There are a variety of techniques you can use to reduce camera shake and increase the sharpness of the images that you take. Some, like using a tripod, have a fairly major impact (they’re no brainers really) while others do have an impact - but they’re generally fairly small.
One of those smaller techniques that a number of readers of DPS have been writing to me about recently is the use of shutter release cables (or remote shutter release devices).
The majority of digital photographers who are taking everyday shots of family and friends won’t go here - but serious photographers who spend a lot of time lining up shots and wanting to eliminate even the smallest camera shake will want to invest in a shutter release cable - particularly those shooting with longer shutter speeds where even the smallest camera movement (like the depressing of a shutter with even the lightest touch) can have an impact.
Shutter release cables are available for all major DSLRs and some point and shoots and come in a variety of flavors including the traditional cables and the more recent wireless models that often use infrared technology.
Of course if you’re using a shutter release cable you’ll want your camera to be mounted on a tripod or on some other completely still object.
But what happens if you don’t have a shutter release and you’re wanting to use a long exposure time and are worried about camera shake? Fortunately your digital camera has another feature built into it that can help - your self timer.
While digital camera self timers are not designed with this purpose in mind they are one way of ensuring no camera shake at all when taking an image. Of course you’ll need to anticipate the moment to take the image 10 or so seconds before taking it (not the best for any subject matter that’s moving or changing) however it’s a useful thing to keep in mind when doing landscape or still life photography.
As part of our ‘How I Took it’ Assignment gvarosky submitted this photo and told us how it was taken.
gvarosky also asks for feedback on the shot and suggestions on how you’d improve it. Feel free to leave your constructive advice and ideas in comments below.
Where Was it Taken?
Along the West River in Jamaica State Park, Jamaica, VT, USA
What settings did you use?
Landscape mode, 62mm Focal Length (Auto settings used an exposure of 1/200, aperature of f/10, and an ISO speed of 400)
What gear did you use?
Nikon D50, Tamron 28-80mm Lens
Why did you compose the shot as you did?
I specifically went up to Jamaica State Park that weekend to shoot the park, and surrounding area, as Vermont definitely has an old New England charm about it. This shot was one of several hundred I took of the river, and it was my first stop on my morning hike, the light was perfect to capture the river, and the early morning mist that was still hanging over the river that morning. I set up my tripod, looked through my viewfinder, and saw this scene that I had to capture.
What post production work have you done on the shot (if any)?
I used Picasa by Google to change the photo to black & white, using the Tint effect, as I feel it does a better job than the built-in Black & White effect as far as the sharpness of the effect.
What were you hoping to achieve with the shot?
Amazingly enough, I think I was able to capture what I set out to do, which was to get an early morning photo of the beautiful West River. I ave many fond memories of the river, as I try to go camping here often.
What did you do well?
I think I managed to be in the right place at the right time. I took the shot many times manually bracketing through various settings, until I was able to capture the shot I was looking for.
How could you have improved it?
Offhand, I am not sure how I could improve this photo. I would love some feedback from other group members, one of the great features of the groups here on Flickr, is the constructive criticism to always help me improve my work.
Submit your own work and tell us ‘how you took it’ in our Flickr group
The following is the fourth and final part in my series of questions with a Pro Photographer.
What basic advice would you give beginner digital photographers to help them improve their shots?
I get a lot of friends asking for advice from me and showing me their shots. There are a few main things that I’d suggest based on the mistakes I see them making:
1. Move Your Feet - sometimes I think my friends miss great opportunities by being lazy and just relying upon their camera’s zoom feature to frame shots. If they just realized that they could significantly improve their photos by changing the position that they shoot from they’d get some great shots. Simple actions can make a big difference like:
• crouching or lying down
• climbing on a chair to look down on a subject
• getting in nice and close to a subject
• taking a few steps sideways to avoid a distracting foreground element
2. Look for the Details - when I’m photographing weddings the standard shots that I take are of people - however the shots that really make a wedding album special are the ‘detail shots’. The buttons on the back of the bride’s dress, the name place settings on the bridal table, shots of the mean (before it’s been eaten) etc. Most wedding photographers include these elements in their day’s shooting but average photographers can take the same principle into their everyday photography of life’s events (holidays, parties, family get together and even landscape shots). Mix shots up and look for the insignificant things that everyone else misses.
3. Learn to use Depth of Field - most of my friends shoot in their camera’s automatic modes and end up with reasonably well focused shots that are very ’safe’. By that I mean that in auto mode a camera generally chooses settings that are fairly middle of the road in terms of aperture and shutter speed. As a result many shots are rather flat or one dimensional and don’t have much atmosphere or emotion to them in terms of ‘feel’. I shoot a lot in Aperture Priority mode and tend to choose fairly large apertures which creates a small depth of field which throws everything but the subject out of focus. This lifts a photo to a new level and adds a 3 dimensional feel to your shots.
The following is part 3 of my interview with a Pro Photographer.
How did you Go Pro as a Photographer?
I have always loved photography and in the early days (when I was a teenager) I never went anywhere without a camera. I must have cost my parents a fortune in film and developing but they fostered my love for my hobby.
I guess things progressed from hobby to profession in my early 20’s while I was studying at university (I was studying Engineering and hating it). I became known as the ‘guy with the camera’ and out of that was always being asked to photograph events in my friends lives.
When I wasn’t asked to photograph an event that I was going to I took the attitude that I’d do it anyway and went out of my way to give the best shots that I took to the organizers. This gets attention and when your shots are as good (if not better than the hired photographers) you get your name out there. It’s also great practice.
I also met a lot of pro photographers in that time at events and offered my services to them as a back up photographer to go with them and cover events from a more candid/paparazzi perspective. At first I did this for free but after a while they started paying me.
Over time and through word of mouth and networking I began to land gigs of my own and over a couple of years while I studied I gradually transitioned from a full time study/part time photographer to a full time photographer/part time student (I switched to study photography and did it at night school).
Over the last decade I’ve developed my own candid style (those early years of working as a secondary photographer paid off in that way as I learnt a lot) and have moved away somewhat from ‘event’ photography to portraits.
These days I still do weddings but also do a lot of family photography, usually in people’s homes.
My advice to wannabe Pro Photographers:
- Promote yourself - offer your services where ever you can. To friends and family, to other photographers, to event organizers - to anyone. In my early days I was pretty pushy and had to sell myself hard, but it was worth it.
- Hone your craft - take as many shots as you can but see each one as an opportunity to learn something and develop your own unique style.
- Have a back up plan - don’t just ‘go pro’ unless you have enough work to justify it. I’ve seen a few people go bankrupt this way. While it took me a few years to build up to going full time as a photographer I always had other work to pay the bills in the mean time.
For more resources on turning your digital photography from a hobby into a money maker check out:
The following is a continuation of a series of questions with a Pro Photographer.
I am a Canon nut and always have been (it goes back to my film days when I invested way too much money in Canon lenses).
I shoot with a Canon EOS 1D Mark II as my main camera but have more recently invested in a Canon EOS 5D as a secondary camera (it was a spur of the moment thing and something I get a little grief about from other photographers who think its a little to amateur - however I love it).
Two lenses stay on my cameras almost exclusively (although I have quite a few others). They are the:
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS - while I used to use the 24-70mm f2.8 L lens I upgraded to the 24-105mm option because I wanted the extra focal length and image stabilization. While I miss the f2.8 range I find that the IS more than compensates in most cases and the extra reach that the lens gives me makes it a lot more useful. Plus if I really need the extra aperture I can switch to my other lens.
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS - this lens is amazing. I do a candid/photojournalistic style of portrait photography and this gives me the reach to create intimate images without my subjects feeling intruded upon. It also gives a nice narrow depth of field (lots of blurry backgrounds) and is one of the sharpest lenses I own.
The other lens that I’m falling in love with is the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens which is super sharp and amazingly sharp. I prefer having a zoom on my cameras for my more candid style shots but if I have more time on my hand and am going for a more formal/posed shoot the 85mm is great.
Other Gear
- I use a Speedlight 580 EX Flash
- I’m not big on filters (I use UV filters but that’s about all)
- I have a Manfrotto tripod (although it doesn’t really fit with my style of photography so don’t use it a lot)
- I have a number of camera bags (my wife says I have a worse bag fetish than she does) for different situations but like Crumpler and Lowepro Bags for day to day photography.
- My computer set up is an Apple PowerMac. I use Apple’s Aperture 1.5 as my photo editor of choice.
I was chatting with a Pro photographer recently at a party and as is usual when I meet someone who makes their living from photography I pumped him with questions for a good half hour. I did so for two reasons:
- firstly I learn a lot when I do it
- secondly I thought it might be an interesting learning experience for the DPS community. I obtained his permission of course.
The results of his conversation were quite insightful - so over this week I thought I’d share a number of his answers to my questions as a mini-series. I tried to keep things to a beginner to intermediate level.
By the way - this photographer works mainly in portrait photography - but majors in kids with a few weddings. He does mainly on location work (ie very little studio work).
I’ll start off with a pretty quick and simple one.
What mode do you mainly shoot in?
Do you want the ‘I’m a Pro Photographer’ answer or the ‘Real’ answer?
The ‘I’m a Pro’ answer is that I never leave full Manual Mode but the real one is that I generally live largely in Program Mode (P) and Aperture priority Mode (A).
I tend to use Program Mode when I’m doing spontaneous photography. For example if I’m out and about taking candid shots or am photographing kids where they’re running around I ‘cheat’ and switch to ‘P’, choose my ISO and start shooting.
If I have more time and my scene isn’t changing I’ll generally switch to Aperture Priority mode and shoot from there. I use Aperture Priority largely because I’m big on controlling depth of field and find it can make or break a shot.
Read more on the different modes on your digital camera and aperture and shutter priority modes.
