When do I use my camera's flash?

Mostly for indoor photos when your camera does not take steady, sharp photos.

I was trying to take a photo of my son who had put on spy glasses and mustache. I took out Canon T3i and fired the shot. Camera needed .5s and that is too long for my hands to hold the camera steady. It is even more difficult for my son to be not moving for that much time!!
The result was a blurry shot as shown below.

I immediately turned the flash on and the Canon T3i bumped up shutter speed to 1/80 and result was a nice photo. In Auto mode, my camera was struggling but then I added a little command to the camera and asked it to use the flash. The result is in the photo below.
As I keep saying in this blog, you really don't need expensive camera all the time; just learn some basic tricks and you will be amazed by the photos you can take with the same camera.

Personal tip: When you are inside or in  low light and you need to take sharp photos, first think of using flash and if you decide not to use it for some reason, boost the ISO.

One more example:
I was inside Luxor casino/hotel in Las Vegas trying to take a photo with Pentax K100d. Due to strong backlight, camera didn't think it was necessary to turn on the flash.
Here is first photo in Auto mode:

I turned the flash on and you can see the how the photo turned out this time.

Read more

ISO- Why should I care about ISO?

ISO- All you need to know about ISO. Not Technically but in Practical way.

Yesterday I was visiting Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and was trying to take a photo inside. As happens most of the time, the inside was not very bright. Outside was bright and sunny so my camera was set at ISO 100 when I was shooting Civic Center, Dorothy and Disney Halls.

When I entered inside this beautiful cathedral, my camera. Pentax K-01, was set at ISO 100. When I clicked the shutter, it needed 4 seconds of exposure time! It was too long for me to hold camera steady for that long. As such, most of us can't hold a camera steady for more than 1/100 seconds. I mean one hundredth of the second and here camera wanted 4 seconds! There was nothing much I could do with Aperture. So my only option was ISO.
I let my ISO loose LOL. I set up ISO range to 100-6400 and let camera choose whatever it found proper. I didn't change anything else. I was in Av mode with f/8. Now camera chose ISO 6400, maximum that I allowed it to use, and this brought the shutter speed to 1/15. 60 times faster than it needed at ISO100!
See the great shift in the photo sharpness. The photo came out very nice. Also, compared to other cameras that I have used, Pentax K-01 does take nice photos in low light and with ISO as high as 6400, you would barely notice noise in the photos.

In short, in low light, ISO can help you take better photos which are almost impossible with hand holding of the camera at a fixed or low ISO.

Here is one more example of photos with ISO 100 vs ISO 3200.
Photo with ISO 100.

 Same light but with ISO 3200:

Personal tip: For outdoor photos, I keep ISO to 100 and when I get in low light or need to shoot a fast moving object, I increase ISO to as high as 6400 on Pentax K-01 but on my Nikon S9300 or Panasonic FZ28, I would hesitate to use more than ISO 800.

Read more

Nikon D3200 vs Canon T3i (600D)- comparison

Which camera is better? Nikon D3200 vs Canon T3i/600D

Both are capable cameras and should be more than enough for most consumers (not professionals) but if you want to make a more rational purchase, go for Nikon D3200:

Here are some advantages for D3200 over T3i
* Much better image quality 81.0 vs 65.0 More than 20% better image quality
* Significantly lower noise at high ISO 1,131 ISO vs 793 ISO. The D3200 has a slight edge (0.5 f-stops) in low noise, high ISO performance
* More dynamic range 13.2 EV vs 11.5 EV 1.7 f-stops more dynamic range
* Better color depth 24.1 bits vs 22.1 bits Distinguishes 2 more bits of color
* Significantly higher true resolution 24.1 MP vs 17.9 MP Capture more than 30% more detail in your photos
* Significantly less startup delay 400 ms vs 1500 ms 3.7x less delay when turning on
* Video autofocus Contrast detection vs None Automatically focuses shooting video
* Larger sensor APS-C 23.2x15.4mm vs APS-C 22.3x14.9mm Around 10% larger sensor
* Smaller 125x96x76 mm vs 133x99x79 mm More than 10% smaller
* Longer battery life 540 shots vs 440 shots More than 20% more shots per battery charge
* Slightly more focus points 11 vs 9 Set focus accurately within the frame
* Slightly more lenses available 169 lenses vs 162 lenses Almost the same
* Shoots slightly faster 4 fps vs 3.7 fps Around 10% faster continuous shooting
* Thinner 3" vs 3.1" Almost the same
* Lighter 505 g vs 570 g More than 10% lighter

On the other hand T3i/600D has a flip screen, LCD has better resolution and has built in focus motor.

As such, you will not go wrong with any one of them. Both of them are very capable cameras. Here is one interesting article about which DSLR to buy.

Read more

What is 40mm, 50mm in Photography? How does it impact photos?

What is the mm on different lenses? How should I care about it? Normally mm is the distance between the lens and the sensor in the camera. It is called focal length. When it says, 50mm, the lens is 5 cm away from the sensor.

How does a 35mm lens differ from 55-300mm lens? What is a wide angle lens and why should I use it? Why 50mm Super Takumar F1.4 a nice lens on modern day cameras?
Here is a nice simulation that tell you everything you need to know without reading a single word. Thanks Nikon.

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/simulator/index.htm

Read more

White Balance- How to Use it to your Advantage

White Balance is essentially the color temperature in any picture, and most cameras provide some sort of functionality to control the White Balance in your shot. Because the camera sees differently than our eyes, it is sometimes important to "trick" the camera into capturing how you want color to appear in your photo.
1. If you are not sure, always start with Auto (AWB). The Auto White Balance (AWB) setting tells the camera to set the white balance for you automatically. This is a good place to start; if the photo turns out well in your preview, then there is probably no need to further adjust the white balance. But this setting can be hit or miss, so you may have to try another option.
2. If you picture has red or orange tint , the Tungsten setting (usually a light bulb icon) adds blue to the photo to compensate. Regular (tungsten) light bulbs give off an orange tint, so this is a good setting to use indoors when photographing under incandescent lights.
3. If your picture has greenish tint in it, use Fluorescent setting (usually a fluorescent bulb icon) which adds magenta into the photo to compensate for the green tint given off by most fluorescent light bulbs. Use this setting indoors under fluorescent lights.
4. If your photo has Blue tint, the Cloudy setting (usually a cloud icon) warms the photo up by adding orange to compensate for the blue tint given off by clouds. Use this setting when photographing outdoors in cloudy or overcast situations.

Read more