MikeScone
Mike - Camera Corner Mod
As I have done every even-numbered year since 1996, I took a group of Boy Scouts over to Scotland this summer for the International Patrol Jamborette in Blair Atholl, Perthshire. We did a week's touring, were at the Jamborette for ten days, and then I had four days to spend on the islands of Mull and Iona while the Scouts went home with their Scottish counterparts. The full story of the trip, with lots more pictures, is on my Blair Atholl 2012 website.
But this is the Camera Corner, so let's look at a few of the pictures I took which I think are most interesting from a photographic point of view.
One of the problems with cameras, and digital cameras in particular, is that they just can't take wide enough pictures to match the scene you want to capture. Your eyes tend to see a lot from side to side, but much less up and down. Pictures are closer to square (4:3 width:height proportion, for most cameras, 3:2 for DSLRs). I've found that taking two or three pictures and stitching them together into a panorama lets me show what I saw on the spot.
This is the Ha'penny bridge in Dublin, a panorama made from two pictures:
Incidentally, many point-and-shoot digital cameras can shoot in "HD" mode, an aspect ratio of 16:9. That sounds good, much wider than high, but beware - in every case I've looked at, all that really happens when you switch to "HD" or "16:9" is that the camera ignores the top and bottom parts of the sensor. In other words, all you accomplish is to lose pixels you paid to get. Use the normal full-sensor 4:3 mode and crop in the computer during post-processing instead. You can never retrieve the parts of the image you didn't take.
It's often useful to include something in a picture to give a sense of scale. You can say that an Austin Mini is, well, mini - but put a six-foot plus Scout next to it...
One of the high points of our touring was a ride on the "Jacobite" steam train from Fort William to Mallaig. For the Harry Potter fans in the group, that's the train which played the Hogwarts Express in the films.
If you're taking pictures of a train from inside the train, there's an obvious problem. The solution is to wait for a curve, and lean out on the side of the train which is inside the curve. Stay close enough to the train to give a feeling of the length, and watch for interesting leading lines. This is the Jacobite going over the Glenfinnan Viaduct - can you see Harry and Ron in their Ford Anglia ahead of the train?
When you're taking pictures from a moving vehicle, it's usually a good idea to use a fast shutter speed to minimize any blurring from vibration. However, rules are made to be broken - a slow shutter speed will blur details which are close to the train, while the train itself and distant details remain sharp, giving a nice feeling of speed:
I've mentioned the "rule of thirds" in other posts - divide the picture in thirds, vertically and horizontally, and put a point of interest on an intersection of the one-third lines. Here, the monument to the Highland Clans raised by Bonnie Prince Charlie in Glenfinnan lies on a one-third intersection, and the loch provides leading lines leading your attention through the glen toward the sea:
As sunset approaches, wind dies, and that's a perfect time to look for reflections in water which might be too rough during the day. This is a lockkeeper's house on the Caledonian Canal:
Sunsets can be beautiful, but capturing an image which shows what you saw can be a problem. Digital cameras will try to correct the color to a neutral grey, so it helps to turn off automatic white balance - if the camera has a sunset mode, use it. Otherwise set the camera to daylight white balance, and the warm colors will be rendered properly. Exposure is also a problem, as pictures may be washed out. Try underexposing - most cameras have an exposure compensation setting. Try -0.5 or -1.0 and see how it looks. This is Saint Andrews Castle (another two-picture panorama):
Once the sun goes down, blue is the predominant color, which can contrast interestingly with the yellow or greenish colors of sodium vapor or mercury vapor street lights. This is St. Andrews High Street in the evening - again, leading lines and rule of thirds.
The Mirror Maze in the Camera Obscura in Edinburgh gives me an opportunity to demonstrate "How to Hold a Camera" to take sharper pictures:
Note that the weight of the camera is supported by my left hand, under the camera, while I zoom or focus with my left hand. My right hand just operates the trigger, so the movement when I push the button doesn't move the camera at all. By keeping my elbows against my body, I've created a tripod - two elbows and my face - which keeps the camera steady. If you can, lean on something solid for additional support at slow speeds.
You need to use every trick of holding a camera steady when you're taking pictures by the light of a single candle - this picture in the Edinburgh South Bridge Vaults was taken at 1/15th of a second:
But this is the Camera Corner, so let's look at a few of the pictures I took which I think are most interesting from a photographic point of view.
One of the problems with cameras, and digital cameras in particular, is that they just can't take wide enough pictures to match the scene you want to capture. Your eyes tend to see a lot from side to side, but much less up and down. Pictures are closer to square (4:3 width:height proportion, for most cameras, 3:2 for DSLRs). I've found that taking two or three pictures and stitching them together into a panorama lets me show what I saw on the spot.
This is the Ha'penny bridge in Dublin, a panorama made from two pictures:
Incidentally, many point-and-shoot digital cameras can shoot in "HD" mode, an aspect ratio of 16:9. That sounds good, much wider than high, but beware - in every case I've looked at, all that really happens when you switch to "HD" or "16:9" is that the camera ignores the top and bottom parts of the sensor. In other words, all you accomplish is to lose pixels you paid to get. Use the normal full-sensor 4:3 mode and crop in the computer during post-processing instead. You can never retrieve the parts of the image you didn't take.
It's often useful to include something in a picture to give a sense of scale. You can say that an Austin Mini is, well, mini - but put a six-foot plus Scout next to it...
One of the high points of our touring was a ride on the "Jacobite" steam train from Fort William to Mallaig. For the Harry Potter fans in the group, that's the train which played the Hogwarts Express in the films.
If you're taking pictures of a train from inside the train, there's an obvious problem. The solution is to wait for a curve, and lean out on the side of the train which is inside the curve. Stay close enough to the train to give a feeling of the length, and watch for interesting leading lines. This is the Jacobite going over the Glenfinnan Viaduct - can you see Harry and Ron in their Ford Anglia ahead of the train?
When you're taking pictures from a moving vehicle, it's usually a good idea to use a fast shutter speed to minimize any blurring from vibration. However, rules are made to be broken - a slow shutter speed will blur details which are close to the train, while the train itself and distant details remain sharp, giving a nice feeling of speed:
I've mentioned the "rule of thirds" in other posts - divide the picture in thirds, vertically and horizontally, and put a point of interest on an intersection of the one-third lines. Here, the monument to the Highland Clans raised by Bonnie Prince Charlie in Glenfinnan lies on a one-third intersection, and the loch provides leading lines leading your attention through the glen toward the sea:
As sunset approaches, wind dies, and that's a perfect time to look for reflections in water which might be too rough during the day. This is a lockkeeper's house on the Caledonian Canal:
Sunsets can be beautiful, but capturing an image which shows what you saw can be a problem. Digital cameras will try to correct the color to a neutral grey, so it helps to turn off automatic white balance - if the camera has a sunset mode, use it. Otherwise set the camera to daylight white balance, and the warm colors will be rendered properly. Exposure is also a problem, as pictures may be washed out. Try underexposing - most cameras have an exposure compensation setting. Try -0.5 or -1.0 and see how it looks. This is Saint Andrews Castle (another two-picture panorama):
Once the sun goes down, blue is the predominant color, which can contrast interestingly with the yellow or greenish colors of sodium vapor or mercury vapor street lights. This is St. Andrews High Street in the evening - again, leading lines and rule of thirds.
The Mirror Maze in the Camera Obscura in Edinburgh gives me an opportunity to demonstrate "How to Hold a Camera" to take sharper pictures:
Note that the weight of the camera is supported by my left hand, under the camera, while I zoom or focus with my left hand. My right hand just operates the trigger, so the movement when I push the button doesn't move the camera at all. By keeping my elbows against my body, I've created a tripod - two elbows and my face - which keeps the camera steady. If you can, lean on something solid for additional support at slow speeds.
You need to use every trick of holding a camera steady when you're taking pictures by the light of a single candle - this picture in the Edinburgh South Bridge Vaults was taken at 1/15th of a second:
