Digital Photography: Tricks and Tips For Digital Photography Enthusiasts

Hungary's Parliament Building, Budapest

I’ve just come back from my brother stag do in Budapest. In amongst the drinking and usual shenanigans of a stag do, I managed to slip away and get some of the more ‘cultural’ aspects of Budapest. I’m struggling to find the time to sort out all my photos from the trip but I’ve finished this shot as it took a long walk along the Danube to get it and it is a very impressive looking building.

Photoshopping The Rule Of Thirds

I know that I keep going on about the rule of thirds like some fervent preacher but I just cannot stress how useful a tool it is to improve your photographs.  I thought that I would just post a 'how to' provide yourself a handy nine square grid in photoshop.

First you'll need to go to the menu File -> Preferences.  A dialog box should now appear.  In the 'Gridline every' box about halfway down the dialog box you should enter a value of 33 percent.  Click on Ok to accept the change.

Now, if you go to the menu View -> Show -> Grid a grid should appear over your photo helping you with your composition.

Delete Delete Delete

There is a nice tip over at Digital Photography School about not getting too over excited and overly using the delete button on your camera.  I think that this is a valuable tip as I very rarely delete things when I'm out and about but when I get home the shots I weren't very happy with can be transformed with a quick crop or just a change in the levels.  Likewise some of the shots that look amazing on my cameras LCD screen look plain awful when enlarged on my computer monitor!

London Marathon

One of the more tricky aspects of digital photography to get right (and, indeed, any photography) is time.  Finding the time to shoot and then edit the photographs that you are happy with.  Mixing this in with a career and life (girlfriend, friends, family etc) can be quite a demanding task.  I have only just got around to editing some of the pictures I took two weekends ago at the London Marathon. 

The first is a picture of the eventual winner.  We were stood in Westminster, just outside Big Ben when these two came hurtling past us.  With only 1 mile to go their pace was impressive in a way that you don't really get a sense of on TV.  At the time they were at a World Record Breaking pace (finished up a couple of minutes off at 2:06 hours) and getting a picture was remarkably difficult in the short time frame available.  If I could reshoot I would have used less of a zoom lens and allowed myself a bit more of a cropping choice but it is all part of the learning process.
The second image was simply a shot of some of the runners who weren't competing at top international level and the pain and anguish on their faces and bodies are clear to see!  I also wanted to frame them against a London landmark, so the London Eye gets another mention.

The third and final image is from the end of the race where the runners have all left their clothes and other items and the place is covered in these big plastic Flora bags.  Some are on the floor and some remain on the back of articulated lorries.  The bags are guarded by the tracksuited individuals and I just managed to capture one in a contemplative moment.

Casio Exilim Zoom EX Z5 Review

Casio have announced their new 5 Megapixel point and click camera the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z5 which starts shipping at the end of May. Weighing in at 118g with a body dimension size of 95.2 x 60.6 x 19.8 mm, this is an easy to carry camera. The matt black finish also looks nice and pretty. There aren’t too many reviews around at the moment (Daily CE and Digital Camera Info have made an effort) but a lot of people are simply regurgitating the Casio press release (as usual the best place to see all of the info is at DPreview).  I'm guessing we'll see more in depth reviews once it starts shipping.
 

Canon 300D Digital Rebel Hack

I currently use a Canon 300D for most of my photography (I have an ancient Praktika film camera, a Rolleicord from the 60’s and a couple of the new Lomo cameras too). I have upgraded the firmware to take advantage of some of the extra features that can be unlocked in the camera. It must be realised that this can void your warranty with Canon, so it is up to you to take the risk. There are two different  hacks, Wasia's  and Undutchable’s which can be found at Digital SLR Tips and Tricks (as well as other information on modding your camera). Exactly what can be unlocked and why is also explained on the site but there are other sites that also discuss the hack (Try here and here). The official instructions for upgrading your firmware can be found on the Canon site.

Top 7 Composition Tips

Use the lines

You should aim to utilise the lines within the photo, the horizontals, verticals and diagonals. Diagonal lines will give the photo more depth while vertical lines will provide dynamic interest in the photo. You can use the diagonals to lead the viewer’s eye to the focal point while the vertical lines will tend to be the focal point (people, buildings etc).

Shoot Vertically and Horizontally

A big mistake that a lot of people seem to make is always shooting landscape (with the long edge of the photo forming the top and bottom of the picture. Don’t forget that the camera can be turned 90 degrees to shoot more vertical lines and give the feeling of height. It is easily done and if you are not sure how to frame a picture then experimenting with having the camera in both positions doubles the possibilities for you.

Ensure You Have a Focal Point

When I first started taking photos (and sometime even now) I used to take wide expansive shots trying to take in as much of a scene as I could fit into the lens. However, this approach tends to leave the photograph feeling a bit dull and lifeless. There is no real focal point and everything can look a bit messy. You need to ask the question what is the photo about? What do I want to show the viewer? What is my subject? By focusing on a specific subject the photograph will suddenly be far more interesting. So what do you do if you have a fantastic place to photograph that won’t fit into one frame? Break it down into smaller shots, in short; take more photos!

Filling the Frame

Your photographs are a certain size; you can see what you are taking through the viewfinder. The last thing that you want is lots of empty space around a small subject that will create boredom in the eyeballs. Make sure that the frame is bursting with stuff that is visually pleasing that makes people want to look at the shot you have taken. That is the point after all! If this can’t be achieved when taking the shot then think about how to crop the photograph in Photoshop that will provide maximum impact. Don’t be afraid to cut off parts of the subject if it makes the photo more dynamic or eye catching. But you do need to be aware that cropping people and objects in the wrong place can look odd (cropping out peoples ankles for example). But experiment with the photo and have fun just remember the Ctrl-Alt Z button in Photoshop to undo.

Change Your Perspective

A lot of things have been photographed before. How you can you make a shot stand out? Come at it from a different angle, of course. Get down on your knees. Sit on someone shoulders, whatever it takes, regularly try and take shots from the low and high vantage points, try and come up with a way to photograph a subject that you’ve never seen before. Take my picture of the London Eye. There are hundreds of shots of it as a wheel or of the spokes at a jaunty angle but I haven’t seen many that show it from the side like this (I’m opening myself up here; I’ll have to go and check on flickr).  Notice how the Eye itself gives you a vertical element focal point while the Saatchi  Gallery in the town hall gives you the diagonal leading to the focal point.

Type of Elements

Think about the textures and shapes, colours and patterns that you see in everyday life and try and utilise these things in your photographs. The wood grain in a door, the parallel lines of a ploughed field, the paint peeling from a wall can all lead to interesting photographs. Remember you want to take photographs that make people wish they were there to touch, feel and smell what you have shot. By generating that emotional response from people that is when you start to realise that you are taking good photographs.

Break the Rules

Almost as cheesy as the Rule of Thirds that is in every list (not included here due to its inclusion previously in another post) is the opportunity to break all of these rules. There will be occasions where simply ignoring the rules will result in a breathtaking photograph or something startlingly original. In which case don’t feel held back by self imposed rules, after all nobody will complain if your photograph drips genius but does not follow some of these guidelines.

Other Tips

Digital Photography Blog has a nice round up full of compositional tips

Mac Dev Centre has some tips on overall improvement of Digital Photos

Digital Camera has the more conventional ‘Top 10’ Compositional Tips

About have some compositional tips for painters but they are useful background knowledge for photographers too.

Scruffy Rabbit

In between doing domestic bits and pieces I have spent the bank holiday being fairly much outdoors.  As I haven't really spent that much time on the terrace since moving into the flat it was nice to sit out in the sun/cloud/sun/cloud weather and read and take pictures of the rabbit which enjoyed its opportunity to run around outside (it is usually a house rabbit).

How To Create A Lith Print

Part of the joy of Digital Photography is the way that your images can be manipulated after the event and the ease with which you can incorporate software like Photoshop into your workflow.  I enjoy making images that look nice even if it is clear that they have been ‘altered.’  The other great thing about this manipulation is that you can create images that look like they have been taken with special equipment.  Today I’m going to show you how to make you images look like a lith print.

Original lith prints are overexposed black and white photos that are subjected to a specific developing process that creates a certain, specific, look to them.  For more information there is a great resource at Lithprint.com. This look can be replicated within Photoshop quite easily and I shall explain how here.

First you need a photo.  It needs to be a photo that will look good in black and white.  To change your photo to black and white (if it is not already) in Photoshop press Ctrl+Shift+U.  I have chosen the photo below:

Now you need to give the photograph a hue.  To do this you need to ensure that the mode is set to RGB and not grayscale (Check in the Image -> Mode menu item) then you should open a new adjustment layer.  This is done either through the menu at Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Hue/Saturation or by selecting Hue Saturation from the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layer Palette (The circle which is half black and half white).  On the pop up box that appears you will need to tick the Colorize box and then alter the Hue and Saturation sliders until you are happy with the colour of your photo.  For the photo here the hue has been set to 52 and the saturation 25.

Once you are happy with the hue you will need to add grain to the picture.  The easiest way to do this is through the Film Grain filter. First duplicate the layer you have been working on and then apply the film grain filter to the copied layer. For the below picture I used a grain of 6, highlight of 11 and Intensity of 6. At first this looks quite strong but this layer now needs to be set to an Overlay blending method (the choices for this method are at the top of the Layer Palette). This should reduce the grain effect somewhat. You can apply the Gaussian blur filter if it still looks too sharp.

You now have two images blended so the best way to correct the image is to open another adjustment layer but this time select Brightness/Contrast.  You should aim for a fairly contrast heavy photo but ensure that the brightness is set so you can still see the detail.  In order to bring out the branch detail in this photo I set the Contrast at 42 and the Brightness at 61.

You are left with a photograph that looks a bit more like an antique Lith Print.  The best part about the whole process is that it is non destructive.  By using adjustment layers you can turn each one on or off to see what cause it has on the overall effect.  Alternatively there are filters that will achieve this effect for you.  A free lithograph filter can be found in set 1 at Xero-Plugins.