September 2009 Archives
Rohit writes,
"I'm using a Canon S3. It's a simple SLR so and I'm a beginner. Is it a good camera for me?"
I haven't tried that camera, but from the specs it certainly appears to have all the features you'll need to learn photography. As I often say, "It's not the camera, it's how you use it." If you haven't signed up already, please consider joining 12 Weeks to Better Photography!
Adrian writes,
I've tried recently to photograph lightning but with little success. Is there a basic set of rules to follow for this? Or some sort of guideline where I can try to find what works best for me?
I personally haven't tried lightning, so for this one I turn to the National Geographic Photography Field Guide by Burian and Caputo. They recommend as follows:
Adrian writes,
I notice a lot of professionals always use their flash no matter the conditions. I've tried this but sadly poor results. Why do they do it and why do most of my flash photos suck!?
Photographers often use their flash for "fill", especially when photographing people. Rather than blinding them with the sun and getting a photo of a squinting subject, it is often more effective to put them in the shade or even with their back to the sun and then use a reasonably powerful flash to light the subject. It's just another technique to control the light falling on your subject.
Gerry writes,
I get the impression from what I have read so far about digital photography that all pictures have been somewhat modified in a photo editing program before being displayed in magazines. I would have thought that a picture taken by professional photographers would not need photo editing.
It depends upon how we define "modified". Technically, you are quite correct. At minimum, basic adjustments such as white and black levels, contrast, saturation, etc. are usually required to produce a good magazine print. But that's not really any different than what we had to do with film. it is also normal to crop images, especially if the camera aspect ratio is different than that magazine page or other space in which the print is required.
