Digital Photography Guide

Weekly Assignment

We finished the High ISO assignment this week, and there were a lot of really creative entries. We were able to pick out 3 of our favourite shots, but it was a challenge (as always!). That being said, our winner this week was duna’s sparklers. The use of the high ISO let her get the shutter speed up high enough to catch the little sparks and their detail. Our first runner up was lyskabar’s “Ingrained Farmer.” While the title creates a lovely play on words, the grain really helps bring out the detail and creates a timeless quality to the photo. And last, but not least was ana.gr’s Julia, 1600. In this case, the grain really helped add to the soft look of the photo and helped create a really lovely portrait. Well done to our winner and runners up! And also nicely done everyone else, it’s all the quality shots that we get submitted that make our task of picking just 3 pictures a difficult one!

Negative Space can have a powerful effect on a photograph. It can help draw the eye to the subject, create feelings of isolation, and just change the entire feel of a shot. That’s why this week’s assignment is Negative Space. In order to be eligible for the mini-contest, your photo needs to have been taken between 21 January - 4 February 2009, you must include the words “Assignment: Negative Space” and the date the photo was taken in your post, and the EXIF should be intact. Next week’s assignment will be “Cold”.

Hot Threads

• You have a great camera…: Have you ever been told this? Does it make you feel like people think that it’s your camera that goes out and takes good pictures rather than you, the photographer? Well, unless you have stitchbug’s camera (which apparently goes for walks on it’s own), you may feel frustrated hearing this. So what do you say when people tell you this?
• Making dull things interesting: A discussion came up in the critique forum which made one forum user ask the question: Can any subject be made interesting and dramatic in a photo? And the result of the question was a challenge to anyone out there to make the list of items in the thread look interesting. Stop by and participate in a thread which is sure to get you thinking more creatively and will help you realise that anything can be made intersting.
• 18 Minute Pinhole at Night: You read that right, one of our forum members (RussHeath) took an 18 minute exposure with a pinhole camera. The aperture for the shot was approximately f/150, and the camera was loaded with Fuji Superia 100 film. The result is definitely something to be seen!
• Do you under or over expose when shooting RAW?: While the ideal choice is to always get your exposure spot on, when you’re forced to choose between under and overexposing, which do you pick? Do you pick underexposure because it’s easier to rescule the shadows or do you come as close to overexposing as possible without clipping your highlights?
• What Would You Do (#84): What Would You Do is our weekly post-processing thread that let’s you edit the photo of another forum member who has graciously offered up their photo for people to edit. Whether you have Photoshop or Paint, The Gimp or Picasa, the game is open to all levels of post-processing skill, so come join in the fun. You’ll be amazed what you can learn!

In the past I have worked as a safari guide in South Africa and during that time, not only did I have many opportunities to take great wildlife photos, but many of my guests would come out to Africa with the latest photographic equipment. Apart from my interest in wildlife and the outdoors, I am also a keen amateur photographer and so as well as the wildlife, also take a keen interest in the cameras that would come out on safari with us!

Of the many types of cameras, the most popular amongst guests who wanted to take quality wildlife photos were either Digital SLR cameras or Digital Super-zooms. My personal preference for a camera specifically for safari holidays is the Super-zoom and I have written an article on what I believe to be the best digital camera for safari and travel on my Safari Holiday Guide website and yes, it is a Super-zoom, but why a Super-zoom and not a SLR camera?

First let’s take a look at the main characteristics of each type of camera:

Super-zooms

A Super-zoom camera main characteristic is it’s a very long zoom range, at least 10x or greater. The lenses are attached to the body of the camera and cannot be removed. While traditionally bulkier and heavier than compact cameras as the technology improves, manufacturers continue to design them to be smaller and lighter. Using lightweight parts there are some that now weigh as little as 14 ounces (about 400g).

SLRs

SLRs, the largest and heaviest type of digital camera. The offer the most versatility and power as well as interchangeable lenses and will come with a million features including: instant start-up, minimal shutter lag for fast, continuous shooting, a large image sensor, RAW images, and excellent battery life. The new digitalSLRs now also have the best features from the compact digital cameras incorporated into them including on screen help guides and real-time or “live view” framing on the LCD screen rather than only through the viewfinder.

There is no denying that Single-lens reflex cameras are more serious cameras, with the ability to capture fast action or produce high quality images from the most demanding light conditions, so why then do I recommend a Super-zoom digital camera as a safari or travel camera?

Size and Weight

Professional photographers will always use SLR cameras, but you must remember that this is their job, they are not going on holiday! A good camera for any holiday should be as small and light as possible. Not only for your luggage allowance on the flights, but also remember as a tourist anywhere in the world, you are a target and there may be times that you would like to conceal the fact that you are carrying around a very expensive piece of equipment. Whilst bigger and heavier than a compact digital camera, Super-zooms are much more compact than a SLR with a reasonable telephoto lens attached to it. On a safari holiday, I would also highly recommend you take a good pair of binoculars and possibly some wildlife books, it just makes sense to have a camera that is as small as possible without sacrificing picture quality too much.

Cost

Even though your guide will do their best to get you in and as close to the wildlife as possible and you may even sometimes wish you as close to that elephant bull as he ambles past your vehicle. Most of the time you will be taking photos at maximum zoom. Not only do Super-zooms continue to get smaller and lighter, but their zooms continue to get stronger. For example the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 has an impressive 18x zoom, equivalent to 504mm. To achieve this on a SLR will require a very expensive telephoto lens and that is not including the fact that the body of good qualitySLR’s, whilst getting cheaper, could not be described as cheap. The chances are nothing will happen, but the odds increase when you go traveling that your camera could get damaged, lost or stolen and so I would also use this rule of thumb when going on holiday: never travel with anything you can’t afford to loose.

To Summarize:

If you are a professional photographer or just want to get the ultimate quality photographs, no matter the cost, size or weight then an SLR with a big telephoto lens is the way to go. If however you main intention is to go on holiday and take some excellent photographs along the way, I would go for a quality Super-zoom camera.

Last updated (31 January’09):
- Review & Sample Photos @ PhotographyReview

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 is a 9.1 megapixels point-and-shoot digital camera features 10x Optical Zoom (35mm equiv: 28-280mm) with Image Stabilizer, Intelligent Auto Mode, 30 fps High-Definition Motion Images and HD Output, and a 3.0″ LCD with Intelligent LCD Function.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars | Latest Price Info

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A few years ago while on a tour in Morocco with a group of others I sat next to a fellow traveler on a tour bus. He was quickly scrolling through the shots he’d taken on his camera - deleting picture after picture.

I asked him what he was doing and he told me that he was ‘culling’ shots to make more room on his memory card. As I watched him I wondered how much he could tell about the shots he was deleting from his camera’s little 2 inch LCD.

While I understand the feeling of getting to the end of a memory cards capacity when you want to take more shots - if you do have the space on your memory card I would recommend that you don’t delete too many shots while you’re out and about and wait until you get back to your computer to do so.

The reason I suggest waiting is that quite often some of the ‘mistake’ shots can actually end up being some of your best (sometimes in quite a in an abstract sort of way).

When you look at images on your camera’s LCD the photo is obviously quite compressed and you can sometimes not see details that you would when you view it on your computer. There may actually be something quite useful tucked away in the details that you’ll never know about if you delete too quickly.

For example - the picture on this post was taken on the streets in Morocco on that same trip. It was taken on my first little point and shoot digital camera (A Canon Powershot A60). It was actually a complete accident that I took the shot (I thought I was turning the camera off when I was actually pressing the shutter). At first glance it is an out of focus and poorly framed shot (actually it’s that on a second look too) but there’s something about this shot that keeps drawing me back to it.

It won’t win any awards but it is a shot that means something quite powerful to me and which is something that evokes a lot of memories for me.

I’m glad I didn’t join my fellow travellor in his picture cull that day because I’d probably have deleted this one.

An example Tearsheet

Many of our readers are looking to take their photography from a hobby to something that earns them an income. Today Jonathan Pollack shares some tips on using your portfolio to get photographic work.

You’ve built your photographic portfolio and you feel that you’re ready to present it to a potential customer, vendor, art director, or gallery. You’ve collected hundreds of photos that you think are great and representative of your style. What strategies can help you wow them with your work?

1. Research the person you will be meeting with and their photographic style and background. Think of their perspective when reviewing somebody’s portfolio and the type of photography they would like to see. A photo editor of a fashion magazine will want to see a different type of work than their counterpart at a food magazine. If you cannot reliably – and naturally – envision your style working out for them, you probably aren’t going to be a good fit. They’ll know it, and by the end of the meeting, you’ll know it, too.
2. Have a number of different portfolios that you shop around. An engaged couple is going to want to see primarily engagement and wedding photos, not newborns or corporate headshots. A band is going to want to see music- and band-related images. While I feel that it’s always fine to show some breadth to anybody you meet with, I make sure to show depth in specific areas in each portfolio.
3. You went through your portfolio, right? Good, now review it again. If you think an image isn’t perfect, either make it perfect or remove it from your portfolio. Spend some time grouping images into categories that make sense and present them that way.
4. Don’t forget to refresh your portfolio periodically with new photos. As you work more, you’re going to end up with new favorites, so include them and let less outstanding images drop out of the collection.

I’ve put my editorial portfolio online to share with anybody interested. Just go to my photography site and type the code “Editorial Portfolio” under the slideshow on any page.