Tag: Manual

How To Get Started In Film Photography
by David Burgess on 0

How To Get Started In Film Photography

Have you ever been flipping through old family photos and thought to yourself, “I wish I could take photos like that”? Well, you totally can! Film photography is making a comeback, and it’s not as difficult as you might think to get started.

Here are a few tips to get you started in the world of film photography:

1. Choose the right camera.

The first step is to choose the right camera. If you’re just starting out, you might want to consider a point-and-shoot film camera. These are easy to use and relatively inexpensive. If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, you could go for a medium format camera. These produce stunning results, but they can be a bit more challenging to use. Whichever route you choose, make sure to do your research and buy a camera that’s right for you.

2. Get familiar with your camera.

Before you start shooting, take some time to get familiar with your camera. Read the manual, experiment with the different settings, and get a feel for how it works. This will save you a lot of frustration later on.

3. Stock up on film.

Film is the key ingredient in film photography, so you’ll need to make sure you have plenty on hand. Different films produce different results, so it’s worth doing some research to find the type of film that you like best. And don’t forget to buy some extra film in case you make a mistake or two (it happens to everyone!).

4. Find a good lab.

Once you’ve taken your photos, you’ll need to find a good lab to develop them. This is an important step, so take your time and find a lab that you trust.

5. Be patient.

Film photography takes a bit of patience, but it’s so worth it. The results are beautiful, and there’s something special about waiting for your photos to come back from the lab. Embrace the process and enjoy the journey!

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10 Tips For Shooting Better On Film
by David Burgess on 0

10 Tips For Shooting Better On Film

1. Get to know your camera

Before you start shooting on film, it’s important to get to know your camera. Read the manual and familiarize yourself with the different features and settings. This will help you get the most out of your camera and avoid any potential problems.

2. Use a tripod

Using a tripod will help you avoid camera shake and ensure that your photos are sharp and blur-free. It’s especially important to use a tripod when shooting in low light conditions or when using a long focal length lens.

3. Use a remote shutter release

A remote shutter release allows you to take photos without touching the camera, which can help prevent camera shake. If your camera doesn’t have a remote shutter release, you can use the self-timer setting.

4. Use a low ISO

Using a low ISO will help you avoid image noise and produce sharper, higher-quality photos. It’s especially important to use a low ISO when shooting in low light conditions.

5. Use a fast shutter speed

Using a fast shutter speed will help you freeze action and avoid blur. It’s especially important to use a fast shutter speed when shooting sports or other fast-moving subjects.

6. Use a narrow aperture

Using a narrow aperture (higher f-stop number) will help you achieve a greater depth of field, which means that more of your photo will be in focus. This is useful for landscape photos or photos with multiple subjects.

7. Use exposure compensation

If you’re shooting in manual mode, exposure compensation can be used to make your photos lighter or darker. This is useful if the scene you’re photographing is very bright or very dark.

8. Shoot in RAW

Shooting in RAW will give you the most flexibility when editing your photos. RAW files contain all of the data captured by the camera’s sensor, which gives you more information to work with when editing.

9. Use a filter

Using a filter can help you achieve a specific effect or look in your photos. Common filters include polarizing filters, which reduce glare and increase contrast, and ND filters, which reduce the amount of light entering the lens.

10. Experiment

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different settings and techniques. This is the best way to learn and find what works best for you.

Hopefully these tips will help you shoot better on film. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

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Panasonic HDC-TM41H Overview
by Leland Richardson on 0

Panasonic HDC-TM41H Overview

The Panasonic HDC-TM41H is a high definition camcorder that records 1920 x 1080 video in the AVCHD format. It represents the entry-level of Panasonic’s high definition camcorder line-up with a retail price of $399.

Panasonic HDC-TM41 Video Features

Video is recorded at a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 at a bit-rate of 17Mbps in the AVCHD format. It uses a 1.5-megapixel 1/5.8-inch CMOS image sensor. Video can also be recorded at lower bit-rates (13Mbps, 9Mbps, 5Mbps) or in the iFrame format of 960 x 540 at 28Mbps. Still photos are recorded at 2-megapixels, which is fairly low-resolution as far as images go. It’s enough to email, but not to print.

The HDC-TM41H features Panasonic’s “Intelligent Auto” (iAuto) mode for automatically matching scene modes to shooting environments.

You’ll also have a choice of several scene modes including sports, portrait, low light, spot light, snow, beach, sunset, fireworks, scenery, night scenery and night portrait (for still images only) and a “soft skin” mode for minimizing blemishes when filming people.

Audio is recorded through a 2-channel stereo microphone in Dolby Digital. Audio can also be recorded in the ACC format when filming in the aforementioned iFrame video format.

TM 41 Optical Features

You’ll find a 16.8x optical zoom lens (42.9 x 721mm, 35mm equivalent) on the Panasonic HDC-TM41H. It uses Panasonic’s Power Optical Image Stabilization for keeping your footage relatively shake-free. In “active mode” the image stabilization can compensate at wide-angles.

You have the option for both automatic and manual focus on the TM41H. There’s also a digital zoom to boost magnification out to 1200x – though a digital zoom should be used sparingly, if at all.

Memory and Display

Video footage is recorded directly to 16GB of internal flash memory.

There is also a slot for SDXC memory cards for adding additional recording capacity.

You’ll frame your recordings on a 2.7-inch LCD display. There is no viewfinder.

Design

Thanks to its use of flash memory, the TM41 is very light weight (indeed, it’s the lightest model in the company’s lineup as of this writing). Without the battery it weighs just .37 pounds and measures in at 2.03 x 2.26 x 4.27 inches. It’s a traditional, barrel-style form factor with a zoom lever and shutter button on the top of the camcorder. Pop open the display and you’ll find buttons for switching between iAuto and manual shooting and activating image stabilization, among others.

Aesthetically, the TM41 isn’t much of a head-turner. It’s only available in black.

Shooting Features

You will have some degree of control over your video when shooting with the HDC-TM41. You’ll be able to automatically white balance the camcorder, in addition to manually adjusting the iris. The shutter is automatic. There is a tele-macro mode available too for focusing on objects up to 50cm away. When the lights go down, you can avail yourself to the built-in LED video light to give you some additional illumination. There is no flash, however, for aiding in still photography. Overall a fairly scant feature-set, but that’s to be expected given the price.

Connectivity

The Panasonic HDC-TM41 offers a built-in HDMI output for connecting the camera. You can also connect to a PC via USB cable.

Impression

For those looking for a low-cost camcorder that delivers better video quality than a pocket camcorder with a few extra controls (manual focus, manual iris control and white balance) with a much better zoom lens, the Panasonic HDC-TM41 is definitely worth a look. It’s small design and light weight build ensure it can be carried anywhere without being a burden. It won’t pack the same kind of feature-punch as higher-end models, but if you need a basic, no frills camcorder, give the TM41H a closer look.

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My Photography Assignment, Close-Up Portrait
by David Burgess on 0

My Photography Assignment, Close-Up Portrait

My Photography Assignment Project

In this lens, I want to share some of my earlier project as a photography student. I joined a short course in this field about a year ago. My first assignment was to create a set of photos mainly focus on the close-up face of the subject. I found that it was quite interesting and fun assignment. I spent only about two hours for the photoshoot and another two hours for the editing part.

For this project, I submitted around twenty photos and I decided to share some of them in this article. I remember that my teacher gave me compliment for some of my works. Some of them were even also exhibited in the annual college exhibition. Please let me know your comments and opinions related to my work, as I believe it would help me to take much better pictures in future.

The concept and ideas

As this is one of my earliest assignment in photography class, I was instructed to focus on the technical aspect. My teacher wanted me to learn the basic concept of portrait photography. Thus, he asked all of the student to really pay attention to the focus. The focus must be on the eyes. The composition should be interesting, and we could use any post-processing software that we love.

I decided to create something more surrealist. I decided that for this assignment, there will be only three dominant color: black, white, and red. I was greatly inspired by Natalia Varzina’s works during working on this assignment and somehow she influenced me in a lot of aspects of this photographs.

My teacher told me that there should be at least two different expressions captured in this project. I decided that two of them are confusion and anger. I also experimented with different angles and perspective before finally being able to find the best angle that I wanted to capture. The process of the photoshoot was quite fun. It was considerably quick compared to my other shoot, as it took only about two hours, including the tea break time.

At that time, I was very inexperienced in working with model. I just instructed her to do the basic expressions such as smiling and frowning. During the two hours of work, I managed to capture around one hundred images. Among those, I selected the best twenty and edited in Adobe Lightroom.

The editing process was also quite fun. I was pretty relieved that I got the focus well. I decided to use manual focus, and since it was my first work where I fully used manual focus, I was kinda afraid that the result would be disappointing. As I mentioned before, I only included three major color in the final result of the images. All images should be in black and white, with little addition of red to make it more surrealist.

I submitted the work right after I finished the editing process. Although this assignment was not my best work, I feel pretty happy about them. I managed to get “pass” mark, and my teacher even complimented some of my photos. Somehow, working on this assignment gave me great spirit boost to create better photography works in future.

Some tips

I have several tips that might be useful for you, based on my experience:

Enjoy every moment of your work
This is the first principle that is applicable for any kind of work. In photography, you need to have passion and sincerity towards your concept. You should be able to enjoy every moment you work with your subject. By enjoying your time, you would be able to create some photos that is not only technically good, but also has strong emotional value in it.

Learn from the expert
My teacher told his students that we should spend at least a good one hour per day to take a look at the best works of professional photographers. By doing that, we would be able to learn the technical aspects as well as improving our eyes sensitivity. One most important thing, you should enjoy the learning process so that it has maximum effects in improving your skills.

Manual focus
From this photoshoot, I learned that manual focus works best for portrait photography. It may be difficult to adjust the focus at the first time, but once you are getting used to it, everything would be easier. Manual focus is always better than auto focus, as I believe that human eyes is much better than the artificial focus points in the most expensive camera in the world.

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How to Transfer Pictures to Computer
by David Burgess on 0

How to Transfer Pictures to Computer

Need Help Getting Those Images to Your Computer?

If you’re new to digital photography you may have questions about how to download or transfer photos to computer where you can edit, save, or share them on the internet.

The process to transfer pictures from your digital camera to computer is usually very quick and simple but there are a couple of options, learn more about them here on this page.

The Primary Ways to Transfer Photos to Your Computer

Hear are the most common methods used to download or transfer photos to computer:

Connecting your camera to your computer via a USB cable or Firewire

Inserting the memory card from your camera into a memory card reader (or into your computer) and downloading directly from it rather than the camera.

Wireless transfer

How to Download Photos to Your Computer via USB Cable

A USB cable usually comes included with your camera purchase and is a fairly straightforward way to transfer pictures to computer.

In many instances, you’ll need to upload the image transfer software that came with your camera onto your computer.

Next you will need to connect your camera and your computer with the USB cable. Read your camera’s manual it will describe any specific instructions. For instance, some cameras need to be turned off when connecting and then turned on once the connection is made. Be sure to use AC power if you use this method to avoid draining the batteries on your camera.

Adjust the camera setting to allow image transfer. Again check the camera’s manual for the specific setting on that model.

At this point the computer will launch a wizard to walk you through the process of transferring the images.

For Windows XP owners this step by step guide for transferring images should be useful.

For Windows Vista owners there is this page about downloading and editing photos to help them.

For those with a Mac, here are helpful instructions for downloading pictures.

How to Download Pictures to Computer Using a Memory Card Reader

Memory Card readers can be a great way to transfer pictures to computer. They allow users to conserve their digital camera’s battery and make the transfer process even faster.

Users merely plug the memory card reader into the computer, remove the memory card from their camera, place it into the card reader, and transfer to the computer hard drive. This is very similar to moving files from a disk onto the computer hard drive.

The memory card reader can be attached one time and left in place so that each subsequent time you transfer pictures to computer there is no set up time involved.

Some newer computers also have a card reader built-in and allow the user to download by merely inserting the memory card directly into the computer.

Downloading Photos to Your Computer

Printing and Burning to Disk

How to Download Pictures to Your Computer Wirelessly

There are a couple of options that allow you to transfer pictures to computer without any wires or cable at all. Some digital cameras have WiFi cababilities or Bluetooth that allow the user to wirelessly download or transfer photos to computer through their wireless network. In fact, the photos can also be printed without the use of cables or a memory card reader.

For those without a WiFi digital camera, there’s also the Eye-Fi Share Memory Card. It has a built-in wireless connection and is able to transfer photos and video to photo sharing sites in the absence of any USB cables. The Eye-Fi Explore 2GB SD Card also adds geotagging information to images and the 2 GB Eye-Fi Home transfers wirelessly to a MAC or PC.

Eye Fi Memory Cards

Transferring Pictures from Your Cell Phone to a Computer

Images can be downloaded from your phone to a computer in much the same was as they are transferred from a digital camera.

Some camera phones have an appropriate USB cable to allow a connection in order to transfer photos to computer. These phones should also have the necessary software available to allow this downloading.

Some camera phones use memory cards to store images making transfer via memory card reader an option. A mobile media format card reader is often necessary, otherwise an adapter may be needed.

It depends upon the phone, but some Bluetooth capable phones allow you to transfer pictures to computer wirelessly.

Transferring Old Photos to Your Computer

If you have old photo prints that you would like to have in digital format you can easily do this with a scanner. Many modern printers offer a scanning function. In addition, affordable photo scanners are available if you have a lot of old photos, negatives, or slides.

After connecting the scanner, or your printer/scanner, you’ll need to be sure the glass is clean and you will want to select at what resolution you will scan the images. If you will be printing the images you will want a dpi of 300 or so. A lower resolution is acceptable if you will only be sharing these images online. As you scan the images you will want to name them so that they are easier to find. You can arrange them by year, by subject, or whatever suits your situation, but organization will be critical if you have many photos.

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