the daily shutter

Sarah May 14, 2013

what is RAW all about? #mamarazzi #photography101

This week i thought i would muse on something a little more about quality settings within your camera and details about image file format….

yeah i so know that half of you have just fallen asleep…ha!

Anyways i have been asked about RAW before so i thought i would mention it.

Most of your DLSR’s will be able to give you two choices of what mode you want to shoot your images in, what file format. The standard mode is JPEG, which a really useful file format. Its relatively small, simple to store, uploads into all editing programs, can be uploaded to the internet and sent in email.

So why would you consider something else, if you have this super duper fits all format?

Well a raw file is basically giving you more information in your file and therefore gives you more options of what you can do with your image in post processing. For example you can restore some detail in a blown out image or bring in some light to a dark image, change your white balance or make some more sophisticated photoshop edits.

So why do any of us shoot JPEG then if RAW gives us so much more. Well RAW files are mahoooooosive. They take up some serious space, your storage space is just going to get eaten up with raw files. Ask my OH how many times he tells me to delete some files as the hard drives (and i have three) are getting full. Also you might have to buy more software to be able to process raw files. Software companies such as adobe do not always have the standard format for certain raw files form certain cameras, particularly if you have older software and you are buying a newer camera.

So i guess the thing is to weigh up whats more important to you, space or image data and control. You can even experiment a little as a lot of cameras will allow you to shoot in raw and jpeg. So you can do a bit of both. That will suck your memory cards though. Remember if you have a 4gb memory card then you won’t be able to store as many raw on that card as you will jpeg.

So..how to change the image quality. This is on a canon camera. Should be easy to navigate to on other makes. Im making no comment about what camera is best. The photographer takes the picture remember!

You need your menu, go into quality and you see the icon that looks like a little wedge of a cheese. 🙂

There you can see the options you can go for.

If you are shooting in raw, make sure you have the software to read and use those files. So might be worth shooting jpeg and raw initially. In photoshop your raw file will be loaded into adobe raw, which is fabulous tool for some great editing options without going into full photohsop.

So a little example, this is just to demonstrate what you can do in adobe raw..so im not going to go into photoshop ..another time 😉

so this is my original image….

then taking it into adobe raw, if you have photoshop the image should open in adobe raw….looking a little something like this, you can see the image, the histogram on the left which shows you colour range through from darks to lights and then your options for editing down the side. You can see where there is red masking..that is where the pixels are blown out. It was direct sun (behind her).

on this one i have slid the ‘recovery’ slider which has drawn back some of those blown put pixels, you can see the red masked areas have gotten a little smaller? yes?

The square box is also where i will crop the image to.

Then i have slid up a little bit of vibrancy to make the colours pop a bit and used the ‘curves’ to bring a little bit of light into her face.

Ive also sharpened the image up a little.

This is the initial result. Now if you did that to a jpeg file, if its a lovely bright image like this where your camera and lens are not maxed out then it would be fine but if your camera is working pretty hard to get the light right and your ISO is high then editing your image may well leave it looking pretty grainy.

So what do you think? Have a play with it, see what you can do. Thats the brilliant brilliant thing about digital photography…you can just keep on trying without having to pay to develop a truck load of film.

Let me know how you get on.

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Sarah April 30, 2013

How fast is your shutter? #mamarazzi #photography101

I am a big fan of the semi-automatic modes on a camera. Everyone seems to believe that the only way to shoot decent images is to be fully manual and be in control of all aspects of the image.

well…yes…maybe…. but there is a really big BUT…

You have to be able to know what you are doing in manual and moreover know how to set and change your settings very quickly….. not such a problem i grant you if you are shooting a landscape..because a landscape isnt going to get all ants in its pants about sitting still on that lovely bench you have just plonked it on with its siblings.

No, most of us are mamarazzi, we are photographing our children and lets face it kids are often busy little things who don’t take much to being asked to stay still.

Unless they are asleep…and then you can knock yourself out playing with manual settings on your camera. 😉

But the truth of it is we want to capture memories and moments along the journey that is our own family story and i can tell you for nothin’ no kid of yours is going to look back at a picture of them proudly taking their first wicket in cricket and solemnly say to you ‘so what ISO did you have that on mama?’ 😉

Sometimes you just have to get the shot. In the can. If you don’t have time to faff with camera settings or you are not sure..wizz round to the ever faithful green square on that expensive camera of yours, pop the shutter and be PROUD. Remember whats important and prioritise.

So anyway… semi-automatics. Like it suggests it controls some of the picture taking parts but not all. The main two that all most reasonable cameras will have is AV(aperture) or TV/S (shutter).

Basically they work like this:

Aperture Priority – lets you control the aperture (thats what gives you the blur) – the camera then picks the shutter and the ISO

Shutter Priority – lets you control the shutter (coping with movement) – the camera picks the aperture and the ISO

Now in theory – your camera should pick the right settings so that you get a reasonably exposed image. But that will depend on where you are and what the light is like.

These settings are a great way of learning how that one particular process (aperture or shutter) works.

Shutter- Speed

Do me a favour and if you have a dslr go and set it to a shutter speed of 1/10. Right press the shutter and listen and watch the front of your camera. The snapping sound is the shutter opening for one tenth of a second.

You can have it open for longer, if you can scroll up to a number with a symbol like this ” on the side. That is an entire second..so you can have your shutter open for 8 seconds if you like? Enough for you to go in and out the kettle on! Now wind it back up to 1/500 (if you can) and listen to how fast it goes..POW. Its all about action and thats what you are talking about with shutter speeds.

You can experiment with slow shutters – gives that lovely blurry effect and can give a real impression of movement..

These two pairs below are the same image but shot with a different shutter. Its more dramatic in the water one but you can see in the picture of my son how much clearer the jump is on the faster shutter (look at his finger tips)

So when you are planning on taking some pictures of something or someone moving fast then switching up to shutter priority would be a good move. Or if you want to capture the flow of water like the first two images here then go back down to a slow shutter speed and get some of those gorgeous effects. Just a little note though when your shutter is opening very slowly the camera will be effected by any movement…your hands moving, breathing..so you might want to think tripod or just jam yourself against something like a wall and hold your breath when you press the shutter 😉

There is the classic jumping on the trampoline..try and do this without shooting through the mesh..its a bit tricky to pull off when your subject is moving all the time.

Playing with shutter speeds can give you a lovely capture of smallest of movements. Hair blowing in the wind…and other things blowing in wind. In the interest of authenticity i didn’t edit out the spit 😉

The one that we all are after, the school sports day shot.

Slower shutter produce really dramatic effects, like slowing down and blurring the gorgeous flames of the fire

couldn’t do a post on shutter speeds without the firework one. I didnt have my camera on a tripod for this shot. I should have but what i did do was wedge myself against the doorframe for a bit more stability.

There you have it, so how about popping your camera onto shutter mode and getting out there and having a play.

Do let me know how you got on!

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Sarah April 27, 2013

#silentsunday

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Sarah April 20, 2013

#silentsunday

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Sarah April 15, 2013

Not as expected #motivationalmonday

I bought a teepee a little while back, i think it was last year. My intention was to use it on lovely ‘concept’ shoots the sort that i have been inspired by so many times in the past. I have used it a couple of times but more often than not its been used by the cute little folk in my house. Initially i was a bit reluctant to let them loose on it. There is always a high probability in my house that something like this will get broken or drawn on at some point and so i was a little worried about it not being ‘fit’ for the purpose i had intended.

But gradually it has become part of our furniture, propped away from time to time but out for play..and yes it has been drawn on and broken in that time too!. My oldest daughters like to ‘camp out’ in it in our living room and my smallest two play a lot of games in there, sometimes they let mama join in too, especially when you play a game of peek-a-boo through the hole at the top!

I actually dont mind that it hasn’t fulfilled its initial purpose. I was maybe a little unrealistic to be honest. Dazzled by american photographers who can rely on good weather, beautiful hazy sun flare and warmth..when realistically the soggy summers and freezing springs we have had, haven’t actually lent themselves to extended concept shoots with little ones.

So for now, its purpose has changed but i don’t think it has less value. It is being well loved. It is part of some stories, cowboys, indians, tea parties, dolly get togethers, trips to the shops, imaginary journeys to foreign lands, and a few sibling fall outs 😉

My intentions may have been different but its purpose now brings a warmth to my soul when i hear it being bought to life.

Sometimes things just work out like that don’t they? Not always as planned but still as good.

i like that.

Giveaway time this week is for this super cute MINI BODEN tee for the little toddler guy or gal in your life! Just follow the rafflecopter as always. The winner of the LUSH gift box is Danielle Preira. Please contact me to get your prize! Congratulations!