Remember back in the days of yore when if you wanted to take a picture you needed to dig out the old Kodak Instamatic and fire off a couple of frames. When you finally used up the roll of film (Kids ask your folks what film was) then you would drop it off at the local Drug store for developing. In a few days you go back and pick up your prints and play What Holiday was That because the film had been in there for a least a year.
Well today with digital it seems we all have some way to take a picture whether it is with your cell phone, a simple point and shoot or an expensive digital single lens reflex (DSLR). But just what is difference between these and what do we do with the images once we have them.
Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up the digital food chain, Cell Phones. What was once just something to make calls on has morph into a personal assistant. I don’t think I have seen a cell phone in the past few months that doesn’t have a built in camera. Go to any event and you will see many people holding up their phones (most of time in your field of view) for that one time shot. This is not to say that some of the phones don’t have some pretty good cameras. Plus once you have that image you can email or send it out right away. I have even used it when I travel and rent a car. Very handy for documenting any little scratch or dent on a rental car. Never had it happen yet but many attorneys recommend that if you are in an accident to use your phone to take a ton of photos for both the police and any claims later. The problem is many phones make it very hard to get them out of the phone and on to paper. Many times you end up emailing them to yourself or using special software from the phone maker with cords to attach it to the computer. The other drawback is most of these images are very low resolution so making a print can be challenge.
Your next choice is one of the many point and shoot cameras that go from $70 to $300. These are not a bad choice for busy people as they offer higher resolution images in a handy size for purses and pockets. Many will even offer some digital video recording capability so you can leave your video camera at home. When you are ready to make prints or send them in emails just pull the camera card out and put it either into a card reader like many found on today’s computers and laptops or take directly to a major store with an in-house lab. You can even upload them directly to labs on internet for high quality prints or a location near loved ones for them to pick up. Walmart, Target, and other stores offer this service. There is one thing to keep in mind, due to the cell phone camera s many of the low end point and shoots cameras are going away. This leads us to the last type of camera which are the DSLRs.
The Digital Single Lens Reflex or DSLR cameras look like the 35mm cameras from days of yore. Some look like what were called Range Finder Cameras with a fixed lens and some just like the 33mm film cameras where you can use many different types of lenses like a wide angle for landscape photography and telephotos or long lenses for objects or people far away. Most of these cameras offer high resolution images that make wonderful prints. Of course all of this means the price goes up for these models. I have seen prices starting at $600 and going up to $21,000 (yes that is not a misprint, $21,000 for a camera and that is without a lens). These cameras also offer many different camera modes for everything from fast moving sports, artful portraits,and close ups of flowers and insects. You also have more control over the camera so that inner artist can get the just the right type of image for the local camera contest or a large print for the living room.
Now if all of this seems a little much for just taking a picture or if you think you will just wait for next latest and greatest improvement in digital imaging all I can say is this. Think about the last time you were somewhere really beautiful, breath taking, or a once in a lifetime event and wish you had a camera. The best image is one that you can share and the best camera is one you have with you.
At the beginning of the 20th Century Wedding Photography was booking a studio and showing up after the ceremony for some posed shots of just the Bride and Groom. No family, no bridal parties, no cake cutting. After a few poses they left for the party. A few days later they returned to pick up some photos for the mantel. This changed after the second world war.
A number of the soldiers from that war were also photographers who provided the Army and Navy with photos of the action. They used a speed graphics (Think black and white movies with the photographer having a large box camera and flash) along with some medium twin lens and a few of those newer 35mm cameras. Somehow many of these cameras seemed to have falling into exiting military knapsacks and sea bags. These enterprising men looking to pick up a few extra dollars started to show up at the steps of churches on Friday and Saturday nights when the bridal parties were leaving the church. “Hey how about a nice photo CHEAP.” You can bet what the answers were. Studios complained about these weekend shooter and how they were destroying the art of photography. Some of the photographers got referrals and starting to show up at the church early to photograph inside. [i]What happen, no more studio photography after the wedding but coverage at the church.[/i]
Jump ahead to the fifties and a studio owner and wedding photographer named Montie Zucker saw that so many wedding photographers were in the market and they were all doing the same thing. Standing the bridal party at the front of the church and snapping a few shots. He decided that since he had invested in studio lights and backgrounds why not take them to church and set up in an empty Sunday School room and shoot some really nice portraits of everyone and charge for more prints. Many wedding shooter pooh pooh this idea. Who is going pay upwards of few hundred dollars for these type of photos. [i]What Happen, the birth of classy posed wedding images at a premium price.[/i]
Following that there were a few jumps in wedding photography. Bill Stockwell’s Misty Wedding Images (Vaseline smeared on the lens filter. Double Exposures where brides and groom somehow ended up in a Brandy Sniffer. Rocky Gunn came along with a background in the Movies introduced location wedding images and of course the seventies with Journalistic and Storybook coverage.
In all this there were some standing back and saying that change is bad. However it was those who looked at this and adapted who moved the art forward. Is it any different now in this age of digital?
Many photographers may have found under the tree this holiday season a new digital camera. Whether a point and shoot or DSLR the first thing you may have noticed was the camera dial has all sorts of letters and icons on it. Of course the one setting that made the most sense was the ‘Auto’ or ‘green’ setting.
This will look like a green square or a green camera that turns any camera into a full auto point and shoot. No worrying about lighting or movement, just aim it and push the button. This is a very useful setting when you want to get an image no matter what else is happening. However if you really want to have more control over the look of the image there are a few other settings that will give you that control but still are semi-automatic. Depending on what you are shooting the camera can give your artistic soul more than a quick snap shot.
All of these will be on the side of the dial with the little icons or Program Mode so you won’t have to worry about too much tech stuff. The Camera has these Program Modes set up to add more control over special camera settings for things like sharper images or even a blurry background for that special look.
First icon we will look at is the one that looks like a couple of mountains with a little circle over them. This is called the Landscape Mode which is a setting for taking those landscape shots of fields, meadows, mountains or the Grand Canyon. What happens when you turn the dial to this mode is the camera will think you want an image where everything is in focus. Those flowers in the foreground, that tree about thirty yards away and the mountains in the background. To do this the camera will give you an F stop or Aperture (in photography they are the same thing, just two different names) which allows for a large depth of field or area in focus. However to do this the camera will also slow down the shutter speed to allow more light to come in for a good exposure. This is because the F stop is controlled by an iris inside of the lens that makes a small hole which gives you that great depth of field. It is the same thing that happens when your eye’s iris closes to a very small hole in bright light. This smaller hole means less light comes in so the camera will use a slower shutter speed or allows the shutter to stay open longer for more light to come in. A slower shutter speed also means there could be camera shake. This is why you will see other photographers out taking landscape photos using a tripod. The tripod gives a very sturdy surface so there is no camera shake. But if you don’t have a tripod handy a fence post or even a handy rock or car will work. Some photographers sometimes carry a small beanbag in their camera bag. Just place it on a rough surface and put the camera on top of it so there will be no camera movement.
Another handy mode is called the Sports or Action setting. It will look like somebody running or dashing along. It is used for images that have a lot of movement in them like soccer, baseball, or football. If you have tried to capture your kid using the Auto mode you know that sometimes the shots will be burry. This is because the Auto mode doesn’t care if the subject is moving only that you have a good exposure. Depending on how much light is out there the camera might think a slower shutter speed is needed for a good exposure. This Sport or Action mode makes the camera use a faster shutter speed and to change something else for the good exposure. The results are sharper action shots plus because of the faster shutter speed you are able to hold the camera and not worry about a tripod.
The last mode I will share with you is the one with the person’s head or Portrait Mode. One of the reasons we have cameras are so we can make pictures of those we love. What happens is sometimes when we take these pictures there is so much going on all around and behind them that we can’t see their faces clearly. This mode allows us to focus on the person but can make the background blurry so all the attention is on our subject. It does this with the F Stop but instead of a large depth of field it gives a very shallow depth of field or area of focus.
There is trick to make this work. You will need to fill the frame with your subject so you see them from just over their head to their belt buckle or bottom of the ribcage. It is best if you zoom your lens in to do this as it will make the background even blurrier. If you try to get whole person from the top of the head to their shoes then you may not see the blurry background effect.
So while there are many more settings on that dial these are just the few that will allow you get even better photos from your shiny, new digital camera. Our camera classes can show you what those other settings mean and how to get complete control over that new camera. See you there.
For those of you who may remember my Christmas rambling from trips through New Mexico in the past to visit parents in Arizona will be happy to hear that once again my family ventured out before December 22 on another car trip. Once again New Mexico (Called by those who have traveled through it before the Land of Entrapment) has lived up to its name.
We started our road trip in Colorado waking up to a snowfall of six to eight inches. Climbing into the four wheel drive SUV we set off to New Mexico where we usually stay at a hotel in Albuquerque which is the halfway point in our travels. It took us three hours to drive the 100 miles to south Denver and another two hours to go the second 100 miles. A couple of hours later we were able to leave the state and drive into New Mexico. We were relieved to see that Interstate 25 was clear even with this same storm moving into the state. Just some light snowflakes drifting down which did not even warrant us turning on the windshield wipers. Settled in our room my wife and daughter went out to get some dinner. I stayed in the room and turned on the TV for some background noise while I used the very slow internet.
While trying to catch up on important world events (Oh Garfield, will you never learn) I heard the TV screech an important news update. I looked up and saw local weather guy looking very worried and pointing at a cloud covered state map and talking about road closings. I went to the window and looked out expecting to see a blizzard. Nothing, no snow just some guy in a pair of shorts walking back to his room with a bucket of ice. I then go to another website about New Mexico Road Conditions (www.NMroadsandbaitshops.org) and see that the state is closing not just country roads but the interstates too. Interstate 40 was closed on both sides of Albuquerque along with I-25 too. Once again I go to the window and just see some kids walking their panting dog who needed a drink of water before getting back to their room. Still no snow???
My wife gets back with dinner and I tell her that they are closing the roads due to the heavy snow blowing in. She looks at me wondering if I fell out of bed again and hit my head. “There is no snow out there and the temp is only 40 degrees. Maybe something is happening in the east but it is clear skies out there.” Another News break comes on and the weatherman, now looking even more serious, (He has taken off his jacket and loosened his tie!) warning of heavy snow and more road closures. Of course this information is important enough to break into one of the twenty different CSI programs but not important enough to give us any real news. Just vague reports of snow hitting the ground and cars pulling off the road with drivers running away screaming into the night.
When the news comes on of course the top story is about the weather with special graphics about what they are now calling a Christmas Snowstorm. The news couple first throws it to the special action weather team out in the field. Reporters who drew the short straws are standing outside in parkas with a few snowflakes falling around them.
News Couple Female with the perky smile: “We first go to our Action Weather Snow bunny Buffy out on Interstate 40 and the Louisiana exit to the east of Albuquerque that is the only uphill section of road in the state.”
Buffy: “Thanks Alice, I am out here by the interstate where the state has closed the freeway due to a least nine snowflakes that have landed on the roadway and as per the official statement “They did not melt”. Local hotels are filling up with stranding motorists mostly mumbling “Are they all crazy in this state.” Back to you.”
News Couple Male looking very concerned by not smiling: “We will now check with our Action News Special Reports reporter Dave Manly on the west side with another report on this very important story. Dave just where are you right now?”
Dave Manly: “Thanks Bob, I am reporting from inside my home because the police have closed my driveway due to what looks like snow falling in front of the street light. Though it appears to be hitting the ground and becoming liquid.”
News Couple Male: “Sounds serious, stay safe Dave, we are all praying for you here at the station. Now over to our Action News Weather guy Barry Overkill.” (At this point the graphic comes on again but now there is more video of cars buried under snow with New York plates and polar bears wandering the frozen tundra. It is now being called The Blizzard of 2011.)
Barry: Thanks Bob, as you can see from the Doppler 2000 that a major snow storm has blown in from the north (Darn that Colorado) covering most of the state causing road closures and weather conditions much like the end of time. Now you might notice that over Albuquerque we do have (and I am not making this up) a Snow Hole over the city. This clear area is keeping the snow out of the city but it is really falling throughout the state. (To show this Snow Hole he holds up his hands around the empty spot over the city)
News Couple Female now understanding just how serious the lead story is and she is no longer smiling: “Well, we will just have to keep an eye on this weather thing. (Smiling again) So let’s go over and check on sports with Biff Gross.”
Biff Gross hoarding canned goods under his news desk: “What difference does it make, we are all going to die!!! Back to you Bob.”
News Couple Male now smiling from not paying attention to the sports guy: “Thanks Biff got to love those fighting New Mexico some kind of sport team. (Looking into the camera again not smiling) Now before we will go back to Barry Overkill in the Action Weather Center this just in. The state has cancelled all schools due to this serious snowstorm. Wait, I am getting something else from the Control room, schools were closed anyway due to the Christmas Holidays. Now I have just been handed this, the state has canceled Christmas because that was only thing left to close. Over to you Barry.”
Barry now with a three day growth of beard: “Thanks Bob, we just updated our Doppler 2000 radar to Super Doppler 8000 radar to get a better look at the Snow Hole over Albuquerque. As you see the sky over Albuquerque is still clear with no snowfall predicted for the city. We will be keeping on top this so keep your TV on all night just in case this Snow Hole (now trademarked) should close.”
My wife and I still could not believe all this having driven down from Colorado where six inches of snow is called a late spring thaw. We went to bed thinking that by morning it would all be melted and we should be able to continue our trip. Waking up and looking outside there is a very light dusting of snow on the parking lot with kids trying to make snowballs that don’t turn into a powdery mess when they toss them. I call my wife over to see but by the time she gets there it has melted.
We check the internet and see that sections of Interstate 40 are still closed just outside of Albuquerque going toward Arizona but there are open sections too. She suggests an alternate route that would meet up with the Interstate on the other side of the closing but I think a more southern route down Interstate 25 and then over on US 60 which goes into Phoenix would be better because 1. Being more southern it should be warmer IE clear and 2.The maps are showing that it was still open all the way. Heading south we are making good time on clear freeways when we come to the town of Belen, New Mexico. It has three exits and only closed off one of the exits with a cop car however they closed the whole town so you can’t go around and get back on the freeway south of the town. Cars are lining the streets just sitting there waiting for the freeway to open again. We can see the freeway and the road is clear except for a very small white section with areas of the blacktop showing through.
We turn around and head back up to take my wife’s suggestion of the workaround to join I-25. The road is open but does have a covering of snow on it. Just a few cars and trucks on it and we make it to the Interstate just fine. New Mexico drivers are still fearful of this white stuff so the freeway speed is about 20 miles a hour where in Colorado we would be using our winter driving skills and travel at 40 mph just like we do in Parking lots. We do make it out of the state, eventually and had a very nice Christmas with a quick trip back.
Driving back I did want to check the local news to see if there were any more reports of Snow Holes in the state. The only thing on the news was that due to the trauma of snowfall their Action Sports reporter Biff Gross has taken to roaming the news room with reams of paper stapled to his body and chewing on his leg for nourishment. Back to you Bob.