I checked out several photography books from the library. One is a "Canon Rebel For Dummies" book that helped me understand all the buttons and menus and abilities of my camera. I'm very glad I got that! Another is "The Digital Photography Book, Volume 1" by Scott Kelby. Without going into all the technical jargon most photography books describe, he offers great tips on capturing meaningful photos, offering his tidbits of advice as if I were on a photo shoot with him asking questions.
I like all the tips in the book and am considering purchasing the book but when it really comes down to it, I mostly just want the tips on portrait photography so I'm going to type up as many tips as I can before the book needs to go back to the library. I feel a little odd stealing all this info since I didn't buy the book, but it's not illegal to copy pages from books at the library!
*To avoid camera shake, try using a tripod with a remote and/or the self-timer setting.
*Zoom in on the LCD playback screen to check sharpness as you shoot.
*Photoshop sharpening:
1) Open the photo and apply the Unsharp Mask using these settings:
1 - For people: Amount 150%, Radius 1, Threshold 10
2 - For cityscapes, urban photography, or travel: Amount 65%, Radius 3, Threshold 2
3 - For general everyday use: Amount 85%, Radius 1, Threshold 4
2) Before you do anything else, go under the Edit menu and choose Fade Unsharp Mask.
3) The only thing you do here is change the Fade dialog's pop-up menu from Normal to Luminosity.
*Try wrapping the camera strap around your arm just above the elbow and then around the wrist and hand to form a tight grip to steady handheld shots.
*Consider a Canon Close-Up Lens (specific to your lens since it screws on the end) for macro shots on a budget.
*Shoot flowers on cloudy, overcast days or just after rain. Or use a spray bottle of water to fake raindrops.
*Put a black backdrop behind flowers for a dramatic look. Try a yard of either black velvet or black velour and hang it on something a few feet behind the flower. OR put a white foam board behind the flower for a nice white background. (A second foam board can be used to reflect light at an angle to make sure it looks white.)
*If you're shooting in very high ISOs at weddings, you'll want to know about a popular Photoshop plug-in for wedding photographers called Dfine 2 (from NikSoftware.com). Besides reducing noise, a happy side effect is that it also smoothes skin.
*Use flash at outdoor weddings as fill flash. Point it to the side at a 45 degree angle. Also consider a -1 flash exposure compensation so it will still help lift the shadows without being so obvious.
*Keep memory cards on your person when doing an important shoot (like a wedding) so you don't have to run and find your bag at a critical moment.
*When shooting large groups for formal portraits, use an aperture setting that will get everyone in focus--f/11 is reasonable. Then focus on the eyes of the people in the front row so the whole shot isn't a bust.
*Ask subjects to close their eyes and count down from three then wait a second before pressing the shutter. "Okay, everybody close your eyes. Now open them on 3-2-1... open!" Then wait a count and take the shot.
*Camera Height: For a head and shoulders shot, camera should be eye level. For a 7/8 shot, camera should aim at the chest. For a standing full-length, the camera should be waist level.
*Ideas for wedding shots: the bride's shoes, the bride's dress hanging on a hanger, the bride's tiara, necklace, etc., the wedding invitation, the sheet music played at the wedding, the guestbook after a few people have signed it, their champagne glasses, name cards at the reception, their wedding rings (perhaps posed on the invitation), the airline tickets for their honeymoon, the sheet music or CD jewel case for their first dance, the groom's boutonniere, the bride's bouquet, and any fine detail in her dress.
*Use a wide-angle lens at weddings for the rice throwing, the whole reception area, the wedding scene, and the bouquet toss and garter toss.
*Back up your photos onsite, preferably with a unit that allows you to copy the images directly from a card without a computer.
*Particularly with landscape photography, remember the elements of foreground, middle ground, and background.
*For warmer sunrises/sunsets, go to Cloudy white balance then select WB SHIFT/BKT and move the dot to the right three spots. (Don't forget to turn it off afterwards though!)
*Turn on the highlight blinkies and pay attention to where the detail is. (Then adjust with exposure compensation about 1/3 at a time.)
*For sports photography (or movement photography) where you know where the action might be, you can pre-focus by pushing the shutter halfway while on autofocus, then switch to manual focus, and wait for the action before taking the picture.
*For sports photography, don't just shoot the winners. Pay attention to the people that miss the shot, too.
*The 85-100mm range is often called portrait lenses because they shoot from a good working distance without distortion.
*For indoor portraits with a solid background, use aperture of f/11. (For outdoor and more creative shots, f/2.8 is good to blur the background.)
*For backlit sunset portraits without making a silhouette, turn off the flash and aim at the sky. Hold the shutter halfway down to take an exposure reading from the sky, and while still holding it down halfway recompose by aiming at the subject. Now turn your flash on and reveal your subject with the light of the flash. This way, your subject gets fill flash, but the sky behind them still looks great.
*Cold weather keeps batteries from lasting long so keep back-ups ready!
*A lens hood not only keeps out sun flare but it also protects the lens. UV filters also provide damage protection for lenses.
*If your battery is running low, limit your LCD time. (Turn the Review Time down or off.)
*Bracket if you're not sure about exposure. (Or shoot in RAW.)
*To keep from accidentally erasing memory cards, turn full cards upside-down in a card holder case.
*Many public places don't allow tripods but monopods are okay.
*To shoot fireworks, use a tripod, a remote, a zoom lens (ideally a 200mm or more unless you want to capture the background and the fireworks, so use a wider lens). Use Manual mode, set the shutter speed to 4 seconds, and the aperture to f/11. Fire a test shot and look at it for any needed exposure compensation changes. Now time it for when the rockets shoot up through when the light trails begin to fade. (Also try putting it in Bulb mode--where the shutter stays open as long as you hold the shutter release button down.)
*Check out Scott Kelby's Podcasts "Photoshop User TV"
*Some book recommendations:
1 - The Moment It Clicks: Photography Secrets from One of the World's Top Shooters by Joe McNally
2 - The Digital Photography Book, volume 2 by Scott Kelby
3 - Footprints Travel Photography by Steve Davey
4 - Rick Sammon's Complete Guide to Digital Photography: 107 Lessons on Taking, Making, Editing, Storing, Printing, and Sharing Better Digital Images by Rick Sammon
5 - America from 500 Feet II by Bill Fortney and Mark Kettenhofen
6 - Golden Poppies of California: In Celebration of Our State Flower by George Lepp
7 - Flying Flowers by Rick Sammon
8 - Window Seat: The Art of Digital Photography and Creative Thinking by Julieanne Kost
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