Brian Brown
05-10-2007, 12:10 PM
Several forum members indicated interest my photographic tips, so here goes. I will try to post these tips as my work schedule permits, approximately weekly. To get on the same schedule as the other forum these are posted to, I will post the first two this week. When I can I will post pictures to help illustrate the topic. What I write here refers specifically to digital images, but most everything I suggest in these posts is applicable to film images as well. Film is not dead…just on life support. I have been a commercial photographer for 20 years but I am certainly not the end all authority on the subject. These tips are certainly not the only way to do things, but are techniques that seem to work under most circumstances. I have tried to simplify things as much as possible so that specialized and expensive equipment is not necessary. Everything I describe here should be readily available at fabric stores and hardware stores for a minimum expense, and I’ll try to give the anticipated cost where applicable. Sometimes I forget and use terminology that only a photographer would understand. Feel free to reply asking for a definition or clarification if necessary. I am not a software guru, and really only use one image editing package (Adobe Photoshop), so I don’t have any advice or answers to software or image manipulation related issues. I use real computers; Macintosh for those who don’t know (Ouch, just got myself in real trouble didn’t I?). For this reason I don’t know much about the bazillions of Windows compatible products available. Please Please Please someone else who is familiar with software volunteer to take this job. I am a firm believer that an image should be shot correctly in the first place so I can go home to make a pile of sawdust instead of fooling around with an image for hours on end trying to fix with a computer what I should have done right in the first place.
My objective in posting these tips is to help wood turners prepare quality images to use for juried shows, and in some cases for web pages or printed pieces. These tips will help with images for all purposes, but are primarily intended to create better quality images for jury presentation. During my career I have shot many thousand juried show images for artists working in dozens of media. I hope I have learned something about the process, and what it takes to get selected for a show. In a few cases, the requirements for the show may conflict with my advice. If this is the case, obviously you should follow the show rules. It is really tragic when the artists work is worthy of acceptance but the image submission quality caused the work not to be reviewed. Because of the number of juried shows I have worked with, I have determined some of the most common problems that keep an artist from being accepted into a show.
Some of the specifics I will cover are:
Exposure
Focus
Lens choice
Lighting
Backgrounds
Angle of view
File formats, and why image quality suffers with some
If anyone has other areas of interest or specific questions, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to address them. If I’m too much of a windbag, you’re sick of me wasting forum space, or this is too far off topic, just say so, and I’ll stop.
So enough of this Blah Blah, let’s start with the most obvious tip. Read your camera manual. This may seem oversimplified, or sarcastic, but I assure you it is not. It gives lots of information about using the camera, and how to find and set certain helpful functions. A manufacturer often uses the same software and functions for inexpensive consumer cameras as those that are used in their professional cameras. It is just harder to access. The manual will often give specific examples that make certain setups much easier. It will also define terms I will use in future posts, and most importantly it will help you navigate the deep menu items that can be so hard to find. Such items as manual flash settings, jpeg quality, manual ISO settings, exposure modes, and exposure compensation will all be helpful for the upcoming tips. OK, so it seems like such a simple tip to read the book. But, it is important. If you have lost your manual, most are available on the web in PDF format at the manufacturers website. There are so many camera models out there, I simply cannot try to explain where to find settings in them all. Next time I will tackle exposure problems. Pardon me now while I go read my camera manual.
Week 2
Proper Exposure
If you are having difficulty getting correct or consistent exposures in your pictures (images too light or too dark), here are some ideas that may help. Camera meters are designed to create a correct exposure from an average scene. An average scene is one where there are equal amounts of dark and light toned areas. When this situation occurs, modern cameras do an excellent job of creating a correct exposure. If a scene consists of predominately light areas or primarily dark areas, these scenes will fool the camera, yielding a poor exposure. For example, if a scene is mostly light areas like a light toned bowl on white, the camera will think there is more light than there really is, and give you an image that is too dark. If the scene is predominately dark areas, like a darkish vase on a black background, the camera will think there is not enough light and make the image too light. So how do you fix this? Here are 5 ways to do this.
1. Move closer to your subject to make the subject portion of your scene approximately equal (percentage wise) to the background portion of your scene. Now if you have a light bowl on a dark background with each occupying about 50% of the scene, you have a nearly average scene. Light doesn’t overpower dark, and vise versa. By moving in close, you’ll get the added benefit of seeing the details of your wood project rather than a boring background. Your camera may have a close up feature some where in it’s menu. Activating this setting may be necessary for you to move in and focus closer. Remember that “read the manual” thing from last week?
2. Change your background to a medium tone background. If you can’t do a close-up and the background occupies a large amount of real estate in your image, a medium toned background is an average between light and dark. Your camera will now do a better job of exposing your image correctly.
3. Your camera may have an exposure compensation feature. It usually looks like +/-. Or some variation with the + and – symbols. This feature works only if you are using an automatic exposure mode on your camera, such as Auto, Program, etc. It does not work in manual exposure mode. If using an automatic exposure mode, professionals use this feature constantly when they encounter a non average scene that is going to throw the camera off. It is not difficult to use this feature. If your images are always too dark, you will adjust to the + side. If the images are always too light, adjust to the – side. Read your manual to see how to use this. Every camera will be a bit different in how to access this feature, and to what degree it will allow adjustment. This method requires some trial and error to determine exactly what degree of compensation is necessary. But we are supposed to spend our time making sawdust instead of pictures, right? The good news is that once you have determined how much compensation to use, as long as you use the same background, and the same lighting setup every time, the amount of exposure compensation should never change.
4. Be careful about light sources in the area where you are working if they are not intended to light your subject. For example, a window behind or to the side of your subject, can severely affect the cameras ability to correctly measure the light. If you can see these lights in your viewfinder, they can have a tremendous effect on the exposure. Even if you can’t see these light sources through your viewfinder, they can still have an effect on your exposure. In addition to the exposure problems, these lights will usually cause a lens flare. A lens flare can appear as a light area often in one corner, colorful circular "UFO’s" alone or in a linear pattern, or most commonly, a low contrast or milky looking image. None of these effects will help your images.
5. When a scene challenges your cameras abilities, a good solution is to bracket your exposures. Some professional photographers refer to this as the WAG method of exposure (wild a** guess) however bracketing is not guessing. It is a method to obtain insurance exposures (over and under exposed, relative to the exposure chosen by your camera). Bracketing is a simple procedure if you are using your camera in manual exposure mode. Take one image at the exposure recommended by the camera, then adjust the shutter speed one step up from the recommended exposure and take a second image. Set the shutter speed to one step down from the recommended exposure and take a third image. If you want to be more precise, most modern cameras allow exposure increments in 1/2 or 1/3 steps. Now you have at least 3 image exposures to choose from.
It is only slightly more difficult with an automatic exposure camera. Take one picture using the exposure chosen by your camera. Then to bracket your exposure, fool your camera by adjusting the exposure compensation (+/-) by one step + and taking a picture. Then change to one step - and take another picture. Again, you now have three pictures all exposed differently. Simply choose the one you like best, and discard the others. This process can also be done in 1/2 or 1/3 steps. If necessary, you can use a bracketing range of as much as ± 2 steps.
Remember, digital images are much less costly than film images, and you are out very little by taking more pictures. Practice makes perfect. Just like your wood working skills were developed over a period of time, your picture skills will be developed (pun intended) the same way. I hope this is helpful.
Brian
My objective in posting these tips is to help wood turners prepare quality images to use for juried shows, and in some cases for web pages or printed pieces. These tips will help with images for all purposes, but are primarily intended to create better quality images for jury presentation. During my career I have shot many thousand juried show images for artists working in dozens of media. I hope I have learned something about the process, and what it takes to get selected for a show. In a few cases, the requirements for the show may conflict with my advice. If this is the case, obviously you should follow the show rules. It is really tragic when the artists work is worthy of acceptance but the image submission quality caused the work not to be reviewed. Because of the number of juried shows I have worked with, I have determined some of the most common problems that keep an artist from being accepted into a show.
Some of the specifics I will cover are:
Exposure
Focus
Lens choice
Lighting
Backgrounds
Angle of view
File formats, and why image quality suffers with some
If anyone has other areas of interest or specific questions, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to address them. If I’m too much of a windbag, you’re sick of me wasting forum space, or this is too far off topic, just say so, and I’ll stop.
So enough of this Blah Blah, let’s start with the most obvious tip. Read your camera manual. This may seem oversimplified, or sarcastic, but I assure you it is not. It gives lots of information about using the camera, and how to find and set certain helpful functions. A manufacturer often uses the same software and functions for inexpensive consumer cameras as those that are used in their professional cameras. It is just harder to access. The manual will often give specific examples that make certain setups much easier. It will also define terms I will use in future posts, and most importantly it will help you navigate the deep menu items that can be so hard to find. Such items as manual flash settings, jpeg quality, manual ISO settings, exposure modes, and exposure compensation will all be helpful for the upcoming tips. OK, so it seems like such a simple tip to read the book. But, it is important. If you have lost your manual, most are available on the web in PDF format at the manufacturers website. There are so many camera models out there, I simply cannot try to explain where to find settings in them all. Next time I will tackle exposure problems. Pardon me now while I go read my camera manual.
Week 2
Proper Exposure
If you are having difficulty getting correct or consistent exposures in your pictures (images too light or too dark), here are some ideas that may help. Camera meters are designed to create a correct exposure from an average scene. An average scene is one where there are equal amounts of dark and light toned areas. When this situation occurs, modern cameras do an excellent job of creating a correct exposure. If a scene consists of predominately light areas or primarily dark areas, these scenes will fool the camera, yielding a poor exposure. For example, if a scene is mostly light areas like a light toned bowl on white, the camera will think there is more light than there really is, and give you an image that is too dark. If the scene is predominately dark areas, like a darkish vase on a black background, the camera will think there is not enough light and make the image too light. So how do you fix this? Here are 5 ways to do this.
1. Move closer to your subject to make the subject portion of your scene approximately equal (percentage wise) to the background portion of your scene. Now if you have a light bowl on a dark background with each occupying about 50% of the scene, you have a nearly average scene. Light doesn’t overpower dark, and vise versa. By moving in close, you’ll get the added benefit of seeing the details of your wood project rather than a boring background. Your camera may have a close up feature some where in it’s menu. Activating this setting may be necessary for you to move in and focus closer. Remember that “read the manual” thing from last week?
2. Change your background to a medium tone background. If you can’t do a close-up and the background occupies a large amount of real estate in your image, a medium toned background is an average between light and dark. Your camera will now do a better job of exposing your image correctly.
3. Your camera may have an exposure compensation feature. It usually looks like +/-. Or some variation with the + and – symbols. This feature works only if you are using an automatic exposure mode on your camera, such as Auto, Program, etc. It does not work in manual exposure mode. If using an automatic exposure mode, professionals use this feature constantly when they encounter a non average scene that is going to throw the camera off. It is not difficult to use this feature. If your images are always too dark, you will adjust to the + side. If the images are always too light, adjust to the – side. Read your manual to see how to use this. Every camera will be a bit different in how to access this feature, and to what degree it will allow adjustment. This method requires some trial and error to determine exactly what degree of compensation is necessary. But we are supposed to spend our time making sawdust instead of pictures, right? The good news is that once you have determined how much compensation to use, as long as you use the same background, and the same lighting setup every time, the amount of exposure compensation should never change.
4. Be careful about light sources in the area where you are working if they are not intended to light your subject. For example, a window behind or to the side of your subject, can severely affect the cameras ability to correctly measure the light. If you can see these lights in your viewfinder, they can have a tremendous effect on the exposure. Even if you can’t see these light sources through your viewfinder, they can still have an effect on your exposure. In addition to the exposure problems, these lights will usually cause a lens flare. A lens flare can appear as a light area often in one corner, colorful circular "UFO’s" alone or in a linear pattern, or most commonly, a low contrast or milky looking image. None of these effects will help your images.
5. When a scene challenges your cameras abilities, a good solution is to bracket your exposures. Some professional photographers refer to this as the WAG method of exposure (wild a** guess) however bracketing is not guessing. It is a method to obtain insurance exposures (over and under exposed, relative to the exposure chosen by your camera). Bracketing is a simple procedure if you are using your camera in manual exposure mode. Take one image at the exposure recommended by the camera, then adjust the shutter speed one step up from the recommended exposure and take a second image. Set the shutter speed to one step down from the recommended exposure and take a third image. If you want to be more precise, most modern cameras allow exposure increments in 1/2 or 1/3 steps. Now you have at least 3 image exposures to choose from.
It is only slightly more difficult with an automatic exposure camera. Take one picture using the exposure chosen by your camera. Then to bracket your exposure, fool your camera by adjusting the exposure compensation (+/-) by one step + and taking a picture. Then change to one step - and take another picture. Again, you now have three pictures all exposed differently. Simply choose the one you like best, and discard the others. This process can also be done in 1/2 or 1/3 steps. If necessary, you can use a bracketing range of as much as ± 2 steps.
Remember, digital images are much less costly than film images, and you are out very little by taking more pictures. Practice makes perfect. Just like your wood working skills were developed over a period of time, your picture skills will be developed (pun intended) the same way. I hope this is helpful.
Brian