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From pixels to print: Your guide to better digital image capturing and editing
In This Issue
Freeze Frame:
Capture the rocket’s
red glare with your
digital camera
Exposure bracketing
helps get the right
shot every time
igital cameras aren’t known for their low-light exposure ability. In fact,
D they can be quite troublesome when trying to take nighttime shots, let
alone shots of a fireworks show. The mixture of a dark sky and bright
streaks of color can wreak havoc on your camera’s image sensor. Tradi-
tional photographers have devised some reliable techniques for shooting fire-
works, but these practices only partially apply in the digital world. To get great
shots of your next fireworks show, there are some special steps you can take to
make sure your fireworks images get the oohs and aahs you deserve.
Get on with the show Setting the scene
In this article, we’ll tell you how to get some The process of capturing a spectacular fireworks
great shots from your digital camera at your next display begins well before the show starts. One
fireworks show. First, we’ll discuss the chal- of the most important steps in this process is
lenges involved when a digital camera comes selecting your shooting location. Fireworks
across such brief flashes of light against a dark shots look best when they fill the frame but
background. Next, we’ll walk you through the don’t extend beyond it. While you could always
complete process of shooting the fireworks show, crop out extra image space in post-processing,
from setup and location selection to exposure attempt to use as much of your image sensor as
settings and framing. Finally, we’ll look at what possible to get the best resolution and detail. To
you can do in your image-editing application to do this, try to get as close to the action as possi-
give your fireworks images some more punch. ble without putting yourself in harm’s way.
Anticipate where the fireworks will explode, but
know that you’ll probably have to make adjust-
Figuring out fireworks ments once the show starts. Position yourself
Fireworks are unpredictable, short-lived, volatile,
upwind from where the fireworks are being
erratic, etc. Capturing a good photograph of a
launched and detonated, as shooting through a
firework burst takes as much luck as it does
thick wall of smoke will do nothing good for
planning. However, understanding the chal-
your image.
lenges when shooting a fireworks show is the
key to getting quality images. A steady footing
The biggest problem when shooting at night For the best results, place your camera on a tri-
with a digital camera is the buildup of noise pod or other firm foundation. We can’t stress
when the sensor is exposed to light for a long this enough—your shutter is going to be open
period of time. This isn’t a problem with film longer than usual to capture enough light for the
cameras, where the traditional method is to exposure. This long shutter time also exposes
open the shutter, cover the lens with something any camera movement, turning your bursts of
dark, and wait for the fireworks burst to remove light into squiggles! If your digital camera came
the dark object and expose the film. But this with a remote control, consider using it to elimi-
process doesn’t work so well with a digital cam- nate any camera shake that can occur when you
era, as the image sensor can produce noise even press the shutter button.
if no light is reaching it. So, getting good shots at
a fireworks show is largely a matter of using Adding more than the sky
your camera’s settings to properly expose the While shooting fireworks against the dark night
image without developing any nasty noise. sky is dramatic enough, you may want to con-
sider adding other objects
into your scene, as shown in
Figure A. If you’re shooting
a show in a downtown area,
consider adding a landmark
to help set the scene and
encourage some interesting
reflective possibilities. Water
creates beautiful reflections
of the show and can create
some captivating mirror
images. Also, keep in mind
that the audience may be as
interesting as the show. Sil-
houette the crowd against
the explosions, or turn your
camera around and capture
the glow of a burst on their
faces. We’ve even seen some
stunning overhead shots of
Figure A: By taking the time to set the scene, you can create some memorable shots. fireworks shows from air-
Figure C: Your
choice of lighting
techniques affects Figure D: For shiny metal, you usually get the best
the appearance of results with a diffuser, which you can make from a
your image. variety of objects.
Quick Clicks
Rainy days got you down?
Looking to use your digital camera on a rainy day? Watch out—moisture is any digital camera’s
worst enemy. If you don’t want to buy a special waterproof case, try a simple resealable plastic
bag. Place the camera in the bag with the sealing end at the bottom. Cut a hole for the lens and
place a rubber band around the opening to hold it in place. Your lens is slightly exposed to the
elements, but the electronics should be kept reasonably dry. Although this may not be foolproof,
it’s definitely better than facing the elements with no protection at all!
Paint by numbers
To demonstrate this technique, we’ll be turning
a red tulip into a yellow tulip, as shown in
Figure A. To accomplish this feat, we’ll first iso-
late our red tulip using the Selection tool and
make a few adjustments to make sure we don’t
change the color anywhere else. Then, we’ll
sample a color from the yellow tulip and use our
Color brush to “paint” in our sample color.
Finally, we’ll use this brush with other Painting
Modes and colors to make our adjusted tulip
look just right.
Natural selection
The first step in this technique is to select the Figure A: By using a brush and a few of Photoshop’s Painting Modes, we can
portion of the image you’re targeting with one quickly turn this tulip from red to yellow.
of the selection tools. If you have a steady hand,
you could skip this step, but we don’t recom-
mend it. Selections are reusable, editable and any image area outside of your target object that
create a better template to make adjustments. In gets colorized is going to stick out like a sore
this example, having a solid selected area will thumb. The path we drew around our tulip is
allow us to feather the edges, helping blend in shown in Figure B on the next page.
our new color with its surroundings. Now that we have a path, let’s activate the
To start, open your file in Photoshop. Next, selection. Open the Paths panel by selecting Win-
choose the Pen Tool ( ) and draw a path dow > Paths and click on the Work Path layer
around your object. The Pen Tool works great while holding down the [Ctrl] key ([control] on
for this type of work as you can draw precise the Mac). Your path turns into “marching ants,”
paths that can be easily edited. We usually draw Photoshop’s indicator of a selected area.
a rough outline around our object and then Next, we want to slightly feather our selec-
adjust the path at a higher magnification using tion to make sure our edges aren’t too sharp and
the Direct Selection Tool ( ) and Convert Point the new color blends in with the surrounding
Tool ( ). It’s important to draw a good path— pixels. Open the Feather dialog box by selecting
Shooting smart Figure A: In this three-shot bracket, the exposure values are -0.3, 0.0
When shooting a typical bracketed sequence, and +0.3. You can have a broader range, but a narrow bracket gives you
one shot is taken at the metered setting, one shot a better chance of getting it right.
is underexposed, and one shot is overexposed,
as shown in Figure A. One of the impediments weighs the burning of a few frames of film, the
of using exposure bracketing with traditional fact remains that for every shot you select from a
film cameras is that it “wastes” film. While you bracketed sequence, there will be three or more
might think that getting the perfect shot out- shots that are useless. However, digital cameras
shots. Once the five shots are taken, the shutter Bracketed shots in post-process
stops opening and you can release the shutter Bracketing shots can also be helpful if you want
button. Some cameras automatically shoot all to combine two images to get the best composite
bracketed shots with one click of the shutter but- image. Let’s go back to the person standing in
ton, while others require you to click it for each the snow—by taking a series of shots at different
shot. The bracketed sequence we captured is exposures, you can select a foreground subject
shown in Figure B. that has the correct exposure from one shot with
the background that contains good detail from
Bracketing your shots manually another shot. Then, by combining these two ele-
If your camera doesn’t have automatic exposure ments, you can build a better composite shot.
bracketing but has adjustable exposure compen- Often, this is the only way to make certain shots
sation, you can manually set up your own work, so keep it in mind when you shoot.
bracket. The technique here is to take one shot,
allowing the camera to meter the scene. Then, Get it right!
take one shot at positive exposure compensation Exposure bracketing won’t ensure that you get
and one shot at negative exposure compensa- the perfect shot every time, but it will give you a
tion. You get the same results—the automatic better chance of capturing a scene when select-
exposure bracketing just speeds the process ing an exposure is tricky. With digital cameras,
along. While having your camera do all the shooting an extra frame or two is a small price to
work is certainly easier, the benefit of manually pay for a great shot, so take the time to get used
bracketing your shot is that you aren’t limited to to bracketing and find ways to incorporate this
the range of exposure you can shoot with. practice into your shooting technique.
et’s face it—no one buys a digital camera which can record VGA movies (640 x 480) at 30
quality clips from your video mode can be Plan your shot beforehand
tricky. In this article, we’re going to give you Editing digital video is time-consuming and
some tips for using the video mode that will tricky. Why not get the shot right the first time?
help you use this feature to its fullest potential. By setting your scene before you start recording,
you can capture video clips without going into a
Know your camera’s capabilities video-editing application to rework all the clips.
The first step in using the video mode success- Another reason to prepare your shot beforehand
fully is to understand the capabilities of your is that you may have some lag time when your
camera. The most important thing to know is the camera writes the video file to your storage
maximum length your camera will allow you to media. By planning out your shot, you reduce
record. Most cameras limit you to a specific the risk that you’ll miss out on the moment you
length, dependent on the camera’s internal were trying to capture.
buffer size or the capacity of the storage media.
This time can be anywhere from 15 seconds to Don’t go toward the light
several minutes, so knowing how long you have Obviously, your image sensor is very sensitive to
to shoot will ensure that you capture the action light, but when it records frame after frame of
you’re after. You may also be able to sacrifice video, this sensitivity is even more pronounced.
quality for a longer recording time, so check out Avoid backlighting your subjects or panning
your manual to know exactly what to expect. across bright lights and reflection as they can
Most digital cameras record images at 320 x cause ugly hotspots in your video. Actually, hav-
240 pixels, but some allow you to cut this size in ing less light in the room usually produces bet-
half (160 x 120) to allow you to take longer shots. ter exposures, as the camera can control the
While this is a nice option, the quality and size amount of light and compensate to an appropri-
of the smaller movie size leave a lot to be ate level. Also watch out for color casts caused
desired. Stick with 320 x 240 and sacrifice the by influential light sources such as fluorescent or
longer record time for better image quality. halogen bulbs—you might want to adjust your
However, if you’re looking for a really long camera’s white balance to make sure your sub-
record time, check out the Fuji FinePix S602, jects don’t look like they’re from another planet.
Resist the urge to zoom For subscriptions, fulfillment questions, and requests for group subscriptions,
address your letters to
When shooting video clips, most digital cameras disable the optical Element K Journals Customer Relations
zoom. This means that any zooming you can do, if you can do any at all, 2165 Bri-Hen TL Rd. Ste. 3
Rochester, NY 14623
will be digital. This process simply makes a smaller portion of the image Or contact Customer Relations via Internet email at journals@element-k.com.
sensor bigger, increasing the size of your pixels and decreasing the qual-
Editorial
ity of your images. When possible, just avoid zooming altogether when
shooting video clips. Editor ..........................................................................Stephen Dow
Editorial Director ..........................................................................Michelle Rogers
Would you like audio with your video? Managing Editor ..............................................................................Craig Watkins
Copy Editors ................................................................................Nathan Adamus
Evan Gelder
Many digital cameras include microphones to record sound. While this Contributing Editor............................................................................G. H. Cloutier
feature is primarily intended to allow the photographer to add audio Graphic Designer ..............................................................................Alicia Natale
Cover and Content Design ................................................................Alicia Natale
annotations to their still images, you can also use it to gather sound
along with your video. Be aware that these microphones are basic; don’t You may address tips, special requests, and other correspondence to
expect CD quality from them. Keep your subjects in front of the camera The Editor, Digital Photo Pro
Element K Journals
and at a reasonable distance from the microphone to get the best possi- 2165 Bri-Hen TL Rd. Ste. 3
ble quality. Also, be aware that if your camera can auto focus while Rochester, NY 14623
Editorial Department fax................................................................(716) 292-4391
shooting video, your microphone is probably going to pick that sound
Or contact us via Internet email at digitalphoto@elementkjournals.com.
up as well! Sorry, but due to the volume of mail we receive, we can’t always promise a
reply, although we do read every letter.
you’re looking through the viewfinder. Also, know that the quality of Postmaster
Postmaster: Send address changes to
Digital Photo Pro
P.O. Box 92880
Rochester, NY 14692
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2018
Coming up…
• Avoid reflections when
shooting through glass
• Create better images by
understanding color depth Please include account number from label with any correspondence.