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• Variable Neutral Density Filters

Variable Neutral Density Filters
(Part 2)

Variable ND filters are best known for helping you do long exposures and selective focus in bright lighting conditions. Did you know they can also improve your portrait photography? In this video, I explain how to use this filter while taking portraits using flash.

 

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Did you catch part one of this video, where I introduced the variable neutral density filter and explained how it can be used to do long exposures and selective focus in bright light?

Video Transcript

Most people think that a variable neutral density filter is only useful outside for things like landscape and nature photography. Did you know that you can use this filter with portrait photography too?

Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and today I’m back with a follow-up video to my introduction to the variable ND filter. I want to share a lesser-known use for this filter with you, and that is for portrait photography.

In portrait photography, you often want to darken the background to make the subject stands out. The easiest ways to do that are to either stop down the aperture or to increase the shutter speed. However stopping down the aperture will increase the depth of field – something you often don’t want in a portrait. And increasing the shutter speed could lead to problems if your shutter speed gets faster than your flash sync speed. In that case your flash has to work harder, and will be outputting less light. That’s where our variable neutral density filter comes in! By cutting down the light coming in through the lens, you need less lighting power, and don’t need to stop down your aperture as much, to achieve a well-exposed subject relative to a more under-exposed background.

To get your shot, work out the aperture you want to get the right depth of field for a soft background, and then use your variable ND filter to reduce the light until your shutter speed is at your optimal sync speed. Finally, work on polishing your flash lighting to correctly to expose your subject.

Check out
variable neutral density filters
at B&H

There you have it! Another bit of gear for your shopping list! For more great photo tips that won’t cost you anything, come on over to ultimate-photo-tips.com, and make sure to sign up for my newsletter while you’re there. That’s where I share ideas and inspiration that I don’t share anywhere else.

Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time!

 

 

 

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• Digital Photography Technique
• Graduated Neutral Density Filter

When and how do you use a graduated neutral density filter? In this short video, I explain how this filter can help you take better landscape photos by reducing the dynamic range in your image.

 

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Video Transcript

Do you ever have trouble photographing a landscape because the sky is so much brighter than your foreground? Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and for today’s tip, I want to talk about a filter that I use on a regular basis: the graduated neutral density filter, or graduated ND filter. It’s also called a split ND filter.

This filter is used when one section of your image is a lot brighter than the another section. A typical example is a landscape where the sky is a lot brighter than the foreground. In a situation like this, what happens is that your camera’s sensor can’t always capture both the brightest and the darkest tones in the scene – the dynamic range is just too great. That means you end up either blowing out the highlights or blocking up the shadows.

That’s where a graduated ND can help. This is what it looks like; it’s clear at the bottom, and dark at the top. What you need to do is line up the transition with your horizon. So where it’s clear, it’s like there’s nothing there, and where it’s dark, it will hold back the sky.

You want to buy this kind, which is made by Cokin, or Lee, that fits into a holder on the front of your lens. It just slides in, and that way, you can line up the transition with your horizon. This is much more useful than the filter which screws onto the front of your lens because that transition is in a fixed position.

You can buy these filters in a kit, which comes with a 1-, 2-, and 3- stop filter with both hard and soft transitions. But, if you just want to buy one, I recommend this one, which is a 2-stop soft transition, and is the one I find the most useful.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
without graduated neutral density filter

In this image, I’ve exposed for the foreground, and the bright sky has completely blown out.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
with graduated neutral density filter

By adding a graduated ND filter, I’m able to get both the foreground and sky exposed properly.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
without graduated neutral density filter

In this image, I’ve exposed for the sky, and my foreground is way too dark. I want to open up those shadow areas.

© Julie Waterhouse Photography
with graduated neutral density filter

Again, I add a graduated ND filter while I’m shooting, and now I can brighten up those shadows, while holding back the sky.

You may have guessed already that there’s one big scenario when you can’t use this filter, and that is if the transition from light to dark is not a straight line, such as when there’s a tree in the foreground. If you use the filter in that scenario, then the tree will appear darker than it should. In that case, you’d have to resort to creating an HDR image instead.

Check out
graduated neutral density filters
at B&H

All in all, though, this is a really useful filter, and I recommend that you have one in your kit. I use mine all the time.

That’s it for today! For more helpful tips, drop by ultimate-photo-tips.com for a visit, and make sure to sign up for my newsletter while you’re there.

Happy shooting and I’ll see you next time!

 

 

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• Photo Challenges
• February 2013

Photo Challenges:
February 2013

"Parts of a Whole"

This week’s challenge is to photograph only part of a subject. I can think of two different ways to interpret this challenge.

In the first case, you could aim to have the "part" that you photograph tell the story of the "whole." This means careful selection of an element that is strong enough, representative enough, or significant enough, to suggest the full story of the whole. Looking at the photo of the part, you should have some understanding of what the "whole" is all about. This is what I’d like you to aim for in your challenge entries. You can decide for yourself whether I’ve been successful in my examples below.

In the second case, you could select a part of an object that, in isolation, tells its own story. The "part" stands on its own as an interesting subject, and doesn’t make you want to know more about the whole. That’s may be a topic of another month, but for this challenge, let’s concentrate on the first case: telling the story of the whole.

Read the rules. One entry only each month per person, please!

Enter your super-amazing photos in our photo contests. The winning image will be featured on the Ultimate Photo Tips homepage for all of the following month.

Submit your image.

See what other people are submitting, and vote for your favorite:
View other entries.

 

Telling the Whole Story

 

© Julie Waterhouse

 

© Julie Waterhouse

 

© Julie Waterhouse

© Julie Waterhouse

© Julie Waterhouse

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• Photo Composition

Are you guilty of trying to stuff too much stuff into your photo composition? It’s a classic mistake. We want to share our experience with our photos. The trick is, you don’t have to share it all at once! Watch this week’s video to learn the benefits of simplifying.

 

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Video Transcript

Are you looking for ways to take your photos to the next level? The biggest problem I see when I review photos from novice photographers is that they include too much stuff! Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and today I want to talk about one of my favorite topics, and that is story-telling through photo composition. Specifically, I want to emphasize that less is more when you’re trying to tell a story through a picture.

All too often, I see pictures from a photographer who has come across a beautiful or unusual scene, and has proceeded to try to include all of it in one image. That’s the temptation, right? We want people to share our experience, so we try to "fit it all in" one image. Unfortunately, that photo composition strategy tends to backfire. The picture ends up looking chaotic, and viewer is left struggling to figure out what your intended subject really was.

Don’t make your viewer work hard. As the photographer, it’s your job to do the work! You have to simplify the scene in front of you by selecting what goes in your frame and what stays out. I firmly believe that if something doesn’t add to your story, then it actually takes away, and serves as a distraction. I encourage you to think carefully about what has attracted you to a particular scene, and then simplify, simplify, simplify, to leave only elements that tell that particular story.

Let’s look at a few photo composition examples from a trip I took to Istanbul.

© Julie Waterhouse

This first shot is really a tourist’s snapshot. There’s no compelling story, just an eye-level perspective of an open square and building. Can I find and isolate anything within this that would make a stronger story? What about this guy here who is selling bird seed to the tourists to feed the pigeons?

©Julie Waterhouse

Here’s a photo of just him. You don’t have to work as hard here to understand the story.

©Julie Waterhouse

Here’s another one. Is this a photo of the mosque? The bridge? The people fishing? It’s hard to tell. There’s a lot going on, and the elements are not well organized. I was actually interested in the people fishing, so I walked forward a few feet and turned back to photograph this scene.

©Julie Waterhouse

I love the story here! It’s all about being too short! The gentleman’s pants are too short, and he’s too short! I’ve included his rods and tackle to tell the full story of what he’s doing, but it’s a much more coherent image than the first.

©Julie Waterhouse

Finally, this photo composition of a path is not too special. But when I stopped to ask myself what was really catching my eye here, I found that it wasn’t the path at all.

©Julie Waterhouse

It was the row of trees with flowers at the base.

Take the time to understand what has caught your eye, and made you lift your camera, and then create a photo composition that eliminates everything from your image that doesn’t support that story.

That’s it for this time! For more tips to improve your photography, please visit ultimate-photo-tips.com, and make sure to sign up for my newsletter while you’re there! That’s where I share ideas and inspiration that I don’t share anywhere else.

Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time!

 

 

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• Beginner Photography
• Photography Critique #2

Learn photography through a friendly and constructive photography critique. In this video, I share my thoughts on a lovely image of water under a pier, offering tips for simplifying the image to focus on a single story.

 

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Video Summary

Kimberly Pettit has been kind enough to share her image for evaluation. Thank you so, much, Kimberly! And here it is:

© Kimberly Pettit

Photography Critique: What I like about this image!

You’ve got me right away with the subject of this photo. I love water, I love photographing water, and I love looking at photos of water!

Here, I also love the light. The reflections that it has created on the water below the pier are gorgeous. Related to the light, I love the colors in the image. I appreciate the contrast of the complimentary colors. There are warm hues under the pier, contrasting with cool blues around the outside. That works well.

Finally, I love the repeated shapes of the pier footings that lead our eyes in to a vanishing point.

All of these elements are very strong, and I can see why Kimberly was drawn to this scene.

Photography Critique: A Quick Fix

The first thing I notice is that the horizon is not quite level. A small rotation takes case of that quickly.

Photography Critique: The Weakness in the Image

I think the weakness of the image is that it is a bit too busy. It feels to me like there’s a lot going on, and I’m not sure where I should be looking. I’d like to see the image simplified a little.

Photography Critique: Tip to Determine How to Simplify

Whenever feel the need to simplify an image, I do a quick test. I switch the image to black and white, and review it. Sometimes, it’s the color that’s overwhelming the photo, and serving as a distraction, rather than supporting the story. In such cases, a conversion to black and white might simplify the photo and strengthen the story.

© Kimberly Pettit
Change to B&W by Julie

In this case, the image still feels overwhelming to be in black and white. I don’t feel that solved the issue, which points to the fact that it’s the composition, and the lines and shapes in the image that are making it feel too busy to me. It’s time to switch back to color, and try something else!

Photography Critique: Cropping to simplify and strengthen composition

There are two strong elements in the image: the splash across the front and up the left side, and the repeating pattern of the pier footings. The elements don’t seem to be working together here, but instead are competing for my attention.

My first attempt at a crop will be to try and simplify the image, while keeping both of these elements:

© Kimberly Pettit
Crop by Julie

To me, this crop just reinforces the fact that these two elements are competing. It hasn’t solved the problem. I like the splash at the left, and I like the repeating shapes, but my attention bounces between them. Time to try again.

I feel like I need to make a choice between the splash and the pier. To me, the pier is the strongest element, with the repeating shapes, and the beautiful light underneath, so I’d like to keep that. This time, I’ll crop in from the bottom left.

© Kimberly Pettit
Crop by Julie

I kept a little of the dark beam on the left to balance the one on the right, and a little splash at the bottom to serve as an anchor and a bit of a frame. I much prefer this crop. I feel like we’ve simplified the image, and settled on a single story to tell.

There’s one more experiment to try! It’s often worth flipping your image horizontally to see which way works best. Our eyes "read" images from left to right, just the way (in this culture) we read books. Let’s try it:

© Kimberly Pettit
Crop and flip by Julie

This looks even stronger to me. I feel like my eye is grabbed at the left, and sent through the image, following the lines and led to the vanishing point.

Note that this crop is quite different from the original image. In the original, the vanishing point was closer to the center. This crop is asymmetrical. I prefer it this way, since the imbalance adds to the angles of the lines to move us through the image. If you prefer symmetry, however, there is another option for cropping to a square that puts the vanishing point in the center, and emphasizes symmetry:

© Kimberly Pettit
Crop and flip by Julie

I prefer to stick with the asymmetric version! For a final touch, I’d warm up the color temperature just a little to saturate those warm hues even more.

 

© Kimberly Pettit
Original

© Kimberly Pettit
Edits by Julie

Thanks once again to Kimberly Pettit for sharing her image with us for a photography critique!

 

I hope you enjoyed this photography critique! Be sure to check out more beginner photography critique videos, as well as our Two Minute Photo tips videos on digital photography technique.

• Home
• Beginner Photography
• Photography Critique #2

Learn photography through a friendly and constructive photography critique. In this video, I share my thoughts on a lovely image of water under a pier, offering tips for simplifying the image to focus on a single story.

 

Spread the joy! Share today’s tweetable!

Video Summary

Kimberly Pettit has been kind enough to share her image for evaluation. Thank you so, much, Kimberly! And here it is:

© Kimberly Pettit

Photography Critique: What I like about this image!

You’ve got me right away with the subject of this photo. I love water, I love photographing water, and I love looking at photos of water!

Here, I also love the light. The reflections that it has created on the water below the pier are gorgeous. Related to the light, I love the colors in the image. I appreciate the contrast of the complimentary colors. There are warm hues under the pier, contrasting with cool blues around the outside. That works well.

Finally, I love the repeated shapes of the pier footings that lead our eyes in to a vanishing point.

All of these elements are very strong, and I can see why Kimberly was drawn to this scene.

Photography Critique: A Quick Fix

The first thing I notice is that the horizon is not quite level. A small rotation takes case of that quickly.

Photography Critique: The Weakness in the Image

I think the weakness of the image is that it is a bit too busy. It feels to me like there’s a lot going on, and I’m not sure where I should be looking. I’d like to see the image simplified a little.

Photography Critique: Tip to Determine How to Simplify

Whenever feel the need to simplify an image, I do a quick test. I switch the image to black and white, and review it. Sometimes, it’s the color that’s overwhelming the photo, and serving as a distraction, rather than supporting the story. In such cases, a conversion to black and white might simplify the photo and strengthen the story.

© Kimberly Pettit
Change to B&W by Julie

In this case, the image still feels overwhelming to be in black and white. I don’t feel that solved the issue, which points to the fact that it’s the composition, and the lines and shapes in the image that are making it feel too busy to me. It’s time to switch back to color, and try something else!

Photography Critique: Cropping to simplify and strengthen composition

There are two strong elements in the image: the splash across the front and up the left side, and the repeating pattern of the pier footings. The elements don’t seem to be working together here, but instead are competing for my attention.

My first attempt at a crop will be to try and simplify the image, while keeping both of these elements:

© Kimberly Pettit
Crop by Julie

To me, this crop just reinforces the fact that these two elements are competing. It hasn’t solved the problem. I like the splash at the left, and I like the repeating shapes, but my attention bounces between them. Time to try again.

I feel like I need to make a choice between the splash and the pier. To me, the pier is the strongest element, with the repeating shapes, and the beautiful light underneath, so I’d like to keep that. This time, I’ll crop in from the bottom left.

© Kimberly Pettit
Crop by Julie

I kept a little of the dark beam on the left to balance the one on the right, and a little splash at the bottom to serve as an anchor and a bit of a frame. I much prefer this crop. I feel like we’ve simplified the image, and settled on a single story to tell.

There’s one more experiment to try! It’s often worth flipping your image horizontally to see which way works best. Our eyes "read" images from left to right, just the way (in this culture) we read books. Let’s try it:

© Kimberly Pettit
Crop and flip by Julie

This looks even stronger to me. I feel like my eye is grabbed at the left, and sent through the image, following the lines and led to the vanishing point.

Note that this crop is quite different from the original image. In the original, the vanishing point was closer to the center. This crop is asymmetrical. I prefer it this way, since the imbalance adds to the angles of the lines to move us through the image. If you prefer symmetry, however, there is another option for cropping to a square that puts the vanishing point in the center, and emphasizes symmetry:

© Kimberly Pettit
Crop and flip by Julie

I prefer to stick with the asymmetric version! For a final touch, I’d warm up the color temperature just a little to saturate those warm hues even more.

 

© Kimberly Pettit
Original

© Kimberly Pettit
Edits by Julie

Thanks once again to Kimberly Pettit for sharing her image with us for a photography critique!

 

I hope you enjoyed this photography critique! Be sure to check out more beginner photography critique videos, as well as our Two Minute Photo tips videos on digital photography technique.

• Home
• Digital Photography Technique
• Photography Subjects

Light or Subject? Which should come first? When choosing your photography subjects, turn your thinking on its head. Look for the good light first, and then photograph whatever you find in it.

 

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Video Transcript

The subject, or the light: which one should come first?

Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and today I’d like to try and turn your thinking around when it comes to finding subjects for your photography. Sometimes, we go out with a preconceived notion of what we want to photograph. But I say, find the good light first, and then make your subject whatever is in that light.

Photography is all about the light. The right light can make or break your image. To get the best photographs, I recommend that you keep your eyes open all the time for interesting light. When you find that light, then see where it’s falling, and photograph that! Just about anything can make a good subject when it’s in the right light. Let’s look at a few examples.

Here’s an early morning photo in the country, taken at 5:20am. Often, finding the right light means getting out during the golden hour, or magic light, which is half an hour before and after sunset and sunrise. The light is warmer at this time, and the shadows are softer, and your photos are usually better!

© Julie Waterhouse

Take a look at this second photo which was taken a few feet away from the first, and just three hours later at 8:30am, after the sun was high in the sky. The magic is over, and the photo is gone.

©Julie Waterhouse

Certain photography subejcts wouldn’t exist without the light. Here’s an example. Remember, look for the magic light, and photograph whatever’s in it.

©Julie Waterhouse

When I took this photo, I was at the top of a hill, and the sun was setting down at the bottom of the hill. The light rays were really low, and it created this unusual situation in which only the leaves that were vertical to the ground were catching the light. Keep your eyes open for unique lighting situations like this. They create unique photography subjects!

©Julie Waterhouse

Just to show you that great photography subjects can be made out of truly anything, when it’s in the right light, consider this photo. The lines are actually straight, and the curve is created by how the light is falling. It makes a nice abstract. Guess where I took it?

©Julie Waterhouse

I took it right here, in a Walmart parking lot! It’s a close-up of the side of the shopping cart return area.

©Julie Waterhouse

Good light doesn’t have to come from sunlight. Sometimes it’s created by artificial light, too. Always be on the lookout for interesting patterns of light and shadow, which can create beautiful photography subjects.

©Julie Waterhouse

And don’t forget night time. At night, street lights, especially when reflecting off wet pavement, can also create interesting light.

©Julie Waterhouse

I hope you’ve gathered the moral of the story by now! It might turn your thinking around a little. Find the good light first, and then photograph whatever’s in it.

That’s it for today! For more fun photo tips, come on over to ultimate-photo-tips.com, and make sure to sign up for my newsletter while you’re there. That’s where I share ideas and inspiration that I don’t share anywhere else.

Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time!

 

 

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• Digital Photography Technique
• Understanding Camera Lenses: Part 2

Having trouble understanding camera lenses? If you want to understand lens quality, as well as what your lens’ maximum aperture is all about, watch the video!

 

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Did you catch Part 1 of this series about understanding your camera lenses?

After listening to this video, try the exercise below.

Video Transcript

What makes one lens different from the next? I’ve been getting lots of questions about lenses lately, so I’m doing a little mini-series about them. Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips. In my last video, I explained the focal length and field of view. Today, I want to talk about two more aspects of lenses: glass quality and maximum aperture.

Understanding Camera Lenses: Glass Quality

First of all, let’s talk about one of the biggest differentiating factors between lenses: the quality of the glass. The best lenses are sharp. But sharpness is not the only quality you want to look for. To one degree or another, all lenses suffer from certain optical aberrations, like blur (lack of sharpness), distortion, vignetting, loss of contrast, and chromatic aberration. Those are the effects that you want to minimize. So, a high quality lens is one in which these negative effects are not as pronounced.

Understanding Camera Lenses: Maximum Aperture

Now let’s talk about some more numbers. When you hear someone describe a lens as a 24-105mm f/4, you now know – from my last video – that 24-105mm refers to the focal length. Let’s look at the other number, f/4. What does that mean? That number refers to the maximum aperture of the lens. What’s the widest it can open? Lenses that can open wider are usually more desirable (and heavier, larger, and more expensive!) So an f/2.8 lens is better than an f/5.6 lens. Why is a good to have a larger maximum aperture?

There are two reasons. First, a wider aperture means that under the same lighting conditions, you could use a faster shutter speed to get the same exposure. That’s why lenses with a wide maximum aperture are sometimes called "fast" lenses. This can be very useful if you are hand-holding your lens, and want to keep your image sharp.

The second reason that a wider maximum aperture is desirable is to get a bigger drop-off in sharpness. Being able to shoot with a very wide aperture will let you blur your background. Soft backgrounds can be desirable for portrait photography, close-up photography, and more.

Something else to know is that on many zoom lenses, the maximum widest aperture varies with the focal length. So, you may see the lens listed as a 28-135mm, f/3.5-5.6 lens. That means that when the lens is at 35mm, the maximum aperture is f/3.5, but when you zoom in to 135mm, the maximum widest aperture changes to f/5.6. Remember, the range is referring to the maximum aperture, not the overall range for the lens. That maximum aperture is often written on the end of the lens near the glass. It may appear as 1:3.5, rather than f/3.5.

One final thing to note is that you may actually want to avoid using your lens at its minimum and maximum apertures, and come in a stop or two. At the extremes, you may experience more of the lens aberrations I mentioned earlier.

That’s it for today! Check out more tips over at ultimate-photo-tips.com, and make sure to sign up for my newsletter while you’re there. That’s where I share ideas and inspiration that I don’t share anywhere else. Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time!

EXERCISE – Understanding Camera Lenses:

As I’ve just discussed, a zoom lens may have a different maximum aperture when set to it shortest and longest focal lengths. Play with your own zoom lens to check this out. Set it to the widest angle focal length first, and then (in aperture priority or manual mode) change the aperture to its widest setting. Now, zoom your lens to its longest focal length, and check what happens to your aperture setting. Did it change?

Reminder: Here’s Understanding Camera Lenses: Part 1.

 

• Home
• Digital Photography Technique
• Understanding Camera Lenses: Part 1

Having trouble understanding camera lenses? What do all those numbers mean? In this video, I talk about focal length, and how it relates to field of view and perspective.

 

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Are you ready for Part II of this mini-series on understanding your camera lenses?

Video Transcript

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about lenses lately. What makes one camera lens different from another? What do all the numbers mean? A 24-105 f/4 — what’s that? Hi, I’m Julie from Ultimate Photo Tips, and to answer all these questions, I thought I’d do a little mini-series about lenses. And for today’s tip, I’m going to concentrate on the focal length of the lens.

Understanding Camera Lenses: Focal Length & Field of View

That’s the first number you usually hear when a lens is being described. When I say a 24-105mm lens, or a 100mm lens, the number is referring to the focal length of the lens. It’s specified in millimeters. That number is telling you about the field of view, or the angle of view, that the lens has. Is it a wide-angle lens (anything up to about 35mm), a "normal" lens (35-70mm), or a telephoto lens (80mm on up to 300mm or more)?

Let’s look at some examples of how the focal length of the lens is related to field of view. In these examples, I am standing in the exact same place, and just changing the focal length of the lens used in each shot. You will see that the focal length affects how much the subject is magnified.

© Julie Waterhouse
focal length = 300mm

Here (above), I’m zoomed right in to 300mm, so my subject is quite magnified.

© Julie Waterhouse
focal length = 70mm

This one (above) was taken at 70mm. You see a little more of the surroundings.

© Julie Waterhouse
focal length = 35mm

Here (above),I’ve zoomed out a bit more to 35mm. Remember, I’m not moving my feet here, just changing focal lengths.

© Julie Waterhouse
focal length = 16mm

Finally, here’s a really wide angle shot at taken 16mm.

Understanding Camera Lenses: Zoom Lenses

A zoom lens allows you to vary your focal length within a given range. For the images you just saw, I used a lens with a focal range from 16 to 35mm, and another lens with a range from 70-300mm, and I took the shots at the extremes of each one. A fixed focal lens, also called a prime lens, has a single focal length that does not change.

Understanding Camera Lenses: Focal Length & Perspective

Now, just because you may have a zoom lens, doesn’t mean you don’t have to move your feet! Because I stood in the same place for those example images you just saw, my perspective didn’t change. However, if I move my camera position for each image so that I fill the frame with the same subject each time, then I do change my perspective. In that case, and in the examples I’ll show you next, you’ll see how a wide angle lens really exaggerates depth, whereas a telephoto lens compresses distance. Let’s take a look.

© Julie Waterhouse
focal length = 300mm

Let’s start again with a shot (above) taken with a focal length of 300mm. Notice the two signs, one at each edge of the frame. For all of my shots, I’ll keep the signs at the left and right so that the same subject matter fills the frame each time. Also take note of the relative size of the white truck and the stop sign. To get this shot, I’m standing way down the street, far away from the stop sign.

© Julie Waterhouse
focal length = 70mm

Here (above), I am zoomed out a bit at 70mm.

© Julie Waterhouse
focal length = 35mm

Now, I’m at 35mm. For each of these shots, I had to walk further down the street, getting closer and closer to the signs.

© Julie Waterhouse
focal length = 16mm

This (above) was taken at a focal length of 16mm. By the time I took this shot, I was standing almost in between the signs. Notice how the distance is much more exaggerated here. The perspective has changed in each shot, and the impression of depth is increased as the angle of view gets wider. That’s because the relative sizes of the objects within the frame change. The truck is now tiny, compared to the stop sign. That gives the feeling of depth.

Okay! I think that’s enough for today. I hope that helped you in understanding camera lenses. Next time, I’ll talk about other aspects of lenses like their maximum aperture, and glass quality.

In the meantime, come on over and visit me at ultimate-photo-tips.com for more great photography tips, and make sure to sign up for my mailing list while you’re there. That’s where I share ideas and inspiration that I don’t share anywhere else.

Happy shooting, and I’ll see you next time for Part 2 of “Understanding Camera Lenses!”

 

 

• Home
• Photo Challenges
• March 2013

Photo Challenges:
March 2013

"Reflections"

This week’s challenge is to photograph reflections. You may find reflections in water, ice, a mirror, metal, or any reflective surface.

The fun with reflections is to play with whether they are an accurate "mirror image" of the original, or whether they warp the original in some way. In some cases, the symmetry is rewarding. In others, the intrigue is in the new form that is created in the reflective surface.

Have fun with this one! I look forward to seeing your reflections.

Read the rules. One entry only each month per person, please!

Enter your super-amazing photos in our photo contests. The winning image will be featured on the Ultimate Photo Tips homepage for all of the following month.

Submit your image.

See what other people are submitting, and vote for your favorite:
View other entries.

 

Reflecting…

 

Burano Laundry Reflections
© Julie Waterhouse

 

© Julie Waterhouse

 

A quiet morning at the pond
© Julie Waterhouse

A Window in Istanbul
© Julie Waterhouse

Ripples
© Julie Waterhouse

Red Jacket and Fall Color Reflections
© Julie Waterhouse

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