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How To Do Exposure

November 23, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

In this article we look at “Exposure”. We also tie together the three key Digital Camera Variables: ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture, and discuss how to set these up to get good exposures in Camera Manual Mode.

When these three variables are optimised and unified together, we get a nice clear picture with great contrast and highlights. We say that the photo is correctly “Exposed”.

It is essential that you have been through the following previous articles, before reading through this “How To Do Exposure” article.

Here are the links to this essential background reading:

How To Do Camera Settings

How To Do ISO Settings

How To Do Aperture Settings

How To Do Shutter Speed

Let’s start off by quickly going through the definitions of “Exposure”, “Underexposure”, and “Overexposure”.

Underexposure in Photographs

Underexposure results in a dark and dull image because too little light was recorded by the digital sensor.

Underexposure often makes an image too dark for subjects to be seen clearly.

The amount of underexposure will determine how dark a photo is.

Overexposure in Photographs

Overexposure refers to a white-looking or washed-out image.

This is caused by having too much light reaching the digital sensor which makes the photo come out way too bright.

Correct Exposure

When we have correct exposure the tone in the image will range from white all the way though to black.

The picture will also contains all the tones in between black and white, resulting in crisp bright clear image.

Eg. We have a contrast in our image with a little dark and a little light, as well as a lot of inbetween.

The example photos shown here are photos of “Simmeau” from the fabulous Australian Led Zeppelin tribute band: “Shed Zeppelin”.

For more information about Shed Zeppelin, check out their Facebook Page here:

Shed Zeppelin Band Facebook Page

Camera Exposure

The camera uses an exposure meter which looks at shades of grey in the photo to mathematically get the correct exposure or tonal range.

(Basically Cameras see in Black and White, rather than in colour).

The light meter and processor decide what ISO, Shutter, and Aperture to use when the camera is in Auto Mode.

When we have bright rapidly changing indoor lighting, the camera has issues. It might expose for bright light, making the rest of the photo way too dark and underexposed.

We are often better off changing to manual mode and setting the camera variables manually ourselves.

There are some great videos all about Camera Light Metering in the Videos section near the end of this article.

Watching these Metering Videos will help you understand how cameras determine exposures, and what mistakes the camera can make when doing this under certain lighting situations.

Video About Exposure and Variables

The following is an excellent fifteen minute video about the Mathematics of Exposure.

Watch this video all the way though before reading the rest of this article.

Camera Variables and Exposure

Sometimes the camera’s auto mode metering does not give us the exposure we want.

Auto Modes usually work well outdoors in bright sunlight, when the sun is behind the camera.

But if it is overcast, or we move into the shade, or we are facing into the sun, or we go indoors, the exposure can often be Overexposed or Underexposed, and far from ideal.

In cases like this we need to shift our camera into Manual Mode, and Adjust some, or all, of the three key variables.

Manual Mode is basically a mathematical problem solving exercise, and it can be tricky to get all three variables at their optimum values.

When we get ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed all at just the right settings, we can get a really well exposed photo in full Manual Mode.

Sometimes we may have to adjust a fourth variable of “White Balance” as well; eg. Change over to incandescent lighting if we are taking a photo indoors at night time.

We need to know the effects of changing each of the variables: ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed.

Exposure is all about getting the right amount of light to reach the sensor, and so we often need to adjust the variable settings to get more or less light coming through.

For example, if we shoot a picture and which is too dark and underexposed, then we need more light.

However, if we shoot a picture which is too bright and washed out, we need to change things so that less light comes to the sensor.

The following “Table of Full Stops” needs to be understood, so that we can make the necessary changes in the amount of light in a mathematical manner, and not just be randomly guessing at what might work.

Limiting Factors

The additional complication is that each Variable has some limiting factors:

– ISO cannot be set too high in low light, because we may get ugly “noise” fuzzy dots all over the photo

– Shutter Speed cannot be set too slow in low light, because we will get blurring of moving objects, and/or camera shake blurring

– Aperture cannot be set too open at f2.8, or people slightly in the background may become out of focus.

Aperture determines how much of a photo is clearly in focus.

Often we are forced to use f2.8 when taking band photos, just to get enough light for a good exposure. However this makes people and items in the background out of focus, but this is often not such a bad thing.

When taking a Group Photo, it is important that everyone in the picture is in focus, even though some people are nearby and others are far away. In this situation we need to use an Aperture of f4.0 to f5.6 so that we have enough depth to capture everybody clearly.

It is therefore a delicate operation to find the settings for each of these variables so that they will all work in unison to create a well exposed photo.

Scene Mode Exposure

For certain situations, we do not need to change to full Manual Mode to get good quality pictures.

Modern Digital Cameras have Preset “Scene” Modes which can be used for situations such as : Outdoor Portraits, Landscape, Sunsets, Action Sports, and several other common environments.

These Scene Modes, with their Preset values of ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed work extremely well, as long as the lighting conditions are what is typical for that particular Scene Mode.

Some typical Scene Modes, and their limitations are discussed in the next two sections.

Preset Scene Modes on Cameras

Modern Digital Cameras have one or more fully “Automatic” modes, as well as special preset or “Scene” modes.

These generally do a great job of setting up the Aperture, Speed, and ISO variable values for us.

All we have to do is “shoot” or “snap” the picture, and the results look fantastic.

For example, if we set our camera to “Portrait” and take a picture of a person outdoors, it will turn out nicely with “bokei” (Background Blurring).

The Birthday Party pictures shown above were all taken using daylight portrait mode, which set our variables well, and also softened skin tones to make nice looking people photos.

However, if we set our camera to “Landscape”, the camera will make a nice bright picture where things both near and far from us are all in detailed focus.

Here is a great three minute video all about using Preset “Scene” Modes.

Auto and Scene Mode Limitations

Problems arise when we venture outside of normal daylight conditions, and attempt taking indoor shots without Flash, or we take portrait or party pictures with flash.

These “low light” and “Flash” photos often do not turn out as nicely as we would like them to.

We can Photoshop some of these pictures to improve them, but it is very time consuming.

It is better and faster to get good shots straight out of the camera by using Full Manual Mode, which will be discussed shortly.

Special areas of difficulty are photographing Rock Bands, Indoor Sports events, and Night Clubs, where there is not full daylight, and people are moving around.

On some Sony cameras, using “Sports” mode will sometimes produce reasonable shots in these conditions, and Canon cameras have a “Television” mode which sometimes works.

However, the best results for “low light” photography can be obtained by setting your camera to full “Manual” mode, and adjusting the variables yourself – fast enough shutter speeds to freeze action, wide open apertures to let as much light in as possible, and high ISO sensitivity so the camera sensor will work like “night vision” to pick up as much light as possible.

Manual Mode Exposure

Using Full Manual mode “M” is a matter of trial and error, combined with experience, and thoroughly getting to know your camera.

For example, for my Sony A77 camera, I know from experience that I cannot put the ISO higher than 1600 or there ugly noise dots and graininess begin to appear.

Even at ISO 1600 there can sometimes be a small amount of noise on the A77.

So rather than use ISO 1600 as a default for low light, I always check to see if I can slow down shutter speed, and use f2.8 Aperture, which might then allow me to shoot at ISO 1250 or ISO 800 which then gives negligible noise.

For Aperture, I know that if I am doing a Group Photo with some people further back or behind others, I have to use F4.0 to f5.6, or else the further away people will be out of focus.

For Shutter Speed, I know from experience that when photographing people or rock bands, that the minimum shutter speed for no blurring is 1/100. I have also discovered that the minimum shutter speed for action sports photos is 1/250 but it is much better to use 1/1000 if possible,

The point is that an experienced photographer is not blindly setting some variable and hoping for the best.

What they usually do is set one of the variables at a particular value, and then manipulate the other two to get the best exposure.

This is done by taking test shots, seeing what they look like, and then progressively making smaller and smaller adjustments until the resulting image looks good.

From my experience of taking lots of photos, I usually have an idea of what the approximate settings are for a given lighting situation, and then work on fine tuning these values to get the best possible exposure for the particular camera I am using – Sony A77, Sony A55, or Panasonic Lumix LX-7.

I know when I first started using Manual I had no idea of what to set things at, and I was totally frustrated.

So if this is your first experience when using Manual Mode do not be concerned. The path to mastery of exposure is usually not an easy one.

It is important not to give up, because being able to shoot in manual gets great photos in low light situations that people in Auto Mode will never be able to match.

Think of all those whited out Flash shots people take at parties, or those blurry noisey dark photos without the Flash.

Manual Mode is well worth learning so that you can be the person who gets the “Wow” factor photos, while others are floundering.

As I said, when I first tried Manual Mode I was totally lost as to how to begin to change the variable settings.

What I found though was that if I set the camera on auto and looked at the live view to see what settings the camera was choosing, I could then flick to manual and use these variable settings as my starting point.

There is only one way to master variables, and that is by going out and shooting a lot of photos and trying out different settings until you know the ones which give good results for your camera.

It is time consuming and frustrating at times, but it is well worth the effort in the end, when you have the great photos that nobody else can get!

What follows are some Exposure Settings examples. Read through these, and then watch all of the videos in the video section.

This will help you start getting your head around Manual Mode, and show you what effect changing each of the three variables has on the final photo.

After that it is all down to getting out and shooting lots of photos in Manual Mode and seeing the results. Then one day it should suddenly all start to “click”, and you will be able to problem solve exposure settings for difficult shooting conditions such as low light indoors without the use of flash.

Good Luck! It is a difficult path, but one well worth travelling.

Exposure Settings Examples

“A picture is worth a thousand words” so let’s take a look at some examples of variable adjustments made in Manual Mode.

Our first example below involves ISO light sensitivity.

In this second ISO example, the original settings produced an overexposed picture.

We did not want to change the Aperture, and could have increased shutter speed or lowered the ISO.

The shutter speed was already fast enough to freeze the action, and so it was better to lower the ISO to get a clearer more detailed image.

Generally, if the shutter speed is freezing the action well on an Overexposure, leave it as it is, and Reduce the ISO.

Our third example involves Shutter Speed for Indoor Sports.

As discussed in our “Shutter Speed” article, using the Auto “Sports Scene” mode on digital cameras works great outdoors in bright sunlight, but often has severe limitations for Indoor Sports.

Note that we cannot shoot Sports Action without motion blurring at speeds less than 1/250, and we should aim to use speeds of 1/500, 1/1000, or even 1/2000 if possible.

Another example of Shutter Speed involves Motion Blurring.

In the first photo below, we had a low shutter speed of 1/80 which gave plenty of light, but resulted in blurring of the singer’s moving hands. This blurring is a bit difficult to see in the small sized photo below, but it is there and it did make the photo unusable.

Moving to a higher speed of 1/125 stopped the blurring, but did create a darker picture. Sometimes we are faced with these types of compromises, and it is impossible for the camera we are using to get the penultimate perfect exposure. That’s Life – we can only strive to achieve perfection as much as humanly possible, and there are always some ultimate limitations.

Our final example is another one involving Aperture.

The original image was underexposed, and we could have increased the ISO up one stop from 800 to 1600, (and get twice as much light), but this might have also introduced a small amount of graininess.

We therefore made an Aperture adjustment instead, and were able to get 2 times more light by going down to the wider f2.8 value, which made some background blurring, but gave us sufficent light correct exposure.

By moving from f4 to f2.8 we changed the Aperture by “one full stop”.

Videos About Exposure

The following video is useful for Canon and Nikon Camera users and shows how to change the ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed settings.

The presenter goes through where all the dials and buttons are on the camera are to do this.

Watching this video made me realise how much easier my Sony A77 is to use, where I have a wheel on the front grip, and a wheel on the back to do this.

Here are some excellent videos about Aperture and Shutter Speed on Sony Alpha Cameras.

Sony Aperture Video

Sony Shutter Speed Video

This next fifteen minute video is about the effects the variable settings have on photos and gives plenty of practical examples.

It is essential viewing for learning about how to use your camera in Manual Mode, and get great exposure.

Here is Part 2 of the above video:

Here is a 10 minute Video about the three key variables: ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture.

The effects and side effects of altering these variables is also discussed.

The following is a fifteen minute video with practical examples which shows how to adjust camera variables for various lighting conditions.

Here are is a video lesson in two parts from NightClub Photography TV about setting camera variables.

And here is Part 2 of the above video.

In this next video the guy talks for 23 minutes about all of the variables and how they work.

It is worth watching after the other videos, but does not contain any practical examples.

Videos About Metering and Exposure

Cameras have Metering Modes for fine tuning the light reading. Here is a good five minute video about these Metering Modes.

This next twenty minute video is an excellent explanation of camera light metering with practical examples.

Related Items

How To Do Camera Settings

How To Do ISO Settings

How To Do Aperture Settings

How To Do Shutter Speed

How To Do Photo Composition

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Passy

How To, Sports Photos

Photo Composition Rules

November 3, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

Subject: Photo Composition

Like great Works of Art, the elements in a Photograph need to be arranged in a manner which is interesting and pleasing to the eye.

In addition, Photography is a two dimensional medium. Therefore we need to make use of the elements which are present in the photo to create a sense of depth and three dimensions.

Photos also need a main focal point, as well as leading our eyes on a journey through the picture.

Having these things makes for great photos, which are pleasing to the eye, and we call this “Composition”.

In this article we look at a set of rules which pertain to good composition.

These “Rules” are as follows:

1) Fill the Frame
2) Beware the Background
3) Avoid the Middle
4) The Thirds Rule
5) Leading Lines
6) Depth and Scale
7) Symmetry and Patterns
8) Viewpoint and Angles
9) Space to Move
10) Cropping Body Parts

These rules are not exhaustive, and there are other additional ways of making photos look great. These are discussed in the Videos and Reference Items at the end of this article.

The material which follows covers the main general rules of composition, and shows lots of practical photo examples.

Portrait Photography is a whole other world involving poses, background blurring, lighting angles, and using off camera flash. This material is not covered in our article.

Landscape Photography is another separate genre of work, involving the use of filters and long exposure times. This level of detail is not part of our article, but we hope to do a separate article on this another time.

Even with the above exclusions, the article which follows is still a very long one, and so take your time working through it.

At the end of the article there is a Quiz that contains several example photos for you to work through and make composition assessments on.

So let’s get started with our Top 10 Rules of Composition.

Fill the Frame

It is easy to take a picture which has lots of “empty” or non-important space in it.

With the high number of Megapixels on many digital cameras, this is not a problem, and we can “Crop” or Reframe the picture in Photoshop later on so that at least 60% of pour photo is filled with the main subject.

However, it is a good idea at the time of shooting, to zoom in if we can, and fill up the frame with the important subject material we want to capture.

Beware the Background

Sometimes a great picture is ruined by having a busy distracting background in it.

Other times there may be strange items in the background, which directly interfere with the main subject.

Often there are distractions in the background which are unavoidable.

We can use Photoshop to “Crop” (or Reframe) the picture, and then use additional tools to fix or even totally remove all distractions.

Remember: The background behind our subject can sometimes dramatically interfere with the final result.

Usually this is not good, so be careful!

Avoid the Middle

For beginner photographers, especially when using Auto Focus, the main subject of the photo ends up directly in the middle of the picture.

This creates a rather boring photo, and a better composition effect is to place the main subject off to the side in the photo.

Here is another example of an original shot being too centred in the Middle.

Because this was a large 24 megapixel photo, we were able to use cropping in Photoshop to change the composition and make a “new” improved picture.

In the “Thirds Rule”, (which we look at in detail in the next few sections), there are ways to compose our pictures which avoid having the main subject in the very centre.

There are always exceptions to every rule, and we often have a single person pose in a Landscape photo to supply a reference point for us to visualise the actual size of the vista.

We can also make somebody in a Group Photo the “centre of attention” by placing them directly in the middle of the picture.

Here are some more exceptions in some photos taken in New York City by Musician/Photographer: Nicholas Roy.

The Sunflower and the Newsagency are “Framed” by the rest of the picture, and well placed to be the centre of attention.

“Framing” is another Composition technique which works really well in photos like these.

The Thirds Rule

The “Rule of Thirds” is one of the cornerstone rules of composition, where we divide a picture into vertical and horizontal thirds.

This creates 9 rectangular areas divided by 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines.

Because there are nine reactangular areas created, it is sometimes also called the “Rule of Nines”.

The idea is to position the most important elements in your scene along these lines, or at the points where they intersect.

Doing this adds balance and interest to the picture. Some cameras even have an option to superimpose a rule of thirds grid over the LCD screen, so it can be referenced while setting up your picture.

In this first example, the Rule of Thirds has been followed “Religiously”, and we have placed key features so that they sit right on the thirds grid lines.

However, in the next example of cropping the same original photo, we have placed key items inside the boxes formed by the thirds grid.

Sometimes a better image is obtained by not placing key features directly onto the grid lines, but instead placing them inside the thirds boxes.

We can also use Diagonal Thirds for placing key features onto the grid lines.

Another aspect of the Thirds Rule is to place land/sea, sea / sky, and other key boundaries onto one of the horizontal thirds lines.

Here are some New York City Photos from Musician/Photographer: Nicholas Roy which use the thirds rule very well.

It is often important to have a balancing element, and not empty space, when we position our main subject off center into the left hand one third of a picture.

This is covered in the next section “Thirds Rule – Major and Minor”

Thirds Rule – Major and Minor

When we have a main subject, and other items around them, it is a good idea to use the Thirds Rule and place key minor objects on the thirds crossover points.

Here is another example of using Major and Minor within the Thirds Rule.

The Major and Minor items do not have to be directly on thirds Gridlines; they can be contained within thirds boxes.

In some cases we can apply this rule the other way around, and place the Major object onto the thirds gridlines.

Leading Lines

When we look at a photo our eye is naturally drawn along lines. These can be curved lines, zig zag lines, or diagonal lines which lead us into the picture.

This gives the picture a three dimensional story to it, and makes us go on a “Journey” through the scene.

Leading lines are often used in Landscape and Nature photos to add interest to the pictures.

Here are some great examples of Leading Lines in photos taken by Musician/Photographer: Nicholas Roy in New York City.

Depth and Scale

Photography is a two-dimensional medium, which can make it difficult for us to convey the sense of depth that was present in the original scene.

We can create depth in a photo by including objects in the foreground, middle ground and background.

It is also a good idea to include people in Landscape and Nature files to act as a scale reference for the Picture.

Depth is often combined with Leading Lines when we compose Landscape Photos.

Symmetry and Patterns

Our eyes are trained from when we are babies to look for the face of our mother, which has a nose and eyes either side.

We are highly trained to look for symmetry, and for this reason we find it to be an attractive trait in photographs.

In Group Photos, especially Groups of Three, we can use people turned inwards as “Bookends” within the balanced Symmetry.

Also to preserve symmetry, put either the Tallest or Shortest person in the Middle, also place people with blonde or bright hair or bright clothes in the middle.

Use Symmetry and balance the left and right hand side of the Group, by placing brightly clothed, or blonde haired people in the middle of the photo.

We do this because blonde haired people reflect light more, and always come out much brighter in Flash Photos.

Finally for Groups of Two, we can make them mirror reflections, or make the man dominant and the woman submissive (even if this does sound sexist, it is classic portraiture composition – think of old style Hollywood Movie Posters like “Gone With The Wind”).

Also use Major / Minor with blonde brightly dressed person to the front and brunette or dark clothes slightly to the back.

Viewpoint and Shooting Angles

Different subjects look different if we shoot them from different angles rather than just straight on.

Shooting from above or below is one option, but we can also tilt the angle of the camera to create a different viewpoint.

When you shoot Groups of People, such as sports teams, it will be boring of all the photos are the same front-on straight line composition.

We need to mix it up a bit by using Angles, Interesting People Arrangements, and sometimes taking one or two steps sideways so that we are not directly front-on to the group.

When shooting sports, often the best place to shoot from is where the umpire or referee stands most of the time. This gives us the best viewpoint.

Eg. For Basketball shoot from behind the rim to the right, and have the rim in the shot. For tennis shoot from the middle of the court at the net.

For certain sports it is good to shoot at a particular angle (up or down).

For Mountain bikes, it is generally a good idea to get down as low as you can on the ground and shoot upwards, especially on jumps.

However when riders are going up a long hill, it is better to get at a vantage point up high at the side of the track and shoot downwards.

For athletic events, get down as low as you can to shoot upwards for high jump and long jump so that the jump height is emphasized.

Getting down low kneeling on one knee, a few meters down from the start or finish line, is a good viewpoint for shooting running races.

For People shots at parties, start front-on, then move one or two steps to the left or right, and then lift up your camera up and shoot from above looking down.

Shooting from above and off to the side gives great jawline emphasis which is a very flattering look.

Shooting with Flash from above also creates a shadow under the jawline, further enhancing this feature.

Here are some more photos where we have shot at a down angle, rather than front on.

NEVER SHOOT PEOPLE FROM BELOW OR ALLOW THEM TO LEAN BACK.

Shooting too low emphasizes the neck in a bad way, and loses all that nice jawline profile.

Basically if you can see a person’s nostrils at all, then you are shooting from too low down.

Straight up and down shots of people can become boring, and so tilt the camera while taking pictures to add angles and interest.

Camera Tilting is a good composition effect to use in music photos.

(The photos above are of “Kisstroyer” from Melbourne Australia. If you like Kiss music, then these guys will rock your socks off!)

Another use of Viewpoint is to get up high by lifting the camera, or using any available upstairs area when doing Dance Floor or very large Group Photos.

Space to Move

In certain types of Photos such as Music, Sports, Dance, and Theatre we do not “Fill the Frame”, and we do not follow “The Rule of Thirds”, because we need to leave space to move.

Having some space for the viewer to see where some action has come from, and where it is going to, is the main priority.

When we photograph performances it is a great idea to have some shots which include the audience, so we can see who the performance is going out to.

When photographing musicians we need to include all of their intruments, so we can imagine where their playing might be going to next on the instrument.

Cropping Body Parts

We often cannot include all of a person’s arms or legs, which is fine, as long as we do not cut off the arms or legs below the knees or elbows.

Eg. If we crop or frame a photo we must always “Cut Off” above the joints on the arms and legs.

It is best to take the shot wide and big enough to have the full body along with some space to move, and even have some extra background space we may not need.

There are plenty of Megapixels, and from a shot that is “too big”, we can easily crop out what we do not need from the background, and have all limbs fully intact.

In the example below, the top left shpot has the guy’s arms cut off below gthe limbs. Aslo shown to the right and underneath ways we could shoot or crop this photo to solve this problem.

The Golden Ratio

We did say at the start of this article that we would only be covering ten rules; however there is one final rule which is above all others.

This final rule is the “Golden Ratio” or “Golden Spiral”.

This rule is believed to be the Penultimate Composition Rule for Art, Photography, Facial Corrective Plastic Surgery, and Architecture.

The following three minute video does a great job of explaining the Golden Ratio of 1.618 called “phi”.

The “Golden Ratio” is famous throughout history in Architecture, Art, and Photography as shown in the video.

Watch this video before reading the material below.

If key elements in a Photo fall onto the Golden Spiral containing rectangles and squares with side lengths in the “Golden Ratio”, then this should theoretically form the most pleasing picture possible.

The Golden Ratio Spiral is not easy to picture whenever I am busy taking a photo, so what I did was check some of my favorite photos in Photoshop by overlaying a Golden Spiral from Wikimedia.

I had originally composed each of these photos using only the general composition rules like symmetry, thirds rule, major/minor, and so on.

To my surprise I found that these photos did in fact contain elements of the Golden Ratio.

The Golden Ratio is used a lot in Portrait Photography, but can be applied to Landscape Photography, Sports Photography, and People Pictures.

The highly used “Rule of Thirds” is in fact an extremely simplified version of The Golden Spiral and Ratio.

The “Fibonacci Spiral” looks just like the Golden Spiral, and it is a very close approximation to the “Golden Spiral”.

The two spirals are very similar to each other, so either can be used for analysing the composition of a photograph.

In fact the two spirals are often confused with each other because they are so similar.

If you want to delve into the mathematical details of the two Spirals, then check out the following web page:

Wikipedia article about the Mathematics of Spirals

Here is three minute video about the Golden Ratio in Photographs:

Finally, here is a PinInterest Board where I have posted a number of interesting Golden Ratio Photos:

Photos by Passy Golden Ratio on PinInterest

Composition Quiz

What follows are a series of Photos, and it is up to you to think about whether or not they follow any composition rules and look good.

If the photo does not look quite right, think about how it might be fixed to be a better looking photo.

Answers are provided immediately after each set of Photos, so scroll down slowly without looking ahead at the answer.

Have a look at these first two photos, and see what composition rules are present, or perhaps should be present to improve the photos.

Here are the Answers to these first two photos.

Picture A was actually a Birthday Party photo, and if the girl in the white dress was the “birthday girl” then it would be okay to have her as the dominant feature at the front.

However, it was not her birthday, and so she probably should have been arranged to be in the center of the group.

Here are the next photos in the Quiz which need to be considered, and their composition effectiveness assessed.

Here are the answers to the Photos.

Photo B is not actually all bad, it does have the right two thirds containing the brightly colored people with flowers, and the left one third having the plainly dressed person.

However, my personal take on the photo is that it would be better with “Bookending”.

The next two photos in the Quiz are these ones.

Here are the answers to the Photos: Photo A was quite okay, but Photo B stands out as having some serious issues.

Two more photos for checking are from the same “Doors of Perception” band shoot album, and are shown below.

Here are the answers to the Photos.

“The Doors of Perception” Band from Melbourne Australia are highly recommended to see for anyone who loves all the The Doors classics played to perfection.

The next two photographs were taken by Photographer/Musician Nicholas Roy in New York City.

Nicholas has a great eye for photography, and his post processing of pictures using Photoshop is very artistic and creative.

Here are the answers to the Photos.

These last two photos are also of New York City by Nicholas Roy.

There is a lot going on in these photos, and it might not be easy to see which Composition Rule(s) are making these pictures look so good.

Here are the answers to the Photos. We saved the best till last; and these two photos are great examples of The Golden Ratio creating eye catching pictures.

Videos About Photo Composition

The following ten minute video goes through a lot of the Photo Composition Rules we have covered in this article.

One of the key rules covered fdor example is that in portraits the eyes are the most important feature, and so should ensure they are on a thirds boundary.

This next twenty minute video has some interesting ideas about composition, especially for Group Shots and Family Photos.

Finally, here is a three minute music video which shows some really well composed photographs.

There are many other Composition videos available on YouTube, especially for the area of doing Portrait Photos.

We recommend regulary searching YouTube and watching these one or two of these types of videos as part of ongoing learning and study of Photography.

Videos About Portrait Photography

Here is a good five minute video about six basic composition rules for doing female portraits

Here is a one hour extensive lesson about Poses for Portraits, including the “Triangle Rule” and several others which we have not covered in this basic composition article.

Additional Reading

Here are some good articles on Composition which we found on the web while researching this article.

The first article is a basic summary of composition rules, including several that we have covered in this article.

10 Top Photography Composition Rules Article

Another excellent article on Composition is the following one.

Digital Camera World Composition Article

This next article covers 18 rules of Composition.

18 Composition Rules For Photos Article

The next article includes composition using the Golden Ratio.

Composition Article including The Golden Ratio

Here is an article that gives five quick easy composition rules.

Five Quick Easy Composition Rules

The next article shows some tips for Portrait Photography.

Composition Rules for Portrait Photography

Here is a link to Nicholas Roy’s Website (The guy who did the great New York City Photos contained in this article)

Nicholas Roy : Musician/Photographer Website

The following is a short article on the Golden Ratio and Golden Spiral by Photographer Jake Garn.

Jake Garn Golden Spiral and Rule of Thirds Article

Related Items

How To Do Camera Settings

How To Do ISO Settings

How To Do Aperture Settings

How To Do Shutter Speed

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Passy

How To, Sports Photos

How To Do Shutter Speed

October 25, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

Shutter Speed is one of the three key variables in Digital Photography. The other two are ISO Light Sensitivity and Aperture Light Levels.

We suggest that before going through this article on Shutter Speed, you go through our previous articles on Camera Settings, ISO and Aperture.

These lessons can be found at the following links:

How To Do Camera Settings

How To Do ISO Settings

How To Do Aperture Settings

Shutter Speed is mainly used for creating dramatic effects by either freezing action or blurring motion.

It is a good idea to read our previous articles listed above about Camera Settings before working through this Shutter Speed Article.

Understanding Shutter Speed is critically important to isolate items and have them crisply in focus without any motion blur occurring.

In normal conditions, such as outdoors in bright daylight, shutter speed is usually not a problem. We can simply set our camera to Auto Mode and its processor will calculate and use a shutter speed which gives good results.

However, in various other situations, we need to be critically aware of what needs to happen with Shutter Speed and how it affects our photos.

Shutter Speed, (also called “Exposure Time”), becomes critically important in situations outside of the norm, such as the following:

1) Fast Moving Sports Action

2) Dimly lit indoor areas such as Bars and Clubs

3) Night Time Photography

4) Theatre and Musical Performances

5) Indoor Photos using Flash

6) Indoors Photos where we do not use Flash

7) Photos where we want motion blur for fast moving objects

8) Bird and Wildlife Photography

9) Photographing Young Children

In this article we will show you what Shutter Speed is, what the speed numbers mean, and how to set shutter speeds to values which should produce great photos.

The article is a very long one, and so we recommend going through it several times, as well as watching the videos at the end of the article.

Definition of Shutter Speed

Every digital camera has a shutter which opens and closes quickly to let light through the lens to the image sensor. Think of the shutter as like being in a dark room during the daytime, and opening and closing a set of venetian blinds quickly to let a burst of light into the room.

Basically a camera shutter is like a curtain in front of the camera sensor that stays closed until the camera fires and goes “click click”.

When the camera fires, the shutter opens and fully exposes the camera sensor to the light that passes in through the lens.

After the sensor is done collecting the light, the shutter closes immediately, stopping any more light from hitting the sensor.

The button that fires the camera is called the “shutter” or “shutter button”, because it triggers the shutter to Open and Close.

The speed at which the shutter opens and closes is usually a fraction of a second, such as 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000.

The bigger the number in the bottom of the Fraction, the faster the shutter opens and closes.

A “Fast Shutter Speed” is needed for Sports to freeze the action. But a fast speed lets in less light, and so we need good lighting conditions.

A “Slow Shutter Speed” lets in more light (for indoor lighting conditions).

However this can result in blurring if people are moving.

Usually we cannot shoot at speeds lower than 1/60, because we will get camera shake as well as blurring of our photos.

Shutter Speed is not usually a problem if we are in bright sunlight, but for other situations speed is critically important.

Standard Shutter Speeds

“Shutter Speed” is measured in seconds or fractions of seconds:

1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/5000

Note that the bottoms of the fractions always double, except for the jumps between 1/8 and 1/15, and 1/60 and 1/125.

The jumping of 1/60 to 1/125, instead of 1/60 to 1/120, is deliberately designed that way so that the doubling pattern is simpler for the 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 end of the Range.

There is also the out of sequence jump between 1/8 and 1/15 for the same reason.

Note that the Speed is usually displayed as whole numbers on cameras, due to LCD and Viewfinder sizes.

Eg. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000.

Shutter Speed Geometric Progression

Typically, Shutter Speeds start from 1 to 1/60 (slow), and go up in in value following a “Geometric Progression” (with a Multiplying Factor of One Half).

Eg. Speed Sequence is: 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, then 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, then 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 etc.

As discussed previously, there are deliberate jumps in the sequence, (which do not follow a multiplying factor of 1/2).

These jumps are at 1/8 to 1/15, and 1/60 to 1/125, which keeps the shutter speed fractions at simple whole numbers.

So this means that the entire Sequence actually consists of three separate Geometric Progressions, with a Multiplying Factor of 1/2 in each of them.

The important consequence that photographers need to understand, is that each step between the numbers effectively halves the amount of light reaching the sensor.

Eg. If we give the shutter an open/close time which is twice as fast, we only let half as much light in.

Many modern Digital SLR cameras also have in between Shutter Speeds which can be dialled up and used.

For example in between 1/60 and 1/125, there might be speeds of 1/80, or 1/100, which are also available.

These in between values allow finer increments of speed increase and consequent light reduction.

Shutter Speed Guide

“Panning Blur” involves tracking the moving subject with the camera using multishot mode.

This creates motion blur in the background to give the viewer a sense of the speed.

Eg. For Panning Blur on a Runner in the Park, use speeds of 1/30, 1/60, or 1/100 so that the subject is captured, but the background is blurred.

The following video shows an example of how to do “Panning Blur”.

Fast Shutter Speeds for Sports

Capturing the action in Sports can be a trade off between freezing the action, and having enough light coming in through the shutter to get a good clear picture.

Outdoors in bright sunlight we are usually okay, and if we set our camera to “Sports” Mode, it will use a very fast speed like 1/2000 and get good clear shots.

However for Indoor Sports, even if the stadium appears to have good lighting, a Shutter Speed of 1/2000 will make our shots come out too dark.

We need to remember that our human eyes adjust extremely well to reduced lighting conditions, but cameras do not!

If in “Sports” or “Auto” mode, we take an indoor shot, and it comes out too dark, then we will not be able to use our camera in automatic mode.

In these situations we can do some basic mathematics and figure out that 1/2000 + 1/2000 = 2/2000 = 1/1000.

This means that if we reduce shutter speed from 1/2000 down to 1/1000 we will get twice as much light onto the camera’s sensor.

If we change 1/2000 to 1/500 we will get four times more light, and reducing 1/2000 down to 1/250 will give us 8 times more light.

We will need to put our camera into either “Manual” mode “M”, or “Shutter Priority” mode “S” to be able to make these changes.

The trade off will be that we might not freeze the action perfectly, but sometimes a slightly blurred ball can help show some fast movement in the photo, and so it is actually a good thing.

Using Multi Shot for Sports

For fast moving ball sports, especially tennis, a lot of shots will be unusable because the ball moves so fast it is often out of frame by the time the camera fires.

The solution to this issue is to make sure “Multi Shot” or “Rapid Fire” is turned on, so that several photos are quickly taken in a row, while the camera makes a machine gun type sound.

We can then pick the best photo from the multi shot sequence and use that one in our photo album.

Most cameras have a rapid shoot preset mode that can be dialled in, and/or they have “Sports” as one of their Scene Modes, and “Sports” mode will automatically turn multi shot on.

Multi Shot mode is also very useful to use at young Children’s Parties.

Kids move around a lot and are very easily distracted. It often takes several shots to get one where they are all sitting still and looking at the camera.

Shutter Speeds for Flash Photography

Photos of People need to be done at a shutter speed of 1/125 to 1/250 to ensure that all movement is frozen.

If we are indoors and we want to capture the indoor lighting background, (like at a Club or a Bar), then using 1/125 combined a High ISO of 800 to 1600 will usually do a good job of this.

The reason that it works, and the photo does not come out too bright, is because when we use Flash the camera basically takes two pictures and merges them.

Eg. The Flash freezes subjects that were initially dark.

The following two part video explains this concept, as well as setting Shutter Speed for Night Club Photos.

Here is the second part of the above video:

Very Slow Shutter Speeds

Some cameras also give you the option for very slow shutter speeds that are not fractions of seconds but are measured in full seconds.

Eg. 1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds etc.

These are usually used in very low light situations, and/or night time, to produce special effects, or for capturing a lot of movement in a shot.

In daylight, slow shutter speeds can be used to make seawater, rivers or waterfalls appear “milky” with blurred water, and many people find this effect visually pleasing.

However we also use to use an “ND Filter” over our lens to reduce the bright daylight coming in over such a long exposure time, so that the photos do not turn out way too bright.

Slow Shutter Speeds are also used to create an effect called “motion blur”, where moving objects appear blurred along the direction of the motion.

This effect is used quite a bit in advertisements for cars and motorcycles, where a sense of speed and motion is communicated to the viewer by intentionally blurring the moving wheels.

Slow Speeds also create interesting car light trails in night time city photos.

Some cameras also give you the option to shoot in ‘B’ (or ‘Bulb’) mode. Bulb mode lets you keep the shutter open for as long as you hold it down.

Bulb Mode can be used for getting photos of the Stars Moving Across the Night Sky.

The following video shows how to shoot car light motion at night.

Shutter Speed and Lens Size

Different Lenses are different sizes, and have various “Focal Lengths”, where Focal Length is basically the distance from the end of the lens to the sensor inside the camera body.

Longer focal lengths, (like when you zoom right to 200mm for a shot), have a reduced subject area, and are far more sensitive to camera shake.

If you have ever used Binoculars or a Telescope, you will know how hard it is to keep it steady when you have zoomed right in on a person or object.

To overcome the shake, we need to choose a faster shutter speed (unless we have very good image stabilization built into the lens, or our camera is mounted on a Tripod).

The ‘rule’ of thumb to use with focal length is to choose a shutter speed with a denominator that is larger than the focal length of the lens.

For example if we have a standard 50mmm or 55mm lens then 1/60th is probably ok. But if we have zoomed right in with a 200mm lens, we need to shoot at around 1/250 to be safe from shake blurring.

Shutter Speed and Lens Aperture

A Faster Shutter Speed will let us freeze the action, but will let less light into the camera.

In bright daylight sports this will probably not be a problem as there is plenty of bright light available.

For sunny outdoors, we can capture action sports using a cheap f3.5 to f5.6 Zoom Lens.

However for indoor sports, with less light, using a high / fast shutter speed to freeze the action can result in very dark pictures.

This is because we do not have enough light entering the camera when the shutter speed is higher than 1/250.

Increasing the ISO Light Sensitivity to lighten up the photo, will probably result in ugly dotty grainy effects on our photos.

The only solution is to get more light in using a wider aperture, and for this we need an expensive f2.8 lens.

This is why f2.8 zoom lenses, and f1.4 portrait lenses are called “Fast” Lenses.

It is because these lenses can supply enough light using their wide open apertures to allow us to use a high shutter speed of 1/500 to 1/1000.

f2.8 Fast Zoom lenses are very expensive: eg. $2500 to $15 000 to even $45 000.

These lenses can be used for both Indoor Sports and Outdoor sports and are usually White in Color, and can look like “Bazooka Guns” mounted on cameras.

The other great thing about expensive f2.8 zoom lenses is that they are great for shooting high quality clear videos indoors.

Shutter Speed ISO and Aperture

To get a great Photo, we need to manipulate the three key camera variables of Shutter Speed, ISO, and Aperture to values which are optimal for the given set of lighting conditions, and the speed at which subjects are moving.

Photography in bright sunlight conditions is not a problem, because there is an abundance of natural light to make great photos.

But Photography indoors without flash is always a trade off between these three variables.

The simultaneous manipulation of Speed, ISO, and Aperture is quite involved and is the subject of an entirely separate photography article at the following link:

How to Combine Exposure Settings

Videos About Shutter Speed

Here are some videos that cover everything we have discussed in this article and are well worth watching.

The following three minute video gives a basic explanation about Shutter Speed

This next eleven minute video fully explains shutter speed, and is well worth watching

Sony Video About Shutter Speed

Here is an excellent video all about Setting Shutter Speed on Sony Alpha Cameras.

References

Digital Photograpy School Shutter Speed Article

Photography Life Shutter Speed Article

Related Items

How To Do Camera Settings

How To Do ISO Settings

How To Do Aperture Settings

If you enjoy visiting Photos By Passy, why not get a free subscription to the website.

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Passy

Special Events, Sports Photos

Teachers Games 2014

October 1, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

Photos By Passy was the official photographer for the Victorian Teachers Games held in Bendigo during late September 2014.

The Teacher’s Games involves teachers from schools all across the state of Victoria competing in a range of Individual and Team Sports.

There are also nightly social and party activities to attend, and so it is always a week of very little sleep.

For this job I used nearly every piece of camera equipment that I own, and it all found a use somewhere.

My main Go To camera was the Sony A77II with the 16-50mm Sony Lens. Overall I was delighted with its performance, in spite of some of the indoor sports ISO difficulties.

What follows are separate write ups for the events and functions which were covered. These are discussed one by one, with notes about camera settings and shooting approach, as well as links to the final online photo albums.

If you are interested in attempting some sports photography, then you should find some useful tips and tricks in this article.

If you want to learn more about the technical side of photography, then check out the How To Guides on our website at the following link:

Photos By Passy – How To Guides

If you just want to see the pictures, then simply scroll down and click on the links to the various albums.

Games Registration

Games Registration and Check In was held in the Bendigo Stadium foyer, and the lighting was good enough for many of the camera shots to be done without flash.

The aim of the shoot was to get plenty of shots of people checking in, along with the tables of volunteers and officials in attendance.

Games Registration Photos

Games Registration Photos

Here are the links to the Games Registration Photos

Games Registration Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Games Registration Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
On board Camera Flash

The camera was set to Intelligent Auto and many of the shots were taken without flash.

When the camera did choose to use Flash, there was a problem because I habitually left the lens shade hood on, resulting in some round lens hood shadow visible at the bottom of the photo.

While using the lens hood is great for protection, as well as using a clear UV filter, I need to remember to always remove it for any on-board flash photos!

Brownlow Medal Pub Night

This was a social night out involving dinner and watching the Brownlow Medal on the big screen televisions at the venue.

The brief was to get plenty of photos of patrons having fun dressed up in their favorite football team guernseys.

Brownlow Medal Night Photos

Here are the links to the Brownlow Medal Night Photos

Brownlow Medal Night Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Brownlow Medal Night Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser

The camera was set to Manual Mode with speed of 1/125 and ISO 1250, as we do for most of our standard night club photography.

Aperture was varied from 4.0 to 5.6, depending on the size of the group of people being photographed.

The flash power was also set manually for every shot, mostly to 1/8 power and 50mm width.

Trivia Night

Trivia Night consists of Tables of Teams answering questions and performinng random tasks deliberately designed to be embarassing.

It is a lot of fun!

Trivia Night Photos

Here are the links to the Trivia Night Photos

Trivia Night Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Trivia Night Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser

Panasonic Lumix LX7 Camera

The Sony camera was set to Manual Mode with speed of 1/125 and ISO 1250, as we do for most of our standard night club photography.

Aperture was varied from 4.0 to 5.6, depending on the size of the group of people we were photographing.

The flash power was also set manually for every shot, mostly to 1/8 power and 50mm width.

The Lumix LX7 was used for doing 16:9 aspect ratio wide angle photos of the novelty events, and at Aperture F1.4 required no flash to be used.

Mixed Basketball

The mixed basketball was held inside the Bendigo Stadium which has reasonably good artificial lighting on the center court, but not quite such good lighting on the adjoining courts.

I found the best position to stand was at one end of the center court, near the end of the basketball key line, and to frame up the shot with the rim and the backboard in it.

The only problem with this position is it is usually where the referee wants to be, because it gives the best vantage point.

Mixed Basketball Photos

Here are the links to the Mixed Basketball Photos

Mixed Basketball Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Mixed Basketball Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

Sony Alpha A-55 Camera
Tamron 24-70mm F2.8

Most shots were taken with the A-77 set to Sports Scene mode, and there were not many good shots obtained with the A-55.

The A-77 in SCN “Sports Mode” tends to go for a very high Shutter Speed of 1/2000th and an ISO of 3200 which leads to grainy and dark shots.

Rapid shoot to get multiple images was used on a number of occasions so as to end up with the best photo to choose from for action sequences.

I was able to get usable pictures by using Photoshop and making adjustments and sharpening each individual picture.

Next time I need to spend time experimenting in Manual Mode with a Speed of 1/500th which would let in four times more light, and allow for a lower ISO which would give clearer pictures.

The A-55 in Sports Mode did not produce very good shots, and the zoom range was not well suited for the task at hand.

Womens Netball

It was a bright sunny day for the Netball, but the action was fast paced and not that easy to photograph.

It seemed that every time I moved position the action went somewhere else!

Sports Photography is a percentage game, and it was a matter of shooting as many shots as I could in the hour or so time which was available. The best photos were then chosen by doing a massive cull of pictures that evening.

Ladies Netball Photos

Here are the links to the Womens Netball Photos

Womens Netball Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Womens Netball Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

Sony Alpha A-55 Camera
Sony DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3

Although I had both cameras with me, the zoom range on the A-77 seemed to be sufficient, and so I hardly used the A-55 at all.

The A-77 reveled in the bright outdoor sunlit conditions. Most shots were done in multishot SCN “Sports Mode” and they came out crisp and clear.

The A-77 MkII is a great camera for bright light sports photos, and I was very happy with the results.

Singles Tennis

It was a perfect bright sunny day for the Tennis, and there were some good players which helped me get good photos.

It seems for sports in general, if the standard of the game is high, you are bound to get great photos, because the game play content is just so good to begin with.

If the standard and skills are low, then the photos simply do not look right, no matter how well you frame and shoot them.

Singles Tennis Photos

Here are the links to the Singles Tennis Photos

Singles Tennis Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Singles Tennis Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

Sony Alpha A-55 Camera
Sony DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3

The zoom range was adequate on the A-77, and so it was used for the bulk of the photos with the camera set to SCN “Sports Mode” and the shutter held down to do multishoot.

It seems the best place to stand to take sports photos is often where the Umpire or Referee would stand or sit.

So for the Tennis, I positioned myself next to the net and framed and panned with the ball play.

It is certainly not easy to get action shots of tennis because the ball moves so fast. Often times a great shot would have the ball long gone out of frame and would have to be discarded.

It is a percentage game to get the right shots, and so I just put the multishoot on the fastest speed possible and got as many shots as I could.

From a massive cull that evening, I was really happy with the final shots I had for the album.

In fact I think that the Tennis was one of the best events photos-wise that I covered during the Teachers Games.

Lawn Bowls

I shot this event after doing three other events, and it was hard to find excitement in Lawn Bowls compared to some of the other sports.

The standard bowling the ball shots would get a bit boring after a while, but I was lucky enough to also have some measuring happen which broke things up a bit.

Lawn Bowls Photos

Here are the links to the Lawn Bowls Photos

Lawn Bowls Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Lawn Bowls Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

These shots were done in Intelligent Auto Mode, as well as SCN Sports Mode for some shots.

It was a nice and easy relaxed shoot.

Ultimate Frisbee

This is an extremely fast paced exciting action sport, requiring lots of shots to be taken to get the photos that are going to be good.

The shoot was compounded by having two games on fields right next to each other, as well as the ugliness of park cars and buildings in the background.

However the bright sunny conditions were good for fast shutter speed sports photography.

Ultimate Frisbee Photos

Here are the links to the Ultimate Frisbee Photos

Ultimate Frisbee Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Ultimate Frisbee Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

Sony Alpha A-55 Camera
Sony DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3

The A-55 with the long reaching 18-250mmm zoom lens was used for nearly all of the photos done at Ultimate Frisbee.

The A-55 was set on SCN “Sports Mode” and the shutter held down to do multishoot.

The Sony DT 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 lens is fanstastic in bright conditions, considering that it is only a $600 lens, and it has such a long zoom range.

This lens is my usual travel photography lens, and has served me well for several years now. However it has to have bright daylight or flash to get the best results.

I was very happy with the photos that came from this setup, and even though the A-55 is an old camera and not generally as good as the newer A77II, I am going to keep it indefinitely as my second camera.

Mountain Bike

This was quite a full on event, with the bikes moving faster than I had expected. Multishoot was essential, and I tried to get corner points and squat down as low as I could to capture the wheels as an emphasis point.

In hindsight I should have scouted out the course better and tried to get some more jump shots, but I was reasonably happy with the shots which made the final album.

The brief was to get several photos of every rider in the event, and so this did not leave a lot of time to visit a number of different vantage points.

This was my first mountain bike shoot, and I am sure I will do a lot better next time.

Mountain Bike Photos

Here are the links to the Mountain Bike Photos

Mountain Bike Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Mountain Bike Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

There is a lot of dust kicked up during mountain biking and so a clear UV lens filter is essential, as well as regular checking and cleaning of this filter throughout the event.

It is essential to crouch down low and try to get good vantage points on jumps and turns, as well as shots from up high above of riders going up hill.

The A77II was used with fast multishoot and set to SCN “Sports Mode”.

The conditions were overcast, and it might have been a bit better if there was more sun, but I am not sure about what effect lots of forest shadows would have on the pictures.

Fishing Competition

This was a really good shoot because there was a run of fish caught during the half hour that I was covering the event.

For three hours before this, only one fish had been caught and released, and fishing photos would not have been too good without any fish in them!

Fishing Competition Photos

Here are the links to the Fishing Competition Photos

Fishing Competition Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Fishing Competition Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

Conditions were overcast, and so I set the A77II to “Intelligent Auto” and for some shots the onboard flash popped up and fired.

This time I remembered to have the shade hood off, and so there is no circular dark blurring on these photos.

An easy shoot where everything just came together with the greatest of ease.

Looking at the photos in view mode, the camera in Auto Mode used ISO 100 and F4 Aperture with a shutter speed of 1/160 on most of the shots and they exposed nicely.

The A77II seems to be very good at handling both bright sunlight and overcast conditions, but it does struggle with ISO graininess in low light indoors.

Indoor Soccer

This was the most difficult shoot of the whole Teachers Games.

I could not shoot through the netting, even with manual focussing, and I could not go onto the Pitch, as all areas of the court are constantly used.

This meant I had to poke the camera through the strongly elasticised slit that the players enter and leave the pitch from. Lucky I have been working at the gym and could hold the slit door open while using the camera!

Due to the fast moving ball, with continuous focus on, the camera kept wanting to set the shutter speed to 1/2000th, Aperture to F4, and use an ISO of 3200 when set to SCN “Sports Mode”.

This resulted in grainly dark photos for quite a few of the shots, until I set the camera into Manual Mode later on.

Indoor Soccer Photos

Here are the links to the Indoor Soccer Photos

Indoor Soccer Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Indoor Soccer Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

Photographing a court with horizontal lines marked on it results in levelling problems, and as the camera was crammed through a narrow slit in the netting, it was not easy to get the horizontal correct.

I used the “Disp” button to have levelling turned on, and did my best to try and keep the camera level so the horizonatal court lines and goals at the other end were not tilted.

Photos can be adjsuted in Photoshop to level them, (with a slight loss of quality), but it is much better to get it right on the original shot.

As mentioned previously, in SCN “Sports Mode” with the camera set to continuous “C” Autofocus, the camera picked the extremely high shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second.

This quickness of speed does not let much light in at all, and on the A77II is only really usable in bright sunny outdoor conditions.

The camera therefore compensated for the fast shutter speed by setting an ISO of 3200, which is too high for the A77II to get clear pictures. The highest usable ISO on the camera is probably ISO 1600.

The resulting photos, like the one shown at the start of this section were quite dark and grainy, and borderline usable.

Later on in the shoot I changed to Manual and set the shutter speed to between 1/160th and 1/250th, and Aperture of F4, which meant ISO’s of 250, 320, and 400 could be used. However this resulted in some photos that were a bit blurry because the shutter speed was not high enough.

The quality of the photos is not easy to see in the viewfinder, even when magnified, and is not until they are downloaded onto a PC that you really know what you have captured.

The actual lighting in the stadium was quite good, as they had both artificial lighting as well as plenty of skylights in the roof.

Next time I would try use a shutter speed of 1/500th, Aperture F4, and ISO’s between 400 and 800 and see what type of photos that might produce.

It is basically a Trade Off between high enough shutter speed to have clear images of the players without blurring, versus keeping the ISO down to a level where there is not darkness and graininess.

So it is a matter of finding the “sweet spot” for the camera, by trying a lot of different settings in manual mode. However in a one hour timeframe this is extremely difficult. We would need to be spending at least two hours at the event to get everything perfect.

Obviously spending about $5000 to $6000 on a Professional Nikon Camera and Lens setup would solve all of these problems, because we could shoot clearly at much higher ISOs.

Unfortunately we have no budget to do this, and so we will have to make do with the equipment we have by shooting in Manual Mode and finding the optimum settings.

Beach Volleyball

Like the Indoor Soccer, this was not an easy shoot. The Referee was kind enough to let me into the netted court and stand at the side of the Net. So at least I did not have to squeeze the slit door open to put the camera through.

However the ball did hit me a couple of times and narrowly missed the camera on two or three occasions. But this did make for the following brilliant action shot:

Most shots had to be taken in Portrait mode because the ball is hit so high in the air during this game. A lot of shots were unusable because the ball moved so fast it was out of frame by the time the camera fired.

Unlike normal Volleyball, this is a netted cage where players can bounce the ball off the roof and sides, and so it is power hitting with hardly any spiking or the like at the Net.

This means that most of the photos show the players back-court with no Volleyball Net in sight, and so it is not obvious that they are playing an actual game of Volleyball and not just hitting up.

Again we had High ISO problems with the camera set in SCN “Sports Mode”, because based on tracking the ball’s speed the camera wants to use 1/2000th shutter and ISO’s above ISO 1600.

We did however get some clear shots in Manual Mode, but had problems with the ball blurring as in this shot:

Beach Volleyball Photos

Here are the links to the Beach Volleyball Photos

Beach Volleyball Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Beach Volleyball Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8

As dicussed there were ISO problems just like the Soccer, resulting in some dark exposure pictures.

However the reflection of light off the white sand helped a lot, and in SCN “Sports Mode” the 1/2000th shutter speed photos were at ISO 1600 which is more usable than 3200.

Like for the soccer, I tried taking a few shots on manual mode, (using shutter speed of 1/250th and ISO 400) and it can be seen in the album that these are clearer and brighter, but often the ball is blurred.

Beach Volleyball is not at all easy to Photograph, as the only available vantage point is crammed up against the side of the net can be used, and a lot of the play does not occur near the net anyway.

Maybe a Go-Pro strapped to somebody’s head shooting video would produce a better story of what actually happened during the game!

Op Shop Party Night

Op Shop Night is a Social Event where people dress up in clothes they have purchased from the charity stores for poor people. The bright colors and interesting outfits make for a great photoshoot.

Op Shop Party Night Photos

Here are the links to the Op Shop Party Night Photos

Op Shop Party Night Photos on Flickr

If you would like to download copies of photos from Flickr, then use the following instructions:

How To Download Photos from Flickr

Op Shop Party Night Photos on Facebook

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 Mk II Camera
Sony 16-50mm SSM F2.8
Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser

Panasonic Lumix LX-7 Low Light Camera

The “Party People” photos were taken mainly at the Star Bar, but some non-flash photos were taken with the Lumix LX7 at The Foundry Hotel.

Using the Sony A77II this was basically our standard night club venue shoot, done in manual mode using ISO 1250 with shutter speed of 1/125th of a second.

Aperture was varied from 4.0 to 5.6 depending on the size of the group of people we were photographing.

The flash power was also set manually for every shot, mostly to 1/8 power and 50mm width.

The Star Bar had a smoke machine going which caused problems on many photos.

However the highly reflective cloudy smoke particles were almost entirely removed in Photoshop using Image > Adjustments > Exposure and then sliding the “Offset” to the left a little.

Photoshop is brilliant and makes all the difference when working with Digital Images.

Being Official Photogragher for the Victorian Teachers Games was a great experience, and apart from the Photoshopping into the early hours of the morning, a really fun time.

It was great to get out and about and use all of my camera equipment in different sports settings.

The Sony A77II with the 16-50mm F2.8 Sony Lens is as good as the reviews say for doing high speed sports photography, as long as you are outdoors in bright light. However, Indoors the camera is hampered by its lack of high ISO capabilities.

There are quite a few things I would change when doing Indoor Sports, as I have found that you cannot trust the camera to choose the right settings. That is unless you have a very expensive $6000 plus, High ISO capable professional setup.

As for many scenarios, it is necessary to get the camera into full Manual Mode and try your best to find some optimal settings which produce bright and clear pictures which capture the sport’s action.

Additional Reading

If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of photography, then check out the articles and how to guides on our website at the following link:

Photos By Passy – How To Guides

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How To

How To Do Aperture

September 18, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

Aperture is one of the key variables in Digital Photography. The other two are ISO Light Sensitivity and Shutter Speed.

It is a good idea to read our previous article on “How To Do Camera Settings” before working through this Aperture Article.

You can access this article at the following link:

How To Do Camera Settings

An understanding of Aperture is critically important to isolate subjects in portraits and get full detail in Landscape pictures.

The Aperture Scale consists of a seemingly odd set of decimal and whole numbers, and getting your head around these values is not at all easy for Beginner Photographers.

In this article we examine Aperture in detail, and mathematically explain where the Aperture “f-numbers” come from. The mathematics might be challenging for some people, but do not worry too much about the detail if it is challenging for you.

The main thing we need to understand as Photographers is how the “f-stop” number values relate to the amount of light made available for our image, and how the background can be deliberately blurred using Aperture settings.

Definition of Aperture

Camera Aperture basically imitates the function of the human eye.

In dark conditions we require more light entering our eyes and camera, but in bright light we need far less light.

Our eyes adjust to these conditions using our “pupils”, (the central dark circles inside our eyes).

A camera mimics the action of our pupils using a setup that creates various size circles; and we call this camera function “Aperture”.

Using Camera Aperture Values

We go to detail about this later in this article, but just as a starter, here are a couple of examples where we use different sized Apertures, which mimic the function of the human eye.

Lens Aperture Values

The Aperture function is performed in the Lens of the camera, and not in the Digital Camera Body. (The “Lens” is the cylindrical barrel on the front of the camera, and the “Body” is the back part of the camera with all the buttons and dials on it.

Each lens we mount onto a DSLR camera has its own Aperture System, and as we will see later on, different sized lenses need to have their own particular Aperture systems.

Lens Apertures are specified using f Numbers which are called “f-stops”.

These numbers make little sense at all when we first look at them, as they are what seems to be some weird random collection of decimal and whole number values.

A first look at these strange f-numbers reveals that there are doubling patterns in the list of numbers from f1.4 to f22.

Another very confusing aspect of these f-numbers is that as they go up in value, the size of the circular Aperture openings actually goes down in value, and the cicular “Aperture” openings become progressively smaller.

In fact each circle becomes exactly half the size of the one before it.

This is indeed very confusing, as the smallest number 1.4 represents a large fully open camera lens letting in lots of light, but the largest number at f22 represents a tiny cicular opening in the lens which is not letting much light in.

Mathematical Patterns

The standard f-numbers are: 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22 .

We can always form the next number in the pattern by multiplying by 1.4, which is the square root of 2 as a rounded off decimal value.

1.4 x 1.4 = 1.96 = 2

2 x 1.4 = 2.8

2.8 x 1.4 = 3.92 = 4

4 x 1.4 = 5.6

5.6 x 1.4 = 7.84 = 8

and so on.

In the f-numbers we have a sequence of numbers, where we always multiply by a common value of 1.4 to generate the next number.

In mathematics this is called a “Geometric Sequence” or a “Geometric Progression”

The common multiplying value, in this case 1.4, is called the “Geometric Ratio”.

The 1.4 (Square Root of 2) value results because we are dealing with Circles when we are doing Apertures.

If we want to make a Circle twice as big, it turns out that we need to increase its Radius by a factor of Square Root of 2, which in decimal is 1.4.

So if you are wondering where the 1.4 multiplying factor comes from, it is all due to the way the area of circles is doubled.

The f-numbers sequence is set up so that in real terms the amount of light due to the circular opening halves as we move up through the f-numbers.

F-Stop Formula

We are nearly through the Mathematics of Aperture.

As a Photographer you do not need to memorise all this mathematics, you simply need to understand the consequences in relation to light entering your camera.

There is a Mathematical Formula for f-stop which relates the 1.4,2,2.8,4,5.6, etc values to the actual Aperture Circle Diameter, and the size of the Lens you are using.

Aperture is not just related to how wide we make our circular opening, (the “Diameter”), but it is also related to the size of the Lens we are using which is specified as the Lens “Focal Length”.

We will confine our discussion to fixed size lenses, called “Prime Lenses”, and talk about “Zoom” lenses later on.

A 28mm Lens is a short lens, which gives a very wide angle of viewing.

A 50mm or 55mm lens is a standard size which is supposed to be a lot like the angle of viewing, or field of vision that is in focus when we are looking at something with human eyes.

A 200mm lens is a “Telephoto” type lens which will make distant objects look a lot closer, just like a set of Binoculars would.

The 28mm lens with its wide view lets in the most light, and the 200mm long lens lets in the least light.

Thinks of it like being at the Beach.

If you were at the beach looking at the whole scene there would be lots of light from the sun, and its reflection on the water. This is what a 28mm lens gives you, a nice wide picture where you can see everything, and there is plenty of light.

If you were just looking at some children building a sand castle, then this is the type of view from a 50mm lens.

If you were using a 200mm lens to look at some guys fishing in a boat off the shore, then this is a zoomed in type situation, and you only get the light from the boat and people, and not lots of light like when you are looking at the whole beach scene.

This is the reason why we need to take “Focal Length” or lens size into account. To get the same f-stop amount of light, we actually need different sized circular openings on different sized lenses.

In the example shown below, the two lenses are set to the exact same f-stop, so that the exact same amount of light can reach the interanl camera sensor.

However, to get the exact same amount of light into the camera body, we need to use a much larger physical Aperture opening on the long 200mm lens.

Video About Aperture

By now you might be totally overwhelmed by all of this Mathematics, but do not worry about it, because the main thing you need to understand is that Aperture changes the circular lens opening to let in more light or less light.

If we adjust our current F-Number UP to the next F-Number we HALVE the light.

If we adjust our F-Number DOWN to the previous F-Number we DOUBLE the light.

We need to adjust the light to get a picture that is not overly bright and washed out, and not overly dim and too dark to see its contents.

The following 15 minute video explains what we have covered so far.

Some Final Mathematics

Here is one last set of Mathematical calculations to show how Aperture works for different sized lenses.

We will work backwards to find the actual mm diameters of the circlular openings we would need in two different lenses to get the same amount of light which would mean we had the same f-number or “f-stop” set on each of the lenses.

To find the Diameters required, we rearrange our previous f-stop formula as follows:

Once we have the diameter required, we can halve it to get the circle radius and then calculate the actual Area of the circular opening we would need in the lens to create given f-stop amounts of light.

These calculations are shown below:

The above calculations were obtained from an excellent article on Camera Mathematics from Mr Martin which can be viewed in full at the following link:

Mr Martin Mathematics of Photography Article

By examinng the results of the above calculations we can see the following patterns and results:

One Third F-Stops

Finally just to add another layer of complexity to everything, if you check the Aperture f-number values on your actual camera, it is likely that there will be more than just the standard values we have been discussing:

1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22

Your camera (thanks to the wonders of modern technology) will have the standard values, plus a whole lot of extra in between values.

These values allow you to change your Aperture light up or down by 1/3. This way you can open the Aperture up to 1 and 1/3, then to 1 and 2/3, and then up to Double the amount of light.

Your camera will possibly have this full set of one third f-stops, resulting in a sequence like this:

1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2, 2.2, 2.5, 2.8, 3.2, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5.0, 5.6, 6.3, 7.1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22

Aperture Blades

Anyone who has ever tried to draw a perfect circle freehand knows exactly how hard it is to do.

It is also very difficult to mechanically make circles of different sizes, and often the Aperture openings are not actually circular, but might be Pentagons, octagons, or other multisided geometries.

The lens uses a series of adjustable “Aperture Blades” to make the best circles it can.

Basicially the more you pay, the more blades in the system, and the better the circles will be.

Two lenses sitting side by side might have drastically different prices, because one of them has a many blades quality system inside it.

If you have a cheap lens with not many blades, blurred lights in the background will not be round, and you may also get some slightly dark tinges in the four corners of your photos.

Aperture and Zoom Lenses

Most people have an adjustable zoom lens on their camera, which can do wide angle shots, through to zoomed in telephoto pictures.

As we saw previously, the field of vision narrows as we increase lens focal length, and so it is tricky for the Aperture system to continually adjust to different focal lengths as you zoom in and out.

This is why there are cheap and very expensive zoom lenses.

A Cheap Zoom Lens for $300 might only allow Apertures from f4 to f8 and the picture will darken as you zoom in.

An expensive f2.8 Zoom for $1500 to $15000 will allow you to use all Apertures no matter how far you are zoomed in or out.

Those giant white “bazooka” looking lenses you see at sports events can cost anywhere from $5000 to $25000 !

Aperture and Blurring

Well that is all the Mathematics and Technical stuff done with, and now we can talk about actually taking some photos!

A really nice side effect of using wide open Apertures is that we end up with our subject at the front of the picture crisply in focus, and the background we are not interested in all blurred out for us.

However, if we want to see our whole photo in clear focus, like on a landscape shot, we need to do the opposite and set a very narrow (high f-number) Aperture.

Group Shots and Blurring

However, with taking “Group Shots” of people we run into a problem.

If we use f1.4, or f2, or f2.8 to get nice background blurring, we will find that people in the back row of the group will be blurred out of focus.

To get the whole group in focus we typically need to use an Aperture of f4 or f5.6, which will make sure everybody in the group is in focus.

However, the background we are not interested in will also be in focus and clearly visible.

The way aorund this problem is to use Blurring Tools in Photoshop, as has been done below.

Aperture and Sunsets

Sunset Photos can also be interesting for setting up the Aperture correctly.

We might use a really narrow Aperture like for a landscape, and our image will be too dark; or we might use a wide open Aperture and have our photos turn out too bright and look like daylight.

The best Aperture to use is between f8 and f11, as shown below in these great photos taken by our friend Nicole Cooper.

The following page has thirty great tips for taking good sunset photos:

30 Tips for Taking Sunset Photos

Video About Aperture and People Shots

Finally here is a two part video totalling around 25 minutes all about how to set your Aperture when doing Night Club Photography, or really any Photos at Events like Birthdays, Baptisms, Parties, and so on.

Here Part 2 of the above Video.

Sony Video About Aperture

Here is an excellent video all about Setting Aperture on Sony Alpha Cameras.

References

Click the following links for more articles on the web about Aperture.

Digital Camera Mathematics

Very Technical Maths Explanation of Aperture

Mathematics of Aperture

How Aperture Blades Work

Mathematical Explanation of F-Stops

Related Items

For more great articles about How to Do Digital Photography, see our “How To” page at the following link:

How To Articles by Photos By Passy

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PBP – Photos By Passy

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