| Digital Photo Central |
| DSLR Camera Reviews and Digital Photography Tips |
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| On the Road to Yakima |
| Took a nice trip between Yakima to Portland on Sunday. Packed my Canon 60D and 3 lenses: 16-35mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8. The Multnomah Falls looked great – a lot of Spring runoff combined with an awesome day. The 16-35mm really came in handy to fit the waterfall in the frame. Composition rules and Nature tips from my EasyDSLR course will help for these kinds of photos- and, of course, exposure settings… |
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| The MOST Dangerous setting of Your DSLR |
| This Sample tip from EASYDSLR Course - http://easydslr.com gives you the answer. My Vote for the most dangerous setting in the DSLR menu system is… *insert drum roll* “Release shutter without card” (DISABLE this) in Nikon DSLR cameras it can be hidden in the custom functions as “Release enable” Format and Delete on your Digital Camera are certainly dangerous too. But they are more obvious – the reason I chose the above feature is because a lot of DSLR owners may not realize it’s an option. Imagine the dread after you finish an important shoot – like your best friend’s graduation, or worse, a destination wedding ceremony – and reach in to grab the memory card and find that the slot is empty – YOU HAVE NO CARD IN THE CAMERA! That is what that setting can result in. Sure – you get warnings popping up on the LCD but I know that in those situations 90% of the time you are looking through the viewfinder not wanting to miss a single moment. My advice (ignore at your peril): Make sure it is DISABLED on your Canon and set to “Release locked” on your Nikon (this is the Default for Custom setting no. f4 for the Nikon D5100 for example). |
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| Magnolias in Downtown Seattle |
| Some amazing Magnolias I photographed in Downtown Seattle using a Canon 60D and a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. It was bright sunlight and a regular exposure did not bring out the color in the flowers.Too much lighting contrast and range. Solution: I took a series of 3 exposures for each photo and used Photomatix Pro to combine the images into single HDR (High Dynamic Range) Images. There is a Video on HDR imaging in the Gold Membership of EasyDSLR Digital Photography Course. HDR can be used with more subtlety to get closer to how we see the moment. Sometimes it can be fun getting the ‘Other-worldly’ looks using HDR … it can get really crazy and overdone. I’m more of a fan of using HDR to make a scene look more natural – they way we ‘see’ it in our mind. |
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| Hidden Panorama – Part 2 |
| I took this photo at Cannon Beach, Oregon, a week ago. (Click on the image once then again to get a larger view). It’s another good example of a ‘Hidden Panorama’ taken with my Canon 60D. I used a fairly slow shutter speed of 1/10 sec (on a tripod) which gave a bit of a ‘painterly’ effect on the moving water and Gulls. Processed with Florabella Classic Color and Soft Warmth to bring back a little of the warmth in the sand. I will have the Video available in the next week giving you some more examples of Hidden Panoramas and some tips to extract them. Nature Photos are a great source of Hidden Panoramas – I have a Video dedicated to Nature Photos in the Gold Membership of my EASYDSLR Course. |
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| Hidden Panorama Photo |
| ‘Top of the Mountain’ at Winter Park Colorado. I found this gem in my photos from a ski/snowboard trip (that’s my whole family in view). The interesting thing is that when I first saw the photo I thought it was good but not great. Then later I noticed a “Hidden Panorama” (my new term) in the regular photo. This was not a sequence of photos stitched together to form a Panorama. It had a Panorama within the view – it’s really about cropping a Panorama out of a regular Photo. I plan to do a Short video with tips on Hidden Panoramas and more examples soon – “like” or “share” (small blue Facebook icon below) this post if you are interested. |
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| Winter, Horses and a Canon 60D |
| Winter in Missoula is beautiful. Throw in some Horses and a Canon 60D and you’re in for some great photos. Our family took a walk to a nearby Equestrian park… and the dog. It was an amazing day so I thought I would share some photos. I’m not that comfortable on a horse but I’m quite happy to lead them and take a bunch of Photos. Photos are taken with a Canon 60D with 16-35mm f/2.8L and 70-200mm f/2.8L. People photos were processed using The Florabella Collection – LUXE Ambrosia. |
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| Canon Lens and Speedlite Rebates Extended |
| Good News for Canon Buyers. B&H Photo Video have extended their Rebate offer for Canon Lenses and Speedlites to February 4, 2012. The Sale has been extended 4 days. If you are looking at getting a new Canon Lens or Speedlite this is definitely a great time to buy. Click the link below to see the discounts you can get. BH Photo Video Canon Lens and Speedlite Rebates |
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| DSLR LCD Viewfinder Tip |
| If you are lucky enough to have a DSLR camera with a swiveling LCD like the Canon T3i, Canon 60D or Nikon D5100 then this tip will help. (Please excuse the Video quality – I used my cell phone) If you want to do a lot of HD Video with your DSLR camera then one of the best accessories to get is an LCD Viefinder. In Video mode you can only use the LCD and it’s really difficult in bright environments like outdoors to see the image on the LCD well enough for good focusing and exposure. LCD Viewfinders attache to the back of your LCD and allow you to get a great view for getting your settings right. I recommend the VF Prime: VF Prime DSLR Camera LCD Viewfinder for 3″ LCD (Excellent Quality and great alternative to the expensive Zacuto Viewfinders). The trick with these Viewfinders is they get in the way when you want to take a Photo. You could use Live view but if you want to use Autofocus it is a LOT Slower using Live View. In this tip I show you how you can use a LCD Viewfinder and jump to ‘Photo mode’ with a quick rotation of the LCD. IT’s better than attaching and reattaching the LCD View Finder constantly. P.S. My DSLR video training course has a module on DSLR video. For more details go to EASYDSLR.com |
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| Getting Extraordinary Photos in ordinary scenes |
| Press Play above to Watch this Video Tutorial. You can get extraordinary photos in ordinary scenes by: Finding an interesting Angle and Position Getting the camera off AUTO by knowing your settings This short tutorial (which I promised my Facebook fans) gives you an example on how you can start taking amazing photos in fairly mundane environments. I hope you find it helpful. You just need a little inspiration to ‘look for the shot’ and with some Photography Basics you can transform your DSLR photos from Average to Amazing. My EasyDSLR Course is designed to give you the basics and a bunch of inspiration to go with it. I am getting more adventurous in how and what I photograph. I have noticed a vast improvement in my photos. Geoff – Gold Member It’s an Online Digital Photography Course with Video Training to get you taking better photos within the Hour. It’s filled with photo tips and techniques presented in layman’s terms to help get you taking good photos quicker – EasyDSLR Course |
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| Using the Right Lens for Better Photos |
| Lens Choice is a Key Concept to improving your photos. More so if you have a specialty. One of my EASYDSLR Members, Julie, has a specialty – she takes Band photos. Her unique challenge is dealing with poorly lit venues. You could put on a decent flash and get crisp images but you lose a lot of the atmosphere. In my Buyer’s Guide I recommend Cameras and go a little into Lenses but my Photography Course gives you a lot more on using the right lens to suit the situation. Julie says: “A major point I have learnt from your course is to use the lens to suit the situation, and you will see in the attached photo that I did everything WRONG! This photo was taken inside a dark pub, and at that stage I still had my Canon 350D. The lens I chose was my often preferred (for outdoor festivals etc.) Tamron 18-270mm zoom. I set the shutter speed much too low, at 1/60sec and the camera chose the Av at F6.3. The ISO was 400 and I took the Ev metre up +1. The metering was also set to Pattern, and I used the flash – definite no-no! Hence the shadows. Since watching your tutorials I have now learnt that I should have used my Canon 50mm F1.4 lens, and maybe cropped later for a close-up, or moved closer to the subject. Also the shutter speed should have been set to at least 200 with an ISO of around 800 minimum. And definitely NO FLASH. And another important module I found invaluable, your explanation of the three metering settings; Pattern, Spot and Centre Weighted. I now use Centre Weighted for all my band photos, unless I want to zoom in and focus on the tuning pegs, pick, slide on their fingers, or some other small object, then I set it to Spot. Thanks again for all your help Ken” When you put your DSLR kit together think about what kind of Photography are you into. That will determine what lenses you want to add. If, like Julie, you are into low light situations then consider getting a decent Prime lens like a Canon 50mm f/1.4 or NIkon 50mm f/1.4. P.S. If you want a beginners tour of accessories and techniques to better photos in a short space of time check out my EASYDSLR Digital Photography Course. |
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