Good photography requires mastering a whole range of skills and techniques. No matter how much experience we have, it is easy to forget some of these techniques as we become overwhelmed with all the other things we need to remember.
The main goal of this three-part series is to provide a quick refresher course (or introductory overview) on the essentials of good photography. We will talk about how exposure, composition, lens choice, and lighting all contribute to consistently getting great images in your camera, so you don’t always have rely on Photoshop to help you “fix” things.
Sharp is Good! Most of the time we want to capture images that are sharp. (I say most of the time because there may be times when blur may be exactly the look you have in mind.) However, you can always blur selected details later in Photoshop. But you can’t always introduce enough sharpness in your final image if the details in the capture are blurry to begin with.
One key aspect of sharpness is how you hold or support the camera.
Using a Tripod Helps: The easiest way to get sharper pictures is to work with a good tripod. A solid, well-built tripod will minimize camera shake. (Note that I said minimize.) To eliminate shake, add a cable release and use the mirror lockup mode if your camera has one. These steps will remove two major sources of vibration for cameras on tripods: (1) pressing the shutter button; and (2) the movement of the mirror in an SLR.
Let’s not kid ourselves: Dragging a tripod around with all the other gear is a pain. So make sure you have a tripod that is solid enough but is still light and compact enough that you are willing to carry it with you. A great tripod left at home is not a good investment.
Tripods offer other benefits than just sharpness. For example:
Hold the Camera Still: A tripod is not right for all types of photography though. So, make sure you have good hand-holding technique as well. Here are three ways to improve your technique:
Correct Exposure: While on the topic of exposure, we should discuss the notion of correct exposure. Basically, there is none. There is no arbitrarily right exposure, only the exposure that gives you the result you want.
Because I shoot almost exclusively digitally and all my images get processed through Photoshop, I shoot to make image adjustment in Photoshop as easy as possible while still obtaining the highest quality image I can get from my camera.
Use the Histogram: The histogram display on your camera is your friend in ensuring that you will minimize the need to fix your image in Photoshop. Set an exposure so the image data on the histogram is as far to the right as possible without clipping. If you shoot RAW you can tolerate some clipping on the camera’s LCD because you can pull this back in your RAW conversion software. The histogram display comes from a JPEG version of the image, and so does not completely represent what the RAW image has captured. Experiment with your camera to determine just how much image data you can successfully recover.
By placing your image data as close to the right as possible (i.e., overexposing), you make sure that by the time you start using Levels in Photoshop to get the exposure where you want it, you only need to pull grays down to black. Plus, image noise is minimized in the process.
This technique, combined with shooting at as low an ISO as possible with the shutter speed and aperture you want, will ensure you get as smooth an image as possible to work with.
Notice that I keep talking about what you want to say with your image. This is an important thing to work out before you shoot, because it will determine your framing (cropping), aperture and depth-of-field, shutter speed, ISO, focus point, etc. How you “previsualize” an image determines everything!
If you don’t start with a clear idea of what you want to say with an image, you’re likely to get an image that is OK, but not great. If you are not clear in what you want I recommend shooting a wide variety of approaches to the same image so that later you can choose something that works for you. In fact, it is a good idea to do this even if you have a strong previsualization because you can always change your mind later or fit the image to a different application if you have the variety.
In Part 2, we will cover composition and lens choice. Stay tuned.
