Tag: photo techniques

Wildlife photography becomes easier when you separate three jobs: understanding the animal, keeping it sharp, and choosing a background that makes the behaviour readable. A longer lens can help, but patience and a sensible shooting position often matter more than another piece of equipment.

The Institute of Photography, at institute-of-photography.com, offers online photography courses including a Professional Diploma in Photography. Its appeal is structured study with assignments and support, rather than trying to assemble a learning programme from unrelated tutorials.

Trick Photography and Special Effects by Evan Sharboneau is aimed at photographers who enjoy visual experiments: light painting, unusual perspective, long exposures and images assembled from more than one photograph. Its appeal is a collection of project ideas, rather than a qualification or a complete training programme for professional photography.

Flash is useful when you need to add light, shape a subject or balance a dark face against a brighter background. It can work in daylight as well as at night. The important distinction is between the light supplied by the flash and the ambient light already present in the scene.

Indoor photography needs different settings for different subjects. A quiet room can tolerate a long exposure on a tripod; a person moving through that room cannot. Begin by deciding what must stay sharp and whether the subject moves, then balance aperture, shutter speed and ISO around that requirement.

Hyperfocal distance is the closest focus distance that keeps infinity acceptably sharp for a chosen focal length, aperture and standard of sharpness. When you focus at that distance, the near limit is approximately half the hyperfocal distance, with acceptable sharpness extending into the far distance.

Wedding photography changes quickly: a quiet ceremony can be followed by moving people outdoors, posed groups and a dim dance floor. Useful settings keep you ready for the next moment while protecting sharpness, important highlights and enough depth of field.

Outdoor portrait settings should respond to the light falling on the person and the amount they move. Cloud cover alone does not determine ISO, and a lens’s focal length alone does not determine a safe shutter speed. Begin with the photograph you want, then check a test frame.

The best portrait settings are the ones that keep the important features sharp, suit the person’s movement and give you the background you want. Start with shutter speed and depth of field, then use ISO to obtain a suitable brightness. Keeping ISO low is useful only when it does not compromise the photograph.

Street photography turns ordinary public life into photographs with a point of view. The interest might be a gesture, a visual coincidence, the relationship between people and buildings or a small trace of human activity.