Top tips

[ehasler]

I thought it might be useful and interesting if people could add their "top photography tip" to this thread.

To start, my top tip is to fit a UV filter to each lens as soon as I buy it. It doesn't affect the photo, but it does protect the lens from dirt and damage.

Any others?

[simpo two]

I'd second that. Perhaps tips will divide into Equipment Tips and Photographing Tips?

On the equipment front, I'd say: Always make sure you have plenty of film/memory and spare batteries, so you're ready to go at short notice.

On the photographing front: If it doesn't look like much of a picture in the viewfinder, try to figure out why not, and if you can't make it better by changing position, don't press the button. Learn to do this without using the viewfinder at all!

[simpo two]

Is that the best we can do folks?

[Mad Dave]

Always throw your camera bag in the boot - you never know when a photo opportunity might appear.

Composition - master the rule of thirds.

Mags - buy this months Practical Photography - its got a '101 ways to improve your photography' section which has some useful tips

Filters - buy a cokin filter system - its amazing how you can salvage a crappy dull day with a few filters!

[chim_knee]

Always point the camera forwards. Ear shots are rarely framed properly and usually out of focus.

[chim_girl]

[.Mark]

Get close to the subject, but not too close. During winter months the sea is cold and clothing takes and age to dry.
Also cameras tend to get upset and don't allow downloads until fully dry.

[bobfrance]

I always carry fine fishing line and masking tape in my bag (When doing product shots on location)

It's amazing what you can do with them
(Can also be used on people too )

[bilko]

To get the whole of a static vehicle into the shot position it like a "tick" in the finder or screen with the front grill as the smaller part of the tick. Then raise or lower accordingly ( this can also help lessen your relection in more shiny cars ).
For newbies like me!

[Mad Dave]

bilko said:

To get the whole of a static vehicle into the shot position it like a "tick" in the finder or screen with the front grill as the smaller part of the tick. Then raise or lower accordingly ( this can also help lessen your relection in more shiny cars ). For newbies like me!

How on earth do you get a car to pose like this:

[simpo two]

You can find Brown Dog Ticks in Colchester...





... disguised as Traffic Wardens. Or is it 'Parking Monitors'? I prefer 'MakingLifeReallyDifficultStealthTaxCollectors'

[bilko]

Mad Dave said:

bilko said: To get the whole of a static vehicle into the shot position it like a "tick" in the finder or screen with the front grill as the smaller part of the tick. Then raise or lower accordingly ( this can also help lessen your relection in more shiny cars ). For newbies like me! How on earth do you get a car to pose like this:

What is the rule of thirds? presuming youre not talking about more food!

[agent006]

Lenses usually have focal distance marked on them.

[steve-p]

Here's one that I've found useful on many occasions now.

Like all the other sensible people on here, I always buy a UV filter (normally the best available Hoya HMC UV filter) as soon as I buy a lens. However, sometimes I find I want to change the filter for another one (e.g. circular polariser) but because the UV filter has been on the lens for some time, and usually been through various heat cycles and aircraft cabin pressure changes, it can be well and truly stuck on the lens.

What you do is to take a shoe with a firm but flat sole, make sure the sole is free of all grit, carefully press the sole against the whole front of the filter, and you will find it is really easy to turn the shoe and filter together. It works because the milled edge of the filter bites against the rubber across a large area, and because sometimes filters are inclined to warp slightly, and this pressure over the whole ring straightens them out enough for the filter threads not to cause excessive friction. You can't use this trick with a circular polariser obviously, but if that is used with care it doesn't get stuck (plus I don't leave it on the lens anyway).

[simpo two]

bilko said:

What is the rule of thirds?

It's a good way to get classic composition - imagine the screen divided into three, both horizontally and vertically, then try to place your subject/s on an intersection or line. Good for landscapes.

[Mad Dave]

steve-p said:

Here's one that I've found useful on many occasions now. Like all the other sensible people on here, I always buy a UV filter (normally the best available Hoya HMC UV filter) as soon as I buy a lens. However, sometimes I find I want to change the filter for another one (e.g. circular polariser) but because the UV filter has been on the lens for some time, and usually been through various heat cycles and aircraft cabin pressure changes, it can be well and truly stuck on the lens. What you do is to take a shoe with a firm but flat sole, make sure the sole is free of all grit, carefully press the sole against the whole front of the filter, and you will find it is really easy to turn the shoe and filter together. It works because the milled edge of the filter bites against the rubber across a large area, and because sometimes filters are inclined to warp slightly, and this pressure over the whole ring straightens them out enough for the filter threads not to cause excessive friction. You can't use this trick with a circular polariser obviously, but if that is used with care it doesn't get stuck (plus I don't leave it on the lens anyway).

Similarly, if you drop your lens and bend the edge of the UV filter, preventing it being removed by the normal way (unscrewing) just whack the glass around the edge with a pair of pliars until it shatters (be careful not to scratch the lens) You can then just twist the ring and it will collapse in on itself and fall off!

[chim_knee]

chim_girl said:

Mnah... bite me.

[.Mark]

This might be bleedin' obvious but it hadn't occurred to me until I read it in the Dummies Guide to digital Photography at the weekend.
I could never understand why my old digital camera (350k pixels) took better pictures of moving objects then my new one (3.2m pixels), but better I mean quicker and less blurred. Skimming through the book it says (quite obviously now I think about it) the higher the resolution the longer it takes to capture the image because more pixels have to grab and store information.
So next time I try it I'm going toknock the resolution back a couple of notches and see what happens.

[simpo two]

.Mark said:

I could never understand why my old digital camera (350k pixels) took better pictures of moving objects then my new one (3.2m pixels), but better I mean quicker and less blurred.

I reached the same conclusion - the Mju400 is slightly less sensitve (ASA equivalent) than the Mju300.
However even the 300 can seem desperately slow in terms of 'film speed' - it usually defaults to 80 ASA which explains its tendency to camera shake.

How do the digital SLRs achieve greater resolution with greater sensitivity? Do they simply have much better/more expensive chip technology?

[wimdows]

Megapixels isn't everything. The size of the CCD sensor is likely to be of more importance.

For more detailed info, check out the following links:

www.photo.net/equipment/digital/sensorsize/

www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2303/2303article4.htm

www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm

Cheers,
Wim