tripod Archives

Shooting videos with your digital SLR – An Introduction

Today’s digital SLR cameras are extremely versatile. They are ideally suitable for not only great quality stills, but also extremely useful for capturing family get together, vacations and any other social events that you may be called to shoot at. The fact that they are capable of shooting in full HD and being able to be used with a multitude of lenses means you can use these cameras for shooting professional quality footages for commercial and other uses as well. Read more...

Even with a wide angle lens you need to realize that there is no way that you can shoot a wide panorama without photo-stitching. So, evidently you will need to make several shots and then stich them together in Photoshop or other photo editing software for the right effect. Read more...

You may have heard, nature and natural light photographers often say this – you must head out at least an hour before the sun peeks behind the trees. These photographers who have made a career out of shooting in natural light understand the tremendous significance of the early morning light. The early morning light (and for that matter the late afternoon light as well) is slanted, it comes at an angle that is almost parallel to the surface of the earth. What it does is it highlights textures, brings to life details like no other light can. Read more...

Working with the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport

One of the least understood aspects of photography is color correction. Even experienced photographers sometimes get it wrong or choose not to pay attention to when shooting in difficult or less than perfect lighting conditions. However color correction is one of the main aspects of getting the perfect color for image and something that pro photographers,who actually need to print their images, consider as a part of the whole workflow. Read more...

Landscape photographers are obsessed with the idea of sharp images. They use a multitude of methods to ensure that they have a perfectly sharp image right from centimeters from the camera all the way to infinity. One technique they frequently make use of is a technique known as focus stacking. Focus stacking is a very useful tool that is available inside Photoshop. It is particularly useful for creating perfectly focused images which are tack sharp across the entire frame.In other words it is ideal for shooting images where you need a big depth of field. Read more...

One of the least used perspectives in photography is the low angle. I bet every photographer thinks why get my camera dirty when my tripod can stoop down to inches from the ground? Well, can your tripod set the camera actually on the ground? I don’t think so. Because that is one of the camera positions that I am referring to when I say low-angle. About a foot and a half from the ground is no good when you want to capture something that is crawling on the ground or you want to capture something so unique which nobody else thinks of. You have to set your camera on the ground. Read more...

Image Stabilization: Why It Matters, Types and How to Use

In the overall history of camera technology image stabilization is a rather recent development. Image stabilized lenses did not appear up until 1995 when Canon introduced the EF 75-300mm f/4 – 5.6 IS - the first image stabilized lens. IS or Image Stabilization is the acronym that Canon uses to refer to this technology. The technology was actually first seen on a previous lens, also made by Canon, the EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM. This lens however did not reach the market up until 1999 which made the 75-300mm the first commercially produced image stabilized lens the world has seen.

Nikon calls this technology VR or Vibration Reduction. Other manufacturers use different other acronyms to label this technology. However, at the end of the day, they all mean the exact same thing. Though, in this case it is fair to say that all technologies are not the same. In fact all lenses are not optically stabilized either. There are some manufacturers who prefer to stabilize the sensor inside the camera rather than the lens! This happened because when image stabilization was developed digital sensors were not around and it would have meant either moving the physical film or the sensor. Canon and Nikon devised it was much easier to move the focusing elements inside the lens than moving the actual film.

Okay. Now we need to have a deeper understanding of how image stabilization works and why most professional and serious enthusiasts prefer to pay more for image stabilized lenses. Read more...

Every Independence Day, or even Memorial or Labor Day, it’s common — a given, even — to see fireworks light up the night sky. They make for wonderful sights and sounds for large gatherings, but fireworks also make great photographs. Its just about knowing how to capture such colorful images.

Shooting fireworks is fairly simple, but it takes some planning and equipment to do so. However, follow these tips and you too can have wonderful photos of those sky rockets.