Stop Shooting Auto!

Do you enjoy Stop Shooting Auto?  Is there a subject that you’d like to see discussed here?  Would you like to write about it?  If so, SSA! would love to hear from you.

I’m looking for a couple of guest bloggers to contribute occasional articles to the site.  Articles should fit with the general theme of the site, which is tutorials and lessons to help novice dSLR shooters use their cameras more effectively.  There’s no minimum requirement– you can write one article or several.

You should be able to write clear, engaging articles that can be easily understood by and are relevant to beginning dSLR owners– think clear, simple explanations wtih very little technical jargon.  You should be able to use WordPress well enough to create and publish your articles, though I can help with that if necessary.   If your articles require sample photos or illustrations, you should also be able to provide these.  It goes without saying that you should own the rights to any content you contribute.

Legalish details: you will retain ownership of any material you contribute to the site, and will grant SSA a non-exclusive license to publish it in the blog.

SSA! is largely a labor of love on my part, and the tiny revenue stream that it generates doesn’t even cover expenses.  I can’t afford to pay for contributions, but I can offer the glory of seeing your name in pixels and the satisfaction of helping people become better photographers.  Hey, it’s not much but it’s what I have to offer.

If you’re interested, drop me email telling me a little bit about yourself and what you’d like to write about.  My email address is pattib (at) pattib (dot) org.

It’s that time of year– the one where we make lists and give them to Santa Claus so that he can bring us especially wonderful treats. Are you looking for something to add to your list, or are you trying to find a gift for a dSLR owner? I can help!

Here are some of my favorite things for photographers. Most of them are relatively inexpensive, yet quite useful.

The hot shoe bubble level is one of my favorite gadgets. I’m notoriously bad about holding my camera level, and this little gadget helps me do that. It’s inexpensive and unobtrusive, and sometimes it’s extraordinarily useful. Where it really shines for me is when I’m shooting on a tripod, especially if I’m doing panoramic photographs.

The Giottos Rocket Air blaster is the perfect thing for easy dSLR sensor cleaning. While it won’t get stubborn stuck-on dust, it does a fine job of knocking the majority of it loose, and it’s far safer than wet cleaning.

Two of my favorite books are by Bryan Petersen. Understanding Exposure is the grown-up, sophisticated version of this blog, and teaches you more about exposure than I ever could. Learning to See Creatively is less about technical photography, and more about how to find great photos rather than average ones. Both of these books are a must-have for anyone learning photography.

Camera bags are always useful, and it’s often useful to have more than one. I have a large backpack that can hold multiple bodies, lenses, flashes, gizmos, a kitchen sink or two, and my laptop, and when I need all that stuff it’s wonderful. When I just have a camera and a lens or two, it’s overkill. Crumpler camera bags are very highly-rated, and I’m in love with mine.  Plus, how can you not love a company that calls their biggest bag the Brazillion Dollar Home?

An 18% gray card is a useful tool for photographers who understand color temperature of light, or want to get their colors as accurate as possible. Just take a picture of the card under the lighting conditions that you’ll be shooting in, and use it to calibrate the rest of the images. Almost as good, but way cooler, is this 18% gray cleaning cloth. It’s designed to clean the dust off of your gear, but does double-duty as an 18% gray card. Plus, it’s a dirt cheap stocking stuffer.

Most photographers never have enough batteries and memory cards, but make sure you get the right ones for your recipient’s camera.

Happy shooting, and happy holidays!

I’ve been kicking around the idea of doing a hands-on photography workshop, and I’m curious about how much interest there would be.

When athletes study a sport, they don’t just go out and play. They also do drills to improve some technical aspect of their game. Running through tires improves agility. Batting practice improves, well, batting. (If I was the least bit athletic, I would fill this paragraph with a few more examples to support my point and engage your interest. I’m not, so just imagine I did.)

Similarly, I want to do a workshop of technical photography exercises. This wouldn’t be a class of going to the beach and taking pretty pictures, but rather going somewhere and spending some time working on focused exercises. I make these up for myself and do them, and I find them very helpful in helping me become more technically competent, or in helping me see things in a different way.

Logistics: The workshop would be held on a weekend day somewhere near San Francisco– currently, I’m thinking that either the Alameda Naval Air Station or Treasure Island might be interesting venues, but I’m open to suggestions. My timeframe is sometime in January, 2009. Participants should have some sort of digital camera, for quick review of photos, and a dSLR would be best.  The target audience would be beginning and intermediate photographers, those who have gained basic competence with their camera and want to work on improving their skills.

As this would be an experimental class on my part, the fee would be a small donation to the charity of your choice, and maybe a dollar or two to cover my expenses if I do printed materials to go with it.

Would you be interested? If so, what would you like to get out of such a class? Do you have a suggestion for a location? Is there anything that would make you more or less likely to attend?

My how to shoot the moon article seems to be getting a lot of hits today, probably due to tonight’s lunar eclipse. I guess this would be the time for me to tell you exactly what settings to use to get a perfect photo of the eclipse.

OK, here goes. I don’t know. I do, however, know how to figure it out.

First off, use the longest lens you have. 200mm is probably the bottom of the range. If you have a teleconverter, use it. Using a tripod or other camera support is also a really good idea, and may be absolutely necessary. Don’t get too hung up on it being tripod– a beanbag or something similar is also good. You just need the camera to hold still.

Your camera’s meter probably won’t be able to deal with the situation with any degree of reason, and autofocus can also be very hit-or-miss. Put the camera in manual mode, and manual focus mode. Set your aperture to about f/8 or f/11 and your ISO to 100. Focus.

Try taking a picture at about 1/125 sec and check it on your LCD to see how it looks. Is it too dark? If so, use a slower shutter speed– try 1/60, and if that doesn’t work try 1/30, and keep trying until you find something you like. If it’s too bright, use a faster shutter speed– try 1/250, etc. If you’ve been reading this blog, you know how to do this already.

Now, bracket bracket bracket. Bracketing is the act of taking multiple shots of the same thing, each with slightly different exposure. It’s very common for photographers to do this, because it leaves them room for error in their exposure. If you think 1/125 is the exposure, always take three shots when you shoot– 1/60, 1/125, 1/250. That way, if you’re slightly wrong then one of the other shots should be usable. I’d even recommend bracketing two stops each way– 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, and 1/500. It’s better to take too many shots than not enough. In situations where I honestly didn’t know what exposure to use, and I really wanted to get the shot right, I’ve been known to bracket three or four stops on either side of my exposure best-guess.

As the earth’s shadow covers the moon, the moon will get dimmer. That means you’ll have to check your exposure again if you come back later. You may wind up using multi-second exposures, and you may even need to open your aperture wider. Increase your ISO if you have to. If you have a remote shutter release you’ll want to use it, or you can use your camera’s delay mode to avoid some of the shake associated with pressing the shutter button at longer exposures.

In a nutshell, what I’ve just told you to do is this: guess, then test out your guess and adjust it as necessary. That’s how I learned to take “hard” shots, and it really does work. When you’re shooting digital, test shots are very close to free, and the feedback is instantaneous.

I’ve covered most of the basics of exposure at this point, and I’ve gotten a lot of positive responses. I want to keep writing, but I’m not sure where to go next. Several things have crossed my mind– advanced topics, focusing, some of the whizzier camera functions– but I’m not sure what people are most interested in, or what would be generally helpful.

One thing that I’ve thought about is a series of recipes– “What settings should I use to shoot my son’s softball game?” “How do I take a picture of the moon?”

I throw it open to the floor. What would you like me to write about next?