Best cameras for beginners: 5 stellar options you can grow with

 Upgrading from a ‘phone, compact or bridge camera to an interchangeable lens camera is an exciting move that takes your photography to a new level, enabling you to take greater control and produce higher quality images.
Choosing the right model to go for isn’t easy as there are lots of options available. Ideally you want something that keeps things simple and doesn’t intimidate at the outset, but that gives you everything that you’ll need further down the line when you know a bit more about photography.
In this article our friends at Photoventure take a look at some great cameras, both SLRs and compact system cameras, that fit the bill.

1. 1.Canon EOS 100D/Canon EOS Rebel SL1

Billed as the World’s smallest SLR when it was announced, the Canon 100D is significantly smaller than Canon’s other APS-C format SLRs.
Nevertheless, it has a chunky grip and a mode dial to allow quick exposure mode selection with the enthusiast favourite options (aperture priority, shutter priority and manual) finding a place alongside fully automatic and scene mode options for less experienced users.
There’s also Canon’s Creative Auto mode which helps novices take control over the camera without using photographic terms.
Like the D3300, the 100D makes heavy use of the screen for setting selection.
However, the 100D has the advantage of touchscreen technology so you have choice of using physical controls or tapping the screen to navigate and select the options.
Many will find touch-control more intuitive, especially those used to using a smartphone for their photography.

2.Nikon D3300

Nikon’s D3X00 line of SLRs is one of the most popular options for novice photographers and the latest incarnation, the D3300 is a real cracker.
One of its most attractive features for those learning about photography is the Guide Mode in which the camera takes the user through the step-by-step process of selecting settings to shoot a variety of subjects.
In addition, the D3300 has a class-leading pixel-count of 24.2million and this, coupled with the EXPEED 4 processing engine and the (APS-C format) sensor’s low-pass filterless design enables it to resolve an impressively high level of detail.
Rather than being covered in numerous buttons and dials, the D3300 has quite a clean appearance and the many settings selection settings are made via the menu and Graphic User Interface on the 3-inch 921,000-dot screen.
The camera can display three circles that represent shutter speed, aperture and sensitivity to help convey the exposure settings.
The D3300 is an excellent camera and like all the others mentioned here has automatic exposure modes for the early days, as well advanced options for when you’ve grown in experience.

3. Canon EOS 700D/ EOS Rebel T5i

The 700D/T5i sits at the top of Canon’s consumer range, just below the Canon EOS 60D which gets ‘enthusiast-level’ billing.
Like the Canon 100D, the 700D has an APS-C sized CMOS sensor with 18 million effective pixels and phase detection pixels to assist with focusing when shooting video or composing images on the screen in Live View mode.
There’s also the same collection of JPEG-only Creative Filters (Grainy Black and White, Soft Focus, Fish-Eye, Art Bold, Water Painting, Toy Camera and Miniature Effect) which can be previewed in Live View mode.
While it may not have the pixel-count of the D3300 or the tiny size of the 100D (though it is by no means huge), the 700D has a vari-angle touch-sensitive screen.
This is a real bonus when composing images from awkward angles as it can be articulated to point where it is visible and the AF point can be set with a tap of the screen.
And of course, it’s capable of producing superb images with plenty of detail, good exposure and rich colours.

4. Panasonic Lumix DMC-GM1

If you want a small camera with a decent sized sensor that accepts interchangeable lenses then take a look at the Panasonic GM1.
It’s about the same size as many compact cameras but it has a superb Four Thirds sensor.
What’s more, because it has the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) mount it can accept any of the now extensive range of MFT lenses from Olympus and Panasonic.
Even though it’s small the GM1 doesn’t skimp on features and it has Wi-Fi connectivity built-in to allow remote control of the camera via a smartphone or tablet as well as wireless image transfer.
Like the SLRs mentioned here, this Compact System Camera (CSC) allows images to be save in raw or JPEG format (or both simultaneously) and there’s Full-HD video recording.
On the back of this metal-bodied beauty is a 3-inch one-million-dot touchscreen which enables quick settings adjustments.
That doesn’t mean that there are no buttons and dials, however. As well as the usual shutter release, navigation pad, menu button, playback button and movie record button, there’s a mode dial for setting the exposure mode and a dial for switching between focus modes.
Meanwhile there’s a scoll-wheel for adjusting exposure.
Panasonic also hasn’t skimped on image quality from the GM1 as it produces photographs that are on a par with models higher up the G-series like the GX7.

5. Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6

If you’re looking for a relatively small camera that has lots to offer, check out the Panasonic G6.
This 16.5Mp Micro Four Thirds compact system camera has mini-SLR like styling, but because the high-resolution viewfinder is electronic you see the image as it will be captured with the selected camera settings.
There’s also a vari-angle LCD for composing images at awkward angles and, because it’s touch-sensitive, it can be used to adjust settings, select AF point and even fire the shutter.
If you prefer to use physical controls, there are plenty of these available as well.

Like the GM1, the G6 has Wi-Fi connectivity built-in for speedy image sharing and wireless remote control, but there’s also an NFC chip to make quick connections to NFC enabled tablets and smartphones.
While the G6′s pixel count means images are significantly smaller than those from the Nikon D3300, their quality is generally excellent.

source:  http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/06/07/best-cameras-for-beginners-5-stellar-options-you-can-grow-with/

Long exposure photography: how to set up your camera for perfect exposures

In low light conditions or for creative effect, make better use of long exposure photography to extend your photographic boundaries.

There are essentially two situations when you may want to use a long exposure. The most obvious is in low light or at night when exposure times may need to be as long as several seconds, minutes or even hours to capture enough light to produce a well-exposed image.
But you may also want to use long exposure photography techniques when the light is much brighter – to blur moving water or blur cloud movement, for example.
In this case you can use dark filters to extend exposure times considerably, as we’ll reveal in this tutorial on how to perfect your long-exposure photography techniques.

SEE MORE: Free night photography cheat sheet – how to shoot popular low-light scenes

How to set up your camera for long exposure photography: steps 1-2

01 Avoid tripod tremors
Shooting long exposures introduces a greater likelihood of camera shake, so it’s a good idea to get into good habits when it comes to preparing to take your shot.
It goes without saying that a tripod is essential, but it’s equally important to set your tripod up properly so that it won’t move during the exposure.
If working on soft terrain or wet sand, push part of the lower legs into the ground until the tripod is rock steady.
In windy conditions keep the tripod low to the ground and spread the legs wider to increase stability.

SEE MORE: 8 tripod mistakes every photographer makes (and how to avoid them)

02 Eliminate camera vibrations
Having the camera securely mounted on a steady tripod is the first step to preventing camera shake, but you also need to prevent any vibrations when you actually take the shot.
Using a remote release is good practice, or you can use the two-second self-timer so you don’t have to touch the camera.
To stop internal vibrations caused by the mirror slapping up when the shutter is released, either use your camera’s mirror lock-up function (if it has one) or take the shot in Live View mode, which also locks up the mirror.



How to set up your camera for long exposure photography: steps 3-5

03 Set Bulb mode
Exposures of up to 30 seconds are possible in modes such as Aperture Priority, but for longer exposures you’ll need to use the Bulb setting.
This allows the shutter to be held open manually for as long as required. This is best done using a lockable remote release.
Press the button on the release to open the shutter and then lock it open for the required time.
Some remote releases have a built-in timer for a precise exposure, but you can just use a watch with a second hand.

SEE MORE: Hands-free photography – 4 ways to take pictures without touching your camera

04 Calculate the exposure time
For exposures of longer than 30 seconds you can’t take a meter reading in the usual way. Instead, you need a reference exposure to work from.
One way to do this is to drastically increase the ISO setting to enable you to take a meter reading.
Then use this value to calculate what the exposure time needs to be at a lower ISO.
So, if the exposure is 4 secs at ISO1600, it needs to be 60 secs at ISO100 to give the same exposure (4 secs at ISO1600 = 8 secs at ISO800 = 15 secs at ISO400 = 30 secs at ISO200 = 60 secs at ISO100).

SEE MORE: Bulb mode – how to get pro-quality pictures in low light

05 Attach a filter
In bright lighting situations where you want to produce a creative effect such as blurry water, it’s possible to increase the exposure time by using filters.
A polarising filter, for example, will increase the exposure time required for a correct exposure by around two stops – for example from ¼ sec to 1 sec.
Neutral density (ND) filters enable you to lengthen the exposure further. ND filters come in different strengths and can extend the exposure from between one and ten stops.
A ten-stop filter would lengthen an exposure of 1/30 sec to 30 seconds.

source:  http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/10/24/long-exposure-photography-how-to-set-up-your-camera/

8 lessons you can learn by shooting landscapes at night

You don’t have to restrict yourself to daylight hours for shooting landscapes, you can shoot them during the night as well. And if you do, the team at Photoventure suggest some great lessons that you’ll learn along the way in their latest guest post.

1. The benefit of finding your location in advance

Many landscape photographers use bad weather and poor light days to check out potential shooting locations, but this is essential with night photography.
And it’s not just a case of finding a scene that you think will work, you need to decide how you’re going to compose the image and what focal length lens you need while you can actually see the lie of the land.
You need to find your exact shooting position and decide the best angle and height to shoot from, ideally taking a few shots to be sure that you’ve nailed the composition.
It’s also a good idea to decide where you need to focus and determine how far that point is from your shooting position.

SEE MORE: 12 common errors of night photography (and how you can solve them)

2. Get organised

Shooting at night makes you become really organised. You don’t want to be rummage around in your bag in the dark trying to find your remote release or a freshly formatted memory card. You need to know where everything is and be able to find it quickly.
A torch, ideally a headtorch, will come in handy when you are retrieving kit from your bag, but it’s no substitute for having well organised gear and knowing exactly where each lens is located.
Getting your kit properly organised in your bag will also help prevent accidental losses because you don’t have to pull lots of things out of your bag to find the item you’re looking for.
It will also pay dividends when shooting in daylight as you’ll be able to find what you want quickly, making you less likely to miss a shot or the fleeting light.

SEE MORE: 10 pro tips that will work in any genre of photography

3. How to focus in low light

If you turn up at your shooting location before darkness descends, this won’t be an issue because you can set the camera up and focus the lens in the last light of the day.
But not everyone has the time to do this, and even those that do are likely to want to shoot more than one scene in a night.
Even very advanced autofocus systems struggle at night because they need to be able to see some contrast to operate.
This means that manual focus is required, but you need to be able to see the target just like the AF system does.
If your lens has a focus distance scale you can adjust focus until it’s at the distance you found when you checked out the location in daylight.
Alternatively, Live View mode can help as the gain that’s applied to the signal can reveal the scene giving you enough information to focus the lens.
You could also try shining a torch on your subject so you have enough light to focus, or you could put your torch next to the target and focus on it.

 SEE MORE: 6 camera settings every pro relies on

4. Low sensitivity is best for long exposures

High sensitivity settings can be very useful in low light when you want a short exposure, but when you’re shooting at night even very high settings will still require shutter speeds that are too long for hand-holding the camera.
High sensitivity settings also introduce lots of noise, which most photographers don’t want, so it’s usually better to use a low sensitivity and a long exposure.
Although mirror lock-up and a remote release are usually recommended for long exposures, with very long exposures the time it takes for any vibration to die down is insignificant, so they aren’t essential.

5. Using long exposure noise reduction

Long exposures usually introduce noise that results from variations in the sensitivity of the photo receptors across the sensor (including ‘hot pixels’), but unlike high-sensitivity noise, it tends to appear at the same locations.
The easiest way to deal with this noise is to use your camera’s long exposure noise reduction system.
Once it’s activated it usually kicks in when exposures are a second or more in length and it works by taking a second exposure of the same duration but with the shutter closed.
The camera then extracts the noise seen in the ‘dark frame’ or second exposure, from the image exposure to produce a clean shot.
It all happens automatically and it works very well, but it doubles the time each shot takes to produce.
This isn’t a problem with exposures of just a few seconds, but it can become tedious with exposures running to several minutes.
Some photographers therefore prefer to turn off long exposure noise reduction and capture their own dark frames periodically to remove the noise on their computer.

SEE MORE: Night photography – how to set up your camera to shoot anything

6. Control your camera by feel

Even if you’ve got a headtorch it can be difficult to see the buttons, dials and markings on your camera, so it’s much better to find the controls you need by feel.
Once you’ve used a particular control in the dark a few times you’ll find that you start to reach for without searching for with your eyes.
After a few hours shooting in the dark you’ll get to know your camera much better than ever before.

SEE MORE: Cities at night: how to photograph natural and artificial light

7. There’s light that you can’t see

The night sky usually looks pretty dark, but long exposures often reveal a few hidden light sources.
If you’re in the countryside shooting towards a town or city, for example, you are likely to find that the lower part of the sky glows orange.
This can be used to good effect, creating the appearance of sunset long after the sun has gone down.

8. The moon moves

The presence of a full moon in the sky above a night time landscape makes a huge difference to the exposure time of your photographs and the soft light it adds (reflects) helps give the landscape greater form.
It’s well worth planning your shoot around the phase of the moon (as well as the weather) to get a little illumination.
However, if you’re shooting long exposures it’s often advisable to avoid including the moon in the frame as it moves surprisingly quickly across the sky and ends up looking misshaped.
You could, however, consider taking two shots with different exposures; a short one to record the moon looking round and a second longer one of the landscape and then cloning out the elongated moon and replacing it with the normal shaped one to create a natural looking composite.


source : http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/09/27/8-lessons-you-can-learn-by-shooting-landscapes-at-night/

ISO settings in low light: when, and how, to increase your camera’s sensitivity

You can get some great pictures in low light, but only if you know how, and when, to use your camera’s ISO settings. In this tutorial we show you everything you need to know.

Your camera can automatically set the exposure in any conditions, even indoors or at night. To do this it adjusts the lens aperture and uses slower shutter speeds so that the sensor is exposed for longer.
There comes a point, though, when the shutter speed is so slow that there’s a danger the camera will move during the exposure, leading to camera shake and horribly blurred pictures.
It’s difficult to give hard and fast rules about when camera shake might start to creep in, but as soon as you see shutter speeds of 1/30 sec or slower displayed in the viewfinder, you’re in danger territory.
If your lens has an image stabilisation function, this will certainly help, but only up to a point.
The real answer is your camera’s ISO setting.

SEE MORE: What is ISO: when to increase sensitivity, types of noise and more

This is like turning up the volume on the sensor – it makes it more sensitive to light. Your camera can now use faster shutter speeds in poor light, and you can carry on getting sharp pictures.
ISO settings are adjusted on a fixed scale (see overleaf), and each step on the scale doubles the sensitivity.
But there is a payoff. As you increase the ISO settings, the digital ‘noise’ in your pictures increases too. This noise is like the grain in high-speed film, but more pixelated and less attractive. When you increase the ISO you’re trying to choose the best compromise between picture quality and usable shutter speeds.
You don’t always have to use a high ISO settings in low light, though. If you put the camera on a tripod, long exposures don’t matter because the camera won’t move – you can shoot at night using a low ISO for best quality.
So follow our guide to find out when, how and why to change your ISO settings to get the best possible light in what may be the worst possible lighting conditions.

SEE MORE: Banish bad pictures – 9 quick fixes to common camera complaints

How – and when – to use your higher ISO settings

01 What ISO settings are you using?
Do your shots look as blurry as this when you shoot indoors? That’s because the ISO setting on the camera is too low, and it’s using longer exposures (slow shutter speeds, in other words) to cope with the low light. At ISO200, the camera had to use a shutter speed of 1/5 sec.


02 Increasing the ISO
On our Nikon D300s, we press the ISO button on the back of the camera and turn the command dial. On other models, you can use the Shooting menu or the interactive display. If you increase the ISO from 200 to 3200, the camera can use shutter speeds four stops faster.


03 Sharper shots
With the ISO set to 3200 we’re getting shutter speeds of 1/80 sec to 1/125 sec. That’s enough to dramatically cut the risk of camera shake, and it can also cope with a certain amount of subject movement, which is especially useful with fairground attractions and arcades.


04 Image stabilisation verdict
If your lens has IS, switch it on. This will help cut camera shake, but it has limitations. You may be able to shoot at shutter speeds up to four stops slower without shake, but it won’t help with moving subjects – here, there’s no substitute for higher shutter speeds.


05 Static subjects
VR can pay dividends with static subjects, though, and you can get away with shutter speeds as low as 1/15 sec, 1/8 sec or even slower. But take several shots, not one, to be sure of getting one that’s sharp. Continuous mode can be useful because it gives the camera time to settle.


06 Brace yourself!
In really dark environments, even a high ISO is no guarantee of fast shutter speeds. Here, we’re having to shoot at just 1/15 sec. In these situations, try to brace the camera or rest your elbow on a rigid surface.

Aim Hi-er?
ISO settings are the same across all cameras. The upper and lower limit varies from one DSLR to another, but the numbers are always the same. Many DSLRs also offer extra ‘Hi’ settings which extend the ISO range beyond the normal limits and don’t necessarily conform to the strict performance parameters of the regular ISO settings. ‘Hi’ modes produce more noise and softer detail, and while they’re useful in an emergency, generally they’re best avoided.

Using a tripod to shoot at low ISO settings

A tripod is essential if you want to explore photography at night. The light levels after dark are so low that not even a high ISO setting will help you get blur-free pictures.
But when the camera is locked down on a tripod, it doesn’t matter how long the exposure is because the camera won’t move. You can set the lowest ISO to get the best quality, and small apertures for more depth of field.

Tripod tips
Keep the camera level to avoid converging verticals, and if you don’t have a remote release, use the self-timer so that you don’t jog the camera as the shutter fires.

SEE MORE: What is white balance: common problems and how to solve them

Long exposures
This was taken at ISO 200 with an aperture of f/11 and an exposure time of five seconds. The long exposure will blur anything that moves, including clouds in the sky, water and even passers-by. This blurring can be very attractive and is part of the appeal of night photography.


source : http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/12/19/iso-settings-in-low-light-when-and-how-to-increase-your-cameras-sensitivity/

Best camera settings for taking pictures at twilight

Do you struggle with colour rendition and sharpness when shooting in low light? In this quick guide we run through some of the best camera settings for taking pictures at twilight.

The upside of the later sunrise and earlier sunset at this time of year is that you can set about getting dramatic twilight shots.
It’s usually best to shoot fairly soon before sunrise or after sunset, when the sun isn’t too far below the horizon.
At these times, clear skies take on a deep blue colour, and reflect fabulous light down onto the scene. Long exposures work well for static subjects.

DON’T MISS: Night photography – how to set up your camera to shoot absolutely anything

Use a tripod and keep your camera’s sensitivity to a low value of around ISO 100 to 200. This will optimise picture quality, keeping image noise to a minimum.
Watery surfaces, which are often good to include for reflecting city lights, take on a smooth and mirror-like sheen.
However, if you’re including a river or lake with boats bobbing about on a choppy surface, you’ll need a faster shutter speed to avoid motion blur, so increase your ISO setting accordingly.
This will also be necessary to avoid camera-shake if you’re relying on handheld shooting.
A neat trick is to select the tungsten or incandescent white balance setting in preference to auto white balance.
You should get a much more natural colour rendition for artificially lit areas of the shot, while emphasising the deep blue of the twilight sky.

source :  http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/11/17/best-camera-settings-for-taking-pictures-at-twilight/

How to photograph the moon: an easy way to shoot moon pictures full of detail

Taking pictures of the moon is one of the more popular subjects in night photography – but it’s also quite tricky to get right. In this tutorial we show you how to photograph the moon using a simple tried and tested technique that is certain to give you moon pictures you’ll be proud of.

The moon may be shining big and bright in the night sky, but as anyone who’s tried to shoot moon pictures knows it’s tricky to do justice to with a camera. Pictures of what looks like a huge full moon to the naked eye can often end up showing a tiny white blob dotted on a black background.
Luckily, it’s not complicated to learn how to photograph the moon. It’s very easy to set up your DSLR to take a clear, well-defined picture of the moon like this one, and we’re going to walk you through how to pick the best night photography settings and equipment that you’ll need to get started with learning how to photograph the moon.
Knowing how to photograph the moon starts with getting yourself a long zoom lens to ensure you get close enough to capture detail. We used a Sigma 50-500mm. If you don’t have one in your camera bag, they’re easily rented.
A tripod is also a must to avoid camera shake when taking moon pictures. Also check the weather forecast in advance, as to photograph the moon you’ll need a clear and cloudless sky.

SEE MORE: Beat camera shake! The ultimate cheat sheet for using tripods, monopods and shooting handheld

Pollution in big cities can sometimes get in the way of a crisp clear shot, so consider driving out to somewhere where the air will be cleaner to photograph the moon.
Look online for charts that show moonrise times, and if you can, wait until as late at night as possible, so the sky will be completely dark and the moon will be bright and clear against a black backdrop.

SEE MORE: 77 photography techniques, tips and tricks for taking pictures of anything

We hauled our equipment into the back garden half an hour before midnight to get everything set up for our shot.
When you’re ready to go, make sure your camera is set up so you’ll be shooting in raw format. This will give you the picture quality you need in order to be able to crop your final image to get closer to the moon, as well as edit the exposure, contrast and clarity to bring out the detail on the moon’s surface more clearly.
As well as being beautiful in itself, a big, bright moon shot can be useful. Once you’ve followed our steps and come away with a clear image, we’ll walk you through how to add your lunar masterpiece to night landscapes in Photoshop.
While it’s a big challenge to shoot a well-exposed nightscape that also includes a well-defined moon, it’s a cinch to add the moon in Photoshop, and we’ll walk you through how to create a dramatic composite in five easy steps.

How to photograph the moon step-by-step

01 Find out the phase
Check a lunar calendar to see which phase the moon is going to be in. Moonconnection.com will show you pictures of the moon according to which hemisphere you live in, so you can plan ahead. A perfectly full moon like the one we’re shooting has the biggest visual impact.


02 Zoom in close
A zoom lens is essential for capturing the moon’s surface detail. Our 50-500mm Sigma lens is ideal. A tripod will keep your camera still, and a remote shutter release will reduce shaking further – if you don’t have one, set the camera’s self timer to a few seconds in the Setup menu.


03 Get set up
Switch your camera to Manual mode and your lens to manual focus. When choosing your camera settings, there are two key factors to remember: the moon is bright, so a low ISO is fine, and it’s actually moving slowly, so a fast shutter speed is called for. We chose 1/200 sec, f/10 and ISO200.

SEE MORE: Manual focus – what you need to know to get sharp images every time

04 Watch it live
The moon won’t fill the frame, so judging focus can be an issue. Using Live View, zoom in on the middle of the moon, then focus manually on its centre. When you’ve focused, press the shutter button and let go of the camera before it takes the shot. Check your shot is sharp using the LCD.


source:  http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/10/24/how-to-photograph-the-moon-the-easy-way-to-shoot-moon-pictures-with-amazing-detail/

Star trails: how to use your camera’s Bulb mode to capture stunning long exposures

Star trails are a popular subject to shoot this time of year, but knowing how to use your camera’s Bulb mode setting is the only way you’ll get an exposure long enough to capture the classic night photography effect you’re after. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to hold the shutter open as long as you like.

Patrick Campbell / Getty Images

Your camera’s Bulb setting allows you to hold the shutter open for as long as you like, so that you can make long exposures of several minutes or even hours.
One area of photography when the Bulb function comes into its own is for shooting star trails, where you need to keep the shutter open for upwards of 30 minutes.
The simplest technique for capturing star trails is to keep the shutter open long enough so the movement of the stars is recorded as curved lines across the picture.
The main obstacle for star trail photography is other light sources, mostly from built-up areas, but also from the moon.
You need to find an area free of light pollution, and choose a night when there is a new moon or a time when the moon is below the horizon during the exposure. Check the internet to find your nearest dark sky area.

SEE MORE: Night photography – how to set up your camera to shoot anything

Star trails are possible with any camera that has a Bulb mode. In order for the star trails to appear brightly in the final image, you’ll need to use a lens with a wide aperture of f/2.8 or f/4, so that plenty of light reaches the sensor.
Wide-angle lenses are best, so that lots of the star-filled sky can be included in the shot.

Step by step how to use Bulb mode to shoot star trails

01 Using Bulb mode
Bulb is best activated using a lockable remote release so that the shutter can be released and locked open for any length of time. Set the shooting mode to Bulb, then use the remote release to lock open the shutter. Close the shutter by unlocking it.

SEE MORE: What is bulb mode? How to get pro-quality shots in low light

02 Star trail prep
To shoot a successful star trail, choose a clear, moonless night away from any light pollution. Set the camera up on a tripod while it’s still light. Compose your shot using a wide-angle lens to include foreground interest, such as a tree or unlit building.


03 Taking the shot
Fit a fresh battery: they drain quickly in Bulb mode. Set a wide aperture and an ISO of 800 to 1,600. Now you’ll need to wait for it to get totally dark or come back later. Release the shutter in Bulb mode and expose for between 30 and 180 minutes to record trails.

source:  http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/01/12/star-trails-how-to-use-your-cameras-bulb-mode-to-capture-stunning-long-exposures/

Lighting gels: how to use an orange CTO gel to neutralise orange backgrounds

Orange backgrounds can be a casualty of using flash at night. In this quick guide we’ll show you how lighting gels like an orange CTO gel can help neutralise the colour in your backgrounds.

Pop-up or hotshoe flash is a necessary evil when taking pictures of people after dark. But one of the reasons that simple flash images don’t look great is that the colour of flash is so different from the ambient lighting.
Shoot indoors at a party or out on the high street, and the background will look unnaturally orange, due to the predominantly tungsten bulb lighting that surrounds you.
For more pleasing flash portraits, fit an orange filter to your flash – this gel is known as CTO (or Colour Temperature Orange). With this gel in place you then turn the white balance to its Incandescent setting, and use the flash as usual.

How to use CTO lighting gels

01  Get gelled up!
Coloured gels are available in rolls from pro dealers and stage lighting specialists. Companies such as Rosco, Honl and Rogue make kits of pre-cut gels for photographers. You can also buy them cheaply on eBay.


02  Stick on an orange 

You put the orange-coloured CTO gel over the diffuser panel on the flash head. You can use masking tape or a rubber band to hold in place if taking lots of shots, but holding it over the flash is easier for one-off shots.


03 Set white balance
Adding the gel corrects the colour temperature of your flash from daylight to tungsten. Make sure your SLR doesn’t give you completely orange pictures by adjusting White Balance to the Incandescent setting.

source : http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/02/09/lighting-gels-how-to-use-an-orange-cto-gel-to-neutralise-orange-backgrounds/

Creative photography ideas: create light trails with sparklers

If you’re looking for a great New Year’s Eve photo idea or simply struggling to find creative photography ideas to keep you busy on dark nights, we’ve got the perfect thing for you. Sparklers allow you to create golden light trails and shapes, and they’re cheap to buy and easy to use.

You’ll need a tripod to allow for a long enough shutter speed for this project. You’ll also need an assistant to create sparkler shapes and words for you. Make sure everyone is wearing gloves and have a bucket of water on hand for used-up sparklers.
You’ll need to shoot in Manual so that you have complete control over your settings, and you’ll find that it’s easiest to focus manually on your assistant first and ask them to stay in the same place while they draw sparkler creations for you.

How to make light trails using sparklers

01 Find your settings
In Manual, turn off flash, then pick an aperture of f/8. You’ll need a low ISO, such as ISO200, to compensate for the long shutter speed – we started off with five seconds. When you’re ready, ask your assistant to slowly trace shapes in front of them. Hearts, circles and stars all look great.

02 Words and symbols

When you’ve got some simple shapes in the bag, increase your shutter speed to ten or 20 seconds and get your assistant to try some words. They’ll need to write backwards for the words to read correctly, but you can cheat and flip images horizontally in Photoshop if they’re struggling.

03 Include a person

If you want to include a ghostly version of your friend as well as their sparkler creations in your picture, simply switch to a wider f-stop, such as f/3.5. They’ll need to keep their face as still as possible for the entire exposure, though, or they’ll end up being a blur.

 source : http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/12/29/creative-photography-ideas-create-light-trails-with-sparklers/