Photography Tips (Page 19)

Most of us don't live in areas surrounded by beautiful vistas. We don't have a list of models (or willing friends / family) that are happy to pose for use whenever we feel like some portrait photography. And you might feel that you don't really have anything interesting around you worth photographing at all.

While a beautiful location or model can make getting a great photo easier, they're certainly not essential. In this article we'll look at taking great photos of boring subjects.

What lens should I buy? is probably one of the most commonly asked photography questions by those with interchangeable lens cameras. Unlike cameras, where differences between different models tend to be fairly minor, the differences between lenses can be quite large.

Lenses can be quite expensive as well, sometimes you may pay more for a new lens than you do for the camera itself. While you may replace your camera body in the future, lenses don't often get outdated, and so should be considered more of a long term investment in your photography. So it is a good idea to think about whether you really need a particular lens before splashing out on it.

Camera and two lens kit

Ultimately, what lens to buy can only be decided by you. A good lens kit depends on the kind of subjects you like photographing, your budget, and even your style of photography. However, there are a number of things you can think about to help you in making a decision that will provide the most Bang for your buck.

Program mode is available on most digital cameras, and is often indicated by a 'P' symbol. It is a mostly automatic shooting mode, but allows more control over the camera's functions than fully automatic or simple modes.

Clean white backgrounds can work well for some images, particularly product photography. There are two different ways that a white background is normally achieved:

• Aiming a light at the background so the bright light bounces back off the background.
• Using a semi-transparent background, and placing a light behind the background to shoot through it.

However, there can be a bit of a problem if you only have one light to work with. If you use your light to blow out the background to pure white, then how are you going to light your subject? And vice versa if you use the light to light your subject.

Thankfully Photoshop (or most other image editing programs) can come to the rescue.

When you take a photo of a landscape, it's not too difficult to get everything from a few feet in front of you all the way to the horizon in focus. But as you get closer to your subject and the magnification level increases, the depth of field (amount of the image in focus) rapidly drops off.

In macro and close-up photography, depth of field is so narrow it is usually measured in millimeters. So taking photos where more than just a thin sliver of the image is in focus can be tricky.

The depth of field in this image covers just a small part of the butterfly's mustache

Diopter or close-up lenses are a good way to add macro / close-up ability to your current photography gear. They work by screwing or clipping on to the front of your camera's lens, and decrease the minimum focusing distance. This allows you to move your camera closer to the subject, and achieve higher magnification photos.

Livin' on the edge by Fountain_Head on flickr (licensed CC-BY)

These close-up lenses work with all cameras where the lens has a filter thread. So they will work with virtually all interchangeable lens camera lenses, and most bridge and advanced compact cameras that have built-in lenses. With some cameras that have an integrated lens, you may need to purchase an accessory tube that attaches to the lens to provide a filter thread that the close-up lens can then be screwed into.

Continuing our look at different methods for capturing macro and close-up photographs, in this article I want to look at extension tubes and bellows. Both of these methods are only applicable for cameras with interchangeable lenses, as they sit between the lens and the camera.

They both work the same way, by extending the lens away from the camera body, the minimum focusing distance of the lens decreases. You can then get closer to your subject, and get some great macro photos.

Emerge by aussiegall on flickr (licensed CC-BY)

With Spring underway, you might be thinking about doing some Spring cleaning around the house. As well as the house, how about giving your photography gear a spring clean? You could also think of it like an annual service.

If you use an interchangeable lens camera, you can purchase an adapter that will let you reverse mount a lens on the camera. Depending on the focal length of the lens, this can get you a good macro photo. A lens with a focal length of 50mm will give a reproduction ratio of around 1:1 when reverse mounted.

A macro photo of an ant drinking from water on a red leaf - this photo was captured using a reverse mounted lens.

If you have an interchangeable lens camera, you can purchase a macro lens for your camera. A macro lens allows you to focus much closer (and so obtain greater magnification) than a standard lens.

Thorny Pettle by the_tahoe_guy on flickr (licensed CC-BY)