Since this tutorial is written by a beginner for beginners I would restrain myself from using heavy technically sounding terms and make it as simple as possible
Blurring backgrounds
This is called Bokeh. It keep most of the background / foreground out of focus, thereby directing attention where you want them to be
1. Find out how to take wrong photos. That is, what makes a photo normal ?
I came to know about this when I had been to show room for seeing camera and I clicked some photos. They were just normal. Later when i saw photos of some of my so called ‘photographer’ friends clicked with thier DSLR, it was no better than photos clicked with any decent camera phone. I was wonder struck. I had imagined that if you get a DSLR, that would automagically transform your photos like hte ones you see in Discovery channel
- Learn about angle, lighting, shadow( gives depth) – hard and soft.
Learn about color ( gives feel ) , what to blur, what to keep in the picture ( composition) , what must be removed ( in case of leaves ), - How to make things appear closer or farther and how to increase distance between objects using focal length ?
- How to change an object’ s shape and size ( zooming , perspective)
- Now these are not to confuse you but rather you have so many possibilities to photograph something.
- Shutter speed – whether to freeze action or make it flow
- How !much light should be present ( brightness, flash, external light, aperture and ISO )
- Post processing – hue, saturation, brightness, contrast, color correction, black and white ? Cropping, perspective tool, painting, cloning, copy paste
- Increasing light in the photo
- the background as well the point where the subject is placed, is equally important as the subject you are shooting
Focal length
Making effective use of flickr
Setup
Types of Lens and when to use them
Fixed focal length : 50 mm
The basic version cost around Rs 5,000 and if you are tight on budget, this is the one to go for.
Advantages
Cons
No autofocus lens built in the lens that means you have to use manual focus, if you use Nikon D3100 …….. etc But you can turn this to your advantage. Manual focus helps you determine the best focus avaiable for the given amount of light
Moreover using techniques mention in [specify link] you can adjust focus using the ‘range finder’ method or the ‘live view zoom’ method or even the focus point blink’ method. Another thing you could try is to first auto focus and then shift the switch to manual to manual focus
When to use this ?
When you are using a shallow depth of field, lot of part of object will be out of focus. To avoid this, do autofocus first, then manually focus to get the areas that you need to get in focus
[link the ear ring from mom, which has multiple areas that needs to be in focus]
Pros
Great bokeh
[pick a good photo from http://photos.justin-joseph.com/color-light-bulbs]
2. Polarizing filter
Things to watch out for
Each filter has size, Make sure you buy the correct size. For example, the kit lens that comes with D3100 has the thread size 52mm. So make sure you purchase a filter that is 52mm in size
and Where is this used ?
Polarizing is a very interesting concept. Once you learn how to use it effectively, you might never want to leave without that. The simple description is, it help you reduce reflection from several surfaces including water, glass and tiles ( tiles used in Indian home floors ) For example for one of my project, I had to photograph the reflection of cloud and sun on the floor. Using the polarizing filter I could determine the amount the reflection I could see on the floor.
How to use
Attach the filter on top of the lens. Turn the dial on the filter until you get the relfection you are looking for.
To really understand the other effects you could achive with this great filter, google
MC – DC2 remote control
Most type of macro photograph would require this most essential tool. When you get too close to the object, even slight reduction in sharpness, effects your photo. To avoid this, it’s best to make sure you use one of these
[ link to water droplet falling ]
External source of light
Make sure you have atleast one table sample, and atleast the following types of bulbs
100 W incandescent bulb ( those old bubls we used in our houses previously, that had a filament and cost nothing )
8 – 10 w CFL lamp
20 – 30 W CFL lamp
Background for your photos
If you shooting indoor portraits ( see technical terms section < give link > to know what a portrait means ) the background is very much important, or you are going to spend a lot of time in editing and changing the background in photoshop / GIMP sometimes even with disastrous results. Having object in the background, like tea cups or old books which was not intended has the following effect
It takes away the attention from the actual object you are trying to capture ( the person’s face )
You don’t have control over the lighting. Objects with different shapes and sizes and color reflect light in unpredictable way. Having the same color with the same material ensure that the amount of light reflected is almost same
And this is the most important one – You can easily change the background with just one click on a mouse. If you have a green background, you could easily change the background to black or even Taj Mahal using most post processing softares, including GIMP and photoshopssssssssssssssss
Product name that you could search for in google : backdrop with stand