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The
content of this page is provided
for information purposes only and
we are not responsible for any mistakes,
omissions or misunderstandings.
We regret we cannot answer your
questions or make any recommendations
regarding specific brands or formats
unless you are attending one of
our Training
Modules.
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How
to avoid damage if you
drop your lens / light
camera
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It happens. You drop your precious
lens or light camera and it’s going
to land on a hard surface.
Q. What do you do
to avoid or minimise damage?
A.
If you are fit;
and standing in a safe and stable
place;
try to catch it on top
of your foot before it hits the
ground.
Warning. Don’t try this
with a heavy piece of kit, it’s
better to have a broken camera than
a broken foot.
O.K. it’s going to hit the ground
anyway, but this way you can greatly
minimise the impact, or maybe you
can re-direct its direction of travel
so it doesn’t roll away somewhere
more hazardous.
Practice with a tennis ball,
it’s a little known photographic
skill.
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What camera,
lens, etc. did you use to get that
shot?
Why
is red eye such a problem?
Exciting
times for photography
Black
and white prints
Don’t
forget medium format cameras
What
lens should I buy?
Flare
and lens hoods
The
first rule of photography
What’s
the best make of camera?
This is a question often
asked by amateur photographers.
Knowing what equipment was used
to take a great shot won’t help
you to do the same. If a tradesman
did a neat job would you ask him
what make of screwdriver he used?
WHAT YOU
NEED IS EXPERT TUITION
click
here
Because the lighting is wrong.
Light the subject properly
and red eye will no longer ever
happen. Period.
BECOME
A LIGHTING EXPERT
click
here
Digital imaging is changing
photography and famous photographic
manufacturers are going bankrupt.
Is this
a time for panic?
No. The basic skills of
photography remain the same. The
method of recording and processing
the image is all that has changed.
It’s important
to realise that understanding the
basic principles of photography
is now more important than ever
for your work to stand out from
the crowd.
POWER
LEARNING IN AS LITTLE AS ONE DAY
click
here
Black and white film camera users
may know that you can use red, green
or blue coloured filters to choose
which colour of light reaches the
film.
Digital photographers don’t have
to use these coloured filters, as
they can choose (using image manipulation
software) to use either the red,
green or blue channel (or a mixture
of channels) to achieve similar
results to film users.
For example facial blemishes
are usually mainly red, so discarding
information from the red channel
(or stopping red light reaching
your film) could make a big improvement
in a black and white portrait.
MASTER
PHOTOSHOP
click
here
The medium format digital sensor
should in theory have the same quality
advantages enjoyed by medium format
film cameras. This advantage
is however subject to mass production
financial constraints.
The longer focal length lenses
used in medium format give you much
more control over isolating depth
of field than is possible with the
equivalent small format lens.
This is because the longer the
focal length of a lens, then the
less the depth of field will be
at a given aperture compared with
a shorter focal length lens.
Many photographers find zoom
lenses indispensable. However
to make a zoom lens manufacturers
have to make compromises about optical
performance relative to prime (non
zoom) lenses.
First you need to decided whether
to buy a prime or a zoom lens
Then, “buy the best lens you
can afford” is often quoted as a
purchasing tip, but it’s not as
simple as that.
Lenses that are designed to work
at wide apertures are an optical
compromise over lenses that have
a “slower” (smaller) maximum aperture.
So it’s possible to
pay more for a “fast” (wide aperture)
lens that when stopped down to f8
or f11 will be outperformed by its
cheaper stablemate.
When buying a zoom lens remember
that the bigger the zoom range,
then the bigger the optical compromise
with which the manufacturer was
faced.
UNDERSTAND
YOUR CAMERA
click
here
Using the often forgotten lens
hood will improve your image quality.
Flare is a problem. It’s
when bright sunlight hits the front
of your lens and either causes nasties
to appear all over your image, or
more subtly just reduces the quality.
A lens hood (or lens shade)
will stop the direct light from
the sun hitting the front of your
lens (unless you point the camera
right at the sun )
With zoom lenses the optimum
size of lens hood for the long focus
end of the zoom range would cause
vignetting (a black ring around
your image) as soon as you zoomed
out to a wider angle.
Remember modern autofocus lenses
could be damaged by screwing something
too heavy onto them.
The first rule of photography
is very simple.
If something can go wrong, it
will go wrong
Some professional digital photographers
buy the biggest memory card they
can afford, and never remove it
from their digital camera. Their
reasoning is simple – avoid getting
muck and grit onto those delicate
little contacts and stop the first
law of photography catching you
out.
This may sound a simple question,
but it’s not.
The answer is the camera that
most fully meets your requirements.
It doesn’t matter what someone
else uses, or recommends, if their
needs are different to yours. There’s
no such thing as the best camera
in the world for everything.
It’s the person behind the camera
that counts, not the camera.
We can only
discuss purchasing decisions if
you attend one of our training modules,
and cannot reply to purchasing queries.
Training
Modules
click
here
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