All posts by Passy

Morgan Evans – Sept 12th

September 18, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

Morgan Evans and his country rock band did a great show at Revolver in Melbourne recently.

One of the support acts was Jessica Jade who is a very talented Melbourne singer, and known to my assistant photographer Michael.

It was great to see her band perform as the support act, as we have been meaning to check out her music for a while now.

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos of Jessica Jade and her band can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Jessica Jade September 12th 2014

Last time Morgan played at Revolver, we experienced white balance problems on one of the cameras, resulting in a blueish tinge to a lot of the photos, and we were not really happy with the results overall.

However, this time we made sure we got everything right, and we were pleased with the resulting pictures of the show.

Several photos that were taken while red and orange light were on the band, were successfully converted to Black and White during post processing.

For the colour pictures, we did some Desaturating in Photoshop, to reduce down some overly bright colours, especially those from the red spot lights.

We also found that the A77 photos are often darker than they look on the camera preview once they are downloaded to PC. These pictures were easily brightened up in Photoshop during post-processing, using the Brightness/Contrast function.

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Morgan Evans September 12th 2014

As well as shooting the band, we also did the post show “Meet and Greet” photos for the fans.

A full Flickr Gallery of “Meet and Greet” Photos can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Morgan Evans Meet and Greet

Further information about Morgan Evans can be found at their Facebook Page:

Morgan Evans Facebook Page

There is also an official website for Morgan:

Morgan Evans Website

The Band’s Official Fan Page is also on Facebook here:

Morgan Evans Fan Club Facebook Page

EQUIPMENT:

Sony Alpha A-77 MkII Camera
Sony 18-55mm F2.8

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

Sony HVL-F43M Flash

Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser

Panasonic Lumix LX7 Compact Camera

On this shoot we used the Lumix LX7 for the band playing to the crowd shots, and it is a great compact camera for low light with its 1.4 Aperture.

The Sony A77II was used for band shots, and all of the Meet and Greet photos.

Shooting with the A77II was done in full manual mode at f2.8 and 1/60 to 1/125 speed, and ISO varied from ISO 400 for bright spotlight shots, to ISO 1600 for other shots.

The Sony A55 works brilliantly teamed with the Tamron lens and set to “SCN” Sports Mode. I give this camera to my assistant Micheal so that he can effectively just “Point and Shoot” close up photos of band players, especially the drummer. He was also able to get some good non-flash photos of people in the crowd using the A-55.

In post processing we tried something new and sized the longest side of photos at 850 pixels, rather than 960 pixels, and saved them as WEB photos at 90% (11/12) quality, rather than the usual 85% we have been using for previous shoots.

We are not really sure whether this made a huge difference, but the photos seemed to be okay when loaded up to Facebook and Flickr online.

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

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Enjoy,
Passy

Birthday Parties, How To

How To Photo Booth

August 30, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

“Photo Booth” has become more popular recently, and is a great way to get fun photos at formal events such as Weddings, 21st Birthday Parties, Engagemnent Parties, and so on.

In the olden days, and for some events, there is an actual closed curtained off Booth where the photos can be taken, but this is expensive to set up and takes up a lot of space at a party or venue.

Photos can also be immediately Printed out and glued into a Guest Book, and a message written next to them.

Other times, Photos are just taken out in the open, or in front of a Curtain or Backdrop of some kind.

Before the photos are taken, people “Dress Up” in either Cardboard Disguises held on sticks, along with Speech Bubbles; and/or in cheap fancy dress props.

Cardboard Props Only Photo Booth

Shown above is a photo of this type of Cardboard Props only “Photo Booth”.

The Cardboard Props and Speech Bubbles can be purchased Online, but often need to be assembled.

Attaching the flat cardboard props to the sticks can be best done using a hot glue gun, but if you do not have one, just use normal glue and meshed gaffa tape.

If we are printing out props from PDFs from the Internet, then we need to make the speech bubbles text reasonably large.

Eg. Enlarge the images on a colour photocopier first.

We then cut out a photocopied image roughly, and then glue it onto either the foam bottom of a meat tray, or the hard plastic cover of an old display book.

Once it is glued onto the backing, we then cut it out properly and attach it to the stick.

A great place to buy some pre-made Photo Booth props which are a good size are “TYPO” paper products shops in major shopping centres.

Curtain Background Photo Booth

In this type of Photo Booth we have people pose in front of a backdrop, such as a blue curtain as shown in the picture above.

Also note the use of a Blackboard Speech bubble. These can be purchased, or made out of plywood, and they are great for people to add their own Personal Messages.

For our curtain setup we purchased a premade blue curtain with large ring holes already in it, and we hang it on an aluminium tent poles frame lent up against a wall.

The frame is actually part of a cabin tent we own, and has adjustable leg height. We also run Gaffa tape along the pole insertion joins so they cannot pop undone.

It needs to be steadied with Gaffa Tape, and/or sand bags placed at the base around the legs.

Note that around 3 meters of wall space is required for the curtain, even though it is only around 2.5 meters wide.

For backgrounds it is important to use a non-reflective cloth background. If you use a plastic stick up background, or a Poster you have made, there is a significant risk that there will be falsh reflection off it which is impossible to remove in Photoshop later on.

Photo Booth Dress Up Props

These can be purchased at $2 Shops, Op Shops, Party Shops, and eBay. It takes a bit of shopping around to find the right ones.

The more colour the better, and Mexican Hats, Police Hats, and giant Fake Gold Rapper Bling are great items to have in your kit.

Hawaiian Flower dress ups are also very cheap on eBay and make for good fun.

For our Booth, we also obtained some toy guns and giant Mexican Gringo Moustaches at a Party Costume Shop.

A Fold up table and some boxes are also needed at the Party to put the props into. Shoe Boxes are good for storing props, because the removable lids can be used to display props in as well as the shoe box.

Something which is very important is to have the host of the Party give you a Money Deposit for the Props in case any go missing, as will sometimes be the case.

It is not so much the dollar value of the stolen props which is annoying, but the inconvenience and personal time running around to a number of shops to find replacements.

A good idea is to have some spare props in reserve at home, in case items go missing, and you have another function to do in the near future.

Chroma Key Photo Booth

Chroma Keying involves filming or taking pictures with a special bright Green or Blue cloth background which is non reflective.

The idea is to get a consistent background color that is not likely to be found in any skin tones, so Green and Blue are best.

Green is probably the best, because people do not wear any green clothing usually, and so the background can be easily removed in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Fireworks using the Magic Wand tool.

Our approach is not exactly professional, as we use a Blue Curtain, with fold/creases in it which is not professionally lit up, and not a uniform color because of the darker curtain folds.

The reason for us doing this is mainly Economy, as well as dual purpose functionality, where we can also use the blue curtain as a background for “Photo Frame” pictures like this one.

Note that it helps not to have people directly up against the curtain. Try and get them to stand around one meter or so forward of the curtain which minimises getting any blue glow onto them around their edges and hair.

The following video shows how to do Chroma Key background removal with a smooth green backdrop.

This video also demonstrates the use of “Photokey 5” Software for removing the Green background, and then inserting a different background.

“Photokey 5” software looks like it does a good job, but the same thing can be done with the Magic Wand and Eraser Tools in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Fireworks.

For our Background Removal, and Replacement, we use Adobe Fireworks, simply because we find it quicker and easier to use than Photoshop.

However, if you want to do the same thing in Photoshop, then here is a great three minute video (with some annoying dub step background music) on how to do this.

Removal of Blue Background Curtain

This is the original picture taken with the Blue Curtain Backdrop as it was straight out of the Camera.

We took this picture into Adobe Fireworks, and removed the background curtain and surrounds using the Magic Wand and the Eraser Tool, to create the following .PNG file clear background picture.

The next step was to create a new layer in Fireworks, and then File > Import onto this layer, a new background image, (in this case some Party Streamers).

We then made a separate Photo Frame in Fireworks, using the Criss Cross Gradient with a Texture added into it. This frame was then imported as a new layer into our composite picture.

Flattening all the layers, and saving it as a JPG file then resulted in this as our final Photo Booth Image:

Problems With Blue Items

Removing the Blue Background from the original of this image was a problem because of the Blue Police Cap, as well as the Blue hue in the dress.

The trick here was to first use the eraser tool to carefully rub out around the cap and the dress, so that the Magic wand would not be able to reach them and remove any of their blue colour.

We were then able to use the Magic Wand to remove the remaining blue and grey in the background, and add in the night city background which we purchased from “123RF” to make the completed picture shown previously.

Background Images

It is quite cheap to buy some medium sized stock images from companies such as “123RF”, “Dreamstime”, “Getty Images”, or “Istock”, and use these as your Background Images.

If you just grab some backgrounds from Google Images, there is always the risk that you should have paid for them, and there will be a resulting infringing on Copyright.

A person has taken the time to make the Background image, and so it is only fair that they should be paid something for it.

So if you are posting Photo Booth pictures to the web which contain background images, you should purchase these background images to make sure everything is legal.

Photo Booth Sample Pictures

To see a full Album of Photo Booth Pictures we did for a 21st Party, Click the following link:

Photo Booth Pictures Album

Videos About Chroma Keying

The following eleven ninute Video is all about Green Screen Tips and Setup.

For pictures taken using an unlit Green or Blue Curtain backdrop, Photoshop can be used to remove the Green or Blue background colour.

The way we did this for our photos was to use the Magic Wand to get rid of most of the blue, and then zoom in and use the Eraser tool to remove the dark parts in the curtain folds and so on.

HOWEVER:

If you want to be a perfectionist on the removal of the background colour, (and deal with background green or blue being behind the edges of long hair), then watch the following twenty minute video on how to do this in Photoshop.

The following video shows how to cheaply light a green screen with shop flourescents at placed at 45 degrees on the left and right.

And while we are looking at cutting setup costs, here is a Video on how to make an ultra cheap Green Screen using Green Poster Paper:

Rather than replacing the Green background image, we can change its color in Photoshop.

This is an interesting way to create a bit of variety in a set of Photo Booth pictures, and one we will definitely try out sometime.

Here is a video showing how to change the green color of the background to other colors using Hue and Saturation:

Hire Us for Photo Booth

Photos By Passy would be delighted to do a Photo Booth for you at your Party, Wedding, or Function.

We supply all the props and can make some great fun chroma keyed images for you to post on social media and anywhere else online.

Get in touch using the “Contact” link on our website.

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

You can then receive notifications of new items and updates directly to your email address.

Go to the subscribe area on the left hand sidebar, (or down the bottom of the page if using a mobile phone), fill in your email address and then click the “Subscribe” button.

Enjoy,
Passy

How To

How To Do ISO Settings

August 11, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

ISO sets a Camera’s sensitivity to light.

Effectively it works like a Brightness Control on your camera, and you can turn it up higher if you are in a dark room, or in a shady forest.

However, if you are outdoors in Bright Sunlight, then you need to turn the ISO down to a low value, or else your photo will come out all white and washed out with too much brightness.

Camera ISO is one of the three Variables of Photography, the other two being Aperture and Shutter Speed.

Every photographer needs to understand ISO in order to get bright and clear pictures from their equipment.

Definition of ISO

ISO stands for International Standards Organization, but in Photography it refers to the sensitivity of the camera’s digital sensor to light.

Typical settings are ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, etc.

A higher number means that the sensor is more sensitive to light, and each time the number doubles, it is twice as sensitive as the previous ISO sensitivity.

ISO Geometric Progression

Typically, ISO numbers start from 50, 100 or 200, which is called the “Base ISO” of the Camera.

The values then go up in a “Geometric Progression” or a “Geometric Sequence” (Factor of Two, which results in Doubling).

This ISO sequence is: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 and etc.

The important thing to understand, is that each step between the numbers effectively doubles the sensitivity of the sensor.

ISO 800 is twice as more sensitive than ISO 400, while ISO 1600 is twice as more sensitive than ISO 800.

This makes ISO 1600 four times more sensitive to light than ISO 400,

and ISO 1600 sixteen times more sensitive to light than ISO 100, so on and so forth.

What does it mean when a sensor is sixteen times more sensitive to light?

It means that it needs sixteen times less time to capture an image, because there is 16 times more light.

Note that modern Digital Cameras also have in between ISO values which can be used.

EG. ISO values such as 1000 and 1250 which occur in between the standard ISO 800 and 1600 values.

The higher the number, the less light is needed to take a photo that is correctly exposed (not too dark or too light).

Typical ISO Values

In bright light (like the middle of a sunny day), you’ll normally use ISO 50 or ISO 100.

These lowest settings can be used because there is lots of light around.

However, in lower light, your camera needs some help.

There are two ways of doing this: Decrease the Shutter Speed or Increase the ISO Value.

Decrease Shutter Speed

With a slower shutter speed, the camera has more time to ‘take in’ the amount of light it needs.

Unfortunately with slower shutter speed, Images can become motion blurred.

Increase ISO Setting

Rather than decrease the shutter speed, we can increase the ISO.

This will increase the sensitivity of the camera which means you can get the same shot with less light entering the camera.

As a result the shutter speed can be set at a value which will avoid blurry images.

The side affect of increasing ISO to values past ISO 1600 on most Digital SLR Cameras, is fuzziness, with old style movie fuzzy dots, due to sensor signal “noise”.

What Causes Noise ?

Available ISO Range and Graininess is dependant on the Camera’s Sensor Size.

Digital SLRs have larger image sensors than “Point and Shoot” cameras with the same megapixel count, therefore they handle noise better.

DSLR cameras have physically large image sensors and this means that the photosites are larger on a digital SLR’s sensor.

This allows the photosites to collect more light, giving them a cleaner signal-to-noise ratio when there isn’t as much light.

As a result, smaller cameras with small sensors tend to have a lower ISO range (typically 100-400) and there is more noise in their pictures throughout their ISO range.

Using Flash to Help

Using Flash will enable indoors shots to be taken at lower ISO’s and therefore be clear without fuzzy noise in the images.

However, this often detracts from the realism or ambience of the sitution being photographed.

When we are using Flash for Indoor Photos of People, it is a good idea to actually keep the ISO High at around 800, 1000, or even 1250, so that we also have the background of the photo appearing as natural light, and not darkness.

Getting The Correct ISO

When we do not have bright natural daylight, we will probably have to increase the ISO so that we can get a sufficiently bright image.

However, higher ISO typically translates to a noisy or “grainy” image, and so as a general rule we should use the lowest ISO setting possible for our photos.

The general approach is to set up to the maximum ISO where our camera can take non-grainy pictures.

We then need to adjust the shutter speed to a slower setting, but not so slow that we get motion blurring.

We can also use a wide open aperture like F2.8 which will let more light into the lens.

Recommended ISO Values

Here are some ISO Tips from the Digital Trends Website:

– If your subject is moving and we are trying freeze the motion for a still, we may need a higher ISO setting to compensate for the high shutter speed, and to ensure that the image gets enough light.

– If we want to get a vintage aesthetic look, by adding a little bit of grain to our photos, then we should try bumping up the ISO.

– If we are using a tripod to stabilize our camera we can usually get away with a slower shutter speed, which in turn allows us to use a lower ISO.

– If we are shooting an image and don’t mind having a blurred background, we can increase the camera’s Aperture (thus allowing more light into the lens) and use a lower ISO.

– If we are shooting with artificial light by using a Flash we can use a lower ISO setting and get a very clear picture.

When To Increase ISO

We should always increase the ISO when there is not enough light for the camera to be able to quickly capture a clear image.

Eg. When shooting indoors without a flash, set the ISO to a higher number to be able to freeze motion and obtain a bright viewable image.

Other cases where you might want to increase ISO are when you need to get ultra-fast shots, like bird pictures or fast moving action sports.

However, when increasing the ISO, you need to watch out for the amount of fuzzy noise which is added to the image.

Situations where you might need to push ISO to higher settings include:

– Indoor Sports Events where players are moving fast and there is limited light available due to the fast shutter speed we are using to freeze the action.

– Musical Concerts and Theatre hows which are performed in low light and often have ‘no-flash’ rules.

– Art Galleries, Churches, and Museums, because they have rules against using a flash and of course being indoors it is not well lit.

– Birthday Parties where blowing out the candles in a dark room can produce a nice moody shot which would be ruined by a bright flash.

– You are taking Photos at a Party or Function and want to shoot unonbtrusively using a large zoom lens to capture natural candid pictures.

– You are taking a Photo in Low Light which is not going to be Enlarged or Printed, and so a small amount of graininess in the image will not matter.

Auto Settings

On many of the newer DSLRs, there is a setting for “Auto ISO”, which can help get better results in low-light environments.

The beauty of this setting, is that you can set the maximum ISO to a certain number, so when the ISO is automatically increased based on the amount of light, it does not cross the set barrier. So, if I want to limit the amount of grain in my pictures, I typically set the maximum ISO to 1600.

DSLR’s also have Auto “Scene Modes” which can be used, such as “Sports”, “Night Portrait”, “Landscape”, “Night Scene”, “Daylight Portrait”, “Food”, and so on.

These presets contain ISO values which are suitable for these situations.

Low Light Cameras

There are a number of cameras made especially for low light conditions, which also take good pictures in full daylight as well.

The best performing of these is the rather expensive retro styled Nikon DF, but there are also cheaper point and shoot cameras like the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100 III and the Panasonic Lumix LX-7 which perform well in low light.

The Sony A7s is a remarkable camera, capable of extremely High ISO’s with images obtianed which are of good quality.

The following one and a half minute video shows how the A7s is able to turn darkness into daylight.

However this amazing camera does not come cheap, and has a current Australian Retail Price of around $2500 just for the camera body with no lenses.

For further information on the best cameras to use in low light situations, see the following aticle:

17 Best Cameras For Digital Low-Light Photography

Videos About ISO

This first video is seven minutes long, and shows examples about ISO Settings and Noise. It also shows the relationship between ISO and Shutter Speed.

The following five minute video discusses ISO values and the importance of buying a good F2.8 wide aperture lens for low light.

This next vidoe discusses using ISO in Night Club Photography, and includes real life examples. The video is in two parts:

Part 1:

Part 2:

This next five and a half minute video includes examples and shows how to do an “ISO Lens Cap Test” on your camera.

Finally for those who love all things super technical, here is a nine and a half minute video which goes into the technical details of how ISO actually works in a Digital Camera, and how at High ISO’s we get noise introduced into the electrical signal which is what causes blurry noise dots on low light photos.

ISO Settings – Summary

Most of the time in good lighting conditions, your camera’s Auto or Scene settings will deal with ISO correctly and nice clear bright photos will result.

However in Low Light situations, there are a number of things to be aware of regarding ISO. We have tried our best to cover these in this “How To” article.

All of this might be a bit of information overload at the moment, but by gradually working through all of our “How To” articles, and trying out different settings on your own camera, we are sure that you will become a much better photographer who is able to problem solve situations quickly when your photos are not turning out exactly how you would like them to.

Good Luck, and keep taking pictures!

Passy

References and Further Reading

http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/136/iso-explained/

http://digital-photography-school.com/iso-settings/

http://photographylife.com/what-is-iso-in-photography

http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/what-is-iso-camera-settings-explained/

http://www.facethelight.com/iso.php

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/iso-explained.html#b

http://digital-photography-school.com/iso-settings/

http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/136/iso-explained/#sthash.XYWWXhv6.dpuf

http://www.facethelight.com/iso.php

http://www.adorama.com/alc/0012810/article/15-Low-Light-High-ISO-All-Stars

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

You can then receive notifications of new items and updates directly to your email address.

Go to the subscribe area on the left hand sidebar, (or down the bottom of the page if using a mobile phone), fill in your email address and then click the “Subscribe” button.

Enjoy,
Passy

Birthday Parties

Rozzie’s Karaoke Party

August 4, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

This was a great fun party for Rozzie Vox’s Birthday with lots of singing and plenty of laughs.

A brilliant Karaoke system searchable on ipad provided over 6000 songs to choose from…. Totally Awesome!

I had hoped to do some “Photo Booth” shots at this Party, but people I asked were not interested in using the Props on Sticks which were available.

Next time I need to set up Photo Booth Props, in a specific area before the Party starts, and then assertively get people to have a “Photo Booth” Dress-Up picture taken as they arrive at the Party.

I have a Party coming up in the near future, where they have requested Photo Booth type pictures and I plan to get some good pictures at this event.

The plan is to use real dress up Props, as well as simple Props on sticks, and ask people to dress up, but if they do not want to do that, just say to them, “Okay, here grab some stick props and let’s do it”!

We will see how it goes, and it will be 100% up to me to make sure it goes well!

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed here:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Rozzie’s Karaoke Party

EQUIPMENT:

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

Sony HVL-F43M Flash
Gary Fong Gamma Blade Diffuser

This shoot was a fairly straight forward “Party People” affair, with an emphasis on getting plenty of Family shots, as well as action Karaoke shots.

This meant that I had to shoot plently of pictures. Just as well I did, because intoxicated Karaoke singers pull some horrific faces while trying to get the words out!

It was not uncommon to have eight pictures of a group of people singing, and only get one or two usable shots from the eight.

Of course I got up and sang some songs, but unfortunately there was nobody I knew there that I could trust with the camera equipment to take a photo of yours truly.

Another lesson learned: Always talk to everyone at the Party while mingling, and see if anyone there knows how to use a DSLR Camera!

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

You can then receive notifications of new items and updates directly to your email address.

Go to the subscribe area on the left hand sidebar, (or down the bottom of the page if using a mobile phone), fill in your email address and then click the “Subscribe” button.

Enjoy,
Passy

How To

Using Camera Settings

August 1, 2014 Passy Leave a comment

Most people use their camera on “Auto” mode, and get plenty of good pictures.

However, there are many items on a camera which can be adjusted manually to get even better pictures!

In this “How To” article we introduce several of these camera settings, and show how they can be used to create quality photos.

Camera Variables

A “Variable” is something which we can change the value of to different numerical settings.

Eg. The Temperature Setting on an Air Conditioner, the Volume on a Music Player, or the Brightness on a Mobile Phone.

On Digital Cameras there are several items (or “Variables”) which we can change the value of before clicking the button which takes the photo.

In this “How To” Guide we provide an introduction and overview about these Digital Camera Variables.

Separate detailed “How To” Guides, (which are not part of this particular article), examine each of these variables in detail.

The Guide on “How to Do Exposure” is all about how we combine all the Variables to get the best possible photo for a given set of lighting and subject matter conditions.

See the “Related Items” section at the end of this article for links to these detailed “How To” Guides.

Digital Camera Variables

In Digital Photography, there are three key variables:

“Aperture”, “Shutter Speed”, and “ISO”

Getting the right combination of these three variables is how we can capture a moment in the form of a great photograph.

When we take a shot with a Camera:

– Aperture is how wide the “tunnel” or “hole” leading from the lens to the sensor is set at

– Shutter Speed is how quickly the inside of the camera opens and closes to let light through to the sensor

– ISO is the sensitivity to light that the pixel sensor is set to.

Aperture

Aperture affects how much light enters the camera, and creates blurred backgrounds for Portraits and full details for Landscapes.

For Portraits we set a wide open Aperture to let in plenty of light, and this also blurs the background. This makes attention focussed on the person.

For Landscape shots we want the foreground as well as everything in the background to all be in focus. Using a small narrow Aperture makes this happen.

There is a detailed “How To” article on Aperture at the following link:

How To Do Aperture Settings

Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed needs to be set to a fast value to capture wildlife or sports action, but needs to be set very slow to let enough light in for sunsets or night scenes.

There is a detailed “How To” article on Shutter Speed at the following link:

How To Do Shutter Speed

ISO Light Sensitivity

For ISO Light Sensitivity – In bright daylight, the sensitivity or “ISO” can be at a low value.

Eg. In daylight conditions there is plenty of light coming through the camera lens to the sensor, and so the sensor does not need to be made to catch any extra light.

However for sunsets, shade, indoor, and night scenes, the light sensitivity ISO needs to be increased; otherwise we get a very dark picture with no detail.

There is also the low light solution of using a Flash to provide the equivalent of Daylight; however sometimes indoor scenes, especially those capturing musical or theater performers, look a lot more natural without Flash.

There is a detailed “How To” article on ISO Light Sensitivity at the following link:

How To Do ISO Settings

White Balance and Colour Temperature

There is a Fourth Variable associated with Digital Photography known as “White Balance Colour Temperature”.

White Balance (or “WB”) involves having the colour white turn out correctly in photographs that are taken outside of normal daylight conditions.

These types of conditions include Shade, where photos turn out blueish in color, indoors where orange/yellow light often dominates, and musicians performing under coloured stage lights.

White Balance is covered in full detail in our “How to Do Camera White Balance” article, which can be found at the following link:

How To Do Camera White Balance

Preset 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.

Full Manual Mode

In full Manual Mode we can adjust each of the three key variables of Speed, Aperture, and ISO individually.

It takes a lot of practice, and continual trial and error, to work out sets of variable values which work well in different lighting conditions.

However, we can generally get better looking pictures in “low light” doing it all ourselves, rather than leaving it to the “best fit” computer program that is in our camera’s processor chip.

Really it is a matter of getting to know the particular Camera we are using – Taking lots of pictures set on different Variable Values and seeing what happens is the only way to do this.

Whenever a picture taken using Preset or Auto Modes is not to our liking, then it is very useful to be able to change to Full Manual Mode and try and figure out the best variable settings for ourselves.

Here are some Manual Mode settings which we regularly use on the Sony A77 camera with a 16mm to 50mm f2.8 Sony Lens mounted on it:

Music Bands in local venue with Colored Lights:

– ISO 1600, Speed 1/60 and 1/125, Aperture F2.8, Incandescent or Manually adjusted White Balance

Music Bands with Professional Stage Lighting:

– ISO 400 to 800, Speed 1/125th, Aperture F2.8, F3.2, F3.5, Auto White Balance

Music Bands Using Sony f1.8 35mm Lens:

– ISO 400 to 800, Speed 1/125th, Aperture F1.8, Auto White Balance

Flash Shots People Pictures:

– ISO 1000, Speed 1/125, Flash Width Manually set on 50mmm width and 1/16 to 1/8 Power (Manual with No TTL) using Sony HVL-43M Flash unit.

Videos About Camera Settings

The following video is fifteen minutes long, but well worth watching, as it does many practical photo examples showing exactly what happens as camera variables are altered:

This next video is also fifteen minutes long and shows directly how changing variables affects the brightness and contrast of a given sample picture.

Here is Part 2 of the above video:

Camera Settings – Summary

All of this might be a bit of information overload at the moment, but by gradually working through all of our “How To” articles, and trying out different settings on your own camera, we are sure that you will become a much better photographer who is able ot problem solve situations quickly when your photos are not turning out exactly how you would like them to.

This article was an introduction to using Manual Camera Settings, there are far more detailed guides all about shooting in Manual Mode in the “Related items” section below.

Good Luck, and keep taking pictures!

Passy

PBP – Photos By Passy

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