If anyone has any images suitable for this then please forward them as it would be nice to see a WCC member getting their images published in this calendar.

Rail Trails of Australia Calendar 2010.

Following the success of the 2009 calendar, Rail-trails Australia is producing a calendar for 2010 and we are now seeking high quality photographs of rail-trails across Australia.

lndividuals or organisations that send in the images used will receive two complimentary calendals for each image used.

This is a qreat opportunity for committees of management to promote your rail-trail or for a rail-trail enthusiast wanting to show a great image from their time on a rail-trail. We will also consider a photo of potential rail-trail if it is a particularly striking image and the trail has a strong prospect of opening in the near future.

Railtrails Australia will accept photos from both amateur and professional photographers, preferably taken in the last two years. Photographs should be suitable to print to at least A4 size, i.e. at least 4 megapixels of resolution and be landscape orientation.

Railtrail Australia will acknowledge the owner of the image if used in the calendar and retain the right to use all images submitted in future publications and/or on our website unless otherwise agreed with the owner.

For those of us that are not professional keep in mind that rail-trails are as much about people as much as the scenery so typically pictures should have trail users in them, preferably approaching the camera. Pictures have to appeal to a wide audience so a close up of family or friends may not be suitable.

Please send your photo files to the secretary at secretary@railtrails.org.au. Attachment size for each email should be limited to 4MB please. Alternatively submit CDs or prints to PO Box 2127 Oak Patk Vic 3046. Minimum information with each photo should be the location and approximate date it was taken. Closing date for submission of photos is Sunday 4th october 2009.

This article was kindly written by Pete Davies and I hope it helps with the resizing of images etc.

RESIZING PICTURES FOR DISPLAY IN THE PI (projected image) COMP

If you want to enter some pictures in the digital comp at Waverley CC then here is what you do.
These instructions are for Photoshop, I apologise if you dont have PS but the theory is the same and the actual instructions should be similar whatever program you use.

First select the photo you want to enter and do all the work in Photoshop that you would normally do to it, such as cropping, straightening etc…

NOW SAVE YOUR WORK.

This is very important. Up til now you have been working on an image that is roughly 8 x 12 inches (depending on your camera) and if you continue on with the steps we are about to do without saving you will end up with an image that is too small to print should you decide you ever want to do so.

Have you saved your image? Good. Don’t close the file because we are about to resize it so that it conforms to the PI rules.

For this example lets say that the image you have just saved is 8 x 12 inches in size at a resolution of 300 pixels/inch. That would be perfect to print out and frame but it’s too large a file for the PI comp.

At 300 pixels/inch an image which is 8 inches high is 2400 pixels high. (8 x 300 = 2400)And so an image which is 12 inches wide is 3600 pixels wide. (12 x 300 = 3600)So in terms of pixels your image is 2400 x 3600.

The digital projector we use can only output 1024 pixels across and 768 pixels from top to bottom. This 1024 x 768 resolution is known as xga resolution and is based on the same number of pixels found in the old crt monitors. As technology improves and becomes more affordable we will probably move to High Definition which is 1920 x 1080 pixels but for the foreseeable future 1024 and 768 are the numbers you need to know.

To resize your large image go to the IMAGE menu in the tool bar and scroll down to IMAGE SIZE. If you are using a newer version of PS the short cut is Alt+Ctrl+I. A new dialogue box will open up and it’s in here that we make the necessary changes.
For the example I am using an image which is 8 inches high x 12 inches wide and 300 pixels/inch.

Make sure that the constrain proportions box and the resample image boxes are ticked. You will find these boxes at the bottom left of the dialogue box. Having these boxes checked will ensure that when the picture is resized both dimensions will be resized proportionally thus maintaining the picture’s aspect ratio.

To make this file smaller go to the top part of the dialogue box marked pixel dimensions and change the width figure of 3600 to 1024. Doing this will automatically change the height figure to 683 pixels.

Once you have changed the width to 1024 pixels go to the drop down box at the very bottom of the dialogue box. It probably says Bicubic. If you are using a newer version of PS you will have the option of Bicubic Smoother and Bicubic Sharper. If you do then choose Bicubic Sharper. If Bicubic is the only choice you have then that’s fine.

You will notice that the image is now 3.413 inches wide and 2.276 inches high and if you look at the top of the dialogue box you will see that the file size is now 2.00M. Before the resizing it was 24.7M so it is a significantly smaller file.Why is the image now 3.413 inches wide I hear you ask? Well the image is now 1024 pixels wide still with 300 pixels per inch. 1024 divided by 300 equals 3.413. Too small to be printed but perfect for what we want.

Click OK to make the change. The dialogue box will disappear and the file on screen will appear to shrink in size. Hit Ctrl+0 (zero) to maximise the file on screen. Have a good look at the picture and make sure you are happy with it. When you are SAVE AS.

DO NOT USE SAVE.

SAVE and SAVE AS operate slightly differently. Choosing SAVE AS will create a new file which is what we want because we do not want to lose the large 8 x 12 file which we may want to print someday.

A new dialogue box will appear when you choose SAVE AS. Select the location where you want this new file to be kept.

Name the file like this:WCCxxyy-MM-Title.jpeg where xx is the month of the competition, yy is the year and MM is the members two digit membership number.

For example Pete (who is member number 14) wants to enter the June comp in 2009 with a picture called ”Stunner” and another picture called ”Awesome”.He would name his files like this:

WCC0609-14A-Stunner.jpeg
WCC0609-14B-Awesome.jpeg

The A after the member number is simply the first of his two allowed images and B is the second.

Under the FORMAT drop down box select jpeg.

Hit OK to save.When you do this another dialogue box will appear asking you how much compression you want to apply to the file. Choose a number from 10 to 12 in the quality box and hit OK.

That’s it! You’re done.

All you have to do now is email your pictures to comp@waverleycameraclub.org by the deadline.

Up to 2 images can be submitted per comp and they can be either colour, monochrome or creative/experimental. There is only one digital comp which means that all styles will be competing against each other.

In the example above the final image size turns out to be 1024 x 683 pixels. It’s not 1024 x 768 but that’s absolutely fine. If we were to make the image 768 pixels high it would scale the side to side measurement to 1151 pixels across which is too big and will be rejected.

If you have a picture that is portrait format then the process is exactly the same except when you change the pixel dimensions. Instead of changing the width as we did in the example above we have to change the height.

As a rule of thumb you should always change the longest dimension. If the longest dimension is the width that means the picture is in the landscape format and you should change the pixel dimension to 1024.If the height is the longest dimension then you need to change it to 768 pixels high. If you follow the steps outlined above then a 2400 pixel (8 inch wide) x 3600 pixel (12 inch high) image will be scaled down to 768 high x 512 wide.Where it gets a little tricky is when you have an image which is square or nearly square. If your image is square then you will need to resize it to 768 pixels high. This will result in an image which is 768 x 768. If you resize it to 1024 x 1024 it will be rejected for being too large.

The maximum size for any image is 1024 wide x 768 high.

This is a new idea that I had for the BLOG, a member of the month. At one of the club judging nights, someone said to me who is Warren Knower and it got me thinking about whether we all actually know each other well enough. This article is for those of us who can’t attend every meeting, it is difficult enough with our ever changing membership to keep up with who is who so if we have a member of the month article it will help identify these elusive people and tell us more about who they are, what they do and where they are going. I hope you enjoy the new article and I would ask that you will provide feedback regarding this either by comments at the bottom of the post or an email to me at the editors address.

Hi everyone,

When Dave asked me to write something for the blog I was more than happy to agree as I think the blog is a fantastic resource and something we should all support! But before I start telling you about myself I would just like to say how much I enjoyed last Tuesday nights (7/7) club competition. After the stress of finalising and handing in my folio last month (see below) I have had camera fatigue (is that possible?) and have not pressed the shutter for over three weeks. However after being inspired by the work I saw on Tuesday night, especially in the B grade category, I was out and about the next day doing what I love…..taking photos. So thank you!

I also did a second folio this year, a photojournalistic piece, documenting the lives of commercial fisherman. I had quite an adventure spending many long nights on the ocean coming back after dawn. Here is an image taken at dawn of the crew cleaning themselves after a nights work.

Q: What equipment do you use/prefer?

I use Canon. I can’t stand it when people go on and on about the make of camera they use; that whole Canon vs Nikon saga. We’ve all seen amazing images taken with pinhole cameras and even 2 mega pixel phone cameras. A great image is first seen before it is ever captured.

Q: How has WCC had an effect, if any on your photography?
Also see my introductory comments (above).

I joined WCC in early 2008 because I wanted to meet and learn from like minded people. It has been a great experience. It has allowed me for the first time to submit a photo for judging. I also get to listen to valuable feedback and critiques on images given by some fantastic judges. I really enjoy listening to the invited guest speakers (for instance Jeremy Daadler).

Q: What direction do you think the club should go in the future?

It is fantastic to see the club expanding so rapidly. The proposed move to a larger venue would be welcomed. I think the club is doing a great job in catering for everyone’s need and has to be commended. I remember at the start of the year a lot of changes were invoked and these have been a great success: the blog (all three of them!), beginners classes, more outings, competition format and grading systems etc After such a successful year I think we should not rest on our laurels but try to keep coming up with new ideas to make WCC a great place to be and learn.

Being a lover of all things Adobe (Photoshop, Lightroom and Bridge) it would be great to see all members get a better understanding of these tools to better their photography. I am not sure how much is done in the beginner classes but more tutorials to understand the basics and beyond should be a priority.

(NOTE: If anyone needs help in Photoshop etc please don’t hesitate to send me an email)

Q: Where do you see your photography in 5 years time?
The next 2-3 years will be aimed at finishing off my photography course and trying to absorb as much information as I can. I would then like to go on and do a final year at RMIT to complete a Bachelor of Arts in photography (that all depends if by then they start offering it part time). A scientists doing an arts degree, who would’ve thought!!!

I also have plans of starting up my own blog in the near future tailored at beginners to teach them the basic fundamentals such as composition and image design.

Adobe have released an update for LightRoom 2 which changes the version to V2.4

Enhancements include:

• Additional camera support for several new camera models including the Nikon D5000 and Canon EOS 500D (Digital Rebel T1i)
• Several corrections for issues introduced by previous Lightroom 2 releases
• Web galleries with a Collection Title of six characters would not export or upload
• The crop aspect ratio could revert to the last selected ratio even when reset to original
• The crop aspect ratio in Quick Develop could be lost after a crop adjustment
• The crop aspect ratio lock could be lost after an orientation switch
• Images could preview incorrectly when imported using the MTP/PTP USB protocol
• Sony .ARW files may not have been recognized by Lightroom’s import dialog
• The Japanese language configuration of Lightroom on Mac OS X 10.5 could fail to switch to the print module if the HP B9180 was set as the default printer
• Metadata options that are intended for use were dimmed incorrectly when exporting DNG files
• The Japanese language configuration of Lightroom on Mac OS X was missing a shortcut for “Zoom Out”
• Several translation and shortcut corrections were made for the eight additional languages introduced with Lightroom 2.3

You can find the Adobe updates here http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/new.jsp

The following text was kindly provided by Fred to assist members with the delicate task of emailing images correctly. Fred has put a lot of time and effort into this document and it would be nice to show appreciation next time you see him.

Terms used in the post are:
MB = Megabyte
KB = Kilobyte
JPEG = Joint Experts Photographic Group (.jpg extention on picture file names)

Preface for Waverley Camera Club I wrote these notes for the photographers in the bushwalking club, most of whom do not use software such as Photoshop. Unfortunately their emailed photos were often reduced to postcard size and quality, and occasionally were inconveniently large. Some were not attached to the email, but were embedded in it and were difficult to extract for use in a slideshow. Most contributors, even the experienced photographers, were unaware of the problems in their contributions.

I have revised the notes for placing on the WCC blog, because the EDI Steward is encountering similar problems in some of our contributions. If your projected images don’t look sharp or don’t fit the screen, please read on.

Fred Bullock, 23 June 09.

Introduction
Email is a handy vehicle for sending photos. Problems are unlikely if you use a tool like Photoshop to resize your pictures for emailing and then use the email application’s own attachment tool to attach it.

Unfortunately, many photos are spoiled by the obscure settings of other photo and email tools, usually by excessive resizing down to postcard or thumbnail size, which destroys detail, sharpness and quality. Also some settings embed the photos into the email’s body making them difficult to extract and save in a slideshow etc.

These problems are not apparent to the sender, only the recipient is aware unless the sender is aware of them. To check this, note the file size of the photo’s .jpg icon which is actually in the email’s attachments header, and double-click on it to inspect the picture (ignore any picture showing in the body of your email). If the photo’s icon is not in the attachments header, or if the file size is too large, or if it opens as a small or blurry or blotchy picture, please read on.
Sometimes re-compression is not done until the email is saved or sent (eg compressing within MS Outlook), so also check the email when it is in the Draft folder, Outbox or Sent Items folder. (If you open an email which is in Outlook’s outbox, you may have to click ‘Send’ again, otherwise it will not be sent even when you click Send All).

Please continue to use the highest quality settings on your cameras so you can tweak your photos and still get high quality large prints occasionally. The photos are usually lightly compressed by the camera, to about 5 MB depending on the camera. However it’s easier to email photos if they are re-compressed so that sufficient quality is retained. They transmit faster and there is reduced congestion in the recipients’ mailboxes.

The settings for the email tools are usually adjustable, but often hidden. The settings described in this note yield photos fit for projection, yet they have about 200 to 400 kByte file size and are fairly easily emailed.

General guidelines and guidelines for some Windows email tools and popular photo software are shown below. Moderate PC skills are assumed. The descriptions are cryptic, so it is best to follow those for your chosen compression tool while you operate it. The exact procedures may differ because of software upgrades or individual PC configuration.

General guidelines A typical 10 Megapixel camera takes and stores images about 3900 x 2600 pixels in size, compressed with the JPEG algorithm from 30 MB to about 5 MB. JPEG is the Joint Photographic Experts Group of the International Standards Organization, and computers use the .jpg suffix for the files.

Most resizing tools provide a combination of resampling and JPEG re-compression. The JPEG re-compression control is often just labelled “quality”. JPEG needs more processing power than resizing, but usually yields superior quality for the same file size.

The data projector resolution (what it shows on the screen) is width 1024 pixels x height 768 pixels. So, first set the resize control to fit a 1024 x 768 window.

Then set the JPEG compression quality to produce a compressed file size of about 200 to 400 KB. Unlike resizing, JPEG compression does not reduce the image size (pixels) and largely retains the sharpness remaining after the resizing step. (If used excessively it causes randomly blotchy tones, or ripples at hard edges, and in extreme cases its 8×8 blocks of pixels become visible).

Unfortunately different tools have different descriptions of each level of JPEG compression (quality). Some tools show an estimated file size before doing the processing, but this can be very inaccurate. So a little trial and error may be needed – start again with your originals, not with the incorrectly compressed photos.

The email commands in some photo programs may not work with some email applications, sometimes merely because the default email setting of the computer and the application are inconsistent. Otherwise there is usually an edit or export command that can be used instead.
With all exporting or editing tools, take care not to overwrite your original photos.
Some Useful Photo Tools

Windows XP, Send To > Mail Recipient command
This is a simple and widespread tool, best used as follows. Right-click on the selected photo file icon(s) and select Send To > and ‘Mail Recipient’ in the cascaded menus that appear. Then in the dialog box that appears, click Show more options… and click the ‘Make all my pictures smaller and the ‘Large’ (fits in a 1024 by 768 window) buttons. The JPEG compression quality is not adjustable. Click OK to create the email.

Windows Vista, Send To > Mail Recipient command
Right-click on the selected photo file icon(s) and select Send To > and Mail Recipient in the cascaded menus that appear. Then in the dialog box that appears, select Picture size: Medium: 1024 x 768. The JPEG compression quality is not adjustable. Click Attach to create the email. Beware that the Vista version of this application generates noticable fringing of some fine patterns, eg in photographs of feathers, but it is OK for general photography.

Picasa (a freeware photo manager, owned by Google)
Picasa fits horizontally oriented photos correctly to XGA resolution (WxH 1024×768) but incorrectly fits vertically oriented photos to WxH 768×1024, which is larger than required and these will be resampled by the club’s PC.Picasa’s Email button must be set up before use. The email settings are stored in its Tools menu, Options dialog box, Email tab. Choose which email client is to be used. Set the resize slider full right (1024 pixels) and click the 1024 pixels button just below it. The JPEG compression quality is not adjustable. Make sure the Send as HTML storybook button is not ticked because it embeds the photos. Click OK to store the settings.

Then select some photos and click the Email button to create an email. Use the Export button if the email button doesn’t work with your email application or if you want more options. Select some photos and click Export. In the dialog, browse to a temporary export location, click Resize to and set to 1024 pixels, set Image Quality to Normal or to Minimum. Click OK to export the compressed photos. Attach the exported photos in your email application.

Microsoft Outlook (comes with MS Office Professional)
(This paragraph was contributed by an Outlook user.) Create a new message and attach your photos with Insert, File command or the paperclip button (do not use Insert, Picture because that command embeds the photo in the mail message). Then click on the Attachment Options button next to the attachment line and select under Picture Options the picture size Large (1024 x 768 px) from the drop-down menu.

The JPEG compression quality is not adjustable. The file size of the attached photos does not change at this stage, the smaller file size will be apparent only after saving to the Drafts folder or having pressed the Send button (look in your Sent Items folder or in the Outbox if the actual transmission is still pending). If the Attachment Options button does not show, use the Options command to get it.

Microsoft Outlook Express
The Insert, File function is not available in Outlook Express, the lightweight version of Microsoft Outlook. Re-compress using a photo editing application and then attach the saved re-compressed photos with Outlook’s Insert, File Attachment command or the Attach (paperclip) button. Or use the Windows Send To > Mail Recipient command (see above), or the email command of a photo application.

Photoshop Elements
Open the picture and do the required cropping and editing (levels adjustments etc) before downsampling it.

Crop without resampling by selecting the crop tool and clicking the Clear button in its options bar, then do the cropping. To constrain the crop shape (eg to the projector shape) set suitably proportioned and easily remembered dimensions like 1024 cm x 768 cm and clear the Resolution box. The units of size (cm, inches etc) do not matter for projection, but do not set dimensions in pixels (eg 1024 px x 768 px), because that will invoke downsampling before you have done the editing.

To resample an image (after editing it), in the Image menu choose Resize > Image Size. In the dialog box, select Resample Image and choose Bicubic interpolation (and the options of superior interpolating filters or some sharpening may be available in later versions of PSE). Select Constrain Proportions . In Pixel Dimensions, enter values for width or height, choose pixels as the unit of measurement. Depending on the shape of your picture, set W = 1024 and check that H is 768 or less, or set H = 768 and check that W is 1024 or less. Click OK. The image will be shown as a smaller size on screen. Zoom in to check the quality. Some sharpening may improve the quality.

Save As a new file using the competition format for the filename. Select the JPEG format and tick ICC Profile. Click Save and in the next window select Medium or High quality and Baseline (Standard) format. Tick Preview to see an estimate of the file size, adjust the quality to change the size if required. Click OK.

Attach the picture(s) from within your email application. Or use Photoshop’s File menu, attach to E-mail command which creates an email and attaches the current picture.

Irfanview
This is freeware, quite handy for slideshows and image file manipulations.

Open the picture and in the Image menu select Resize/Resample… , and in the dialog box select or tick Set new size, pixels, Preserve aspect ratio, and Resample, and in the Resample filter box select the Lanczoss filter. Depending on the shape of your picture, set Width = 1024 and check Height is 768 or less, or set Height = 768 and check Width is 1024 or less). Selecting Apply sharpen after Resample may give a better looking result. Click OK. Then Save as a new file using the competition format for the filename. In the Save Picture As … dialog box, tick the Show options dialog button to get more control, importantly it is possible to set the JPEG quality, eg to 90%. Check the file size and image quality after saving.

Other photo software
Please discuss it with us.

Software to avoid
Microsoft Office Picture Manager (comes with MS Office) Be very wary with this application. When its edit tool is used for compression, it easily overwrites your originals even after you have saved the edited images under a new filename – always copy your originals before using this application and work only with the copies. Also, the edit tool or Picture button produce noticable fringing of fine detail (eg coarse ripples in photos of feathers) There is little reason to use this application unless you want to edit your pictures – and there are alternatives for that.

However MS Vista users who have problems with fringing of fine patterns when using the Send To > Mail Recipient command may find this application solves the problem, but Picasa is much easier and safer to use for equivalent results.

Microsoft Picture It! (a lightweight photo editor that came with MS Works) Avoid this tool entirely because it produces coarse and ugly fringing and blotchiness of fine detail (eg very coarse ripples in photos of feathers).

Fred Bullock

Ake Severinson has sent me an email and asked that I consider publishing his Flikr web page details for his recent trip in the Outback. Well I think it would be fantastic to share Ake’s trip and recommend that you go and have a look at his site. Thanks Ake for sending and sharing these details with us.

I haven’t contributed much to the competitions and such. Have been busy sharing my Australian experiences with family and friends. I post stuff on Flickr from time to time for them. My latest set was from a recent trip I did through the Outback. Thought I’d share it with you as well:

Ake’s FLIKR page

Ake

You’ve got a shiny new SLR camera that’s packed with digital sensors and electronic light-gathering instruments and yet you’re somewhat disappointed with the photos it captures.

Why might that be?

One possible reason is because your digital SLR camera does not have the same dynamic range as your eyes do. In fact, limited dynamic range is not just an issue with digital SLR cameras – it’s been an issue with film cameras for years.

Now for the good news, the latest crop of digital SLR cameras is beginning to address the issue of dynamic range, so that the pictures you take are a better match for how your eyes perceive the world.

Shadows, Highlights and Limited Dynamic Range

Every single photo that you take includes shadows and highlights. There are a few basic elements that govern the appearance of shadows and highlights in your photos. Shadows and highlights become more or less apparent depending upon the level of contrast in the scene. The level of contrast is determined by the quality of light. Bright sources of light (bright sunlight, bare bulb flash) create a lot of contrast while muted sources of light (overcast sunlight, diffused flash) generate less contrast.

Light that creates strong contrast is also called hard light while low contrast light is called soft light. Hard light creates dark shadows and very bright highlights while soft light makes the shadows and highlights more balancedWhen you’re looking at a scene where there’s a lot of contrast your eyes are able to see details in both the shadows and highlights.

A digital SLR camera can’t: this is called limited dynamic range. Since an SLR camera can’t capture the entire dynamic range, it has to choose between one of two options:

• Preserve detail in the shadows and over expose the highlights (making them appear pure white)
• Preserve detail in the highlights and under expose the shadows (making them appear pure black)

Let’s take a look at the exact same image with each approach applied.

Example 1 – Dark Shadows

In this case, the camera exposure was set to ensure that detail wouldn’t be lost in the highlights. Since the sky is correctly exposed, the shaded area appears almost pure black and not a lot of detail is apparent in the shadows.

Example 2 – Bright Highlights

Now the exposure is set to ensure that detail is preserved in the shadows. The leaves on the trees are much brighter, but the nice blue sky looks very pale and washed out. The good news for the computer-savvy out there is that ONE of these problems can be corrected after the fact using image editing software.

Correcting Shadows and Highlights

Many digital images that at first glance appear poorly exposed can often be corrected with image editing software like Adobe Elements. Unfortunately, there’s a catch (assuming that you’re saving photos as JPG files and not RAW).

When detail is lost in shadows it can be recovered, but when detail is lost in highlights it’s gone for good.

Here’s why: when your camera under-exposes the shadows in order to preserve detail in the highlights, it actually does capture detail in the shadows. When the shadows are brightened, this detail becomes apparent.

But when highlights are over exposed and appear as pure white in your photo, the image detail in those areas is LOST. There’s absolutely no way to re-create the detail even if you reduce the intensity of the highlights. This is an important point, because it’s the key to how some digital SLR cameras enhance their dynamic range.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography
One way to address the problem of limited dynamic range is through the use of software: you create an image with extended dynamic range using a computer not a camera. The trick with High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos is that they are really 3 or more photos in one. For any HDR photo, the photographer is blending together more than one image, each with a different exposure.

Let’s use an example with three different source images:

Image# Exposure Detail Preserved
01 Under Exposed Highlights
02 Correctly Exposed Both Highlights and Shadows
03 Over Exposed Shadows

Image two is the baseline image. Image one is used to preserve highlight detail (the sky is blue instead of white) and image three is used to brighten the shadows (they don’t appear as pure black). Using special HDR software, the photographer merges the three photos — this creates a new composite image where details are preserved in BOTH the shadows and the highlights.

While this is certainly a solution to the limited dynamic range of digital SLR cameras, it’s also labour intensive and requires a fairly high level of computer and software expertise to pull off.
The second solution is one that the camera manufacturers are now building in to the cameras themselves.

Extended Dynamic Range
Wouldn’t it be nice if – rather than spending hours fiddling around with software – your camera could automatically control the brightness levels of shadows and highlights? Now they can. There are several new digital SLR cameras that include enhanced or “extended” dynamic range. I prefer the term “enhanced” myself, since an SLR can’t yet extend its range to be equivalent to an HDR image.

Instead, there are two different “tricks” that digital SLRs can use to improve the appearance of images with extreme contrast:

Make the highlights bright, but prevent them from going to pure white (retain some details)Expose for highlights (making the shadows dark) and then increase the brightness of just the shadows to balance the image.

The first solution is what you’ll find in any Canon digital SLR with enhanced dynamic range – Canon’s terms for it is “highlight tone priority”. When highlight tone priority is active, it does just what’s described for #1 above: it keeps the highlights in check, and preserves some small amount of detail in bright parts of the photo.

Nikon digital SLR cameras have adopted the second solution: it is dubbed “active D-lighting” (don’t you just love these names?). D-lighting is a feature on older Nikon digital SLRs (like the D80) that lets you to increase the shadow brightness of your photos in the camera – editing the image without having to use a computer. Active D-lighting is the same concept, the only difference is that the editing takes place at the time of exposure so you don’t have to fiddle around with your photos later.

Cameras made by Olympus, Pentax and Sony are also starting to include some form of enhanced dynamic range and yes, they ALL have different names for it.

SPECIAL NOTE: before you get all excited about the prospect of a digital camera that can captures exactly what your eyes see, please realize that this technology is in its infancy, and sometimes the effects are quite subtle.

By kind permission of Chris Roberts of http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/

I’d like to kick off with one of the more confusing components of any digital SLR camera, aperture. Aperture isn’t even really a feature of the camera: it’s a feature of the lens. It is a measurement of the opening in the lens. This opening allows light to pass through the lens – that light eventually strikes the digital sensor, which then captures an image. The aperture of a lens is never completely closed: it is always either narrow or wide open. Furthermore, aperture is a variable setting that can be adjusted by the photographer.

Back in the good old days of manual film SLR cameras, aperture was always set by turning a ring on the lens (right where it attached to the camera). Today, this mechanical system has been replaced with an electronic one.Many modern digital SLR lenses no longer include an aperture ring. This is because with a digital SLR, you set the aperture using the camera body: electronic contacts allow the camera to communicate with the lens so when you select an aperture on the camera, it adjusts the lens aperture accordingly.

If you do happen to have an older film lens that is compatible with your digital SLR, you will have to lock the aperture ring on the lens (this is often done by turning the ring to the narrowest lens aperture). Once the aperture ring is locked, then the camera will be able to communicate properly with the lens.

Now for the fun part: the aperture numbers themselves. Part of the fun is that in order for them to make sense, you have to think of aperture numbers as fractions, even though they aren’t displayed that way. Here’s why: the larger the aperture number, the smaller the opening in the lens. Aperture numbers follow a pretty typical scale, and you can always tell when an aperture number is being referenced because it starts with “f/”. The aperture scale goes something like this:

f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22

From left to right, the opening in the lens is getting progressively smaller. An aperture of f/2.8 means the lens is wide open, while at f/22 it is quite narrow. This is why thinking about apertures as fractional numbers might help (unless you’re really bad with fractions). For example, if you compared the fractions 1/4 and 1/22, 1/4 is the larger of the two and therefore represents a larger opening of the lens. This is enough aperture numerology for now. In the next post, I’ll tackle the issue of stops of light and will describe how the standard aperture scale can be broken down further.

By kind permission of Chris Roberts of

http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/

In the last post, I provided an introduction to aperture.

Here’s a quick summary of that information:

• Aperture indicates whether the opening in your lens is wide open or narrow
  
• Your digital SLR communicates with the lens via electronic contacts
  
• You can control the width of the opening by changing the aperture setting from the camera
  
• A small aperture number (2.8) represents a WIDE opening in the lens
  
• A large aperture number (22) represents a NARROW opening in the lens
  
• Aperture numbers follow a standard scale called f-stops.
  

The aperture f-stop scale looks like this:

f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22

Now, this particular scale shows each aperture number changing by something called a full stop of light. When the aperture changes by a full stop, the amount of light landing on the camera’s sensor is either doubled or halved.

Example:

• f/2.8 lets in twice as much light as f/4.0
  
• f/4.0 lets in half as much light as f/2.8
  

Once you realize that the lens aperture can be changed by full stops, a question arises: what about half stops? Yes, aperture numbers can also be broken down into a half-stop scale:

f/2.8, f/3.5, f/4.0, f/4.5, f/5.6, f/6.7, f/8.0, f/9.5, f/11, f/13, f/16

While a simple half-stop scale might make the most sense, most digital SLR cameras are actually set up by default to change aperture in third-stop increments:

f/2.8, f/3.2, f/3.5, f/4.0, f/4.5, f/5.0, f/5.6, f/6.3, f/7.1, f/8.0, f/9.0, f/10, f/11, f/13, f/14, f/16

Let’s take a quick break from the numbers and talk about HOW you actually change the lens aperture using a digital SLR camera.

• First, you have to set the camera in a mode that allows you to change aperture – a good one to start with is “Aperture Priority” mode (often marked as “A” or “Av”)
  
• In order to change the aperture value, you have to spin the main command dial which is located near the shutter release under your index finger
  

All main command dials don’t just spin freely: they “click”. Let’s say that your digital SLR is one of the many where aperture numbers are broken down into third-stops. Let’s also say that currently your aperture is set to f/8.0. Now, if you want to OPEN the lens by a full stop, you click the main command dial three times in one direction to go from f/8.0 to f/5.6. If you want to NARROW the aperture back down to f/8.0, you click the main command dial three times in the opposite direction.

The reason that you have to click three times is because of the third stops.

• f/8.0 to f/7.1 = +1/3 stop of light
  
• f/8.0 to f/6.3 = +2/3 stop of light
  
• f/8.0 to f/5.6 = +1 full stop of light
  
• f/5.6 to f/6.3 = -1/3 stop of light
  
• f/5.6 to f/7.1 = -2/3 stop of light
  
• f/5.6 to f/8.0 = -1 full stop of light
  

Before we wrap things up on aperture control, a word about customization: the factory default setting for most digital SLR cameras is to use a third-stop aperture scale. However, some cameras allow you to customize the scale and change from third-stops to half-stops if you so desire. Both work equally well, the third stop scale just provides you with a slightly finer level of aperture control.

By kind permission of Chris Roberts of

www.digital-slr-guide.com

In the past two posts, I’ve been talking about aperture, and how you’re able to control this setting on your digital SLR camera.

Here’s the high-level overview of aperture:

• Aperture indicates whether the opening in your lens is wide open or narrow
  
• Your digital SLR communicates with the lens via electronic contacts
  
• You can control the width of the opening by changing the aperture setting from the camera
  
• A small aperture number (2.8) represents a WIDE opening in the lens
  
• A large aperture number (22) represents a NARROW opening in the lens
  
• Aperture numbers follow a standard scale called f-stops
  
• Changing an aperture value by a full stop either doubles or halves the amount of light passing through the lens
  
• Aperture values can be changed in either half stop or third stop increments
  

Here’s the standard set of aperture numbers:

f/2.8, f/4.0, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22

In this post I’m not going to go into as much detail about the aperture setting itself (that’s been pretty well covered) but instead I’ll explain why all lenses are not created equal, and how aperture comes into play.

There are two key points about lenses that are required to begin with:

1. Virtually all lenses can be set to the same narrow aperture (f/36)
   
2. Not all lenses can be set to the same wide aperture
   

When it comes to lenses, this second point is a limitation of some lenses and this limitation has a name: maximum aperture.

Let’s compare two lenses that are equivalent when it comes to focal length: both are 18-55mm zooms. Let’s say that lens A has a maximum aperture of f/4 while lens B has a maximum aperture of f/2.8. Now, BOTH lenses can be set to narrow apertures (anything between f/4 and f/36), but the f/2.8 lens can open up much wider than the f/4 lens. In fact, the lens with the f/2.8 maximum aperture can let in twice as much light as the lens with the f/4 maximum aperture.

The practical take-away here is that if you tend to enjoy taking photos in REALLY dim light (cloudy days, building interiors, etc.) then you’ll want to look for a lens with a very wide maximum aperture.

The most common aperture numbers that you’ll see on kit lenses are f/3.5 and f/5.6. The reason that there are two numbers is because the maximum aperture CHANGES depending upon the focal length of the lens. At 18mm the maximum aperture of a kit lens is a wide f/3.5, but if you zoom to 55mm that maximum aperture narrows down to f/5.6.

Now that you’ve got a better understanding of maximum aperture, let’s discuss why using the maximum aperture isn’t always such a good idea.

When it comes to image sharpness, lenses don’t perform as well at extreme apertures as they do with apertures in the middle of the range. Example: a 50mm lens set to f/2.8 or set to f/36 won’t capture images that are nearly a sharp as when you use apertures f/8 and f/11. Now, some lenses are better than others at maintaining sharpness throughout the entire aperture range – this is why they cost well over $1,000 USD.

For anyone who doesn’t have this type of budget for lenses, you’ll just have to live with the fact that your lens probably won’t be ultra-sharp at very wide and very narrow apertures. If you take photos with plenty of light, then you won’t have any problem using apertures between f/8 and f/16 all the time. However, if you enjoy taking shots in dim light, you’ll often find yourself using the maximum aperture of your lens.

When shots don’t turn out quite as sharp as you hoped for, maximum aperture can be one of the culprits.

By kind permission of Chris Roberts of

http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/