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Learn the best and easiest ways to take digital photos.
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Essential Guide to TAKING GREAT PHOTOS
ContentsEssential Guide to
Digital Cameras .......................... A
Essential Guide to
Taking Great Photos .................... B
Essential Guide to
Creative Photo Editing ................C
A
B
C
The Kim Komando Show © 2012All Rights Reserved.
AMERICA’S DIGITAL GODDESS®
Essential Guide to DIGITAL CAMERAS
ContentsIntroduction .................................1
Digital Sensors .............................2
ISO Settings .................................5
Image Stabilization .......................7
Digital SLR Cameras ....................9
Hybrid Cameras ......................... 11
Camera Lenses ...........................14
Point-and-Shoots .......................17
Controls & Modes ......................18
Advanced Controls ....................19
Video Recording .........................21
External Flash .............................22
Tripods.........................................23
Photo-Editing Software .............24
Accessories .................................25
The Kim Komando Show © 2012All Rights Reserved.
AMERICA’S DIGITAL GODDESS®
1Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
You want to take great photos at your daughter’s
soccer game and your son’s piano recital. You want
to take natural-looking portraits and group shots
of family members. You want your vacation photos
to wow. You don’t want to miss a moment of your
precious family memories.
You want to step up from the smartphone camera
you’ve been using or the point-and-shoot you
bought a few years ago. What to buy? If you’ve
visited an electronics store or shopped online
lately, you know this is no small task. You have
dozens of choices when selecting a camera. You’ll
find cameras in all different sizes and shapes from
a variety of manufacturers. The sheer number of
camera models on the market can be daunting.
How do you find a camera that best suits your
needs—and your budget?
That’s the point of this book. We’re going to go
through cameras, bit by bit. You’ll have a good
grasp on them when we finish and be able to
make an informed choice.
From novice to pro, learn what to buy
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DIGITAL CAMERAS
Introduction
2Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
The sensor is the most important part of a
digital camera. The sensor is where all the magic
happens. As you can probably guess, the sensor is
used to capture the image.
Strictly speaking, the sensor doesn’t actually
capture images. Rather, it collects light. It then
translates this light into electrical signals. The
signals are sent to the processor, which creates the
image file.
A camera may be fast and powerful. It may have all
the latest bells and whistles. But it’s a bad choice if
it has a bad sensor. After all, years from now, you’ll
care more about that photo of Aunt Mabel than
the camera used to take it.
Don’t fall for the Megapixel Myth
When talking about sensors, many people focus
on megapixel count. But don’t judge a camera’s
quality on megapixels alone.
Megapixels simply refers to the number of pixels,
or picture elements, on the sensor. One megapixel
consists of 1 million pixels. Pixels are sites on the
sensor that collect light. Multiply image height in
pixels by width in pixels to get megapixel count.
All else being equal, a camera with an 18MP
sensor will let you make larger prints than a
camera with a 12MP sensor. The larger sensor will
also give you better prints from photos that have
been cropped during the editing process.
Digital Sensors
Where the Magic Happens
3Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Sensor size is more important than megapixels
Here’s a shocker for you: A camera that has
a full-frame 12MP sensor will take much
better pictures than a point-and-shoot
with a 16MP sensor.
How can that be? Size matters
when dealing with sensors. The
full-frame sensor measures
36mm x24mm. The point-and-
shoot’s sensor is roughly 6mm
x 5mm. The full-frame sensor is
nearly 30 times larger!
In general, larger sensors have less
noise and better sensitivity in low light
than smaller sensors. Noise is the term for
off-colored pixels. It somewhat resembles film
grain. It’s particularly apparent in dark areas of
a photo. As pixel density increases, you’re more
likely to see noise.
Larger sensors generally have larger pixels. That
means more light is collected at each pixel site.
You’ll get more-detailed photos.
4Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Dynamic range is also improved. Dynamic range
is the difference between the lightest and darkest
pixels. You’ll get more details in both highlights
and shadows.
Without the constraints of film, manufacturers are
free to make digital camera sensors in a variety of
sizes. There are about a half-dozen sensor sizes in
use in the most popular digital single lens reflex
(DSLR) camera and hybrid cameras. Refer to the
chart for a visual comparison of common sensor
sizes.
Don’t worry much about sensor type
You’ll see a lot of technical specifications when
looking at cameras. All the mumbo-jumbo can be
like reading Greek. Don’t feel bad.
One of the things you’ll see is sensor type. The
cameras you see will use CCD or CMOS sensors.
Sometimes, sensor type is given star billing on
shopping sites’ product pages. You’re led to
believe that sensor type is terribly important.
In reality, CCD and CMOS sensors are both very
capable. Don’t worry about the differences.
Type 1/2” 2/3” 4/3” APS-C APS-H 35mm Full Frame
Sensor W x H 6.4 x 4.8mm 8.8 x 6.6mm 17.8 x 10mm 22.2 x 14.8mm 28.7 x 19.1mm 36 x 24mm
Sensor Diagonal 8mm 11mm 20.41mm 26.7mm 34.5mm 43.3mm
Sensor Area 30.7mm2 58.1mm2 178mm2 329mm2 548mm2 864mm2
Crop Factor 5.41 3.93 2 1.62 1.26 1
The chart above illustrates various sensor sizes. Sensor formats of digital cameras are mostly expressed
in the non-standardized “inch” system, which is approximately 1.5 times the length of the diagonal of the
sensor. Due to inch-based sensor formats being not standardized, their exact dimensions may vary, but
those listed are typical.
Sensor Size Comparison Chart
5Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Pay attention to ISO range
Back in the days of film photography, we talked
about film speed. We used ISO to denote film’s
sensitivity to light. The higher the number, the
more sensitive to light the film was.
We still use ISO to refer to the sensor’s sensitivity
to light. With digital cameras, you can select the
ISO you want to use for any given situation. This
can be done on a picture-by-picture basis, if you
choose.
In camera specifications, ISO is listed as a range.
For example, you may see 100-12,800. Each step
up the ISO range increases the light sensitivity of
the sensor - less light is needed for photos.
Low-light shooting is a major frustration for many
camera users, and sensor makers are continually
pushing the boundaries of sensitivity.
Top ISOs of 25,600 are commonplace now. Nikon’s
and Canon’s flagship, full-frame DSLRs max out at
ISO 102,400!
ISO Settings
Light Settings
6Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Useable ISO is key
You want a camera that has a good ISO range. But
you also need to consider noise. As you increase
the ISO, image noise increases. An image shot at
ISO 25,600 will likely be extremely noisy. So, you
need to think about usable ISO.
To get a feel for a camera’s usable ISO, read the
online reviews of photography magazines and
photography blogs. Reviewers often post photos
at different ISO settings for comparison.
You’ll also find plenty of discussions about
useable ISO in online photo forums. Most people
who hang out in these forums know lots about
cameras. They can spend hours discussing the
finer points of their gear. Don’t worry if some of
the terms and jargon go over your head. Just
take what you need of their advice and ignore
the rest.
Look for a camera that has a
usable ISO of 800 or better. That
will allow you to conquer most
dim rooms, school auditoriums
and other low-light situations.
7Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Beat the shakes with image stabilization
Any number of things can cause a blurry
photograph. But the No. 1 culprit is probably
you. No matter how hard you try to hold still, your
hands shake. This can result in blurry, headache-
inducing photos.
Image stabilization helps a lot. It’s perhaps the
best thing to happen to photography since digital
cameras.
Stabilization can’t do anything for motion blur.
That occurs when a shutter speed is too low to
stop a subject in motion. But stabilization works
wonders to reduce the minor shakes caused by
unsteady hands.
Stabilization technology gives you the ability to
capture a low-light photo at a slow shutter speed
of 1/15 or 1/8 of a second without having to use a
flash or tripod. (If you find yourself in that situation,
take several pictures in continuous mode to
improve your odds of getting a good one.)
Without stabilization, it’s difficult to get a sharp
picture at a shutter speed of 1/30 or slower. Bulky
telephoto lenses require even higher shutter
speeds to compensate for a shaky hand.
Sensor-shift vs. Lens-based
There are two ways to accomplish image
stabilization. Some manufacturers put gyroscopic
sensors in their lenses. Floating elements within
Image Stabilization
Stabilize Your Image
8Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
the lenses compensate for horizontal and vertical
movements.
Other manufacturers move the camera’s sensor
instead of lens elements. This is called sensor-shift
or body-based image stabilization.
Nikon and Canon DSLR systems use lens-based
stabilization, which makes sense if you think about
it. They began working on the technology when
film cameras were still prevalent. It wasn’t possible
to move the film up, down, left and right to
compensate for shake.
You’ll see sensor-shift stabilization in Sony Alpha
and Pentax DSLRs and in Panasonic and Olympus
mirrorless cameras.
Both stabilization methods work well. Keep in
mind that a stabilized lens steadies the image on
the sensor and in the viewfinder. The view through
a nonstabilized lens will be shakier.
Some image stabilizer zoom lenses can cost $500-
$1,000 more than their nonstabilized equivalents.
On the other hand, digital camera bodies go
obsolete at a much faster pace than lenses.
9Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Buying a Digital SLR
A digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR) includes
a mirror that flips up when the picture is taken.
The mirror and an internal prism allow you to
frame your shots through the attached lens. The
mirror flips up to reveal the sensor when you press
the shutter. Additionally, SLRs allow you to use
interchangeable lenses.
Don’t confuse DSLRs with the fast-growing
category of hybrid cameras, which I’ll talk about
in the next. These are fine cameras that also
offer interchangeable lens systems, but they use
an electronic viewfinder instead of the mirror to
compose your image.
The first thing to decide when buying a DSLR is
whether to get a full-frame or a reduced-frame
sensor. Cameras with full-frame sensors start at
upwards of $2,000.
Full-frame cameras appeal to pros and advanced
amateurs because, in addition to their big sensors,
the cameras also capture more frames per second.
That’s very important in sports and wildlife
photography. Mid- to top-range DSLRs are also
SLR - What to Buy
Digital SLR Cameras
10Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
more weatherproof than entry-level DSLRs. A full-
frame sensor is the size of a frame of traditional
35mm film - 24 x 36mm.
Reduced-size sensors translate to lighter, more
compact cameras with a price range starting at
$750. With megapixel ranges between 12 and 18,
they’re very capable cameras. They can produce
stunning 16 x 20 prints or better and gorgeous HD
video footage that’s worlds ahead of point-and-
shoots and smartphone cameras.
Most compact DSLRs have APS-C sensors. APS-C
sensors in Canons are 60 percent smaller than
full frame. (Canon also makes an APS-H sensor,
which is 30 percent smaller than full frame.) APS-C
sensors in Nikons and others are half the
size of full frame.
Sony’s line of SLT Alpha cameras veer off from
traditional SLR design. SLT stands for single lens
translucent. The camera’s mirror is fixed; it doesn’t
have to swing out of the way like the mirror in a
conventional SLR.
The SLT lets a majority of light pass through it
to expose the sensor. But a portion of light gets
reflected to the camera’s autofocus system. That
means you can look through the Sony’s electronic
viewfinder and use autofocus while shooting
video. In this way, SLTs have much in common with
the mirrorless hybrid cameras.
When you shoot video with a DSLR, the mirror is
up, so you can’t see through the optical viewfinder
or use autofocus. You can shoot beautiful video
with a DSLR using the live-view LCD screen on
the back of the camera. But you’ll probably
find yourself using a tripod a lot and pausing to
refocus.
It’s something to think about when investing in a
camera, especially if video is as important to you
as still pictures.
11Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Buying a hybrid camera
When Panasonic and Olympus invented this breed
of mirrorless, interchangeable-lens camera in 2008,
most digital SLR shooters yawned and went back
to taking pictures. Today, hybrids are the choice of
many pros that need small, lightweight backup
cameras; travel photographers; and people who
specialize in street and documentary photography.
Of course, hybrids are also ideal for anyone who
wants to upgrade from a point-and-shoot or
smartphone camera and take better family and
vacation photos.
Hybrid cameras dispense with the SLR mirror
altogether. Without the mirror, camera makers can
make lenses smaller because they’re closer to the
sensor. The lack of a mirror and bulky internal
prism also allows manufacturers to downsize the
camera body.
While hybrid camera makers were shrinking lenses
and camera bodies, they were also increasing
sensor sizes compared to point-and-shoot
cameras.
Add to that the ability to switch high-quality lenses
and you can see why hybrid cameras sales are
surging.
To see what a hybrid camera sees, you look
through an electronic viewfinder (EVF). Some
hybrids don’t have EVFs. To trim cost, they use
only the live-view LCD display on the back of the
camera.
An EVF also gives you a live view, but it simulates
the experience of an SLR’s optical viewfinder. You
A Camera ... Hybrid?
Hybrid Cameras
12Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
can shoot with the camera up to your eye instead
of holding it away from your face to compose as
you do with a point-and-shoot. Some EVFs are
built-in; others are detachable and fit into the
camera’s hot shoe.
EVFs can help you take sharper pictures because
they allow you to magnify portions of the image to
tweak focus. Most EVFs also let you fine-tune
white balance and make other color adjustments
before taking the shot. Most EVFs brighten
automatically in low-light situations. Early EVFs
were dim and a major weak spot of these cameras
a few years ago.
Shutter lag can still be a problem with EVFs, and
that’s a turnoff for some photographers. You’ve
probably missed a few action shots with your
smartphone or point-and-shoot because of shutter
lag. It’s the very slight delay that occurs when you
press the shutter and the camera actually takes
the picture.
Live view is a bit of a misnomer. In a camera with
an EVF, the sensor records the view through the
lens, processes the view and projects the view
onto a display. It takes only a fraction of a second,
but that delay can translate into you capturing a
picture of a splash instead of your kid just above
the water with a huge smile on his face.
In the hybrid category, sensor sizes are all over the
map. Sony packs an APS-C-size sensor into its
Alpha NEX line of hybrids. Seven E-mount zoom
and single-focal-length lenses should cover all
your bases. Some enthusiasts buy a NEX just for
the slim, pancake style wide-angle lens. It’s less
than an inch long and weighs 2.5 ounces.
13Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Fujifilm’s X-Pro 1 also uses an APS-C sensor.
Fujifilm invented a hybrid viewfinder that lets the
photographer switch between an optical
viewfinder and an EVF. At the X-Pro 1’s release in
late March 2012, only three lenses were available
for the camera. More will come.
The Panasonic Lumix and Olympus PEN cameras
use the Micro Four Thirds sensor. It’s 25 percent
the size of a full-frame sensor.
Lens connoisseurs love Micro Four Thirds.
Panasonic and Olympus offer a wide range of
zooms and exotic primes, such as fish-eye wide
angles. They also allow third-party lens makers to
get in the Micro Four Thirds game. On the low
end, you can buy plastic “toy” lenses. They’re
popular for their soft-focus, grungy look. If you’re a
stickler for sharpness and top-notch image quality,
you can pay big bucks for Leica Micro Four Thirds
lenses.
Nikon came late to the hybrid party at the end of
2011, but its two mirrorless cameras are attracting
enthusiasts. The flagship V1 has an EVF and a hot
shoe that accepts Nikon’s popular Speedlights.
The sensor in it and the J1 are about half the size
of a Micro Four Thirds sensor. So far, the company
has made a versatile, all-purpose zoom lens for the
cameras. It has Vibration Reduction (VR), Nikon’s
term for lens stabilization. A pancake-style wide
angle is also available. A third wide-telephoto
zoom lens was made especially for video. The lens’
VR and a 3-speed, silent zoom motor turn these
cameras into very capable camcorders.
The only major camera maker left with no hybrid
offering – Canon – is expected to introduce a
system sometime in 2012. In the meantime, the
company has launched an interesting contender in
another fast-evolving class of cameras - high-end
point-and-shoots. I’ll go over those a bit later.
14Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
The ins and outs of lenses
Earlier, I said the sensor is the most important part
of a digital camera. Lens quality is crucial, too.
When you shop for a DSLR or hybrid camera,
you’re also getting married to a system of lenses.
Make sure that system suits your needs now and in
years to come.
DSLRs and hybrids are sold as a camera body only
or as a kit with an all-purpose zoom lens. The kit
zoom lens may not be the best in the
manufacturer’s lineup, but it’s fine for most
photographers who are just starting out. More
advanced photographers who already have an
arsenal of lenses buy camera bodies. As you gain
experience, you’ll quickly learn which lenses will
help you grow in the hobby.
When camera makers invented new digital sensor
sizes, they also invented new focal lengths for
lenses. This can be confusing until you understand
the method behind the madness.
In film days, 35mm cameras were often sold with
50mm lenses. That was considered a “normal”
lens for 35mm because it gave a natural
perspective, a field of view similar to normal
human vision. Focal lengths below 50mm were
considered wide angle. Focal lengths above 50mm
were telephoto.
Landscape photographers love wide angles
because they take in more than the eye can
normally see and make it easy to get everything in
focus. Portrait photographers rely on moderate
telephoto lenses in the 85-100mm range. They can
fill the frame with the subject’s face while standing
a comfortable distance away. Sports and wildlife
photographers buy 200mm, 300mm or 400mm
telephoto lenses depending on their needs.
Let’s put that normal 50mm lens on a few cameras
with smaller sensors. On a Nikon APS-C, the
Camera Lenses
A Lens for Every Occasion
15Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
50mm behaves like a 75mm lens. On a Canon
APS-C, it’s like an 80mm. On a Micro Four Thirds,
the 50mm doubles to 100mm.
How did that happen? Smaller sensors see less of
a scene than full frame. The smaller sensor crops
the image, and that creates a magnification effect
similar to you having zoomed closer to the subject.
The ratio between a digital sensor size and the
reference size of full frame is called the crop factor,
or multiplier. In the examples above, the Nikon
crop factor is 1.5, the Canon is 1.6 and the Micro
Four Thirds is 2.0.
In the early days of digital photography, shooting
at wide angles was a problem. A
24mm lens behaved more
like a normal lens with
digital sensors. Lens
makers scrambled to
catch up. Today, it’s
commonplace to see
10mm wide angles for digital
cameras.
At the other end of the spectrum,
the crop factor is a bonus for a photographer who
uses longer lenses to capture sports action and
wildlife.
Fortunately, camera makers and retailers always
compare their lenses’ focal lengths to what the
equivalent would be in full frame, 35mm format.
For example: Panasonic will say that it’s 20mm
pancake lens is equivalent to 40mm in 35mm.
Crop factors are something you need to be
mindful of, but you don’t need to obsess about
them. I want you to be taking great pictures - not
doing multiplication tables in your head.
When buying a new lens, you want to make sure
it’s sharp and doesn’t suffer from any distortions.
You can go into forums and read online reviews to
determine that.
You also need to consider how “fast” the lens is. A
lens’ speed is equal to its most wide-open
aperture. Aperture is denoted by f-numbers. At a
constant shutter speed, an f/2.8 lens is twice as
fast as an f/4 lens. Put another way: It gathers twice
the amount of light at the f/2.8 setting than the f/4
setting.
16Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
That’s an important distinction if you like to shoot
portraits and indoor sports without using flash.
With a faster DSLR lens, the viewfinder will also be
brighter and the camera’s metering and autofocus
systems will perform better. Of course, you’ll pay
extra for speed.
Landscape photographers often shoot at smaller
apertures of f/11, f/16, and f/22 to get everything in
focus from foreground to background. They can
save money by picking an f/4 lens instead of an
f/2.8.
Primes and zooms
You’ll see primes and zooms available for DSLRs
and hybrids. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length.
You’ll find wide angle, normal and telephoto
primes. Zoom lenses may be wide angle - 17-
35mm, for example - or telephoto 70-200mm.
Prime lenses aren’t as convenient as zooms, but
they’re less bulky and usually very fast and sharp.
Less engineering goes into making a prime, so it
costs less to make than a fast zoom.
Be careful of lenses with extreme zoom ranges,
such as 18-200mm. By trying to do too much, they
often come up short on image quality. Zooms that
stay at a constant aperture throughout the range
are usually better quality than lenses that get
slower as you zoom out - f/3.5-5.6, for example.
Be aware that Nikon DX and Canon EF-S lenses
work only on their APS-C DSLR cameras. They do
this to make smaller and lightweight zooms for
these cameras. All of Canon’s and Nikon’s full-
frame lenses will work on reduced-sensor cameras.
17Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
High-end point-and-shoots
Sometimes you don’t want to lug around a heavy
DSLR. Or maybe you don’t want to be bothered
with interchangeable lens systems. You just want
a compact, high-quality camera that’s simple and
fun to use.
You should take a look at the new breed of high-
end point-and-shoots. They range in price from
$600 to $1,200 and have larger sensors than
budget point-and-shoots. Some have fixed zoom
lenses; others have a fixed prime.
The Fujifilm X-100, for example, has a fixed 35mm
f/2 lens. The APS-C, 12 MP sensor can shoot 720p
video. Fujifilm even built a fun Film Simulation
mode into this rangefinder lookalike that mimics
the look of the company’s classic color slide films:
Provia, Velvia and Astia. The Fujifilm X10 and X-S1
have fixed zoom lenses.
Leica and Sigma also make several models of high
end point-and-shoots.
Canon just entered the category in 2012 with its
beefed-up PowerShot G1 X. Its 14 MP sensor is
slightly smaller than APS-C and can record 1080p
video. The camera can be as automatic or manual
as you want it to be. The 28-112mm zooms lens is
stabilized.
Point-and-Shoots
DSLR not for You?
18Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Cameras you can grow with
The great thing about most entry-level and mid-
level hybrids and DSLRs is they include a lot of
automatic exposure controls and scene modes
that can help you take great pictures right off the
bat if you’re a beginner.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these helpful
features.
Auto mode will go a long way to helping you get
great shots. The camera adjusts all the settings
for you. But, there’s a downside to auto mode.
The camera may make the wrong assumptions
about the scene. Plus, it can’t read your mind. If
you’re trying to accomplish something specific, the
settings could be wrong.
Scene modes aren’t all that different from auto
mode. The camera still makes the necessary
adjustments. However, you get more control over
the shot. You specify the situation. The camera
makes adjustments based on what you specify.
Common scene modes include portrait, night
portrait, landscape, night landscape, macro and
sports mode. These cover the most common
shooting situations. Other cameras have more
scene modes: beach/snow, fireworks, sunset and
foliage. You never know what you might want to
photograph. You’ll be prepared for virtually any
situation.
Controls & Modes
Automatic Exposure Controls and Scene Modes
19Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Take complete control over exposure
When you feel ready to leave automatic settings
behind, you can take complete control over
exposure.
Shutter-priority and Aperture-priority modes
are especially helpful. In Shutter-priority, you set
the shutter speed and the camera automatically
picks the best aperture.
For example, you’d
want to lock in a high shutter speed to freeze the
action at a basketball game. Or, you could select a
very slow shutter speed to blur a waterfall.
In Aperture-priority, you set the lens aperture and
the camera selects the most appropriate shutter
speed. When taking a portrait, for instance, you
might want to set the lens at a wide f/2.8 aperture.
That will throw the background out of focus and
draw more attention to the subject’s face.
Advanced Controls
Be in Control
20Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
This diagram shows how aperture (F-Stop) and shutter speed affect your image. A higher F-Stop restricts
the amount of light that enters the shutter, but in turn, also brings more of your picture into focus at once.
Likewise, a larger aperture (lower F-Stop) permits more light and enables you to focus on a single object in
your photo, while leaving the foreground and/or background out of focus. Similarly, the faster your shutter
clicks, the less time light has to enter the camera. A fast shutter freezes fast moving objects. A slower shutter
speed, while allowing more light to enter, also gives fast moving objects more time to blur. Finding the right
balance will depend on lighting conditions and the desired effect you are trying to achieve in your image.
In Manual, you set the shutter and aperture. When
looking at controls, you also need to consider
placement and ease of use. You want buttons and
dials that are clearly labeled. The controls should
also be easy to reach. They shouldn’t be too close
together. The controls you will use most should
be easily accessible. And look for programmable
buttons. These bring up settings that you specify.
They’re more common on high-end cameras. But
you may find them on mid-range models.
Likewise, look carefully at the camera’s menus.
They should be easy to read, navigate and
understand.
21Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Making movies
You’re buying a digital camera because you want
to take photographs. But digital cameras have an
added bonus. They record video, as well. Hybrids
and DSLRs are capable of taking spectacular
video. And the ability to switch lenses is a budding
videographer’s dream.
You may not plan to shoot video, but you might
be surprised how convenient the feature is. To
keep the cost down, some cameras shoot high
definition 720p video. It’s pretty good. But if you’re
serious about video, you’ll want a camera that
records 1080p.
Some lower-end cameras will let you shoot only
a very short clip - a few minutes. That’s because
there’s a danger of the sensor overheating. More
expensive cameras will let you shoot longer clips.
Consider frame rates, as well. You want to be
able to record at 30 frames for second for smooth
video. The ability to boost the camera to 60
frames per second is nice for fast action.
Some cameras will let you record at 24 fps, which
can be interesting and arty. That’s the speed
movie theaters use to screen the latest Hollywood
blockbuster.
A few cameras record at 20 fps. I wouldn’t
recommend this frame rate, unless you find
jerkiness appealing. Those cameras aren’t taking
video very seriously.
Video Recording
Hollywood has Nothing on You
22Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Buying an external flash
If your camera comes with a small built-in flash,
that’s good enough to start. It will do a decent
job for portraits and providing fill flash. External
flashes are more versatile, but they’re pricey.
Advanced flashguns give you room to grow, and
their features will help you achieve better results.
Flashes made by the same manufacturer as your
camera integrate with the camera’s metering
system to regulate the light output and take
perfect exposures.
External flashes also offer wireless capability.
You can place the flash elsewhere and trigger it
from your camera. For example, you could use
your camera’s built-in flash with an external flash
off-camera for a more sophisticated portrait set-
up. Some flashguns receive only wireless signals.
Others can also send them.
Look for a flash with a high guide number and
short recycle time. Do the focal lengths of the flash
work with the lenses you’ll be using? The flash may
not cover the entire frame in a wide-angle shot.
And a zoom feature is nice. It will adjust the flash’s
output to the lens’ focal length.
I wouldn’t buy a flash without tilt and swivel. As you
can guess, this allows you to point the flash. It’s a
must for bouncing the flash. Bouncing the flash will
give you softer, more pleasing light.
External Flash
Say Cheese ...
23Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Buying a tripod
If all you’re going to be doing is candid
photography, you don’t really need a field tripod.
It’s convenient to have at least a tabletop tripod. It
can help you get that low-light, blowing-out-the-
candles-on-the-birthday-cake shot. A monopod is
very handy if you’ll be shooting a lot of soccer and
football games with telephoto lenses.
A sturdy tripod is necessary for serious landscape
photography, macro photography, still lifes and
product photography. A lot of photographers
balk at spending $200 or more on a good one.
So they’ll buy a $50 model and curse at it for a
few months until it breaks or gets thrown in the
garbage. Then they’ll buy a $100 tripod. That one
might last a year.
If nothing else, this book just saved you $150!
Tripod legs and heads are rated by how much
weight they can support. Compare that with
the weight of your camera and heaviest lens.
Obviously, you can save money and get by with
less tripod if you’re using a hybrid camera or
compact DSLR. If you need to support a full-size
DSLR with a big telephoto zoom, you’ll need to
make a bigger investment.
Many tripods come with a head, but it may not be
the best for your purposes. It’s possible to buy the
legs and the head separately. Aluminum legs will
save you money; carbon fiber will save your back.
Make sure the tripod will extend to your eye level
so you can compose and focus without bending
over. Also make sure it is sturdy at your working
height. Extending the center column defeats the
purpose of the tripod.
Pan/tilt and fluid heads are a good choice for many
photographers, especially those who shoot video
and panoramas. Some prefer ball heads, which can
be moved into position and adjusted very rapidly.
Quick-release systems let you quickly clamp the
camera down and remove it from the tripod.
Tripods
A Photographer’s Must-Have
24Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Don’t worry about software, for the most part
Digital cameras typically include photo-editing
software. The software is often listed on a
camera’s product page in online stores. It’s
probably also listed on the camera’s box.
Often, you’ll find that the software is
proprietary. It was created by the camera
manufacturer. It will allow you to open the
camera’s RAW files and do basic editing.
More often than not, included software
will be inadequate and unpleasant to
use.
If a quality program like Adobe’s
Photoshop Elements is included, great.
But don’t let the software influence your
camera-buying decision. You can get
plenty of free photo-editing tools online.
These will often surpass the programs
included with cameras. Photoshop
Elements costs about $100.
Photo-Editing Software
Edit Photos like a Pro
25Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
When you buy a digital camera, there are a few
accessories that you have to buy and a few that
are nice to have. Many buyers get carried away
and spend a few hundred dollars more than
they should and end up with stuff they never
use. Others skimp and spend a few months in
photographic frustration before learning the error
of their ways.
Major retailers bundle accessory kits with cameras.
These often include a couple of memory cards, a
couple of lens filters, a camera bag, and maybe a
cleaning kit. The quality of the individual items in
these packages can be good or so-so. Accessory
kits often include a costly-to-you but profitable-
to-the-retailer extended warranty. Take a pass on
that. Here’s a rundown of accessories to consider.
Camera bag
This will keep you organized and protect your
camera, lenses, flash and filters from damage.
There are a vast variety of shoulder bags and
backpacks to suit your style.
Rechargeable batteries
Most hybrids and DSLRs come with a proprietary
Accessories
Don’t Forget to Accessorize
26Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
battery and charger. Buy an extra battery or
two. Batteries drain very quickly in cold weather
and also when you’re using flash, shooting video
and using EVFs. Batteries always go kaput right
before you’re about to take the best photo in the
history of the universe. An external flash will use
AA batteries. Get a charger and rechargeable
batteries for it, too.
Memory cards
Your camera will come with one low-capacity
memory card. Buy several more. All you really
need to know about memory cards is to buy the
correct size for your camera and buy high-quality,
brand-name cards such as SanDisk and Lexar.
Don’t skimp! These are your treasured family
memories.
Better and more expensive cards will write
data much faster than standard cards. Keep
that in mind when you’re shooting video or
bursts of exposures to capture action. You’ll pay
progressively more for storage capacity, of course.
Don’t rely on just one card. What if it failed or you
dropped it off a cliff? Get a mix of 4, 8 and 16 GB
cards.
Card reader
You’ll need a card reader if you buy a higher-
end camera that takes the large Compact Flash
(CF) cards. A card reader is a very cheap USB
peripheral designed to transfer images from
a memory card very quickly to your computer.
Hooking your camera up to the computer to
download pictures is clunky and slow. Many
hybrids and compact DSLRs use SD cards. Most
laptops have SD card slots.
Air blower
This rubber gadget that you squeeze to produce a
stream of air will help you blast dust and particles
from your lenses.
27Kim Komando’s Essential Guide to Digital Cameras
Lens cloth/sensor swabs
Some cameras can vibrate their sensors to shake
off dust, but you’ll still need to clean the sensor
occasionally. You’ll also need to clean fingerprint
smudges and the like from your lens. Resist the
urge to clean your sensor and lenses obsessively.
Wait until they are truly dirty.
Lens filters
Protect your investment in good lenses by putting
UV filters on them. UV filters were used with film
to cut down on haze. They have no effect at all on
digital sensors or color balance. Everybody buys
them just to protect lenses. It’s better to crack a
$35 UV filter than a lens element. The front of your
lens is a dangerous place. Use lens hoods, too, to
prevent lens flare and stray light from reaching the
sensor.
A polarizer will help control the glare and strong
reflections you often see on water and glass.
It’s like a pair of good sunglasses for your lens.
A polarizer is the one filter that can’t really be
duplicated in image editing.
A neutral density filter and a split neutral density
filter are nice to have. A neutral density filter
reduces the amount of light that enters the lens.
It lets you use a slower shutter speed or a wider
aperture that wouldn’t be possible on a bright day.
The upper half of a split neutral density filter
reduces light while the lower half is clear. Say
you’re shooting a mountain scene. The best
exposure for the mountains will overexpose the
sky. The split neutral density will help tame the
contrast. This may also be called a graduated
neutral density.
Essential Guide to TAKING GREAT PHOTOS
ContentsIntroduction .................................1
Photo Composition .................... 2
Lighting ....................................... 7
Flash ............................................10
Focus ..........................................14
Exposure ....................................17
Metering Mode ........................ 23
Portraits ..................................... 26
Group Photos ........................... 30
Landscapes ............................... 31
Macro & Panoramic .................. 34
Motion Blur ................................ 38
Sports ........................................ 40
Fireworks ................................... 43
Halloween ................................. 45
Christmas .................................. 46
Public Photography .................. 49
Looking Ahead ......................... 51
The Kim Komando Show © 2012All Rights Reserved.
AMERICA’S DIGITAL GODDESS®
1Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
In the first part of my Digital Photography Guide: The Essential Guide to Digital Cameras,
you learned about cameras inside and out. If you’ve recently taken the plunge on buying
an entry- or intermediate-level DSLR or hybrid camera, congratulations! You’ve already
taken a giant first step on the road to taking great photos.
Every photographer learns at a different rate and in different ways. Eventually, however, a
great photo won’t happen by accident. You’ll know exactly why it happened. Then, great
photos happen more often. One day, you’ll find that you even have your own distinctive
style. Your photos have a “look” that says they were taken by you.
That’s the goal of this book. It will get you to that point more quickly and easily. I know you
can’t wait, so let’s get started!
How to take the very best photos THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO TAKING GREAT PHOTOS
Introduction
2Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Good composition makes your shots more exciting
The subject is the most important aspect of a
photograph. You take a photo because you
want to remember a particular moment. It may
be your son’s graduation or your daughter’s
prom.
But many people concentrate too intently on
their subject, letting other aspects slide. Paying
attention to other details can take a photo from
ho-hum to wow. Technical skill can make or
break a photograph. But technical expertise
doesn’t make a photo truly memorable.
Composition is what makes a photo truly stand
out. Composition is the way you arrange
elements in a photo. Pay more attention to
composition, and your photos will improve
dramatically.
Let’s look at some tips that will help you
compose better photos.
Photo Composition
3Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Rule of thirds
Many people place the subject dead center in the
frame. It seems like the perfect way to draw
attention to your subject, right? Unfortunately, this
can make for a boring photo.
Instead, you want to use the rule of thirds. Imagine
the frame divided by two horizontal and two
vertical lines. The lines create a 3 x 3 grid. Place
important elements in your photo along the lines
or near the four points where the lines intersect.
For example, say you’re photographing a sailboat
on a lake. You would place the horizon along the
top or the bottom horizontal line, whichever looks
best. Then, you would place the sailboat along the
left or right vertical line, depending on which
direction it’s moving. (Place an object on the left
vertical line when it’s moving left to right - and vice
versa.)
Many cameras can superimpose gridlines in the
viewfinder to help you with composition. If not, it’s
easy to imagine the lines as you compose. In time,
the rule of thirds will become second nature.
Balance
The rule of thirds is one of the best ways to
improve composition. But it can also lead to an
unbalanced photo. The rule of thirds places your
subject off center. That can leave a significant
portion of your photo empty. Sometimes that’s
desirable; most times it isn’t.
Try balancing the photo’s subject with another
object of less importance to create a stronger
composition. For example, say you’re
photographing your child on the beach. You’ve
placed your child along the left vertical grid line.
You could balance the composition by placing a
sand pail to your child’s right.
4Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Leading lines
Lines lead the viewer’s eye through the
photograph. So, use the lines in your photo to
your advantage. Have them point toward the
subject of interest. Or, use them to draw the
viewer deeper into the photograph.
“S” curves are particularly effective. Their
rounded, meandering shape is pleasing to the eye.
You’ve probably seen photos of a road or stream
curving through a landscape. Think about how the
photographer used the elements to draw you in.
Symmetry
Symmetry can help make your photos more
interesting. Imagine your photo divided in half
vertically or horizontally. Each side is a mirror
image of the other. Both halves will have objects of
similar size, shape and color in the same location.
You will see symmetry virtually everywhere you
look. For example, think of the human face. Or,
think of the front of a house. It is common for
windows to be positioned in the same place
relative to the door.
There is also radial symmetry, when elements of
the composition radiate from a center point in a
circular fashion - a flower or starfish, for example.
A break in symmetry can add tension and interest
to a composition.
5Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Repetition
Repetition is a great way to add visual interest to
your photos. In fact, repeating patterns often make
interesting subjects. Think of a skyscraper. The
repeating window shapes can make an interesting
abstract photo.
But, be careful with repetition; you can have too
much of a good thing. Repetition is often more
interesting when the pattern is broken. For
example, a row of windows is more interesting if
one is open.
Likewise, repeating shapes are often more
interesting with objects of different sizes. Imagine
a cluster of mushrooms photographed from
above. The repetition of the round caps is
interesting. But, if the caps are various sizes, they
become even more interesting.
Framing
A great way to draw attention to the subject is
through framing. You use an object in the photo to
surround your subject. By framing your subject,
you’re isolating it from the rest of the world. The
viewer’s eyes will immediately be drawn to the
subject.
You’ll find frames virtually everywhere. Doorways
and trees make great framing devices. Just place
the frame around the edges of your photo and
focus on your subject. Then, snap your photo.
Experiment with framing to see what you like. You
don’t have to frame your subject completely. In
fact, you can frame your subject on only one side.
For example, use branches to frame just the top of
your photo.
6Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Triangles
The triangle is one of the most helpful
compositional tools. It can be an actual triangle
created by solid lines. Or, look for a grouping of
objects that is somewhat triangular. You can also
create an imaginary triangle from three points in
your photo.
The triangular shape can be interesting on its own.
But there are other ways to use it. You can frame
and encapsulate your subject. Or, think of the
triangle as an arrow. Use it to point to your subject.
Viewpoint
You should also think about viewpoint when taking
photos. For the most part, human height doesn’t
vary greatly. Many people tend to take photos at
eye level. That means most photos are taken from
a height of 5 feet, 7 inches, give or take.
Make your images more interesting by varying
your viewpoint. Crouch once in a while. Move to
higher ground. You might be surprised at what you
see
Vary your distances from subjects, too. Many
people tend to stand in one place when
photographing a subject. If the subject is too far,
they zoom to get closer. Instead, get closer to your
subject physically, when possible. You’ll see things
you may have otherwise missed. You may also
discover a new angle for photographing the
subject.
When it comes to viewpoint, there are virtually
limitless options. Experiment. Try to find a new
way of looking at your subject. You may not always
be successful. But when you are, it will be
worthwhile.
7Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Light is the most important part of photography.
After all, the word “photography” is a
conglomeration of two Greek words. It literally
means “light writing.” A photo is created when
light hits a light-sensitive object, like a digital
camera sensor. Painters use brushes to apply paint
to a canvas and create an image. Photographers
use cameras to capture light to create an image.
Lighting can make or break your photos. It affects
the way objects in your photos will appear. And
the right light can go a long way toward making
your photos more interesting. There are many
ways you can use light. There are also many types
of light.
As a photographer, you’ll want to pay careful
attention to light. Over time, you’ll get better at
making the most of light. You’ll also learn to spot
good lighting situations. You’ll also learn to
compensate for poor lighting. But if you don’t
think about lighting, you’re doomed to so-so
snapshots.
Use natural light
Natural light is best for taking most photos. It is
the most flattering light for your subject. You’ll get
more accurate colors and better contrast in your
photos. That means your subjects will look more
natural.
Lighting
The importance of light
8Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
When you’re taking photos, think about natural
light. If you’re outdoors, natural light is all around
you. But you can also use natural light indoors. Use
a window to light your subject and create dramatic
shadows on the other side of the face. If the light
or the shadows are too harsh, soften the light with
a diffuser and bounce light onto the shadow side
of the face with a reflector.
In the evening, there isn’t enough natural light to
light your subject properly indoors. Ambient light
from lamps and candles is the next best thing. Try
to avoid a mix of color temperatures, however. A
blend of fluorescent and incandescent lights in a
room will create an odd color balance in a photo
that will be very difficult or impossible to remove in
editing.
Avoid harsh light
Harsh light is your enemy. It can cast ugly shadows.
It can wash out colors and surface details, like
texture. Harsh light will also rob your photo of
depth. Objects will look flat and lifeless.
If you’re taking photos outside, try to avoid
midday. The best times are the golden hours - the
hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. The
light will have a warmer, dreamier tone. The sun
will be at a lower angle, so you won’t need to
worry about harsh shadows. And your photos
won’t have too much contrast.
If you must grab a shot at high noon, position your
subjects in open shade. They’ll be lit by diffuse
light, and you’ll avoid harsh shadows. If you can’t
use shade, you’re not out of luck. Position your
subjects so that the sun is behind them. Use your
fill flash to add light to their faces. This will help
eliminate unflattering shadows from their faces.
9Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Overcast days work well for photographing people
outside. The clouds will diffuse the light. You’ll get
consistent lighting without harsh shadows or
highlights. Your photos will also have pleasant
color saturation and contrast.
Shooting in dim light
Dim lighting is the bane of amateur
photographers. Even many professionals struggle
with it. Your photos can come out shadowy and
underexposed. To get decent photos, you’ll have
to use a slow shutter speed. So, blurriness from
shaking hands is a problem.
Use a tripod. That will avert the shakes. You can
use a standard tripod or a smaller, tabletop one.
Tripods are less than ideal when shooting kids and
work best with stationary subjects.
If you don’t have a tripod, stand with your feet
shoulder-width apart. Hold the camera in both
hands, with your elbows against your sides. Better
yet, stand against a wall, pillar or similar object.
Boost your camera’s ISO to its highest usable
setting. This will make the sensor more sensitive to
light. Of course, your flash can be useful in dim
light. Keep reading for help mastering your
camera’s flash.
10Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
People tend to use flash in the wrong situations.
They also neglect to use it when the situation calls
for it. One of the best ways to improve an outdoor
portrait on a sunny day, for example, is to use fill
flash.
Beginning photographers tend to use flash as a
primary light. There isn’t enough ambient light, so
flash illuminates the entire scene.
In general, flash is a less-than-ideal primary light
source. It has a limited range. On-camera direct
flash often causes red eye and unnatural skin
tones. Texture and depth disappears. Meanwhile,
there are murky shadows behind the subject.
Often, there are harsh hot spots in the background
where the flash reflected off glass or a mirror.
Try to think of flash as more of an indirect,
secondary light source. Use flash to supplement
other light. For example, it can soften contrast and
shadows in harsh light. Or, use it to balance the
light on the front of a backlit subject.
Using flash the right way
Flash
11Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Flashguns are more powerful and versatile than
built-in flashes. You can bounce the flash. Or, place
it off-camera to get light in the right place.
Bouncing your flash is a great way to get better
results. You’re less likely to bleach out faces. And
hotspots will be less problematic with mirrors or
reflective objects.
Flashguns can usually be swiveled and turned.
That makes it easy to bounce light off a white wall
or ceiling. Bouncing your flash isn’t terribly difficult.
Just keep in mind that light will reflect at the same
angle it is transmitted. Try to avoid dropping light
too far behind, in front of or off to the side of your
subject. With practice, you’ll be placing bounced
light exactly where you want it.
If you still have trouble with harsh shadows behind
your subject, move your subject away from the
background. The shadows will fall on the floor
instead of the background.
Some camera systems offer an optional accessory
called an off-camera flash cord. One end of the
cord slides into the camera’s hot shoe and the
other plugs into the flashgun. This allows you to
hold the flashgun off to the side with one hand
and hold the camera with the other. It gives you
more possibilities for bouncing the light.
Of course, built-in flashes don’t offer this luxury.
Shop around. You should be able to buy a bounce
attachment. You can make your own bounce card
by fixing a piece of white card stock to the flash
with a rubber band.
Using flash the right way
12Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Diffusers are also made for most flashguns and
built-in flashes. Diffusers soften the light,
eliminating hot spots and deep shadows.
Commercial diffusers are often made from plastic.
If you’re handy, try making your own diffuser from
a plastic container. Use white plastic to avoid
tinting the light and experiment with different
opacities. You may be able to attach it to the flash
using tape, rubber bands or Velcro. It may be
easier just to hold the diffuser over the flash.
Remember that bouncing and diffusing the flash
significantly weakens the light. If your images are
under-exposing, bump up the ISO or increase the
output of the flash if you have that capability.
Flash compensation
More advanced cameras feature flash
compensation. It lets you adjust the flash output.
That way, you can better mix the flash with
ambient light. You’ll get background details, and
your subject won’t be so bleached out.
Flash compensation increases or decreases output
by stops of light. You should be able to do this in
1/3-stop increments. One full stop of light doubles
or halves the light.
Do not confuse flash compensation with exposure
compensation. Exposure compensation lets you
make adjustments based on the light meter’s
reading. It affects the entire frame. Flash
compensation adjusts only the flash output. Lower
flash output if your subject is bleached out. Or,
increase flash if your main subject is dim.
More advanced cameras feature several flash
13Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
modes. Understanding how they differ will
improve your results.
Slow sync
Slow sync combines a slow shutter with a small
burst of flash. The slow shutter lets the camera use
ambient light to pick up background detail. It also
prevents the colors in your main subject from
bleaching out. The camera uses flash to illuminate
your subject.
Slow sync will dramatically improve your night
portraits and other low-light situations. You’ll be
less likely to get dark, shadowy backgrounds. You
also won’t have to worry so much about bleaching
out your subject. However, you may still want to
use a tripod and have your subject stay still to
prevent blur.
Front-curtain sync
Front-curtain sync is the standard flash mode. The
flash fires the moment the shutter curtain is
opened. It works great in most situations where
you need flash. This mode is generally not ideal
when there is motion, though. The motion will
appear ahead of the subject.
Rear-curtain sync
With rear-curtain sync, the flash is fired right before
the shutter closes. A moving object will be frozen
at the end of the exposure. Say, for example,
you’re photographing a moving car at night. You’ll
see the trail of lights behind the car with rear-
curtain sync. With front-curtain sync, the trail of
lights will be in front of the car.
Fill flash
With fill flash, most of the photo is lit by ambient
light. Flash is used to remove shadows from a main
subject. For example, it will help remove shadows
around a subject’s eyes and nose in bright light. It
can also be used to illuminate a backlit subject.
14Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Most of the time, the autofocus (AF) systems on
modern cameras will focus more quickly and more
precisely than you can manually. But you should be
aware of the different types of autofocus and the
occasions when it might be better to use manual
focus.
Single servo
In single servo autofocus, the lens focuses once
when you partially press the shutter release. The
focus is held until you release the button or press it
all the way.
This is great for static objects. As long as you keep
the camera the same relative distance from your
subject, focus will be fine. But you won’t want to
use it with moving subjects. By the time you press
the button all the way, the subject could be out of
focus.
Single servo mode has a distinct advantage when
composing shots. You can aim the focusing point
(usually in the center of the frame) at the subject.
Press the shutter release button to lock focus.
Then, reframe your shot while continuing to hold
the button. Your subject will be in focus.
Better cameras allow you to customize focus and
focus lock to different buttons. Program whatever
feels most comfortable and natural to you. You can
Focus
Getting it all in focus
15Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
also select off-center focus points to help you with
composition and the rule of thirds.
Continuous servo
Your camera will offer continuous AF. Like single
servo, the camera will focus when you partially
press the shutter button. But partially pressing the
button does not lock AF. The lens will continue to
focus as you hold the button.
Continuous servo is ideal when you’re
photographing a moving subject. It will help you
take sharp pictures when photographing fidgety
children and pets, for example.
Some cameras even have predictive autofocus.
The camera tries to predict the subject’s next
move. The camera will focus the lens accordingly.
This can be handy when photographing sports,
animals or anything moving fast. The trick with
predictive tracking is to focus on your subject, then
hold the shutter release button halfway. Wait a
second or two before pressing the shutter release
all the way. This gives the camera time to “learn”
the direction and speed of the movement.
Manual
Manual focus lets you control exactly what’s in
focus. In some cases, that’s the only way to go. AF
systems often have trouble in low light. They can
also be iffy when shooting macro/close-up photos.
You’ll save a lot of frustration with manual focus.
Rely on your judgment when using manual focus.
The more you use it, the better you’ll get at it.
Some cameras’ viewfinders have an indicator to
let you know when your subject is in focus. Check
your manual for details.
16Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Many lenses now allow the photographer to
manually touch up the focus while still in AF mode.
This is a nice, time-saving feature to look for when
buying lenses.
Zone focusing can come in handy in when
shooting parades and crowd scenes. Lenses
include distance markings for focusing. You can
set the focus for 15 feet, say. Anything 15 feet from
the camera will be in focus.
Combine zone focusing with a small aperture
(larger f number) to increase depth of field. That
will make objects that are a little closer and
somewhat farther than 15 feet in focus. With
practice, you’ll get a feel for which parts of a scene
will be in sharp focus.
Zone focusing can also help you in sports
photography. At a basketball game, you’re
guaranteed to capture some good action shots
by focusing on the rim. At a race, focus on the
finish line or any spot you know the participants
will cross. You can worry more about capturing the
right moment than getting the focus right.
17Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
You’ll hear a lot about exposure when reading
about photography. It simply refers to the amount
of light that reaches your camera’s sensor. You’ll
also hear terms like overexposed and
underexposed. If an image is overexposed, too
much light hit the sensor. If it is underexposed, too
little light reached the sensor.
It is relatively easy to spot overexposed or
underexposed photos. They will look washed out
or dark and muddy, respectively. But it can be
difficult to tell when you have the exposure exactly
right.
Correct exposure is a matter of preference, at least
to an extent. You want dark, yet detailed, blacks.
You also want clean whites that have not lost their
detail. And you want a range of mid-tones.
Shutter speed and aperture are two of the most
important elements of photography. An
understanding of how they affect exposure is
fundamental for any photographer. Let’s look at
them.
Shutter speed
The camera’s shutter opens and closes to control
the length of an exposure. It is activated by
pressing the shutter release button. The shutter
speed is the time between the opening and
closing.
Shutter speeds are expressed in seconds or
fractions of seconds. For example, you’ll see 1/30,
1/60, 1/125, 1/250 and so on. Each increment halves
the amount of time the sensor is exposed to light.
Your camera may include 1/3- and 1/2-stop
incremental shutter speeds.
Understanding exposure
Exposure
18Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Some cameras offer a bulb (B) setting. It’s best
used with a cable release and when the camera is
on a tripod. When you press the cable release
button, the shutter stays open until you release it.
It’s a useful setting for shooting fireworks, lightning
and taking exposures longer than 30 seconds - the
maximum timed shutter speed of most cameras.
Aperture
Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the
lens. This opening controls how much light comes
through the lens. F-stops are used to denote
aperture.
Full f-stop increments include: f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4,
f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22 and f/32. Your lens probably
will offer a subset of these f-stops.
Each full stop doubles or halves the light coming
into the camera. Say, for example, that you go
from f/4 to f/5.6. The amount of light is cut in half.
Going from f/11 to f/8 doubles the amount of light.
Importantly, aperture also affects depth of field, or
the area of your photo that is in focus. With a
smaller aperture, more of the photo will be in
focus; you’ll have a greater depth of field. Objects
in the foreground and background may be in focus
in addition to your subject.
A wider aperture gives you a narrower depth of
field. Wider apertures are often used to blur
background distractions in portraits.
Balancing aperture and shutter speed
To get a properly exposed photo, you must
balance aperture with shutter speed. Smaller
apertures will call for slower shutter speeds. Wider
apertures need faster shutter speeds. Your
19Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
camera’s light meter will determine how much light
is in a scene.
If you’re using auto mode, it will set the aperture
and shutter speed. In aperture or shutter priority
mode, you specify aperture or shutter speed. The
camera then adjusts the other for you. And in full
manual mode, it will indicate if the photo will be
over- or underexposed. You make the necessary
changes.
Of course, you can use different combinations of
settings in any given situation. You can shift the
aperture up or down a stop, if you adjust shutter
speed to compensate. For example, you may
decide you want to use a wider aperture. In that
case, you would increase the shutter speed to
compensate.
If you have any difficulty at all grasping the
concept of depth of field and the relationship
between aperture and shutter speed, I highly
recommend spending some quality time with an
online camera simulator. (Here are a couple of
good ones: camerasim.com and kamerasimulator.
se.) Adjust the simulator’s settings and see how the
photos change. Very quickly, you’ll be saying,
“A-ha!”
ISO
ISO also has an effect on exposure. ISO settings
let you adjust the sensitivity of the camera sensor
to light. You can use a higher ISO to make your
camera sensor more sensitive. Or, use a lower ISO
for less sensitivity. Adjusting the ISO can help
when you need control over both aperture and
shutter speed.
You’ll see ISO settings like 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
and 3200. Each step doubles the sensitivity of the
sensor. Some cameras will have incremental steps.
20Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Using the histogram
We all like the ability to review a photo on the
camera’s LCD immediately after taking it. You
might see problems in the picture. Maybe a
telephone pole is growing out of Aunt Mabel’s
head. The LCD is a great aid to composition, but
it’s a poor tool for judging exposure. For exposure,
look to the histogram instead.
The histogram is a bar graph that displays the
exposure range and brightness values of an
image. Learning to read a histogram may seem
complicated and confusing at first. However, it’s
actually pretty simple.
The histogram’s horizontal axis shows the
exposure latitude or the distribution of brightness
across the image. The left side of the graph
indicates dark pixels. The middle shows mid-tones.
On the right are the light pixels. Don’t worry about
the vertical axis. It measures the number of pixels
in each tone.
Generally, you want to avoid an exposure where
the bars are all bunched up on the left or all
bunched up on the right. That indicates the photo
will be woefully under- or overexposed. Although
there is no such thing as an ideal histogram, an
HISTOGRAM
21Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
evenly distributed graph is desirable in most
cases. It indicates an image with a good mix of
tones and pleasing contrast.
You don’t want evenly distributed histograms in
certain situations. In a snow scene, for example, a
majority of the bars will push toward the right-
hand side of the scale. As long as they aren’t
pushing past the border and blowing out
highlights, that’s OK.
With a low-key image of a man in a dark suit
against a dark background, most of the tonal
values will shift to the left-hand side of the graph.
Again, avoid pushing past the border or you’ll
lose detail in shadow areas.
In either of the above situations, a perfectly
centered histogram would actually under- or
overexpose the image. Checking the histogram
after taking a shot is a good habit to develop.
But don’t forget to also read what the scene is
telling you.
22Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
High dynamic range
Sometimes, it’s impossible for a digital camera
sensor to capture the dynamic range of a scene.
The stretch from the darkest to the brightest levels
is just too great. The correct exposure for the
mountain blows out the sky. Expose for the sky,
however, and the mountain turns into a black
silhouette.
A split-neutral density filter can often solve the
problem. Not always. Often, you don’t have the
option of waiting around several hours for sunset.
Try producing a High Dynamic Range (HDR)
image. The HDR process starts in the field by
taking 3-5 pictures at different exposures. The
differently exposed frames are blended together
later with specialized software.
In our mountain scene above, you would take one
shot that perfectly exposes the sky. You would also
take a shot that gives you the best detail of the
mountains. Finally, you will take at least one
intermediate exposure. If the dynamic range isn’t
too great, you might be able to get away with
using a 2-stop deviation in auto-exposure
bracketing.
This is a good time to shoot Raw because you’ll
need all the information you can get from the
digital negatives when they’re blended together
later. Obviously, you must use a tripod and keep
your aperture consistent. HDR won’t work if
wildflowers are swaying in the breeze, boats are
sailing across the lake or waves are crashing
against the shore. The blended images will never
match up in post-processing.
When done right, a merged HDR photo can be
spectacular. If not converted correctly, HDR
images can appear bland and washed out. Some
artists purposely push the boundaries of HDR
processing to create ultravibrant, surreal
landscapes.
23Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Your camera’s built-in light meter is the brain
behind the operation that simultaneously
measures lighting conditions and determines
aperture and shutter settings.
On top of that, your camera offers several different
types of light metering. Understanding how these
options differ can help you select the best
metering method for the situation.
Evaluative
Evaluative metering is also called matrix,
honeycomb or multizone metering. The camera
will look at the entire scene. It sets exposure based
on the distribution of light. It takes color,
composition and distance into consideration.
Of course, there are drawbacks to evaluative
metering. It does not let you expose for a
particular object in your photo. Say you’re
photographing a white flower in bright light. You
want the flower properly exposed, but you don’t
care about the rest of the photo. Evaluative
metering will try to get the right exposure for the
entire scene. It will look for mid-tones, which are
neither bright nor dark. The white flower might be
overexposed.
Likewise, evaluative metering isn’t right for
situations with tricky lighting. For example, you
may be photographing a scene with a lot of
contrast. There are lots of dark areas and lots of
light areas. But, there are few mid-tones. This can
trip up evaluative metering.
Metering Mode
Select the right metering mode
24Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
However, evaluative metering is sophisticated and
works well, for the most part. Of your metering
options, evaluative works most like the human eye.
So, this setting is ideal for most situations.
On many cameras, evaluative is the metering
default. Beginning photographers usually should
stick with it. If you want to get creative, look to
other metering methods. Or, if you’re not getting
the shot you want, switch to a different metering
method.
Spot metering
With spot metering, the light meter
does not consider the entire scene.
Rather, it looks at a small portion of
the scene. It usually measures light
in 2 to 3 percent of the frame.
On many cameras, you can use
only the center focusing point for
spot metering. That often requires you to
meter something in the scene and reframe the
shot. Check your manual to be sure.
In tricky lighting situations, use the spot meter to
read an object or portion of the scene that looks
like a close match to middle gray - green grass or
weathered barn wood, for instance. Sometimes, a
mid-tone may not be available. Advanced
photographers often use a gray card in such
situations. The card is placed in the scene, and the
photographer spot meters it. Metering the card
should yield the correct exposure for everything in
the scene.
Center-weighted metering
Center-weighted metering measures light in the
entire frame. However, it gives preference to the
center part of the frame.
25Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Some cameras let you select the weight given to
the frame’s center. You may also be able to select
the area given the most weight. The size of the
weighted area may vary between cameras.
Center-weighted metering is more predictable
than evaluative. It is ideal for high-contrast scenes
- a landscape with bright skies and dark ground,
for example. In that case, I would center weight the
bright sky. Remember, the ground would also be
metered. It would just be given less weight. Lock
the exposure and reframe the shot. This will
prevent overexposed highlights.
Exposure bracketing
Usually, your light meter will determine the right
settings. But not always. You can ensure a usable
shot with exposure bracketing.
When you set the camera to auto-bracket, it will
take three shots at different shutter speeds. You
can specify the variance: 1/3-, 1/2- and 1-stop
increments, for example. One shot should have the
correct exposure. You generally want to avoid
bracketing by aperture settings. That will affect the
depth of field for each shot.
26Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Most people buy cameras to capture important
memories. That means they probably will be
photographing people often. Whether they’re
shooting friends or family, they want the best shots
possible. Fortunately, practicing is fun! And no
special equipment is needed.
In portraits, the subject should be the center of
attention. Be wary of objects in the background
that could distract or draw attention away from the
subject. The last thing you want is an appealing
background!
Shooting against simple backgrounds will give you
the best results. That’s not always possible,
though, especially outdoors. Fortunately, you can
minimize distractions by blurring the background.
Portraits
Taking stellar portraits
27Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
It’s easy to throw the background out of focus if
you use a portrait lens or moderate telephoto
zoom in the 85mm-135mm range and shoot at a
wide aperture, such as f/2.0. Experiment with the
lens you like to use for portraits. It might not be
very sharp or pleasing at its widest aperture. If so,
test it at f/2.8 or f/4.0.
With portraits, you always want to focus on the
subject’s eyes. At an extremely wide aperture,
such as f/1.4, depth of field might become so
shallow that your subject’s eyes will be in focus and
the tip of the nose will be out of focus. You or your
subject might not like that effect. Find the sweet
spot for your favorite portrait lens.
Using a moderate telephoto lens for portraits puts
you at a comfortable distance of about 6 feet from
the subject. The key to getting great shots of
people is to make them feel relaxed. You don’t
want them to feel that you’re crowding them.
Think about camera height, too. The best
photographs are generally taken at eye level.
That’s not much of a problem when
photographing adults. But, if you’re
photographing kids, you’ll need to kneel or crouch
to get down to their level.
Remember the rule of thirds to help you with
portrait composition. Place your subject’s right eye
at or near the intersection of the left vertical line
28Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
and the top horizontal line (vice versa for left eye).
That almost always results in a pleasant
composition.
For most people, a partial profile will yield the best
results. However, if your subject has, um, a big
nose, avoid this angle. It will only accentuate the
nose. Instead, shoot your subject more straight on.
This will compress the subject’s nose, making it
less obvious. Stepping back a little and using a
longer focal length will also help.
Portraits can be a little like shooting sports. You
never know when the perfect photo is going to
happen. You just want to make sure you don’t miss
it. That means taking a lot of photos. The more
you take, the more likely you’ll capture “the one.”
Help your subject loosen up
Cameras are often intimidating to the subject.
That’s particularly true if you’re using a big DSLR.
This discomfort can result in stiff and unattractive
photos. To overcome this, you will need to help
your subject loosen up.
Talk to your subject as you’re shooting. This can
help the subject become less self-conscious. You’ll
also get more natural facial expressions. When
people feel tense, they usually show it in their face
and shoulders. Pause occasionally and let the
subject take a deep breath. Playing music often
helps to relax models.
29Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
You’ll want to direct your subject for some of the
shots. Tell the subject how to stand and how to
pose. Avoid overly formal and stiff poses, if
possible, unless you’re taking a business portrait.
Candid shots are fun. Your subject’s guard will be
down. The camera may catch something the
person might not otherwise show. So, keep taking
pictures when your subject isn’t aware of it.
Have your subject stand, sit and change positions.
Give those hands something to do, such as hold a
book or a pair of glasses.
Take intentionally goofy shots. This can relax the
subject. And, you never know, these shots may be
more interesting than formal photos.
Get the lighting right
Lighting is important no matter what your subject.
But correct lighting is particularly important for
portraits. You’ll want to avoid harsh lighting. This
can bring out imperfections in your subject’s skin.
It can also cast deep, unflattering shadows on your
subject’s face.
Outdoors, light is more pleasing in the early
morning and late afternoon. Use fill flash to
eliminate shadows on your subject’s face.
Try to use natural light when shooting indoors, too.
Position your subject close to a window. The
natural light will be more pleasing than artificial
lights. At night, you may have to use a mix of flash
and lamplight. You can change the color of your
flash’s light with accessories called gels. An orange
gel will help you match the color of incandescent
lights. Green gels are made to match fluorescent
light sources. (A warming orange gel can also help
when you’re using fill flash to take a portrait of
someone outside during sunset.)
30Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Getting a good group photo is more challenging
than photographing a single person. You have to
make sure that everyone is smiling with eyes open.
For groups, you’ll need to use a 50mm lens or
wider. Like a single portrait, the idea with group
shots is to fill the frame with the subject and to
avoid backgrounds that are distracting.
Try to put the group at ease. Start by taking some
fun photos to warm up. Give your subjects props
or ask them to strike unusual poses. You may get
some interesting shots. And having your subjects
laugh a little will loosen them up. Don’t be afraid
to experiment. That’s good advice for any
situation.
When photographing groups, take multiple shots.
That increases your chance of everyone having
their eyes open at the same time. If your camera’s
processor offers face-, smile- and blink-detection
features, now’s the time to use it. When you’re
really struggling to get everyone’s eyes open, try
an old trick. Tell everyone to close their eyes. Then,
tell them to open their eyes. Take the photo
immediately.
Getting everyone in focus can also be a challenge.
Try to place everyone more or less equidistant
from the camera and use a small aperture, such as
f/11. This is one of those times when you might
want to bracket by aperture rather than shutter
speed. Remember that you won’t be blurring the
background because you’re using smaller
apertures and wider lenses. Make sure the
surroundings are interesting.
Taking group photos that wow
Group Photos
31Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
There’s nothing quite like capturing the beauty of
nature. Many photographers focus solely on
landscape photography.
We’ve all seen dramatic landscape photos of
exotic locations in National Geographic and in
books. But you don’t have to travel far to get great
landscapes. There’s wonderful scenery near your
home. You just have to see it. Good technique is
essential, too. You can’t just point your camera at a
breathtaking vista and expect breathtaking results.
Depth of field
With landscape photography, you usually want
tack-sharp focus. Most of the time, everything in
the scene should be in focus. That means objects
a few feet away in the foreground and objects
hundreds of feet away in the background. You can
accomplish this with wide-angle lenses and small
apertures, such as f/11, f/16 and f/22.
Recall what I said in the portrait chapter about how
a lens’ widest aperture may not give optimum
performance. That’s true at the other end. A shot
taken at f/22 might be slightly fuzzier than one
taken at f/16, for example. This is known as
diffraction. As light passes through successively
narrower openings, it tends to diffract, or scatter.
It’s good to know if and when a drop-off occurs in
a lens’ image quality.
Landscapes
Capturing spectacular landscapes
32Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Use a tripod
Smaller apertures mean slower shutter speeds.
With slower shutter speeds comes an increased
chance of blurring. Landscape photography isn’t
the time to be increasing ISO and hand-holding
the camera.
The best option is to use a tripod. Not only does it
hold the camera still during longer shots, it also
slows you down. It gives you time to think about
composition and pay attention to details.
Follow the lines
Landscapes often include the horizon. As a rule of
thumb, don’t place the horizon in the middle of
your photograph. Ask yourself: What’s the most
important part of this scene? If it’s the land, place
the horizon high in the frame. If it’s the sky, move
the horizon lower. The horizon should be level -
not tilting one way or the other.
The horizon isn’t the only line in your photograph.
Pay attention to all lines. In particular, look for
diagonal lines - a trail, a stone wall, a fallen tree -
that will help lead the viewer into the photograph.
Have a stream enter the frame at one of the
bottom corners and meander through the
composition in an S curve.
Conversely, try to avoid including a strong line that
offers the viewer a way out of the picture. That will
weaken the composition.
Create a strong foreground
Many beginning landscape photographers
become attracted to an interesting scene off in the
distance and neglect the foreground. The
background and middle ground need to be
strong, of course, but the foreground of a
33Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
landscape photo is just as critical. It’s where the
viewer starts. If the foreground isn’t interesting, it
won’t draw the viewer in.
Flowers, boulders, shrubs and other objects add
interest to foregrounds. Try placing your camera
low to the ground to make them look bigger. It can
add real depth and impact to a photo.
Choose the right time to photograph
The best time to photograph landscapes is usually
during the golden hours. This is roughly the 60
minutes after dawn and the 60 minutes before
dusk. That’s when the sun is at the most pleasing
angle for landscapes. You’ll get warmer tones, lush
color saturation and long, interesting shadows.
The light of golden hour also brings out the
texture of trees and rocks and adds dimension and
depth to the landscape.
Bad weather often equals great photography.
Looming storm clouds or fog can turn an average
landscape into an atmospheric wonder.
Take advantage of an overcast day to shoot
streams and lakes. The water won’t reflect harsh
highlights as it does in bright sun. A boring sky is
also a good time to try macro shots.
34Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Are you fascinated by close-up photos of flowers
and insects? Then you’re interested in macro
photography. “Macro” probably brings up images
of large, majestic photos. But macro shots are
really close-ups of small objects.
Choosing your macro gear
With a standard 100mm lens, the closest you can
stand to a subject and keep it in focus is about 3
feet. In macro photography, you need to work 6-12
inches away from your subjects. That’s how you
get small objects to fill the frame and appear
life-size.
The easiest and cheapest way to do that is to
attach a close-up filter to that 100mm lens. It’s like
putting a magnifying glass on the end of your lens.
Better close-up filters use two glass elements to
reduce distortion.
You’ll get the best image quality with a dedicated
macro lens. A macro lens is a prime lens that has a
lot of elements to correct for distortion. It usually
has an effective focal length of 100mm. For that
reason, macro lenses often make very good
portrait lenses as well. If you have a zoom lens that
claims it’s also a macro, don’t believe it. It won’t
Getting up close with macro photography
Macro & Panoramic
35Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
have the magnification of a true macro lens or be
able to focus as close.
Taking macro shots
Macro photography can take time to master. It’s a
magnified world. It will magnify your focusing and
composition mistakes. Don’t worry, though. You’ll
get the hang of it with practice.
Macro lenses are too heavy and bulky to hand-
hold. Use a tripod and cable release. The slightest
shake of the camera will cause a blurry photo. If
you’re shooting flowers, work on a calm day.
Spend a little time walking around the subject and
looking through the viewfinder to find the most
appealing camera position. Soft light coming from
the side or back of the subject can result in very
dramatic macro shots. If the sun is behind you,
take care that you or the camera doesn’t cast a
shadow on the subject.
When the available light isn’t perfect, use a
reflector to bounce more light into shadow areas
or a diffuser to soften harsh light. You can also try
using a flashgun with an off-camera cord to pop a
little fill flash into the scene.
Let’s say one of your prized roses in the backyard
has just bloomed. Treat it like a portrait and use a
wide aperture to throw the background out of
focus.
Careful, though. Depth of field is very limited when
doing macro photography. If you focus on the
stigma, for instance, the petals closest and farthest
away from the lens could be way out of focus at
f/2. You may need an aperture of f/8 or f/11 to get
everything you want in focus.
36Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
You have to make these decisions and
compromises all the time when doing macro. You’ll
quickly develop the habit of bracketing your focus
and bracketing your apertures. This will give you
more options to choose from when you’re looking
at macros later on your computer.
Set your camera on aperture-priority so you can
let it worry about shutter speed and exposure.
You’ll probably find manual focus easier. At close
range, autofocus tends to struggle.
Seeing the really big picture
Panoramic photography is a lot of fun and can
produce some truly stunning prints. Like HDR, it
requires taking a set of good pictures in the field
and using specialized software in the digital
darkroom. Unlike HDR, great panoramas are easier
for beginners and intermediate photographers to
pull off.
Stitching software now is so sophisticated and
easy to use that you can often capture great
panoramas while hand-holding the camera. It will
be less hit-or-miss if you use a tripod with a
panhead, however.
For panoramas, it’s better to use a normal focal
length lens (50mm equivalent). With a wider angle
of view, the stitching software will crop more. You’ll
lose detail and resolution.
You also actually want to avoid strong foregrounds.
You’ll be rotating the camera from left to right in a
slight arc. Without a special panoramic head to
correct for parallax error, a tree or bush in the
foreground will get misaligned by the stitching
software. It’s like what happens when you look at
an object with your left eye while your right eye is
closed, then suddenly switch eyes. The object
appears to change position, even though it’s
stationary.
Scenic overlooks and mountain tops are good
vantage points for panoramas. You also want to
avoid having any moving objects in your
37Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
composition. Watch out for rapidly changing light
conditions; that could lead to surprising exposure
mismatches when your photos are stitched
together later.
Once you’ve identified a composition, set your
tripod down and level it. Decide about where you
want your panorama to start and where you want it
to stop. You’ll want to take at least two photos,
maybe as many as five or six.
Take a couple of tests shots to determine the best
exposure. Keep your aperture setting, exposure
and white balance consistent throughout the
sequence. Don’t use a circular polarizer. Although
a polarizer can give you a more pleasing blue sky
in a single shot, it will create inconsistent results in
a panorama. For best results, you’ll also want to
shoot in Raw.
Focus on a distant object - at infinity or near
infinity. As you take the series of pictures, make
sure each shot overlaps the adjacent photo by
about 25 percent. This will help the stitching
software connect the photos and blend them
together without visible seams.
Landscape photography is an area where
minimalism and asymmetry can be your friend.
Want to emphasize the isolation of a windmill on
the prairie? Place the windmill on the far left of the
frame and show nothing else but sky and negative
space.
Not everything has to be representational, either.
Look for interesting patterns, colors and textures
on forest floors, sand dunes and creek beds that
you can turn into abstracts with your macro lens.
38Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Generally, you don’t want blurry photos. Your want
your child’s face to be in focus. And you want your
landscapes tack-sharp.
Blurring can be caused by poor focus. It can also
be caused by shaky hands.
Then there’s the third cause: movement. A fast-
moving subject will blur if the shutter speed is too
slow. Usually, you want to avoid motion blur.
But blur isn’t always a problem. You can use it for
creative effect. We’ve all seen photos of waterfalls
in which the water is blurred. The rocks and
surrounding scenery, meanwhile, are in sharp
focus.
To use blurring creatively, you need manual
controls or shutter-priority mode. Let’s talk about
how a waterfall picture would be shot. You’d need
to put your camera on a tripod. It would require a
relatively long shutter speed - 1 or 2 seconds.
This might be difficult to achieve on a sunny day. A
neutral density filter will help. Because they are
gray, they cut light of all colors. They allow slower
shutter speeds.
With a long exposure, the moving water will blur
and look dreamlike. The background and rocks will
be in sharp focus.
This technique isn’t just for photographing moving
water. Think of a Ferris wheel at night. Try to
creatively blur a spinning ice skater or a dancer.
When blurry is good
Motion Blur
39Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Panning
You’ve probably also seen photographs where a
moving object is in focus but the background is
blurred. This effect is common in photos of
bicycles and cars.
These photos are taken through panning. They’re
much more difficult than the long-exposure
waterfall shot. Beginning photographers may find
panning particularly difficult. But keep trying.
Panning also requires a long shutter speed. So,
put your camera in shutter-priority mode (or
manual mode). Use a shutter speed of about 1/15
of a second. Slightly slower or faster shutter
speeds might provide the effect you want.
Hold the camera close to your body. Press the
shutter release and turn your torso. Follow the
moving object with the camera. Make sure you’re
moving the camera horizontally, not vertically. You
can also use a tripod with a panning head. The
tripod will hold the camera level. You turn the
camera with a handle.
Panning can be difficult with an SLR. While the
shutter is open, the SLR’s mirror flips up and the
viewfinder goes dark. Use Live View if your camera
has it; you can watch the action on the LCD. Or,
look over the top of the camera’s prism box while
panning.
40Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Shooting sports is very challenging but also very
satisfying when you nail a great action shot.
You’ll want a DSLR if you find yourself shooting a
lot of sports. Most DSLRs are capable of rattling
off four or more frames per second in burst mode.
You won’t see many sports pros shooting with
hybrids because of shutter lag.
You’ll also need a good zoom lens or two. If you
shoot a lot of indoor sports, such as basketball, a
fast telephoto zoom is essential; 70-200mm is a
good choice.
For outdoor sports such as soccer and football,
you’ll appreciate the reach of a 70-300mm zoom.
You can use slower lenses for outdoor sports.
Camera settings
You’ll probably use shutter-priority mode most of
the time when shooting sports. Indoors, you may
need to crank up the ISO to get a shutter speed of
1/500. That’s about the bare minimum for freezing
sports action. If you’re close enough for it to be
effective and it’s allowed, flash will also freeze
motion.
Sports
Sports photography
41Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Use your camera’s continuous or burst shooting
mode. As you hold the shutter release button, the
camera will continue to take photos. You’re more
likely to get the shot.
Consider shooting large JPEGs instead of Raw
files. In burst or continuous mode, you can shoot
more frames without the buffer filling up so fast.
You’ll go longer between memory card changes,
too. You don’t want to be changing a memory card
as a receiver plucks the football out of the air for
the winning touchdown.
Understand the sport
Timing isn’t just about having a fast camera and
lens. You need to anticipate the action. To do that,
it helps to understand the sport. Knowledge of
your sport will help you choose the best locations
for shooting. You’ll know where interesting action
is most likely to occur.
It also helps to understand the team you’re
photographing. If you know the coach, you can
better predict the next play. If you know the
players, you know who’s going to get the ball in
clutch situations.
Keep your eye on the ball
Sports are all about capturing strong, up-close
action shots. You have to get as close as you can,
even with a telephoto. If a majority of your shots
include the ball in them, you’ll be pretty successful.
Isolate opponent against opponent to
demonstrate conflict. Do the best you can to get
faces in focus and properly exposed, even if
they’re hiding under helmets. Faces portray a lot of
emotion during sports games. It’s a great feeling
to capture your daughter scoring a goal. Often, a
player’s expression after a score or a near-miss
makes an outstanding shot, too.
42Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Look behind you
Sports action isn’t limited to the playing field. The
contest also electrifies the crowd. Take photos of
the fans. Catch the excitement surrounding the
game.
You’ll also want to watch the cheerleaders, coach
and mascot. They will also be showing emotion.
It’s just another part of the game story.
Be patient and keep shooting
When starting out, you may not get good action
shots. Even professional sports photographers
often fail to get good action shots. So, keep
shooting while the action is slow. You’ll at least
have shots to remember the event. Slow moments
are great times to get tight shots of players. And, if
things explode, you’ll be ready.
Remember, taking more shots increases your odds
of good shots. You may get only one good shot
every 20 or 30 frames. So, don’t stop at 10 or 15.
Give yourself the chance to get something great.
43Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Fireworks help communities celebrate national
holidays and other special occasions. With a little
planning and preparation, it’s easy to capture the
rocket’s red glare and great family memories.
Since fireworks require exposures of about 1
second, you’ll need a tripod and cable release for
best results. Dial in a low ISO setting of 100. You
don’t want noise to speckle the black portions of
the sky and distract attention from the colorful
patterns of light. A low ISO setting will prevent
that. Fireworks can also look a little washed out
when using a wide aperture. Use a moderate
setting of f/8 or f/11 to help intensify the colors
If your camera has a bulb (B) setting, try using that.
If you don’t have bulb, take a mix of one- and
two-second exposures.
Use manual focus. Fine-tune your focus on the
fireworks at the start of the show and forget about
it for the rest of the show. You’ll probably be at
infinity or near it. Put your camera in the vertical/
portrait orientation. You want to avoid cropping
the tops and bottoms of starburst patterns.
Fireworks
Photographing fireworks
44Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Your camera’s auto-white-balance function will go
crazy trying to correct the colors of fireworks. It’ll
give you dull, de-saturated streaks of light. Set white
balance to Daylight for better and more consistent
results. (Daylight refers to color temperature - not
time of day. It’s a cooler temperature setting than
Shade or Cloudy.)
With a 100mm lens, the fireworks should fill the
frame. To capture city buildings and more of the
surroundings, use a 50mm lens. A zoom lens can be
adjusted as you like.
Positioning is everything. Try to pick a spot where
smoke from the fireworks will blow away from you.
Smoke will make your photos hazy. You should also
watch for distractions like street lights and tree
branches.
Timing can be difficult. Try opening the shutter as
the rocket nears its apex, then closing it before the
pattern breaks up. Take plenty of shots and check
your results periodically. You’ll bring home plenty of
keepers. Remember one more thing: Don’t fill up
your memory card before the finale!
45Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Taking ghoulish Halloween photos
Halloween is always a fun family event. Too often, a
family’s record of the evening is a series of pictures
of kids and adults who have that washed out,
deer-in-the-headlights look.
Start taking better Halloween pictures by turning
off the flash. Halloween is supposed to be dark
and eerie! Boost your camera’s ISO setting and
use wide apertures. Turn on the table lamps and
light some candles.
I told you in the chapter about portraits that
candid photos are usually the best. That’s
especially true on Halloween. Group shots are easy
on Halloween because everyone’s having a good
time and hamming it up anyway. Remember to
kneel or crouch when shooting pictures of kids.
Don’t wait until the kids are in their costumes to
take photos. Get shots of them applying gloppy
makeup and getting ready. Be ready to capture
spontaneous saber fights and zombie attacks.
Take shots of the kids inspecting their hauls at the
end of the evening.
Experiment with lighting faces from below. Use a
table lamp, flashlight or off-camera flash. You’d
never do this with a normal portrait because it has
such a ghoulish effect!
If it’s your job to follow the kids around the
neighborhood with a camera, you’ll probably have
to resort to flash. Go out at twilight if you can,
before it is pitch black. Try using a slow sync speed
and fill flash to capture a little ambient light and to
illuminate faces and costumes.
Get yourself in a position to get reaction shots of
your child receiving candy. Don’t forget to take
pictures of spooky jack-o’-lanterns and the houses
of those neighbors who always go all-out on
decorating for Halloween.
Halloween
46Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Being together as a family is what it’s all about at
Christmas. You’ll want to remember everything
about this most special day of the year with
photos.
There’s always so much to do during the holidays,
but if you spend a little time preparing to take
photos, it’ll pay off with a Christmas album you’ll
treasure for years to come.
You don’t want to be fumbling around with camera
settings on Christmas morning. You might miss a
few great shots of the kids opening presents. Take
your camera into the family room on a morning
before Christmas. What’s the light like? Hopefully,
you have big windows and the room is bright
enough to take photos without a flash. Find the
ISO setting and aperture that will let you use a
shutter speed of about 1/125 or 1/60. That will let
you capture most of the action.
If the room you keep the tree in is just too dim - or
if your kids get up before sunrise - you’ll have to
take pictures with flash. Composition at Christmas
can get a little tricky. You want to fill the frame and
minimize background distractions, but not lose the
context that this is Christmas day. You can crop a
photo later to create a really tight portrait if you
prefer. Remember to focus on the eyes. You’ll
probably be using a wide aperture. Parts of the
Christmas
Taking Christmas photos to remember
47Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
background or foreground might get a little soft.
That’s OK as long as the eyes are sharp.
When friends and family members visit, let them
get comfortable for 15 or 20 minutes, then start
taking candid shots of them while they’re
interacting with the kids and other guests.
If someone insists on a group shot, follow the old
advice of putting tall people in back or in the
middle of a single row. Let people put their arms
around others’ shoulders or cross their arms -
whatever comes naturally. You’ll end up with a
better result than the family portrait where
everyone looks stiff and lined up like soldiers.
Tell a story of the whole day. Take a picture of
Christmas dinner, the kids enjoying an outdoor toy,
the family going to church and the kids going to
bed. This will give your story a beginning, middle
and end.
Finally, don’t become too obsessed with taking
pictures. Take time to enjoy your family and
celebrate!
48Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
Shooting holiday decorations
Decorated Christmas trees and displays of
outdoor lights add to the holiday magic.
Take a portrait of your tree at night with all its
lights glowing. Put the camera on a tripod and
expose for the available light. Your tree also offers
a world of close-up opportunities. Get in there
with your macro or a portrait lens and compose
vignettes of ornaments. Use a wide aperture to let
branches and other background elements go soft.
The key to capturing outdoor lights is shooting at
twilight with the flash off. If it’s too bright outside,
the lights will look washed out and will barely
register. If it’s too dark, you’ll capture the lights but
little else. Use a tripod for best results.
This is another situation where automatic white
balance could lead to dull results. Try using your
camera’s Shade or Cloudy setting to enhance the
warm glow of the lights.
Your camera’s exposure meter might also get
fooled, especially if there’s a lot of snow in the
scene. Keep an eye on the histogram and bracket
your exposures.
Know the rules for taking
49Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
photos in public
Many people snap photos in public without
thinking much about it. But this can lead to
problems. The police may question you. Business
owners may confront you. You may be told to stop.
If you’re unsure whether you can take photos, ask.
But I can tell you certain situations where it is
generally OK. This should not be construed as
legal advice. See an attorney for that. Remember,
laws may differ from place to place.
Say you’re vacationing in New York. You’ve found
an interesting angle to shoot the Empire State
Building from a sidewalk a few blocks away. You’re
in the clear. It is legal to take photographs in public
places. That includes sidewalks, public parks and
streets. Just don’t obstruct passersby; this may
preclude the use of a tripod.
Things are different for military bases and nuclear
power plants. It doesn’t matter if you’re on public
property. The military and Department of Energy
can prohibit photos because of national security
concerns.
Standing on public property doesn’t give you the
right to slap a telephoto lens on your camera and
peer into bedrooms, changing rooms, or
restrooms. People have a reasonable expectation
of privacy in those situations. You could get into
Public Photography
50Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
legal trouble for invasion of privacy.
National, state and local museums and other
public buildings can set their own rules regarding
interior photography. It’s best to check websites in
advance for what is allowed. Some may ban flash
photography, for example, in order to protect
historic documents. Some sites might allow
cameras but not tripods.
Private property owners can allow or restrict
interior photography however they see fit. If you’re
snapping away inside a shopping mall and a
security guard asks you to stop or leave, you must
obey. He can’t, however, demand that you delete
photos or hand over a memory card.
Most professional sports arenas restrict or ban
photography. Look for posted notices. Don’t be
surprised if point-and-shoots are allowed but
DSLRs are not.
You can photograph accident scenes, fires and
emergency workers if you’re on public property.
You cannot, however, interfere with the police or
emergency workers. If asked to move, do so.
There are times when it’s just unwise to take some
photos, even if you have the legal right to take
them. If you go around taking pictures of kids in a
park without parents’ permission, you’ll raise
suspicion - and possibly ire. Likewise, you probably
don’t want to specialize in photographing public
transportation, strategic bridges, chemical plants
and oil refineries.
Do you want to spend your time taking pictures or
answering police questions?
As you’re out taking pictures, keep in mind that
51Kim Komando’s Guide to Taking Great Photos
you’ll likely want to make prints of your best
images and share them online. Most advanced
cameras let you shoot at a JPEG + Raw setting.
This is very convenient.
The JPEG image format is the standard for the
Internet. The file sizes are small and compressed
so Web pages load faster. You can upload and
share a JPEG immediately. If it’s a large enough file
size, a well-exposed JPEG can also make a fine
print.
So why shoot Raw files, too?
When you take a JPEG, the camera makes a
decision about which data are going to get
discarded. That’s how the smaller file size is
achieved. Subsequent edits and saves of a JPEG
file will also degrade the image. This is called lossy
compression. If you have a JPEG that’s
underexposed or has a bad color cast, it will be
very difficult to save in post-processing.
A Raw file is more like a digital negative. It contains
every bit of data and dynamic range that your
camera’s sensor captured. A Raw file gives you
more flexibility in the digital darkroom. You can
adjust white balance and make exposure
corrections without degrading the image.
Of course, the tradeoff is larger file sizes. You’ll fill
up your memory cards and hard drives faster. Raw
images are more time-consuming and require
specific conversion software to open and edit.
I think you’ll find that the advantages outweigh the
disadvantages, however. And when you’re ready to
take your photo-editing skills to the next level, I’ll
be there with Part 3 of my Digital Photography
Guide: Creative Photo Editing.
Looking Ahead
File Format
Essential Guide to TAKING GREAT PHOTOS
ContentsIntroduction .................................1
Before You Begin ........................ 2
Photo Editing Sites ..................... 5
Build a Workflow .........................7
Image Editors ............................12
Raw Image Editing ....................17
Using RawTherapee ................. 19
Layers ......................................... 24
The Three Rs ............................. 26
Sharpening ................................ 30
Printing ...................................... 31
Color Management .................. 33
About Kim .................................. 34
The Kim Komando Show © 2012All Rights Reserved.
AMERICA’S DIGITAL GODDESS®
1Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
In the first part of my Digital Photography Guide:
The Essential Guide to Digital Cameras, you
learned all about DSLRs and hybrid cameras and
how they can help you take better photos.
And thanks to my Digital Photography Guide: The
Essential Guide to Taking Great Photos, you’re
shooting at a whole new level. You consistently
bring home beautiful landscape images. Family
members and friends love the pleasing portraits
you take of them. You understand the rules of
good composition and know when to break them.
You’ve reached a point now where you’d like to
make expressive prints of some of your images,
and share them in online galleries. To do that, you
need to develop your digital editing skills.
After reading this book, you’ll be making swift and
dramatic improvements to your digital captures.
You’ll also discover that you’re taking yet another
fun and creative journey - an adventure that began
when you tripped the shutter.
Let’s get going!
How to edit your photos like a pro THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CREATIVE PHOTO EDITING
Introduction
2Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Before you start working on digital photos, it’s a
good idea to have a filing system in place that
makes sense for you. I know - you’d rather spend
time being creative. But it’s hard to be creative
when you want to work on a photo you took a year
ago and can’t find it.
Most image-editing programs have very effective
built-in organization tools that let you geotag and
face-tag images as you import them.
If you have a Mac, for example, you can use the
included iPhoto software. PC users can tap into
the free Windows Live Photo Gallery. Google’s
Picasa is an excellent third-party image-organizing
program that also includes very basic editing tools
such as crop and red-eye removal.
What’s important is getting into the habit of
arranging your photos into descriptive folders and
sub-folders. Use a combination of dates and event
names or location names. That works well for most
photographers.
Let’s say you’ve made it a project to shoot the
Saturday Farmers Market over the summer. You
Before You Begin
Getting Organized
3Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
just got back from the first one of the season and
need to get your 47 photos off the memory card
and filed away on a hard drive.
Create the folder Farmers Market 2012. Next,
create a month-day sub-folder: 0526. At this point,
you could choose to rename your 47 image files
something like Farmers Market 2012 Week 1. The
program will give each picture that name plus a
sequential number, 1-47.
That won’t help you much in a search later, but it’s
better than the meaningless alpha-numeric
numbers your camera assigns to image files. It’s
too tedious to give every picture a unique name at
this point. You’ll only end up working on a handful
of them anyway.
What will really help you find these photos later are
keywords. Keywords are tags or descriptions that
become embedded in the image files.
Maybe you took some nice photos of strawberries
and bunches of asparagus the first week. Add
those as keywords when you import this batch.
You can add more keywords later to individual
images and groups of photos.
Sometimes, splitting an import into separate
operations can help the organizational cause. Say
27 of your 47 pictures from the first week are of a
jazz band that was performing at the market.
It would be difficult to remember two years from
now that those band photos are in Farmers Market
2012>>0526. Create a new top folder with the
band’s name. Select the 27 band photos and
import them to the folder. Then select the 20
vegetable/vendor photos and import them into
0526.
If most of your photos are of family and friends,
you’ll definitely want to take advantage of your
organizing program’s face-matching technology.
4Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
As soon as you start tagging photos with names,
the software learns how to apply those name tags
to all your other photos.
When you’re done importing a batch of photos,
take a few minutes to review them. Delete obvious
clunkers, such as those accidental shots taken of
your feet.
If you’re just beginning photo editing, however,
don’t get too zealous about deleting photos.
Something that looks hopeless now might be
fixable down the road when you have more
experience.
Organization programs always include a method
for rating image files with stars or other labels.
While you’re reviewing, flag images you know
you’ll want to work on later. Ratings can also be
used as a search filter.
Finally, don’t trust your computer’s hard drive to
keep your image library safe. Hard drives can fail
- often with no warning. Backup your collection
regularly to external hard drives. For the ultimate
in backup - and peace of mind - store your photos
online at a photo-sharing site or use a cloud-
based backup service.
5Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Thanks to online photo editing sites, you don’t
need any software other than a browser to begin
working on digital pictures. These services are fine
for editing small JPEGs that you want to share on
social networking sites. They also provide a
convenient way to retouch photos you’ve already
posted online.
PicMonkey is a good example. It was created by
the same team behind the wildly popular Picnik,
which was gobbled up by Google. Photoshop
Express condenses Adobe’s flagship Photoshop
program into a quick and easy online experience.
Signing up for a free account also gives you 2GB
of online storage.
For something a little more powerful, look at Pixlr
or Phoenix. Phoenix is part of the Aviary suite of
media-creation tools and the built-in image editor
of Flickr.
With a click of a mouse, online image editors allow
you to straighten horizon lines and automatically
enhance colors and exposure. You can also
instantly fix red eye and remove other blemishes.
These tools alone are enough to save many family
snapshots and scenic travel photos.
The most creative tool you have at your disposal,
however, is the humble crop tool. Many times, the
crop tool gives you a second chance to create a
pleasing composition.
The tool superimposes a 3 x 3 grid over your
image so you can crop with the rule of thirds in
mind. Place important elements in your photo
along one of the two vertical lines, one of the two
horizontal lines or the points where the lines
intersect. This will keep your horizon line or subject
from being dead center in the frame.
Photo Editing Sites
Basic Online Photo Editing
6Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Many casual portraits lack impact simply because
the subject doesn’t fill the frame. There’s too much
space around the person. Crop to remove
extraneous or distracting information and to
emphasize faces.
A landscape photo might benefit from a
“panoramic” crop that reduces the amount of
visible sky and foreground. Just because a
camera’s native aspect ratio is 3:2 or 4:3 doesn’t
mean you can’t crop to a dramatic 2:1 or 3:1 aspect
ratio.
Stick to common aspect ratios, however, when you
want to make standard 4 x 6-inch, 5 x 7-inch prints,
and 8 x 10-inch prints. The crop tool can be
constrained to preserve a specific aspect ratio and
print size.
Be careful how much you crop, especially if you’re
going to be printing later. Today’s 16+ MP cameras
allow quite a bit of room for cropping. Just don’t
expect to make a decent print after cropping a
tiny portion of a photo. There won’t be enough
pixels left to form a detailed image.
Images that have a resolution of 72-100 ppi (pixels
per inch) are fine for the Web. Ideally, you want to
be at 240-300 ppi for a sharp, detailed inkjet print.
You can’t save every photo with a crop. But you’ll
learn what works and what doesn’t - and this will
impact your shooting. Soon, you’ll find that you’re
cropping less frequently because you’re creating
better compositions in the camera.
That’s the true power of the crop tool.
7Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Build a Workflow
Building an Editing Workflow
When you feel ready to use more-sophisticated
editing tools, you’ll want to step up to desktop
software. There are several very good programs
that are open-source and free. Not all paid
programs cost an arm and a leg; most also offer
30-day free trials.
After test-driving free and commercial programs
for a few weeks, you’ll find the image editor that’s
the most comfortable fit for your skills and your
budget.
Whichever program you choose, you’ll edit more
effectively if you follow a logical workflow. The
workflow concept isn’t designed to stifle your
individuality and creativity. It’s just that it’s better
to perform some tasks before others when editing
digital photos.
For example: Adjusting a photo’s color balance
first often corrects poor saturation and contrast.
Here are the general steps to take when editing a
JPEG photo. Keep in mind that every photo is
different. You won’t need to perform every step on
every image. Always work on a copy of the file so
you can return to the original and start over if
necessary.
Crop
If necessary, crop your image before moving on to
more-advanced edits. When you adjust things like
color balance, exposure and saturation later, your
editing software won’t be influenced by unwanted
pixels. You also don’t want to spend a lot of time
correcting a flaw that ends up being cropped out
of the image.
8Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Color balance
Color Balance controls usually include a
Temperature slider to make a picture’s overall
ambience cooler or warmer. A Tint slider will
correct images that shift too far toward magenta
or green.
Color casts occur when you take photos in shade
or inside using fluorescent or incandescent light. If
there’s a white fence, white shirt or similar object in
the photo, examine it closely. If it looks a little
reddish-yellow or greenish-blue, your photo will
benefit from a color balance adjustment.
If the software offers a “dropper” tool, take
advantage of it. If there’s an area of the picture you
know should be white or neutral gray, click on the
appropriate dropper and click on that point in the
picture. This will re-balance the entire image.
Exposure
It’s not always possible or practical to get a perfect
exposure when you’re out shooting. If an image is
slightly underexposed or overexposed, you should
be able to save it.
The image’s histogram will identify clipped
shadow pixels in blue and clipped highlights in
red.
For an underexposed photo, use the exposure
compensation slider to slightly increase exposure.
Don’t overdo it. If you increase exposure too
much, noise will get worse in the shadows. Try
using the Shadows slider on an underexposed
photo if your software allows it.
9Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
For a slightly overexposed photo, decrease
exposure and use the Highlights slider if available.
Decreasing exposure too much will draw even
more attention to blown highlights.
At this stage of the workflow, you’ll know whether
you can move on with an image, or stop and try a
different photo. Raw images and Raw image
editors give you more leeway in recovering detail
from overexposed and underexposed images.
We’ll take a closer look at that in the next chapter.
Contrast controls
When you hear someone say “that photo really
pops,” he’s talking about contrast. Unless you’ve
purposely captured a moody fog or rain scene,
most low-contrast images feel flat; the colors seem
washed out. It’s time to unleash the magical Levels
and Curves tools.
In an overexposed image, too many pixels bunch
up against the right boundary of the histogram. In
an underexposed image, too many pixels bunch
up against the left boundary of the histogram. In a
low-contrast image, the pixels tend to bunch up in
the middle of the graph.
Levels allows you to remap the histogram. Move
the white point slider to the left and the black
point slider to the right. The image will now have a
full tonal range and exhibit dramatically better
contrast. (Be careful not to go too far and
introduce clipping.) To fine-tune, adjust the mid-
tone slider slightly to the left or right.
Feel like the image could still use a little more
oomph? Open up the Curves tool.
Levels Tool from GIMP
10Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Although it doesn’t look like it at first, Curves is
very similar to Levels. The anchor point (small
square) in the lower left corner of the graph is the
black point. The anchor point in the upper right
corner is the white point. Go ahead and click on
the middle of the curve. You’ve just created an
anchor point that corresponds to the mid-tone
slider in Levels.
Unlike Levels, Curves allows you to put as many as
16 points along the curve. That’s rarely necessary,
of course, but it demonstrates why Curves is such
a powerful tool. Even tones that are very close to
each other on the curve can be teased apart.
For now, put an anchor point on the quarter point
and an anchor point on the three-quarter point.
Moving these anchors up or down with the
anchored mid-point will create a gentle S curve or
an inverted S curve.
The S curve will darken the shadows a bit in the
quarter tones and bump up the three-quarter tone
highlights. The inverted S curve will do the
opposite. This simple adjustment alone will rescue
many images.
Saturation
Boost Saturation if the overall colors in your image
still seem a little dull. Don’t overdo it, though.
Oversaturation seldom benefits either landscape
photos or portraits. The Vibrance slider, if your
image editor has it, is a terrific tool. It increases or
11Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
decreases the saturation of skin tones and other
less-saturated colors without affecting colors that
are already saturated. The Saturation slider adjusts
all the pixels in an image.
Selective Enhancements
Up to this stage, all your edits have affected the
image globally. Now it’s time to inspect the image
for smaller areas that can benefit from local or
selective enhancements.
Get out the healing brush or clone tool to remove
blemishes such as dust specks that were on your
camera’s sensor. (They look like UFOs in the sky.)
If an area of the image is a little too hot exposure-
wise, tone it down with the burning tool. Grab the
dodging tool if there’s an area of the print you
wish to lighten. The dodging tool is also a good
way to whiten teeth and brighten smiles. Do the
subject’s eyes seem a little fuzzy? Spot-sharpen
the area with a brush.
Create a master file
By now, you should feel as though you’ve taken
this image about as far as it can go. This is a good
time to stop and save it as a master file. Let’s call it
Sylvan Lake MF (for Master File).
Everything you do subsequently to Sylvan Lake MF
will involve downsizing it for sharing or optimizing
it to make a print. You don’t want to repeat all the
hard work you’ve just done. Work on copies of
Sylvan Lake MF to create Sylvan Lake Web, Sylvan
Lake 8x10, etc.
12Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Photobie
This is a good step-up program for photographers
who outgrow Windows Live Photo Gallery. It has
tools for all the most-needed picture-editing
functions. More-advanced users can work in layers
for more precision.
Photoscape
Another good intermediate photo editor for
Windows users. It supports Raw files and animated
GIFs in addition to other standard file formats.
It contains most of the photo-editing tools you
need, plus fun templates for creating comics and
collages.
Pixelmator
A full-featured, layers-based image editor that
appeals to the artistically inclined. Use Levels,
Curves and a host of other color-correction tools
to perfect your photos. There are also dozens of
tools for making selections, drawing, painting and
retouching. Create special effects with more than
150 filters. 30-day free trial.
Image Editors
Popular Image Editors
Photo Editor Photobie
Cost • Free
Compatibility • PC
Some of the Best Features
• Basic photo editing tools• Layers• Photoshop filter plug-in support• Photo image browser• Templates and scrapbooking
Photo Editor Photoscape
Cost • Free
Compatibility • PC
Some of the Best Features
• Intermediate photo editing tools• Layers• Batch editor• Special effect filters• Raw image converter
Photo Editor Pixelmator
Cost • $15 after 30-day free trial
Compatibility • Mac
Some of the Best Features
• Advanced photo editing tools• Painting and drawing tools• Layers• 150 special effect filters• Sharing to social sites
13Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
PaintShopPro X4
Despite its paint-centric name, this is powerful
photo-editing software that supports a Raw
workflow and adjustment layers. With this version,
Corel added HDR tools and a tilt-shift effect
to create miniatures and photos with extreme
selective focus. 30-day free trial.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 11
This slimmed-down sibling of Photoshop allows
you to quickly and easily fix common photo
flaws. More-advanced tools offer sophisticated
blending and layering capabilities and support
for Raw editing. There’s also a stitching function
for panoramas and a basic tool for creating a
High Dynamic Range photo from two exposures.
Guided Edits walk you through some of the more
involved editing tasks. Family memory keepers
love Elements for its organizational powers and
ease of creating text and scrapbook pages and
cards.
Aperture 3
Aperture combines the streamlined Raw workflow
that busy pros need with the easy learning curve
Photo Editor PaintShop Pro X4
Cost • $80 - $100 after 30-day free trial
Compatibility • PC
Some of the Best Features
• Advanced photo editing tools• Photo organizer• Layers• High Dynamic Range tools (HDR)• Raw image editing• 162 effects and adjustment filters• Screen capture• Batch editing• Sharing to social sites• Learning center
Photo Editor Adobe Photoshop Elements 11
Cost • $100
Compatibility • PC and Mac
Some of the Best Features
• Advanced photo editing tools• Photo tagging and organizer• Layers• 100 effects and adjustment filters• Batch editing• High Dynamic Range tools (HDR)• Panoramic stitching tools• Raw image editing• Templates and scrapbooking• Video support• Sharing to social sites• Adobe online services
14Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
of iPhoto. With the unified photo library, you
can move back and forth between iPhoto and
Aperture without having to import, export or re-
edit photos. Aperture includes powerful one-click
white balance and curves adjustments, plus brush-
based edits on selective portions of photos.
Lightroom 4
Photoshop has a lot of stuff that professional
graphic designers, 3D artists and illustrators
need - and photographers don’t. Adobe built
Lightroom from the ground up for photographers.
It’s a powerful catalog management program and
Raw image processor in one. The nondestructive
editing environment encourages experimentation.
The newest version offers superior lens-correction
and noise-reduction tools, plus enhanced highlight
and recovery algorithms. A new module makes it
easy to create photo books.
ACDSee
TThis program has been around a long time
and is a favorite of many photographers. The
Pro 6 version for PC ($100) and Pro 2 version for
Mac ($100) aim to compete with Aperture and
Lightroom with nondestructive Raw editing and
Photo Editor Aperture 3
Cost • $80
Compatibility • Mac
Some of the Best Features
• Advanced photo editing tools• Advanced photo tagging and
organization• Nondestructive environment• Raw photo editing• Set auto buttons and quick tools• Batch editing• Expansive effects library and
custom effects• Photo books and slide shows• Video support• Sharing to social sites
Photo Editor Adobe Lightroom 4
Cost • $150
Compatibility • PC and Mac
Some of the Best Features
• Advanced photo editing tools• Advanced photo tagging and
organization• Nondestructive environment• Raw photo editing• Special effect filters• Advanced hue, saturation, and
luminance editing• Batch editing• Photo books and slide shows• Video support• Sharing to social sites
15Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
speedy workflow. Look at ACDSee 15 (PC, $50) if
you want a home photo editor and organizer more
akin to Elements.
RawTherapee
This is a robust Raw editor. Better yet, it’s totally
free to use. It sports a lot of the same features
as pricey programs like Lightroom and Aperture.
Make sophisticated adjustments to exposure, tone
curves and highlight and shadows. There are also
multiple ways to sharpen and enhance details, as
well as reduce image noise. RawTherapee works
with most DSLR Raw files, but check compatibility
with your camera before downloading.
GIMP
If you want to take your pictures to the next level
without taking your credit card there, too, give
GIMP a try. It’s a free photo editor originally
created at UC Berkeley. It has many of the same
features as Photoshop, but it’s 100 percent free. In
the past, GIMP was notorious for its steep learning
curve and hard-to-use floating window palettes.
Thanks to a recent overhaul and a new single-
window mode, the user interface is easier. The
next upgrade should provide support for 16-bit
image editing.
Photo Editor ACDSee Pro
Cost • $140 after 30-day free trial
Compatibility • PC and Mac
Some of the Best Features
• Advanced photo editing tools• Photo tagging and organization• Nondestructive environment• Raw photo editing• Special effects and filters• Batch editing• Sharing to social sites
Photo Editor GIMP
Cost • Free
Compatibility • PC and Mac
Some of the Best Features
• Advanced photo editing tools• Advanced color correction tools• Drawing and painting tools• Layers and channels• Customizable interface• Special effects and filters• Edit Photoshop files (PSD)• Extensive plugins and support
Photo Editor RawTherapee
Cost • Free
Compatibility • PC and Mac
Some of the Best Features
• Basic photo editing tools• Photo tagging and organization• Advanced color correction tools• Raw photo editing• Special effects and filters• Batch editing
16Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Adobe Photoshop CS6
Photoshop is the gold standard and the
professional’s choice in image-editing software.
Content Aware technology allows photographers
to patch, move objects and retouch images with
incredible ease and precision. Automatic Saves
in the background speed up the workflow and
reduce the chance of losing edits. Add creative
blurs to images with new tools. Photoshop
includes Adobe Camera Raw - the same Raw
editing engine that Lightroom is based on - and
Bridge for organizing your photos.
Photo Editor Adobe Photoshop CS6
Cost • $700
Compatibility • PC and Mac
Some of the Best Features
• Advanced photo editing tools• Raw photo editing• Drawing and painting tools• Layers and channels• Auto corrections• Superior High Dynamic Range
imaging and toning (HDR)• Preset migration and sharing• Special effects and filters• Customized workspaces• Video Support• Auto-recovery• Adobe Marketplace and
Community Help
17Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
When you shoot a JPEG, your camera sets the
white balance, sharpens the image and makes
some decisions about color saturation and
contrast. Depending on the level of compression
you choose, pixel information may get thrown
away in order to make a smaller file.
A Raw file is more like a digital negative. It contains
every bit of data and dynamic range that your
camera’s sensor captured. A Raw file gives you
more flexibility and editing latitude in the digital
darkroom.
Let’s see why
First of all, a Raw file starts its journey in the editing
process as a 16-bit image. A JPEG is always an
8-bit image. An 8-bit image can produce 256
unique colors, while the 16-bit image has 65,536
discrete colors available in its palette. The 16-bit
image is capable of producing a lot more subtlety.
Because it contains more information, it also holds
up better in processing.
Aggressively manipulating the histogram of an
8-bit image with Levels and Curves runs the risk of
causing posterization. Unsightly bands run across
a posterized image because there’s too little tonal
information and the tones are too far apart.
Posterization is revealed in the histogram, too, as
spaced vertical spikes that resemble the teeth of a
comb.
Even if you don’t want to work in Raw, editing in
16-bit mode where possible will minimize the risk
of posterization. If you have a JPEG that needs
some hard editing, for example, change it to a
16-bit TIFF before you begin, if your image editor
supports it. (TIFF is a standard file format in
Raw Image Editing
Raw Workflow & Nondestructive Editing
18Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
publishing and can be either uncompressed or
compressed without losing information.)
In our basic JPEG workflow, everything we did to
fix blemishes and correct color and contrast
destroyed pixels and degraded image quality.
That sounds scarier than it actually is. A well-
exposed, large JPEG that has been minimally
compressed won’t require a lot of editing. It will
contain more than enough information to make a
fine print.
For those times when you need it, though, a Raw,
nondestructive workflow really comes in handy.
You can change white balance and perform other
edits without destroying any of the image’s pixels.
Your changes appear in a live view of the image,
but the adjustments aren’t actually applied until
they’re exported from the Raw imaging processor.
Everything you do in Raw is reversible - and you
always have that pristine, data-rich Raw file to fall
back on.
In a Raw editor, you can take advantage of built-in
tools to reduce a photo’s noise, apply sharpening
and correct lens distortion.
Here’s how to adapt your workflow using a Raw
editor such as RawTherapee.
19Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
RawTherapee is a robust - and totally free - Raw
editor. Getting started with the program is simple.
Once it’s installed and opened, you’ll see it’s made
up of a few different parts.
First is the file browser in the lower-left corner. Use
it to search your computer for your Raw files. In the
center is the main image viewer. Here you can see
the picture you’re editing. And finally, on the far
right is the adjustment panel. This is where you’ll
tweak most of the settings to edit your photos.
Once you’ve chosen a photo to edit, you can start
adjusting it. Click on the Transform tab to bring up
the crop panel and to experiment with different
options. You can also rotate, flip and straighten the
image.
Next, click on the Colour tab (the program uses
British spelling). You can adjust White Balance
quickly and easily by using the Spot WB button.
Click a portion of the photo that should be white
or neutral gray. You’ll see the image automatically
fix itself. This typically does a pretty good job on
Using RawTherapee
Edit Raw Images Using RawTherapee
20Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
its own. But you can adjust the Temperature and
Tint sliders to fine-tune it.
Under the Exposure tab, you’ll see a long list of
tools for fixing exposure. The big ones here are
Exposure, Tone Curve and Shadows/Highlights.
Using the different sliders in Exposure will help
brighten or darken photos. Keep in mind that this
isn’t the same as adjusting Brightness. Instead,
Exposure works to simulate the picture if more or
less light hit the sensor. It will give you more or less
detail.
Tone Curve is an advanced way to control contrast
for the overall image. Like Curves in other
programs, you just click and drag on the curve to
create gentle S-curves and other tonal
adjustments. Each point on the curve affects a
certain tonal range. As you move from left to right,
you affect darker to lighter tones.
Shadows/Highlights will let you adjust the
brightest and darkest areas of your photos. In this
section, you can make the blacks in the photo
Exposure tab from RawTherapee
21Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
darker. Inversely, you can make the whites in the
photo brighter.
Now is a good time to reduce noise if the image
needs it. If you took the shot in low light at a high
ISO setting, it’s likely that the image will benefit
from de-noising.
Click on the Detail tab. You’ll see two noise
reduction options: Luminance and Colour.
Luminance Noise Reduction will blend noisy pixels
based on their brightness value. Colour Noise
Reduction will blend noise based on the pixel’s
hue. The goal is noise reduction - not noise
elimination. A little noise adds character and
increases the perception of sharpness. An absence
of noise will make your subjects look unnaturally
smooth.
All Raw images benefit from “capture sharpening,”
so this important function is built in to Raw editors.
Unlike JPEGs, Raw captures are not sharpened in
the camera. Don’t get the idea that you can save
Detail tab from RawTherapee
22Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
an out-of-focus photo with sharpening. All you’re
doing is bumping up the acutance level of your
photo.
Despite its name, the Unsharp Mask tool is the
classic way to sharpen an image. Derived from an
old darkroom technique, Unsharp Mask lays a
fuzzy copy of the image over the original to help
the algorithm detect the presence of edges. The
unsharp overlay is subtracted away and contrast is
selectively increased along these edges. The result
is a sharpened image.
You can control the overall effect of Unsharp Mask
with the Radius, Amount and Treshhold sliders.
Radius affects the size of the edges; too much
Radius will produce halos around edges. Amount
controls the strength of the sharpening. Threshold
controls the minimum brightness range that will be
sharpened. If set to 0, everything is sharpened,
including noise. A value of 0.8 to 2 works well for
most pictures. Enabling Sharpen Only Edges will
prevent any sharpening of noise pixels.
Transform tab from RawTherapee
23Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
When you’re done with sharpening, correct for
lens flaws if your image needs it. Some lenses
cause vignetting, chromatic aberration and
distortion that can be corrected - to varying
degrees - in RawTherapee’s Transform tab.
Vignetting often occurs when using a low f-stop,
such as f/1.8. Light falls off at the corners, making
the corners darker than the center of the image. A
little vignetting can be desirable in some cases,
since it tends to draw attention to the subject. If
you want it gone, however, this tool will take care
of it. Be aware that this adjustment can increase
noise in the corners.
Bargain lenses often suffer from chromatic
aberration, a failure to correctly focus different
wavelengths of color. It appears as purple fringing
along boundaries that separate dark and light
parts of an image. This tool will reduce the fringing
- but don’t expect miracles.
Extreme wide-angle lenses can distort horizontal
and vertical lines in an image. This usually only
presents a problem in architectural photos. Use
the horizontal and vertical perspective tools to
straighten up buildings.
Once you’ve finished all of your edits in
RawTherapee, you can either save the image or
export it to another editor to make selective
adjustments. Save it as a 16-bit TIFF if your image
editor supports it; make it an 8-bit TIFF otherwise.
To do this, click on Preferences. A new window will
pop up. Select the Output Options tab at the top.
In the file format area, use the dropdown menu to
select your desired format.
24Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
By using layers in GIMP, Photoshop and some
other image editors, you can make further
nondestructive changes and create composites by
combining different photos. Layers can be a little
puzzling at first, but once you get used to them,
they will become one of your most powerful
editing tools.
Layers are like sheets of plastic that you stack over
an original image. You can increase or lower the
opacity of a layer to show less or more of an
underlying layer. Brushes that paint black (to
obscure) or white (to erase) can be used to block
or reveal an element from a different picture. This
is how black-and-white photos with selective areas
of color are usually created.
Levels, Curves, Brightness/Contrast, Hue/
Saturation and other adjustments can also be
done on layers.
In programs such as Aperture, Lightroom and
Adobe Camera Raw, you can fix sensor dust spots
and other local blemishes nondestructively. You
can’t make selective corrections like that in
RawTherapee. In Photoshop or GIMP, however, you
can create a duplicate background layer to
perform tricky healing, cloning and patching edits
without damaging the original background pixels.
If you edit yourself into a corner, you can always
delete the layer you’re working on and try again.
Layers can be turned on an off with a click so you
can make quick judgments about the effects your
actions are having.
With layers and your available selection/extraction
tools, it’s possible to pluck a nice shot of a bird or
a cloud formation in one photo and paste it into a
Layers
Working with Layers
25Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
layer for a landscape photo that needs added
interest.
When an object’s shape is simple and well-defined
against the background, it’s pretty easy to remove.
If the subject blends into the background or is very
detailed - you’re trying to trace around a person’s
hair, for example - you’ll be looking at hours of
painstaking work.
That’s why pros who know a background will be
removed later shoot against a green backdrop.
That way, they can select the background color
with a single click and remove it.
A duplicate background layer is a great way to
selectively sharpen parts of an image. Sharpen the
entire image on this layer. If you overdo it, scale
back the layer’s opacity. Next, add a black layer
mask. Use a soft-edged brush and a white
foreground color to reveal portions of the image
you want sharpened. If you make a mistake and
reveal too much, switch to black and re-paint.
Layers don’t permanently take effect until you
flatten the image. If you wish, you can save the
master image file with all its layers open. That way,
you can always fine-tune the adjustments. When
you go to print, save a copy of the master and
flatten the image.
26Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
The Three Rs
The Three Rs confuse many photographers who
are just beginning to upload photos to the Internet
and make inkjet prints. With a little practice,
however, you’ll get to the “aha” moment in no
time.
Every digital image contains a specific number of
pixels along its width and height. The pixel
dimensions are governed by your camera’s sensor
size and the capture quality settings you chose
when taking the image.
Let’s use an 18MP camera as an example. When
image quality is set to Raw or Large/Fine JPEG,
your image size will be 5184 x 3456 pixels. (Multiply
those numbers and you get 17.9 million pixels, or
18MP.) A Small/Normal JPEG will come into your
editing software with a pixel dimension of 2592 x
1728.
Even the small JPEG is overkill for posting on the
Web. You need to downsize and resample it.
In Adobe Photoshop or Elements - GIMP handles
resizing differently, which I’ll explain later - open
the Image Size dialog box.
You’ll see an upper box for Pixel Dimensions and a
lower box for Document Size. The boxes for
Constrain Proportions and Resample Image
should be checked.
Resizing, Resolution & Resampling Images
27Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Change the Resolution value to 100 ppi (pixels per
inch). Specifying a resolution any higher than that
won’t improve the display quality of the image on
a computer monitor.
Most Web images don’t need to be any more than
600-800 pixels on the longest side. Enter a value
for the longest side, and Constrain Proportions will
automatically adjust the other side to preserve the
photo’s aspect ratio.
Resampling instructs the software to throw away
pixels - or add them when you’re upsizing.
Whenever you add or take away pixels, image
quality deteriorates to some extent.
It’s OK to throw out data for Web pictures. You
want them to be a small file size so they’ll load fast
on a webpage.
Adobe offers a variety of interpolation methods
when resampling. These algorithms more or less
intelligently decide which pixels are best removed
or added. Bicubic Sharper usually works best when
reducing image size for the Web. Click OK and
you’ll have an image that’s resized for Web use.
Use GIMP’s Image Scale dialog box to accomplish
the same thing. Make sure the interpolation
method is set to Cubic. GIMP uses a separate Print
Size dialog box for printing, which disables
resampling.
Now let’s run down how to prepare an image for
printing. Although a digital image contains a
specific amount of pixel data, its specific output
size and resolution is negotiable.
Return to that 18 MP image with a pixel dimension
of 5184 x 3456. If you uncheck Resample Image,
you’ll see that you’re now prohibited from adding
or throwing away pixels. To keep the total number
Image Size box from Adobe Photoshop
28Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
of pixels the same, the image editor compensates
by increasing or decreasing the resolution and
document size.
At a resolution of 240 ppi, an 18 MP image will
make a very nice print measuring 21.6 x 14.4
inches.
What if you want to send this image to a custom
lab, and it requires a resolution of 300 ppi?
Change the resolution to 300; print size decreases
to 17.3 x 11.5 inches.
What if you just want to print a 6 x 9 on your home
photo printer? Adjust the width and height;
resolution will increase to 575 ppi.
When resolution increases, pixels become smaller
so more of them can be packed together. The
tradeoff for smaller physical size is a smoother,
higher-quality print.
The trouble is that a 575 ppi image looks exactly
like a 100 ppi image on your computer monitor.
Because it looks like resolution doesn’t matter,
many beginning photographers think they don’t Image Size box from Adobe Photoshop
29Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
need to shoot at higher resolutions; or, they
downsize and resample an image at the beginning
of the editing workflow. This can compromise the
image for printing later on.
For most prints, it’s best to resize your image
without resampling. Depending on the quality of
the printer, most larger prints will look good at 240
ppi. Aim for 300 ppi or higher if you’re making a
photo book or making smaller prints that will be
viewed at a close distance.
Many images can be enlarged 10-20 percent
without too much harm. In this case, you want to
resample the image to add pixels. The Bicubic
Smoother interpolation method usually works best
for upsampling.
If your image editor allows, switch your document
size measurement from inches to percent and
enter 110, then repeat. It doesn’t take much
enlarging before a picture starts looking blocky
and blurry.
Adding pixels is a much more complex job than
removing data for editing software. If you’re really
keen on making poster-size images, check out
third-party programs, such as Perfect Resize
(formerly called Genuine Fractals).
30Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Before printing, your image will benefit from one
last sharpening pass - especially if you upsampled.
Be aware that effective output sharpening can
take a lot of trial and error and will often make an
image appear oversharpened on screen. It can be
done on a duplicate background layer.
For an average image - one that’s neither high
detail nor low detail - a Radius setting between 1.0
and 1.5 is a good starting point. Set Amount
between about 125 and 175, and Threshold
between 4 and 8. Tweak from there.
A finely detailed image requires a much lower
Radius - under 1.0 - to avoid halos. You may have
to go down to 0.3 or 0.4 for some images. To
compensate for the smaller radius, increase
Amount to 200-300. Set Threshold at 4 or less.
It’s important to not oversharpen a portrait or a
smoothly textured image. Use a low Amount
setting of 75-125 and a high Threshold of 8-12.
You’ll probably need a larger Radius of 2-3 to find
and bring out those edges, though.
It’s not a coincidence that automated sharpening
solutions are among the most popular plug-ins for
GIMP, Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture.
These complex algorithms calculate optimum
sharpening based on print size, resolution, and the
type of printer and paper you’re using.
Topaz InFocus, PhotoKit Sharpener and Sharpener
Pro are some of the leading commercial
contenders in this category. If a plug-in
undersharpens or oversharpens to your taste,
“trick” it by telling it to sharpen at a slightly higher
or lower resolution.
Sharpening
Output Sharpening
31Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
It’s very satisfying seeing one of your images come
to life on paper as a finished print. Thanks to huge
improvements in paper quality and inkjet printer
technology, it’s easier than ever to make large,
professional-quality prints from the comfort of
your home office.
The first step to success is buying a photo printer.
You can make good prints with multifunction 8.5 x
11-inch inkjet printers in the $100-$200 range from
HP, Canon and Epson. Stepping up to a dedicated
13-inch photo printer offers a corresponding leap
in quality, and price - $300 and up. A 13-inch
printer can handle cut paper sheets of 13 x 19 and
11 x 17 in addition to 8.5 x 11. Some printers in this
class can also use roll paper 50-100 feet in length.
Although small printers handle standard photo
papers OK, they’ll balk at heavier premium papers.
Prosumer photo printers have 6, 8 or more ink
cartridges in their arsenals to produce exhibition-
quality prints. Ink cartridges are larger, too, making
larger format printers cheaper to operate than
smaller printers over the long haul.
Once you decide on the size of your printer, you
need to make a decision about ink type - dye or
pigment. Pigment inks can’t quite match the color
gamut and high saturation levels that dye inks can,
but they’re much more stable and archival.
Paper Choices
Most color landscapes and portraits look best on
semi-gloss papers. These are more subtle than
glossy papers and may even include a bit of a
textured surface. You’ll also see them described as
luster, pearl, silver or satin. They’re capable of a
wide color gamut and produce deep, rich blacks.
Matte papers offer wonderful surface textures,
Printing
Basic Inkjet Printing
32Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
which benefit some photos, but produce more
muted colors and weaker blacks.
When you first start printing at home, buy paper
from the same manufacturer as your printer. The
major manufacturers go to great lengths to
develop profiles that will help you make prints that
match what you see on your computer screen.
When you call up a specific paper profile in your
print menu, it tells the printer how much ink to
spray on the paper and how fast the print head
should pass across the paper.
After you’ve made some great prints this way, go
ahead and dive into the wonderful ocean of third-
party inkjet papers. Vendors supply profiles of their
papers for the most popular printer models. Most
of them are good but may require some tweaking.
Printing an Image
Printing is handled in your editing software’s print
dialog box. First, check that your document is set
to the right color space - sRGB or Adobe RGB.
Next, make sure your editing software is in charge
of managing the color - not the printer. If the
software allows you to choose a rendering intent,
Perceptual works well for images with intense
colors. Portraits and prints with more subtle tones
will benefit from the Relative Colorimetric setting.
Make sure the Black Point Compensation box is
checked.
Don’t hit Print yet. It’s also very important to go to
the Print Driver dialog box and make sure that the
printer’s Color Mode is turned Off. If On, the
printer will take over color management. The Print
Driver dialog is also where you choose your paper
type and print quality.
33Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Entire books - and an entire industry - have sprung
up to help photographers get a grasp of color
management. The goal of color management is to
get a very good approximation - not a perfect
match - between what you captured with your
camera, what you see on a monitor and what
comes out of your printer.
It starts with your camera. Most DSLRs and
advanced hybrids allow you to set a color space
when taking photos - either sRGB or Adobe RGB.
sRGB is the standard for color on the Internet and
works great for a JPEG workflow and all-in-one
printers. Most online printing services also prefer
the sRGB color profile.
Adobe RGB is a wider color space that produces
vivid greens and reds. It’s a good choice for
landscape and travel photographers who edit in a
16-bit workflow and use mid- to upper-range inkjet
printers.
If you shoot Raw, color space doesn’t matter until
post-processing. You can decide on a color profile
when you take your photos from Raw to JPEG or
TIFF.
When prints come out of the printer with a sickly
green cast, the computer monitor is usually the
culprit. Calibrating it using your computer
operating system’s built-in controls is better than
nothing. You’ll get better and more consistent
results if you invest in a calibration software
package with a colorimeter. Calibrate your monitor
two or three times per year. Don’t fiddle with any
contrast or brightness settings after you calibrate.
The last stop in the color management journey is
the printer. However, advances in printer
technology have largely eliminated the need for
custom printer and paper profiles. Using profiles
supplied by printer manufacturers and third-party
paper vendors usually provides excellent results.
Color Management
Color Management 101
34Kim Komando’s Guide to Creative Photo Editing
Kim Komando’s interest in the digital landscape dates back 20 years to include both her first business
venture and her college education. Ms. Komando attended Arizona State University, which offers one of
the leading Computer Information Systems degrees in the nation. She left her first major in architecture
when research convinced her that the opportunities in CIS were better.
During her college years, Ms. Komando started her first business. She taught people how to use
personal computers. In her classes, she realized how confusing these machines were, especially to
adults. She knew that if she could make things easy and fun, people would listen.
After college, Ms. Komando accepted a position with IBM selling computers. She later
marketed computerized phone systems for AT&T, then mainframe computers at
Unisys. But her dream was to go on the radio and teach many more people to
improve their lives through computers.
Ms. Komando’s reality far exceeded the dream. Her network radio shows
run on more than 470 stations in the USA and around the world on American
Forces Radio. Her Digital News Network delivers more than 10 million
informative and up-to-the-minute digital newsletters to subscribers each
week.
And, as the digital world has expanded far beyond computers, so has
Ms. Komando’s coverage, unraveling the mysteries of smartphones,
apps, tablets, Wi-Fi and more. Leading a multimedia empire, Ms.
Komando, in addition to hosting radio and television shows,
offers a deep, informative and newly redesigned website; offers
the best of digital solutions in her specialized boutique shop
online; and is a prolific writer of books, e-guides, and author of
two weekly columns appearing in more than 100 newspapers
including USA Today.
About Kim
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