SNAP Magazine 2 by Roseanna Gyles

SNAP

Photography for the well seasoned

Vol: 1 Issue: 1 15th Jan 2017

978697066 TIPS FOR BETTER PHOTOS - CREATE YOUR OWN CALENDAR - MONTHLY COMPETITIONS

SNA For extra content including video tutorials visit:

www.youtube.com/user/

Contents Portrait Tips ……….………………………….2 Icon Meanings ……………………………….8 The Exposure Meter and Triangle…...........12 Pull-out Poster………………………..14 . Getting to Grips with Manual Photography………………………………...16 Shutter Speed……………………..…18 ISO…………………………………….20 This Month’s Brief…………………………...22 Last Month’s Showcase……………………..24 Creating a Calendar………………………...28

WWII Photographer Cecil Beaton…….......40 Camera Recommendations……………......43 Handy Camera Tip Cards.............................47

PORTRAIT TIPS Utilising Ambient Light Ambient

light

existing

light,

this can be from light bulb, torch, sunlight, moonlight, reflected light; even a simple candle can provide enough ambient light for a successful

For portraits in a relatively dark

exposure if the scene being captured

environment using ambient light

is not too large and the camera is set

the camera lens should be set to a

up correctly.

wide aperture (F/4 or lower works best). The photographer should also consider increasing the ISO value, although this will produce more grain within the photograph it also allows for an increased light sensitivity, meaning more light will be picked up by the sensor and therefore the photograph will be brighter. Using a higher ISO and wider aperture will also allow for a faster shutter speed, which is essential when subjects are moving or the camera is being used without a tripod with only you to steady it.

Spontaneous grandson shots at a Christmas market

When photographing family or friends at parties or places with interesting light try and use available light (no flash) on some of your shots. This is how the photographs above and below were taken.

Family and friends at celebrations

Pet Portraits Keep your petâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes focused on the camera by holding their favourite treat up to it. As with humans photographs of animals generally look better if the eyes are the point of focus.

The Rule of Thirds Dividing photographs up into nine equal parts and positioning compositional elements along the lines made from this can be a great way to enhance your photographs

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The exposure meter and the exposure triangle

If your camera has a viewfinder you will see a meter like the one below when you look through it to line up your shots. You can ensure your photographs donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come out too light or too dark by adjusting the aperture (F/), the shutter speed and the ISO until the meter is at 0 (in the middle). An image taken with the meter example below would be very light or overexposed; this can result in large white patches without any detail. The aperture, shutter speed and ISO must be adjusted by four stops overall in order to bring the meter back to 0 and ensure a perfectly exposed photograph.

Shutter Speed EXAMPLES: 2, 1, 1/2, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000. These values represent seconds and fractions of seconds.

Aperture

The Exposure Triangle

EXAMPLES: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400. The higher the ISO the more sensitive to light the camera will be, but images will also be

EXAMPLES: f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22

grainier

ISO

Pull out poster of The Exposure Triangle overleaf

Aperture sequence - a rough way to remember it

Getting to grips with manual photography Although digital cameras are now built with intelligent AUTO camera modes that let you use them as simple point and click devices they all usually also have a manual or M mode. Learning how to use your camera in manual mode can give you more control so why not try it out!

There is no shame in using the fully automatic mode on a camera; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an easy way to ensure moments are not missed fiddling around with settings. If, however, you like to decide exactly how a photograph will appear or you just want to be a bit more creative, learning about the manual camera controls is for you.

1/125 ISO: 100 F/11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; can be used as a starting point for a bright sunny scene, of course these values might be adjusted by a stop here and there but that is one of the beauties of digital cameras. Take as many photographs as you want to preview how the image will look before taking your final image. To understand how ISO, shutter speed and aperture (F/) work together it might help to think of them each as either decreasing or increasing the brightness of the photographs you take. If the brightness is increased by changing one, you will need to counter this by decreasing it with another. Tip: The easiest thing to do to get to grips with this relationship is flick around between different F/ stops, shutter speeds and ISO settings and watch the exposure meter through your viewfinder. If you were using the values above, but you wanted a more blurred background you would want to increase the aperture by decreasing the F/ value. Every step up or down however must be accounted for so you will need to adjust at least one of the other two values in order to get the same exposure. 17

Image Notes Shutter Speed: 1/2000 Aperture (F/): F/8 ISO: 160

Image Notes Shutter Speed: 1/90 Aperture (F/): F/19 ISO: 160

Shutter speed The shutter speed is the actual length

If you don’t want your photographs to

of time the shutter is open for when you

be blurred due to motion you should use

take a photograph.

shutter speeds of 1/60 and above when photographing hand-held.

For longer shutter speeds like 1 second, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 and 1/30 of a second motion

Faster shutter speeds like 1/125, 1/1250

will appear blurred. If photographing

and so on will freeze motion. This can be

without a tripod any camera shake when

useful for taking photographs of things

the photograph is being taken will also

that don’t stay still, wildlife for example.

be recorded, causing more blur.

You can also produce some interesting effects if you’re taking pictures of people

Longer shutter speeds can be useful for

jumping in the air or the action at a

still, dimly lit scenes using a tripod, or

sporting event for example.

to intentionally record motion blur for artistic flare, flowing water for example.

ISO

ISO controls how sensitive your camera is to light. A higher ISO value will make your camera more sensitive to light which can mean you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to use a shutter speed so slow it blurs all motion, for example. Photographs do appear grainier the higher ISO you use but this usually doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

compromise

them

too

badly, as can be seen from the two examples above and magnified on the right. 20

1: This photograph was taken with a low ISO and Aperture setting. 2: This photograph was taken with a high ISO and Aperture setting. Tip: Photographing old items can be a nice way of preserving their memory without having too much clutter around.

This month’s brief Theme: light For this month’s brief we are going to focus on lighting; this could be anything from candlelight to sunlight and everything in between. The objective is to capture light interacting with scenes or subjects in an interesting way. It’s about having fun and experimenting with different ways of seeing and photographing so grab your camera and start having a play around.

Example photographs:

Christmas lights make interesting lighting in photographs . The light in this photograph (right) comes from mixed sources; natural light from the window, coloured light from the christmas lights and also regular ‘tungsten’ light from a household light which is behind the camera.

Old streetlights give off a vibrant orange glow, especially noticeable when stood next to one of their bright white modern counterparts. This photographs (left) was taken in between two of these different streetlights, making use of the light from both as it illuminates each side of the subject.

Last month’s Showcase Last month our theme was ‘life’, take a look at some of the inspiring photography you submitted below and on the next page..

“Whilst holidaying in Spain with family I dragged my grandson out on a refreshing morning walk. He wasn’t accustomed to being up and out so early as can be seen from this photograph of him yawning his head off!” Left photo by Albert Davidson, 69 from Kent.

Getting involved with our monthly briefs is a great way to have fun whilst getting to know your cameras.

Miniature world.

Waking up in nature 25

Miniature world

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I left an empty plant pot outside for around a year and a half, moss began to grow on it quickly and over time other tiny plants also began to take root on this until it transformed into the tiny ecosystem shown here. The tiny pond was created from rainwater, in warmer times strange tiny fish like creatures can be seen swimming around in this. These are larvae from some type of flying insect that uses the stagnant water as a rearing ground for its youngâ&#x20AC;?. Above photo By Gill Brown, 67 from Cumbria. 26

You can submit your photo’s to us via email at snapmagazine@gmail.co.uk, each month we will pick a handful of these submissions to showcase in the following months magazine. If your photograph is picked we will send you a trophy and a years free subscription to SNAP!

“During a forest stroll I spotted this strange article of fungi glowing amongst the shade of the woodland floor. A small gap in the leaf canopy above and my being there at the opportune moment when a beam from the sun was able to flow through this are to thank for my being able to spot and record this illuminated wonder”. Below photo by Agnes Stevens, 72 from Surrey.

Woodland Mushroom 27

Creating a calendar from your own photographs Creating calendars from your photographs is now easier than ever, many websites now exist where you can make them and most are very user-friendly. In this tutorial we will show you how to create a calendar using moonpig.com, other sites like funkypigeon. com and photobox.co.uk work in much the same way so this tutorial can also be used as reference for these. All you need is to have your photographs saved somewhere on your computer or tablet where you can find them, Internet access and a bankcard.

1. The first step is to open your Internet browser and search for moonpig. com, once the site loads click on the green box at the top of the page labeled ‘Gifts’. From this menu you can see a great amount of things you can create from your photographs. Today we are going to click on 28

‘Personalised Calendars’ in this menu.

2. 2. ‘Personalised Calendars’ will take you to a new page where you can decide which size calendar you would like to make, here we have went with the largest size.

3. 3. Once you have selected your preferred size click on the orange button labeled ‘Personalise It’. This will take you to the calendar creator page.

4. 4. Now, in order to use your own photographs you must click on the ‘Upload’ button at the left of the page. This will open a file browser with your documents inside; simply find the photographs you want to use within this, select them and then click ‘Choose’ from the bottom right of the window. Tip: You can select multiple photographs on a computer or laptop by holding down the button labeled ‘ctrl’ (windows) or ‘cmd’ (mac) on your keyboard whilst clicking on the photographs you want to use. Once you have uploaded an image it will appear underneath the upload button, from here you can drag it into the grey image box on the calendar page. The first page of the calendar creator lets you add a front cover image and a title for your calendar, to add a title simply click on the box with a small pencil icon in it underneath the large box where you add your photograph. Type in the title you would like to give your calendar and use the buttons underneath to change the size, colour and position if 30

desired.

5. 5. Once you have decided on this you can click on the button labeled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Januaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; at the bottom of the page, this will take you to the page for January where you can input photographs in the same way.

Continues overleaf

6. Keep repeating these steps until you have photographs on all of the calendar pages. Tip: You can always go back if you change your mind about a photograph and want to swap it for another, just click on the month you want to change and add a different photograph. You don’t need to take out the unwanted one, just drag another on top of it.

6. Once you’ve made your final decisions and your calendar is as you want it click the orange ‘Add to Basket’ button, which is at the top right of the page.

7. If you’ve never used moonpig before you will need to create an account before you place your order. This is a very quick and easy process, which only takes a few minutes. Simply click ‘Create Account’ from under where it says ‘New to moonpig. com?’ on the right. Then just fill in your details and make a password.

Tip: Make sure you write down your password so if you want to order something again at a later date you wont have to make an account again.

Note: When creating an account you are asked to provide an email address, don’t fret if you don’t have one. The easiest way to get one is to visit Google.com, click on ‘Mail’ from the top right of the page. Then underneath where it asks you to log in it says ‘Create account’, click this then simply type the information it asks for into the boxes and follow the steps until complete. Make sure you write down the email address and password you create so you can sign into your account and so you can use your email address whilst ordering your calendar!

8. Once you have your details filled in on this page click the orange ‘Create account’ button.

8. 34

9. 9. Once you have made your account (or signed in if you already had one) you will be asked where you want your calendar to be posted. Click either ‘Send the gift back to me’ if you want to have the calendar delivered to your address or click ‘Send the gift to the recipient’ if the calendar is a gift and you want to send it directly to someone at their own address.

Continues overleaf

10. 10. Add the address for whichever you choose in the box that appears on the right then click the orange ‘Save’ button at the bottom right of this.

11. 11. This next page is where the delivery information is shown, you can change the date you would like your calendar to arrive to a later one by clicking on ‘change’ which is on the left, in the green box next to where it 36

says ‘Delivered on’ and the date.

Note: This A3 calendar would be too large to fit through a letterbox so you would either need to be in to receive it when it came or it would go to a neighbor or your local post office to collect.

Once you have decided on your preferred delivery day click the orange ‘Continue to basket’ button in the bottom right. 12. This takes you to a page where you can decide how many calendars you would like to order. If you would like to order more than one click the + symbol next to the number 1 under ‘Quantity’, until the number equates to how many calendars you want to order. If you click the + symbol too many times just click the – symbol to the left of the number to correct this. Once you are happy click the orange ‘Checkout’ button on the right. This takes you to the payment page, for this you will need your bankcard, you can use regular VISA and Mastercard cards along with American Express.

12.

13. 13. Now just enter the details from your card, the card number is the longest number on the card printed on the front across the middle and the security code is the last three digits of the small number printed on the back of the card at the top right of the signature strip. Note: You can go back and change all previous sections by clicking the blue â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Back button which is present on all pages. Once this section is complete and you are happy all of your order information is correct click â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Complete orderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to finish your purchase. This is the end of the procedure, you will be given a reference number and a receipt will be emailed to the email address you provided. Now just wait for your creation to arrive!

Three year old blitz survivor Eileen Dunne. Photo by Cecil Beaton, c1940.

From high society to World War II, Beaton photographed it all

ecil Beaton was a 20th

According to Liz Ronk for TIME

century

photographer

2014,

Beaton’s

photograph

most well known for his

was instrumental in saving Britain

portraits of high society figures

from further devastation. Ronk

including both the Queen and her

describes

mother. During World War II he

as, “as powerful a piece of visual

was drafted in to document the

propaganda as any made during

effect of the blitz on and around

those years”, going on to state that

London. The photograph of Eileen

it “commanded Americans to take

Dunne featured on the left page

a keener interest in a war that, at

is perhaps one of Beaton’s most

that stage, still felt very far away”.

Beaton’s

photograph

iconic as the publication of this image in America’s LIFE magazine

To find out more about Beaton’s

in 1940 allegedly gave way to

life and work simply search ‘Cecil

the USA’s decision to step in and

Beaton’ on Google and click on

help Britain fight off the Germans.

some of the pages this generates. 41

Camera Recommendations

Choosing the best camera for your needs can seem overwhelming, it can prove beneficial to do some research prior to spending your money. Research can be rather time consuming and boring, so weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done the hard bit for you. Each month we will suggest cameras that are user-friendly and offer all of the options you want in a digital camera.

Continue to the next page to see this months recommendations

Canon EOS 1200D

The Canon EOS 1200D is a perfect beginner - intermediate DSLR camera. Along with having all of the manual controls it comes with an innovative â&#x20AC;&#x153;Scene Intelligent Auto mode analyses AUTO mode, called scene intelligent the image, accounting for faces, colours, auto mode.

brightness, moving objects, contrast, and whether the camera is hand-held or on a tripod. It then chooses the exposure and enhancements that bring out the best in any scene or situationâ&#x20AC;? - Canon.

What makes this camera great? •

At less than 500 grams its not too heavy that it will be cumbersome but also not

too light that it will feel oddly proportioned if you wish to attach any heavy lenses. •

Relative to other DSLR cameras the LCD screen is quite large, making viewing

things on it easier. •

Along with the normal video recorder it has something called Movie capture, a

built in function which lets you record short clips and then automatically generate a longer movie from them. •

It has a viewfinder, essential when its sunny because the glare from the sun can

make it impossible to see whats on the screen. •

You can get a kit consisting of the camera body and a 17-55mm standard lens

for less than £300.