Welcome to Learning Photography - A Photography Blog
Stepping out of the green box (part 1)
The green box
As a lot of us immigrate to the dSLR camp from digital point & shoot (henceforth P&S) (compact) cameras, we tend to carry over some baggage from the P&S usage. Most people shooting P&S cameras are extremely comfortable in the full automatic world, where the camera makes all most decisions. That's why these compact cameras are called "point and shoot" cameras (you just point it at something and click). A lot of these P&S cameras even lack most of the manual controls, and usually it's very cumbersome to use them in manual (even if would be possible).
Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with using a dSLR in the green box mode / full automatic (we all need to start somewhere), but in reality this is almost the same as turning your dSLR into a de facto very expensive P&S camera (and probably not a very good one). This is because the dSLR is foremost designed to give the photographer as much control as possible (both when it comes to technical control as well as control over the image processing).
Finally something new
A new beginning
It's been a long time (too long) with no updates on this blog / site. I have had a lot to do, and I've also been a bit lazy (guilty as charged). Anyway, with new energy I'll do my best to get this thing restarted.
And since it's a new beginning, I thought a new design of the site would be in place.
New articles soon to follow.
Taking the step into the dSLR world (part 3)
In body image stabilization / anti shake
Every now and then, a photo might come out soft or even blurry when it was not supposed to. The reason is always one of three.
- The picture is out of focus (OOF).
- The subject you are photographing is moving, and therefore he, she or it becomes blurry in the photo.
- The camera was moving during the exposure, and introduced camera blur.
Now, all three suspects will give you a soft, maybe even blurry photo. Sometimes it might be an effect you're trying to achieve, but mostly it's rather just a problem. If the problem is number one (OOF), then you'll probably find that some part of the photo is actually sharp and in focus. Refocus and take another shot.
Taking the step into the dSLR world (part 2)
Megapixels (MP)!
"How many megapixels does your camera have?" How many times have we heard this question? It's true that the amount of megapixels a camera had did impact the image quality… five years ago! As the different manufacturers waged their megapixel-war, they soon made the whole megapixel concern a non-issue. It's true that the amount of megapixels does affect image quality when you print your photos large, but how often do you get really large prints from your photos?
The only real upside to having lots of megapixels is that you have pixels to spare. If you're unhappy with your composition and you need to crop the photo, you'll be able to crop more without the image quality suffering.
Taking the step into the dSLR world (part 1)
Where are you coming from?
When you're upgrading to a dSLR you're probably a previous owner of a film or digital compact camera, or perhaps a film SLR. (Of course for some the dSLR will be their first camera.) Depending on what you're upgrading from, you probably have different questions and concerns.
A calm winter landscape photograhped with a digital point and shoot camera.
What does really define a dSLR?
A dSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera is a digital still image camera that uses a single lens reflex mechanism. When using a dSLR, the photographer composes the image by looking through the viewfinder (some of the dSLRs today actually allows the photographer to compose using the LCD screen as well). By looking through the viewfinder, the photographer sees the image through the actual lens that is mounted on the camera. This way he or she can not only determine the exact composition of the image but also the focus. The viewfinder should also be an optical viewfinder, meaning that the photographer is actually looking through the lens and not at a secondary LCD.
An introduction to the site
Who's the author?
Taking snapshots with film compacts and a borrowed SLR, I've always thought taking pictures is lots of fun. But taking a picture or two and then having to wait a few weeks before the whole filmed was used wasn't very rewarding when it came to learning photography. It wasn't before digital revolutionized photography that I got truly bitten by the photography bug when I got my first digital compact point and shoot (P&S).
Being able to take lots and lots of photos without having to pay for all the prints and getting feedback immediately is really something that has made photography much easier to learn. As I outgrew my digital P&S a few years ago, I started looking for an affordable digital single lens reflex (dSLR) camera that would cater to my needs.
