Welcome

I decided to create a FAQ about photography. I hope that this section will be very helpful to you and thanks to it you will obtain new skills and eliminate some of the basic mistakes. I’ll enlarge this section with new threads. If you have an idea for a new guide – pm me. I’ll try to make them for you.

Table Of Contents:

1.Basic mistakes and tips
2. Photographing a Thunderbolt

This post was edited by Balakai on Oct 3 2008 12:13pm

Ad.1.Basic mistakes and tips


This article is targeted toward beginning photographers - people who are producing their first pictures, but don’t own expensive cameras. This article is for those of you who want to make good looking pictures in various places J

Some tips to start you off:


1. Don’t buy expensive equipment.
If you are just beginning, investing in an expensive reflex camera is unreasonable. A camera is a “box with knobs” – our skills are more important. If we don’t have expierience or skills, an expensive camera won’t help us make good pictures. When we decide that photography is something more and our compact camera is not enough, then we can buy a reflex camera.

2. Everytime and everywhere – camera by your side
If you want to produce good pictures, you must remember to take your camera everywhere. It’s not a problem. A camera can be so small that you can cary it in your pocket. You have no idea when you might be needing it. Who knows – maybe you’ll see something that catches your attention when you walk in the park. Remember that.

3. Settings
Apply different settings. Even a compact camera has many options. Maybe it’s a strange tip, but read the instructions before you make your first photo. You will become familiar with lots of symbols on top of your camera and the LCD panel.

4. Experiment and play with photography.
Experiment. When you have a digital camera, time is the only investment you need to make. Make photos from different angels – from bellow, above etc. Try to make pictures with current light – without the flashgun. Look around - on your house, neighbourhood – find an inspiration. Look at everything with the eyes of a photographer.

5. Criticism
Be hard on yourself and rigorously mark your photos. Erase every picture that isn’t worth looking at. Observe other, more experienced photographers to gain proficiency and find your own, unique style.



Most common mistakes made by amateur photographers:



Covering part of the view
Often we can see an amateur focusing so hard on making the photo that he’s covering part of the scene with his finger J The only tip I can give is to be careful when taking a picture, and keep the camera in the correct position.



Part of the object outside the frame
Profesionaly it’s called the parallax. This error forces us to cut a part of the scene mostly when the object is to close to the camera.

Upper photo – including parallax
Lower photo – upper part of the frame cut out



Moved object
This is when part of the photo is moved and the static elements of the photo are sharp. The reason is: using to fast shutters speed to catch an object that is in motion. We need to slow down the shutters speed or find a way to make a photo when the motion is parallel to the object.



This post was edited by ko-wal on Sep 26 2008 11:41am

Moved photo
The cause is the same as in the sample. This time all the objects in the photo are moved. To avoid these kind of mistakes use the flashgun or a tripod.



Red eyes
This problem shows up when the flashgun is too close to the optical axis and its light is directly on the person’s face. The problem is most familiar in cameras with built-in flashgun. Modern cameras have a option that reduces this effect (there are two flashes – 1st closes the person’s pupil and the 2nd is the main flash). If our camera doesn’t have this function, then we ask the person to not look directly into the camera.



Objects that occupy the whole frame
This mistake occurs when we fail to precisely measure the object or we too quicly move the camera when taking a picture. We must try to concentrate when we take photographs, make them slowly and focus on the object. It will prevent many disappointments when looking at our art




This post was edited by ko-wal on Sep 26 2008 11:39am

Not sharp forground
Sometimes when we review our photos we can see that the people in the in the foreground appear blurry. But why? For example when there are 2 people in the frame, the camera measures the sharpness between them. Most of the time that spot is in the background and it makes the background sharp and the main objects (two people) not sharp. Of cousre there is a solution. We must lightly click the shutter button (not releasing it yet) and and aim so that the two people are in the pinnule square and release the shutter. Both of them will be sharp

Ad.2.Photographing a Thunderbolt



I would like to encourage you all, to take photos of such an unusual occurrence as the lightning. Taking photos of a thunderbolt is very interesting, because it can give us experience, and provide us with brand new exciting moments.


I would like to encourage everyone to take photos of such an unusual occurrence as a lightning strike. Taking photos of a thunderbolt is very interesting, because it can give us experience, and also because it's very exciting.


1. Don’t forget
Place: Try to pick a place with high visibility of the sky. Horizon should be stretched to maximum. Try to avoid high buildings in the background, because they can cover a part of the lightning. I recommend a hill – it will provide you with the necessary view.
Daytime: Storms and lightning can appear at any time, but try to catch it on the night or evening sky – when it’s dark.
Protection for you and your camera – Try to secure your equipment and yourself from the rain. It would be best for you to locate the camera under some sort of roof. It is good to have a plastic bag with you, in case of heavy rain.


1. Don’t forget
Place: Try to pick a place with high visibility of the sky. Horizon should be stretched to maximum. Try to avoid high buildings in the background, because they can cover a part of the lightning. I recommend a hill – it will provide you with the necessary view.
Daytime: Storms and lightning can appear at any time, but try to catch lightning in the night or evening sky – when it’s dark.
Protection for yourself and your camera – Try to secure yourself and your equipment from the rain. It would be best for you to locate the camera under some sort of roof. It is good to have a plastic bag with you, in case of heavy rain.


2. Equipment
To take photos of the storm, you should use a camera with a bulb option, or other type which can expose to 10s or more. You can make good quality photos with any compact camera. If your camera doesn’t have those options, making those pictures still will be possible - but won’t be easy nor efective – it will be like shooting an apple from someones head – with a blindfold on.


It’s quite stupid to take serial photos in short periods of time… the shutter will use up quick, and the pictures wont’ be better.


Useful/ obligatory – camera and other equipment


Trigger (very useful) – eliminates shaking while pressing the trigger button.
Tripod – magnificent thing. Your camera will be stable and ready for action 
Chair – useful, especially if you have to wait for the storm to come.
Hot drink – it’s always good to have coffee or tea near by you. You will be grateful when it’ll start to be very cold and windy.


2. Equipment
To take photos of the storm, you should use a camera with a bulb option or a type which can expose to 10s or more [do you mean another type of camera or a type of bulb?]. You can make good quality photos with any compact camera. If your camera doesn’t have those options, making those pictures will still be possible - but it won’t be easy or effective – it will be like shooting an apple from someones head – with a blindfold on.


It’s quite stupid to take serial photos in short periods of time… the shutter will be used up quickly, and the pictures won’t be better.


Useful/ obligatory – camera and other equipment


Trigger (very useful) – eliminates shaking while pressing the trigger button.
Tripod – magnificent thing. Your camera will be stable and ready for action 
Chair – useful, especially if you have to wait for the storm to come.
Hot drink – it’s always good to have coffee or tea nearby. You will be grateful for it when the weather gets very cold and windy.


3. Tactic
Look/ aim the camera where you see most of the lightnings
With bulb function – hold the trigger and start counting
Wait for the lightning (if the thunderbolt won’t come after 20-30s.. again from point 5)
Lightning in sight! – check, if the exposition time isn’t to short - counting second of exposition and refering to the test photo – minus 2 seconds (because thunder itself gave us some light – you need intuition and a lot of testing.
Release the trigger
Check your results


In ‘storm photography’ experience is very important, as well as intuition. You can practice while taking night scene photos, with different exposition time. Come up with a solutiion, when autofocus is helpless and you have to manually set the sharpness. Test how deep sharpness compares with the diaphragm. Storm easily comes and goes – it would be better if those kind of things mess up our photographing.


Check photos you made carefully, even on those where there is no sight of lightning at all. Clouds with the light of the storm background are looking beautiful – and normalny you can see them only for half of a second.


3. Tactics
Look/ aim the camera where you see the most lightning
With bulb function – hold the trigger and start counting
Wait for the lightning (if the thunderbolt won’t come after 20-30s.. again from point 5)
Lightning in sight! – check if the exposition time isn’t too short - count seconds of exposition and refer to the test photo – minus 2 seconds (because thunder itself gave us some light – you need intuition and a lot of testing.
Release the trigger
Check your results


In ‘storm photography’ experience and intuition are very important. You can practice while taking night scene photos, using different exposition times [not sure i understood that right]. Come up with a solution when autofocus is helpless and you have to manually set the sharpness. Test how deep sharpness compares with the diaphragm. A storm easily comes and goes – it would be better if those kinds of things mess up our photographing.[something is missing here: better than what?]


Check photos you made carefully, including photos where there is no sight of lightning at all. Clouds with the light of the storm background look beautiful – and normally you can see them only for half of a second.


4. Patience – key to success
In theory it looks quite simple, but usualy it isn’t. The weather can be tricky, and we can end disappointed after you sesion, but don’t worry. Practice makes perfect. More sesions you have, more pictures you take – better they will be in the future.


Sometimes part of the lightning will appear in the frame. You are aiming at the left, but the thunder comes from the right. There is no rule for that, but a good observer will in time see where the storm is coming from, and where to aim the camera.






This post was edited by ko-wal on Oct 3 2008 12:21pm

Thank you TheBlackRose66 for this.

Thank you TheBlackRose66 for this.