Photography and Gallery etiquette
Thread Starter
Former Moderator
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 24,162
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From: Burlington, VT
Photography and Gallery etiquette
I've noticed there are some new people to photoraphy posting pictures in the Gallery and thought a few pointers might help to improve their photography skills.
First off, I am no pro. I had some minor training as a young child (before digital), but I've picked up everything else through the Internet.
I'll try to base this off of photographing cars because that's what we're dealing with here. Cars are a little different than shooting people or landscapes because cars have sleek lines and are usually reflective. I'm going to stay away from action shots right now because I don't want to be here all day.
Staging: when taking a still picture you typically have time on your side, so you can position yourself and the camera to catch a background that isn't too distracting from your main photo object (the car). Setting up the car is another part - turn the wheels so you're not taking a picture of the car with tires showing first - you want to show off those wheels don't you! Shooting a clean car is much better than shooting a dirty one - the more reflective the surface the better. Imperfections on cars are much more noticeable through the lens of a camera and a good shot is first defined by the angle you take the picture at. Be creative in your camera angles - people appreciate interesting pictures over just straight shots of the whole car.
In my opinion this is a decent photo, but poorly staged
This one is a bit more interesting because of what is around the car even though not the best photo
Lighting: with automatic settings on today's digital cameras this shouldn't be an issue when the sun is up, but a good night shot is very tough. Cameras rely on light to catch an image, so you have to do some of the work for the camera in the dark. Much of this starts by you judging how much light is around - ask yourself if there are street lights, a full moon, or whether it is pitch black. Some cameras (like Sony's) have a night shot feature, but most of the time you're going to want to use the flash. If possible you can change apperture and ISO settings. The biggest problem with night shots isn't always the lighting but the ability of the person holding the camera to stay still. Because a camera takes a picture much slower in lower light a slight twitch can make the whole thing blurry. I recommend a tripod or placing the camera on a steady object for most night shots. I usually set my camera for a 10 second delay.
This can play an effect in the day time too. ISO is the number indicating a digital camera sensor's sensitivity to light. The higher the sensitivity, the less light is needed to make an exposure. Many digital cameras let you change ISO manually.
From http://www.digicamhelp.com
Medium/low ISO at mid-day (1 min later)
Equipment: knowing your camera is a big part of taking great photos. Almost all digital cameras have automatic settings that do a decent job, but some of the more advanced features your camera has can make even better photos. The faster the shutter speed (how fast your camera takes a picture) the less the camera is going to catch. The slower the shutter speed the more details it will pick up - it is the difference between how much depth is in a photo. Along with shutter speeds come aperture (known as a "f-stop" on your camera), quoted below the following picture examples is SEVNT4's write up on it.
Camera A is a Sony 3.2 Megpix DSC-P52
set on a higher shutter speed and higher aperture for the picture below.
Camera B is a Sony 5 Megapix DSC-F717
set on a slower shutter speed than Camera A and lower aperture for the picture below.
*these photo comparisons probably aren't the best for this because each camera obviously was focused on two different things, but it is the best set I have for this case.
If you want to learn what the pros have to say about a camera, or your camera, go here: http://www.steves-digicams.com/ - great place to research your next camera and provides links to almost everything digicam 
Digital Darkroom: there are expert photographers and there are excellent photoshoppers. You don't have to have Adobe Photoshop to have a digital darkroom - there are thousands of photo editing programs for your PC or Mac on the market, and a whole bunch are free. A digital darkroom is simply a computer program(s) that allows you to edit a photograph. I personally think Adobe Photoshop is the best, but there are many that will get the job done for you - just depends on what you want to do. Some of the things a Digital Darkroom will let you do: Crop a photo (cut portions off that you don't want), enhance lighting (darken or brighten a photo), fix imperfections, change backgrounds, add filters, completely change lighting effects, etc....you think of it a computer program can do it. If I put a photo on public display 95% of the time that photo had some sort of correction/addition made to it in my Digital Darkroom - It could simply be that I made the image smaller so it wouldn't take forever to load onto the Internet. A Digital Darkroom can also turn photography into art:
The possiblities are endless. Maybe we'll have to start another thread on the Digital Darkroom. By the way, Adobe allows anyone to test their software for a month for free: http://www.adobe.com
Internet Posting Etiquette: first and foremost people are opinionated. If you put something up for public display be ready for criticism - yeah, it can tick you off, but there is nothing you can do about it if you want to share.
People viewing the Internet have different connection speeds, different processors/graphics cards, different monitors, and most importantly (in this case) different resolutions. Let's pick each one apart....
1. Don't get upset over criticism - if it bothers you don't post - ask yourself would I want to see this photo from someone else before posting yours
2. If your photos are larger than 40kb then put a little "56K bad" warning on your thread title
3. Try to keep the photo resolution at 1024 x 768 or less. If you want to show off bigger photos, provide a link for people to view them larger - the S2Ki photo album does this for you automatically
I hope people add to this thread, and I'll try to be around to answer any questions.
First off, I am no pro. I had some minor training as a young child (before digital), but I've picked up everything else through the Internet.
I'll try to base this off of photographing cars because that's what we're dealing with here. Cars are a little different than shooting people or landscapes because cars have sleek lines and are usually reflective. I'm going to stay away from action shots right now because I don't want to be here all day.
Staging: when taking a still picture you typically have time on your side, so you can position yourself and the camera to catch a background that isn't too distracting from your main photo object (the car). Setting up the car is another part - turn the wheels so you're not taking a picture of the car with tires showing first - you want to show off those wheels don't you! Shooting a clean car is much better than shooting a dirty one - the more reflective the surface the better. Imperfections on cars are much more noticeable through the lens of a camera and a good shot is first defined by the angle you take the picture at. Be creative in your camera angles - people appreciate interesting pictures over just straight shots of the whole car.
In my opinion this is a decent photo, but poorly staged
This one is a bit more interesting because of what is around the car even though not the best photo
Lighting: with automatic settings on today's digital cameras this shouldn't be an issue when the sun is up, but a good night shot is very tough. Cameras rely on light to catch an image, so you have to do some of the work for the camera in the dark. Much of this starts by you judging how much light is around - ask yourself if there are street lights, a full moon, or whether it is pitch black. Some cameras (like Sony's) have a night shot feature, but most of the time you're going to want to use the flash. If possible you can change apperture and ISO settings. The biggest problem with night shots isn't always the lighting but the ability of the person holding the camera to stay still. Because a camera takes a picture much slower in lower light a slight twitch can make the whole thing blurry. I recommend a tripod or placing the camera on a steady object for most night shots. I usually set my camera for a 10 second delay.
This can play an effect in the day time too. ISO is the number indicating a digital camera sensor's sensitivity to light. The higher the sensitivity, the less light is needed to make an exposure. Many digital cameras let you change ISO manually.
From http://www.digicamhelp.com
Medium/low ISO at mid-day (1 min later)
Equipment: knowing your camera is a big part of taking great photos. Almost all digital cameras have automatic settings that do a decent job, but some of the more advanced features your camera has can make even better photos. The faster the shutter speed (how fast your camera takes a picture) the less the camera is going to catch. The slower the shutter speed the more details it will pick up - it is the difference between how much depth is in a photo. Along with shutter speeds come aperture (known as a "f-stop" on your camera), quoted below the following picture examples is SEVNT4's write up on it.
Camera A is a Sony 3.2 Megpix DSC-P52
set on a higher shutter speed and higher aperture for the picture below.Camera B is a Sony 5 Megapix DSC-F717
set on a slower shutter speed than Camera A and lower aperture for the picture below. *these photo comparisons probably aren't the best for this because each camera obviously was focused on two different things, but it is the best set I have for this case.
Originally Posted by SEVNT4
Another addition to your point about shutter speed is the aperature and depth of field.
Info on Aperture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture
Aperture (measured in "f-stops") is the setting that controls the opening of the lens which in effect controls the amount of light coming in.
- The lower the "f-stop" #, the larger the opening and more light.
- The higher the "f-stop" #, the smaller the opening and less light.
For example, "F1.4" is considered a lower aperture and will allow a lot of light whereas "F8" is smaller brings in less light.
Why does this matter? Aperture helps control the amount of light as well as allowing you to adjust the depth of field. What's that? Depth of field is explained more in detail in the link below but it is essentially the distance between two objects in a given shot. One being closer while the other being further in the distance.
- With a lower "F-stop" (ex: F2), you can focus on a nearby object and blur out the background or focus on the distant object and blur out the nearby object.
- The higher your aperture, "F-stop" (ex: F8), you can make all objects at different distances in focus.
Info on Depth of Field: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field
Info on Aperture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture
Aperture (measured in "f-stops") is the setting that controls the opening of the lens which in effect controls the amount of light coming in.
- The lower the "f-stop" #, the larger the opening and more light.
- The higher the "f-stop" #, the smaller the opening and less light.
For example, "F1.4" is considered a lower aperture and will allow a lot of light whereas "F8" is smaller brings in less light.
Why does this matter? Aperture helps control the amount of light as well as allowing you to adjust the depth of field. What's that? Depth of field is explained more in detail in the link below but it is essentially the distance between two objects in a given shot. One being closer while the other being further in the distance.
- With a lower "F-stop" (ex: F2), you can focus on a nearby object and blur out the background or focus on the distant object and blur out the nearby object.
- The higher your aperture, "F-stop" (ex: F8), you can make all objects at different distances in focus.
Info on Depth of Field: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field
Digital Darkroom: there are expert photographers and there are excellent photoshoppers. You don't have to have Adobe Photoshop to have a digital darkroom - there are thousands of photo editing programs for your PC or Mac on the market, and a whole bunch are free. A digital darkroom is simply a computer program(s) that allows you to edit a photograph. I personally think Adobe Photoshop is the best, but there are many that will get the job done for you - just depends on what you want to do. Some of the things a Digital Darkroom will let you do: Crop a photo (cut portions off that you don't want), enhance lighting (darken or brighten a photo), fix imperfections, change backgrounds, add filters, completely change lighting effects, etc....you think of it a computer program can do it. If I put a photo on public display 95% of the time that photo had some sort of correction/addition made to it in my Digital Darkroom - It could simply be that I made the image smaller so it wouldn't take forever to load onto the Internet. A Digital Darkroom can also turn photography into art:
The possiblities are endless. Maybe we'll have to start another thread on the Digital Darkroom. By the way, Adobe allows anyone to test their software for a month for free: http://www.adobe.com
Internet Posting Etiquette: first and foremost people are opinionated. If you put something up for public display be ready for criticism - yeah, it can tick you off, but there is nothing you can do about it if you want to share.
People viewing the Internet have different connection speeds, different processors/graphics cards, different monitors, and most importantly (in this case) different resolutions. Let's pick each one apart....
1. Don't get upset over criticism - if it bothers you don't post - ask yourself would I want to see this photo from someone else before posting yours
2. If your photos are larger than 40kb then put a little "56K bad" warning on your thread title
3. Try to keep the photo resolution at 1024 x 768 or less. If you want to show off bigger photos, provide a link for people to view them larger - the S2Ki photo album does this for you automatically
I hope people add to this thread, and I'll try to be around to answer any questions.
Thread Starter
Former Moderator
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 24,162
Likes: 3
From: Burlington, VT
Thanks trunger, but I'd like to see this thread stay on the "Useful tips for photography" side.
If you want to see more pictures of my car, click on the banner in my signature http://axspot.com
If you want to see more pictures of my car, click on the banner in my signature
http://axspot.com
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Registered User
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,098
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From: Kelowna, BC
Poindexter: Thanks very much for the tips. I am looking at getting my first digital camera soon, and have always wondered wahat all these functions meant... now I know.
Could you (or anyone) recommend a good starter camera. I don't need a D70 or anything crazy (and I certainly don't want one that big). I would like to get a camera that is at least 5 meagapixel, but is still compact enough to tote around in my pocket. I don't need an assload of features (mainly because I wouldn't know how to use most of them), but I certainly don't want a bare-bones camera. It would be nice if it had enough features that I could grow into it over the years, and practice using them, so when I am ready, I could use all the little fun features.
Could you (or anyone) recommend a good starter camera. I don't need a D70 or anything crazy (and I certainly don't want one that big). I would like to get a camera that is at least 5 meagapixel, but is still compact enough to tote around in my pocket. I don't need an assload of features (mainly because I wouldn't know how to use most of them), but I certainly don't want a bare-bones camera. It would be nice if it had enough features that I could grow into it over the years, and practice using them, so when I am ready, I could use all the little fun features.
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 79,195
Likes: 18
From: Home
Well, this seems like as good a place as any to make this suggestion:
You talked about critisism. That's fine. Your car is dirty, the picture would look better like this.. or even, I don't really like that park bench you have mounted to your trunk. However, the endless suggestions on what to do next are rather annoying. You need rims now, you need to lower your car now, you need a giant park bench mounted to your trunk.
Also, I don't see it much, so it's not a big deal, but how about some ettiquitte around what to post in other's threads. If someone posts up a picture of their car with a hardtop, it's not an open invitation to post up YOUR picture of YOUR car with a hardtop. Unless it's a "Show me your..." type thread. Then post away!
Just some random thoughts that have been floating around in my skull.
You talked about critisism. That's fine. Your car is dirty, the picture would look better like this.. or even, I don't really like that park bench you have mounted to your trunk. However, the endless suggestions on what to do next are rather annoying. You need rims now, you need to lower your car now, you need a giant park bench mounted to your trunk.
Also, I don't see it much, so it's not a big deal, but how about some ettiquitte around what to post in other's threads. If someone posts up a picture of their car with a hardtop, it's not an open invitation to post up YOUR picture of YOUR car with a hardtop. Unless it's a "Show me your..." type thread. Then post away!
Just some random thoughts that have been floating around in my skull.
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 3,707
Likes: 2
From: In The Ether
Interesting stuff, but not wholey accurate.
The shutter speed examples are incorrect. The reason the first one is out of focus is because you're actually focused on the box behind the skull. Shutter speed has nothing to do with focus. You may get motion blur from a slower shutter speed, but motion blur and focus are two different things.
The shutter speed examples are incorrect. The reason the first one is out of focus is because you're actually focused on the box behind the skull. Shutter speed has nothing to do with focus. You may get motion blur from a slower shutter speed, but motion blur and focus are two different things.