Photography

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Photography Rules Of Thumb
How to tell what to set your aperture at?

Is there a common rule of thumb on what to have your aperture at? I know I am asking a vague question because of all the circumstances of what you are shooting. But can someone give me a guideline on what or how to tell what you need your aperture to be set at? I am brand new to photography but eager to learn, any help is appreciated. Thank you.
I’m using a Minolta x-370 film camera with a 35-70mm lens and a 80-200mm lens.

Things have changed a lot in photography since I took a lot of pictures but here is some of the information you may want to know. I don’t know if you are shooting film or digital, but the camera’s are basically the same except most cheaper cameras for digital especially don’t have a way of changing the aperture. There used to be a lot of cheap film cameras that were point and shoot too.

I understand that there are more films out there now that aren’t so picky about the expected speed of the film so maybe that part won’t be as important as it used to be. To me your question is particulurly vague because of the different speeds of films. Most people used to shoot films that were slow because they shot outdoors or with flash and mostly normal people type shots. That was the normal stuff and I didn’t shoot normal mostly so I used a much faster film to get much dimmer objects in my pictures. In saying all that, I would use a very small aperture to take a normal shot with a fast film but most people who used the slower film would use a normal or wider aperture setting because of the film they were using.

One thing that I read and have taught my wife and daughter was that to get good pictures, you have to take a LOT of pictures. Professional photographers don’t skimp on the amount of film they use for a particular subject. They know that you have to practice to get good, and learn from your mistakes, but also take many shots with different settings and conditions to get the few really good shots. My wife turned out to have a better eye for pictures than I do and my help teaching her allowed her to get some really good pictures.

If you look around the internet you may find a guide that will tell you the real answer to your question. I had a chart calculator that was in a magazine article about what settings and times to use for different light and film combinations. Maybe you can find something like that.

Photography Rules Of Thumb

What’s the verdict on shadows in photography?

I understand in many ways, shadows are a big “no-no” in photography.

It’s not so much that you need to avoid shadows altogether. You just don’t want anything to detract from your subject. For instance, a shadow right behind a person in a portrait will be distracting and make for an unprofessional photograph, but an image of a fence casting long shadows at dawn or sunset might be really interesting. The important thing is that the shadows enhance the image and aren’t distracting. Generally, shadows are avoided in studio photography (I.E. portraits, fashion, products, etc.) but are more common in fine-art/landscape photographs.

Typography Stop Motion





Photographing Fire Tips or Techniques or Links?

I’m on my local fire dept as an EMT, so whenever we have fire trainings, I’m usually “on scene” as the first-aid person in case something happens during training. So I find myself with down time and have become the department photographer, happily snapping photos while the guys do their training. I’m working on a great presentation for our annual banquet.
Are there any tips, techniques to taking pictures with fire in the background, usually around dusk and into the night? I can usually manage to take some good pictures after fiddling with the camera for ages. Are there any rules of thumb for these conditions that would help me quickly change settings and catch some quick pictures? It’s a Digital Camera w/ plenty of settings for manual mode, aperture, shutter, macro, etc. I’ve read through basic photography tips and haven’t come across “fire” techniques. I’ve seen some incredible fire fighter shots so I know it can be done…but easily and quickly and HOW?

Rule #1: Don’t use flash. It would be great for getting better pictures, but think about being face to face in an extremely volatile situation and seeing a bright flash go off!
Rule #2: Quick and easy method – use spot metering and lock the reading on the part of the image you want exposed neutral. It takes practice with the variable conditions created by smoke and flames, but you will learn to adjust for those conditions.

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