Eve ry thing Ea sier!

™
Making

Digita l SLR
Phot o gr ap hy
N E
A L L- I N - O

Sampleer
91 BOOKS
IN
• Learning about Digital SLRs
Chapt

• Through the Looking Glass

• Hey, Your Exposure’s Showing
• Lighting Strikes
• Composing Great Shots
• “Spiffifying” Photos in Software
• Shooting Videos
• The dSLR Reference
• Practical dSLR Tips

IN FULL COLOR!
Robert Correll
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 Chapter 1: Working with
Light and Time
In This Chapter

AL
✓ Shooting into the sun
✓ Working with low contrast

RI
✓ Putting the sun to the side
✓ Fading with the last glowing embers

TE
✓ Working with shadows
✓ Going out in a storm
✓ Framing creatively
✓ Photographing fireworks
MA
Y
ED

ou shouldn’t be surprised to read that light and time are important

aspects of photography.
HT

Different situations with different lighting conditions at different

times of the day (or night) combine to make an incredible pal-
G

ette that you as the photographer get to try to capture.

RI

If you’re tired of shooting the same old scenes, make

the effort to go out at different times of the day. Try
PY

shooting at dusk and at night, into the sun and away

from the sun, with the sun shining sideways, or
from shadow or into shadow, for example.
CO

High-Contrast Sunset in HDR

This set of photos was taken after a long afternoon of
shooting. I shot quite a few bracketed shots of the area
while my family visited the park. While driving home, we
noticed that the sunset started to look incredible, so I made a
quick turn and went where I knew I could capture the sunset with-
out letting too many obstacles get in the way.

Stay on the lookout for clouds as the sun sets. They can transform a scene
into an incredible display of color and detail as they show highlights and
shadows and capture the color of the setting sun.

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566 High-Contrast Sunset in HDR

(ISO 100, f/8, 1/320 second, Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 at 10mm ) 2009

Bracketing the scene allowed me to point directly into the sun to capture
detail and color in the foreground. If I had approached this shot normally,
the sunset and sky (and, to some degree, the river) would have looked good,
but everything else would have been in silhouette.

For more information on HDR, turn to Book VI, Chapter 4.

Option Setting Notes

ISO 100 HDR shot with ISO 100 to reduce noise;
shutter speed generally not a problem
Aperture f/8 My “go-to” aperture for most scenic shots for
depth of field
Shutter 1/320 second For the 0 EV exposure
speed
Brackets 9 (+/– 1.0 EV) AEB; 9 exposures at 4/–3/–2/–1/0/+1/+2/+3/+4 EV
Camera Nikon D200 Semipro dSLR; cropped body (FX)
Lens Sigma Ultra wide-angle zoom; useful for wide
10-20mm F4-5.6 landscape shots
Focal 10mm 35mm equivalent: 15mm
length
Processing Nikon Capture NX 2 (raw); Photomatix Pro
(HDR); Photoshop
Other Manual exposure mode; tripod; remote shutter
release; pattern metering

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 Low-Contrast Cloudy Evening 567

Low-Contrast Cloudy Book IX

Chapter 1
Evening

Light and Time

Working with
This scene presents the opposite
challenge from shooting at sun-
set in HDR. In this photo, the sun
is setting, and the light is hidden
behind the cloud cover on the
edge of the horizon. The sky
lacks dramatic contrast, and the
scene as a whole has a limited
color palette.

Sometimes, less than optimum

conditions can contribute to pro-
ducing fantastic shots. Results
matter — not our preconceived
notions. In this case, I processed
the photo artistically by adding a
vignette in Photoshop to empha-
size the silhouetted bridge and
clouds.
(ISO 100, f/8, 1/60 second,
Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 at 20mm) 2009

Option Setting Notes

ISO 100 Outside shooting toward the setting sun;
even though this is a darker scene, you
don’t need to raise the ISO because the
shutter speed was more than reasonable
Aperture f/8 My “go-to” aperture for most scenic shots
for depth of field
Shutter 1/60 second No need to go faster; nothing is moving in
speed the scene, and I used a tripod
Camera Sony Alpha 300 Entry-level dSLR; cropped body (FX); built-
in Super SteadyShot image stabilization
Lens Sony DT General-purpose zoom; budget kit lens;
18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 good value

Focal length 20mm 35mm equivalent: 30mm

Processing Adobe Camera Raw (raw); Photoshop
Other Manual exposure mode, tripod, remote
shutter release, pattern metering

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568 Sunlit from the Side

Sunlit from the Side

You never know when you’re going to
get a truly nice-looking photo. I real-
ize that my statement sounds strange
in a book that describes how to take
good photos in different conditions,
but it’s true.

I took this shot at a local zoo. My fam-

(ISO 100, f/5, 1/160 second,
ily was riding a small train that circles Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 at 16mm) 2008
around the lake. As the train chugged
back to the station, I leaned out and took the shot, looking ahead. The sun
was low and off to the right, which is a key element of the photo. You don’t
capture shadows like this when you point your camera at the sun or directly
away from it.

I was momentarily in the right place at the right time, ready to take the
photo. Sometimes even landscape shots can be spontaneous.

Know how your camera works and practice using it. Be ready for every
situation so that can you can literally just “point and shoot.”

Option Setting Notes

ISO 100 Outdoors in strong daylight
Aperture f/5 An action shot in the sense that I was moving
and used a larger aperture to get a faster shutter
speed, an approach I chose over raising the ISO
Shutter 1/160 Fast enough shutter speed for a blur-free shot
speed second from a slow-moving train
Camera v Entry-level dSLR; cropped body (FX); built-in Super
SteadyShot image stabilization
Lens Sigma Ultra wide-angle zoom
10-20mm
F4-5.6
Focal length 16mm 35mm equivalent: 24mm
Processing Photomatix Pro (pseudo-HDR); Adobe Camera
Raw (raw); Photoshop Elements; in this case, I
overlaid a semitransparent pseudo-HDR layer
(created from Photomatix Pro) on top of the
normal photo to enhance the contrast and color
Other +1.0 EV exposure compensation; center-weighted
metering; aperture priority; shot handheld while
moving on a train

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 Just Past Dusk (Or Thereabouts) 569

Just Past Dusk (Or Thereabouts) Book IX

Chapter 1
Unlike the photo in the earlier section “Sunlit from the Side,” this shot was
completely set up. I set up camp on the east side of the lake so that I could

Light and Time

Working with
frame the water, trees, and light all at the same time as the sun went down.

(ISO 100, f/4, 1/13 second, Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 at 10mm) 2008

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570 Casting a Shadow

Don’t waste your time going out and setting up your equipment, shooting
five or six shots, and then wrapping up and going home. Go out and stay a
while. Take extra batteries and one or two extra memory cards.

To capture the photo shown in this section, I arrived early, chose my posi-
tion, examined different framing options, and started taking photos during
the golden hour. I continued until dark so that I would have a wealth of
options to choose from when I returned home and analyzed the photos.
Although they show the same scene, they’re completely different pictures
because of the ever-changing light.

Option Setting Notes

ISO 100 Maintain a low setting to reduce noise; origi-
nally part of an HDR bracketed set that didn’t
look good in HDR, so I selected a single expo-
sure and processed it
Aperture f/4 Opened, to let in more light
Shutter 1/13 second Fast shutter speed not as important; no
speed moving objects and using a tripod
Camera Sony Alpha 300 Entry-level dSLR; cropped body (FX); built-in
Super SteadyShot image stabilization
Lens Sigma Ultra wide-angle zoom; useful for scenic
10-20mm F4-5.6 shots, such as this one, where no distortion
is detected
Focal 10mm 35mm equivalent: 15mm
length
Processing Sony Image Data Converter SR (raw)
Other Manual exposure mode, tripod; remote
shutter release; mosquito repellent; snacks;
pattern metering

Casting a Shadow
This shot from my local zoo (again) takes advantage of the setting sun,
which is highlighting the trees on the far side of the lake. I couldn’t find a
vantage point to take the photo without my shadow getting in the way, but
then I realized that purposely making the shadow an element of the photo
would be interesting. (The rocks in the foreground weren’t exciting,
anyway.)

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 Casting a Shadow 571

My wide-angle lens helped capture the lake and made it feel large. Book IX
Chapter 1

Light and Time

Working with
(ISO 100, f/8, 1/200 second, Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 at 20mm) 2008

Option Setting Notes

ISO 100 Shot outdoors in strong daylight
Aperture f/8 My “go-to” aperture for most scenic shots
Shutter speed 1/200 second Fast; stop down to reduce, if necessary,
when shooting at ISO 100
Camera Sony Alpha 300 Entry-level dSLR; cropped body (FX); built-in
Super SteadyShot image stabilization
Lens Sigma Ultra wide-angle zoom
10-20mm F4-5.6
Focal length 20mm 35mm equivalent: 30mm
Processing Adobe Camera Raw (raw); Photoshop
Elements
Other Manual mode; pattern metering; tripod;
remote shutter release; exhausted family
in a van (out of frame to the left) waiting to
return home

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572 Lightning Crashes

Lightning Crashes
One good thing about storms, unlike other exterior subjects such as moun-
tains or the ocean, is that they’re everywhere. I took this shot from the front
porch of our house.

(ISO 100, f/5.6, 16 seconds, Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 at 20mm) 2008

Photographing lightning is a matter of being in the right place at the right

time with your camera set up and already shooting when the lighting strikes.
(Notice the taillights on the car in the lower left corner.) That’s right: The
shutter must be open if you want to capture lightning — it’s too fast other-
wise. Close the shutter when you think you’re on the verge of overexposing
the photo or after the strike.

I had to choose a focal length that provided good coverage of the sky and,
more importantly, choose which direction to point the camera. To do that, I
observed the storm to see where it was moving and tried to predict its action.

In this case, an intense storm cell had just passed, and the rain had eased, so
I was able to set up my camera on the porch without fear of getting it wet. I
quickly oriented the camera at the trailing edge of the storm, plugged in the
remote shutter release cable, and switched to Bulb mode. Then I triggered
the first exposure and waited. And waited. When I wasn’t waiting, I missed
several lightning strikes because they were behind me or on the other side
of the house. Then I saw an incredible strike hit, just up the street. I got it!

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 Inside-Out Bobcat 573

Do not take unnecessary risks for a photograph. Shooting during storms, Book IX
especially when lightning is present, can be incredibly dangerous. Chapter 1

I took the shot in this section when the storm was moving away, and even

Light and Time

then, the lightning strike scared me silly. I went inside soon afterward.

Working with
Option Setting Notes
ISO 100 No need for high ISO with extended shutter times
Aperture f/5.6 I didn’t consider setting an optimum aperture at
the time, proving that you can sometimes choose
questionable settings and still produce good-
looking photos
Shutter 16 seconds Bulb setting, much like the one for fireworks;
speed (Bulb) open the shutter and wait for the “zap!”
Camera Sony Entry-level dSLR; cropped body (FX); built-in
Alpha 300 Super SteadyShot image stabilization
Lens Sony DT General-purpose zoom; budget kit lens;
18-70mm good value
f/3.5-5.6
Focal 20mm 35mm equivalent: 30mm
length
Processing Sony Image Data Converter (raw), Photoshop
Other Tripod; remote shutter release; pattern metering;
change of underwear

Inside-Out Bobcat
The following photo shows a creative way to take advantage of light and
shadow. As I stood outside our garage, looking through the window, as a
Bobcat tore out the existing concrete.

I used center-weighted metering because a lot of things were happening that

could confuse the camera. The interior of the garage was much darker than
the outside, and the driver was in shadow. It was just after 2 p.m., and the
sun was beating down brightly from almost directly overhead.

You can change metering modes whenever you need to.

I switched to center-weighted metering to try to properly expose the Bobcat,

but even then had to address some of the shadows in processing.

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574 Inside-Out Bobcat

(ISO 100, f/4, 1/1000 second, Nikon Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 AI) 2009

Option Setting Notes

ISO 100 Subject shot in strong light
Aperture f/4 Used older lens to experiment with wider
apertures; sharp with good depth of field,
mostly because of the distance
Shutter 1/1000 second A bit of overkill, dictated by the wide aperture
speed
Camera Nikon D200 Semipro dSLR; cropped body (FX)
Lens Nikon Nikkor Used an older manual-focus lens on my
28mm f/3.5 AI Nikon FE2 SLR. Although it’s compatible with
my D200, it supports only manual focus. This
focal length is used on cropped bodies. AI
lenses were introduced by Nikon in 1977 and
allow the camera to automatically index the
maximum aperture of the lens
Focal 28mm 35mm equivalent: 42.0mm
length
Processing Photoshop Elements; from JPEG (proving that
you don’t always need to use raw)
Other Aperture priority, manual focus; center-
weighted metering; handheld

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 Fabulous Fireworks 575

Fabulous Fireworks Book IX

Chapter 1
Don’t skimp when you take photos of fireworks — take as many pictures as
you can. Bring extra memory cards, too, if you have them. Take longer expo-

Light and Time

Working with
sures of a few blasts and shorter ones of a single burst. If you leave your
shutter open too long, light reflecting off the smoke from the display
becomes more visible.

Bring along your tripod and (cable or electronic) remote shutter release.
The tripod is a necessity because you’ll leave the shutter open (use the Bulb
setting to press and hold open the shutter), and you want blurry photos. If
you use the remote shutter release, you can sit back and have some fun as
you watch the fireworks without having to manhandle the camera during
every exposure. Use a locking cable so that your finger doesn’t cramp up
from endlessly holding down the shutter release button.

(ISO 100, f/8, 2 seconds, Sigma 10-20mm F4.5-5.6 at 12mm) 2008

The secret to shooting fireworks is using the Bulb shutter speed in Manual
exposure mode. The exact timing is up to you. Your camera will pick up the
light from the fireworks just fine. You have to decide whether you want to
freeze a burst (as I did here) or catch an extended display.

You can’t physically move closer or further away easily, so bring a multipur-
pose zoom lens. Experiment with different focal lengths so that you get the
coverage you want at your current distance. Previewing photos in the heat
of a noisy fireworks display is difficult. Check a few photos first, and then
trust your settings. Set the manual focus to infinity, turn off long-exposure
noise reduction, and set the ISO to 100.

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576 Fabulous Fireworks

Take snacks, beverages, a blanket, and possibly a lawn chair to sit on while
you watch the show and take your photos. And don’t trip over the shutter
release cable!

Option Setting Notes

ISO 100 No need for a high ISO, even in the dark; the
fireworks, combined with the Bulb shutter
speed, are plenty bright
Aperture f/8 My “go-to” aperture for most scenic shots
Shutter 2 seconds To use the special shutter speed Bulb, press
speed (Bulb) and hold the shutter release button to open
the shutter and then release the button to
close it; your finger appreciates your use of a
remote shutter release with a locking button
Camera Sony Alpha 300 Entry-level dSLR; cropped body (FX); built-in
Super SteadyShot image stabilization
Lens Sigma 10-20mm Ultra wide-angle zoom; a good general-
F4-5.6 purpose kit lens with reasonable wide-angle
capability would work well, too
Focal 12mm Used this decidedly wide-angle focal length
length to cover a good portion of the sky and not
leave fireworks outside the frame; cropped to
the fireworks blast (35mm equivalent: 18mm)
Processing Sony Image Data Converter SR (raw),
Photoshop Elements
Other Manual exposure mode (because of the
Bulb shutter speed), tripod; remote shutter
release; pattern metering; candy; family

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