Chris Poindexter, Author at Snapsort

Taking Better Holiday Kid Pictures

Some of you are coming back from Thanksgiving vacation a few weeks back to discover that the family pictures you took were less than stellar examples of kid photography. Fortunately, you still have time to rally before Christmas, the premium moment for kid pictures all year. This time be prepared.

Kids and Animals

Working with kids and animals have gotten many Hollywood directors and photographers to consider a career in real estate, so don’t feel bad if your turkey day photos weren’t that great. It’s a tough shooting situation, even for pros.

– Plan picture time just before meal time. The kids will be dressed for dinner, still relatively clean, and animated in anticipation of eating.

– Have a supply of toys on hand, particularly anything small that walks, rattles, or makes noise. Wind up toys that walk around are perfect.

– Ask the older kids to help with the younger ones. In my experience kids respond better to their older peers than whoever is taking pictures.

– You can also use the older kids as translators for the younger ones. A lot of time you as an adult might not understand what a child is saying, but the other kids will know.

– Put the wind up wiggly toy on your head when you’re ready to shoot. You’ll have about 10 seconds of full attention.

– Pictures when they’re engaged in an activity are almost always better than posed pictures.

– A puppy or kitten will almost always provide a great group shot.

Don’t

– Don’t have another adult standing behind you trying to help. That’s almost always more distracting than helpful and it’s really annoying to have a choreographer standing behind you.

– Don’t try to pose kids, it almost never works. It is better to get involved doing a song they learned in school. It puts them at ease, gives them an easy task they can manage, and gets everyone smiling.

– Don’t drag it out. You have maybe 10 minutes of quality shooting time before someone starts getting fussy.

– Don’t let kids wear shirts with logos or printed designs. Bright, bold, solid colors are best.

The ABCs of ISO

iso comparison — A comparison of grain at different ISO's - by HuttyMcphoo

The three legs of a good exposure are shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. In the old days ISO was called ASA and was dictated by the type of film you had in your camera. The standard for color and clarity in those days was Kodachrome 64 and, for really fine work, you might pick Kodachrome 25. The lower the number on film, the finer the grain and the slower the film, meaning it needed more light to get good results.

In modern digital cameras the theory is similar but the application is quite different. Modern image sensors can change ISO, the sensor’s sensitivity to light, to suit the scene. Most digital sensors are optimized to produce the best results in natural daylight at lower ISOs, but it takes better eyes than mine to see the image quality degrade at ISO 400 and below. And the noise introduced by digital cameras at higher ISOs is not a constant. Ever year sensors get better and noise reduction algorithms in your camera’s computer also improve in every generation of hardware. What’s true today may change in a couple years.

Just like in film, the amount of noise in a digital picture increases at higher ISOs. It starts getting more noticeable at ISOs over 800 and becomes really noticeable at 1200 and above.

As a general rule, use the lowest ISO you can and still get a reasonable shutter speed. Ironically, long shutter speeds can introduce their own brand of image anomalies and sometimes it’s a matter of picking your poison.

When it comes to the three legged stool of exposure, ISO still works like it used to…for now. But expect this one to change sooner than either of the others.

Rumors Swirl Around Nikon D4

The new D4 could be a video powerhouse - by Rama

NikonRumors is abuzz with rumors about the D4 and if their intel is accurate, Nikon could finally be ready to challenge Canon in the video market.

The problem with speculating about a camera that probably won’t hit the market until August of next year is that the specs are a moving target in this phase of production. Still, a few general conclusions are starting to emerge.

The D4 will sit atop the Nikon line with a full frame sensor right now estimated at 16.2-megapixels but at least one source thinks that could go as high as 24 or even 36-megapixels if Nikon opts to tweak the Sony sensor.

From the specs it appears as if Nikon is finally taking DSLR video seriously. Originally Nikon included video capability as a favor to those using their cameras for news gathering, but they never really embraced it and Canon has managed to own that space until recently. That could change with the D4.

The D4 will offer 1080 video at 30/25/24 fps but the real winner will be serving up uncompressed video out through the HDMI port, a feature also rumored to included in the D800. RAW video out is a feature Canon DSLR video shooters have been clamoring for since the 5D MK II hit the market and a feature the folks at Magic Lantern have been working toward for months. If Nikon gets uncompressed video output working before Canon, that could make a dent in Canon’s filmmaking market.

Another nod to filmmakers is the ability to assign the two buttons in front for smooth aperture control during video shooting. Competition is a wonderful thing.

Other rumored changes in the D4 will be XQD memory card slots along side the CF card slots, integrated ethernet, face detection, and an auto-focus system that uses 9 cross-type sensors operational up to f/8.

The price tag? While not known at this time, it’s a pretty safe bet to say that if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. With the Nikon D3 priced at almost $7,000, you can expect the D4 to be…more.

But then when has photography ever been an inexpensive hobby? And, for video shooters, $8,000 for RAW video out would be a bargain.

Fixed Lens or Interchangeable?

Point shoot cameras with built-in superzooms offer an alternative to long lenses

At this point in the development of digital photography, there is a camera for every buyer . In selecting which camera is right for you, one of the basic considerations will be whether to get a fixed lens or camera that lets you change lenses.

These days the question is not as clear cut as it was a few years ago. In the old days, you wouldn’t think of taking portraits with a zoom lens. You would have had a case of prime lenses and probably picked one in the 85mm-135mm range. Today zoom lenses are much better. Computer controlled milling machines, advanced optical coatings, and robot assembly means zoom lens quality is no longer an issue.

Now there are “superzooms”, also sometimes called “travel lenses” with incredible zoom ranges that make changing camera lenses a rare event. A few years ago you might have been carrying a small case full of lenses, today, even for a commercial shoot, you’ll likely only be packing two or three.

Modern consumer cameras with fixed lenses are still able to offer an impressive zoom range and most will work for 90 percent of the shots you will probably ever want to take. It’s that last 10 percent that separates photographers. Specialties that positively need to change lenses are serious bird watchers, sports, and wildlife photographers.

If you’re taking pictures for a living, or think you will, interchangeable lenses will be a capability you want. You may not have a lot of lenses at first, but you’ll pick them up over time.

Even if photography is just a serious hobby, I’d still get interchangeable lens capability if it’s in your budget.

But if you’re getting a camera to take pictures of the kids, for a family vacation, or occasional get together then the zoom range in most point and shoot cameras are just fine.

If you’re thinking about your kid’s soccer game, cameras like the Canon SX30 IS, the Nikon CoolPix 500, and Fujifilm Finepix HS20 with a built-in long zooms can put you right in the action, even from the sidelines at a price less than you’d pay for a decent long lens.

Getting Silky Looking Water In Stream Photos

flowing water — Slow shutter speeds are necessary to get this whispy look to water - by baaker2009

We’ve all seen the photos of rivers and waterfalls where the water looks silky smooth, almost a blur. Well, it’s not almost a blur, it is a blur. Not because the water is moving particularly fast, but because the shutter speeds are very slow.

To get those silky smooth blurry water shots, you’ll need to get familiar with your camera’s shutter priority settings. That would be the “Tv” setting on your Canon dial and the “S” mode on Nikon.

There are many instances where you’ll want to use Shutter Priority, it’s handy for a lot of different types of shooting. It’s probably the program mode I use more than any other besides CA (Creative Auto) on my Canon. You’ll use either Shutter Priority or Manual for most strobe lighting situations, unless your external flash is compatible with your camera’s eTTL system. It’s also the setting you’d use when photographing objects moving very fast at air shows or racing events. And it’s the setting to use for getting blurry water shots in a stream.

You’ll need a moving stream will a little bit of fall and a tripod. Once you have your scene framed, select a shutter speed of 1/125th of a second or faster, if you want the freeze the water. For the blurry effect, start with a shutter speed of an ⅛ or ¼ of a second and go longer from there, all the way up to two or three seconds.

Surprisingly, an object doesn’t have to be moving very fast to get the blurry background effect. If you’re trying to make a car look like it’s going fast, it doesn’t have to be moving much faster than a slow walk to make a car look like it’s speeding along with a slow shutter speed.

Just like with water in a moving stream, you can get the blurry effect with ocean waves. When done right it actually looks really cool, almost like mist over the ocean, but that takes some really long shutter times, three or four seconds. For many modern DSLRs that means working right up until it’s almost dark.