How to take low cost, creative photography

Getting Snappy

HOW TO TAKE LOW COST, CREATIVE, PHOTOGRAPHY

Pictures speak a thousand words We all know that photography is key within media and its power should never be underestimated. Not only does the quality of image dictate how powerful your message is, it affects how readers view the publication in which it appears.

Originality is incredibly important for both successful campaigns and to achieve acceptance for editorial. Whether snapped on the simplest camera, iPhone or crafted on the finest professional model, all photographs are created with light. And to create any image you must control the quantity of light, while composing the shot with precision.

One of the most important tools with digital cameras is instant feedback.

Review your shots and learn from your mistakes right after you have taken a picture.

The basics...

Camera settings • Use the highest quality setting, but avoid the TIFF setting (only for large format print). You can always reduce the size of the image but you cannot put back quality that is not already in the image.

• Set camera to Series exposure, which readies the camera if you need to take a number of shots in rapid succession.

• Make the most of Scene modes, as these are pre-saved settings for popular subject types such as portrait or still life photography.

Finding focus • Most cameras have auto-focus systems that guarantee the sharpness of your image - by default on the very centre, but this may not be appropriate if the main subject is not in the centre of the frame.

• For off-centre subjects, press shutter button half way down, re-frame the picture (while holding the shutter button) and finish by pressing shutter button all the way.

• If your subject lacks detail or is too high in contrast, point the focusing spot at another object that is the same distance away as your subject, before re-framing and taking the picture.

Getting close • Make sure your subject fills the viewfinder – move a few steps closer or use the zoom button.

• Hold the camera at your subject’s eye level they don’t have to look directly into the camera, the eye level by itself will create a personal feeling.

• When working particularly close to your subject, it may be easier to move the camera nearer and further away, rather than by adjusting focus.

Judging exposure • In sunny situations, position yourself with the sun to one side, so that you see your subject partially lit and partially in shadow.

Framing images • When photographing scenes with people, it is almost always better to be too close than too far away.

• When shooting in poor light, you can reduce exposure times by adjusting the camera’s sensitivity – the ISO setting. Raising this allows pin-sharp photos with little reduction in quality.

• Use framing devices such as doorways and overhanging leaves to form a natural frame to shape your picture.

• Use your hand to cast a shadow over your lens. This reduces the effect of the sun shining into the lens, which causes flare.

Flash • Pictures taken beyond the maximum flash range will be too dark. For many cameras, that’s about four steps away. In very bright conditions, set the fill-in flash (most cameras do this automatically) and turn the flash on.

This helps reveal details and colours that would otherwise be hidden.

Zoom • Try setting the zoom to a favourite focal length, for example, very long or very wide, and leave it there. This will enable you to photograph more decisively when you are not always adjusting the zoom.

• If in doubt, shoot at a wider angle and take in more of the scene. You can always crop an image, but you can’t add to it! The widest zoom is also preferable in dim light, as zoom lenses gather more light at wide settings than at longer settings.

• When composing scenes, try to place elements in the foreground. Allow the foreground interest to be out of focus to draw attention to the background.

• Take your time – add props, re-arrange subjects or try a different viewpoint.

• Check the area behind your subject. Look out for trees sprouting from your subject’s head!

Capturing light • For the most interesting lighting, try facing the light and place your subject in between. You can obtain dramatic silhouettes and place the sun in shot for flare effects.

• Use strong shadows produced by harsh sunlight to create interesting patterns or to create an impression of space and to lead the eye.

Colour balance • Most digital cameras allow you to adjust colour richness when saved on the memory card.

• If skin appears too cold/hot, adjust the balance control in your picture manager software, such as Adobe Photoshop, until skin appears natural.

Cropping and re-sizing • You can crop an image to reduce file size significantly.

• To maintain the original picture’s size ratio, choose the crop tool, click and drag over the whole image, then hold down shift key and drag the crop box to the desired size.

Avoid common mistakes Resolution

Always shoot at the highest resolution your camera allows

Subject matter

Make sure this fills the frame of the shot

Shakes

Hold the camera steady

Background

Avoid ‘clutter’ behind your subject matter

Date stamp

Ensure the ‘date stamp’ is off

File format

01/2020

JPG

PNG

TIFF

High compression, good for web, print and quick previews

Web graphics and images with transparent backgrounds

High quality print graphics and scans

Ten tips for taking great iPhone photos More and more, the iPhone is the tool of choice for taking photographs as it’s quick and convenient.

Within reason, the iPhone is really good at the job, so long as you follow the basic principles mentioned earlier such as shooting on the highest resolution. Here are some iPhone specific tips.

1. Use the iPhone camera shortcut There are lots of great third-party camera apps out there, but if you want a quick shot of your CE making an event appearance you need speed on your side – speed that you may not get if you have to unlock your device, find your app, tap on the icon, and wait for it to load. Press the iPhone camera shortcut from the Lock screen and you can quickly take that picture with no significant wait time. You can also do something similar while in an app or on your Home screen by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to launch Control Centre, then tapping the camera button.

2. Experiment with third-party apps If you’re not in a rush to snap a quick shot, download some of the third-party camera apps available. Apple’s opened a number of controls up to developers, including shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and exposure, which means that you can often snap a photo with much more clarity than you would be able to from the default camera application. Although you can’t assign the camera shortcut buttons to third-party apps, you can put those apps in your Dock, so that they’re easily accessible from any part of your Home screen.

3. Target your shooting mode around your end result Apple’s default camera app offers a variety of different modes for taking pictures, including panorama, square, and photo. It may seem like common-sense instruction, but it really helps to shoot in the mode you plan to publish for eg when taking pictures to post to Instagram, shoot in square mode rather than shooting in photo mode and cropping the image afterward. It helps you better frame your picture, rather than trying to invent new framing after-the-fact.

4. Follow the rule of thirds Your iPhone has a grid option available, which can aid you in lining up photographs so that they follow the rule of thirds. This is that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.

You can turn this option on by visiting Settings> Photos & Camera and enabling the Grid switch.

5. Turn off your flash Recent generations of the iPhone flash are much improved upon their predecessors, but at the end of the day, the flash is still just an LED light. It’s just not that powerful, and even with the TrueTone technology it can occasionally emit a strange hue onto your photographs. Instead, try shooting in natural lighting sources, or if you’re shooting at night, use the Camera app’s exposure slider to boost light in the photo.

6. Use Burst mode for action shots Is your subject matter moving? Are you on the move? Whatever the case, burst mode might be just the option you’re looking for to capture the best images. Apple included burst mode originally for snapping clear pictures of moving subjects, but it works well when your camera is moving too.

By snapping images in quick succession, you’re more likely to get a clear shot and you have more options to choose from.

To shoot in Burst mode, just tap and hold down the shutter button (or volume up button) when you want to begin. While holding down the shutter button, you’ll see a counter appear at the bottom of the screen, letting you know how many shots you’ve snapped. To stop shooting, just lift up your finger and the burst will be saved to your Camera Roll.

7. Turn on HDR Auto Your iPhone comes with a software feature called High Dynamic Range or HDR. This lets you snap photos that may have high contrast light sources (say, a bright sunset against a darkening mountain) and still capture a nice image without distorting either the light or the dark area of the picture. Your iPhone does this by snapping several pictures in quick succession at different exposures, then merging them together to create a unified image.

You can manually turn HDR on or off from the Camera app, but in HDR Auto, it uses information from your iPhone’s sensor as you point your device at a subject to determine when an image might need HDR correction, and only then does it turn on HDR mode. You’ll know HDR is enabled by the little yellow ‘HDR’ box that appears at the bottom of the screen.

8. Hold down a spot on your viewfinder to lock focus If you’re trying to shoot macro photography or want to prevent your iPhone’s camera from attempting to grab a different subject in the frame, it can be incredibly useful to lock your focus point on your current subject.

You can do this by tapping and holding on the subject in question until you see the yellow AE/ AF Lock alert. This means that the automatic exposure metering and automatic focus metering have been locked on your subject. To remove the lock, just tap anywhere else on the frame.

9. Slide the exposure meter to brighten (or darken) images If an image is too blown out or underexposed for your liking, you can fix it before snapping the picture by adjusting the yellow exposure slider next to the focus square. Just tap once on the focus square and exposure slider, then use the sun icon to increase your exposure by sliding upward or decrease exposure by sliding downward.

10. Snap photos with the volume button Because the iPhone is so thin, tapping the digital shutter button can cause camera shake and blur the photo you’re trying to take. Instead, you can use the volume up button when in the Camera app to snap a photo and avoid camera shake entirely.

Acquire the right perspective with Marketing Impact If you want to create dynamic communications that promote your company’s brand with maximum visual impact, then talk to Marketing Impact.

Contact us phone 020 8399 7400 email steve@marketing-impact.co.uk visit www.marketing-impact.co.uk Marketing Impact Ltd Springfield House 23 Oatlands Drive Weybridge Surrey KT13 9LZ

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