Lens Care: Cleaning and Changing Lenses

For those of us who use interchangeable lens cameras, changing lenses soon becomes habit, something we do without thinking about it. For those new to such tools, it can seem intimidating, and even for us habitual users, a change of system can bring out new problems. It is an area where not all systems are equal – I’ve worked with numerous different marques over the years and in different formats, moving from Leica and Pentax screw systems to 57 varieties of bayonet. Two systems seem to me to have stood out from the rest as giving fast, easy and positive changes. Not surprisingly, one is the Leica M system, and the other the Olympus OM series. Both have sensibly placed lens release buttons and positive locking systems, enabling fast lens changes, even one-handed. It’s only now I do most of my lens-changing on Nikon or Hasselblad XPan, neither outstanding in use, that I really appreciate their good design. I can’t quite work out why, but several times I’ve found an XPan lens falling off in my camera bag or coming off in my hand.

Rear Lens Caps

Camera lens and body flanges are generally fairly well engineered, with machined metal surfaces, but a third important element in lens changing is the plastic lens end cap. Some of these – even from major manufacturers – are poorly thought out and produced, and they often soon begin to suffer from wear. Sometimes I feel the manufacturers treat these small plastic pressings as unimportant, even almost disposable, when in fact they are a vital part of the system. If they do get too worn or you lose one, good dealers will stock replacements, though it is galling to pay $9 or so for a poorly designed few cents of plastic.

Visible Markings

To ease the changing of lenses, you may find it worth putting a clear white (or other colour) spot on the plastic end caps. It would help if all manufacturers marked these clearly, preferably with a clear raised mark that could easily be felt in low light. Some – including Nikon – have the kind of mark that you can see if you know where to look in perfect lighting, frankly pretty useless. Since most caps are black, a small spot of white paint, or, perhaps better, a line down the edge, helps greatly. Mark it precisely where it needs to line up with the spot on the lens.

Digital Differences

Moving to a Digital SLR (dSLR) system has caused particular problems, as lens changing allows dust to enter the system. A much more careful and systematic approach is needed to cut down the chances and thus avoid either the need to clean the sensor or the tedious job of retouching all your images in Photoshop or other imaging software.

Cleaning sensors

I’ve dealt previously with the problems of dirt on dSLR sensors (see Digital Dirt and Noise in Related Resources), with some suggestions about simple and cheap methods of cleaning them. You take the advice in my feature entirely at your own risk, and it may well invalidate your warranty, but it has worked without problems for me. Recently I’ve been using a new and apparently safer cleaning method involving a specially designed brush which is prepared using an air blast. This is said to be safer and more effective and my review of the Visibledust Sensor Brush(TM) (see Related Resources) confirms that it works. Source : www.articlephotography.com

Guides To Help You Improve The Quality Of Your Food Pictures

Taking great pictures of different food dishes isn’t as easy as it appears to be in cook books and food advertisements. Great care should be exercised when taking these shots. Things that need to be considered include the dish’s angle, composition, lighting, as well as problems that may arise. Here are some guides to help you improve the quality of your pictures.

Lighting

Consider the lighting in the kitchen or venue where you will shooting the dishes. It is a good idea to know this in advance so that you no longer have to make adjustments right there in the venue. Dark venues may be corrected by using a row of flourescent lighting which possesses diffusers. The drawback of this method is that the image will have a subdued shade of green. Depending on the camera that you have, it may have a setting that neutralizes the effects of flourescent lighting or a magenta filter may be used to compensate.

Stability of tripods

Since you are taking pictures of food, every shot is done at close range. Unlike shots taken at a distance, shots done in close up are sensitive to movement. Any sudden moves and the picture will be ruined. Focusing on the subject also becomes easier when using a tripod or even just a stack of magazines.

Food presentation

To get that professional look, cut the dish in geometric shapes. Proper arrangement of the food is also important so that you will be able to showcase the dish’s ingredients as well as its strengths. Garnishing the food that you will shoot will enhance its natural colors, making it more appealing to the eyes.

Focusing on the subject

A rather dull photo will become vibrant and dynamic if care is taken when focusing and adjusting the field depth of the camera. If your camera doesn’t have manual focus, depressing the camera’s shutter button halfway to lock the focus at that specific depth. Recomposing the focus can be done by changing the position of the camera while the shutter button is still depressed halfway.

Automatic cameras usually lack aperture or depth of field. Some purposely adjust the aperture such that the background becomes a blur to heighten the subject’s features while others prefer that a wider depth of field is used to capture the whole scene.

These are some of the things that you should know regarding food photography. Constant practice will help you produce better shots. Follow your instincts. Sometimes this allows you to take better shots.

How to Deliver Your Perfect Shots Using Digital Photography

Trial and error is familiarized by so many photographers who try to find the perfect shot out of their work. But these times are gone. Photographers had to take several shots and develop them to find out if a fine or even perfect image was taken.

In the present day, many individuals who have decided to shift from an old SLR models to digital ones. With DSLRs, they can spend more time to concentrate in taking those great pictures. If those pictures do not meet their standards can be deleted right away.

SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. The name connotes the use of lenses and a mirror. Mirror reflects light entering the lens up into the view finder. Thus, a photographer can estimate how the picture will appear when the film is developed. Moreover, a SLR camera uses separate lenses that can be flip-flopped depending on the resolution needed. Hence, this camera can be used to capture image with varying depths. Similarly, a digital SLR or DSLR camera uses lenses and mirror. But rather than a conventional film used to capture the image, a DSLR camera uses light sensor chips and digital memory. Put it this way, a DSLR camera is the computerised variation of the conventional SLR camera.

However, the functions of these models are rather different so it is recommended that users should spend time playing with their device. Owners should use that “trial and error” technique by taking a few shots and storing better quality pictures. Eventually, they will get familiarized with their tool.

Photographer who decides to use these kinds of cameras should really invest on memory cards and lenses. Thus, if they happen to become professionals someday, additional equipment will surely keep them busy for choosing photography as their career.

Here are some tips that will by all odds assist owners of DSLR cameras to deliver a perfect image using state of the art digital photography gadget.

1. The law of photo shooting remains the same whether using an the conventional or a digital camera. For example, if the sun is behind the image, the picture will appear in silhouette. If light is in front of the image, the picture will appear squint unless there are sunglasses on.
2. Use your sunglass to act as a polarizer to take away unnecessary reflections from blazing objects.
3. In a conventional manner, people will take full body shots against a backdrop, but it is advised to take a shot from shoulders up because image of those will appear really small.
4. If the above technique happens to be really difficult for you, you can take a shot of the person at one side rather than at the center. Then the owner can just zoom in so the person appears to be at the center.
5. Change your white balance setting from auto mode to cloudy when shooting outdoor portraits or at bright landscapes.
6. You can make use of sunglasses to increase the exposure of objects.
7. When using a polarizer, be sure that the source of light is perpendicular to the object.
8. Do not use the flash mode when the backdrop is already bright.
9. Zoom in to put emphasize on certain asset or characteristic of the subject being captured.
10. Practice. Practice. Practice.

It is suffice to say that practice is what really makes perfect shots!

Artivle Source : www.articlephotography.com