Shooting in Av mode (Aperture Priority)

If you have been useing your DSLR (Digital Single Lens reflex) camera in auto mode then here is a lesson for you.  

First an explanation about aperture and how it affects your final photograph.  

Inside your lens there is a diaphragm that controls the amount of light reaching the image sensor. The diaphragm functions much like the pupil of the eye – it controls the effective diameter of the lens opening. Reducing the aperture size increases the depth of field, which describes the extent to which subject matter lying closer than or farther from the actual plane of focus appears to be in focus. In general, the smaller the aperture (the larger the number), the greater the distance from the plane of focus the subject matter may be while still appearing in focus.  

Higher diameters (lower f numbers) alow more light to pass through but have a shallow depth of field, while smaller diameters (higher f numbers) allow less light through but more detail farther away from the point of focus will be sharp.

Your camera measures aperture in F Stops ( F/N.N ). The n.n represents the F Stop Number.  The lower the numbers are the the wider the diameter and higher numbers mean a tighter diameter. 

For example: 

You are taking a photo of a bird and there are some grass in front of the it that you want to blur out a little but still keep the bird sharp. What you want to do is use the lowest aperture possible that will keep the bird in the best focus.  

Exposure: 

For proper exposure of the image a precise amount of light striking the recording media is required .  At lower F Stops this light will accumulate faster than higher ones.  Here is where the shutter speed comes in.  

In aperture priority mode the camera will you chose how long to keep the shutter open.  You

can usually adjust the exposure either with a wheel (optimal) or with a set of up and down buttons.

Try focusing you camera on the bird and taking a shot.  Keep adjusting until you get the result you are looking for.  Yes maybe until it flies away, but keep practicing you will get the hang of it.

Worried about photo papers?

I love taking pictures. Whenever I’m on a great hike, vacation or a momentous celebration, I take pictures. Whenever there are strange events and phenomena, I see to it that my camera’s around to help me preserve the moment by taking pictures.

You can never repeat precious moments because they are laid to you just but once. Thus, when you want to treasure these moments, better have a camera with you all the time. I also have my personal photo lab to secure good pictures instantly.

Before, I worried about photo papers. Some do not display my pictures crisp and bright. It is frustrating if your photo papers do not do justice to your hard-obtained pictures.

Photo papers are supposed to complement your pictures and not ruin its quality. In order to avoid photo papers from spoiling my masterpieces, I have gathered several pointers in choosing the suitable photo papers. 

Here they are:

1. Consider your photo needs. Photo papers come in a wide variety. They have different thicknesses, finish, size and quality. Hence, you have to know the particular needs of your photographs before using any of the variety.

2. Thickness alert. A tiny photo print need not be too thick. This is because it needs less support than huge photographs. If you are into poster-like pictures, better have them thick to protect them better. Thicker photo papers protect the material from pricks, folds and tear.

3. The right size. You can choose from a wide variety of photo paper sizes available. Studio-quality shots are nice in a 13” x 19” size. Panoramic views like sunsets, landscapes and seascapes are stunningly great in 4” x 12” photo paper. However, the mostly used size is 4” x 6” paper which is ideal for photo albums.

4. Suitable finish. Finishes includes matte to extra glossy photo papers. Matte has rich textures and ignores finger prints. Glossy photo paper, on the other hand, creates vibrant and lively colors. However, it does not resist finger prints.

5. Always do preliminary testing. This is to avoid wastage of ink and photo paper. You can also rely more on paper from established photo paper manufacturers. They have built their credibility for a long time, that’s one thing that counts.

Say bye bye to your worries…

Shutter Speed Basics

Shutter Speed for Beginners

I’m sure you know that one of the most important key elements to getting beautifully clear photos is not only shutter speed but also knowing and having a sense of the artistic. But the artistic imagination of the photographer is different from other arts; since you have to think in split-second increments. You can’t study a photo you haven’t taken yet like a painting, working on it gradually.

Shutter speed is one of the first things in digital photography that you must understand if you want to advance your skills. It can make you or break you as a digital photographer.

First, the shutter speed number refers to the speed of the rotation of the shutter inside the lens, measured in rotations per second (RPS). With photography, shutter speed is the time during which the shutter is open during the photo event to allow light to hit the film or image sensor in a digital camera. So, in combination with adjustments of the lens aperture (which is just controlling how wide the lens is), the shutter speed controls how much light the camera will record.

The basic rule is that a fast shutter speed demands a larger aperture to avoid under-exposure, while a slow shutter speed is offset by a very small aperture to avoid over-exposure. Slow shutter speeds are often used in low light conditions. Fast shutter speeds also give clarity to a moving image, and the fastest can freeze motion in mid-second.

Say you’re snapping a moving car. This example I’m talking about here involves a car on a regular street, going at a reasonable speed. To freeze the motion of the car as it passes you, you will need a shutter speed of about 1/2000. That means that the shutter has opened and closed so fast that you can’t imagine – one two-thousandth of a second. This is done a lot in sports photography, but even a simple subject like kids playing or your pet (who isn’t too good at staying perfectly still, unless they’re asleep).

But sometimes you want blur. You might want to capture the motion of a Ferris wheel, the flow of traffic in an intersection, or a subject with a surreal, dreamy, or action-oriented look. In that case, a shutter speed of less than 1/500 would be what you want. An old trick which many novice photographers use is to use ultra-slow shutter speeds to capture lightning. Go to a high space during a lightning storm at night, far away from city lights, and set up a camera with the shutter open and wait for a flash. Now close the shutter – the job is done for you by nature instead of your camera!

If possible, getting a single-lens reflex digital camera is the ideal. This will allow you to control the shutter speed alone without affecting the adjustment of the aperture.

Shutter speeds are a built-in invitation to experiment. It helps if you take several shots of your subject with different settings, noting each one on a notepad, then using your notes to compare the relative effects that each setting had.

Article by

Amy Renfrey

How to prevent 'Red-Eye' in photos

It happens to you all the time you take photos of family or friends just to find out later on that the eyes in the photos have a dominant redness to them. You are not alone - 'red-eye' photos are taken everyday by all of us. In this article we will try to understand why 'red-eye' happens and how it can be prevented.





Red-eye is a phenomenon that happens only when taking photos using a flash. When taking photos in day light or when in high ambient light scenarios people’s eyes look normal. When taking pictures in low ambient light scenarios using a flash the result many times is redness in the people’s eyes.

The reason for the color red is simple – when flash light from the camera hits the eyes it penetrates and is reflected back from the retina. The color of the reflected light is red because the light is actually reflected from the red blood in the retina.

In some scenarios the red-eye is evident while in others it is mild or doesn’t seem to appear at all. One of the main factors for that is the state of the pupils. If the pupils are dilated (for example the pupils dilate in darkness or when drinking alcohol) more light is reflected back from the retina and the eyes in the photo appear redder.

Common way to reduce red-eye

The most commonly used method to reduce red-eye is activating the camera’s built-in red-eye reduction feature. The red-eye reduction feature is very simple yet effective. When turned on the camera shoots a series of pre-flash strobes followed by one more strobe when actually taking the photo. The pre-flash strobes cause the pupils to reduce in size and by the time the photo is taken the pupils are small enough for the eye redness to substantially reduce.

The red-eye reduction feature does what it is supposed to do: reduce the red-eye effect but almost never is it completely prevented. There are many limitations to this feature; for example pupils reaction time to light can vary. In addition this feature can have a side-effect that results in photos having people’s eyes closed. The reason is that the pre-flash strobes blind the people and cause them to close their eyes.

Other ways to prevent red-eye

Understanding what causes red-eye helps being more creative in preventing it. Following are some ways to prevent red-eye other than using the built-in camera red-eye reduction feature:

• Increasing the light where photos are taken (for example by turning on the lights in the room before taking photos of people) causes people’s pupils to reduce in size and eye redness to reduce.

• Point the flash away from the eyes. Since red-eye is caused by flash light reflected from the retina the best way to prevent red-eye would be to eliminate such reflection as much as possible. In most cameras the angle between the flash and the lenses is narrow (this is especially true for built-in flash and pocket cameras) causing most of the flash to bounce back from the retina to the lenses. Increasing the angle (for example by using an external flash) reduces the reflected light. You can also use a bounce flash – by having the flash light bounce off a bright surface (a white wall or a professional reflector) most of the direct reflection from the retina can be eliminated.

Red-eye can also be removed after photos were already taken by using photo processing software on your PC. Most digital cameras include a CD with PC software that embeds this feature. Although this method doesn’t eliminate the red-eye from the source it can result in a practically red-eye free photo. Some software are better than others some are manual while others automatically identify the red-eyes and process that area to revert to normal eye colors.

Turn Your Old Photo Paper Prints into Modern Digital Format Albums

Although digital cameras have been around for a few years and are becoming more and more popular many of us still have a large number of older film camera paper prints, slides and negatives. Most people keep their paper prints and negatives at their homes and only use digital formats for new photos they shoot with their new digital cameras. In this article we will discuss converting your old paper prints into digital format.





Photos are usually kept at home in one of three formats:

Paper prints: The most common format, usually at sizes like 4X6 and 5X7. Over time paper prints tend to lose their quality. Depending on how well they are kept the paper might turn yellow and bend and the colors might fade.

Negatives: Also known simply as film. This is the processed film usually 35mm from which the prints where made. Although negatives can get damaged over time they are more likely to maintain their high quality. Negatives are hardly used unless new paper prints are needed.

Slides: Very similar to negatives used for projecting photos on a large screen.

There are many advantages to digital photography. Having your photo album in digital format allows you to easily print paper copies either at home or using a printing service, to view your photos on your computer, to share photos with friends and family and maybe most importantly to practically archive your photos for eternity. So if digital format is that good why not convert all those old photos from traditional paper and negatives to digital? Here is how:

There are different considerations when converting from paper to digital. Professional photographers spend a lot of time and money on this process. For most amateurs and consumers very simple methods can be used which are both cheap and easy. Scanning paper prints and negatives requires different equipment and considerations. For most home users scanning the negatives is not necessary.

Scanning paper photos prints

Photo paper prints are easy to scan. You can choose to scan them yourself at home (purchasing a scanner that can do the job is usually cheap and costs less than a $100). You can also choose to mail them (or hand them) to a professional scanning service that will scan them for you and mail you back the originals and a DVD with the digital scans (such services include www.digmypics.com, www.digitalpickle.com, www.britepix.com and many more)

There are pros and cons to scanning at home or using a professional service. If you have a small number of photos scanning at home is easier. If you have plenty of photos using a service might be easier but you can end up spending more money. In addition mailing your one and only hardcopy of your photos is a risk since they might get lost.

If you are going to scan at home consider the following:

Resolution: The resolution of a scan is measured by the number of dots per inch that the scanner can produce. Most scanners can scan at 1200 DPI or more. Usually the scanner can be set to scan at different resolutions. The higher the resolution the slower the scan and the bigger the photo file size will be. For most paper prints scanning at 300 to 600 DPI is enough but you can experiment scanning at higher resolutions if you feel it provides better results.

Speed: If you have a small number of photos speed is not an issue. If you have hundreds or more of photos scanning speed becomes important. To get fast scans you would have to scan at the lowest resolution possible that results in good enough scans – for most paper prints 300 to 600 DPI is enough.. Also if you’re going to buy a scanner check the scanning speed (usually measured in the number of scans per minute make sure that you check the speed at the DPI you’re going to use).

Photo feeding: If you only have a small number of photos this is not an issue. If you have many photos make sure that the scanner you buy allows fast and easy loading of photos. Some higher-end scanners will let you load a stack of photos and will automatically feed and scan them for you. These scanners are the right choice if you are planning on scanning hundreds or more photos.

Scanning negatives and slides

Scanning negatives and slides is harder than scanning paper prints. In most cases it is easier and maybe cheaper to use a professional scanning service (such services include www.slidescanning.com, www.myspecialphotos.com, www.pixmonix.com and many more). If you want to scan at home your standard flat scanner will not be good enough. In most cases you will need to spend money on purchasing a film/slides scanner. Those scanners are more expensive than the flat paper scanners. Negatives and slides are small high resolution sources and thus require scanning at higher DPI than paper prints. In most cases 2400DPI or higher should be used.

The considerations for scanning negatives and slides are similar to scanning paper prints. If you need to scan just a few negatives or slides speed and ease are not important but if you’re going to scan hundreds or more you should spend more money on scanners that can feed the negatives or slides automatically or can just load a roll of film and scan it.

The good news is that in most cases scanning negatives is not needed at all. For most amateurs and consumers scanning home photo paper prints is more than enough and scanning the source negatives is a not needed. It is recommended of course to keep the negatives in a safe place. You can use the digital scans for future prints or just for viewing on your computer screen and sharing with your friends and family.

In conclusion scanning your photo paper prints is easy. You can do it yourself at home or you can use a professional scanning service. You can convert all your memories into digital format with a small investment and make sure that you can enjoy those photos and also keep them in their original quality for eternity.

Digital Noise - What Is It? What Causes It? And How Can I Get Rid Of It?

Digital noise appears as random pixels on the photo that do not seem to belong there. Although digital noise is not a problem for most photographers and is mostly evident in extreme scenarios, such as night photography, it is beneficial for every photographer to understand what digital noise is and how it can be avoided and removed should it appear on one of his or her photos.

Digital noise in photos taken with digital cameras is random pixels scattered all over the photo. It is a similar effect as “grain” in film photography and it degrades the photo quality.

Digital noise usually occurs when you take low light photos (such as night photos or indoor dark scenes) or you use very slow shutter speeds or very high sensitivity modes.

When taking pictures with a digital camera an electronic sensor (also known as a CCD) built from many tiny pixels is used to measure the light for each pixel. The result is a matrix of pixels that represent the photo.

As with any other electronic sensor the CCD is not perfect and includes some noise (also know as white noise to hint on its randomness attribute). In most lighting the light is significantly stronger than the noise. However in extreme scenes where the light is very low or when a high amplification is needed noise levels can become significant and result in pixels in the photos that include more noise data than real photo light data. Those pixels usually appear as random dots or stains on the photo (for example white dots scattered randomly on the photo).

Understanding digital noise in various scenes:

Low light (night photos or dark scenes):

When the scene is dark the amount of light measured by each pixel of the CCD is low. When the light intensity is very low it can become too close to the level of noise naturally found in the CCD. In such cases some pixels can appear as noise because the noise level measured for them is significantly close or higher than the actual light intensity.

Slow shutter speeds:

When the shutter is kept open for a long time more noise will be introduced to the photo. A slow shutter speed translates to the CCD integrating more light per pixel. The effect can be easily understood as the CCD “accumulating” light in each pixel and measuring the total light over the shutter period of time. However at the same time the CCD is also “accumulating” noise. For that reason in slow shutter speed photos some pixels will appear as noise because for these pixels the amount of noise integrated is significantly close to or higher than the actual light measured.

High sensitivity modes:

High sensitivity in digital photography is implemented by mechanisms that result in amplification. The CCD amplifies the measurements it takes. However there is no way to just amplify the actual photo light that falls on the CCD pixels. Instead the noise and the actual light are both amplified. The result is that the CCD becomes sensitive not only to light but also to its own noise. When too much amplification is applied some pixels will appear as noise.

While it is impossible to completely prevent digital noise there are a few options that allow you to significantly decrease it. When taking photos in low light scenarios such as night photos there are two main parameters to play with: sensitivity and shutter speed. Raising sensitivity creates more internal noise in the CCD while slowing down the shutter allows for more noise to integrate on the CCD. The amount of noise generated by both parameters is different. It is recommended that you set your camera to manual mode and play with a few different sensitivity/shutter speed pairs to find out the one that generates the least noise.

Some cameras include a built-in feature called “noise reduction”. Noise reduction is implemented by sophisticated software that can identify the noise pixels and remove them. For example the software can identify the noise pixels based on their randomness and usually extreme intensity gap between them and their neighboring pixels. Removing the noise can be implemented by interpolating a replacement pixel value based on its neighboring pixels.

If you do not have a built-in noise reduction feature or it does not work properly you can use a PC based software that removes digital noise. Many photo processing software include a combination of automatic and manual digital noise removal. Some software packages can also use a few photos of the same object to “average” them and thus remove the noise (relying on the fact that digital noise is random and the noise pixels will be different in each photo taken).

To conclude, digital noise should be understood by any amateur or professional photographer. However for most photographers digital noise is not a practical problem even in low light scenarios. Usually digital noise is minimal and can be significantly reduced by simply turning on your camera’s noise reduction feature. For professional photographers who shoot in more extreme conditions digital noise can present a real problem and can be dealt with using a combination of optimizing the camera settings and removing noise with professional software.

One of the best on the market is Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended. This software delivers all the features in Photoshop CS4, plus new features for working with 3D imagery, motion-based content, and advanced image analysis. Click the image below to order your copy today.