How To Get F32 On A Point-and-shoot Camera

At that place are several things you lot can and should do to get the nearly out of the images from your point-and-shoot camera. If you utilize it correctly, people won't know with what camera the shot was taken.Check out the photo higher up and guess which photographic camera it was taken with. I'll reveal the respond at the finish of the post.

Now, the first affair yous'll need to learn are the full general limitations of P&Southward cameras. Here's a list:

• Low dynamic range (Range of tones of gray that the photographic camera can see; or what the brightest and darkest affair in an image tin can exist where you still see particular)
• Deadening autofocus
• Often poor manual controls
• Large depth of field
• Doesn't capture raw images
• Poor functioning at high ISOs (noise in images taken in low light)

The big issues are the low dynamic range and the large depth of field. These two are the biggest bug that make images taken from a P&S look "apprentice" compared to images taken with a DSLR. How tin you work around these problems?

Low dynamic range

First nosotros'll tackle the depression dynamic range. This issue produces two symptoms in images. The commencement 1 is that you often get your foreground underexposed and heaven overexposed which makes the photograph look unpleasant. Here'south an example:

It's an paradigm taken outside during a cloudy 24-hour interval. Every bit you lot can see the footing and people are a bit dark and the sky is nearly totally white. Not actually a pretty photo. What caused this to happen?

This image was taken quite up north in Svalbard during the summer when the sunday is always up high. But in a normal role of the globe this would equate to taking a photo at around noon. This is when the sun is at its brightest, which means the clouds are at their brightest. The 2d thing that creates this scene with a lot of dynamic range (difference between lite and dark) is the fact that the photographer is shooting towards where the sun would be. This is the brightest part of an already brilliant sky. Since the ground is mostly composed of dark rocks that reverberate little low-cal, you have a scene with more dynamic range than what a P&S can capture.

How do you lot work around this? Simple: never shoot towards the dominicus if you want both the sky and foreground to be well exposed.

Here's another photograph:

This is a very like image taken the day after the previous one. Same identify, same time of day (though that is irrelevant in Svalbard during the summer since the lord's day is just equally loftier in the heaven). The simply difference between this and the previous image is that this one is shot away from the lord's day. This photo is as well slightly edited; most noticeably the sky has been darkened with a curves layer and a layer mask. Heres the original to better compare it with the previous example:

See how the unedited epitome is also better than the other 1, simply past shooting in a different direction? Here the reason the ground is so dark is because the photographic camera exposed the scene with 18% grey in listen, but that'southward for another lesson.

The second problem of lack of dynamic range in P&Southward cameras is that the blown out expanse is oftentimes very unappealing. Instead of only losing information to light, you lot get weird color shifts at the border of the overexposed expanse. Hither's one showing a cyan shift:

This is almost impossible to gear up. Avoid it.

Hither'due south a shot about against the sun that DOES work, considering it does non rely on having the foreground correctly exposed:

Moving on…

Wearisome autofocus

The problem with slow autofocus is easy. Don't shoot moving things, or if you lot practise, focus on a point and wait until the matter that'due south moving is at that betoken, then accept the photograph. Only be aware of the lag between pressing the shutter button and taking the photograph. This technique requires a lot of practice to get right. This is how sports photos (e.thou. race cars) were taken before cameras had autofocus. Some old dogs still practise this.

The aforementioned technique of one-half-pressing the shutter can also be used to shorten the lag time between button press and having the photo taken when photographing people (I even do this with my DSLR).

Poor manual controls

This is also quite an like shooting fish in a barrel problem. Either shoot in auto mode or, if your camera has it, use aperture priority mode. You but need to adjust the exposure compensation anyhow. Most P&South cameras aren't designed with transmission utilize in mind and therefore are very difficult and time-consuming to use if you employ them in manual fashion. Well-nigh, however, work quite well in aperture priority mode since the exposure compensation characteristic is often only a push button press away.

Call up to not to permit your shutter speed become too slow or your images volition become blurry (I generally tell people with signal-and-shoots to keep it to a higher place i/60s).

Large depth of field

One thing with cameras with big sensors (due east.g. DSLRs) is that the area that is sharp tin can exist quite thin and the expanse that'south blurry quite large. This is an issue of a big sensor and a large aperture. Y'all tin usually only recreate this using post-processing when using a P&South. Just avoid taking photos where yous would similar this event. This ways when yous're taking portraits, you'll have to remember a lot more than about your backgrounds because yous can't hide them in the mistiness of a big aperture. Your backgrounds volition show in all their ugliness. Endeavour to find pretty backgrounds.

Hold off on your portraits until you find something that looks prettier. That's what I do. Well-nigh of the time you want the environs in a portrait as it shows the viewer where y'all were.

Doesn't capture RAW images

This is a bit of biggie too, just not too big of a problem. If your camera has the choice to, turn sharpness and noise reduction to their lowest levels. Too, put saturation and contrast to 0 (don't have the camera reduce these below 0: you but want the camera to not raise these so y'all can do it yourself). All cameras apply post-processing to the photos you have before the camera saves the photos to the retention menu. Ideally yous desire to control this on a per epitome basis and not accept the photographic camera do it for you. You do a much better job at this.

Poor performance at high ISOs

Just don't shoot when it's dark. If yous have to, do it similar this: before going out and shooting, examination your photographic camera at home. Prepare the ISO from 100 all the way to the maximum ISO available. Choose the highest one that you find nonetheless acceptable equally the highest you'll ever utilise. You lot don't need to become looking at exam charts — but take real photos of things similar your own home. Test charts don't e'er reflect reality. Now when you're at your friend's party, prepare your photographic camera to this ISO, the largest discontinuity yous can (smallest number), and put the camera on timer mode. At present either attach the camera to a pocket-size tripod or just set it on a tabular array and press the shutter and wait until the timer takes a photograph. Don't forget to plough off the flash and gear up the white residual to incandescent if you're shooting in a room that's lit with lightbulbs.

Finally, use Photoshop and search YouTube for Curves tutorials and Layer Mask tutorials. Voila! At present you're taking better photos than 90% of people with DSLRs.

Oh, and that outset image I linked to? It was made with a 5-megapixel GoPro Hero Hd — a video photographic camera.

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About the author: Max Edin is a 24 year old self-taught freelance photographer from Helsinki, Finland. Betwixt photography gigs he studies for his masters degree in economics. Visit his website here.

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Image credits: Photographs by Sonja Paetau and used with permission

Source: https://petapixel.com/2011/08/08/how-to-maximize-image-quality-with-your-point-and-shoot-camera/

Posted by: hodgesnount1981.blogspot.com

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