Digital Photography Student

Birds are usually very tricky subjects to photograph. They are rarely completely still, and when they finally settle at one place, they do not stay there for long. They are in a constant state of motion, and a good photo should reflect this. If you examine the photo on this fellow to the right I have shot while on a trip in Madrid in 2005. I have just caught him in the moment when he decided to stretch his wings. Addmitently, it was a lucky shot. When examining it closer, I have noticed that although the bird was perfectly still, its wings showed a nice sense of blur, thus conveying motion. In my mind, this motion blur made the shot. The key in shooting such a photo is selecting the right Shutter speed for the task. Switch your digital camera to Shutter Priority mode (marked as S or Tv depending on your camera manufacturer), and select the shutter speed at about 1/200. It should be enough to keep the bird still, while still retaining some movement in the wings. So the tip of the wee...

One of the most fascinating photography effects you can achieve is a shot of a waterfall or stream, where the water has smooth and silky look, while the surrounding environment looks perfectly normal. Learn the photography technique in this week´s photo school. The trick on how to achieve the dreamy water look is simple: long exposure . The basic goal here is to have your shutter open long enough that it captures movement in the water, while the rest of the environment is perfectly still. This is best achieved using shutter priority mode (Tv on Pentax, or S on Nikon), since it gives you direct control over how long will the shutter remain open. Since our goal is to try and keep shutter open for as long as possible, camera shake will be an issue, rendering hand holding the camera virtually impossible. Make no mistake, you will need a tripod , or some other camera support. You can always look for a nearby rock or some piece of cloth to rest your camera on, while it takes the photo. ...

Are you still stuck using only automatic modes on your digital camera ? That would be a shame, since other creative modes offer such a huge potential for more compelling photos. Learn about Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Program modes, and how to use them to your advantage in this video tutorial. CanonAustralia provides us with this excellent video tutorial on how to use creative modes on your digital camera. They explain the basics on a Canon dSLR, but the rules apply to pretty much any camera supporting these modes. Just remember that some cameras call modes differently: Tv - Shutter Priority (on Canon and Pentax) = S (Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Panasonic & Fuji) Av - Aperture Priority (on Canon and Pentax) = A (Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Panasonic & Fuji) Experiment using these two camera modes, and see your photography skills increase. Happy shooting.

Learn more about Shutter Priority mode. What is shutter speed and how does it affect photos? How to use shutter priority mode to freeze or emphasize action. Shutter Priority mode refers to a setting on some cameras that allows the user to choose a s pecific shutter speed while the camera adjusts the aperture to ensure correct exposure. It is labeled as Tv on some cameras (Pentax, Canon), or S on other (Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Panasonic & Fuji). What is shutter speed ? In photography, shutter speed is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a shutt er is open , thus indicating the duration of light reaching the film or image sensor . Shutter speed, or more literally exposure time is measured in seconds, but often marked in reciprocal seconds. In example a typical exposure time for photographs taken in sunlight is 1/125th of a second, typically marked as 125 on a shutter speed setting dial. A general rule of thumb, the higher denominator , ...