Camera Lenses: Narrowing Down the Choices |  |
- Camera Lenses: Narrowing Down the Choices
- Interesting Photo of the Day: Colorado Rainstorm Captured by Airplane Passenger
- Beautiful Night Sky Timelapse Photography of Utah (Video)
- Mars Rover Photographs First Eclipse From Another Planet (Video)
| Camera Lenses: Narrowing Down the Choices Posted: 18 Sep 2013 09:23 PM PDT First of all, what is focal length? According to the textbook definition, “focal length is measured in millimeters (mm), and it represents the distance from the optical center of a lens to the digital camera sensor when the subject of the photo is in focus.”  “Headshot” captured by John de Guerto using a 50mm prime lens (Click image to see more from de Guerto) In plain language, this means that with a shorter focal length lens, to be able to capture a close-up of your subject, you have to be closer. Conversely, with a longer focal length lens, you can be further away to get that same close-up shot. Lenses can be fixed (i.e. prime) or variable, as in zoom lenses. If you look at any of your lenses, you will see, for example, a range of 18-55mm or just 50mm. The first is a variable focal length lens, and the second is a prime lens. So how do you determine what lens you need?First, work out what you want to photograph. If you want to photograph landscapes, buildings, and interiors, you will want to use a wide-angle lens. If you are interested in shooting portraits or nature scenes, then you might need a telephoto lens. Somewhere in the middle–neither wide angle nor telephoto–would be a normal or standard lens. Here are examples of the types of lenses you might choose, depending on your situation:
 “Kaikoura” captured by Alan McDade using a wide angle lens (Click image to see more from McDade) A wide angle lens requires everything in a scene to be reduced in size in order to fit into the image sensor, making it look as if the subject is further away from you. However, the telephoto lens will have the effect of pulling everything in your shot close to you, making subjects appear bigger. Do you experience difficulty with blurry or out-of-focus pictures? One of the main reasons for this is camera shake. The longer the shutter speed, the more likely it is that your shots will suffer from camera shake. Most of us can’t take a shot without camera shake below a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second. You also have to use the correct shutter speed for the focal length that you want to get really sharp, in-focus photos. This is because when you magnify an image using a telephoto lens, it is also magnifying camera shake. To overcome this, set the shutter speed slightly higher than the focal length. For example, a 1/40 of a second shutter speed is good for a 30mm lens, 1/60 of a second for a normal or 50 mm, 1/125 of a second for a zoom of about 100mm, and 1/250 second for a zoom of 200mm. Have you ever noticed photographs which have the subject in sharp focus but the background out of focus? Have you noticed other photographs where everything is in focus? This is called depth of field (DOF). Choose a shorter focal length to give you more depth of field. A 50mm lens will have more depth of field than a 200mm lens. When you increase your focal length to zoom in on a subject this decreases the amount of light entering the lens. To compensate for this, you need to widen the aperture, decrease the shutter speed, or increase the ISO.  “How are you?” captured with a low depth of field by Saritha Saritha (Click image to see more from Saritha) Focal length, ISO, shutter speed, and aperture all play a role in capturing an image. Focal length, to some extent, controls the amount of light coming into the lens. ISO controls the sensitivity of the image sensor. Shutter speed controls how long the image sensor captures the light. Aperture controls how much light the image sensor sees. About the Author: Go to full article: Camera Lenses: Narrowing Down the Choices |
| Interesting Photo of the Day: Colorado Rainstorm Captured by Airplane Passenger Posted: 18 Sep 2013 03:28 PM PDT The flooding in Colorado has been in the news this week, and even evidence-based science-type people—like the National Weather Service—describe the situation as “biblical.” The city of Boulder got over 17 inches of rain in a week, with just over 9 of those inches coming in a single 24 hour period. There’s over 1,200 people missing, nearly 12,000 evacuated from their homes; more than 1,500 homes were completely destroyed, and over 17,000(!) badly damaged. The news on the ground has been horrifying, which makes the quiet beauty of this photo all the more menacing:  Downpour in Colorado (Via Imgur, Click for Larger Size) The shot was taken from an airplane window and offers a unique perspective on the storms that have upended so many Coloradans. Everything surrounding the storm looks so calm and peaceful, but for the subject of the shot. The water seems like it’s being sprayed down with force, then splashing back up and forming a mist when it hits the ground. On its own, without the news from Colorado as a backdrop, I’d think this were a stunning photo, real eye candy. In context, though, it takes on a whole different tone, a tone which makes the photo even more powerful. Go to full article: Interesting Photo of the Day: Colorado Rainstorm Captured by Airplane Passenger |
| Beautiful Night Sky Timelapse Photography of Utah (Video) Posted: 18 Sep 2013 01:21 PM PDT Many photographers complain about not having enough time in their schedule to shoot for themselves. Clients’ work takes priority over their own personal work, and they soon find themselves getting bogged down. Enter JJ Dreier and Django Greenblatt-Seay, two mid-western guys who spend their free time shooting timelapses around the country. Their latest night timelapse of Utah only took 10 days to shoot. Not a year, or a couple months, but 10 days. Though these two photographers spent their days shooting consecutively, you could easily break up these 10 days among one month and finish a photography project of your own: The cameras that Dreier and Greenblatt-Seay used include the Nikon D600, Canon 5D MKII, Canon 6D, Canon 7D, and the Canon T2i. They also took advantage of a Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly which enabled them to achieve the fluid camera movements in their sequences. A Few Tips On Shooting Timelapses At Night:
 The fluid camera movements make this timelapse more dynamic Of course, you can achieve other things in a 10-day time frame. Look at your schedule an set aside some time for you personal photography projects. For Further Training on Timelapse Photography:There is a COMPLETE guide (146 pages) to shooting, processing and rendering time-lapses using a dslr camera (fall promo going on now – remember to use the voucher code FallLapse at checkout for a discount). It can be found here: The Timelapse Photography Guide Go to full article: Beautiful Night Sky Timelapse Photography of Utah (Video) |
| Mars Rover Photographs First Eclipse From Another Planet (Video) Posted: 18 Sep 2013 11:37 AM PDT The larger of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, was recently photographed as it eclipsed the sun by cameras mounted on the Curiosity Rover which is currently stationed on Mars. As Phobos was directly above Mars at about midday, the silhouette of the moon was at it’s largest point and the Curiosity began taking the photos at three second intervals. The images were then made into a timelapse video, which NASA has made available to the public to view. You can watch it below: The images are the first time that an eclipse has been photographed from another planet. NASA documented the eclipse so that it could use the information to more accurately calculate Phobo’s orbit. Since Phobos is not large enough to shadow out the entire sun, the event could not be considered a total eclipse. The eclipse is an annual event.  As Phobos made it’s pass by the sun it, at times, created a scene very reminscent of Pac Man. Curiosity is outfitted with two cameras, a MastCam 100mm (f/10) and a MastCam 34mm (f/8). The MastCams are made by a company called Malin Space Science Systems with the cooperation of NASA. The company specializes in photographic equipment made for space. The MastCams are both fixed focal lenght and are capable of producing 720p video, full color images, and stereo sound that is equivalent to a consumer grade DSLR. Each camera is outfitted with a filter wheel that houses 8 different levels of neutral density and UV filters for photographing the sun. Go to full article: Mars Rover Photographs First Eclipse From Another Planet (Video) |
| You are subscribed to email updates from PictureCorrect Photography Tips To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment