Tips And Advice On The World Of Digital Photography Short Version

Topics

Holding the Camera Composition Improving Your Artistic Eye Enhancing Your Creativity Exposure Creativity General Camera Care Camera Care for The Extreme Weather General Tips and Advice

Holding the Camera

How you hold your digital camera makes a big difference in sharpness.

I know you’ve seen this: someone hops out of a car at a beautiful setting, holding up their digital

camera with one hand, the camera waving dangerously

away from their body as they line up the scene in the LCD; then they punch the shutter and run

back into the car.

That almost guarantees a less-than-sharp photo; sharpness they paid for

in that camera’s lens and sensor.

Here’s how to hold and shoot with an SLR type camera (instructions

for left and right hands are the same whether you are left or right handed; the camera is designed

to be held one way for best sharpness):

Grab the right side of the camera with your right hand, thumb at the back, and index finger over the shutter.

The rest of your fingers curled around the front of the camera.

Many cameras have some sort of grip on this side just for this purpose.

Turn your left hand palm up and place the camera in your palm.

Curl your thumb around the left side of the lens.

Curl the rest of your fingers around the right side. The size of the lens will affect how you actually do this. Do whatever seems

most comfortable.

For vertical shots, simply rotate the camera in the palm of your hand. Some photographers like their right hand at the top

because it keeps fingers of both hands clear of each other.

Others like to move the right hand to the bottom because the arm is lower and can be kept more stable.

Despite the fact that the fingers get a bit jumbled.

Despite the fact that the fingers get a bit jumbled.

Keep your elbows in close to your sides.

It's not unusual to see people looking like birds, flapping their elbows as they try to take a picture.

Squeeze the camera shutter down gently. Never punch or jab it; that’ll

move the camera.

It helps to push the shutter down halfway, and then a simple, firm

movement of the finger sets off the shutter without much effort.

Never hold your breath. Try just holding your breath and you’ll see that

you’ll start to shake.

Breathe quietly, though if you want the optimum technique, take a breath,

then breathe out as you release the shutter (this is an Olympic sharpshooter technique).

Composition

An essential part of taking any great photo is to simplify your image; and

there’re many ways to do that:

Pay close attention to the predominant colors in your image, and eliminate any

that create conflicts of calling unnecessary attention to themselves and to less important areas in the photograph.

Grabbing (and holding) the viewer’s eye.

Here are some things to consider that grab a viewer’s attention:

A clearly seen subject.

If you have to explain a photograph, then the subject isn’t clearly seen.

Dramatic light.Dramatic and interesting light on your

scene always gains attention as long as it compliments and enhances your subject.

Unusual subjects.An unusual subject immediately gains attention as long as it’s clearly seen in the photograph. If you have to point it

out, then it isn’t an effective photograph.

Uncommon angles.Show your subject from an angle that

people don’t usually see. Get that camera down low or up high; and look

at the side or back of the subject.

Isolate your subject.There’re many ways to make a

subject stand out from its background.

Basically, you look for contrasts between the subject and its

surroundings. Here are some you might try:

Brightness contrast.

Move so your subject is against a background that’s lighter or darker

than it is. This can be a very effective way of making a subject

really pop out in a photograph.

Color contrast.Whole books have been written on colors and how they contrast with one another.

The key is to look for colors that are different in the subject and background.

Sharpness contrast.Use depth of field to make your

subject sharp and everything else soft in focus.

Use a telephoto lens.With a longer focal length, you can

often separate your subject from the rest of the world simply by making your

subject larger in the frame and eliminating distractions.

Use a wide-angle lens.Put on a wide-angle lens and get up close to the subject. This makes your subject big and its surroundings small.

Get your subject away from the background.Having a person move away from the wall is easy, but what about subjects that don’t move so easily? Find a different angle to your subject to change its relationship to

the background.

Composition: Landscape Photography

It’s necessary to have a strong graphic drawing-factor in your

compositions, so be selective when selecting your foregrounds.

They need to be just as cleanly designed and well lit as any other

part of your composition.

Think of the foreground as providing a clear and intriguing pathway into the

scene; an element that leads the eyes into the image.

Examine the shapes and forms of the foreground to see how they might

relate to objects beyond them.

The image can usually be enhanced by contrasts, like delicate flowers before rugged mountains or by similarities like rounded beach

pebbles before wave-worn sea cliffs.

Improving Your Artistic Eye

Choose a good subject.

Subject choice is probably the most important part of the photographic

process.

Don’t simply look for an interesting subject; find a way for it to be shown

in a different or unusual manner.

Look for different things like how light and shadows touch an object, or

textures, shapes, patterns, the way colors interact.

Once you’ve selected your subject, it’s paramount to maintain the balance of

the shot.

Ask yourself:“How well does everything fit?”

“Is something important running of the edge?”

“Is the essence or subject of the photograph distracted by other elements in the image?”

“Is the essence or subject of the photograph distracted by other elements in the image?”

“Have I distilled the image down to what its really all about?”

Try different compositions.The rule of thirds is a good guideline

to help your photo design.

It separates the picture’s frame into a grid, with two evenly spaced

horizontal and vertical lines dividing the image into thirds.

Then, when placing the subject at the intersections of these lines, the picture becomes more visually pleasing because

the subject is not centered or symmetrical.

However, keep in mind that this tried-and-true technique isn’t always the

best choice for a composition.

Practice by proofing.Just like writing an essay, you ‘proof read’ your image by checking it on your LCD, but once you’ve left the

place, it’s like you have handed your essay in for grading.

As always, you’ll learn from your mistakes; even after you’ve left the

location, look back at your photographs and examine and study them; that’s

where the learning takes place.

Experiment.There’re so many ways to experiment

in photography. Take the time to shoot the same scene at varied

exposures.

Try filters for different levels of color saturation or effects and photograph

at different depths of field.

Rules are a great thing to keep in mind after the start, but then you’ve definitely got to experiment and just

try anything that comes to mind.

Enhancing Creativity

We all have shooting styles and techniques that we’re comfortable

with; but to grow creatively we need to work outside our comfort zone.

A simple exercise is to determine how you like to photograph usually, and

then select a completely different lens and shoot with that lens all day.

For example, if you were to shoot a landscape with a wide-angle lens

usually, a completely different lens would be a telephoto lens.

No matter what subjects you’ll encounter, you’ll have to figure out a

way to capture the scene using the lens.

This can be a very frustrating process, but before you know it, you’ll be trying new techniques and angles you never

would’ve seen otherwise.

If you ever find yourself just standing there taking photographs of a subject,

you’re doing something completely wrong. Simply, get down low or up

high, but never be lazy and just take a normal snapshot.

One photographer always carries around a ladder with him, and he would

set it up on lake shores, in rivers, on top of glaciers; all to get a unique perspective that would’ve been

impossible without a ladder.

Using a ladder may be impractical, say compared to a tilt-shift lens, but the

cheapest tilt-shift lens out there costs at least US $1,000 (QR 3,650), and most ladders don’t cost that much!

Scrutinize the details.This is a tried-and-true technique to

improve your natural awareness.

The idea is simple: find a piece of ground, anything from a small yard to

a whole field, and spend the day photographing it.

In the beginning, you’ll find lots of subjects to photograph, but after

some time you’ll have to start digging harder for images.

By the day’s end, you’ll be photographing blades of grass you

never knew existed, and using angles you never imagined.

This can also be applied to moving subjects, and you can then easily discover

details you might’ve missed previously.

Don’t let weather get you down.Arm yourself and your camera with weather appropriate protection, and

get out there.

Use the weather to your advantage in composition and effects, or perhaps

as a background for a gloomy picture. The possibilities are endless; get out

there and experiment.

Exposure Creativity

Pan and Blur.This tried-and-true technique is a great

way to spice up your images. Depending on how fast your subject is moving, a good starting shutter speed

is around 1/15 sec.

The trick with pan-and-blur is to capture your subject with just enough sharpness to anchor the shot, while

the background is pleasantly blurred.

It generally takes multiple passes photographing a subject until one is captured and has the right balance of sharpness and blur.

Use a tripod when possible, as it helps to steady your shot. A tripod

(pan-and-tilt heads are very effective) also makes it easier to track your

subject along an even plane.

Silky landscapes.Water is a component of many

landscape images, and the creative question you must ask yourself is “Will

the image look better with the water frozen in place or silky and blurred?”

If you want to get a soft water effect, try shutter speeds around ¼ to 3 sec. These speeds will retain a little detail and contrast in the water.

If you want to have some fun, try shooting really slow, around 15 to 30

seconds.

In order to get these slow shutter speeds, set your aperture to f/22, and try adding a polarizing filter to reduce the light another one to two stops; this should put your shutter speed around

a few seconds.

To get really slow speeds, you may need to add a Neutral Density (ND)

filter to block some of the light entering your lens.

Action-Stopper.On the other end of the spectrum of

motion photography are action-freezing, blazing shutter speeds: 1/1000 sec.,

1/2000 sec. and even higher.

The goal is to eliminate any blur in the image. This doesn’t mean you’re eliminating the sense of motion;

you’re only eliminating blur in the shot.

To really stop the action, start with a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec. This

speed normally freezes the action, but you may need to go even faster,

depending on the subject.

The compromise is that you’ll need a large aperture to allow enough light in

for the proper exposure. With the improved low noise of the newer

digital cameras, try dialing up your ISO to 400 or 800 to gain extra speed.

The other consideration is getting sharp focus on your subject. There are two ways to accomplish this:

predictive focus tracking or pre-focus.

Pre-focus is when you set and lock your focus on a composition, and wait

for the subject to come into your composition. Pre-focus is a must for (older) cameras that don’t have fast

enough focus tracking.

However, today’s cameras are amazingly accurate with their focus

tracking, and it isn’t expensive making it something normal in entry-level models.

Star trails.Star trails require the slowest of all

shutter speeds to capture their movement in the night sky.

Exposures of 45 minutes and longer are required to capture significant

movement of the stars when using a wide-angle lens.

To shoot star trails, first make sure your battery is fully charged. Next,

employ a tripod and a cable release with a lock.

Try setting your white balance to Incandescent for star trails; this white balance gives the night sky a stunning indigo blue color. Also, if your camera

features long-exposure noise reduction, turn it on.

The challenge with hour-long exposures is reducing the amount of

noise in the final image. By turning on noise reduction in your camera, you’ll

get a much cleaner image.

Just remember that the noise reduction process in your camera

takes the same amount of time as the exposure. So a one-hour exposure will take one hour to process before

you see an image on your LCD!

Try finding the North Star in the sky and place this in your image. This results in the stars all rotating around a central point. Also, try and find an interesting

foreground, maybe some trees or a rock formation, to anchor the shot.

If you want to go wild, try

light-painting your foreground

with a small flashlight and

then leave your shutter open for

an hour.

Push-Pull.Another way to add motion to a static subject (or a moving subject) requires

a zoom lens.

Start by choosing a slow shutter speed, somewhere around ½ sec. or

slower. This means choosing you smallest ISO, an aperture around f/22 and maybe adding a polarizing filter to

reduce more light.

Next, set your zoom to one end of its zoom range. Then, while taking the shot, zoom in or out with the shutter open. This results in wild streaks of

motion from a center point.

Push-pull refers to lenses that require you to push or pull the zoom ring to

change the focal length. Use a tripod with this method because it allows you

to get a tack-sharp center point.

Here are some tips for shutter speeds you might try with different action:

Running water.Water blurs start to really flow and give that streaming look starting at

about ½ seconds of exposure. Longer exposures blur the water more, and it

starts taking on a milky look with exposure times of several seconds.

Waves in big water.Wave blur creates interesting

patterns; breaking waves have a mist-like appearance with long exposures. Waves on big water need very long exposures to get interesting results.

You’ll find that several seconds are usually the minimum, and that long

exposures of 10-20 seconds or more give the most interesting results.

People at walking speed.You can get some nice blurred effects at around ¼ - 1/8 second, especially if

you pan with the subject.

Longer shutter speeds create interesting patterns, even to the effect of “ghosting” parts of the body (they

literally disappear).

People running.Runners need faster shutter speeds,

and panning is almost always the best way to go. Try speeds starting around 1/8 – 1/15 second, then experiment

with slower speeds.

With panning, you’ll be surprised at the fascinating (and unpredictable) results

you get at slower shutter speeds.

Dancers.You can get some incredible effects with

dancers at slow shutter speeds. This varies depending on the speed of the dance. Start with ¼ - 1/8 second, and then experiment with slower speeds

until you find something you like.

Running animals.Animals at speed make for great pan-blur shots. Animals run differently, so

the blurs will look different with different species and require different

shutter speeds.

Try ¼ second with panning to start, and then go faster for faster animals, slower for slower animals. Speeds as fast as 1/15 second can be very effective with animals with fast moving legs and a lot

of up-and-down movement.

Fast cars.A classic shot for high-speed

automobile racing is the panned shot with the car sharp and the background

blurred.

You need to have a shutter speed fast enough to give the car good

sharpness, yet slow enough to provide interesting blurs to the background.

This, of course, is affected by the speed of the cars and your angle to them. Try something around 1/15 –

1/30 second to start.

Night street scenes.Long exposures many seconds long give fascinating streaks of light from

cars. Set up your camera for an interesting night scene with the road

going through the composition.

Wait for a set of cars to come and start your exposure just as they reach

your composition. You’ll see white streaks from headlights, red streaks

from taillights.

It depends on your scene as to how long an exposure you need; generally

you want an exposure that’ll let at least some cars to go completely

through the scene or you’ll get chopped off streaks.

Blowing leaves.A fascinating use of blur is to

photograph trees and grass in the wind. You get some great patterns, colors, and tones. Shutter speed is

entirely dependent on the wind.

On a very windy day, a speed of ½ second might be plenty. On another

day, you may need 1 second or more.

Fireworks.Fireworks are great motion blur subjects. You generally want an

exposure long enough to allow the fireworks to create a nice pattern of colorful streamers. Typically, several

seconds is about right.

Dust is a problem for digital cameras, especially DSLRs. On a sensor it

creates unwanted spots, which are very noticeable on the image in light

areas such as the sky.

General Camera Care

Technically, the dust is on a protective piece of glass in front of the sensor, not

the sensor itself.

Many cameras, even entry-level models, have built-in dust removal capabilities as a standard. These

cameras implement sonic vibrations to knock dust from the sensor, anti-static coatings on the glass over the sensor, and vibrating sensors to shake dust off.

Frankly, even if you do have a camera with dust removal capabilities, you’re going to keep your dust problems to a minimum if you follow some of these steps. Here’s how to keep dust spots

from appearing in your photos:

Changing lenses.Be careful about how you change

your lenses. First, turn off the camera. This shuts off power to the sensor and

lessens any possibility of a static charge that might attract dust.

Also, change lenses quickly. Have the lens ready before you take the

camera lens off so the new lens can go on the camera immediately. It’s not recommended to change your lenses

in dusty or windy conditions for obvious reasons.

Keep your camera and lenses clean.Use a blower or a soft brush to brush

off the outside of your camera and lenses. Use a slightly damp (not wet)

cotton cloth to clean the outer surfaces if you’ve been in dusty locations.

Clean your camera bag.If conditions are dusty or dirty; or if

you’ve been using a bag steadily over a period of time, get out the vacuum

cleaner and thoroughly clean out that bag. If a bag gets beat up and really

dirty, get a new bag. Also, opt for a hard bag for maximum protection and life.

Caution (and disclaimer).If you’re unsure about cleaning your DSLR’s sensor, don’t take the risk. Take it to an authorized dealer for

cleaning. It’s better to pay someone to clean your sensor than it is to buy a

new camera.

Clean your DSLR’s sensor.This is something you have to be very

careful of. You want to be sure you don’t damage anything on or around

the sensor.

First, be sure it’s needed by this simple test: point your camera at a

blank sky and take a photograph of it with on stop over-exposure of the sky.

Now look at that shot carefully, enlarge it, move it around in the LCD. Do you see any soft-edged black dots? Those

are dust spots. If you don’t see any, you don’t have to clean your sensor (though

it doesn’t hurt to blow out the mirror once in a while as described next).

Follow the directions and cautions expressed in your camera’s manual

very carefully (and be sure your battery is fully charged).

In general, take the lens off the camera (in a windless area, preferably

indoors), with the camera pointed down so the lens opening faces down (this minimizes the risk of dust falling

into the opening, and gravity may help remove existing debris).

Set the camera to its sensor cleaning mode, blow out the inside of the camera

with a strong bulb blower, turn the camera off, and put the lens back on.

Be sure you don’t touch anything inside the camera with the tip of the blower.

Caution.Avoid using compressed air; the

propellants can come out and damage the sensor.

Cleaning your camera’s lenses should be a regular (although not too regular, once

a month is fine) part of any camera owner’s maintenance. While you do need to be very careful during this process it’s

not something to be frightened about.

The best time to clean a lens is when it’s dirty, don’t get in the habit of cleaning it daily or you’ll do more

damage than good. However, when the time comes to clean it here are a

few simple tips:

Lens cleaning fluid.In most camera stores you’ll find an

alcohol based lens cleaning fluid that’s well worth having. It’ll help you lift off

fingerprints and other smudges without leaving streaks on your lens or filter.

Keep in mind that you don’t need too much of this fluid at a time, usually just a drop or two, wiped in a gentle circular

motion with a cleaning tissue, will remove most marks on a lens or filter.

Always apply the fluid to a cloth or tissue rather than the lens itself.

Alternatively, many photographers believe that simply breathing on your lens and then wiping with a cloth is a safer method for cleaning it, rather

than introducing harsh fluids.

My own approach is to start with breath and then use the fluids for

difficult marks.

Cleaning tissues.To apply the cleaning fluid grab

yourself some lens tissues. They’re very thin paper that’ll let you wipe your

lenses without scratching them.

These tissues are one-use tissues and should be thrown away after

using. Don’t use normal facial tissues, these are too rough and will scratch

your lens.

Cleaning cloth.An alternative to cleaning tissues is

the more modern microfiber cleaning cloth. These washable cloths grab a hold of dust and oils on your lens.

The main thing to be aware of with them is to keep them clean themselves with a regular wash; alternatively just

buy yourself a new one as they’re very cheap to buy and that’ll negate the risk

of wiping something from your wash onto your lens.

Before using a cloth always check the lens to make sure you don’t have any large pieces of grit on it. The last thing you want to do is wipe it into your lens causing a scratch. Remove any large

gritty dust using a blower or brush before wiping.

Blowers.Most camera stores sell blowers of different varieties. Before you use a blower make sure you squeeze it a few times first to get any dust that

might be inside it, out.

Brushes.If you have a lot of dust on your

camera one good tool to get the big stuff off is a brush. Get one with fine

and soft hair (camel hair) to avoid scratching your lens.

Similarly you might like to invest in a lens cleaning pen which has a

retractable brush on one end and a cleaning pad on the other.

Silica gel.One last preventative measure. Grab some silica gel sachets to throw into

the bottom of your camera bag.

These little sachets will draw any moisture in your bag to them to save

your lenses and DSLR from being impacted by it. Keep changing the

sachets over time or they’ll attract too much water and become useless.

Much of the above cleaning gear is pretty low cost and will be available from a good camera store (often as a full kit). Don’t go

for the cheapest though, when you’re looking after gear that you’ve paid big

money for, it can be worth paying a little extra to ensure quality.

Cold Conditions:

Camera Care for the Extreme Weather

Moisture kills cameras. Use a plastic bag to stop condensation from forming on you high-tech electrical cameras.

A well-padded camera bag is essential for keeping condensation

out of your cameras. The thicker the camera padding, the slower the

camera warms.

In snowy conditions, use a one-inch paintbrush to remove the larger

concentrations of snow before placing the equipment in the bags.

Keep extra camera batteries inside your coat next to your body. Once the

battery in the camera gets cold, or when the charge meter is mysteriously very low for such a short usage time, swap it out for the one in your pocket.

At tip for the photographer. Thick soles are the key to keeping your feet warm, so you want those soles to be at least

an inch thick, the more the better.

Warm Conditions:

Camera Care for the Extreme Weather

A damp towel placed over a large lens and the camera body reduces dust. Obviously, the towel shouldn’t be dripping wet. Squeeze out all the excess moisture before using this

method, and exercise caution.

A one-inch paintbrush comes in handy for dusty conditions too. Use it to remove the

day’s dust that was accumulated.

Take as many camera bodies as you can afford. If you can put on one lens

on one body and not change it the entire trip, you’ll cut down on sensor

dust dramatically.

General Tips and Advice

Have passion for the subject; try narrowing your list of qualified themes to only a few topics, and concentrate

your efforts there.

When you become familiar with a place by returning to it often, you gain valuable information about the place like lighting and weather among other things that boil down to experience.

You recall things and set out to capture the image that you couldn’t the last

time, as well as using your hindsight to fix mistakes, take pre-cautions, or simply be prepared appropriately.

Avoid repetition if you can help it. This mostly happens when photographers return to the same location often, and

sometimes they catch themselves taking the same composition or using the same

exposure or perspective; and so on.

If you’ve already captured a substantially successful image using

the repeated elements, then you must be willing to play and experiment;

there’s no risk, no pressure to succeed and most importantly no great loss if

another successful image is not made.

Try and be as aware and knowledgeable as possible on other peoples work, especially those with

the same themes as yours.

That way, you’re less likely to create cliché work, and have set out to

create fresh imagery verses recreating photographs.

Basically, this is to keep people from taking the same picture as somebody else and claiming it as their own; so keep in mind that it’s perfectly fine to be inspired by somebody’s work and visit the same location, for example, and take photographs like the ones

they made, but not same.

Note that some beginners and amateurs attempt to capture the same

exact image as somebody else, usually a pro.

The reasoning behind this is very simple: if I’m capable of capturing an image

that’s very close to the one this pro took, on my own, then I’m gaining valuable

experience and knowledge, in addition to a key thing (best case scenario):

understanding how a pro works and what their chain of thought is like.

Please use this technique as a method of practice only.

Patience, Patience, Patience.The energy of a new discovery is a

double sided sword, it can be an advantage, but it can also be distracting.

If you’re ever in such a scenario, relax and take a deep breath to get your

focus back, in order to see the landscape more clearly. It’s favored to use a calm and meditative approach to find harmony with your environment,

especially in new locations.

Shooting nature during midday can be difficult to photograph. Try using a

polarizing filter to help deepen the midday sky, and a 2- and 3-stop graduated (soft) ND filter to help reduce contrast between

sky and land near sunrise and sunset. Hard-edge split ND filters can be very effective in these conditions as well.

Get out more, magic happens. The more time you spend outdoors, where your favorite subjects are, the more likely you are to be at the right place at the right time to experience and

photograph them.

There’s always an element of luck in getting a special image, no matter how well

planned. There’s no public schedule for luck, superb light doesn’t take reservations,

and dramatic skies don’t appear on command. Your best chance of finding something unique is to give something unique a better chance of finding you.

Be serious. Take subjects seriously, take your camera seriously and, more than anything, take yourself seriously.

Believe that you can make great images, believe that whatever camera you’re holding right now is capable of capturing great images and believe

that there’re great images to be found wherever you are.

A common mistake is to dismiss a special moment for lack of faith in

your own abilities or the abilities of the camera you happen to have with you.

When you come upon an interesting subject, take your time, study it and

ask yourself: “What can I do with this?” and “Is this really the best

possible composition?”

Don’t let yourself off the hook, cut corners or underestimate your

viewers. To put it bluntly: Nobody cares why an image doesn’t work or

why an image almost works.

Good gear takes you only so far. Your equipment plays a major role in

photography. By having the right gear, you give yourself a natural advantage,

but only up to a point.

What’s important is to keep in mind the role gear plays in photography

and to consider its value in that limited context. Good gear will enable you to

make technically good images.

Gear won’t make your images more evocative. It won’t improve your

composition. It won’t make the light better. It won’t make the subject any more

interesting and, consequently, it won’t make your images more successful.

If you compare a fine image to a fine meal, remember that even the best

and most expensive dinnerware won’t make your food taste any better.

So buy gear that can capture sufficient detail for the size prints you want to make (so you don’t have to

worry about how to fix that later) and can help you make good exposure

decisions (so you don’t have to worry about how to fix that later).

Buy gear that can give you sufficient support and stability to make sharp images (who wants to worry about

how to fix that later?) and that provides flexibility in framing your composition (so you don’t have to worry about how to fix that later).

Buy gear that is sufficiently light and comfortable to carry wherever you go. With all those worries out of the way,

go about making images.

Heed the importance of a tripod. Maximum sharpness comes from

using any camera/lens combination on a tripod. Period. If you want to get

the most out of your equipment, at some point, you’ll need a tripod.

Choose a tripod by setting it up at the store, locking all the legs, and leaning

on it. It shouldn’t bend or sway significantly; any movement more

than a few millimeters will give you a less than stable tripod, which won’t

give sharp images.

Both metal and carbon fiber tripods are excellent options. The advantage of metal is lower price; the advantage

of carbon fiber is less weight.

A tripod also needs a sturdy head to go with it. Pan-and-tilt heads have many levers to lock and unlock,

compared to a ballhead that has a single main knob or lever.

On the other hand, the pan-and-tilt has two advantages: lower price for equal stability and ease in locking a camera into position without the camera and

lens taking off on their own.

The ballhead is much more convenient for setting camera position, but since

the lock tightens and loosens all dimensional movement, there’s more

potential for sudden change in unexpected direction.

Smaller ballheads aren’t very useful at stabilizing a heavy camera such as a DSLR. You can get very lightweight,

yet large enough, ballheads.

Buy ballheads with a quick release, and then get extra release plates (incase you loose one) for all the

tripod sockets on your cameras and lenses. Quick releases make tripods

easier to use.

Take your camera with you when choosing a tripod, you can test it on site with your own gear to make sure

it’ll work for your specific needs.

Your comments are extremely valuable (no really, they are!).

Seriously, this is my graduation project (from grade 10 to 11) so I

really need your feedback. Check out the next slide for more info.

Any feedback is welcome, however, the goal of this project is (quote) “to help

people take photographs that are close to professional standards, as well as

providing professional tips and advice concerning the use of a digital camera’s

numerous functions, in addition to general tips and advice.” So feedback regarding the achievement of that goal would be

most appreciated.