Picnik was that it was online only. It was convenient to use for photos that were already in my web albums, but was tedious to use for photos that were still on my computer (which required uploading them first). And I really disliked not having offline copies of edited photos (unless I patiently downloaded each photo into my PC).

For a while, I kept wishing that Picnik would create an offline version. That didn't materialize, so I just started learning Corel Paintshop Photo Pro. In the back of my mind, I fantasized that Google would try to beat Photoshop at its own game by integrating Picnik into Picasa (another product I like).

Wouldn't you know it, Google acquired Picnik. When that happened, I figured it was only a matter of time before Picnik became integrated into Picasa. That's why when my Picnik subscription expired, I chose not to renew it first, biding my time. :)

A few weeks ago, Picasa v.3.8 came out and it indeed integrated Picnik, at least partially. Now, there is a button in Picasa that lets you launch Picnik. But it's a bit more than that. The photo gets uploaded automatically to Picnik and then saved back to your computer when you're done. My gripe about offline photos therefore was partly addressed. I'm sure that eventually, Picnik will become offline through Picasa. I would bet Google's Picasa team is working on that integration and will release it as a major upgrade: Picasa v5 or something.

If I already have Corel PSP X3, Picasa, and Photoshop Elements 8 (I refuse to use pirated Photoshop btw), why would I subscribe to Picnik? The short answer is that I like Picnik's ease of use and speed. I also particularly like Picnik's ability to 'paint' some effects (like curves adjustments), similar to PSE's Smart Brush. (Corel should take a hint from that idea.) Combined with the reasonable price and the ease of saving photos into different web albums (Picasa, Flickr, Facebook, among others), I think Picnik is worth the subscription. Someday though, I still hope that Google will not only integrate Picnik as an offline application but also acquire Paintshop Photo Pro to provide a worthy challenger to the Photoshop monopoly. ;)

Joe McNally's new book available for pre-order

Joe McNally has a new book out: LIFE Guide to Digital Photography. From the way Joe describes it, this book is a bit different from his previous works, The Moment It Clicks and Hot Shoe Diaries.

I don't have The Moment It Clicks but I do have Hot Shoe Diaries (I even bought it twice because I lost my first copy at an airport). In Hot Shoe Diaries, Joe makes it clear that it's not a how-to book. Instead, it's a collection of case studies about how he shot certain photos. From reviews of the Moment It Clicks, it appears that Joe used the same approach in both books.

Unlike those two books, however, LIFE Guide to Digital Photography is definitely a how-to book. I have high hopes for this book. First, Joe has tons of knowledge and experience, and his photos show it. Nikon didn't choose him as a spokesperson for nothing.

What good is such skill though, if Joe can't transmit it? In that regard, I'm confident about Joe's teaching ability as well. He certainly has the heart for it, being generous with sharing his techniques (see his blog). In addition, Joe has been teaching workshops. I'm guessing that would give him enough experience gathering his thoughts and teaching in a way that lesser mortals like me can understand.

So, I've preordered his book from Amazon sight unseen. Will post a review when I receive the book (due in October).

Fill Flash: Summer Pool Party! (Basic)

We attended a summer pool party-themed birthday hosted by our friends.  It was sunny but not hot - just absolutely perfect weather to have a dip in the pool.



Chastened by my failure to take good photos at our toddler's birthday, this time I resolved to take a back-to-basics approach.  How basic?  I stuck to on-camera flash, on TTL, bare (no diffusers or anything), in almost all cases direct frontal light.  OK, I can see the tomatoes coming from the strobist crowd... :)  There is a certain logic to the approach I took.  Outdoors, with virtually no suitable bounce surface, using flash for on-axis fill is a logical technique.

A second technique I used was to do my best to avoid direct sunlight on the face of the subject.  Direct sunlight looks boring (to me), is rarely flattering, and de-saturates colors:

Instead, I tried to use the sunlight as backlight or rim light.

Applying just those three simple lighting techniques, I was able to focus on capturing key moments, composition, and even on enjoying myself.  How'd the shots turn out?  Not bad, in my opinion.  In most cases, the Nikon TTL-BL was smart enough to know when the flash was functioning only as fill to lift shadows, so shadows still looked like shadows instead of being blasted by flash.  Compare the shots below.  The top shot is ambient only (the light on our toddler's face is from sunlight bouncing from the white towel), while the bottom shot is with flash.  The flash lifted the shadows without obliterating them, and managed to maintain a similar pattern of highlight and shadow as with the ambient-only shot.  The downside is that the flash did create its own shadow because it wasn't sufficiently on-axis.  (In the future I wish to try David Hobby's on-axis fill flash method or perhaps try a ring flash.)

After I got some safe shots, I tried from time to time switching to ambient only or to off-camera flash.  The ambient usually required some compromise such as leaving the shadowed areas underexposed, or overexposing the background (which would require layers and masks to fix in postprocessing), so I kept going back to using fill-flash.

Ambient only (background overexposed):


Ambient only (subject underexposed):


My off-camera shots weren't good either, in part because I didn't bring a tripod to use as a boom for the light.

Here are a few shots from the party (most are straight out of the camera or with just minor adjustments):





















Our toddler didn't want to leave:







After the party, we went around a bit and enjoyed the scenery.







Best of all, we had an awesome time!

Bulletproof Bounce Flash Settings (Basic)

You've got a party coming up and want to take decent photos. The only problem is, you're new to photography and although you've seen good results from flash, not really sure about how to control your flash properly. The situation may not be hopeless as you may think.

Here are more-or-less safe settings you can use for an indoor party with white or neutral ceilings:
1. Buy the most powerful external flash you can buy that has bounce and swivel capability.
2. Attach your external flash to the camera (make sure both the camera and flash are off first).
3. Turn on the camera, then the flash. Make sure you're in TTL mode (which is the default option anyway).
4. Switch the camera to Program exposure mode. If you want to get fancy ;) , switch to shutter priority and select 1/60 shutter speed.
5. Switch the ISO to the highest ISO that has tolerable noise. If your camera has Auto ISO, turn it on. If you need to specify minimum shutter speed, select 1/60.
6. Turn the flash head as needed to bounce. Or turn the head to the rear and left (7 o'clock) and upward.

I did almost exactly that at our toddler's 1st birthday, and got these results without fiddling with any settings (even handing the camera to non-photographer friends from time to time):
http://picasaweb.google.com/creadvty/Maty1stBdayParty#
(ironically, the shots look better exposed than the ones I took at our toddler's 3rd birthday).

After the party, check out the TTL Flash Tutorial :)

Comment on Canon's new EOS 60D

Canon recently announced a new DSLR, the 60D.  According to dpreview, the 60D will occupy a slightly lower tier than has traditionally been occupied by the XXD series.  What I find most interesting is that the 60D will feature a built-in flash commander, just like the 7D.  I guess that means that Canon is following Nikon's footsteps in including a built-in commander for mid-level bodies and above, which is great news for family photographers!  
If I were to buy a system all over again, I think I would be very tempted to go the Canon route. Canon has a wider selection of lenses, some of which cost less than the Nikon equivalent.  In terms of flash capabilities, Canon also offers ratio control (in addition to FEC adjustments or manual adjustments).  See here.  Having tried my brother-in-law's former 50D, I still like Nikon's handling better though.

Comments on some new lenses

Tamron has a new 70-300 VC lens, which improves upon the existing 70-300 by adding image stabilization. As usual, the Tamron lens undercuts first-party lenses with similar range and features.

There's just one problem for Tamron's new lens: Nikon also has a new lens - the Nikkor 55-300 VR, which not only covers a greater range, but also costs the same or less (even after the $50 rebate on Tamron's 70-300 VC). I don't know about the optical quality of either lens but I would guess the Nikon has the same or better quality.

Even if Tamron drops the price on the 70-300 VC, the 55-70 range is such a useful range that it is hard to imagine getting the 70-300 VC.

For similar reasons, I think the 55-300 VR may seriously cannibalize sales of the well-regarded Nikkor 70-300 VR unless the 55-300 VR has terrible quality, which I doubt.

If the 55-300 VR turns out to be a decent if not good lens, it appears the Tamron 70-300 VC and Nikkor 70-300 VR would be useful only for full-frame cameras.

Real Estate Photos - Part 2: HDR Style (Basic)

Continued from Part 1

I was taking photos of a house this weekend to get experience.  After taking some photos Strobist (i.e. off-camera flash) style, I knew I would not have enough time for all of the rooms.  I therefore switched to a simpler technique -- high dynamic range (HDR) imaging.

Note: HDR is a technique where multiple different exposures are taken and combined in postprocessing to represent a wider range of highlights and shadows than would normally be possible.

I wanted to use HDR to give the images an unusual look, though I didn't want to overdo it.  To take an HDR shot, I just put the camera on a tripod then used the camera's bracketing feature to take several different exposures (I took 9 exposures, 1 stop apart).  It is possible to do bracketing manually as well.  Note: you should adjust shutter speed (not aperture) when taking different exposures.

Once the images are taken, they can be combined with various software.  Some software are specifically for HDR, such as Photomatix.  I used Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3, which has an HDR Photo Merge function.

Here's a comparison between a normal shot and an HDR shot.  Note the additional details in the highlights and the shadows of the HDR version.

Normal photo:

HDR version:

Normal photo:

HDR Version:

A few more samples:

Here's a comparison between the strobist style (or my novice application thereof) and the HDR style:

Strobist style (flash on window sill, aimed at ceiling to bounce):

HDR style:

Reducing "Shutter Lag" (Basic)

Some photographers complain about the delay from the time they press the shutter and the time the camera actually takes the photo, i.e. shutter lag. If this is an issue for you, consider re-examining your technique before changing the camera.


Shutter lag in recent digital cameras is actually minimal.  What many casual photographers consider as shutter lag is actually focus lag, meaning the delay caused by the camera attempting to focus on the subject.  Focus lag, however, can be reduced dramatically by half-pressing the shutter to focus before you intend to take the shot. For example, if you're taking a shot of your child running toward you, prefocus (by half-pressing the shutter) on an object that is at the same distance where you expect your child to be when you take the shot. Keep the shutter half-pressed until your child reaches that spot, then you press the shutter all the way.  When half-pressed this way, even my old point-and-shoot (Casio Exilim EX-V7) has a shutter lag of just 0.05 seconds.  

Balancing Flash and Ambient Light - Part 3: Dim Ambient

When the ambient light is dim, balancing flash and ambient can be done in a few ways depending on how dim the ambient light is.

AMBIENT NOT TOO DIM:
1. If the ambient is not too dim, you can either use a wider aperture, a longer shutter speed, a higher ISO, or any combination of the above to set the ambient light at the level you want.
2. Take a test shot with flash. If you're in TTL, the camera will set the flash exposure automatically based on the exposure settings you chose to achieve a more-or-less correct flash exposure.
3. Adjust the flash exposure as needed using flash exposure compensation.

The procedure above can also be used with manual flash except that instead of step 2 and step 3, you set the power level yourself such that you get the flash exposure you want.

There are some limits to the general procedure above:
1. Subject correctly exposed by ambient light: If you choose an ambient exposure that also makes the subject correctly exposed (such as when the subject and ambient are about equal in brightness to begin with), then adding flash will result in overexposure of the subject. To remedy this underexpose the ambient by at least 1/3 stop, if not 1 stop.
2. Flash blur. If the subject is almost correctly exposed from the ambient, and you use a slow shutter speed, flash blur will likely occur.
3. Minimum flash power. The flash has a minimum power output. If the aperture is very wide, the ISO is very high, the subject is very close to the flash, or any combination of the foregoing, it is possible that even with the flash's minimum power output, the subject will be overexposed. In this kind of situation switch to the second scenario below (ambient very dim).

AMBIENT VERY DIM:


If the ambient is very dim, or the flash is too powerful, or both, you can still balance the ambient and the flash with a longer shutter speed.

In the photo of the YN-560 above, I wanted to take a shot will all the LEDs lit (indicating the power level). That meant I had to use the YN-560 on full power and it also meant I had to balance the tremendous amount of light from the YN-560 with the relatively dim LED lights.

I could not simply use a wider aperture or high ISO to bring up the exposure of the LED lights because that would have led to flash overexposure. Indeed, to avoid flash overexposure, I had to set the aperture at f/32 and ISO at 200 (base ISO). The tiny LEDs have no hope of showing up in the photo with those settings -- unless of course I use a slow enough shutter speed. At 1/15 the LEDs actually show up even with such a tiny aperture. I would have preferred to use an even slower shutter speed but I didn't have a tripod and I was shooting from an awkward angle, resulting in my body swaying.

Other things I did for the shot:
1. I used the popup flash to illuminate the YN-560 and the background.
2. To use some of the light from the flash itself to illuminate the flash, I used a couple of sheets of paper as reflectors.
3. The slave sensor of the flash is in front of the flash's body. So as not to have the sensor blocked, I put a AA battery to support the flash just a bit above the carpet.

RELATED RESOURCES:
TTL Flash FAQ
TTL Flash Tutorial
Balancing Flash and Ambient Part 1: Easiest Scenario
Balancing Flash and Ambient Part 2: Sunny Outdoors

Let Your Light Shine!

Some readers of this blog have far more knowledge, experience and skills than me (you know who you are...). I'm inviting you to share your knowledge with the rest of the readers here and other photographers.
WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?
First, as you know, teaching something to others - especially in writing - forces you to learn that topic better and more clearly. For example, I thought I knew TTL flash pretty well until I had to put together the TTL Flash FAQ, at which point I discovered holes in my knowledge (which subsequently forced me to research them and solidify my own knowledge).
Second, you'll get the warm fuzzy feeling from knowing you've helped others not just now but for years to come. The content here is not going away - it's here for posterity (unless the Blogger servers have a meltdown). Think not only of the photographers you will help, but also the thousands of people (subjects and viewers of photos) who will appreciate the photos from the knowledge you share.
Third, if you are a pro or have a photo-related business or website, this is a marketing opportunity for you. No out of pocket costs - just your time, which you need to use for marketing anyway. My commitment to you: I will match the time you put in with my time in promoting your article through cross-links and posting it on relevant forums. So you get to leverage your time for free. If you have a blog, you may also get a search engine or Technorati boost (the 'Technorati Authority' of this blog is currently 128).
WHAT I REQUEST
I request honesty and integrity. What you write should be your work product, with acknowledgment of your sources where appropriate. Cross-post an article you've already written for your website is ok with me.
I request the opportunity to review and comment on your proposed article for relevance, accuracy, and clarity. Usually, unless a statement is self-evident, I may ask for backup evidence (references or tests).
NEXT STEPS
If you're interested, you can email me with any questions or your suggested articles (info @ betterfamilyphotos dot com). If you don't know what to write about, don't worry -- I have a long list of topics I have yet to write about. :)

Real Estate Photos - Part 1: Strobist Style (Intermediate)

I took some real estate photos today for a friend who's a broker.  When I got to the house, it was midday with the sun almost directly overhead.  I would have preferred to take photos close to the golden hour, but I had a scheduling conflict.  The overhead sun though, was perfect for one of the rooms - a hallway with a skylight.

Here is the first test shot - all ambient (ISO: 200, f/4, 1/60):

The first thing I tried to improve the shot was to add more light in the green room.  I set the YN-560 in the green room on a window sill (so that it would be consistent with the natural light), bouncing to the white ceiling.  I used the YN-560 in optical slave mode and triggered it with the D300's popup flash in manual mode.  The YN-560 triggered successfully even though it was not in the line of sight, and the popup was on 1/128 power.  I kept the exposure value the same but used f/8 for sharpness (ISO: 200, f/8, 1/15), and I used the YN-560 on 1/4 power.

I didn't like how the popup lit the balustrade, so I attached an SG-3IR infrared filter to cover the popup flash.  This time, 1/128 power did not work.  With the SG-3IR, however, I could use the popup flash on full power without affecting the exposure.  So that's what I did:

Next, I wanted to brighten the hallway a bit without destroying the ambience from the ambient :) I tried putting an SB-800 in the room at camera left, aimed at the ceiling.  The SB-800 was on manual, in SU-4 mode, I believe at 1/8 power.  I again kept the exposure the same.

It created a shadow on the ceiling that I found distracting.  I tried bouncing it instead, behind me.

The brightening effect on the room was enough but I felt that the balustrade was illuminated too much.  I reduced the power on the SB-800 by a stop:

A crude lighting diagram (the red flash is the YN-560 and the green flash is the SB-800):

 Comparing the original ambient-only shot with the final shot:

I tried taking a shot of the same hallway from a different angle. This time I tried putting the Sb-800 on the window sill of the room on camera left, bouncing to the ceiling.  A lighting diagram:

I adjusted power so that its shadow would be almost invisible.

(Darn - I forgot to turn on the lights in both shots...)

For my other shots, I tried a different technique (HDR), which I'll post about next.