SLR photography — learning from examples

In the first article we got started with a few basics of SLR photography. Because when you understand that simple stuff you’ll know which camera settings to choose. Now I’ll run through some examples to show the theory in action. Of course you can go a whole lot further than this when you start understanding more about your camera

Stationery subject in bright sunlight

When your subject isn’t moving it makes your photography so much easier. First of all, it gives you a bit of time to think about what you’re doing. So instead of worrying about just getting the shot, you can think about how to make it better.

In this case, I spotted a Black Cormorant sitting quietly at the edge of a lake in full sunlight. A breeze was causing a lot of distracting ripples in the water behind it and so I wanted to blur them away.

What’s your main priority?

Depth of Field, or in this case, not much it. Because you want to see the bird clearly but you want to blur away those waves in the background.

What does that mean for your camera settings?

You control Depth of Field with your Aperture settings and to reduce it you open up the Aperture a lot. So you select Aperture Priority in your mode dial (AV) or (A) or whatever your camera calls it, and choose a small number. In this example I opened it up as much as my lens would let me (f/5.6)

What about the theory?

f/5.6 lets a lot of light into lens, especially in good sunlight, so to ensure you don’t over-expose your shot you’d expect the camera to only keep the shutter open for a very short time. And sure enough, it chose 1/2000 of a second, which is fast.

Fast-moving subject in bright sunlight

In my opinion, the best dragonfly shots show the wings, even if the insect is flying. Now, a flying dragonfly isn’t the easiest photographic subject to work with, but the same rules apply.

First of all, what’s your main priority?

To be able to clearly see the dragonfly, including the wings.Those wings are moving quickly so then our priority in this case is to slow things down

What does that mean for your camera settings?

You want to freeze the action with a fast exposure. That means your main priority is decided for you: Shutter Speed. So you select shutter priority on the mode dial. That might be TV (Time Value) or it might be an S setting or whatever your camera calls it. Different brands of camera label it differently, but it’s all the same thing. I selected 1/1250 second for this shot. The camera then chose a suitable Aperture for me

Is that all?

Well, it's a good start, but with something as tricky as a dragonfly we’re going to ask our camera for a bit more help.

For example, you want to see the dragonfly and not the background foliage. The autofocus is going to be tempted to lock onto the foliage behind it. So in this case I selected only the middle autofocus point in my focus settings.

Also, because the insect keeps moving, even while it’s hovering, you’ll needed to be able keep it in focus long enough to get the shot. So in this case I chose servo focus in my focus settings

What about the theory?

1/1,250 of a second might be fast enough to freeze the action of a dragonfly wing, but it’s not much time to put light onto your camera’s sensor. So your camera is going to open its lens Aperture up a whole lot to allow enough light in to make up for it, even in bright sunlight. A wide-open Aperture means you won’t get very much Depth of Field, which means the background will get blurred away, but I was happy with that. I like the fact that the background foliage can’t be seen.

Landscape

An idyllic beach stretches almost to the horizon, and you want to get everything in focus

What’s your main priority?

Lots of Depth of Field

What does that mean for your camera settings?

You control Depth of Field with your Aperture settings and to increase it you close down the Aperture a lot. So you select Aperture Priority in your mode dial and choose a big number. In this example I chose f/20. The camera will then make up for this by selecting the right Shutter Speed.

If your camera selects a Shutter Speed slower than about 1/60 of a second then it’s possible you’ll need to use a tripod. Either that or something nice and sturdy to lean on.

This is why many landscape photographers prefer to use a tripod. They’ve closed down their Aperture and so are forced into using a shutter speed that is too slow for hand-held photography. This situation is made more critical by the low light which landscape photographers prefer to work in, like just after sunrise or just before sunset. Those are the times when colours appear especially rich and saturated.

Small bird in bright sunlight

Small birds (actually most birds, but especially the small ones) tend to be nervous, flighty and likely to hop about in quick, jerky movements. That’s why bird shots often end up looking pretty bad — it’s the motion blur

So then, what’s your main priority?

You want to freeze those movements in order to avoid motion blur.

What does that mean for your camera settings?

Select Time Value priority mode and choose a fast shutter speed. Try 1,000th second (that’s the speed I used in the picture of the Superb Fairy Wren shown above). Now aim at the critter and press your shutter button half-way down. Your lens will have a maximum aperture and at this shutter speed your camera will be getting close to it. If the camera tells you (by beeping warnings or flashing the f/stop reading or something) that there’s not enough light for your lens at that shutter speed, then select a slower speed.

Is that all?

Nope. We can do better. Ensure that only a single focus point is being used in your camera and use it to focus on the bird’s eye.

What about the theory?

1,000th of a second is so fast that your lens will open up a lot to capture sufficient light. What I’m saying is, it will auto-select a big aperture (small f/stop number). That has two implications you’ll want to know about:

1 - We know that a big aperture means shallow Depth of Field (DOF). In fact, it might not be enough DOF to get the entire bird in focus. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to focus on the eyes. Sharp focus on the eyes really helps an animal photo.

2 - The shallow DOF will nicely blur away the background and foreground, which makes the bird really stand out

A bit more about that shutter speed

1,000th of a second is fast enough to freeze the action in most bird shots. Although even that speed isn’t enough to get a tack-sharp shot if a small bird suddenly flaps its wings. So maybe you can choose an even faster shutter speed (providing of course that the light’s strong enough). Otherwise, maybe a bit of motion blur is not such a bad thing. In my opinion, a bit of motion blur can sometimes enhance a photo. But the important thing is that it’s your choice.

Beginners’ series on
digital SLR photography

• A beginners’ guide — basics for digital SLRs
• Learning from examples — picking up where the first article left off
• Understanding histograms — making sense of this handy tool
• Preventing washed-out photos — why it happens, and how to prevent it
• Understanding Exposure Compensation — why your photo subject can look so badly exposed, and what to do about it
• Megapixels — how many is enough?

Photo Sales

• Photo Library — pics of Australian critters

An unhelpful guide

• Wildlife photography — this guide will not make you into a better photographer
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