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| 59. "I need some help. I've started to get into photography and am really enjoying it. I've got a older Canon A-1 and a new Canon EOS rebel 2000. I've been practicing trying to get the blurred background effect when taking portraits or wildlife pictures. What aperture setting would you recommend to get a good blur. Also after I set the aperture would you set the shutter speed to allow for the correct lighting? Any help would be great thanks. Also do you know of any good photo books that would help me to get a good general start. The class at my college is always full and I would like to get some good experience until I can get into it." (Sean Smith, Provo, UT) Use the largest possible aperture setting to get the most blur. If you use the aperture-priority setting on the Canon A-1 or Rebel 2000, the shutter speed is automatically reduced. As for books, please see my Useful Books page. It sounds as though the Kodak Guide to 35mm Photography might meet your needs. 60. "Hi! Thanks for taking time to answer my question. I have been given a professional Mamiya 645 camera! I'm very excited to start taking photos with it. I havebeen asked to photograph a 3 month old baby girl next month. I don't have any professional lighting equipment so I was planning on using window lighting. I want the picture to look soft. What film speed would you recomend and what f stop? What backgrounds and colors would you use? Any ideas? Thank you!!" (Gina Renner) I'd use a large aperture (perhaps f2.8 or f4) and ISO 100 film. Window lighting works fine, but avoid bright sunshine. Use a dark room, or a plain wall, as background. An excellent book is How to Photograph Your Baby, with 9 pull-out lessons, as described on my More Books page. 61. "I plan to photograph wrestling matches next week. I will use a Fuji 1,600 ASA film with 600si Minolta with 28-105mm lens and the distance between my seat & wrestling mat is at about between 20 to 30 feets. I need your help on photography technique (such as how much aperture and speed) since the boxing match's lighting level is similiar to wrestling matches. I can't seem find any informations from books and I really hope you would be able to help me with this technique. Thank you very much for your time. One more thing. Do I still have to use a flasher (even I use a 1,600 ASA Fuji film)?" (Muchineripi "Muchi" Chirenje) Use spot metering to determine the exposure, then your camera won't be misled by any dark surrounding areas. The shutter time required depends on how fast the wrestlers are moving, but 1/500th sec would seem reasonable. Flash would be even faster if you're allowed to use it. The key to success is to get really close to the action! I'd be interested to hear how you get on. (PG) "Thank you very much for quick response and your advices as well. Sure, I will let you know how things go well with photo developing. I really appericate for your advice.. Have a nice day." (Muchineripi "Muchi" Chirenje) 62."What I appreciate most about your web site is that it's not just aimed at people who are prepared to spend a fortune on kit. I have a compact camera (with a half decent zoom) and have managed to get decent results with it in colour (half an hour before sunset on Fuerteventura I got some great shots of my girlfriend). What I'd really like to know is what I can do to achieve the best results with portrait photography in black and white with the same camera. Some portrait photos (professional, indoor and outdoor) manage to get a really bright, sharp face with a black background. Can you help me out - I'd like to do black and white photos of my girlfriend (mainly face only and mainly outdoors)- with tips about light sources, filters etc? Many thanks and keep up the good work." (Martin Tobutt) Use the far end of your zoom, and position your subject in front of a black cloth. Outdoors, aim for a cloudy bright day. For two good books about b&w photography, please see my Useful Books page and also the next page after it. The Better Picture Guide to Photographing People might help too. (PG) " Wow! That was quick! Thanks very much - I'm assuming the best time of day is late afternoon for outdoor photos. The biggest problem's always that b&w photos come out with a lot of grey and very little black or white. I'll try your tip. Thanks again." (Martin Tobutt) 63. "I have searched the web and some photography books I could put my hands on, trying to find some basic instructions for taking a good group photograph. Could you give me some basic pointers. I really appreciate any suggestions or guidance you could give me. Thank you." (Rebecca Murphy) The essential thing with group photos is that we should see everyone's face. So arrange for the shortest people to be at the front and the tallest at the back, and/or arrange for them to be at different levels (some standing, some sitting, some crouching etc). Try to avoid standing them in a straight line. Use the whole picture area. A triangular format can sometimes look good, with the most important person at the top. Take several photos, including your subjects looking seriously at the camera, then smiling or (if you can arrange something funny) laughing at it, and also experiment with a couple of photos of the group just chatting with each other. A tripod might be a help. (PG) 64. "How do I go about getting started in being a photographer. I really wanna do it do u think u could help me. thanks" (Lynn Edwards) Presuming you mean becoming a professional photographer, see the Opportunities in Photo Careers and/or Photos that Sell books recommended at the foot of my More Books page. (PG) 65. "I am new at trying to take "good" photos. My father has lent me his manual camera and I'm not sure where to start. What sorts of pictures do you suggest I start with and in what settings? I have learned a very small amount about aperture and shutter speed and how the combination of different levels of these will create different effects. I know that my knowledge is very limited though...any advice would be very useful." (Elizabeth T., Gainesville, Fl) Take subjects that really interest you: friends, relations or favourite places! Get the picture properly exposed and in focus, using a shutter speed of about 1/100th sec. You may find one of the books mentioned on my Useful Books page useful. And the best of luck! I'd be interested to see how you get on. (PG) 66. "I have a question about portraits of people outdoors. I am using a SLR with a telephoto lens. My question is, I have read that on a bright sunny day you should put your subject in the shade (or shade them) and use a fill flash for any needed light, to reduce the light on the persons face. Should I leave the camera in the sun or photograph from the shade? Also when doing this should raise the speed of my film due to the lower light conditions, if shooting from the shade. I am using a remote and tripod so camera shake does not play much of a roll. I appreciate all the helpful hints and tips given. I am an amateur photographer starting out and have found them very helpful.Thanks." (M. Holloway) A bright cloudy day is often best for portraits. It doesn't matter where the camera is as long as the sun isn't shining directly onto the lens. The speed of the film (the ISO rating) isn't affected. You'll just need a larger aperture (or slower shutter speed) for a subject in the shade, but many cameras do this automatically. For more suggestions, please see my People page. (PG)  67. "Attached find one of my fairly recent photos. I very much enjoy photographing trains - especially steam. I use a Minolta X300 with very basic 80-200 zoom and colour slide film (200). As is the case with the photo attached, I almost always battle to get the subject to fill the frame even though the front of the train was at the edge of the viewfinder when taking the picture. Is this a result of using zoom, and if so how do I compensate without cutting of the front! Any advice extremely welcome. Regards and thanks for a great website! Any comments on the photo?" (Bennie Landman) I'm afraid I'm not familiar with your particular camera, but camera viewfinders often show less than the area actually covered. Perhaps this is what happened to you. Only trial and error can teach you how far out the viewfinder is! I'm not sure exactly what you wanted to show, but generally a photo of a train approaching is more dramatic than one of it receding, and this also would also show the front of the engine. Even a straight side view of a stationary engine would have shown more detail than can be seen here. Your slightly blurred photo suggests speed, but a more picturesque setting might have added to its appeal. (PG) 68. "Hi, Im 17 years old and from scotland. I suppose im Emailing you to ask if you could give me any advice on how to go about taking photographs. Im sitting my Advanced Higher Art and Design course at school and im working from the theme of landscape/local environment. It was suggested to me that i take some photographs as part of my research into this theme. I have read your section on landscape and found it very helpful indeed - for that i thank you greatly. I have never really taken such photographs before so i am definetley a beginner. I have only got a 35mm camera which my family uses for holiday snaps etc. I was just wondering if you could give me any helpful tips on what compositions to take? What time of day? etc or any other information which you might feel i should know. I would GREATLY appreciate if you could email me back when you have a spare moment. Much appreciated." (Jamie Thomson) You really need a whole book to help you! Try your local library. I'd particularly recommend the Better Picture Guide to Landscape Photography, as described on my Useful Books page. All I'd add are suggestions that you might like to look through my photos section for successful landscapes - and avold mid-day when the sun is directly overhead. Also try to include interesting foreground framing. (PG) I'd just like to say thank you very much for your help and for getting in touch with me so soon. I'll take your advice and visit my local library. Cheers. Jamie." (Jamie Thomson) 69. "What is spot metering?" (search engine query) Spot metering is an option offered on some cameras. Instead of the built-in meter taking an average reading, it measures only a small spot (as indicated in the middle of the camera viewfinder). This is very helpful if you want to obtain the correct exposure for a small area, such as a face in shadow. But don't use it all the time as it can cause the rest of the picture to be incorrectly exposed. (PG) 70. "How can I photograph my paintings to get slides, using a digital camera?" (question in guest book)  When it comes to taking the photos, if you're using digital, you probably won't need a special copy stand or special lighting, although a tripod would be a real help. Experiment outdoors in the shade, and indoors with light from the windows, and you might even try flash (but watch out for reflections), to see which sort of lighting works best in your particular circumstances. It is important to keep the lighting absolutely even. The trickiest subjects are those with white backgrounds, such as my wife's passion flower picture seen here. If necessary, you can always use a photo editing program to select the off-white that you've probably got, and replace it with pure white, if this is what you want, as I did here. The three essentials are to get the main colors right and to position the camera in the dead center of the picture and absolutely level. If you're not able to do this, use a photo editing program to restore the proper perspective. Avoid glass because of the reflections in it.To get slides from digital photos, use a company that specialises in this work - but it can be quite expensive. Among the USA ones whose adverts I've seen are Spectrum (http://www.spectrumslides.com/digitalcamera.html) and Bigshot (http://www.bigshotinc.com/Services/Digital_Slides/digital_slides.html). In the UK, one possible source of help would be Joe's Basement (Imaging) (http://www.joesbasement.co.uk). I'd be very interested to hear comments about these or alternative suppliers. (PG) Reply from Herb Janow: Thanks for your quick response & help. If I decided to use my 35mm SLR for slides instead of my digital camera, what would be the best film to use and would a filter be helpful?" I'd go for a Fuji (or perhaps Kodak) slide film of no more than ISO 100. You're not likely to need a filter. Digital might be a better choice than 35mm because you can see what you've taken at once, and retake if necessary. (PG) 71. "Digital autofocus problems. Hi, I have seen your internet page while looking for some information on a good camera for taking pictures of small children. Perhaps you could advise me what type of a camera would be good as a replacement of my old compact 35mm camera. We have bought Canon G3 digital camera but had to return it back within a week - the autofocus was painfully slow and the autofocus flesh was so bright and on for so long that my four year old son cried whenever he saw the camera (he does not have any problems with eyes and my wife was also disturbed by this feature). Do you have any advice? I thought about buying an entry level SLR camera (we want something more advanced than simple compact, including a possibility to have external flash to get better colours; perhaps Minolta Dynax 5 or something of that sort) but am uncertain whether the autofocus would work as slow in bad light indoors. Thanks." (L.K., London) I was surprised to hear of your problem with the G3. I've not come across an autofocus light upsetting people before. How far away from your subject were you? Are you sure that's it's not the full flash that your son dislikes? Many digital cameras do have slow autofocus setting. When photographing children, it can be helpful to pre-focus on them so that you can then take the photo at just the right moment without any delay. My own preference would still be for a digital camera but look for one that has a shorter autofocus time. With digital, it's a great help as you can immediately see what you've got, so you then can go on until you're really satisfied. Another big advantage of digital cameras is that you often don't have to use flash at all. Available light can produce much happier pictures of children. (PG) Reply from L.K.: "Thanks, I have got a Minolta Dynax 5 and am happy with the pictures. There must have been something wrong with the Canon G3 I bought (the distance was across a room, some three metres) since I have never had this problem before nor do I have it now. Best regards and thank you once more."
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This is a photo taken with a digital camera with the equivalent of an ISO 400 setting. The exposure was 1/2 sec so you really need a tripod or something to steady the camera on or against. I didn't use one here, so the picture isn't as sharp as it might be - but I was helped by the zoom being set at its most wide angle setting, and I was subsequently able to sharpen the picture using a photo editing program.
This is the result of using the photo editing program (in this case, Photoshop) to lighten the dark areas. They could be lightened further if required. (PG)