Canon Tips Art Wolfe

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Which memory cards should I use is a ques-
tion thats often asked by digital SLR users. While
theres no one single best choice for all applications,
well examine some of the possibilities in this tips ar-
ticle. In his Travels to the Edge series, pro shooter
Art Wolfe explains that he now carries eight separate
8GB memory cards when hes packing for a trip. You
may not need to invest as much in memory cards,
but you dont want to short-change yourself, either.
Keep in mind that we arent here to endorse any one
particular brand of memory cards over others, so
this is one area we wont discuss. There are vari-
ous on-line sources of specic brand-vs.-brand tests
of memory cards if youre concerned with details on
things like write speeds; a search will direct you to
this information.
Basic types of memory cards
This part is simple: use the type of memory cards your camera is designed for. Most of todays digital
SLRs are designed to use either CompactFlash (CF) cards, or the physically smaller SD-type memory
cards. A few use other types of memory cards. Dont try to use adapters to use a different type of card
than your camera is designed for, unless the camera maker specically endorses it.
Selecting and using memory cards
Card capacities
Todays popular memory cards are available in sizes that seemed a dream only a few years ago. Its en-
tirely possible to buy memory cards in sizes up to 32 gigabytes. The question is, to you need to? Do you
even want to?
Consider a few basics when thinking about what size memory cards to invest in. First of all, how much do
you typically shoot when youre on vacation or on a photo trip? Do you shoot mostly RAW image les, or
are you primarily a JPEG shooter? Each RAW image you take with a modern, high-resolution digital SLR
can be anywhere from 12 to 25MB of le size on the memory card thats for each click of the shutter.
JPEG images are a lot more compact, and place less demand on memory card space (full-res JPEGs are
typically around 3-6MB in le size on the card for each image).
High-volume professionals always carry enough cards to know
they wont run out of shooting space during the day. Even casual
amateur shooters should be certain they have cards to meet their
potential needs.
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Another consideration is how you store your images after you download them to your hard drive(s). If you
use DVD disks as part of your storage strategy, these disks hold up to 4.7GB of data. Thus, a 4GB card
can easily be copied in its entirety directly to a single disk. Theres no need to split the contents of a card
up if you burn to DVDs; this can be awkward and a bit time-consuming if you routinely ll up an 8GB or
16GB memory card. On the other hand, if your short-term and long-term storage strategy revolves around
multiple hard drives and not DVD disks, large cards may actually be more convenient.
Finally, consider a couple of real-life issues with digital photography: images youve taken on memory
cards can become corrupted, and memory cards can be lost when theyre out of the camera. Do you feel
more comfortable working with a few large-capacity cards (fewer cards to concern yourself with, but putting
more eggs into one basket)? Or do you get a sense of security by splitting your days shooting up on sev-
eral cards, just in case something happens to a card? No right or wrong answer here; each photographer
has to work within his or her personal comfort zone.
A note on SD memory cards:
You may see the term SDHC when researching SD-type memory cards. It refers to a recent industry
standard for higher-capacity cards, which basically insures compatibility between cameras and memory
cards when their capacity is 2GB or higher. With any recent digital SLR that takes SD-type memory cards,
look for SDHC cards if youre shopping for cards 2GB or higher in size. SDHC-compliant cards will be
available in sizes up to 32GB.
Memory card speed
Youll hear this term mentioned frequently in discussions about one memory card vs. another. Here are a
few quick points to consider:
Memory card speed refers to the cards ability to quickly receive and write data, or its ability to rapidly
transfer data to another device (as when copying les to your computer).
Card speed inuences how fast your camera can write a burst of consecutive images to the card in
other words, after you stop shooting, how long will the card-busy light remain on, and how quickly can
you shoot another burst of images. It does NOT have any effect on how many frames-per-second your
camera can shoot, nor (for the most part) how many shots you can take in a continuous burst.
Predictably, high-speed, high-performance memory cards tend to cost more than more ordinary cards. Its
primarily the higher-quality memory and supporting electronics that make high-speed cards more costly.
Some manufacturers list card speed as 33x or 100x or similar. These multipliers infer that the higher
the x-number, the faster the cards write speed. The only catch? You cant really compare numbers from
one card brand to another, since theres little industry standardization of test methods. Its entirely possible
for one brand 64x card to actually perform faster in a given camera than another makers 128x card.
Major memory card makers usually have two or more series of cards, with one being a more expensive,
high-performance series.
Memory card speed depends upon the card and to some degree, the camera, too. High-end profes-
sional cameras are usually designed for very fast throughput of internal data, and a high-speed card can
provide a noticeable difference in write speeds. With a more basic entry-level digital SLR, performance
differences sometimes are more minor from one card to another.
The truly fastest-performing cards are often not the highest-capacity memory cards in a card makers
line-up.
With popular CompactFlash cards, you may see the term UDMA (Ultra Direct Media Access) in card
or camera literature. This is a new industry standard that insures faster write speeds if both the camera
and memory card are compliant. Youll see this on some recent digital SLRs, such as Canons EOS 50D.
When combined with a UDMA-compliant, high-speed memory card, the pair can denitely be expected to
generate faster write speeds after a burst of images is taken.
Bottom line: if you frequently shoot bursts of con-
tinuous images, especially at large le sizes (RAW
images, for instance), high-speed memory cards
will denitely allow you to be ready for the next burst
of pictures more quickly, with less waiting for the
card-busy light to stop blinking. This is especially
so with many of todays high-end camera models.
For sports shooters, or a wildlife shooter who often
shoots sequences of birds in ight or other action,
high-speed memory cards are usually worth the ex-
tra money. If you shoot more slowly and casually,
having a high-speed card wont hurt anything ex-
cept your pocketbook, but you may be paying for
performance you dont really need.
Photographers who shoot continuous bursts of action shots will
benet from so-called fast memory cards, especially if theyre
using newer high-performance digital SLR cameras.
Art Wolfe
Cameras using SD cards may offer the option of a quick format or a low-level format. Low-level format-
ting is a very thorough type of formatting, which takes longer but is especially useful if a card has been
generating errors. Normally, SD cards can be quick-formatted before re-using them, with an occasional
low-level formatting done every few weeks as preventative maintenance.
2. Dont make a habit of erasing lots of images in-camera. When reviewing your images on the cameras
LCD screen, erasing the occasional clunker is OK. But using the erase command to remove many im-
ages from a card can create problems especially if you dont format your cards often. Before using a
card, its far better to Format it than to use the Erase All command, if your camera has one.
Care of memory cards
Most memory cards are quite durable and will last years given normal treatment. There are a few things
you can do along the way to insure smooth operation with your memory cards.
1. Format your cards regularly, using the cameras Format command in the menu. But dont do this until
youre 100% positive that any images already on the card are safely copied onto another hard drive, DVD,
etc. Ideally, you should format in-camera before you re-use each card.
Summary:
There are a number of factors to consider when purchasing memory cards for your camera, but perhaps
none more important than considering how you shoot now, and how you may shoot in the future. Allow
enough space on your cards so youre not always keeping an eye on your frames-remaining counter as
you shoot, and have enough cards on-hand so that youre not in a position of having to shoot at reduced
resolution at the end of a day because youre running short of card space.
Art Wolfe travels with eight 8GB memory cards, and he points out that even eight cards t compactly into
a card wallet and are easy to transport. You may not need eight high-capacity memory cards, but dont
short-change yourself, either. For now, you may just be having fun on weekends with your camera, but
who knows, in a year or two, you may be visiting an exotic locale like Art, and putting a lot more demands
on your memory cards.
3. Try not to totally ll-up memory cards. Its best to change cards when your camera indicates that youre
beginning to run low on remaining images, rather than wait for the camera to indicate card full. Occasion-
ally, lling a card completely can produce errors when you access the card with your computer.
For pros or amateurs, one constant question is how do you
safely store digital les when youre away from home?
Portable Hard Drives to back-up digital images
Its true that with todays digital SLR cameras, you
dont have to concern yourself with packing dozens
or even hundreds of rolls of lm when you go off to
shoot pictures. But as the resolutions and le sizes
of digital cameras gets higher and higher, youre
forced to ask a question: what do you do with the
digital les you shoot?
For a pro like Art Wolfe, working for weeks at a
time away from home, the situation is even more
acute. Theres never any one perfect answer thats
the right one for every user and every situation, but
Art makes a great case for portable hard drives to
store digital images as he downloads them from his
memory cards. Todays portable hard drives are
available in a variety of makes and models, and in
capacities that can range from 100 gigabytes (GB)
up to a terrabyte (thats 1,000GB) or more. They
can be quickly connected to most laptop comput-
ers when youre on the road, and les sent directly
to the portable hard drive saving space on the
laptops own hard drive for other purposes.
Saving the les to two portable hard drives is the rst step in being certain that digital les are safely copied
from the memory card at the end of each shooting day. Its not necessarily the nal answer in long-term
storage of digital images. Thats a separate topic; what Art discusses here is how he works during his long
trips. Consider his advice the next time youre planning a trip of your own.
First, a few disclaimers:
There are many different methods of storing digital image les when youre on-location, and for that mat-
ter back at home. None is perfect, none is 100% fail-proof, and you may prefer a different approach after
some research of your own.
Most pros would agree that the important thing is redundancy: dont have just one copy of your important
original image les. Have them in two or more places, and consider using different types of media (such
as a mix of hard drives and DVD disks for long-term storage of your images). For Arts short-term storage
as hes shooting on a trip, this is why he speaks of using pairs of portable hard drives.
How do you use portable hard drives?
The process is this: you may go out at the start of a day and shoot anywhere from a few dozen images on
a memory card to hundreds and hundreds by the time the day is done. A heavy shooter may ll up several
memory cards in a single days shooting. Here are the basic steps involved in getting those les off your
memory cards, and into the safety of not one but two separate portable hard drives:
1. Connect a card reader for the type of memory card your camera uses to your computer. FireWire read-
ers will typically work faster at transferring data, but are more expensive, and some Windows computers
are not compatible with FireWire devices.
2. Insert the rst memory card into the card reader (it should appear either in Windows My Computer, or
as a drive on the Macintosh desktop, after a few seconds).
3. Create a new folder on your desktop, and give it some sort of descriptive name thatll mean something
months from now regarding these images. It could be an abbreviation of the main locations you visited
today, the date itself, or something similar.
4. Either use a software program (such as Canons EOS Utility, or a similar third-party program) to copy
the les into this newly-named folder or double-click on the card icon in the computer, double-click on
the DCIM folder inside the card, and drag and drop the numbered folder(s) from the memory card to your
newly-created desktop folder.
5. Remove the card from the card reader if youre on a Mac, be certain to drag the desktop card icon to
the Macs trash can icon to safely disengage the card before you take it out of the reader.
6. Plug-in your rst hard drive; it should appear either in My Computer or on the Mac desktop within a
few seconds.
7. Drag the new desktop folder with the images you just copied onto this hard drives icon, to begin the
copying procedure. Youre now duplicating these les onto the portable hard drive.
8. Carefully disconnect the portable hard drive once the copying is completed. Important: with a Macin-
tosh computer, be certain to drag the Hard Drive icon to the Macs trash can on the desktop to eject it.
This will remove the HD icon from the desktop. Its now safe to unplug the drive.
9. Connect the 2nd portable hard drive, and repeat steps 7-8. Youve now copied your images from one
memory card onto two portable drives.
10. Activate your le browsing software, navigate to the connected hard drive, and check the contents of
the hard drive (can you view the pictures normally? If you shot RAW images, can you process a randomly-
selected one using your RAW processing software?) Be certain you can before you delete the desktop
folder with the images, and before you re-format the memory card.
11. Repeat the process for any additional memory cards you may have shot, beginning with step #1 above.
Be sure you create another new separate folder on your desktop, and that its named appropriately for the
les from this particular memory card.
Types of portable Hard Drives
Art is using LaCies compact, portable hard drives,
but many other brands and models would work sim-
ilarly. Keep some things in mind:
a) Connection type: FireWire or high-performance
FireWire 800-type connections will provide the fast-
est potential copying speeds; USB type drives may
copy data slower, but will work with virtually any
computer (FireWire and especially FireWire 800
are not always universally available on all Windows
computers, although they are on most recent Ma-
cintosh models)
b) Drive size: Portable hard drives usually use a spinning hard disk thats either 1.8 inches in diameter,
or 2.5 inches in diameter (check the drive manufacturers specs for a given model to verify this). In some
cases, 2.5-inch hard drives require their own separate power supply to be plugged into an AC outlet in a
wall; virtually all 1.8-inch drives are powered via their connection to the computer and dont need to be
plugged into a wall outlet.
c) Capacity: Bigger sounds better, but remember it may entail a pair of hard drives that are signicantly
more expensive, and may be larger as well. Furthermore, as in b directly above, you may nd high-ca-
pacity drives need AC power to function.
Factor in your real-life needs, too. A shooter such as Art Wolfe may go out for 3 to 6 weeks at a time, and
shoot large quantities of pictures every single day. Your biggest on-location event may be a week-long
vacation, where youre mixing photography with visiting friends or family. Multiple pairs of 500GB drives
probably make perfect sense for Art; a more typical photo enthusiast may be ne with a pair of 100GB
hard drives.
Portable hard drives
Think also about how much you shoot, and the size of the memory cards you typically use.
d) Other considerations: Portable hard drives are always susceptible to damage from vibration and espe-
cially impact. While no drive can 100% guarantee freedom from these problems, some newer compact,
portable hard drives are marketed as being extra-durable for use on location. These drives may well be
worth considering, if youre a frequent traveler.
Be sure the drives youre considering are truly designed for portable use. Many of todays hard drives are
really intended to sit on a desk and not be moved constantly. This is especially true with high-capacity
drives, 1 terrabyte or larger. These are excellent to consider for long-term image storage once youre back
home. The LaCie drives Art shows in his travel case are indeed designed for portable use and are excel-
lent to take on-location.
Canon EOS users: shoot directly to a hard drive
Some of Canons newest mid-range and advanced digital SLRs offer an intriguing option: connect a por-
table hard drive (via USB) directly to an optional Canon Wireless File Transmitter thats attached to the
camera, and as you shoot each image, its copied to both a memory card and to the much larger-capacity
hard drive as well.
This is possible with the EOS 40D or 50D using the optional Canon Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E3A,
with the new EOS 5D Mark II and its dedicated, optional WFT-E4A transmitter, or the EOS-1D Mark III/
EOS-1Ds Mark III models when equipped with the optional WFT-E2A transmitter.
With either of the professional Mark III models, its also possible to simply connect a portable hard drive
to an attached wireless transmitter, and copy les from the cameras memory card to the hard drive. This
means you dont have to carry the hard drive with you all day as you shoot.
Backing-up images means peace of mind
Arts approach to short-term storage of his images while hes away from home is a great method to mini-
mize the risk of losing image data. Its a fairly simple and relatively quick procedure to do at the end of each
day, and with many portable hard drives, it can be done even if youre in a tent in the middle of a desert or
jungle (with no need for AC power).
For many photographers, travel is the ultimate opportunity for
great images. World-renowned pro Art Wolfe primarily relies
on duplicate hard drives for storing and backing-up his images
when hes on the road.
Art Wolfe
Art shows us that he also travels with two laptop com-
puters, another sound back-up strategy for a working
pro that might be more than the dedicated photo en-
thusiast needs, but it clearly points to the benets of
duplicating your image les as you copy them off the
memory cards.
Arts strategy avoids two common problems: stor-
ing growing numbers of original image les on the
computers own hard drive, and most of all, he avoids
the trap of simply storing his les on memory cards
until he gets home.
Art Wolfe brings up a couple of interesting points in photographing the classic Japanese lanterns in early
evening light. First off, hes combining two separate light sources which usually have very different bright-
ness levels the tungsten light inside the lanterns, and the subdued daylight that remains at dusk. And
beyond that, these are two separate types of light, with very different color characteristics. So in these situ-
ations, there are two issues to confront: balancing the exposure between the two, and using white balance
controls to properly balance the color of one type of light, and let the other roll off in a different direction.
Exposing articial light at dawn or dusk
Its a fact: nearly any articial light source you care
to name is going to be less bright than ordinary day-
light. A perfect example is driving your car with the
headlights on in the daytime. Even on an overcast
day, your headlights do not cast a visible beam onto
the road, as they would at night. The sunlight sim-
ply overpowers the articial light.
However, as ambient daylight begins to darken,
theres a point where its brightness begins to ap-
proach that of an articial light source. And as
daylight continues to fade into night, articial light
sources begin to become brighter and become the
dominant source of light. Think of city lights at night
for one obvious example. So an articial light source
like the Japanese lanterns Art is photographing can
either be less bright than the prevailing daylight,
about the same brightness, or brighter than the sur-
rounding ambient light all depending upon the
time of day and respective levels of daylight.
Pros sometimes refer to the brief time after sun-
set where theres still visible light in the sky as the
magic hour, even though its often a lot shorter
than an hour. But its during this time that you can
do as Art does, and blend daylight with an articial
light such as the Japanese lanterns for a beautiful
nished result.
Japanese lanterns in early evening light.
Art Wolfe
Mixed Lighting: Choose Your Color
Metering scenes with mixed light
The cameras normal light metering system will often work ne for metering these types of scenes. But
keep in mind that if either the surrounding ambient light or the articial light source (the Japanese lanterns
in this case) are bright and take up a signicant part of the frame, the metering system may under-expose
them. Be ready to use the cameras exposure compensation to render the scene as you want it; usually,
this means intentionally over-exposing it.
This is a type of photography where youll want to take more than a few shots, and digital imaging makes
it easy and economical to do this. The reason? As each minute passes, early evening daylight continues
to drop, and the articial light source will become comparatively brighter. Shots taken a few minutes apart
will often be distinctly different, as the articial light becomes more dominant. So if you spot a scene like
this, shoot an image, and the articial light seems dim and insignicant, dont despair. Just shoot some
more pictures every few minutes, and dont hesitate to make adjustments with Exposure Compensation as
you go along.
Different light sources = different colors of light
Arts lantern shots are a classic example of a mixed light scene. Theres the cool, subdued early evening
light, and the warm glow of the tungsten bulbs inside the lanterns. Any time photographers run into a scene
like this, theyre immediately presented with a dilemma:
1. Color-balance for the bluish ambient light, canceling most or all of the blue tone (and render the lan-
terns extremely amber-colored)
2. Balance for the warm tungsten light, so the lanterns appear close to a pure white (and let the prevail-
ing ambient light go very blue)
Theres no one right answer! And unfortunately, in a single digital photograph, its nearly impossible to
properly color balance both simultaneously in the same picture. Pros like Art Wolfe will look at a scene
like this and usually come to a decision based on the effect color will have in the nished image. In Arts
case, the still images shown in his brief Tips video show that hes chosen to let the lanterns go a bit amber-
colored, and at the same time neutralize much (but not all) of the cool blue light hitting the snow.
The tool is white balance
White balance settings come into play here. First off, while the Auto White Balance in many cameras will
work well in general daylight shooting, its usually a compromise in these types of mixed lighting scenes.
Fine for a quick snapshot, but dont expect the automatic system will read your mind and deliver the exact
look you or Art Wolfe might intend.
Its early evening and Arts subject is primarily in shade two factors that increase the level of blue tonal-
ity in the overall ambient light. If youre looking to to properly render the overall scene, and dont mind the
warm illumination of the lanterns going very amber-colored, consider using the Cloudy or Shade WB set-
tings on your camera. These add an amber tint to the overall image, to counter the very blue look of the
daylight (Shade on Canon EOS models is stronger, and counters the blue tones more aggressively).
On the other hand, sometimes a striking image can be taken that emphasizes the cool, blue tones of early
evening or deep shade. Or, you may want to color-correct the glow of the lanterns. Either way, the Tung-
sten WB setting may be an excellent choice. This does the opposite of Shade/Cloudy WB. It neutralizes
the warm glow of the lanterns, and simultaneously increases the level of blue in areas lit by daylight.
The ne control of Kelvin White Balance
Yet another tool, which requires some experimentation, is the Kelvin WB setting thats on some (not all)
digital SLR cameras. Set the WB to the K icon, and then dial-in a specic color temperature rating (its a
numbered scale, from 2500 or 2800 on Canon EOS models, up to about 10,000the higher you set it, the
more amber-toned your images will appear). The beauty of the Kelvin WB setting is that it gives the criti-
cal pro a very ne scale to make minor shifts toward blue or amber correction. At 2500, you can expect to
have the lanterns rendered close to a pure white, with an extremely blue effect in the surrounding light. Set
it to something like 6000, and youll get an effect similar to Arts images. Set it to a high setting, like 8500
or 9000, and the ambient light will look downright warm, along with nearly orange light from the lanterns.
RAW images: shoot now, set WB later
Always remember: if you shoot JPEG image les (any image quality setting other than RAW), the white
balance setting on your camera at the moment you pressed the shutter button is the WB thats used to
process your image. But with a RAW le, you can completely re-establish the white balance setting no
matter where it was set when the shot was taken when you process the image in your computer.
With RAW les, pros can experiment with different settings to not only see how theyd look, but can con-
sider creative adjustments that might not have even occurred to them when the shot the original picture.
Furthermore, RAW images are a great way to learn about the effects of settings like the Kelvin WB, where
you have not one but many possible options. Take any RAW le, open it in Canons Digital Photo Profes-
sional software (or other RAW le processing software of your choosing), and simply modify the WB set-
ting using the softwares tools. If you dont like the results, simply revert to the as shot settings. Unlike a
JPEG le thats modied in Photoshop, theres no loss of digital information when you make these changes
in processing a RAW le.
Dont forget the subject and the scene
In the end, something made you stop, want to pick up the camera, and photograph this particular subject
in this environment. Think for a moment about not only how much light there is and how youll expose it,
but how youll record its color characteristics as well. This may not seem to matter much when shooting
in mid-day sunlight. But at dawn or dusk, or if youre adding a second light source to the mix, it becomes
relevant. And it can be the difference between a truly beautiful shot and one thats simply nice.
Especially late in the day, your choice of white balance can
critically inuence the nal look of your pictures.
Art Wolfe
One last thing: go back to the video and listen to Art
say near the beginning how he saw these lanterns
and waited to come back until the light was right for
the shot he wanted. Even with the lanterns on, he
would hardly have gotten this shot in noontime sun!
For many of us, as we learned photography,
we were reminded to be sure to avoid shoot-
ing backlit pictures that is, images where
the light is coming from behind the subject and
shining directly toward the camera. But as the
saying goes, rules are made to be broken, and
this is certainly one that can be ignored from
time to time if you know how to handle it. Art
Wolfe is a master at taking advantage of the
beauty of natural light, and he brings up some
important points about the beauty of working
with backlighting.
If youre just starting out in photogra-
phy, youre entitled to wonder what all
the fuss is about backlighting. One of
the early tasks in learning the craft of
photography is seeing and becoming
aware of what happens to objects as
theyre hit by different types of light.
With backlighting, the majority of the
subject that the camera sees tends to
be in shadow, sometimes deep shadow.
Think of a head-and-shoulders portrait
of a person, for example. In a backlit
situation, most of their face would be
one even shadow tone, without the ex-
pected detail carved out by light and
shadow that were more accustomed
to seeing. This doesnt mean the face
would be so dark that we couldnt see
it, but it does mean the light on most of
the face would have a very at, even
character to it.
Shooting with backlighting
Art shooting these sliver cycad plants.

Whats different about backlighting?
Front-lit shot in sunlight
Rhonda R. Dorsett
Backlit shot
Rim light on hair
Rhonda R. Dorsett
Backlightings biggest problem: Exposure
One reason were often told to avoid backlighting
is that it can easily fool a cameras exposure
meter, and result in underexposed pictures. The
backlit portrait of a person is a classic example;
particularly with earlier-generation cameras, it
was easy to end up with a shot so dark youd
hardly recognize the person, although the bright
background would usually be properly exposed
(essentially, a silhouette).
Todays much more sophisticated camera meter-
ing systems do a far better job of automatically
adding exposure when backlighting is detected.
Canons Evaluative metering system on all EOS
models is tuned to do exactly that, giving pho-
tographers a good starting point in most backlit
situations. Nearly all other brands of digital cam-
eras have similar capability. In years past, with
traditional center-weighted metering systems,
the rule-of-thumb for backlit scenes was to take
whatever your recommended exposure was, and
open up two f-stops (in other words, if your cameras meter said 1/1000th at f/8, youd shoot at 1/250th at
f/8, or equivalent). Again, nowadays, the multi-zone metering systems of most digital SLRs need far less
over-riding by the photographer.
But theres more to backlit scenes. With the sun
or other light source behind a person, youd get a
rim of bright light outlining their head and shoul-
ders, drawing vivid attention to the outline of the
hair and outer edges of their face. It can be a
striking effect, and youve no doubt seen shots
before that take advantage of this characteristic
of backlighting. This emphasizing of the shape
and form of a subject gives it a different look, and
thats one of the keys to good backlit pictures
recognizing the light, and recognizing when light
striking a subject actually enhances its form and
appearance.
This is what Art Wolfe is after in his shots of the
silver cycad plants in Australia. Especially in the morning hours, or later in the afternoon when the sun is
lower in the sky, backlighting can take an ordinary subject and really enhance it visually. Take a more ex-
otic subject, like these plants Art is shooting, and you can create truly memorable images.
With todays modern metering systems, its usually not necessary
to radically over-expose to get proper exposure in backlit scenes.
With older center-weighted metering systems, under-exposure in
backlighting was one reason why photographers were
often told to try to avoid it.
Rhonda R. Dorsett
Shot of backlit silver cycad plants from Arts Shoot.
Art Wolfe
Minus 1 stop compensation to highlight the rim lighting on the plant.
Using deliberate under-exposure can further call attention to light
skimming the contours of the subject when its backlit.
Using exposure compensation (+/- control) creatively
Still, you need to ask yourself what youre trying to emphasize in a picture. If its a portrait of a person and
you want/need the face to be properly exposed, youll naturally want to at least use the cameras basic
exposure reading as a starting point, and perhaps intentionally lighten the scene a bit with the cameras
exposure compensation feature (again, this usually isnt as important nowadays as it was on earlier SLR
lm cameras.)
On the other hand, shooting a subject like Arts plants, the rim lighting that emphasizes the outer edges
of the subject is the key to the picture. Sometimes, you may want to further enhance it by deliberately
darkening the scene, calling attention to the brilliant strip of lighting that runs around the contours of the
subject. With digital SLRs, of course, you can try it different ways and see the results of each shot on your
LCD monitor. Your cameras exposure compensation (+/-) control can be an outstanding creative tool in
situations like these.
Green backlit plant normal shot.
It starts with your eyes
If youve been shooting pictures with an SLR for a while, youve probably already begun to look beyond
the obvious when you rst see a potential subject for your camera. Part of advancing from just taking
snapshots to taking great photographs is that ability to look at even an everyday object, and be excited
about how it looks because of the way light is hitting it at a given moment. Its true that the silver cycad
plants that Art is shooting arent an everyday subject for most of us, but its the light that excited him in the
rst place.
Dont hesitate to move around, and take a few moments to look at a subject from different points of view.
Even if Art had approached these magnicent plants from the opposite side (initially seeing them with
very plain front-lighting), the potential of how theyd look if he just walked around them and shot from the
opposite side backlit couldnt have been far from his mind.

You dont have to be a seasoned pro like Art Wolfe, however, to see the same possibilities. Whether its
a shot of a child in your back yard, an animal at the zoo, or an exotic plant when youre in a foreign coun-
try, you dont have to stop shooting once the rst picture is taken. And you certainly dont have to stop
with the rst lighting direction you saw. When its practical, take a little time and shoot different types of
pictures of the same subject. Its a great way to get a sense of what techniques work, and what types of
lighting excite you in the pictures you take.
When Art composed this picture, the unusual red rock back-
ground was as important in his mind as the palm tree itself.
Art Wolfe
Maximizing the impact of backgrounds
Its easy when were taking pictures to rivet our
attention to the primary subject in the foreground,
and not really pay much attention to the back-
ground. This becomes even more true for many of
us when we shoot pictures with telephoto lenses.
After all, the tele lens tends to throw the background
out of focus, and theres a far smaller slice of the
background visible as well. Whereas a wide-angle
lens looks out over a broad vista and includes lots
of background information, our telephoto lenses
include only a limited view of all thats in the back-
ground.
Considering all this, many of us dont really con-
sciously think of how the background in a picture
can add to the primary subject, and how sometimes,
just a slight change in shooting position can signi-
cantly change the background as well.
Art Wolfe was as attracted to the rich red-rock back-
ground in a northern Australia canyon as he was to
the palm trees. He realized that what really made
these palms special was that red rock background.
Without it, the palms might as well have been pho-
tographed by a tourist in Florida.
Understanding what backgrounds communicate:
In most pictures we take, theres some sort of background information visible to the viewer in the nished
picture. The character of that background can vary wildly, depending on the subject, the lens being used,
the distance between subject and background, and a host of other factors. Sometimes the background is
tack-sharp, takes up much of the frame, and immediately tells us about the scene. Other times its scarcely
visible, and what we do see is out of focus and indistinct.
Regardless, whether the photographer con-
sciously meant to or not, the many different
backgrounds tell the viewer a lot about the
environment a picture was taken in. And be-
yond that, they tell us about the subject itself.
A background can be a very subtle tool to add
context to a picture, giving the viewer low-vol-
ume information about what environment the
picture was taken in. Or, it can be as important
as the subject itself, commanding visual at-
tention and speaking loudly about where this
picture was taken. Finally, even a totally com-
pressed, out-of-focus background in a super-
telephoto lens shot can convey information
if the photographer has truly blurred-out all
other background info, it forces 100% of the
viewers attention to the subject itself.
Its important for photographers at any level
to think about the impact of backgrounds and
composition, even when looking at pictures in
a newspaper or magazine. The more openly
aware you are of something, and the more
you can verbalize what you see, the easier it
becomes to make it a part of your photogra-
phy. And the better your pictures will be.
A simple telephoto shot of a pot of owers, but the off-center compo-
sition and still-recognizable tile roofs in the background suggest this
is probably a travel picture. The background here is as important as
the subject itself.
The bright colors, illumination, and its dominance in the foreground all
call attention to this Tokyo vending machine. However, the back-
ground information is distinct enough for a viewer to place it in its
downtown Tokyo environment.
Look for different backgrounds
Sometimes you can photograph the same subject and end up with two completely different pictures, sim-
ply by changing your position and thus changing whats in the background. With a wide-angle lens, this
can often mean a signicant change in shooting position, such as moving almost completely behind a
subject you just photographed from the front. But with a telephoto lens especially a longer focal length
lens, such as 300mm or above you can often change whats in the background with a modest change in
camera position.

Same subject, totally different backgroundsjust by moving a few feet to the right to take the second shot. Using a telephoto lens, its
easy to make major changes to the background by moving slightly. Both backgrounds obviously place this statue in an old-world city,
but sometimes the change can totally alter the meaning of your picture for example, imagine how the picture would look if one of the
buildings was a shiny, new glass-and-steel structure.
Summary:
Whether a background is simple or complex, it adds something to almost every picture we take with our
cameras. Its always vital to see your primary subject, of course. But if you train yourself to think about
and see the backgrounds, and learn how different lenses manipulate backgrounds, youll have powerful
tools at your ngertips. Sometimes, its as simple as taking a few extra moments to look carefully in your
viewnder as you compose your pictures.
Our eyes have an incredible ability to look at
a broad scene, and to isolate one small part of
it. Each of us has had occasion to spot one
person among a vast crowd of people, to cite
one obvious example. In photographing land-
scapes, we can sometimes be well-served by
using a telephoto lens to have our cameras do
the same thing.
Art Wolfe speaks of being in a large canyon in
northern Australia, and being presented with a
photographic challenge: Theres a huge differ-
ence in lighting between the deep shadow ar-
eas within the canyon, and the bright sunlight
hitting areas in the distance. Its too great a difference to properly capture in one single digital exposure.
Rather than worry about it, Art looks at the entire subject with a different point of view put a 70-200mm
telephoto zoom lens on the camera, and shoot pictures of small slices of the scene instead of trying to
capture the whole thing in one ultra-wide image.
Looking for details within a broad scene
This isnt always as easy as it sounds. Presented with a beautiful, broad landscape, most of us instinctively
tend to reach for a wide-angle lens to take the entire view in. And theres nothing wrong with this approach,
in many cases. Wide-angle lenses bring their own special power to landscape shooting, especially when
you can put something distinct in the foreground as a central point of interest.
However, to repeat, our own eyes have the ability to pick out details in the distance that may be equally or
even more compelling, and still communicate that its a landscape-type of image. Art found palm trees he
could visually isolate with the spectacular red canyon rock walls behind them, taking a complex scene and
instantly simplifying it. There are numerous examples where zeroing-in on one part of a scene can give
you an image that speaks with perhaps even more power than a grand, wide vista would.
As great as the wide-angle lens is, keep this in mind: When subjects are distant, they are rendered very
small. When the same parts of a landscape are shot with a telephoto lens, however, the viewers eyes are
immediately drawn in to that part of the scene. Sometimes, this can speak as loudly to the viewer as a
broad view of an entire landscape.
Telephoto lenses for landscapes
Telephoto lenses do more than isolate
A couple of characteristics of telephoto lenses can
work for the photographer as well, at least in some
cases. One is their relatively limited depth-of-eld
(that is, how much is sharply focused behind and
in front of the primary focused-upon subject). In a
case like the palm tree Art is photographing in the
Australian canyon, this works in his favor. He can
autofocus sharply right on the tree, and allow focus
to go slightly soft on the rock wall in the background.
Its a subtle way to further force the viewers eye to
the primary subject, which is the tree.
The closer a subject is with telephoto lenses, the
more the lens wants to throw the background out of
focus. Conversely, if youre shooting a truly distant
scene and zooming in on part of it with a telepho-
to lens, you may nd that its not necessary to use
very small lens apertures to keep the whole scene
in pretty sharp focus.
In a case like this, theres nothing to stop Art from
using even more telephoto power to get even clos-
er to the palm tree especially since in this case,
its not a vastly distant subject thats miles away.
Using a 400mm or even longer lens (or a tele-ex-
tender, which Art routinely carries), it would be easy
to get even tighter shots of just parts of the palm
tree, against increasingly blurred red-rock back-
grounds. Playing with the different shapes of the
palm branches, a shooter could spend quite a while
shooting this and end up with numerous different
images to choose from. These kind of opportunities
are a great reason to consider carrying a 1.4x or 2x
tele-extender with you (if your telephoto lenses are
compatible with one.)
Art Wolfe shot of tree against red rock wall.
Art Wolfe
When a telephoto lens is used for a distant scenic picture, its pos-
sible to get a lot of depth-of-eld if youre not focused on a nearby
subject. The farther away the lens is focused, the more inherent
sharpness youll have throughout a scene.
Telephoto compression
A skill that separates a lot of advanced photogra-
phers from snapshooters is that the experienced
photographer often looks to take an everyday sub-
ject and somehow use the camera to make it look
different. Getting viewers to stop, take notice of a
familiar subject, but say to themselves, I havent
seen it look like that before is one way to know
youve got a noteworthy image. Landscape and
scenic pictures with telephoto lenses can some-
times t this bill with another optical characteristic
their tendency to compress distant objects.
When focused upon distant subjects that are vary-
ing distances from the camera, telephoto lenses
tend to render them appearing much closer to each
other than they may be in real life. Weve all seen
this effect in pictures from time to time, but it can
still make a viewer stop and take notice when he
or she does encounter it. Distant landscapes are a classic example of where this can be used, making it
appear as though a mountain is looming right behind that castle, or that the buildings on that hillside in
San Francisco are so close together that they might as well be one giant structure.
You dont need a super-telephoto lens to make this happen; a lens like Arts 70-200mm zoom can certainly
give you this effect in the right conditions.
The characteristic compression of distant objects with telephoto
lenses can be a powerful tool when shooting scenics and
landscapes. This shot was taken at 200mm, from a
considerable distance.
Summary:
One of the joys of SLR photography is that each of us has a slightly different way of seeing subjects and
wanting to capture them. All of us at one point or another have been impressed with a spectacular land-
scape, or even a view of a great city from a distance. Wide-angle shots will always be a staple of photos
of these scenic views, but dont hesitate to look carefully and see if a tighter view will give you another way
of looking at the scene. Take advantage of what our eyes already have the ability to do reach out into
the distance and concentrate on smaller details. Sometimes, pulling out a telephoto lens and giving it a try
is just whats needed to give you a whole different way of photographing a subject.
Most of the time, photographers shooting
outdoors hope for bright sunlight, blue skies,
and nice weather. It makes for great travel
pictures, but theres plenty of picture-taking
that can take place even in less-than-ideal
conditions. In fact, overcast skies can bring
their own special beauty to outdoor pictures.
Art Wolfe hints at it in his video commentary called
Even Light, where hazy conditions reduced
the contrast and opened up different ways
for him to work with the village structures he
was photographing.
The form and texture that subjects take on in sunlight is inescapable, and its a strong motivator for many
photographers. Especially in early morning or late afternoon light, even mundane, everyday subjects can
take on an alluring look. Its a lighting condition that has caused many photographers to reach for their cam-
era bag and race out the door.
You have to re-adjust your photographic senses a little bit when skies are overcast (well deal with rain and
snow in a moment). You wont get the dramatic play of light-and-shadow on cloudy days, so theres little
point in frustrating yourself trying to nd it as you look through your camera. Likewise, the brilliant colors
of sun-lit objects, played off against dark vivid shadows, will be missing. Shooting in overcast conditions is
simply different than on a sunny day. Whether youre in an area like Hawaii where you expect sunny skies,
or an area thats noted for rainy weather, good photographers have to be willing to adjust their expectations
to match the conditions theyre shooting in.
Overcast skies force photographers to look a little differently at subjects. Instead of the play of light hitting
the subject, its often just the subject itself that we have to work with. Its contours, its textures, its colors
become the stars of the show for each picture we take. This actually can be an advantage. An obvious ex-
ample is taking pictures of people. In bright sunlight, we know how shadows can be a difcult issue to tackle
in pictures; with overcast skies, it can suddenly become easy to pose, position, and photograph people.
Similarly, a building, a tree, or a mountain can also be photographed from different angles, with fewer con-
cerns about the angle of view and how it interacts with the direction of light.
No sun? Keep shooting!
Soft, even lighting can be a blessing for certain subjects,
and you always have it on overcast days.
Art Wolfe
Light and shadow and learning to live without it
Benets of overcast skies
The example of shooting a portrait, and how in some ways its easier on an overcast day, brings up another
point. For many critical digital photographers, dynamic range is a term not far from their lips. Its the range
of brightness, from the darkest shadows to the brightest highlights, in which a camera or device can still
capture or display detail. And while its a fact that todays digital cameras cant capture the entire range of
brightness that our eyes can on a bright, sunny day, the situation changes when shooting on an overcast
day. The reduction in contrast (sometimes called at lighting by photographers) suddenly makes it a lot
easier for a digital camera to get detail throughout a scene.
Exposure is sometimes a challenge in bright sunlight. Does the experienced shooter try to expose for
the bright areas, knowing that shadows may well be jet-black with little or no detail? Or does he or she
intentionally lighten the overall picture by exposing for the shadow areas, which may burn-out the bright,
sun-lit highlights? Its not always a simple answer. On a cloudy day, with its far more even light, exposure
can be a much simpler task. Sure, youll still occasionally have to intentionally over-expose for light-colored
subjects to be rendered accurately, and vice-versa. But often, the challenges to simply get a well-exposed
picture are fewer.
Bright sun can be an asset in some cases, but for shots of people, it can be a challenge. The soft, reduced contrast of
an overcast or hazy sky makes it ideal for this type of picture-taking.
Rudy Winston
Overcast skies give you an opportunity to experiment with slower
shutter speeds. Here, a shot of a memorial gets the added element
of a blurred image of a car, captured at 1/15th of a second.This type
of shot would be difcult to achieve on a bright sunny day.
Rudy Winston
With the reduced light levels on cloudy days, slow-
er shutter speeds are the norm. This doesnt have
to be a handicap. Use it as an opportunity to ex-
periment with intentionally show shutter speeds in
daylight, whether youre shooting waterfalls or sim-
ply people walking by. And when you need faster
shutter speeds for sharp pictures, dont be afraid
to use your cameras higher ISO settings (such
as 800, 1600, or even higher in some cases).
Modern digital SLRs have come a long way in re-
ducing the grain-like noise that in years past lim-
ited the image quality photographers could achieve
in low light. (Be aware that with many Canon EOS
models, this means moving your camera out of the
full-auto shooting modes like the green zone, and
turning to a Mode Dial setting such as the Program
mode or Aperture-priority mode otherwise, you
may not be able to shoot at ISOs above 400.)
Rain and snow
Many photographers use inclement weather as an excuse to simply leave the camera at home, but its a
potential shooting opportunity missed if you do. Again, subjects and objects simply take on a different ap-
pearance when being impacted by rain or snow, and this different look means opportunities for images.
Snow can totally change how a subject appears in photographs, especially once snow has begun to stick
to the ground, trees, and other objects in its path.
Protecting the camera from the elements is an obvious concern, and its a reason we often simply pass
on opportunities to shoot in inclement weather. Even with top-of-the-line professional digital SLRs that are
well-sealed against dust and moisture, its always a good idea to be sensible about how long a camera is
exposed to constant rain or snow. Wiping the body (not the front of the lens!) with a towel or absorbent cloth
every so often is always a good idea, as well as covering the camera with a plastic bag or keeping it inside a
water-resistant jacket or coat when its not being used. Normally, you dont have to go crazy worrying about
shooting the rain, but use a little common sense. Not only will it help protect your camera and lenses, but it
will also give you reasons to go out when the weathers not ideal and continue to shoot great images.
Good color on cloudy days
Your digital cameras Auto White Balance setting is a good starting point, and in the beginning, its probably
best to simply use AWB and see how your results look, over time, when you view and print them. After a
while, youll develop a sense of when it may be preferable to re-set the white balance for better color.
Under cloudy skies, many cameras tend to deliver a somewhat cool color, that may appear a little blue-
tinted to some users. To counter this, most cameras have a separate cloudy setting, which intentionally
adds a touch of amber to the scene to warm-up the overall color. An even stronger version of this is the
shade setting youll nd on many digital cameras. On a cloudy day, you may nd the shade setting is too
strong, but as its name implies, it works well in deep shade situations.
So dont be annoyed if Auto White Balance isnt giving perfect color when you shoot on cloudy days.
Try the Cloudy WB setting, and see how you like its results (just dont forget to switch your white balance
once youre no longer outdoors under overcast skies).
Another trick consider adjusting your cameras Color Saturation upwards a notch or two, when shooting
in cloudy conditions. It can give you richer, brighter colors. Likewise, if you feel that much of the time, cloudy
pictures seem excessively at, you can usually adjust your cameras contrast upward a bit. (With Canon
EOS digital SLRs, these adjustments are in the Picture Style menu; some older EOS models use a menu
setting called Parameters instead.) Again: be sure to return both settings to normal after youre done.
Auto White Balance on a digital camera is a good starting point, but still, its just a starting point. In overcast lighting, most cameras offer
a cloudy white balance option, which is useful in warming-up colors on overcast days.
Rudy Winston
Summary
Its not often that photographers pass-up a shooting opportunity of a subject because clear, mid-day skies
arent giving them the light they want. But top-notch pro Art Wolfe did exactly that when he encountered a
beautiful village in Mali. A little haze in late afternoon gave a totally different look to his pictures than he
would have achieved under mid-day sun. Theres a lesson here: cloudy days, even rainy/snowy days, can
create their own opportunities for photographers. Much of it is simply attitude. If you approach each situa-
tion as a true opportunity, rather than an obstacle, youre bound to take better advantage of it, and return
with better pictures.
You dont need to wait for the next time you encounter a rainy day while on vacation to try this. The next
time its rainy, foggy, or snowy, take your camera out and practice making ordinary things in your home
town look a little different than youre used to shooting them.
Its not just Art Wolfes eye that makes him such an outstand-
ing photographer, its his dedication to getting the best possible
shot. When he rst saw this village in Mali, he realized that it
would look its best late in the day. Making the effort to return,
he was rewarded with superb pictures.
Recognizing and returning to a great subject
Art Wolfes video tip Even Light, from Mali, re-
minds us how important it is to do two things when
photographing on-location: be able to recognize a
great potential subject, even if at the moment you
rst spot it, the shooting conditions arent right. And
secondly, he reminds all of us of the importance of
being willing to return to a subject when shooting
conditions are different.
Light and time of day
For experienced photographers, this is an easy one.
In bright, mid-day sunlight, its difcult for most sub-
jects to really appear at their best. The strong over-
head light and excessive contrast make even the
most beautiful of scenes less than ideal. For some of
us, well shoot a few pictures and hope for the best.
But for the photographer who wants to go beyond or-
dinary images, making the effort to return at another
time pays huge dividends.
Obviously, in early morning or late afternoon sunlight,
objects take on a different appearance than they usu-
ally do in noon-time sun. If youre just getting started
in photography, train yourself to look at how the light
hits objects at different times of day. Start with things
you see every day when youre at home the way
light hits the shingles and roof of your house or the
house across the street; how light wraps around a
statue near your home at different times of the day
(even on overcast days), how a person looks stand-
ing in front of your house in early morning hours, at
noon, and in late afternoon sun.
Practice observing how different objects and people
appear when hit by different types of light, at dif-
ferent times of day. Here, late afternoon sun wraps
around a small part of this Prague statue. This effect
would be impossible to get at noontime.
Rudy Winston
Training yourself to look at and think about light and how its interacting with your subject is one of
the most vital skills in becoming a strong photographer. Whats great is that it doesnt require university
schooling; all you have to do is start to be cognizant of light and what it does when it strikes subjects,
and compare what you see at different times of the day and in different conditions. As weve pointed out
before, when you can consciously think about something and verbalize it, youre well on your way to be-
ing in control of it.
Recognizing a great subject
As much as being able to predict how different types
of light will make a subject appear, its a moot point
if the subject itself doesnt have something visual to
offer. Sometimes, its easy: we see a famous land-
mark like the Great Pyramids or the Kremlin or the
Empire State Building when were traveling, and want
to get pictures of it. But in a case like the tiny village
Art Wolfe found in Mali, great subjects may not be
as obvious.
Art has a terric eye, and right away was able to
see the visual potential in the patterns of this vil-
lage and its buildings. The more you work with your
camera, the more youll develop your own sense of
powerful subjects, beyond obvious landmarks. It doesnt have to be an entire building or the entire village.
You can be grabbed by the potential and the beauty of small details, which you can isolate with a tele-
photo lens. Every photographer shoots a little differently and is attracted to things that are different from
the next shooter. Regardless, once you know for yourself youve spotted a great potential subject, youre
ready to take advantage of it.
So Arts combining two acquired skills predicting how another type of light would look when viewing a
subject in totally different conditions, and being able to recognize the potential in a subject, even when its
not being struck by stunning lighting that brings out the best in it when he rst observes it.
With practice, nearly any photographer can train themselves to
recognize and be able to capture great images. Being able to
spot a subject you can enhance with your camera is a big part
of this. For a pro like Art Wolfe, its an everyday part of their job.
Art Wolfe
Making the commitment
It sounds like it should be the easiest part, but for many of us, its the hardest: weve gotten better and better
at our photography, were developing a certain photographic style, we have a sense of how light is working
with subjects, and know a great subject when we see it. The problem? Making the commitment to return to
a subject later, if it seems appealing but the conditions just arent right.
Its especially difcult for travelers who are accom-
panied by family or close friends, or if youre travel-
ing as part of a large tour group. Its always easy
to simply grab a quick shot in less-than-ideal light,
and be done with it. But if youre good at your pho-
tography, itll always bug you that you didnt return.
Much like jumping into an ice-cold lake, the hardest
part about returning to a subject is simply doing it
the rst time. It may mean missing dinner with your
family for one evening on a particular trip, or hav-
ing others wait for you. It may mean forcing your-
self to wake up at dawn, to capture something in
early-morning sun that you know will make it come
alive visually.
But for most of us, once you force yourself to do it
the rst time, it becomes easier to picture yourself
doing it again in the future. When traveling, you still
have to compromise from time to time and do whats
needed to be a team player. But dont forget, along the way, to invest a little time in yourself.

Many photographers miss out on great opportunities because
they wont commit to return to a subject when the light and subject
are at their best. Many visitors see this Maine lighthouse in the
middle of the day; comparatively few see it at dawn, when it takes
on a special appearance.
Rudy Winston
Youre not simply avoiding mid-day sunlight!
Think about the incredible range of conditions you can shoot a picture in. Nearly any of them, occasionally,
can be just right for one given subject or another. While Art Wolfe mentioned the initial harsh mid-day sun
and how the softer the hazy, late afternoon sunlight worked much better, there are countless other situa-
tions to think about returning to. Here are just a few of them:
The so-called magic hour, right after the sun has set or immediately before it rises at dawn. The en-
tire sky becomes a light source, giving a directional glow rather than hard directional light.Articial light,
whether light coming through windows or from other sources (even a ash!) can be balanced with the soft
daylight for an unusual look.
Night. Dont laugh some buildings and cityscapes that appear drab and ordinary can absolutely come
alive when photographed at night. A great incentive to carry that tripod when you go out shooting!
Morning or afternoon sunlight, but back-lit: some subjects can really be enhanced by effective use of
back-lighting. Whether its the sunlight rimming the outer edges the subject as it hits them from behind,
or the evenness of the shadowed light thats the primary frontal illumination, back-lighting can occasionally
be a powerful tool in a shooters arsenal.
Overcast skies: sometimes, we can get stronger images with less contrast in lighting. Overcast or even
rainy conditions can work for subjects ranging from portraits to landscape pictures.
Summary
As usual, Art Wolfe brings up a great point when speaking of the need to return to a great potential
photographic subject later, when conditions are better suited to the type of images he wants to get.
Developing your own awareness of different light, and how it interacts with different types of subjects, can
go a long way toward making your photography stronger.
In the rst image, we know that the trees arent falling into the road, but converging lines makes it look like theyre about to. In the
second image, the camera was hardly tilted at all, and the result is straight trees that look as youd expect to see them in real life.
In Mali, Art Wolfe gives us an important compo-
sitional reminder in his short Tips video where hes
photographing an elegant door. Its a simple one,
yet one we often forget: to keep all the lines in a
wide-angle shot straight, keep the camera level.
Wide angle converging lines
Whether shooting hand-held or using a tripod, if you want an accu-
rately-recorded wide-angle picture, keep the camera absolutely level.
Whats meant by converging lines?
Weve all seen images with this characteristic.
In fact, we see so many that we usually accept it
without thinking about it. Converging lines are an
easily-seen phenomenon, and are especially no-
ticeable in shots taken with a wide-angle lens.
The most obvious example is shooting something like a building or house. If you stand nearby with a
wide-angle lens, and tilt the camera upward to get the top of the building into the picture, the vertical lines
principally, the sides of the building will bow inward toward the center as you look upward. Theyll no
longer appear straight up-and-down. With ultra-wide lenses and a tall building, it may appear as though
the top of the building comes to a sharp point. This inward slanting of lines that we know are straight,
vertical lines is called converging lines.
Rudy Winston Brian Hist
Why do pros work to avoid converging lines?
For casual photographers taking pictures on va-
cation or around their home, converging lines are
usually not a major concern. As mentioned, theyre
something weve all seen in photos we look at ev-
ery day, whether in newspapers, books, magazines
and so on. In fact, unless you regularly read an ar-
chitectural magazine or certain other technical pub-
lications, youll rarely see wide angle images with
corrected vertical lines.
However, a fact of life for working professional pho-
tographers is that their pictures have to face stricter
scrutiny than those in the family album. Many mag-
azine editors know how such lines should appear,
and if they notice converging lines in a picture, it
needs to appear as though the photographer inten-
tionally used the effect to exaggerate something
about the wide-angle perspective of the subject
whether its a building, redwood trees in a forest,
or whatever. For a pro, a huge problem is to have a
picture that looks just a little bit off. Rather than a creative decision by the photographer, a slight error in
composition or converging lines usually appears to be a mistake.
So while its certainly true youll see professional shots with converging lines, in many cases, theyre ultra-
wide shots taken with lenses like a 14mm or 16-35mm zoom. An exaggerated effect of converging lines
often comes with these super-wide lenses if you simply aim them upward a bit. And photographers use this
to visually call attention to their subject, or their way of photographing this subject.
Intentionally using converging lines is a powerful technique
with ultra-wide angle lenses as long as it looks like it was
done deliberately. Here, a 14mm ultra-wide lens was used on a
full-frame camera, and tilted upward to exaggerate the
churchs structure. Of course, in reality, the church is not
shaped like a pyramid!
Rudy Winston
Shooting details of a subject
In this Tips video, Art is shooting only a small part of a building in Mali: an ornate wooden door. Especially
in shots where something with distinct horizontal and vertical lines (like a doorway) is photographed,
most users expect to see it accurately rendered. That means that straight lines in the subject should be
straight in the nished image.
Even though Art is using his 16-35mm wide-angle
zoom lens, its clear from his nished pictures that
hes not using the ultra-wide end of the zoom. With
a full-frame digital camera, the 35mm setting on
this lens gives a very slight wide-angle view. Its
still susceptible to converging line problems if you
tilt the camera up or down, but it wont be as im-
mediately obvious.
And as we said before, for a pro, theres the prob-
lem in their nal pictures, there cant be little
problems. If the lines in Arts doorway are converg-
ing in the nal pictures, he needs to make it look
like he meant for them to be converging.
So Art Wolfes point is clear: the subject has obvi-
ous horizontal and vertical lines, and to avoid the
converging line problem with his verticals, he has to
keep the camera as straight as possible. Even on
a tripod, this isnt always as easy as it sounds, but
its important to take the time to get it right. You can
do the same, whether youre hand-holding or using
a tripod yourself. Just take a little extra time to look
carefully at the sides of your viewnder, and make
sure that vertical lines on the subject arent tilting
inward toward the top or bottom of your image.
Wide-angle lenses can be used to record details in a subject, but
keep the camera level to maintain straight lines. If the camera is
tilted upward, youll denitely get converging lines, as in the
2nd photo.
Rudy Winston
Some aids to help avoid converging lines
There are various tools photographers can call upon
to avoid converging lines when its mission-critical
to have images with totally clean, straight lines in
the composition. Some are easy for amateur shoot-
ers to use, others are tailored more toward special-
ists. Here are a few:
Live View mode
Many of todays cameras have a Live View feature
(where you can view your subjects on the cameras
LCD monitor, before you shoot). Live View lets you
see a larger view of your subject, and for many us-
ers, it can be easier to tell if edges of the frame line-
up, or if the subject is tilted. Live View is especially
useful if you are working on a tripod.
Live Views Grid display mode
If your camera has the Live View feature, see if
theres a menu option to display straight lines on the screen. These grid lines are great to help compose
pictures precisely. No, they wont appear in your nished images!
Use a tripod
Most photographers dont get excited about the prospect of carrying one around, but their eyes brighten up
when you speak about tack-sharp pictures and precise compositions. A good tripod can accomplish both.
As with most things in life, with tripods, you usually get what you pay for. Aiming high can buy you a lifetime
photographic partner. Think about it you rarely see Art Wolfe shooting without one.
Use a grid-type focus screen
Not all cameras allow you to change the focus screen (Canons EOS 40D, 50D, 5D, 5D Mark II, and all
version of EOS-1D or EOS-1Ds do have this feature). If your camera does offer interchangeable focus
screens, consider one of the so-called grid screens. These have ne, etched lines youll see in your
viewnder to assist in composing images and keeping straight lines straight. The beauty of most is that the
lines are faint enough that you can usually ignore them when theyre not needed, such as if youre shooting
some sports pictures. A worthwhile investment for all critical photographers.
Tilt-shift lenses
This is specialty equipment, and priced to match. Pros or very dedicated photo enthusiasts can buy special
lenses that have a shift function. This way, the camera can be mounted absolutely level, and the lens
Many high-end cameras offer interchangeable focus screens,
and those that do usually have a grid screen you can install.
With it, you always have faint straight lines in the viewnder
to assist with composing subjects. Fortunately, these lines
are typically easy to ignore when you dont need them, and if
the screens are user-interchangeable (Canons are), you can
always re-install your standard screen whenever you want.
shifted upward to include the upper part of the build-
ing or other subject. Canon makes three for EOS
cameras, called TS-E or Tilt-Shift lenses: 24mm
f/3.5L, 45mm f/2.8, and 90mm f/2.8. In a situation like
Art was in, the mid-range 45mm TS-E lens would be
a great tool for the ultra-critical pro to have on-hand.
Theyre a bit much for the typical travel photogra-
pher to include in his or her travel kit, unless they
specialize in photographing buildings or products.
Tilt-shift lenses allow very precise shifting of the lens to avoid
tilting the camera thus minimizing or eliminating converging
lines. Canon makes three different professional Tilt-Shift lenses
(24mm, 45mm, and 90mm focal lengths). They can be used on
any Canon EOS camera, lm or digital.
Summary
As with many things in photography, simply being
aware of what converging lines are, and when they
can be a problem, is a big part of taking the control
thats needed. You dont always have to struggle to
avoid them, but if youre in a situation like Art was
in Mali shooting beautifully-decorated doorways
its probably worth the effort to simply line the
camera up so its as level as you can position it be-
fore you shoot the pictures. There are numerous
methods and tools you can use to minimize issues
with converging lines in your images. And always
remember: rules are meant to be broken. From time to time, an ultra-wide angle lens shot with exaggerated
perspective distortion and converging lines can be a great way to grab a viewers attention. Just make sure
it looks like you did it on purpose!
One of the rst landmark concepts that marks
a photographer moving from a casual amateur to
a dedicated enthusiast is understanding the con-
cept of depth of eld. Simply, its being in control
of how much is in sharp focus in a pictures fore-
ground and background, aside from the subject
actually focused upon. As photographers begin
to learn about depth of eld, they quickly under-
stand that the farther we close the lens aperture
(use progressively higher f-numbers, such as f/11,
f/16, and f/22), the sharper the background and
foreground is likely to be. Its a powerful way to
control the look of a photograph.
But its important to be aware of something else:
stopping your lens down to its smallest lens open-
ing doesnt necessarily mean youll get the sharp-
est possible picture. In fact, with most lenses, theres an optical phenomenon called diffraction that be-
comes an increasing factor at very small lens openings. Thus, even as depth of eld becomes greater and
greater, the actual rendering of ne detail reaches a point with most lenses where it begins to diminish.
Our purpose here is certainly not to tell anyone that they shouldnt use small lens apertures for maximum
depth of eld. In the shots Art Wolfe takes in the Falkland Islands of nesting birds, its a key part of the
images he produced which emphasize the incredible numbers of birds. But be aware that any lenss char-
acteristics change as you use different lens apertures. Its not something to fear; in fact, any photographer
can use it to his or her advantage once they understand the way most lenses work.
Depth of eld its not the same as sharpness
Art Wolfe got lots of depth of eld in this shot by using a small f/22
lens aperture, making the background sharp and distinct. But as
youll see, you dont simply get sharper pictures by shooting every-
thing at your lenss smallest aperture.
Common misconceptions about lenses
Many photographers understand that when a lens is used at its widest possible aperture (lowest f-number,
such as f/5.6, f/4, f/2.8, etc.), its usually not rendering its absolutely sharpest possible image. Were not
speaking about throwing backgrounds out of focus. Instead, were speaking of how sharply a lens can ren-
der ne detail if you were (for instance) shooting squarely into a detailed, at wall.
Its a fact that with the majority of lenses, if you close the aperture down to a smaller opening, its optical
performance usually begins to get even better. With most lenses, their best optical sharpness and contrast
typically appears with the lens aperture set about 2, 3, or 4 stops closed-down from its widest opening.
With a compact f/5.6 zoom lens, this means itll generally be at its best, in terms of optical sharpness, at
apertures somewhere around f/16 or so. With a faster f/2.8 lens, generally, youd expect maximum perfor-
mance around f/8, give or take.
What throws some photographers off is that they
assume that the more you stop a lens down, the
sharper it gets. After all, if a lenss performance
improves by stopping it down 3 or 4 stops, doesnt
it improve even more if you stop it down an ad-
ditional 2 or 3 stops? Furthermore, if an images
depth of eld that is, its zone of sharpness is
greatest at the smallest possible aperture, doesnt
that mean the lens is sharpest there, too?
In actual fact, it isnt. As mentioned above, most
lenses produce their sharpest images at aper-
tures somewhere in the middle of the range.
As you continue to progressively stop down the ap-
erture blades, diffraction actually begins to scatter
more and more of what light is coming through the
opening, and this reduces a lenss ability to render a
tack- sharp image.
When speaking of a lenss sharpness and contrast, think about its
ability to render ne details when shooting squarely into a at sub-
ject, such as this Kazakh currency. This shot was taken at f/11, with
a 100mm f/2.8 macro lens.
Think about your needs for a particular picture
Again, no one is suggesting that its wrong to use small lens apertures to get maximum depth of eld.
Whether youre shooting a broad landscape picture and want all elements to be as sharp as possible,
or taking a portrait where you want a sharp, recognizable background to lend a clear sense of place,
images with broad depth of eld will always have an important place in most photographers portfolios.
Likewise, there are times where you want a wide-open lens aperture to throw a background pleasingly out
of focus, even if you know its technically not where the lens renders its sharpest possible image.
Wide apertures will always be useful in low light or for intentionally blurring distracting backgrounds, and small apertures produce the
greatest depth of eld in your images. Both techniques are used by top photographers.
But there are other times where youre not really
after maximum depth of eld, but you do need as
much detail as possible in the subject that is in-
focus. In Art Wolfes shots of the nesting birds, his
visual statement is largely about the compressed,
repetitive cluster of birds that appear in his tele-
photo shots. Using a small aperture gives him a
background thats recognizable and distinct, and
emphasizes the number of birds.
On the other hand, there are pictures where
youve got a subject with incredible detail that
you want to reproduce as sharply as possible.
It might be a close-up of something like a ower
or coins, a shot of the texture of weathered paint
on an old barn, or an image of a building like the
church to the right with its incredible, ornate detail.
Here, your priority is not getting lots of things from
foreground to background relatively sharp
its getting fewer things extremely sharp.
In essence, photographers talk about and use two different types of sharpness. One is the classic use of
tiny apertures, such as f/22 or f/32, to get lots of things in sharp focus (think of the picture of the fence at
the beach above). But if youre interested in getting the maximum amount of detail, youll usually do better
with a lens aperture setting somewhere in the middle of your lenss available aperture range.
An image like this calls more for maximizing detail than getting exten-
sive depth of eld. A 70-200mm f/2.8 lens was used at f/8, at or near
its point of maximum performance.
The best photographers know their equipment
Its easy to test those lenses you frequently use to see if youre taking a hit in image quality when you stop it
down to its smallest apertures for maximum depth of eld. Simply focus upon a detailed subject, and shoot
a series of images at different apertures without changing focus or composition. If youre not on a tripod,
use a higher ISO to insure that at small f-stops, youre not getting shutter speeds so slow that you generate
some blurs from camera shake.
Take a full-resolution shot at each full aperture on your lens, such as f/5.6 f/11 f/16 f/22 f/32. JPEGs
are ne for this purpose. Now, open each on your computer monitor, and view them at 100% on-screen.
Look closely at an area of ne detail that you focused upon.
Does the level of crisp detail seem to improve at f/11, for example? Does sharpness and contrast seem to
get softer at f/22 or f/32? If so, youre seeing rst-hand the effect of diffraction. This is an ordinary character-
istic of most lenses, and its nothing to worry about. If you see a distinct drop in sharpness at your smallest
lens aperture, dont panic you may well be able to get a big boost in ne detail by simply opening up a
stop. In other words, the next time you want to get lots of depth of eld, if your smallest aperture is f/22,
try shooting at f/16 instead. Youll get nearly the same depth of eld, and possibly a lot more contrast and
detail. Finally, with some lenses, you may nd that theres little noticeable loss of sharpness, even at the
smallest possible aperture. If thats the case, feel free to stop down whenever you need to.
Summary
The primary point here is to understand that more depth of eld does not automatically mean that youll get
the sharpest possible images. Aperture control is an important tool in photography, and learning to work
with its effects is one of the most important keys in a creative photographers development. Wide apertures
will throw backgrounds pleasingly out of focus; the smallest apertures will get lots in focus from foreground
to background, and somewhere in the middle is the lenss sweet spot, where itll produce its sharpest, most
nely-detailed images.

Theres a time and a place for all of them. Maybe the most important suggestion is to occasionally take your
camera out of its fully-automatic Program mode, and make some camera settings yourself.
Ask many photographers whats the most impor-
tant virtue their high-resolution digital camera and
lenses can provide, and theyll answer sharpness.
In the vast majority of cases, unless were looking
for intentional blur to suggest movement or some-
thing similar, any shooter from the entry-level ama-
teur to a pro wants good, sharp images.
Getting the best possible sharpness from todays
digital cameras means understanding a few things
you can do to optimize the camera for the situation
youre in, and remembering some camera funda-
mentals that come into play as well. Well discuss
some of those in this article. One thing we wont try
to do is push you toward an even higher-resolution
digital camera. Weve seen great, sharp images from 3 and 4 million pixel digital cameras of yesterday;
and while its certainly attractive to have 10, 15, or even 20+ million pixels in your camera, simply having a
high-resolution sensor wont assure you of sharp images every time if you ignore other important aspects
of using your digital camera to its fullest.
Art demonstrates point one about getting sharp pictures:
use proper technique, including a tripod when and where possible.
Getting maximum sharpness in digital pictures
The basics: hold the camera steady, and use fast shutter speeds
In nearly all his Tips videos, Art Wolfe is shown in a shooting situation using a tripod, insuring maximum
steadiness and sharpness in his pictures. Understandably, its not always practical or desirable to carry
a large professional tripod in every situation. But if you hand-hold your camera, do it right (even in sunlight,
when youre usually at fast shutter speeds). Press it into your face for steadiness, and be sure your left
hand is underneath, supporting the lens/camera combination. Your right hand should gently hold the cam-
era, without squeezing it. Finally, dont take the shutter button for granted. Gently squeeze it from its half-
way point to its fully-depressed position, to minimize any shaking of the camera as you capture your image.
Whatever you do, dont just suddenly jab at it. Youll surely put the entire camera in motion if you do.
A common cause of unsharp pictures is camera shake. Holding the camera properly, and pressing the shutter button smoothly, are two
important keys to getting the sharpest possible results from your camera.
Especially when hand-holding, be aware of your
shutter speeds and lens apertures. Theres nothing
wrong with using automatic exposure and letting
the camera calculate your speed/aperture settings,
but always be aware of your viewnders read-outs,
and be ready to step-in and override things if you
see speeds are too slow for safe hand-holding.
If you think the speed indicated is too slow to insure
a sharp picture, it probably is.
Awareness is an important key to consistent sharpness in
your pictures. Learn to read and understand the information in
your cameras viewnder, and be ready to change settings when
you need to.
Image Stabilization
Camera technology has stepped in to show us the
way to sharper pictures. Image Stabilization for SLR
cameras was pioneered by Canon back in 1995, with
the launch of the then-revolutionary EF 75-300mm
Image Stabilized (IS) lens. Canon and some other
camera companies now offer various lenses with
optical stabilization built-in, and they most assuredly
can bring you sharper images, when hand-holding at
slower shutter speeds. Typically, depending on the
lens and your abilities to hand-hold steadily, you can
expect IS lenses to let you shoot at shutter speeds
two to four stops slower than otherwise possible.
Some companies have offered a different type of
stabilization, building it into the camera body in-
stead. Either way, you can get sharper pictures
when you hand-hold the camera.
But in either case, remember a couple of things:
1. Image Stabilization can only counter camera
or lens movement. In other words, if fast shutter
speeds are needed to freeze a moving subject such
as an athlete, youll still need the same fast speeds
with those subjects, even with Image Stabilization.
2. Good as it is, Image Stabilization has its limits.
When using a long telephoto lens with IS, dont ex-
pect miracles, and dont use IS as an excuse not
to properly hold the camera. IS rewards good tech-
nique and proper operation; it cant deliver sharp
pictures in every lighting condition.
Lenses like Canons 70-200mm f/4L IS (a favorite of Art Wolfes)
have built-in optical image stabilization, which can detect and
compensate for camera shake. Shutter speeds up to 4 stops
slower than you could safely hand-hold without IS are possible
when its active, as long as your subjects arent moving.
Understand what youll need to truly freeze subject movement
This isnt just for sports photographers. There are
many times were photographing moving subjects,
whether its a landscape with the wind blowing grass
and leaves in trees, shots of people who may be
moving, or shooting fast-moving objects. Regard-
less, moving subjects are one of the major causes of
blurs in pictures.
First, for sharp shots of fast-moving subjects such
as traditional sports pictures, fast-moving cars or
other vehicles, and so on: youll really need speeds
of 1/500th of a second or faster preferably, faster
whenever the light allows. If youre outdoors in bright
sunlight shooting sports pictures, if you can crank
up shutter speeds to 1/2000th or even 1/4000th of a
second, youll be rewarded with very sharp images
of frozen athletes. You may need to raise your ISOs
a bit to do this, but dont hesitate. Indoors without
ash, try to get at least 1/500th of a second. Anything
slower and you will get blurs in some pictures.
Children in motion sometimes are almost as chal-
lenging as athletes. If youre in the park or back yard
photographing kids, again try for at least 1/500th
of a second if the light permits it, even if it means
cranking-up your ISO settings to something like 400
or above. For candids of adults in more passive sit-
uations (chatting at outdoor parties or wedding re-
ceptions, for example), you can usually get by with
around 1/250th if theyre not too animated. In low
light, you may be forced to rely on slower shutter
speeds to get adequate exposure, but always try for
the fastest speed you reasonably can get.
Easy way to get fast shutter speeds: put the cam-
era in its shutter-priority mode (the Tv setting on
Canon EOS SLRs), and set the speed you want.
If the aperture display in the viewnder blinks on and
off like a cars turn indicator, it means your exposure
isnt going to be correct at the speed youve chosen.
Either raise/lower the ISO setting and try again, or
set a slower shutter speed (such as moving from
1000 to 500).
For any moving subject, from athletes to waterfalls and fountains,
if you want to freeze the movement, youll need a shutter speed of
at least 1/500th or faster. Here, 1/2000th was used to freeze the
water from the fountain.
Even scenes like this can have moving subjects you have to think
about freezing for the best sharpness. Wind-blown grass, owers
and leaves on trees are a prime cause of soft images.
Faster shutter speeds will freeze their movement on windy days.
Alternate method sometimes used by pros: set the camera in Aperture-priority mode (Av on Canon EOS
models), and set the widest possible lens aperture (lowest aperture number, such as 5.6, 4, 2.8, etc). Why?
The camera will always use the fastest available shutter speed, and youll see it in the viewnder. If its still
too low to freeze moving subjects, raise your ISO and try again.
Dont forget about things like wind-blown plants. If you see any motion at all, and youre trying for a sharp
picture, youll likely need to use faster speeds, like 1/250th or 1/500th. This may mean that you cant stop
your lens aperture down for lots of depth of eld, but a sharp foreground is probably better than a picture
where the prominent subject is blurred by too slow a shutter speed.
Lens aperture
Exposure is always a three-way balancing act be-
tween your shutter speeds, your lens apertures,
and your ISO settings. Even the nest photogra-
phers know that they often have to compromise a
little here, giving up on one to give the specic re-
sults theyre looking for.
Well examine using small apertures for maximum
depth of eld (that is, the zone of sharpness both in
front of and behind our primary subject) in a sepa-
rate document. Here, we want to talk about a dif-
ferent aspect of sharpness, and how lens aperture
affects it. Simply stated, your lens is not as sharp at
some aperture settings as it is at others.
Its a fact: if youre photographing a at object (for
example, shooting straight into a wall), your lens is
likely to deliver its sharpest pictures at apertures
somewhere in the middle of its aperture range. The
widest aperture settings (low f-numbers, like f/4 or f/2.8) rarely give you ultimate lens sharpness, and like-
wise, the smallest openings (high f-numbers, like f/22 or f/32) dont either.
Dont confuse this last point with depth of eld, which again well cover separately. Were speaking strictly of
how sharp an image the lens provides, at the subject its focused upon. Because of a phenomenon known
as diffraction all lenses tend to lose sharpness as you get to their smallest apertures. Since these also
provide the maximum depth of eld (again, this means most things in focus, foreground to background),
many users confuse this with total lens sharpness. It isnt.
All lenses have an aperture at which theyll deliver their absolutely
sharpest image. Typically, its about three stops closed-down from
its widest possible aperture. But critical users should test their lens-
es at all apertures, to learn where each lens performs at its best.
Theres no one lens aperture where every lens is
always sharpest, but in general, if you start at your
widest lens opening (lowest f-number) and from
there stop down about three stops, youll usual-
ly be near this sweet spot. Does this mean you
should only take pictures at middle apertures? Of
course not. Youll always need to control apertures
with an eye toward the total photo situation youre
in. Just be aware that for utmost sharpness in a
picture (which is what were discussing here), your
lenses will tend to deliver their sharpest images at
middle apertures.
Even if you know your lens performs at its sharpest with the ap-
erture stopped-down somewhat, dont hesitate to use appropriate
apertures when needed. Here, the the 135mm f/2.0 lens was used
indoors at its widest f/2.0 opening. In low light, it would be foolish
to stop it down to a mid-range aperture, even if technically its a
little sharper there.
Digital settings in your camera
Digital settings in your camera
There are a number of in-camera settings that can
also contribute to the impression of crisp sharpness
in your pictures, if theyre set properly. Here are a
few to think about:
Resolution setting
Certainly, if youre trying to make large prints from
your digital les, youll get maximum detail and digi-
tal clarity if you use all the cameras pixels. If youre
a JPEG shooter, that means using the Large
resolution setting (some cameras may use differ-
ent terminology). RAW les generally use full pixel
resolution at all times, except for some of Canons
newest models with the small (reduced) resolu-
tion options for RAW images. Use plain old RAW
for utmost quality.
Sharpening
One of the most misunderstood digital camera commands. The short story: dont crank this up to its highest
setting, assuming that more sharpening must be better and result in a sharper picture. With current Canon
EOS digital models, you usually will get by quite nicely with sharpness settings of 3 or 4 (out of 7 or 10, de-
pending upon camera). At high ISO settings, youre not only sharpening the image details, but also any noise
that may be present in the le. Therefore, you probably should experiment with reducing in-camera sharpen-
ing when shooting at high ISOs such as 1600, 3200, or higher (if your camera has these high ISO settings).
In many cases, a small amount of in-camera sharpening, followed by careful sharpening with an image-
editing program in your computer, can truly bring out the best that your camera and lens are capable of.
This is especially so if youre intending to make large prints from your favorite images.
Contrast
Especially in hazy or overcast conditions, raising your cameras contrast a notch or two can give an image
more snap and the impression of greater sharpness. In sunny conditions, this is rarely needed in fact,
you may get images that are easier to print when shooting in sunlight, or contrasty indoor conditions, by
actually lowering your cameras contrast one or two steps.
High ISO Noise Reduction
Many digital cameras have a menu setting to control whether, and how much, digital control of noise is
performed as images are processed in-camera. You should try shooting some high ISO les (such as ISO
1600 or 3200) of the same subject, using different High ISO Noise Reduction options, to see (a) how it
affects noise in darker areas of these pictures, and (b) whether it impacts sharpness and how ne details
are rendered. Please note that on many cameras, using the highest setting here will distinctly blur ne
picture detail in its quest to reduce visible noise from the le. If youre looking for the sharpest possible
images, and your camera performs like this, be sure to avoid it in these conditions.
Canons in-camera image settings are in the Picture Style menu for most EOS models (some previous
cameras have these in the Parameters menu). For models with Picture Style menu settings, press the
appropriate button for Detail set. to be able to change sharpening or contrast individually.
Finally, for any camera user, consider shooting RAW images to be able to experiment freely with some
of these settings. Using your camera makers raw processing software, you can experiment with many of
these values, see how a given RAW image changes on-screen, and get a good handle on what settings
tend to work best when youre out shooting.
In-camera digital sharpening needs to be carefully applied, but used properly, it can denitely enhance the initial sharpness of your
pictures. Its especially important if you shoot JPEG images.
Sharpening at 0 Sharpening at 4
Summary
Getting the best and sharpest images from your digital camera isnt a one-step process. As good as todays
digital cameras and lenses are, the fact is that they can be handled and controlled to deliver truly optimum
images in different conditions by the user. Knowing what settings to consider making, and experimenting
with some of the cameras controls, can go a long way toward really getting the sharpest and most detailed
les possible out of your camera.
Most photographers arent fortunate to see
thousands of nesting birds as Art Wolfe is in his vid-
eo tip, Tack Sharp. But any time were presented
with multiple subjects in one area, whether theyre
owers, trees, people, or nesting black-browed Al-
batross, were presented with a photographic deci-
sion: do we try to get everything into sharp focus, or
do we try to compose and focus so that one individ-
ual stands out from the crowd? Like so many other
tasks in photography, theres no one right answer
to this. Given time, some pros will cover their bases
and shoot the subject both ways. Sometimes, you
only have a few moments to shoot, and have to go
with your rst instinct.
Well explore these fundamental compositional
choices in this article.
Bringing many similar subjects into one picture, and making them
sharp and distinct highlights their vast numbers, and sometimes
can even tease the viewers eye with patterns that can appear in a
nal still picture.
Art Wolfe
Sharp subjects, or isolate it
Why include many subjects into one picture?
Anyone seeing a scene such as Art Wolfe discovered
in the Falkland Islands, with thousands of nesting Al-
batross on the coast, has to be impressed rst of all
with their vast numbers. A strong impression like this
is a powerful thing to try to capture in a still picture.
Most people at one time or other in their lives have
been similarly impressed by the size and scope of
something, even if theyve never been to the Falk-
land Islands. It could be the row after row of buildings
in a great city, the vast numbers of cars or people at
rush hour in a big city, the vastness of open elds or
woods out in the country, or a huge area of owers
that seems to take on a life of its own.
Sometimes, when presented with such a scene, no one
subject jumps out at the photographer visually. But their
vast numbers may be a stunning visual, and one that he
or she may want to spend time capturing with a camera.
Its a simple shot of a row of trophies at a car show, but combin-
ing a telephoto lenss compression with a small aperture (f22), it
gives the visual impression of many, many of these items in one
place. Its exactly the same technique and feeling Art Wolfe was
after in his shots of the nesting birds.
Getting it all into one picture
Art Wolfe brings up an important point in this video: even though the scene is a vast one, spreading out to
either side, he doesnt instinctively reach for his wide-angle lens. His 70-200mm telephoto zoom can con-
vey the same message of vast numbers of birds, in one image, and possibly do it more powerfully than an
wide-angle lens might.
Youre entitled to wonder why. Remember, the wide-angle lens tends to emphasize those things close to
the camera, but visually diminish the importance of small subjects as theyre progressively further from the
lens. This vast scene, with birds almost as far as the eye can see, would be rendered as lots of small white
and black objects spread out on the beach if simply photographed from an adults standing height with a
wide-angle lens.
A telephoto lens, while it wont capture the entire scene in one picture, grabs an impressive slice of the scene
and its compression brings the distant subjects visually closer to the lens, making them appear closer to
those birds in the front than they really are. This further emphasizes their vast numbers. Most of us have
seen still pictures or videos taken on city streets of pedestrians on sidewalks or cars in streets, taken with
powerful telephoto lenses, that trick us into thinking the same thing it looks like the subjects are right on
top of one another, when in actual fact, theyre probably separated by a reasonable amount of space.
Art explains that after positioning his camera and composing the shot, he stops the lens aperture down
nearly all the way (to about f/22), which gives greater sharpness from foreground to background.
What to focus upon in a shot like this? With a standard lens or a wide-angle, youll often want to place your
plane of sharpest focus about 1/3 of the way into the picture, letting the depth of eld take care of rendering
foreground and background subjects sharp. With a telephoto lens, you can try this same technique (espe-
cially if youre using wider zoom settings on the lens, such as 70 or 100mm on a lens like Arts 70-200mm
zoom). If youve zoomed to a longer telephoto length, you may be better served by selecting one area that
you want to highlight with greatest sharpness, and let sharpness fall off as the viewers eye moves away.
With long tele lenses, its very hard to get full sharpness foreground to background, even at f/22 or f/32, un-
less youve focused on something thats a considerable distance away.
The opposite approach: isolate one subject among many
This still usually calls for a telephoto lens sometimes, a long one. But instead of composing so that no
one individual bird or subject stands out, if you can get close to one subject that draws your eye for some
reason, photography makes it possible to rivet your viewers attention to it and swiftly blur out the rest of the
scene. Properly done, you still sense immediately that its one subject among many. But your attention is
grabbed by only one individual (or perhaps a few).
By taking this approach to a picture, youre making a different statement. Youre telling your viewer that for
some reason or other, this one individual among many stood out for some reason. If its a ower, it might be
its color is different from those surrounding it. If its a person amongst a crowd, it might be their expression,
what theyre wearing, or what theyre doing with their hands and arms. With the birds Art shot, it might be
the positioning of one individual relative to others surrounding it, or perhaps an action like opening its beak
to call out while others do not.
Its one leaf among thousands on this tree, but its contrasting red
color gives it reason to stand out. And, it gives a photographer a
reason to isolate it with a telephoto lens, along with a wide aper-
ture to throw the background out of focus.
A subject may stand out among many for no reason other than its
proximity to the camera. Simply focusing upon it, again with a wide
aperture, gives a sharp image of the subject with rapid fall-off of
the background. But the viewer still knows that there are a lot more
of these owers a few inches behind the sharp one.
Summary
Even though there are an innite number of ways to photograph most subjects, all of us can learn from
watching and listening to a pro like Art Wolfe. It goes beyond simple nuts-and-bolts camera settings; we
can learn from the scenes hes in and the way he chooses to photograph them.
Learning what Art does doesnt necessarily mean we all need to shoot subjects this way. The beauty of
photography with an SLR camera is the variety of options it gives you. Presented with a vast scene of birds,
owers, or people, among your choices are rendering many of them sharply, or moving in tight and isolat-
ing one among the many. Both are very valid techniques. Try working with both the next time youre faced
with this type of subject, even if its a lot closer to home than the Falkland Islands.
The giant white storks that Art Wolfe photographs in his brief video tip Light and Texture present a
common problem to all digital photographers: white subjects in sunlight can lose detail very easily if theyre
even slightly over-exposed. And unlike dark shadows, that can be lightened to reveal unseen detail in an
image-editing program like Adobes Photoshop, once a bright highlight area has been over-exposed,
theres no getting any of that missing detail back. Its gone.
Until recently, digital photographers were given one option to be sure that white subjects had some detail,
from the plumage on the storks Art is shooting to a brides white wedding dress. That was to set exposure
with the utmost care, checking histograms to be sure the important bright areas werent pushed off-scale,
and checking blinking highlight warnings on a cameras LCD monitor. When in doubt, critical photographers
have developed the habit of intentionally under-exposing slightly in these conditions, darkening the entire
picture a little bit to insure that the brightest parts are not too light.
Some of Canons most recent EOS digital SLR cameras have an innovative new technology that can help
here. Its called Highlight Tone Priority, and its a setting that can be activated on the following models
(as of November, 2008):
White subjects in the sun? Try Highlight Tone Priority!
EOS 40D EOS-1D Mark III EOS -1Ds Mark III
EOS 50D EOS 5D Mark II Rebel XSi
Highlight Tone Priority takes advantage of the expanded tonal range of these new models, and shifts it a
bit to emphasize detail in the bright areas. With HTP active, critical photographers can get up to one stop
more detail in bright highlight areas with absolutely no change in overall exposure, or darkening of other
parts of the scene.
Benets of Highlight Tone Priority
This new technology is a big asset any time a user
is taking pictures in bright sunlight. Even if your
subject is not a pure white color, any bright sun-lit
areas will tend to hold more texture and detail with
Highlight Tone Priority active. Skin tones of a per-
son in sunlight, the shiny highlights on plants and
leaves of trees, clouds in the sky, and even snow
are all candidates for a bit more detail with Highlight
Tone Priority active.
Once again, this feature does not simply darken the
entire scene to bring detail to the brightest areas. In
fact, about the only potential downside to the most
critical of users is that mid-tone and shadow areas
may pick up a little additional digital noise, espe-
cially if youre using a higher ISO setting. Also, for
technical reasons, you are not able to shoot at your
cameras lowest ISO setting with Highlight Tone Pri-
ority active. For example, with the EOS 40D and
50D, the cameras lowest ISO is normally 100. If Highlight Tone Priority is active, the lowest available ISO
is 200 (no exceptions if you want or need ISO 100, you have to turn Highlight Tone Priority off in the
cameras Custom Function menu). The highest ISO settings are sometimes not available, either, depend-
ing upon which camera model is in question. For these reasons, Highlight Tone Priority is an option that
the photographer must turn on with the appropriate Custom Function. Its not active when you rst take
your camera out of the box.
A shot like this is a perfect candidate for Highlight Tone Priority.
Taken on a clear sunny day, the bright areas are over-exposed
and have no real detail. If HTP had been active, up to a full stop
of additional detail would be restored in these bright areas,
without darkening shadows.
Rudy Winston
This scene is over-exposed, but both exposures are exactly the same (Manual mode, 1/60th at f/8, ISO 200). Look at the difference with
Highlight Tone Priority on vs. off, in the blue sky, and other bright areas of the scene
Rudy Winston
Using Highlight Tone Priority
The beauty of Canons Highlight Tone Priority tech-
nology is that other than turning it on, theres little
that the photographer needs to do to reap its ben-
ets. Exposure continues to be handled in whatever
method the photographer normally does. In fact, the
only difference is that those pros who habitually have
intentionally underexposed 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop just
to be safe will probably nd that theres little need
for this, and by returning exposure to normal, theyll
pull a little more detail out of their dark shadows!
ISOs can be freely set as the photographer desires,
although as mentioned before, the available ISO
range is curtailed somewhat at the lowest and high-
est ISOs when Highlight Tone Priority is active.
And, like any Custom Function, the camera must
be in a creative zone exposure mode for HTP
to be functional. You cant access any Custom Functions unless youre in the P, Tv, Av, or M exposure
modes, and even if youve set Highlight Tone Priority there, if you then switch to the full-auto green zone,
the Portrait mode, or any other full-auto mode, all previously-set Custom Functions are ignored.
Highlight Tone Priority is a Custom Function on recent,
select Canon EOS camera models. Its not active in the
factory-default settings, and must be turned on in the
Custom Function menu by the user.
Highlight Tone Priority ON Highlight Tone Priority OFF
In overcast conditions, fog, or in some studio lighting conditions where theres little contrast and soft overall
lighting, Highlight Tone Prioritys benets may not be apparent. But even here, unless you need access to
an extremely low or high ISO setting, it can be benecial to hold a bit of detail in that occasional bright area
in a scene or subject. In other words, some users will nd Highlight Tone Priority something that they can
turn on and pretty much leave on most of the time for their picture-taking.
If you shoot JPEG images in-camera (Large/Fine, etc.), Highlight Tone Priority will deliver its benets each
time you shoot, if there are bright areas bordering on being too-bright in a picture. For RAW shooters, if you
process your images in Canons supplied Digital Photo Professional software, the information is applied in
processing. However, for those users who prefer a different third-party processing software for their RAW
les, be aware that like many in-camera commands, Highlight Tone Priority is usually ignored, and any
processing adjustments have to be carried out using the softwares commands.
One thing to be aware of : Highlight Tone Priority is a valuable additional option on those recent Canon
EOS models having the feature. But there is a limit to how much detail it can preserve in bright areas if a
scene is extremely over-exposed, and it cant perform miracles. Its an impressive asset to image quality,
but its not an excuse for careless exposure control or poor photographic technique. Again, most users nd
it adds anywhere from stop to 1 stop of detail in highlight areas, upon critical examination.
Summary
Digital cameras have advanced to a point where
improvements show up as small, incremental ben-
ets to image quality, not night-and-day changes
as perhaps was the case ve or ten years ago.
Highlight Tone Priority is a technology from Canon
that raises the bar for image quality in an important
way to critical shooters.
Limited dynamic range and problems with bright
areas losing detail are something critical shooters
have complained about with digital SLRs for years.
Highlight Tone Priority is a direct and powerful an-
swer to the requests of these photographers, but
its beauty is that even the most casual newcomer
can reap their benets. If youre an EOS digital SLR
owner with a Rebel XSi, EOS 40D or 50D, or any of
the other models with this feature, we strongly sug-
gest you give it a try if you havent already. It can add
an important nishing touch to your cameras image
quality, especially in tough lighting conditions.
First seen in Canons professional EOS-1D Mark III camera when
it was launched in early 2007, Highlight Tone Priority is now
available on a wide variety of models, from the affordable
EOS Rebel XSi through the top-of-the-line pro SLRs.
One of the most annoying things a photographer
can encounter is coming across a beautiful scene,
composing a picture you think will really be nice, and
realizing after youve taken it that its tilted slightly.
Any time there are noticeable horizon lines, or verti-
cal subject lines (such as in a building), even small
errors in keeping the camera straight will be imme-
diately apparent when you look at the image later.
Art Wolfes brief video tip Composition and sym-
metry is a classic example of a scene where this
can happen if youre not careful, showing Art pho-
tographing reections in water with a distinct line
where the water and land meet. In shots like these,
even a slight camera tilt can ruin an image. Fortu-
nately, there are a number of methods users can
apply to get precise, accurate compositions.
Careful viewing, composition and camera handling led to
Art Wolfes clean image with a perfectly straight mirror
image of this scene in Brazil.
Art Wolfe
Keep straight lines straight!
For starters: learn to really look at your viewnder
This is maybe the easiest to apply, but its also easy to get careless and miss great picture opportunities.
Simply stated, it means really looking at the entire picture area in your eye-level viewnder, especially how
the subject relates to the outer edges of the nder. In many cases, you can use the horizontal and vertical
borders of your nder as a guide and see how lines in your subject relate to the nders edges.
Understand that most photographers eyes are easily lulled into concentrating on whats in the central area
of the viewnder, and that it can take some practice to get into the habit of actually using the outer-most
edges of the nder. But it has many benets, and they start with being able to quickly tell if straight lines
are straight. Beyond that, by carefully using the whole viewnder, you become much more aware of back-
ground details and possible distractions, or subjects at the far outer edges of your frame that may be major
distractions in a still image, but that you hardly notice when quickly peering in the nder.
Composing pictures with straight-line subjects
There are an innite variety of subjects with pro-
nounced straight lines, ranging from landscapes
with a clear horizon line to product photos of high-
tech items. How you initially position yourself and
the camera, and what you feel is the most important
part of the scene to emphasize and render correct-
ly, goes a long way toward how the nished picture
will look.
If you shoot straight into a subject such as a build-
ing, and dont tilt the camera up or down, horizontal
and vertical lines are relatively easy to keep straight
if you pay attention in your nder and make sure you
dont tilt the camera. However, if you stand off at an angle, you will not be able to get both horizontal and
vertical lines to be straight with conventional lenses. In cases like this, take a moment and try moving the
camera slightly to see which gives a more impressive nal result. With things like buildings, usually our eyes
are happier if the vertical lines are straight, when shooting from an angle.
How you hold the camera has a lot to do with this.
Watch a professional shooter closely: their shoot-
ing eye is normally right up to the camera, with little
or no air space between the nders eyepiece and
their eye. If he or she is hand-holding the camera,
youll see that the camera often is literally pressed
into their face, which provides an added measure
of steadiness as well as pushes the nder right to
their eye. With the nder literally as close as you
can comfortably hold it to your eye, its much easier
to see the entire picture area, as well as the digital
shooting information displayed by your camera.
By not carefully examining the subject through the viewnder, and
using its outer edges as a guide, its easy to get images where
the whole scene is just slightly tilted, as in this shot of a fountain.
Rudy Winston
In Art Wolfes case, shooting the caiman against
the still water of the Brazilian river, he was shoot-
ing pretty much straight into his subject, and only
had a horizon line to concern himself with. In a case
like this, even if he was further down the river and
shooting at an angle, the rst choice for most shoot-
ers is to continue to hold the camera so that the wa-
ter line remains perfectly horizontal. But its easy to
make a mistake, if you dont concentrate on whats
in your nder!

When shooting a subject at an angle, youll never get the horizon-
tal lines to all be straight. But if there are noticeable vertical lines,
a little care can reward you with an interesting composition.
Rudy Winston
Interchangeable focusing screens
Sometimes, even a careful photographer can have
a tough time keeping lines perfectly straight in the
nder. Actually, Art Wolfes caiman pictures are a
good example: you hear him in the video speaking
of trying to keep the horizon line in these images
as close to the center as possible for a balanced
composition. This is great, but it means the line is
at its farthest point from the top and bottom edges
of your nder, which in most cases is the nearest
reference line you have to assure youre not tilting
the camera.
With some mid-range and most high-end digital
SLRs, an interchangeable focus screen is an answer
that can be surprisingly useful. The focus screen in
a camera is the actual plastic surface your eye is
looking at and focusing upon when you look in the
viewnder. Some camera models from Canon and
other brands allow the user to physically change
If your camera accepts interchangeable focus screens, a so-
called grid screen with etched lines can really help with precise
compositions in your pictures. In addition, the lines are subtle
enough that when theyre not needed, many shooters nd them
very non-distracting.
Live View to help with critical composition
A new feature on many recent digital SLRs is Live
View. This feature lets the user view and compose
their pictures on the cameras rear LCD monitor, in-
stead of the eye-level viewnder. With Live View,
theres a large, bright view of your subject, and for
some users, its a lot easier to visually check the
outer edges of a picture on the LCD screen than it
is looking through a viewnder. You especially may
nd this the case if you wear eyeglasses.
Furthermore, Canons digital SLRs that offer Live
View give an additional option: a menu setting to
display a grid display on the Live View screen.
Straight horizontal and vertical reference lines ap-
pear on the LCD monitor, making it even easier to
be sure youre not tilting the camera. (These lines
do not appear on your nal images theyre only
visible before the shot is taken.)
Live View is especially useful if youre using a tripod, but even when shooting hand-held, it can be a solu-
tion to the problem of tilted lines in your pictures. But when hand-holding the camera with Live View, you
dont get the benet of steadiness that comes with pressing the camera into your face so pay extra at-
tention to steadiness, and dont be shy about using faster shutter speeds and possibly higher ISO settings
to be sure you dont encounter camera shake.
Combining the Live View feature with the display grid
lines option, if your camera offers it, gives you a built-in
assistant to keep straight lines straight in your pictures.
Rhonda R. Dorsett
the factory-supplied, plain screen for one with etched horizontal and vertical lines. These so-called Grid
Screens are often used by architectural and product photographers, because they make it so easy to check
how subjects align with the lines youd see in the viewnder. But theyre no less useful for general picture-
taking, because whenever you need reference lines, theyre right in your nder.
With Canons EOS cameras, the following models offer an optional, accessory grid-type focus screen: EOS
40D and 50D (focus screen Ef-D), all versions of EOS-1D and EOS-1Ds (focus screen Ec-D), EOS 5D
(focus screen Ee-D), and EOS 5D Mark II (focus screen Eg-D).
One of the beauties of a grid-type focus screen is that even when youre shooting subjects where no
reference lines are needed, the lines are thin enough to be non-distracting to most photographers.
As mentioned, other brands of high-end and a few mid-range digital SLRs may also offer interchange-
able focusing screens check with your camera maker or dealer. While a few may require changing by a
service technician, most are easily done by the photographer, and changing screens usually only takes a
minute or so.
Consider doing like Art Wolfe use a tripod
Weve said it before: very few photographers enjoy
carrying a tripod for the sake of carrying one as they
shoot pictures. But along with keeping your images
free of nearly all camera shake, using a tripod forc-
es photographers to slow down a bit, and pay more
attention to their camera placement, and subject
compositions. And once you carefully line-up your
horizontal or vertical lines in a scene, if youre on a
tripod, theyll usually stay put regardless of whether
you take one shot or dozens.
Among the many reasons that pros often use a tripod is that they
force the photographer to adopt a slower, more careful style of
shooting. And this makes it easier to maintain perfectly straight
lines in your compositions.
Summary
For many of us, all it takes to avoid most problems with tilted horizon lines or vertical subject lines is to take
the extra effort to pay attention to whats in our viewnders. But especially if you take lots of pictures, or
youre going on that once-in-a-lifetime trip to an exotic location, there are additional accessories like inter-
changeable grid-type focus screens that can really help in keeping compositions correct, and they extract
few penalties in the way of compromising general picture-taking. Even if your camera doesnt offer the option
of interchangeable focus screens, many recent SLRs do offer Live View, and this can be helpful as well.
While its true that digital les can be cropped slightly and then tilted in image-editing programs like Adobe
Photoshop, its a lot better to get your compositions correct in the camera, rather than relying on software
after the fact. Try to put a few of these ideas into practice as you shoot pictures, even if theyre simply shots
youre taking of a family outing or a nearby attraction. The more you practice taking good care in how you
hold the camera and compose your pictures, the more ready youll be when you are taking that trip and
youre presented with rare photographic opportunities.
With a little care, and perhaps an accessory or two, you can avoid disappointments that come from not keeping
straight lines in a scene straight in your pictures.
Rudy Winston
Straight Horizon Tilted Horizon
Art Wolfe is a master of seeing the light and po-
sitioning his camera to bring out the most in his
subjects. Photographing the giant white storks in
late afternoon sun in Brazil, he points out the impor-
tance of not just the amount of light, but its direction,
and how this can bring out details in the surface of a
subject like these giant birds.
Learning to see and react to how light hits a par-
ticular subject is another of those key points in the
development of any photographer. Sometimes, the
most beautiful of subjects can take on a very ordi-
nary appearance when lit by at, frontal light (such
as a direct ash on-camera, for example). And
likewise, weve all seen very generic subjects like
weathered paint on a picket fence or a barn become
its own subject when struck by directional light that emphasizes its texture.
When using natural light like the sun, we obviously cant move it from one place to another. But photogra-
phers can train themselves to look for opportunities when the lighting brings out the most in a subject, and
(as discussed elsewhere in these shooting tips) to recognize a potentially great subject and come back to
it at a different time. Finally, even though a photographer cant move the sun, he or she can often move the
camera, and this can change the effective direction of light striking a subject.
Even with a totally white body, the texture of these birds
feathers becomes evident when struck by side-lighting
from late afternoon sun.
Art Wolfe
Use side-light to emphasize texture
Look at subjects and understand surface texture
As photographers, its often easy for our eyes to be grabbed by extremely bright, colorful subjects. And its
likewise easy for us to be instantly attracted to things everyone knows landmarks like the Eiffel Tower or
the Taj Mahal, or majestic subjects like an eagle in ight. But in many cases, theres more to a great image
than just a magnicent subject.
When we get a tack-sharp image where the lighting brushes against the subject from one side, we some-
times can almost feel the surface of the subject as we look at it. It can be the brick facing of a building, the
weathered skin of an older persons face in a portrait, or the ne details in a birds feathers. Its texture, and
capturing it in a picture is a remarkable capability of the camera that we sometimes have to learn to take
advantage of.
Part of the message to photographers is once again
simply learning to see not only whats in front of you,
but how the light impacts it. Beauty is often in what
lighting brings out in a subject or its background.
And one of these elements is the surface texture
thats a part of many subjects. Light can only do this
if it strikes the surface from an angle from the
side, top, or below. If the sun is directly behind the
camera, shining straight into the subject, little or no
surface texture will be readily apparent in a nished
picture. Likewise, if a subject is back-lit (that is, the
sun or light source is behind the subject, shining to-
ward the camera lens), the surface of the subject is
largely or entirely in shadow, and again its hard to
discern texture in a nished picture.
Finally, the so-called quality of light impacts this as
well. One reason traditional portrait photographers
are so fond of hazy or overcast days outdoors is that the soft light produces gentle shadows that dont em-
phasize blemishes or wrinkles in a persons skin. That weathered barn door with texture that looks spectacu-
lar in late-afternoon sunlight may seem very ordinary on a cloudy day, with its much softer light. Crisp, hard
light tends to emphasize surface texture much more than soft light.
So hard light, striking the surface of a subject from the side is the primary thing youre looking for to enhance
texture in a subject. Early morning or late afternoon sun is a natural for this type of shooting, and its yet
another reason pros like Art Wolfe love these times of day.
Rudy Winston
The old, weathered basketball backboard and its texture
becomes the primary subject in this image, taken in bright
early morning sunlight.
Rudy Winston
Camera settings can help, too
Once you learn to recognize opportunities to use side-lighting to emphasize the texture in a subject, youll
want to take best advantage of it. How your camera is set can make a difference here. Its another example
of how you can sometimes get good results in the fully-automatic green zone setting on your camera, but
if you take the time to learn your cameras features, you can often get even better results that are truly tai-
lored to the situation at hand.
First and foremost, when you have a textured subject thats beautifully side-lit, you want to emphasize it
with sharpness. That means putting your focus right on that surface or, one part of that surface that
you most want to call attention to. Rather than leaving your autofocus system in a totally auto setting that
selects a focus point for you, heres a time to manually select one AF point, and use it to nail the focus
right where you want it. It can be the center AF point, or one of the outer points, if thats better suited to the
composition in the scene. Either way, by putting the sharpest plane of focus right where the surface texture
is, rather than perhaps slightly in front of it or behind it, youre sure to maximize its impact.
Furthermore, your choice of lens aperture can make
a big difference here, too. Theres never any one
best setting for all conditions, but if youre shooting
a sunlit subject thats side-lit, and trying to maximize
the ne details and texture in it, youre often going to
get your best results by stopping-down the aperture
at least a stop or two, and possibly more if youre try-
ing to get extensive depth-of-eld. All lenses tend to
get sharper when the aperture is closed down a few
stops from the widest opening, and this can really
make that peeling paint on an old wall seem abso-
lutely tack-sharp. In other words, instead of shoot-
ing a picture of a textured subject at a wide aper-
ture like f/4, try something like f/8 or f11. (Obviously,
you have to weigh and assess each situation, and
balance the benets of a smaller aperture against
any possible problems of resulting slower shutter
speeds. Photography is often an art of nding the
best compromise!)
Finally, there are settings like ISO and White Balance to consider. Even with the superb performance of
late-model digital SLRs at higher ISO settings, youll still tend to get the nest detail at lower settings, so use
them when the lights bright enough to permit it. Usually, in late afternoon or early morning sunlight, using
ISO 100 or 200 isnt a problem with non-moving subjects. And dont get carried away with your in-camera
sharpening settings: even though were talking about getting the sharpest possible texture detail here, set-
ting electronic sharpening too high usually results in unusual artifacts and sometimes even halos around
light or dark parts of a subject. Each user should experiment with his or her system to see the impact of
in-camera sharpening, but our general warning here is not to assume that maximum electronic sharpening
always means the best picture quality.
Aperture choice can enhance a shot where youre trying to
emphasize a subjects texture. Here, f/22 was used with a wide-
angle lens close to the subject, to maximize depth-of-eld.
Rudy Winston
Summary
Once again, theres no more important tool in the
photographers bag than awareness. Being aware
of what light can bring out in a subject, and being
ready to shoot pictures when you see the oppor-
tunity, is Job One for the photographer looking to
improve his or her skills. Not every photograph and
every scene presents the chance to capture a sub-
jects texture, and some subjects dont even really
have a discernable texture. But when the subject
does, and the lighting is right, theres a potential-
ly great picture waiting to be taken. See it, set the
camera, and shoot it!
Sometimes, side-lighting can make a surfaces texture so visible
in a picture that you almost want to reach out and touch it.
Late afternoon sunlight did the trick here.
Rudy Winston
For many of us, photographs of people represent
the majority of the images we take in the course of
a year. Whether youre traveling to exotic locales
or simply photographing friends, family and events,
getting effective pictures of people is a frequent
task. And feeling that your pictures are transitioning
from snapshots to real portraits is a big part of the
development of any photographer.
Theres no one best lens for shooting great pictures
of people, but there certainly are many choices. Well
examine some of them here, and discuss which ones
might give you an edge the next time youre looking
for strong pictures of human subjects.
Lenses for portraits
Whether you shoot in exotic locations, or simply photograph
friends and family, great portraits are something nearly all pho-
tographers want to shoot consistently. A wide variety of lenses for
SLRs open many new visual possibilities in portraits.
Art Wolfe
The basics: traditional portrait-length telephoto lenses
For years, professional photographers have relied
upon lenses that are slightly longer than a stan-
dard lens for classic portrait shooting. With 35mm
SLRs and full-frame digital SLR cameras, this typi-
cally has meant lenses like an 85mm, or perhaps
100mm lens.
With the apparent lens conversion factor on many
of todays digital SLRs, youd get the equivalent lens
coverage at focal lengths such as 55mm or 65mm.
Of course, this isnt to say that these are the only
lens focal lengths that are appropriate to portrait
shooting (as well see in a few moments). But when
someone speaks of traditional portrait lenses, this
is usually what he or she has in mind.
In his Tips video, you see Art Wolfe photographing a woman and using a 24-70mm zoom lens. On Arts
full-frame EOS-1Ds Mark III camera, this gives a range from wide-angle to very short telephoto, but when
working close to his subject, its 50mm through 70mm settings can be a very appropriate choice that has
the benet of giving a natural perspective to the backgrounds without exaggerating the subject itself.
Especially if you like to interact with portrait subjects, a standard
or short telephoto lens can be ideal. Here, Art Wolfe uses
a 24-70mm lens with a full-frame camera.
Start with the lenses you own now
If youre looking to expand your portrait shooting,
you can probably start with the lenses you now
own. A typical standard zoom lens, like the popular
18-55mm, 17-85mm or similar zooms for most of
todays digital cameras, gives you the kind of mild
telephoto power at its maximum zoom setting that
works well for classic head-and-shoulders portrai-
ture. And if you own a lightweight telephoto zoom
lens, like a 50-200mm or 70-300mm, youve got a
lens that will work effectively in many outdoor con-
ditions. Their added telephoto power makes them
great for candid type shooting, and also for back-
grounds with a compressed and/or strongly blurred
telephoto effect.
Practice with lenses like these, and get a sense not
only of the lenss capabilities, but about your own
preferences when it comes to portrait shooting.
Photographers who like to interact with their sub-
ject, as we see Art Wolfe doing in the Tips video,
may well gravitate toward lenses with very mild
telephoto settings after all, they dont force the camera to be far from the subject. If you prefer to portray
your subjects in a natural, candid sort of style, on the other hand, you may be attracted to a longer lenss
abilitiy to get a tight shot while the camera is backed-off from the subject.
Its a simple and unassuming standard zoom, but lenses like this
18-55mm lens for digital SLRs have wide-angle to short telephoto
capability in a lightweight package. Most SLR owners start with
lenses like these, and theyre a great way to begin expanding the
boundaries in your portrait photography.
Wide-angle lenses for portraits
Classic portrait shooters often avoid wide-angle
lenses for head-and-shoulders pictures of people,
partly because at close distances, they tend to dis-
tort facial features. But back off a little bit, and a
wide-angle lens suddenly becomes a powerful tool
that places a subject in his or her environment. Re-
member: wide-angle lenses tend to include more of
the background in a scene, and tend to emphasize
subjects that are closer to the camera. Magazines
such as National Geographic have for years used
the power of wide-angle lenses in portraits of peo-
ple on location, and theres a lot to be learned from
this style of shooting.
Wide-angle lenses add a new dimension to portraits, by allowing
the subjects environment to be seen and contribute to the overall
picture. Here, a 16-35mm ultra-wide zoom was used on Canons
EOS-1D Mark III camera
Rudy Winston
Additional lenses to consider for portraits
Even if you own a nice standard zoom lens and perhaps a telephoto zoom as well, there are additional
lenses that sometimes can be the icing on the cake for portraits and candid photos of people. These can be
potential great additions to your system, whether youre a travel shooter, a wedding photographer, or simply
a camera enthusiast.
Keep in mind that lenses such as those below dont replace the popular lenses most people start out with.
Instead, they add to what you can do with your camera. Many different camera manufacturers offer lenses
in their line-up similar to these, so check your camera makers web site to see whats available.
Fast telephoto lenses:
The following are examples of lenses that let a tremendous amount of light into the camera, making them
ideal for low-light shooting. Additionally, when used at their wide apertures, they usually do a beautiful job
of throwing backgrounds artfully out of focus.
85mm f/1.8, 100mm f/2.0 (or similar)
With a full-frame camera, these are classic, mild telephoto lenses that let noticeably more light into the
camera than zoom lenses. Theyre typically very sharp, and also relatively light and compact a great
addition to a zoom lens for low light scenes as well as portraits. When used on cameras with smaller APS-
C size sensors (that is, most digital SLRs on the market today), the typical lens conversion factor means
that they now act like a more powerful mid-range telephoto lens. A compact and affordable 85mm f/1.8
lens behaves like a 135mm f/1.8 lens when mounted on an EOS Rebel or EOS 40D/50D camera, making
it great for available-light candids and outdoor portraits.
135mm f/2.0
A longer and typically superb lens optically. Great choice for available-light candid shooting of weddings
or other indoor events, and beautiful for outdoor portraits with its ability to throw backgrounds out of focus.
Much more light gathering than typical zooms; a full stop faster than professional f/2.8 zoom lenses. With
APS-C sensor cameras, theyre probably too powerful for the type of portraits you see Art Wolfe shooting
in his video (youd be way back from the subject), but excellent for candid shooting indoors or outdoors,
and even for indoor sports like basketball or gymnastics.
Again, a standard zoom lens such as those mentioned above, or Arts 24-70mm (on a full-frame digital
camera) can be an excellent starting point for this type of work.
Macro lenses: 60mm f/2.8, 100mm f/2.8
Macro lenses arent just for extreme close-ups.
One of the most versatile tools in the photogra-
phers arsenal, a 60mm lens (on an APS-C sen-
sor digital camera, such as an EOS 40D/50D) or
a 100mm macro lens (on a full-frame digital SLR)
gives classic portrait focal length, with very good
f/2.8 maximum aperture (usually) that makes it
practical in available-light shots as well as out-
doors. Very sharp, and of course, you can also
use them for superb macro shots of small objects.
Since they focus to innity, they can be used for
many things besides coins or insects!
Longer telephoto lenses
One of the beauties of xed focal length telephoto
lenses (that is, lenses that dont zoom) is that they
tend to (a) let a lot of light into the camera, and
(b) tend to be razor-sharp. Especially if you like
to shoot outdoor portraits with blurred-out back-
grounds, consider a lens like a 180mm or 200mm f/2.8, a 300mm f/4, or sometimes even longer lenses.
High-speed standard lenses:
Were speaking of the traditional 50mm standard
lens here. Theyre invariably compact, yet with very
wide apertures that make them super if you need
to shoot in low light. Most camera makers offer at
least one such lens. Canon offers three: a 50mm
f/1.8; 50mm f/1.4; and professional L-series 50mm
f/1.2L lens. With full-frame cameras, they provide a
very realistic, natural perspective (not a telephoto
look); if the same lens is used on a small-sensor
camera such as an EOS digital Rebel or EOS 50D,
the lens acts like a short telephoto of roughly 80mm
or so. With these cameras, standard lenses make a
great rst portrait lens. Canons EF 50mm f/1.8, in
particular, is noteworthy for its incredibly affordable
price, as well as compact and lightweight design.
Wide-aperture telephotos like the 135mm f/2.0L (used in this im-
age) are brilliant choices for available-light portraits. With APS-C
sensor cameras, the 85mm lens actually gives a eld of view
similar to what a 135mm delivers on a full-frame camera.
Rudy Winston
The traditional 50mm standard lens offers outstanding wide ap-
ertures for low-light shooting, and with small-sensor digital SLRs,
acts like an 80mm short telephoto lens. Especially with these
cameras, theyre ideal for portraits.
Wide-angle lenses:
Put a wide-angle lens on your camera, place a portrait subject a bit off-center with an interesting back-
ground, and youve suddenly entered a whole new realm of portrait photography. The wider a lens is
(that is, the lower its focal-length millimeter numbers), the more of the environment it tends to include.
35mm f/2 or f/1.4
With full-frame digital cameras such as Art Wolfes EOS-1Ds Mark III, these give very modest wide-angle
views, but let a lot of light into the camera and usually are very sharp as well. Their wide apertures once
again set them apart from zoom lenses. With more common digital SLRs, for example a Canon EOS
digital Rebel or mid-range EOS 50D, the apparent increase in focal length means they act very much
like a traditional standard lens sometimes just whats needed for a classic indoor portrait, especially in
available light.
24mm wide-angle lenses
With a full-frame camera such as Arts Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, or an EOS 5D-series model, a 24mm
toes the line between manageable wide-angle yet retaining a super-strong wide-angle appearance in
images. Its terric for environmental portraits. Canon has just introduced a revised version of its profes-
sional 24mm f/1.4L lens, which offers not only great quality but an unmatched wide lens aperture for avail-
able-light shooting. Keep in mind that with most digital cameras using smaller imaging sensors, a 24mm
lens gives a eld of view thats much less wide (about 35-38mm equivalent).
Ultra-wide zoom
Art Wolfes full-frame camera has a 24-70mm
lens mounted on it, and 24mm gives broad wide-
angle coverage. But its nothing compared to the
versatility of a true ultra-wide angle zoom lens.
For full-frame cameras, a lens like a 17-40mm f/4
or 16-35mm f/2.8 (or similar) covers nearly any
wide-angle application, and allows the occasional
portrait with extreme wide-angle coverage of the
background. Less-expensive digital SLRs with
smaller imaging sensors can get equivalent cover-
age with a dedicated wide zoom like a 10-22mm,
or 12-24mm (or similar) lens. Even if its not a fast
f/2.8 lens, these can be outstanding lenses for
travel, and their ability to take a great environmen-
tal portrait only adds to their abilities.
Whether through a xed-focal length wide lens, or an ultra-wide
zoom, dont ignore the possibilities for portraits that exist when
you compose a person slightly off-center and include a lot of
background information.
Rudy Winston
Pro-grade telephoto zooms:
Many photo enthusiasts own compact and lightweight zoom lenses, such as the afore-mentioned 55-
200mm or 70-300mm tele zooms. Theyre affordable, lightweight and relatively compact, and very versatile
for outdoor applications. But you may feel like you want the same characteristics in a more professional
package. Enter todays top-of-the-line zooms, so frequently used by pros. Here are a few examples that
are great for portraits:
70-200mm f/2.8
Perhaps the most popular of the high-end zoom
lenses, covering a very useful range of focal lengths
with a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture. Theyre
equally at home in low light without ash as outdoors.
As pro-grade lenses, theyre very sharp and dura-
bly constructed (and thus, tend to be rather heavy).
Great for many, many portrait applications.
70-200mm f/4
Same type of zoom range, but well mention it sep-
arately since its so much lighter and more com-
pact than the f/2.8 pro versions. Canon has two
models for EOS cameras: with and without Image
Stabilization in the lens. Theyre a stop slower (in
other words, they let in less light) than the popular
f/2.8 zooms, but are outstanding for outdoor por-
traits. Again, as pro-grade lenses, theyre super-
sharp, and have all-metal barrel construction.
The professional-grade 70-200mm lens has long been a versatile
favorite of pros for portrait shooting. The 70-200mm f/2.8 was
used here at f/4, and slightly zoomed out to include a childrens
climbing structure as a background element.
Rudy Winston
Summary
There are many, many options in a modern digital SLR when it comes to lenses well-suited to portraits of peo-
ple. Its certainly not necessary to invest thousands of dollars into many different lenses for this purpose. As
we noted at the beginning, the standard zoom lenses most enthusiasts own are an excellent starting point.
But by venturing out into something compact, lightweight, sharp and with a wide aperture (such as an
85mm f/1.8, or a 50mm f/1.8 lens), you open the door to a new shooting experience: very selective focus
options, beautifully blurred backgrounds, and a lens that can be used without fear and without ash even in
dimly-lit areas.
Finally, always remember that many lenses, including some not traditionally considered as portrait optics,
can make beautiful portrait shots. Macro lenses and wide-angle lenses are only two examples. Owning an
SLR camera means freedom of choice, and most current digital cameras offer an abundance of that when
it comes to lenses.
There are few stronger examples of the innite variety of picture possibilities than we see in portraits
of people. Strictly in terms of the different ways a subject can be framed, illuminated and photographed,
theres almost no limit to the types of images we can come up with using our cameras.
In Art Wolfes brief video tip about shooting portraits in West Africa, we get a quick insight into this. Art
shoots a variety of shots of his subject some tighter composition, some including more background, and
so on. In fact, even though we dont see it in the video, he later moved behind the lady and photographed
her through the back of the building shes standing against, photographing her in silhouette.
When you shoot pictures of people, whether its shots of your own family or pictures youre taking when you
travel, variety is an important goal. Well examine some of the possibilities in this article.
Variety is the spice of life
For starters, take more than one picture!
Many times, when a photographer asks someone to hold still for a picture, the tendency is to take a single
picture, drop the camera and thank them. One of the rst things a good photographer does is multiply his
or her odds of a great expression or a great image by taking more than a single picture. Remember: most
people we photograph never think were going to take the second picture. By doing so, youll often get a
different and sometimes more natural expression than the stify-posed rst shot often provides.
This applies when taking candid pictures as well. Its often preferable to get pictures of people engaged in
a task, appearing natural and not openly staring into the camera. But take more than one picture. Shoot-
ing several (or more) pictures also gives you insurance in case a person blinks their eyes, or if a person is
talking and your rst shot captures an odd expression as theyre speaking. Get a variety of shots, whether
its your child at play or a worker at an assembly line. The more pictures you take, the more chances you
have of a real keeper.
People never think youre going to take a second or third picture. When you do, you often end up with a
different expression than you had for the rst shot!
Rudy Winston
Remember the hands!
Three things grab our attention in photographs
of people: the eyes, the mouth, and the hands.
If youve backed the camera off a bit and include
a persons arms and hands in a picture, become
aware of what the hands are doing. In posed pic-
tures, move them occasionally to provide some vi-
sual variety. And if youre shooting candid-style pic-
tures, watch how a person uses his or her hands.
Whether its a speaker at a podium, a person talking
to a friend, or your child playing with a toy, the hands
say a lot to the viewer of your pictures. When you
try for a variety of facial expressions, backgrounds
and so on, remember that what a person does with
his or her hands can provide visual variety, too.
In portraits, the hands can say as much about the person as
a subjects eyes can. Learn to watch a persons hands and be
ready when an opportunity presents itself.
Rudy Winston
Think about the lighting
You can use lighting to get a variety of different types of portraits of people in many cases. Even if youre
relying on natural light, you can move a portrait subject so that for some pictures, he or she is being front-lit,
and then move to the other side of them, have them turn around, and shoot them back-lit for a very different
type of image. If youre shooting indoors, you can shoot a subject near a window and have them lit primar-
ily by window light, and then ask them to step away from the window, raise your cameras ISO setting,
and take a totally different type of shot using strictly room lighting. Or, you might use bounce-ash for one
picture, and then turn the ash off and rely on natural ambient light or window light for a second picture.
By changing lighting, you can quickly create numerous different images of portrait subjects, and often in a
short period of time. You give yourself more choices of a good picture to work with, and increase the odds
that youll get that ideal combination of a great expression, great background, and great lighting. Sure,
sometimes you may need to shoot head-shots where its preferable for a consistent composition in each
one. But in many instances (photographing a wedding is one possible example), by going for variety in your
portraits of people, you increase the chances of impressing your viewers and yourself as well.
Work with different backgrounds
Sometimes, a modest change in camera position and asking a subject to turn slightly can totally change
the background from one picture to the next. For example, with a telephoto lens outdoors, one moment you
may have a blurred building in a background, and with a slight camera move, the next shot may now have
trees or an open eld in the background. If you have several minutes to work with a portrait subject, dont
hesitate to photograph them in several different locations to vary the background. The environment thats
visible behind the subject can sometimes say as much about the person as the subjects face does.
Changing lenses, or zooming from telephoto to wide (or vice-versa) with a zoom lens, can totally change
whats happening with backgrounds as well. One moment you can have a portrait thats got a wide expanse
of environment visible, and the next moment, weve got a tightly-composed portrait with a blurred-out back-
ground that rivets the viewers attention on the subject.
Dont compose all your pictures the same!
You can start in the quest for variety in your pictures
of people by making a conscious effort to vary your
compositions. Portraits dont always have to have a
centered head, and the same head-and-shoulders
or waist-up composition. Try zooming in for a tight
head shot when the lighting, camera angle, and
subjects expression come together. Try backing off
a little and moving a person slightly off-center to in-
clude more of their surroundings for a great environ-
mental portrait. Learn to think about different ways
to take that picture, instead of trying to be locked-in
to one way of doing it.
One starting point is basic horizontal or vertical cam-
era composition. In many cases, since we usually
photograph people when theyre standing upright,
its more effective use of the frame to shoot vertical portraits. Theres nothing wrong with turning the cam-
era 90 degrees in fact, the popular battery grip accessories for many cameras provide a vertical shutter
button to facilitate vertical photography. Whether your camera has a second shutter button for verticals or
not, learn to compose portraits vertically as well as horizontally.
Even when youre looking at pictures in a magazine, stop and ask yourself if you were taking these pic-
tures, what other ways could the person in the photo have been photographed? By training yourself to think
about the possibilities, it becomes a lot easier to apply them when you are taking pictures.
Portraits dont all have to be standard head-and-shoulders com-
position. Here, a 135mm f/2L lens was used near the subject,
for a tight composition that forces the viewers attention to the
subjects eyes and expression.
Rudy Winston
Summary
Weve only scratched the surface here, but the visual variety thats possible when taking portraits of people
is almost innite. The important thing for photographers is to nd a comfort zone between developing your
own photographic style while at the same time not having all your people pictures appear the same. Its
more than just a quick change from a serious expression to a smile. Weve touched on some variables that
are usually easy for photographers to apply, and no doubt youll think of your own. Nearly all the things
were speaking of are easy to apply: moving slightly, using different ranges of your zoom lens, asking sub-
jects to move from one type of lighting to another, or even just turning the camera from horizontal to vertical.
Learn to explore the possibilities, and youll be ready when a great subject like Arts portrait of the lady in
West Africa is in front of your camera.
There are many ways for photographers to incorporate visual variety in photographs of people.
Keep your eyes and your mind open to the possibilities, and dont be afraid to ask a person to
continue to pose as you incorporate different things to change the look of your shots.
Art Wolfe
Occasionally when traveling, were presented with opportunities similar to that Art Wolfe encountered
when shooting a horse tournament in West Africa. What makes this type of shooting different than typi-
cal travel photography is that it involves shooting moving subjects. Todays autofocus SLR cameras are
equipped to handle these situations, but a few points will help insure that you get the most out of these
action sequences when the opportunity arises.
Using AI Servo AF for moving subjects
Set the camera to the right focus mode
Its fundamental, but understanding your cameras different AF modes, and the times when its best to use
one or the other, is a critical point in getting the most out of your photography. Virtually all AF systems to
date in interchangeable-lens SLR cameras offer at least two choices. With a Canon EOS digital SLR such
as Art Wolfe is using, they are:
One-Shot AF mode camera expects a stationary, non-moving subject, and locks focus upon subject if
you keep the button depressed.
AI Servo AF mode camera expects to continually focus-track a moving subject; AF will continually up-
date as long as button is depressed. This is what Art Wolfe refers to in his Tips video as follow focus.
Clearly, to get the best results in a situation with
moving subjects, you have to have your camera in
AI Servo AF mode. (Please note that other brands
of SLR cameras have similar settings, but may have
names like single and continuous AF, or similar.)
You absolutely cannot have the camera in the One-
Shot AF mode, and take a sequence of pictures of
moving subjects like these horses and expect the
sequence to be sharp. The camera would lock fo-
cus in one setting if you were lucky, one of your
shots would be sharp!
Youll also see a mode on some Canon models
called AI Focus AF. Basically, this automatically
chooses between One-Shot AF and AI Servo AF
mode for you. Each time you take a shot, the sys-
tem asks itself whether the subject is moving or stationary. But this takes a little time, and in challenging
situations, this delay can be a problem. Our suggestion: if you know your subject is moving, just set it to AI
Servo AF or your camera models equivalent. Youll get best responsiveness and speed there.
With challenging, fast-moving subjects, youll always get best per-
formance by setting your camera appropriately. It starts with using
the right AF mode: AI Servo AF with Canon EOS models.
Art Wolfe
One important note: Art Wolfe refers specically to setting his camera so that AF is activated by a rear but-
ton. This is a totally optional setting sometimes called Back Button AF, and is not discussed in this article.
Drive mode vs. AF mode theyre not the same!
Virtually all of todays digital SLR cameras let you shoot continuous pictures, one right after the other, as
long as you keep the shutter button fully depressed. An affordable, entry-level camera like a Canon EOS
Rebel model might let you shoot up to 3 frames per second when set to continuous advance; some top-of-
the-line pro models can shoot as fast as ten frames per second.
Regardless, the frames-per-second speed is totally separate from how your AF system is set. For a sce-
nario like the horse event that Art Wolfe is shooting, it makes perfect sense to combine AI Servo AF (con-
tinuous autofocus) with Continuous advance (sequential shooting). But just be aware that you can use
continuous advance with non-moving subjects in One-Shot AF mode; likewise, its possible to take single
shots of moving subjects (camera in AI Servo AF mode, and single-frame advance).
With Canon EOS cameras, dont confuse the term One-Shot AF mode to mean that you can only take
one picture. Its strictly referring to the AF system locking onto a stationary subject, like a tree, building,
mountain, or a person standing perfectly still. The cameras drive settings, which are totally independent of
focus, dictate whether we shoot a single picture, or take a sequence of continuous shots.
Its the combination of AI Servo AF mode and Continuous drive mode that allows sharp sequences of action subjects like these horses.
Each is set independently, and its important to know where the settings are on your camera.
Art Wolfe
Drive mode vs. AF mode theyre not the same!
Many digital SLRs have a position on the mode dial
called an Action or Sports mode, usually indicated
by an icon that looks something like a little athlete
in motion. With Canon EOS models, this is a totally
automatic setting that pre-sets the camera for shoot-
ing moving scenes like the horses Art Wolfe is
shooting in his Tips video.
For entry-level users, especially in non-demanding
conditions (small children running around, etc.), the
Sports mode is a simple and direct way of getting
a combination of settings that put you in position to
get good sequences of shots. However, it has some
limitations and compromises. For faster-moving
subjects, and for best possible performance, youll
get better results by taking the camera out of the
full-auto exposure modes and making the settings
for AF, Drive speed, Exposure mode and AF Point
selection yourself.
Many cameras offer a fully-automatic Sports or Action mode.
While its a useful starting point for beginners, youll usually get
best performance with action subjects by making
important settings yourself.
AF points and moving subjects
If you look into your cameras viewnder, youll see
numerous small black-lined boxes etched onto the
focus screen. These are the cameras AF points,
and its at these locations (and only here) that the
camera can read your subject and assess focus.
Since todays cameras have multiple AF points, its
important to have a basic understanding of how to
best set them for moving subjects. Most cameras,
including all Canon EOS models, can be set in one
of two ways:
Automatic AF point selection: all the AF points
on the screen are active, and the camera automati-
cally selects the AF point(s) to be used in each pic-
ture you take.
A critical aspect of controlling your camera is being in control of
which AF point(s) your camera uses, and when. The camera can
either automatically pick the active AF point for you, or you can
manually choose it yourself.
Manual AF point selection: the photographer
chooses ONE AF point, and keeps that aimed at the
subject, even if the subject is moving rapidly.
Automatic AF point selection sounds like it would be
the hot ticket here, but the plain fact is that youll get
faster focus tracking in AI Servo AF if you pre-set
ONE focus point and keep that solidly upon your
subject. Many pros start out manually selecting the
center-most AF point, but you can actually pick any
one. It can be especially useful to pick an AF point
that will be upon a detailed part of your subject, such
as over its face instead of a plain, non-detailed part
of that moving subject.
With Canon EOS digital SLRs, you select AF points
by rst being sure youre in a Creative Zone ex-
posure mode (P, Tv, Av, or Manual). Then, press
the small rear button on the top right of the camera
back, and turn either the top Main Dial or rear Quick
Control Dial (Rebel models use the rear 4-way con-
trol keys instead of a rear dial).
Look in the viewnder as you move the points
around. Any time you see ONE point illuminated,
youre manually selecting that particular AF point.
If all the AF points light up at once, or if you see a
ring of points light-up at once with an EOS-1D or
EOS-1Ds model, youre now in Automatic AF point
selection mode. Simply stop and tap the shutter but-
ton half-way when the point(s) you want are lit-up.
With other camera brands, the choices and selec-
tion procedure are essentially similar.
To change your active AF point, press the AF point select button
on the back of your camera, and then turn the appropriate dial (or
press the four rear control keys on EOS Rebel models).
With Canon EOS models, if you press the AF point select button
and turn the appropriate dial, youll navigate from one point lit at a
time (manual AF point select mode) to all points illuminated
(automatic AF point select mode).
Basic suggestions for action shooting:
This is not a list of hard-and-fast requirements, but
suggestions to get maximum performance when
you shoot fast-moving subjects with a digital SLR.
Obviously, users are free to experiment with other
settings. And if youve experienced success previ-
ously, keep doing what youve done before. But con-
sider some of the points in this article.
Exposure mode: Tv (pre-set a fast speed, such as
1/1000th second or faster if possible), Av (set a
wide aperture, and camera will automatically set
faster shutter speeds), or Manual (pre-set fast
speeds and usually fairly wide lens apertures)
ISO: Dont be shy here. With todays digital SLRs, outstanding quality is possible even at high ISO
settings. Use an ISO high enough to insure fast shutter speeds. Even in bright sun like Art Wolfe is shoot-
ing the horses in, ISO 200 or 400 would certainly be appropriate.
AF mode: AI Servo AF (or similar continuous AF with other camera brands).
AF point select mode: We suggest manually choosing one AF point preferably, one that can easily
be kept on a detailed part of your subject.
Drive mode: Continuous, or High Speed Continuous if your camera offers this.
Metering mode: With Canon EOS models, generally Evaluative metering mode will work ne. Use other
settings if you have a preference/reason for them.
If you set your camera appropriately, you increase your odds
signicantly for getting sequences of good, sharp action pictures.
By practicing now, youll be ready when opportunity knocks.
Under cloudy skies, color pictures tend to take on a slightly bluish-gray tint thats often not pleasing to
the human eye. This is no doubt a contributing reason that many photographers, from casual amateurs to
professionals, prefer to shoot in sunny conditions. Not only does the overall color have a cool blue tone,
but objects photographed under overcast skies sometimes lack a bit of the punch that we might otherwise
expect. Even bright-colored owers, cars, and other saturated subjects can appear a touch plain when
photographed on a cloudy day.
But one of the beauties of todays digital cameras is the built-in exibility they offer in ne-tuning color and
appearance of your images. Even if you prefer to shoot JPEGs in-camera, you still have a lot of control at
your ngertips. A willingness to leave the comfort of your cameras fully-automatic green zone exposure
settings and experiment a bit can pay huge dividends the next time you nd yourself on vacation and its
overcast for days on end.
Controlling color in overcast light
At your cameras standard settings, you may get somewhat at and uninspired results in overcast lighting. But with a few quick changes,
your camera can deliver much more lively results.
Rudy Winston
Overall color starts with White Balance
Dont let the term white balance scare you. Its the cameras way of adjusting its color response to give
you a neutral, non-tinted overall color in the scenes you photograph. Digital SLR cameras today have an
Automatic White Balance (AWB) setting, which reads the dominant light in each picture and tries to adjust
color to give a neutral result. They also have a number of pre-set white balance settings that lock-in a
particular correction, and are tuned for a particular type of light (sunlight, overcast, shade, uorescent, and
so on). Finally, many, but not all, cameras also offer a so-called Custom White Balance setting. This lets
you register a specic white balance for the exact lighting in a particular scene.
Automatic White Balance is a good starting point for many photographers, especially if youre just getting
used to a new digital camera. But if youve reached the point where occasionally you dont feel the overall
color is right, its time to look at your other options. That sort of pale blue look you sometimes see on cloudy
days outdoors is one example of where you can denitely do better with a little understanding of what op-
tions are available to you.
The pre-set White Balance settings
For pictures on overcast days, the easiest thing to consider is simply switching your white balance from
Auto to Cloudy. Usually, this is indicated by a little icon that looks like a cluster of clouds on your camera.
What happens is the camera now adds more amber-colored tone to your pictures, warming them up and
canceling the pale blue that often dominates pictures taken on an overcast day.
Different camera models will respond differently to changes in White Balance, so you need to try this for
yourself and see what differences you observe. An easy test is simply to photograph various subjects,
including people, on a cloudy day outdoors. You can shoot JPEG image les, and simply take a couple of
pictures of the same scene with the White Balance changed from Auto to Cloudy for each one. Examine
the pictures on your computer (dont rely on the cameras LCD monitor for critical evaluations of color or
sharpness!), or even better, print them out using the software and printer you normally use. Pictures taken
with the Cloudy White Balance setting should look noticeably warmer in overall color, and this is usually
pleasing to viewers eyes.
Most cameras also have a Shade White Balance setting. This is an even stronger way to warm-up color.
Its obviously useful in deep shade on sunny days. But if you nd that the Cloudy WB setting doesnt warm
things up enough for your tastes, try the Shade setting as an alternative.
Needless to say, remember after youre done shooting on an overcast day to return your cameras White
Balance settings back to Auto or whatever setting you typically use for everyday shooting. Shots taken in
sunlight will have a distinctly yellow-orange tint if your camera is set for Cloudy and even more so if its set
to the Shade WB setting.
The fundamental control you have over color in a digital camera is White Balance. Heres a cloudy-day street scene, showing the
difference between the cool colors of the Auto WB setting and how the Cloudy WB and Shade WB progressively warm-up the colors.
Rudy Winston
Shade WB Cloudy WB Auto WB
More control: White Balance Shift
Most recent Canon EOS digital cameras have an ad-
ditional control to further ne-tune the overall color in
your images. Its called White Balance Shift, and its
a command thats in the cameras shooting menu.
Some other brands and models of digital SLRs have
a similar menu command, although itll usually be
named differently.
White Balance Shift lets you take any existing White
Balance setting and further shift its color in any of
four ways: you can make the overall color more
amber, more blue, more magenta (pink/red color)
or more green. You can even mix two tones, such
as adding a touch more amber along with a bit of
magenta to really warm-up the color in certain light-
ing conditions. Canons White Balance Shift lets you
dial-in up to nine levels of additional color, in very
ne increments. So in the beginning, you may want
to experiment with larger amounts of shifted color to
see the impact itll have in your pictures.
In a scene like the deep forest that Art Wolfe encountered in New Zealand, for instance, White Balance Shift
could be moved in the green direction to actually enhance the colors of the trees and moss in the scene
hes shooting. Or, it could be shifted a bit in the amber and magenta direction to give a more neutral or even
warm look to the cool lighting.
To use this control, rst pick the general White Balance setting you want to use (Auto WB, Cloudy, and so
on). Then, you can go to the menu to call up the White Balance Shift function. On the graph that comes up,
use the cameras rear controls to dial-in the ne-tuning of color that you want. Remember: once you set this,
it remains in effect even if you later change the overall White Balance setting. So if you only want this ne-
tuning of color for cloudy days, remember to set it back to dead-center (zero) when youre done.
Once you make a White Balance setting, most digital SLR
cameras allow you to further ne-tune it. With Canon cameras,
this is done with the White Balance Shift command (above).
Rudy Winston
What if you shoot RAW images?
All the in-camera settings weve discussed so far assume youre shooting JPEG images in-camera. With
JPEG images (such as Large/Fine and so on), the image is entirely processed within the camera, and a
nished le is written to your memory card. Camera settings like White Balance are taken into account as
color is mapped-out.
If you shoot RAW les, you still make settings in the camera for things like White Balance and Canons Pic-
ture Style commands. But RAW les are not ready to view as full-resolution images when theyre written to
the cameras memory card. Instead, they must be processed into a nished image in your computer, using
RAW le processing software.
The key thing with RAW images is that you can totally revise settings like White Balance and even overall
exposure once youve got an image on-screen in your RAW processing software. RAW images denitely do
require more work, and theyre usually much larger les on the memory card. But on the ip side, they can
be a great learning tool. You can see on-screen at a glance how different WB settings would look, using the
same image. And any changes you make to a RAW le do not cause it to either lose quality or to lose the
original settings.
Other camera controls for overcast lighting
The at character of light on a cloudy day sometimes means you get pictures that just dont seem to have a
lot of visual snap. Again, digital cameras have a couple of controls you can use to alter this as well.
Contrast isnt really a color control, but the softer lighting on a cloudy day sometimes can be enlivened a bit
by adding a little contrast to the scene. With a Canon digital SLR, this is set within the cameras Picture Style
menu (virtually all other brands and models of digital SLRs have contrast controls as well, usually located
within the shooting menu). You usually dont want to be excessive here, but adding a step or two of contrast
will often give more of an appearance of sharpness and detail to cloudy-day pictures.
Another one is Color Saturation. On overcast days, subject colors tend to be a little more at and muted.
Sometimes, this is desirable. Skin tones in portraits, for example, are often better-rendered on a cloudy day
than they might be in bright sunlight. But if youre photographing a red re engine or a bright blue car, and
your cameras colors tend to be a little understated on cloudy days, consider going to your color saturation
command and moving it a notch or two in the plus direction.
Boosting color saturation doesnt change the color itself, but makes it deeper and richer. You usually dont
want this with skin tones, but in other cases, it can make subjects appear snappier and brighter.
Once again, with Canon most digital SLRs, the color saturation is part of the Picture Style menu (dial into
the menus Detail Settings to individually adjust contrast, color saturation, sharpening, or color tone). Some
cameras place this command under parameters or a similar image menu command. With RAW images,
you can still make these settings in-camera, but if you use your camera makers RAW processing software,
you can over-ride these settings pretty much at will once you get to your computer.
On cloudy days, boosting your cameras color saturation can sometimes add noticeable richness to colors like the green grass
and trees here. Usually, however, its not best for smooth skin tones, regardless of the lighting conditions.
Rudy Winston
Summary
Its well within the capability of even a basic entry-
level digital SLR to give you the color you want in
overcast light. But dont be stunned if you need to
make a few adjustments to really tailor it to your
tastes. White Balance is the primary way to change
the overall color of your scenes, and remember that
many cameras have a further method to ne-tune
color sort of like putting a little more salt on your
french fries. With Canons cameras, this is done with
the White Balance Shift menu command.
Even when white balance is perfect, you may still
get images on cloudy days that look a little at.
By boosting contrast and color saturation a notch
or two, you can add back some of the visual snap
that the cloudy skies tend to diminish. Dont go over-
board here, but remember that its an option you can
always turn to.
There are many picture-taking opportunities on cloudy days.
Understanding the characteristics of overcast light, and the con-
trols on your camera, can open the doors to great pictures even
when the sun isnt shining.
Rudy Winston
Maybe the most important advice is simply to experiment. As you learn the controls in your camera and what
they can do, youll be well on your way to getting the results you want, whether its clear and sunny outside,
or skies are dark and threatening.
Direct sunlight has a certain charm in pictures.
One of its attributes is something we spoke of in an
earlier Tips article: the way it can enhance the texture
of a subject and produce strong detail in images.
Sometimes, its easy to assume that in overcast con-
ditions, its not possible to capture these details, since
theyre not always as immediately apparent to our
naked eye. But as Art Wolfe points out, this isnt so.
In fact, shooting within a deeply wooded area, hes
able to capture incredible details in several scenes.
Actually, theres more information in the bright and
dark areas of most subjects when you shoot on an
overcast day, because theres a lot less contrast
dark shadows are less dark, and bright highlights are
less bright. Its easier for the camera to accurately
capture the range of tones in the scene.
Detail without strong contrast
With far fewer exposure problems from blown-out highlights or
black shadows, Art Wolfe is able to capture magnicent detail in
subjects like these tree branches in southern New Zealand.
Art Wolfe
Overcast light still has direction, and still casts shadows
Dont forget: on cloudy days, the light is still sun-
light. Its merely being ltered by a layer of clouds
that take up some or all of the visible sky. The sun
behind it still rises in the east, and sets in the west,
and light from overcast skies still preserves some
hint of direction. Depending upon conditions, light
from a cloudy sky can still have a directional char-
acter to it. Be ready to use this when its apparent.
Whenever light has a direction, it will cast shadows
in the same direction. Of course, these shadows
are very evident on a sunny day. But look careful-
ly at the scenes Art is photographing in these two
New Zealand Tips videos. Theres beautiful lighting
that wraps around the subjects and still preserves a
sense of an overhead direction. Theres moss that
looks almost like a blanket, but again its got tre-
mendous detail from the soft overcast lighting.
Learn to look at the subtle aspects of a subjects detail and texture, and youll begin to appreciate the
beauty of working in soft overcast lighting.
Light on cloudy days remains directional, and this is the key to
getting detail in subjects. Whether its the branches and moss that
Art Wolfe is shooting in a forest, or carvings on an old wooden
door, the directional character of overcast light makes it possible
to photograph detail.
Rudy Winston
Wrap-around lighting
When a pro photographer works in soft lighting,
youll sometimes hear them speak of how light
wraps around a subject. Soft lighting can come
from large studio lights, or it can come from the sky
on a hazy or overcast day.
Whats meant by this is that where direct light on a
subject ends, and a shadow begins to be cast, the
break between highlight and shadow is a smooth,
gentle transition from light to dark. On a clear sunny
day, youd get a very hard-edged shadow, and a
very sudden transition from light to dark.
In overcast conditions, light from the bright parts of
a subject continues to have a visible impact, even in
areas where we expect shadows to start. Example:
in Arts shots of the tree branches in New Zealand,
the shadow areas below the branches dont suddenly go black. Instead, the soft lighting means we can
see detail as our eyes move toward the bottom of each branch. The light from overhead wraps around
the round branches, giving a greater suggestion of the detail on their undersides.
Hand-in-hand with overcast light is what pros sometimes call
wrap-around lighting. It means light seems to roll around the
contour of a subject, beginning to illuminate the shadowed sides
and give more visual information there. In sunlight, youd have a
hard break where light ends and a dark shadow begins.
Art Wolfe
Seeing the subject and the light is the secret
Being able to articulate the things were speaking
about in this article is one key to being able to work
with different types of light. But the most important
skill any photographer can develop is simply to be-
come more and more aware of what theyre seeing,
both in terms of the subjects theyre looking at, and
how light is impacting those subjects. This is what
photography is really all about.
As mentioned before, this is something you can work
on every day, even when you dont have a camera
with you. Whether youre traveling to or from work,
looking at pictures in a magazine, or reviewing your
own images, each of these is an opportunity to look
more deeply at different subjects, and develop an
awareness of the effects of light and lighting. Overcast skies are an easy condition for photographers to
take for granted, but once again, they offer tremendous possibilities of their own.
Top-notch photography begins with an awareness of what youre
seeing, and being able to exploit the photographic possibilities
when a subject is lit a certain way. Good photographic vision is
an acquired skill, and the more you put it into practice, the more
picture opportunities youll see in the world around you.
Summary
Of course, texture in objects is more instantly visible when theyre being hit by sunlight on a clear day. But
with this come some compromises, and an overcast day is a great alternative for many sorts of images.
Whether you shoot landscapes, close-ups or portraits, the soft light of a cloudy sky still casts shadows,
and it still can etch out texture in the surfaces of subjects you shoot. But its a much more subtle type of
shadowing, and it gives a lot more detail in bright and dark parts of a scene.
As we said in our Tips article about the freedom and exibility of overcast light, a cloudy day can sometimes be
a reason to go out and shoot not an excuse to leave the camera packed away and avoid photography.
Many photographers would be a bit upset if they
traveled to a foreign location, only to nd that skies
were overcast for part or all of their trip. But to a pro
like Art Wolfe, cloudy skies arent a problem, theyre
an opportunity. He touches on some of the reasons
why in the two video tips accompanying this article,
but well take the liberty of expanding on them a bit.
The main take-away point is simple: dont leave the
camera at home or in the hotel room just because its
not sunny outdoors. Cloudy skies and the light they
produce can have a beauty all their own.
Overcast light: freedom and exibility
Cloudy skies present opportunities of their own to get great im-
ages, as Art Wolfe describes in the accompanying Tips video.
Contrast the number one problem of sunny days
A term you may hear digital photographers speak about is dynamic range. It refers to how much of a dif-
ference in brightness exists between the brightest part of a scene and the darkest part of the same scene.
No digital camera can see the range of brightness that the human eye can, and this can become a limita-
tion on bright, perfectly clear sunny days. You can properly expose a scene so that bright areas are not
washed-out, and discover that important areas in shadow are too dark to get any useful detail out of. What
youre seeing is excessive contrast.
With cloudy skies, this problem usually vanishes. The softer light tones-down the bright areas of a scene,
shadows are much softer and more diffused, and theres far more visible detail in those shadows, too.
Think of a scene in the woods, on a bright sunny day. Youd see spots of bright sunlight streaming through
the trees, mixed with very dark shadows. Its almost impossible in one picture to properly expose both
extremes. Now, look at the scenes in Art Wolfes two Tips videos: the scene is delicately lit, the shadows
arent too dark, and the overhead light thats ltering through the trees is smooth and not too bright.
In bright sun, it can be hard to capture detail in the bright highlight
areas of a scene and at the same time have good detail in the dark
shadow areas. In this example, the two buildings in the sun-lit scene
do retain detail barely.
Rudy Winston
Same type of scene, but on an overcast day. Theres detail in the
bright areas of the sky, in the white building on the right, and even
in the shadows on the faces of both buildings. Overcast light makes
many scenes simpler and easier to photograph and expose properly.
Rudy Winston
Overcast skies mean smooth, soft shadows
We get much of our visual information in a picture from the mix of light and shadow in an image. Obvi-
ously, shadows on an overcast day have a different appearance: their edges are soft, almost feathered
and gradually transition from the dark part of the shadow area to the brighter part thats directly lit. This
smoothness comes from the diffused, cloudy light. One small light source (the sun) casts sharp shadows
on a clear day; on an overcast day, the entire sky becomes your light source, and the shadows produced
have much smoother edges.
For years, photographers who shoot portraits outdoors have preferred hazy or overcast skies to bright
sunny conditions, and this is part of the reason why. Were certainly not saying you cannot shoot nice pic-
tures in sunlight. But the softer light of an overcast day minimizes many of the hurdles photographers have
to jump through in getting great pictures of people, products, or scenes.
Same person, but a huge difference in overall look of the picture when one is shot in bright sunlight and another on an overcast day. The
soft shadows of overcast skies make it much easier to get good portraits of people, and theres more freedom in moving the
subject and/or camera.
Rudy Winston
Fewer blown-out bright highlights
Along with kinder, gentler shadows, overcast skies
work similar magic to bright highlight areas of a
scene. First, lets be clear: we mean areas struck
by direct light from the sky above, which are either
light in color to begin with, or appear light from the
direct light hitting them.
With digital cameras, its vital that these bright areas
not be over-exposed and washed out in the nished
picture. Whether youre shooting in sunlight or any
other condition, if bright areas are over-exposed,
theres nothing that you can do in a program such
as Adobe Photoshop to bring back detail in them
later on. Photographers have been forced to pay
rigorous attention to exposure levels, and check
after shots are taken that bright areas are not too
bright to hold detail. This is the reason most digital
cameras have an option to show blinking, over-ex-
posed highlight areas on the cameras LCD monitor
when youre playing-back images.
Highlights are the bright areas of a scene that are directly lit by
the main light source. On a clear sunny day, its absolutely man-
datory that these areas not be allowed to be over-exposed.
The softer light of an overcast sky makes this type of picture
much easier to shoot with less risk of blown-out highlights.
Rudy Winston
On a hazy or cloudy day, these areas are much less harshly-lit, and much easier for the cameras exposure
system to record without washing-out and losing detail. A wedding photographer cant control the weather,
of course, but many pros shooting an outdoor wedding will smile inside when they see skies are overcast
compared to perfectly clear. Why? Its a lot easier to get good shots of a brides white wedding dress, hold-
ing in all the ne detail, on a cloudy day than it is in bright sunlight. Faces in portraits and group photos tend
to be lit much more smoothly as well!
Freedom in where you aim the camera
On a clear, sunny day, the direction in which you aim your lens can make a great difference in the appear-
ance of your subjects. The hard shadows of a sunny day mean you absolutely have to be aware of the
impact of sunlight on your subject, and if you move around your subject, youll nd the look changes and
in many cases, your exposure will need to change as well. Perfect example: a simple shot of a person on a
sunny day. Theres a huge difference in a front-lit subject (sun striking the subject directly, from behind the
camera) vs. a back-lit subject (sun shining toward camera, from behind the subject).
On a cloudy day, these differences are minimized or in some cases totally eliminated. The much softer
shadows are a lot closer in brightness to the areas hit by light from the sky, and moving around a subject
has much less impact on the look of your scene. Youll get similar results in many cases whether you shoot
your house from the front yard or from the back yard. On a sunny day, youd end up with two totally different
pictures, assuming you shot both at the same time of day.
This can make a huge difference to a travel photographer. Were not always at liberty to simply return to
a subject at sunset or sunrise, when sunlight might be at its best for a given scene. If its overcast, time of
day has less impact on light and shadow, and you can shoot pictures with less concern about lighting.
In sunlight, where the camera is aimed makes a huge difference because of changes in how light and shadow hit the subject. Here are
three images front-lit, side-lit, and back-lit. On an overcast day, the differences would be far less
Rudy Winston
Summary
Its certainly true that under overcast skies, bright colors may look a little less brilliant, and that tropical
beach scene may not look like it did on the web site or post cards. But it brings with it its own attractions,
and in many ways makes it easier to get good pictures with less need to bracket exposures or take careful
spot-meter readings before shooting. Even under heavy overcast skies, the light usually retains a direction-
al look, but with a far softer edge than youd see in sunlight. Soft shadows are much more portrait-friendly,
and furthermore its much easier to move the subject or camera position without fear that youll now have
a subject thats totally in shadows or looking directly into harsh sun.
We said it before, and well say it again: dont let overcast skies cause you to take fewer pictures, or even
worse leave the camera in the hotel room or at home. Youll be missing out on some great opportunities.
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Once a rare feature, Image Stabilization is now
something that most digital SLR users can take
advantage of in one form or another. Whether your
camera puts the stabilizing devices in the lens, as
Art Wolfes Canon EOS system does, or within the
camera body, the fact is that this technology can de-
liver consistently better pictures in many conditions.
As Art emphatically says at the end of his brief Tips
video on Image Stabilization, it further enhances
my chances of getting a sharp shot and thats
what Im all about.
In this article, well briefy explore some of the real-
life situations where Image Stabilization can be a
direct beneft.
The many benefts of image stabilization
Brief review: what is image stabilization?
Image stabilization is a camera technology that allows the camera/lens combination to recognize any
shake or camera movement, and instantly apply a compensation to cancel the effect of that movement.
The net result is that even if a camera and lens are not being held steadily, sharp pictures will still be pos-
sible in many conditions, and often, at shutter speeds that are slower than would otherwise be possible.
Image stabilization may be called different names by various camera makers, but regardless, the general
concept is the same.
One important thing to remember: image stabilization reads and reacts to camera movement. It cannot
do anything to change how subject movement is rendered. In other words, its well-known that fast shutter
speeds are needed for sharp pictures of fast-moving subjects, like race cars or athletes in motion. With or
without image stabilization, for sharp action pictures, youll still need those same fast shutter speeds.
Subjects in deep shade arent the only scenes that can ben-
eft from image stabilization, as well explore in this article. But
with stabilization turned on, Art is able to work at slower shutter
speeds, and doesnt need to raise his ISO setting as much as he
otherwise might.
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Low-light shooting, without fash or tripod
This is the obvious beneft of image stabilization.
With IS active, youll be much more likely to shoot
sharp pictures, hand-held, in low-light conditions
where youd otherwise be very challenged to get
good sharpness. Whether its low-light candid
shooting indoors, outdoor shots at dusk or dawn,
or even at night, image stabilization is an asset you
want on your side. And it requires nothing beyond
simply turning it on!
The chief beneft: slower shutter speeds, without losing sharpness
This is the promise of image stabilization.
With stabilization active, youll be able to shoot
sharp pictures at slower shutter speeds than would
otherwise be possible. Youll sometimes see in bro-
chures or on-line references that a lens gives up
to four stops correction or similar claims. Whats
meant is this: traditionally, photographers have
had a general rule-of-thumb that with a given fo-
cal-length lens, you can usually get reliably sharp
hand-held pictures at shutter speeds of 1-over the
lenss focal length. In other words, with a 50mm
lens, traditionally you could expect fairly consistent
sharp pictures at a shutter speed of 1/50th of a sec-
ond or faster (1/125th, 1/250th, and so on).
A four-stop correction means that a user can shoot
at shutter speeds up to four stops slower than this
traditional rule-of-thumb, and still expect pretty con-
sistently sharp pictures of stationary subjects. Using
the same example, if 1/60th (closest traditional full-step shutter speed to the 1/50th rule-of-thumb speed)
is the slowest speed we could shoot without stabilization, a four stop improvement means we could shoot
at speeds as slow as 1/4 second, and still expect sharp results. (One stop slower than 1/60th would be
1/30th, 2 stops 1/15th, 3 stops 1/8th, and 4 stops difference would be 1/4th.)
Image Stabilization makes it easy to intentionally use slow shutter
speeds and still get pictures free from overall blur from camera
shake. In this shot, a slow speed of 1/15th of a second was used
to intentionally blur the umbrella, which was being rotated.
Rudy Winston
Even at wide-angle focal lengths, image stabilization can be a
big help in getting sharp hand-held pictures. Here, a 24-105mm
IS lens was used indoors at 1/8th of a second hand-held, and
with no fash.
Rudy Winston
Shooting at lower ISO settings
This is what Art Wolfe specifcally addresses in the Tips video about image stabilization. Since IS allows
slower shutter speeds, he doesnt need to raise his ISO anywhere near as much as he might to photograph
the tiger in deep shade. Without stabilization, he may have been forced to switch from ISO 100 to an ISO as
high as 800 or 1600 defnitely possible on todays digital SLRs, but he knows hell get less inherent digital
noise and a cleaner fle if he can shoot at ISO 400 instead. Even though at ISO 400 his shutter speeds will
be a relatively slow 1/100th of a second, the stabilization built into his 70-200mm zoom lens makes sharp
pictures possible. And look carefully at the video: you can see the movement from the elephant that Arts rid-
ing on. Image stabilization is not just dealing with Arts hand-held movement, but the very unstable platform
hes upon as well!
More depth of feld, when its needed
Any time you stop the lens down to a smaller aper-
ture for greater depth of feld, the instant trade-off
is that your shutter speeds will be correspondingly
slower as well. Example: if youre outside on a sunny
day with a telephoto zoom lens and at a wide-open
f/4 your shutter speed is 1/1000th of a second, stop-
ping the lens down to f/22 would result in a shut-
ter speed of 1/30th of a second. Little problem for a
tripod-user like Art, but hand-held, with a telephoto
lens, its simply too slow to expect reliable results
when hand-held. But turn on image stabilization, and
you buy yourself signifcant breathing room. That
hand-held f/22 shot is far more likely to be sharp.
The real beneft is knowing in the back of your mind
that if you want the effect of a lot of depth of feld in a
picture (and we spoke of that in another Tips article
in this same Travels to the Edge episode!), you can
simply stop the lens down and take the picture, with-
out fear or worry.
Especially with telephoto lenses, youll sometimes want to take a
hand-held shot with a small lens aperture, for extensive
depth of feld. In this shot, a 70-300mm IS lens was used at
300mm, with an aperture of f/16, and a relatively slow shutter
speed of 1/100th second.
Rudy Winston
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Flash-fll in low light conditions
One advance in modern SLR cameras is the smart
TTL fash systems we use today. Whether youre
outdoors in sunlight, or indoors in a low-light situ-
ation, its pretty easy to have the camera automati-
cally expose your background and combine it with
properly-exposed fash. This means youll get a very
natural-looking fash picture, rather than a typical
fash snapshot where youve got a fash-lit subject in
the foreground and a near-black background.
Particularly in low-light or indoor conditions, image
stabilization makes it easy to get sharp pictures with
the resulting slow shutter speeds that are used to
mix fash and low levels of ambient light. Once again,
its a real confdence-booster to know in the back of
your mind that good, sharp and natural-looking pic-
tures can be obtained with the aid of your silent as-
sistant, image stabilization.
Dont hesitate to try this, even in your living room at home. With a Canon EOS digital SLR, simply activate
your fash, switch your camera to the Av (aperture-priority) exposure mode at around f/5.6 or f/8, or the night
scene icon mode, and try some shots with an image stabilized lens. Youll be surprised at whats possible!
Indoors or in low light conditions, image stabilization makes it easy
to blend slow shutter speeds with fash, for natural-looking results.
This can be easily done on most modern SLR cameras.
Rudy Winston
Sharper autofocus with challenging subjects
Even pros often arent aware of this one. If youre shooting very challenging moving subjects, such as a
football player running at full speed, a race car, or similar fast-moving subjects, youll usually be at fast shut-
ter speeds to freeze the action. Conventional wisdom is that at 1/1000th or 1/2000th of a second, image
stabilization has no real beneft, so why not just turn it off?
Actually, if your camera has optical image stabilization (that is, stabilization in the camera lens, and not within
the camera body), there are two very valid reasons to leave the stabilization turned on. First of all, youll
get a steadier view in your cameras viewfnder, making it smoother and easier to compose the scene with
a rapidly-moving subject. This is especially true if youre using a large telephoto lens, and shooting from a
monopod as many pros do.
But most important is this: your cameras autofocus system will likewise get a steadier, clearer view of the
subject in-between each shot. Remember: with todays fastest pro cameras, the AF system has less than
1/10th of a second between each shot to analyze focus and assess subject movement. With stabilization ac-
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tive, theres less inherent shake, and the camera gets a clearer view during this brief instant as it re-focuses
on that athlete, bird in fight, or other fast-moving subject.
Since in-camera image stabilization systems dont perform any stabilization until the light hits the actual
imaging sensor, the AF system doesnt beneft from getting a steady view if IS is active in these cameras.
This is why this beneft applies only in those stabilization systems were the stabilization is in the
actual camera lens.
Summary
Image stabilization technology is clearly a beneft in many shooting situations, and for all intents and pur-
poses, the only downside to it is about a 20% increase in battery consumption (with Canon EOS camera
models; other brands may vary). Certainly, if your camera uses image stabilized lenses, its worth considering
the benefts of stabilization technology when weighing the pros and cons of a lens with and a lens without
this capability.
If you have this technology, our advice is to use it most of the time. In fact, the only time in general that
you really should shut it off is in those circumstances where youre shooting from a large, rock-solid tripod
where you know theres absolutely no movement at all. Otherwise, its a win-win situation for photographers,
and furthermore, its clearly an example of modern technology giving users better pictures, with almost no
negative side effects.
Art Wolfe makes a quick decision when presented
with a dilemma: when shooting multiple deer out in
the open, do you try for tight composition and sharp
focus on just one individual, or do you back-off and
try to get more depth of feld for a sharper overall
picture? Art decided on the spot to use smaller lens
apertures as well as moderate telephoto zoom set-
tings on his 70-200mm lens to give images that show
clusters of multiple animals in the same shot.
But all photographers are presented with this deci-
sion from time to time, whether were shooting some-
thing as simple as a childs birthday party or shoot-
ing wild animals on a safari. Part of the answer is
being in control of your cameras settings so that
the camera delivers the type of image you want. But
equally important is deciding for yourself the type of
image you want.
Focus with multiple subjects
Whenever youre presented with more than one subject in a
scene, you have to ask yourself whether you want to try to con-
centrate upon one subject, or back-off and get more subjects and
some background in the picture. Here, Art Wolfe decided
on the latter.
The message: what are you trying to say in a picture?
Dont jump to immediate conclusions about the type of picture you want without looking carefully at the
subject, the scene, and ideally looking through the camera as well. Our eyes and brain can very easily
concentrate upon a small part of a scene, and sometimes fool us into thinking that the right picture to take
is a telephoto shot that zooms-in to one tiny part of the scene. (For example, think about how your eyes
can zero-in on friend or relative whos in a crowd of people when youre looking for that person.)
In fact, you can sometimes communicate a lot more about your subject by including its surroundings and
background information. Keep your mind open to this option, no matter how powerful a telephoto lens you
may be carrying with you. It doesnt mean that every shot needs to be taken with an ultra-wide angle lens,
of course. But a vital part of many great pictures is a sense of place, communicating to the viewer not only
what youre photographing, but where it is and how it relates to its surroundings.
Think about a picture of a person: you can zoom-in for a tight head-and-shoulders shot, and the result can
be a beautiful, sharp portrait with a blurred background that forces the viewers attention on the subjects
face. But you may have absolutely no concept of WHERE that person is. They could be in their front yard
or in front of Pariss Notre Dame Cathedral, and youd never be able to tell. Now consider the other al-
ternative: with a wider lens, the photographer still focuses upon the person, but moves them somewhat
off-center and using camera controls produces a sharper, more distinct background. You now have a very
different result: a shot that puts the person in their environment. It might be a fsherman at a dock in front
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of his boat, a minister in front of his or her church, or a street performer in front of a crowd of on-lookers.
Regardless, the environment you see in the background contributes to the message in the picture.
Lets be clear: were not saying that photographers should avoid the visual impact of tightly-composed
telephoto shots! They can be a powerful way to communicate, too. But think about all the alternatives, and
if time permits, try shooting the same subject in different ways.
The mechanics: depth of feld control
Its a simple law of optics. As our lens apertures get
progressively smaller (that is, as the f-numbers get
higher), more things tend to be in focus in our pic-
tures.
In his Tips video, Art specifcally speaks of choos-
ing a medium lens aperture of f/10 (thats 1/3 of a
stop wider than the traditional f/11 value), knowing
that the wider his lens focal length is, the more will
tend to be in focus in front of and behind the primary
deer he focus upon. Another basic fundamental of
depth of feld: with any lens, the farther away you
are from the subject youre focusing upon, the more
things will tend to appear in sharp focus (and vice-
versa).
Its important for any shooter to have a sense of what the effects will tend to be in pictures when using dif-
ferent apertures; Art obviously has years of experience and can intuitively make such choices. But for any
of us, once we decide on the type of picture wed like, choosing an appropriate lens aperture goes a long
way toward making it happen.
Using good depth of feld control, its easy for Art Wolfe to photo-
graph a group of spotted deer, and include enough background
information to lend a sense of place.
Art Wolfe
The opposite approach narrow focus on one
subject only
In some cases, a photographer facing a scene like
the deer that Art Wolfe encountered might make the
decision to concentrate focus on just one animal,
and shoot tight shots with blurred backgrounds.
Theres nothing wrong with this approach at all; its
simply another way of taking the picture. Longer
telephoto lenses help here, with their inherent shal-
low depth of feld. Wide apertures are the way to
go to blur-out backgrounds and force the viewers
attention to your subject. And, with any lens, the
closer you can get to the primary subject, the more
likely you are to get soft backgrounds.
This type of shot works best when something about
the subject itself is what grabs your attention as a
photographer. In the case of photographing animals,
youd almost think of such shots as portraits of indi-
viduals. If you were photographing in a zoo, where
perhaps the background is unattractive, this would
be a useful technique to work with. Obviously, Art
Wolfes approach here was different: he wanted to
get the viewer to see the environment and multiple
deer in each picture. Using a 70-200mm zoom lens
at a wider zoom setting, and stopping his lens down
accomplished that.
Using a longer telephoto lens with a wide aperture lets you focus
on one narrow point, especially if youre working relatively
close to the subject
Rudy Winston
Summary
The bottom line here is that any photograph can reveal what the photographer is feeling, and what he or she
wants to emphasize, simply by using the right tools in the camera. Great photography doesnt just happen
because a pro like Art Wolfe points his or her camera in one direction and snaps a picture. The reason their
results are so good is that they take a moment to truly see whats in a scene, they allow themselves to react
to whats in the scene, and then they envision a type of picture that they want to create.
From there, deciding upon things like camera settings to get a blurred or sharp background becomes a fairly
quick and easy task. Much of Arts conscious thought, no doubt, was on his viewfnder and his composition.
One last thing: even though most cameras today have fully automatic modes like a Portrait mode thats sup-
posed to give you wide apertures, and a Landscape mode thats supposed to do the opposite, youre usually
better off switching your camera to a mode where you can directly make these settings. Aperture priority
mode (Av mode on Canon EOS cameras) is ideal, since it lets you directly input the aperture you want.
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One of the frst things you notice in Art Wolfes Tips
video from Asia, Depth of feld, is that he speaks
in a quiet voice as he shoots near the spotted deer.
Whenever youre close to wild animals, anything you
can do to generate less noise will be helpful. Digi-
tal SLRs by their nature make a certain amount of
mechanical noise whenever you take a picture, but
there may be options youre not aware of to minimize
this. By taking steps to reduce operational noise, you
wont alarm birds or animals, and youre much more
likely to get the natural-looking shots youre after.
And its not only wildlife photography that can beneft
from quiet shooting techniques. Taking pictures dur-
ing a church service or wedding ceremony, or a news
photographer working in a courtroom, are obvious ex-
amples where quiet operation can get you better pictures without disturbing others. Sometimes, you may just
want to take some candid photos of your family or friends, and not want a loud click to announce your presence.
Well explore a few options for digital SLR users to enable quieter shooting operation in this article.
Quiet shooting with SLR cameras
Wildlife photography is one of many instances where a quiet
camera can be a true asset. As well explain, some digital SLR
cameras have ways to reduce the level of noise during shooting.
What are some of the in-camera options for quieter operation?
We obviously cant explore each and every camera model, but there are some things we can point out. First
of all, simply switching from continuous advance in your cameras Drive settings to single-frame shooting
can reduce the operational noise somewhat. Furthermore, some cameras may have an option where you
can press the shutter button down fully to take a single picture, and if you hold the button fully down, the
camera wont make the motor-driven advance noise until you lift your fnger from the button. This lets you
delay a major source of noise, giving you time to put the camera inside a coat or jacket, or wait for a better
moment where noise is less noticeable to your subjects or those around you. Check your cameras menu
and/or instruction books to see if this is possible for you.
On many recent digital SLR models, theres a Live View option, which allows you to view and compose your
pictures using the cameras LCD monitor instead of the traditional eye-level viewfnder. One seldom-men-
tioned beneft of this is that it raises the cameras mirror, and thus eliminates one major source of mechani-
cal noise in picture-taking. If your camera has a Live View option, try shooting a couple of pictures using the
standard eye-level fnder, and then try the same with the Live View active. Youll probably notice a drop in
the audible noise produced by the camera. It wont
be totally silent, of course, but any reduction in noise
can be helpful the next time youre shooting during
that quiet moment in the middle of a wedding.
Traditionally, many mid-range and upper-end SLR
cameras have offered a Mirror Lock-Up feature.
Whether or not your camera has Live View, a Mirror
Lock-Up moves the mirror up and out of the way, os-
tensibly to reduce any subtle vibrations during slow
shutter speeds. But it can also reduce the noise level
a bit as well, especially if your camera has an option
to keep the mirror up for more than one shot at a
time. Of course, without Live View, locking the mir-
ror up does black-out your viewfnder, making this
impractical unless youre on a tripod. But keep it in
mind if you realize you need to shoot more quietly
than standard operation allows.
Simply activating the Live View mode (if your camera has this fea-
ture) can reduce noise, since the cameras mirror is always raised
during Live View operation.
Rhonda R. Dorsett
Canons silent mode in Live View
A few recent Canon EOS models, such as the EOS 40D, 50D, and 5D Mark II, have a further option to reduce
noise in Live View. This is the cameras so-called silent mode. Its a menu setting within the Live View menu
options. Using this option, Live View operation becomes even quieter. If you own one of these cameras, youll
see two options in the menu. Heres briefy what they offer:

Mode 1: Quieter shooting in Live View, with the option to shoot continuously at the cameras fastest
shooting speed if desired. Shutter is re-cocked immediately after each picture, which does produce some
audible noise.

Mode 2: Virtually silent shooting but for single-frame operation only. If you keep the shutter button
fully depressed after shooting a picture, all post-shooting operations are delayed, giving you nearly silent
operation.

Disable: Ordinary shutter operation within Live View, allowing standard single-frame or continuous
shooting up to cameras fastest FPS shooting speed. Camera immediately advances after shot is taken
in single-frame advance.
Again, these are limited to the Canon EOS models mentioned above (as of November, 2008), and to the best
of our knowledge, this feature isnt available with other digital SLRs as of this time. But if you do own one of
these cameras, we urge you to try these Live View options and see for yourself how noise can be reduced
when its necessary.
Certain Canon EOS digital SLRs have special options to greatly reduce operational noise during Live View shooting. Not all cameras of-
fer these, but if your model does, you should familiarize yourself with them and know how to activate them if the need arises.
Silent shooting with Canons professional models
With Canons EOS-1D and EOS-1Ds models
(regardless of version), theres another way to re-
duce noise during shooting. Again, its called silent
mode, but in this case, it doesnt require Live View
(although with the latest Mark III models, it can be
combined with Live View). This is a nice option for
pros like Art Wolfe, who use these high-end cam-
eras because of their strength, durability, weather-
resistance, and extremely high image quality.
With the current EOS-1D Mark III and EOS-1Ds
Mark III models, the silent mode is activated by sim-
ply pressing the cameras drive button and turn-
ing the rear Quick Control Dial until the letter S
appears on the top LCD panel. (Please note S
means silent mode; conventional single-frame op-
eration with the Mark III models is indicated by a
little icon thats shaped like a single rectangle.) No
Custom Functions or menu settings are necessary.
With the previous-generation EOS-1D and
EOS-1Ds models*, the silent mode option was in the cameras Personal Functions. Youd have
to upload Personal Function #21 into your camera (via a FireWire connection and using Canons
supplied software), and then you can turn Personal Function 21 on or off as you would with a conventional
Custom Function.
Some professional digital SLRs have a special setting to reduce
camera operational noise, even during standard eye-level shooting.
Either way, silent mode doesnt eliminate all noise, but it does signifcantly lower the advance noise af-
ter a shot is taken by slowing the motor-driven operation. Most importantly, if silent mode is active, the
user can delay any post-shooting advance until his or her fnger is removed from the shutter button.
Silent mode on an EOS-1D or EOS-1Ds model doesnt alter the audible click of the shutter, and its single-
frame only (no continuous shooting with silent mode active), but it can still be a great asset when working
in situations where silence is golden.
* EOS-1D, EOS-1Ds; EOS-1D Mark II, EOS-1D Mark II N, and EOS-1Ds Mark II
Other methods of reducing sound
Unfortunately, if your camera doesnt offer built-in
methods to reduce operational noise when shoot-
ing, you may need to consider using other accesso-
ries. Chief among these is a so-called sound blimp.
This is a separate accessory that your entire SLR
camera fts into, which muffes sound and still allows
camera operations to be performed. These devices
can be expensive (over $1,000 in some cases), but
they can be rented from some professional cam-
era dealers for short-term use. Theyre very popular
among Hollywood still shooters on TV and movie
sets, as well as for pros working in sensitive condi-
tions. An on-line search under sound blimps will
give you some insight into whats available and how
they work.
A much less expensive option may be to consider
a compact digital camera, without interchangeable
lenses. Aside from their much smaller size, one ad-
vantage of these cameras is their inherently quiet
operation. Theyre so quiet, in fact, that the click
you hear when fring them is usually produced by a sound synthesizer, to confrm to the user that a picture
was just taken. Often (but not always, so be sure to check!), theres a menu setting that allows you to in-
crease or reduce the level of this sound, turn it off entirely, or sometimes even substitute a different sound
for the traditional click. Obviously, if the camera allows you to simply disable the sound, youve effectively
got a truly silent camera for wildlife and other shooting conditions.
Another option for quiet shooting may be to consider a compact
digital camera. You wont be able to change lenses, but some
models have a menu setting to eliminate virtually all audible noise
when shooting. Models like this one, with a 20x zoom lens, may
work well for wildlife shooting in good lighting conditions.
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Summary
While the audible noise produced by todays digital SLRs is usually not a problem in most conditions, there
certainly can be times where a nature or wildlife enthusiast may beneft from quieter operation. Its unfortu-
nate that many digital SLRs really have few options here, but some models (like the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark
III cameras that Art Wolfe uses) do have in-camera settings to further reduce noise when its necessary.
Even less-expensive amateur models with a Live View mode can noticeably reduce operational noise if the
Live View is active, and if youre trying to shoot without being heard, this can be a big help.
Knowing your camera and its capabilities clearly is important here. You may not need to have a truly quiet
camera in most instances, but if and when the time does arise, its sure nice to have the confdence to know
where and how to change your camera settings to make it work as you want. Much of this can be achieved
by simple practice at home. Dont wait until youre out in a feld in Asia to try to fgure out whether theres a
method to make your camera quieter, so you dont alarm the wildlife youre trying to photograph.
In Art Wolfes video tip about Time Lapse, he uses
an accessory intervalometer sold by Canon for time
lapse shooting. However, he does it in a very unusual
way: instead of taking a handful of images, hes tak-
ing about 1,000 images in quick sequence. Then, hes
bringing them into Apple Computers QuickTime
software, to turn the JPEG originals into a movie le.
Traditionally, time lapse shooting refers to unmanned
photography, where more than one image is taken of
the same scene, with each image being taken a spe-
cic time after the previous one. Weve all no doubt
seen images like the setting sun over the Manhattan
skyline, where each picture is taken perhaps 10 or 15
minutes apart, and the sky progresses from sunset to
dusk to night.
If you own any of the following Canon EOS models, take note theres a very cool accessory called the
Timer Remote Control TC-80N3. Its the same one used by Art to take his star movie. Compatible EOS
cameras (as of early 2009) are any version of the EOS-1D or EOS-1Ds, any version of the EOS 5D, and
the EOS 50D, 40D, 30D, 20D, and 10D models (unfortunately, the TC-80N3 wont work with the popular
EOS Digital Rebel models).
Some other brands and models of digital SLRs and sometimes even compact digital cameras have some
intervalometer functionality built-in, as a menu setting. Their range of functions is typically limited, but they
still can be very useful for those sunset sequences over the Manhattan skyline.
Intervalometers: its more than time lapse!
The Canon Timer Remote Control TC-80N3
This optional device can open up a world of possibilities for the creative photographer. The key to its
outstanding versatility is that it does more than simply tell the camera to take a few pictures over a short
increment of time.
For starters, it functions beautifully as a conventional electronic cable release. Theres a large button that
acts just like the cameras shutter button. A half-press wakes up the camera and activates AF; a full press
res the shutter. Like most electronic cable releasese, it has a sliding switch to lock the button for long
Bulb exposures, so you dont have to hold it down with your thumb. Without activating any of its built-in
timer capabilities, it is a great accessory for shake-free shooting when working from a tripod.
There are many uses for an accessory intervalometer, and well
explore a few that are possible with Canons Timer Remote
Control TC-80N3.
Mirror-up shooting with an electronic remote switch
Shooting with a remote control unit and the cameras mirror locked-up is denitely possible. The following
discusses whats possible with nearly all Canon EOS digital SLRs, but many other brands/models have
similar capabilities.
For critical shooters who want the maximum possible sharpness, its long been known that locking the
cameras mirror up before taking a high-magnication picture can signicantly reduce subtle vibrations
and thus result in sharper pictures. This is especially so at shutter speeds in the range of 1/125th sec-
ond down to about or second, which seem most susceptible to blurs from mirror vibration when
youre tripod-mounted.
The TC-80N3 plugs into the 3-pin remote control
socket on the EOS models mentioned directly above,
and has a 2.6 foot (80cm) long cable. Canon sells an
accessory extension cable thats 33 feet (about 10m)
long, so if you need to be positioned away from the
camera for wired remote control, this is possible.
Even though well discuss whats possible using the
TC-80N3s timer functions, for photographers who
simply want an electronic cable release, and dont
feel they need the timer functionality, Canon also sells
a less-expensive remote control called the Remote
Switch RS-80N3. And for EOS Digital Rebel shoot-
ers, theres a similar electronic device called the Re-
mote Switch RS-60E3.
Canon Timer Remote Control TC-80N3
This compact and affordable accessory has an amazing range of
possibilities within its timer functions. And of course, it can also
be used as a conventional cable release as well.
With most Canon EOS digital SLRs, theres a
Custom Function to allow shooting with the mirror
locked-up. Once this is activated on the cameras
menu, a full press of the shutter button or the
remote controls button will raise the mirror fully
(this does black-out the viewnder). Now, the shoot-
er has up to 30 seconds to fully press the button a
second time, which will actually re the shutter and
take the picture. The mirror will drop down to view-
ing position after the picture is taken. The Canon
electronic remote control switches are all capable
of working with mirror lock-up activated, as just de-
scribed.
Canons top-of-the-line EOS-1D Mark III and EOS-
1Ds Mark III have an added option for mirror lock-
up: with these cameras, theres an additional set-
ting called Enable: Down with SET. This allows a
photographer to lock-up the mirror with one press
of either the cameras or remote controllers shutter
button, and keep the mirror locked-up for more than
one picture. The mirror will return to its down posi-
tion when the photographer presses the SET button
on the back of the camera body.
Mirror lock-up is easy to combine with an electronic remote switch.
Here, it was used for a 30 second exposure. This is a conven-
tional, manned shot, where the photographer pressed the remote
controls button once to lock-up the mirror, and a second time to
take the photo.
Rudy Winston
The TC-80N3s timer functions
This accessory has four separate variables that can be input by the photographer, either one at a time, or
in combination.
Self-timer:
The TC-80N3 can count-down a pre-set amount of time, and begin shooting after this time has elapsed.
Any value from 1 second to 99 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds can be dialed-in.
Example: if you set a camera up at 1:00pm, and want it to begin shooting sunset scenes at 5:00pm, you
could set the self-timer to 4 hours and 00 minutes. This would tell it to begin shooting in four hours.
Interval:
Dial-in the length of time between two or more pictures, from 1 second to 99 hours, 59 minutes and 59
seconds.
Example: in Art Wolfes shots of stars, he set the interval timer to take a new picture every 40 seconds.
Long exposure time:
EOS cameras can take timed exposures down to 30 full seconds. With the TC-80N3, if the camera is set to
Bulb mode, you can dial-in the length of a long exposure. Again, range is 1 second to 99 hours, 59 minutes,
59 seconds.
Example: A long, single exposure of star trails could be set for one hour.
Frames:
Dial-in the number of frames you want the TC-80N3 to manage, anywhere from 1 to 99. If you set this to
00, the remote controller will shoot an unlimited number of frames (or at least, itll shoot until you run out
of memory card space!)
Example: Art Wolfe took about 1,000 low-resolution JPEG images to make his moving stars movie with
QuickTime software. Setting the frame counter to 00 allowed him to let the camera shoot continually.
Conventional intervalometer operation allowed these three shots of a sunrise to be taken out of a hotel window, 10 minutes apart.
Rudy Winston
The versatility of this remarkable device is that these features can be combined, allowing many types of un-
manned photography. Possibilities range from a sequence of sunrise shots to a progression of pictures of a
construction site, taken at the same time every day.
In a sequence like the sunrise above, the TC-80N3 could be set up the night before to begin shooting a cer-
tain length of time after you initially activate it. You could then dial in the number of shots you wanted, and
the time interval between each one. You wouldnt even need to be in the room for it to take the pictures you
need.
Summary
An intervalometer made Art Wolfes impressive video of star trails
easy to photograph. Otherwise, he would have needed to sit by
the camera and manually re the camera about 1,000 times,
every 40 seconds.
Art Wolfe
Any type of intervalometer can be fun to experiment
with, and can certainly extend the range of possible
pictures you can shoot with a digital camera. But
the Canon Timer Remote Control TC-80N3 goes
beyond ordinary timer control. Art Wolfe refers to it
as a fancy cable release, but in fact, its a bit more
than that. Combining two or more of its timer func-
tions makes a host of remote operations possible,
and the creative possibilities are nearly endless.
One look at Art Wolfes QuickTime video of mov-
ing stars is a great example of this. Interval shooting
is something anyone who uses a tripod should con-
sider experimenting with, and the relative affordabil-
ity of the Canon TC-80N3 makes it very attractive
for users of compatible Canon EOS cameras.
Art Wolfe is a master at coming up with new and
different images, often of scenes weve all viewed
hundreds of times before. Every one of us has seen
beautiful daytime shots of cactus plants in the des-
ert, but how many of us have seen a quick-time
movie, taken over the course of 11 hours, showing
the moving stars, with the cactus plants dominating
the foreground? One important difference between
the professional and the amateur photographer is
that the pro knows he or she has to keep their eyes
and options open, and deliver not just excellent im-
ages, but unexpectedly excellent images.
Theres another point here, too: Art demonstrates
that there are numerous ways to take images at
night. Well briey discuss long exposures for star
trails here, but it could apply to other night images
as well.
Night photography options
Traditional long exposures of star trails
This is an easy technique for any photographer to try, as long as you have a camera with a bulb shutter
speed setting, a tripod, and a locking cable release or electronic remote switch with a locking device to hold
the shutter open.
By setting a low ISO (around 100-200), a mid-range aperture (such as f/5.6, f.8, or f/11), and leaving the
cameras shutter open in bulb mode for anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours, you can capture the
stars as moving trails from the earths movement. Of course, a clear night out in the country is preferable to
shooting with the hazey skies over a city, but even here, nice results are possible.
One excellent technique is to put some sort of object in the foreground, and have it silhouetted against the
background of sky and moving stars. Trees or darkened buildings can be effectively used here. Just be sure
that any man-made lights arent visible (lights in windows, street lights, etc) theyll appear grossly over-
exposed in a 30-minute or one-hour long exposure.
There are different ways to photograph stars at night. Art Wolfe
took the unusual step of shooting over 1,000 separate images,
and combining them into a QuickTime movie.
Art Wolfe
Digital cameras have both pros and cons for these
types of long exposures. On the plus side, they dont
have the problem most lms did called reciprocity
failure. This means that theres no longer any need
to add additional exposure time once your shutter
speeds exceed 1 second, 10 seconds, or similar
long exposure times.
However, digital cameras can build up digital noise
as exposure times lengthen. This is different from the
traditional noise increase we see when shooting or-
dinary pictures at high ISOs. Even at ISO 100, a long
exposure of 30 minutes or 60 minutes can build-up
a substantial amount of additional noise. Many cam-
eras have a menu setting or Custom Function for
Long Exposure Noise Reduction (the key is long
exposure); be sure to use this when shooting single
long exposures of star trails.
Finally, theres a limit with most digital cameras as to how long an exposure you can take, and thats because
of battery power. Digital cameras have to continuously supply power during long exposures, so even if you
start with a freshly-charged battery, youll typically be limited to 1.5 to 2.5 hours of bulb exposure time before
the battery is depleted and the exposure will end. (Keep in mind: Long Exposure Noise Reduction works by
doubling the exposure time, and this has to be factored in when considering how long your battery will last. If
you want to take a one-hour time exposure of star trails, with Long Exposure Noise Reduction, your camera
will need two hours of battery power, without interruption).
Adding an optional battery grip that accepts two batteries, if your camera accepts one, is one way to lengthen
the amount of bulb exposure time available for long-exposure shots. If youre near a source of AC power, an
optional AC adapter is also available for most digital SLRs. By plugging the camera into an AC outlet, youve
essentially got an unlimited supply of power for long exposures.
Most modern digital SLRs have a separate menu setting to
activate a special noise reduction function for long exposures.
Its useful to turn this on, especially for time exposures that run
several minutes or longer.
Rhonda R. Dorsett
An alternate method: many short exposures merged into one
To counter problems of digital noise build-up, what some photographers will do is shoot a series of shorter
exposures (anywhere from 30 seconds long to perhaps a few minutes) of stars, and then merge these to-
gether in the computer, using an image-editing program. The result is one nished, high-resolution still pho-
tograph. The stars appear to be moving in the same type of circular trails that youd expect in a traditional
long, single exposure. If youre careful to shoot each successive picture with very little time in-between, the
streaks will appear smooth and steady.
There are some advantages to this: shorter exposures mean much less of an issue with digital noise. You
can still shoot at reasonable ISO settings (no need for high ISOs), as long as lens apertures arent too small.
The wider the lens aperture, the brighter the stars will appear.
Its beyond the scope of this article to discuss the software techniques used to merge dozens or hundreds of
images together into one, but an on-line search should give you access to several different methods which
can accomplish this.
Youll still need a tripod and ideally a cable release to accomplish this. An intervalometer, which can re the
camera repeatedly at set intervals, can make this a set-up which you can walk away from once youve gotten
it started (see our Tip article about Intervalometers for some additional insight).
Camera battery life for long exposures is a cumulative thing, so if your camera specs claim 2 hours of long-
exposure battery life, itll be about the same whether you take a single two hour exposure, or 240 thirty-sec-
ond-long exposures.
Combining still exposures to make a movie
Art Wolfes EOS-1Ds Mark III isnt a video camera. In fact, it has no video capability at all. But by shooting
over 1,000 separate still images at low resolution and combining them in Apples QuickTime Pro software,
its possible to take the series of still JPEG images and turn them into a movie le.
There are no doubt other software programs from various companies that are capable of the same thing, so
anyone interested in this is well-advised to do a little on-line research to see what options are available. Also,
while were certainly not endorsing any particular software program, its worth mentioning that the Quick-
Time Pro software that Art Wolfe used is available for both Windows and Macintosh computers.
One important thing here is that for a movie le, you dont need high-resolution images. In fact, since most
movies run at 24 or 30 frames per second, to try this with full-resolution les from your digital SLR would
result in absolutely gargantuan movie les that would be hard to view on all but the most powerful of comput-
ers let alone be something that could be viewed on-line or sent via e-mail. So heres where your cameras
small resolution setting is probably a good starting point.
Art took individual still pictures that were each 30 seconds long. Youll need to use high enough ISOs and
sufciently wide apertures that the stars will appear, and youll also note that cactus plants in the foreground
are visible. This can only be done if each 30-second exposure allows these to appear. So experiment be-
forehand with your exposures, and then use the same exposure for each image once you start shooting. Its
probably best to use Manual exposure control here, rather than risk exposures shifting as you go along from
an automatic exposure mode.
Summary
Even after the sun has set, there are a multitude of choices for great and memorable images. Its important
to keep your eyes open to opportunities, and to understand how the controls and settings in your camera can
occasionally be used in unusual ways. But most important, perhaps, is simply approaching everything you
see with an open mind and an open attitude. This can make great images a reality, even if youre shooting
in your own back yard.
As we noted in the Tips article about Intervalometers,
this is a perfect time to use one. With exposures 30
seconds long, Art Wolfe set his intervalometer to
take one shot every 40 seconds. By taking about
1,000 shots, this means his camera was at work for
over 11 hours, recording movement throughout the
night. The intervalometer allowed him to start the re-
cording, and then return to the camera before dawn
to shut it off.
One note: if you set the camera up in daylight, as Art
did, and then return to it at night, its probably a good
idea to cover it with a light-colored sheet to avoid
any unnecessary heat build-up from the sun. Also,
it should go without saying: if you set the camera up
ahead of time like this, be sure its in a secure envi-
ronment, so itll be there when you return!
Canon Timer Remote Control TC-80N3
Combining many still images into a movie le is a perfect
time to consider an intervalometer, if one is available for your
camera. Once set, it will automate the shooting of many suc-
cessive images, without the photographer having to press the
shutter button for each shot.
This is an effect weve all seen in pictures at one
time or another, and probably wondered what sort
of lter was used to generate the effect. The fact is,
as Art Wolfe explains in his short video tip, the sun
can often be rendered with a star-like effect with no
lter at all. Its easy to do, and it is yet another way
to take advantage of a wide or ultra-wide angle lens
in outdoor photography.
Star effects without a lter
Dramatic shots of the sun can be easily obtained, simply by com-
bining a wide-angle lens with a small lens aperture.
Art Wolfe
Its simple: use small lens apertures
Creating this effect is yet another reason to get your camera out of the fully-automatic exposure settings,
and take a little control yourself. Basically, all thats needed for this effect is a wide-angle shot with the sun
in the frame, taken at or near the lenss smallest possible aperture, such as f/22. This is a perfect time to set
your camera to Aperture-priority automatic exposure mode (this is the Av setting on the mode dial of Canon
EOS cameras; some other brands indicate it by an A). Once set to aperture-priority, you simply dial in your
aperture of choice. The higher the aperture number, the more likely you are to get this result.
Its probably worth experimenting with your lenss smallest aperture, and then taking additional shots with
the aperture opened up one and two stops. In other words, if your smallest aperture (highest f-number) is
f/22, you might want to take additional shots at f/16 and f/11, to see if theres any noticeable change in the
star-like appearance of the sun.
Metering back-lit shots with the sun in the frame
Its easy to over-think this, and turn it into a
struggle. Generally, if you focus upon any fore-
ground object (like the cactus plants in Arts pic-
tures), using your cameras standard Evaluative me-
tering will generally give you a good starting point.
A quick check on your cameras LCD monitor will
let you know if the exposure is similar to what you
want. The aperture-priority exposure mode usually
works well when combined with Evaluative or Cen-
ter-weighted metering.
Another technique that works well for silhouette type
shots is to use your cameras Spot or Partial light
metering, and take a careful meter reading off of the
sky slightly to the side of the sun (be sure not to
look directly into the sun!). Either lock this reading
with your cameras AE Lock control, or alternatively
switch to Manual exposure, dial-in a small lens ap-
erture, and adjust shutter speed so that the meter
indication in your cameras nder tells you that your
exposure for the sky is right-on this is a good starting point.
Regardless, for these types of shots, your initial meter reading is just a starting point. Be ready to use your
cameras +/- Exposure Compensation, if youre in Aperture-priority mode, or to manually change shutter
speeds or apertures if youre using Manual exposure mode.
No matter what method you use to determine exposure, consider it
a starting point. Here, applying one stop of deliberate under-expo-
sure created both a more dramatic silhouette, as well as highlight-
ing the sun. Shot at f/22, using a 16-35mm ultra-wide zoom lens.
Rudy Winston
Auto Exposure Bracketing can help!
Another feature that can be very useful is Auto Exposure Bracketing, which lets you take 3 or more succes-
sive shots of the same subject, with exposure changed for each one. Nearly all digital SLR cameras have
this capability, and this is an ideal time to use it.
Two more things about using the Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) feature in scenes like this: One great
advantage is that since the camera is automatically varying exposure between each shot, you dont have
to stop and turn any dials or manipulate any controls. If youre hand-holding the camera, AEB makes it a
lot easier to maintain consistent composition from one shot to the next.
(From top: Auto Bracketing Plus 1, Normal, and Minus 1)
(Auto Exposure Bracketing can be a valuable tool to give you vari-
ety in these types of shots. Here, bracketing was set to take three
images, each with exposure one stop apart.arises.
Rudy Winston
Secondly, with most cameras, you can combine
Auto Bracketing of 3 or more shots with exposure
compensation. Usually, AEB tries to take a shot at
what the camera feels is correct exposure, one shot
over-exposed, and one shot under-exposed (you
dial-in the amount of over/under exposure when
setting up AEB). However, to generate impressive
silhouettes and a dramatic sunburst, you generally
want to under-expose, or darken, your shots. So
what you can do is combine AEB with your cameras
Exposure Compensation. Set the compensation in
the minus direction (for example, minus one stop).
Then, access your AEB and set the amount of dif-
ference between each shot lets say, one full stop
here, too (although it could be any amount you like).
Now, what would happen is the camera would take
three shots: One right-on, one 1 stop under, and one
two stops under. In other words, youd by-pass the
over-exposed AEB shot by applying minus expo-
sure compensation.
With Canon EOS digital SLRs, such as the EOS-
1Ds Mark III that Art Wolfe is using, Auto Exposure
Bracketing can also be used in Manual exposure
mode as well as an auto exposure mode like P, Tv,
or Av. By default, it varies the shutter speed to adjust
exposure when youre in M mode, which is ideal for
this type of shooting.
Partially hide the sun, or have it fully visible?
Art Wolfe makes the point that in this type of shoot-
ing, you can get great results by positioning some-
thing like a tree limb, leaves, or a cactus plant so
that it partially blocks the sun, and just a bit of it is
peeking out. This can signicantly reduce lens are,
improving the quality of these strongly back-lit pic-
tures. It also produces an different look of the sun
than most viewers are accustomed to seeing, and
sometimes can result in a more memorable picture.
However, the star-burst effect is absolutely possible
if the sun is up in the sky by itself. Sometimes, you
may not have the option of partially hiding the sun, if
its high in the mid-day sky. If so, you can still put on
that wide-angle lens and get these types of shots, so
if you see a scene where itll work, go for it!
Partially shielding the sun with a foreground object, as seen here,
can cut lens are and still allow a star-burst effect to show. This
shot was taken at f/22, again with a wide-angle zoom lens.
Rudy Winston
Sensor problems with the sun in the picture
Some digital SLRs use an imaging sensor called a CCD sensor. These sensors certainly can produce good
images, but one characteristic they sometimes have is that when a super-bright, small object is in the frame
(like the sun!), they can produce an effect called blooming. This means there can be a big white streak run-
ning up and down much of the image, going directly through the sun. There are technical reasons for this that
dont bear going into here. The main point is just be aware that with certain digital SLRs, and nearly all com-
pact point-and-shoot digital cameras, this can occur when you have the sun in the picture. So if you use this
type of camera and you see this effect, in all likelihood, theres nothing wrong with your camera or lens.
Canon EOS digital SLRs, and numerous other brands as well, use a different type of sensor called a CMOS
sensor. These sensors are not prone to the blooming problem when theres a super-bright light source
in the frame.
Summary
Taking the sun and using it as a dramatic visual ele-
ment in the frame is relatively easy to do, and as Art
describes, it doesnt even require exotic equipment
to get started. Even the standard 18-55mm or similar
zoom lenses used by many amateur and advanced
amateur shooters will sufce, when used at their wide-
angle settings. If you own an ultra-wide lens, such as
a 10-22mm for digital cameras, a 16-35mm, or even
a sheye lens, youre even better positioned to take
advantage of this technique. Just stop the lens down
to a small aperture, and get creative!
For more dramatic star effects, consider a lter!
The star effect that Art Wolfe speaks of is denitely possible on a clear day with a wide-angle or ultra wide-
angle lens, simply by stopping it down to near its smallest aperture. But more radical star-burst effects can
certainly be obtained with different lters, designed for this purpose. There are far too many options to go
into here, but some on-line searching will denitely give you an idea of some of the choices available. Star
type lters come in both screw-in varieties, as well as units that are designed to be placed in a lter holder
(which in turn is attached to the front of your lens). Just be sure that any lters or lter holders you attach will
be compatible with the widest-angle lenses you own, and wont darken the corners of your images.
The star-burst effect by using small lens apertures is most visible
with wide-angle lenses. Here, a 15mm sheye lens was used with
a full-frame camera for an unusual effect.
Rudy Winston
Something made us lift up the camera to take that
picture. Some subject or some scene inspired us to
take a photograph. Usually, we take one or two pic-
tures, put the camera down, and move on. Occasion-
ally, our rst attempt works out well, and we get a
picture that were happy with. Once in a while, it might
even be an outstanding picture. Whatever triggered
us to photograph this particular scene worked.
But in Art Wolfes video tip Depth, from Bhutan, he
clearly points out that theres usually more work to
be done when youre going after a great photograph.
Coming upon a mountain monastery in the Himala-
yas, Art realizes that the rst shots taken are only
a starting point. For a great image, he needs to do
something different. All photographers, regardless of
their level of expertise, can benet from putting this
into practice. Taking a variety of pictures of any subject is usually a good move. But taking steps to make
each successive picture more interesting, more compelling, is often what makes a pros images different
from those taken by an enthusiast.
Dont stop shooting after the rst picture
Where to look for variety
Some of the things we can do to move beyond the rst picture are fairly obvious yet important steps.
Changes in composition and lens focal length can quickly give you not just multiple pictures of a subject,
but pictures that may say very different things. For instance, a telephoto shot of the mountain monastery
might give the sense of a large, imposing structure. Switching to a wide-angle lens, and putting the monas-
tery well off-center, might give the sense of a tiny, isolated man-made structure in the midst of the vast Hi-
malayan mountains. Same subject, but two hypothetical pictures that have two very different messages.
The camera can help here, too. A shift in exposure can change the whole meaning of a picture, perhaps by
changing from an average overall shot to a dramatic under-exposed one that turns the shadows black, and
emphasizes only those forms being struck by direct sunlight. Sometimes, changing the white balance from
a normal rendition to one thats deliberately altered (for instance, getting a very blue result by switching to
Tungsten WB on a cloudy day) can change a picture from a literal look at a subject to an interpretive one.
Art Wolfe didnt stop with the rst shot he took of this monas-
tery. By incorporating another visual element, he gives us a
very different look at this already spectacular scene.
Art Wolfe
In Arts case, he took the rst shot he saw, of the distant monastery. His next step was to add something
to the foreground of this subject, giving the viewer two complementary things to look at, adding strength
to the image itself, and the message hes trying to convey. Theres nothing wrong with providing different
messages when photographing a scene. For instance, you may be on vacation and be photographing a
beautiful building or monument. The subject itself may be stunning, but you may be surrounded by dozens
or even hundreds of tourists, and that may be creating its own impression on you as well. Use this to your
advantage take those shots of the monument, but take a moment to shoot some additional pictures that
put the monument into todays context. The result can be a series of images that show what you saw, and
perhaps also what you felt.
A dark, cloudy morning in Prague looks ordinary in the rst shot, but by underexposing slightly and switching to Tungsten
white balance, a totally different picture results. Its not what the photographer saw in the viewnder, but it may better convey
what he or she felt at the time.
Rudy Winston
Same building, but two totally different approaches to what the photographer saw at the time. The second shot may not be as pretty a
picture, but it may say more about what the photographer encountered than the rst shot does.
Rudy Winston
Another time to take more than one picture: shots of people
Arts shots of the monastery didnt involve people, but lets face it: for many photographers, people are the
subject theyll most frequently take pictures of. Whether its shots of friends and family, or shots of people
in exotic locations, its no exaggeration to say that people can bring life to the pictures we take.
People almost never think youre going to take the second shot. When you do, youll often get a different expression than you did in
the rst one.
Rudy Winston
When photographing people, one of the main reasons to take more than one picture is that your subjects
almost always think youre not going to take the second picture. If you have people posing for you, youll
often get very different expressions in the second and successive pictures than you did for the rst one
the one picture they were expecting. Without changing lenses, composition, exposure or even focus,
this is a built-in way to get variety in your photographs.
Beyond that, any time youre photographing a subject who is posing for you, there are opportunities to make
changes and take additional photos that can have a different meaning than the rst one you took. Just like
the monastery in the Himalayas, moving from a head-and-shoulders telephoto portrait to a wide-angle
lens that puts a person in their environment, youve created two pictures that quite possibly say two differ-
ent things. We can only scratch the surface of the variety of different things possible when photographing
people, but the point is clear: dont stop after you take the rst picture. Keep your mind open to the pos-
sibilities around you, and listen to your subjects, too. They may have ideas for something that will result in
a picture you hadnt even considered!
If youre shooting candid pictures of a person, where the subject is not under your direct control, you still
will benet from continuing to shoot after the rst picture is taken. You never know what sort of expressions
youll get from one moment to the next. By keeping the camera at your eye, and your nger on the shutter
button, youre always ready for opportunities that present themselves here. Youll get more good pictures,
and the odds increase for that really great shot every time you continue to shoot the same subject. (Were
obviously not speaking about simply ring away at six frames per second here; were stressing taking one
picture at a time, with the photographer determining when each picture is taken.)
Summary
Art Wolfes point is clear: a good photographer becomes an excellent photographer by keeping their eyes
and mind open, and by taking extra time and extra steps when an interesting subject is in their viewnder.
Its important to be aware that something made you want to take that picture in the rst place. But dont stop
there. Look beyond the rst impulse you had, take a little time, and see how many different yet complemen-
tary images you can create after youve rst pressed the shutter button. As the saying goes, variety is the
spice of life!
Telephoto lenses do a couple of important things,
above and beyond simply bringing distant subjects
closer. With their narrow angle of view, they include
much less of the background into a scene. And if
you focus on a foreground subject, its usually easy
to throw the background slightly or completely out
of focus.
Theres a time and a place for everything in photog-
raphy, and on some occasions, its benecial to turn
the background into a simple design element. Tele-
photo lenses are ideally suited to this, and if you can
get relatively close to whatever is in the foreground,
you may not need a powerful super-telephoto lens to
get this effect.
In Art Wolfes video tip Muted Contrast, he shows how a simplied background actually adds to the design
of his picture of the white prayer ags. Its a case of less actually being more.
Simplify backgrounds with telephoto lenses
Train yourself to think of the backgrounds
The more you work with your different lenses, the
more youll be able to predict what theyre likely to
do if you use one for a particular subject or scene.
And, the more familiar you are with a lenss charac-
teristics, the easier it becomes to see what happens
as you initially compose and frame a scene.
With telephoto lenses, its easy to get lulled into
thinking that if a background is out of focus, that you
can essentially ignore it. In fact, Art Wolfe speaks
openly about how its an important element that at-
tracted him to the scene with the white prayer ags.
Learning to really see whats happening all around
your viewnder when you rst size-up a subject is a
vital skill for all photographers.
Much of this is just taking the time to look all around
your cameras viewnder and really observe how all
Telephoto lenses work great at turning backgrounds into a simple
design element, as well discuss in this article.
Art Wolfe
Looking through the nder, you might ignore this out of focus back-
ground. But the plain background forces attention on the subjects,
and further has the benet of giving a look that we dont really see
with our naked eyes.
Rudy Winston
parts of a scene come together. Beyond that, when you look at pictures in magazines, books, and even on-
line, its a great skill to begin to see how all elements of a picture relate to one another. What works for you,
what doesnt work for you. The more condent you are about your ability to see the entire picture and work
with everything thats there, the better your pictures are likely to become.
The beauty of washed-out telephoto backgrounds
When a powerful telephoto lens is used, its common to see the background rendered so far out of focus that
it becomes, in a way, its own design element. This is not the way human vision sees things, and by show-
ing the viewer something he or she doesnt see with their naked eye, you often show them a compelling
photograph.
But it doesnt require a 600mm lens to do this. Art Wolfe got relatively close to the prayer ags in the tips
video, and using his 70-200mm f/4 lens, is able to throw the distant background totally out of focus, simply
by focusing on the ags. Furthermore, Art has the foresight to realize that the muted, hazy blue mountain
in the background will become its own design when its thrown out of focus. Beyond that, since a telephoto
lens restricts how wide a view well have of the background, its possible the shape of the mountain may not
even be visible in the picture his lens will in effect be zooming in on the middle of the actual mountain,
with its sloped edges not visible.
Not all of us have the luxury of being able to photograph in the Himalayas. But even a city street can be
rendered into a beautiful, non-distinct background if you shoot at a wide aperture and focus close with a
telephoto lens.
The key is to simplify!
All this leads up to one thing: making backgrounds
their own part of the composition, but simplifying
them with the optical characteristics of todays tele-
photo lenses. We repeat you dont necessar-
ily need to invest in an expensive 400mm f/2.8 or
600mm f/4 lens to get the effect Art speaks of. Sim-
ply move in as close as you reasonably can to the
primary subject, focus on it, and let the background
quickly fall off.
But beyond simply letting the background go out of
focus, its important to have a sense of what part of
If youre close enough to your subject, even an 85mm lens can
throw a background delightfully out of focus. Canons 85mm f/1.8
lens was used here, at its widest aperture, with a full-frame digital
SLR camera.
Rudy Winston
Summary
Just because a background is out of focus doesnt
mean it loses importance. It can actually embellish a
scene, and contribute to forcing a viewers attention
onto the subject youve focused upon in the fore-
ground (such as Art Wolfes prayer ags). Dont let
yourself fall into the trap of just letting things happen
in your pictures. Use the entire viewnder, look at
your scene each time you take a picture, and appre-
ciate what different lenses can do in different condi-
tions. Armed with an awareness of your lenses and
what they do to your backgrounds, youll be armed
with another tool to take great pictures.
the background you should try to target in pictures. In Arts case, it was pretty simple. He was going to use
the cool blue mountain behind the prayer ag. On the other hand, you may be shooting a portrait on a busy
street. Do you include numerous elements like out of focus lights? Or do you change your angle slightly, so
your lens is now on a plain, solid background element? Again, the key is being aware of what the possibilities
are, and how theyll inuence your pictures. When in doubt, try shooting it different ways!
The background of a scene can sometimes be almost as impor-
tant as the main subject. Knowing the possibilities, Art Wolfe was
able to take advantage of the conditions and his equipment to get
a powerful photograph.
We often think of composing pictures with a
primary subject of some sort in the foreground,
and usually let the background recede to some-
thing of less visual importance Many times, this
is an effective way to shoot: the camera easily
concentrates on our foreground subject, and it
can produce strong photographs of anything from
owers to people.
But sometimes, we have no choice but to shoot
something in the distance. It may be a major but
distant attraction, or perhaps just something that
caught the photographers eye. In Arts case, he
clearly wanted to photograph the monastery in
Bhutan, but knew he needed something more.
In cases like these, with a little thought and effort its usually possible to use the foreground as
a design element or to enhance in some way, yet still direct the viewers attention to the primary
subject, which is in the background. For Art Wolfe, the solution was to use the prayer ags already
strung in the foreground as a part of his photograph of the monastery. Rather than view them as an
obstacle, he took advantage of them to produce a photograph that was better than the monastery
alone would have been.
Use foreground information in a scene
Even though hes photographing a distant subject, Art Wolfe
regarded the prayer ags in the foreground as an opportunity,
not an obstacle.
Out-of-focus areas can dress up a picture
Especially with a telephoto lens, when you focus on a distant subject, any foreground objects will tend to
fall out of focus. Having large areas out of focus can actually direct your viewers eye toward the primary
subject in your scene: remember, a viewers eye is naturally attracted to things in a picture that are sharp.
The following example of a stop sign is an obvious example.
Also, in the same way that an out-of-focus background can still provide visual information in a photograph,
the same can be true of foreground areas that are out of focus. In the shot of the stop sign, its clear that this
was taken in an area with fall foliage, and that thats as much a part of the picture as the subject itself. In Arts
Even though the subject here takes up only a small part of the
scene, in the lower-right corner, the rest of the foreground areas
provide strong information to the viewer, and guide their eye
toward the actual subject.
Rudy Winston
A telephoto landscape shot with out-of-focus owers in the fore-
ground intentionally placed in the scene.
Rudy Winston
An ordinary scene of two boats on a man-made lake is enhanced
by an out-of-focus iron fence a few feet from the camera. Rather
than making an effort to shoot around the fence, the photographer
shot through the fence and used it to produce a different image.
Rudy Winston
Telephoto lenses are particularly useful for throwing
foreground elements out of focus. In fact, its usu-
ally very difcult or impossible for a telephoto lens
to have sufcient depth-of-eld to give you a sharp-
ly focused background subject along with sharp
foreground objects. Instead of banging your head
against a wall trying to get a telephoto lens to do
something it optically cannot, use the lenss charac-
teristics to your advantage. A distant shot of a land-
scape or scenic picture can often be effective when
taken with a telephoto lens. By including something
in the foreground, thats radically out of focus, you
can introduce a playful element into a scene.
shot of the monastery with the prayer ags, theres
obviously a strong visual and actual link between the
ags and the monastery. Sometimes, theres not an
obvious link, but you can still put an element into the
frame that turns an ordinary picture into something vi-
sually different.
Foregrounds with wide-angle lenses
A wide-angle lenss tendency to keep lots of things in
sharp focus, and to emphasize foreground elements
by making them larger, usually leads photographers
to put primary subjects in the foreground. After all,
its an effective way to leverage a wide-angle lenss
properties. But especially if your actual subject is a
large, expansive one, its possible to use the wide-
angle lens to bring in foreground elements even
though they may not be the primary subject in the
scene.
Another technique is to bring the wide-angle lens
close to foreground subjects, and have the cam-
era appear to be looking through whatever is in
the foreground toward the primary subject thats
farther away. Usually, a wide-angle lens will tend
to render everything fairly sharp, but if you place
the lens close to a foreground object, focus into the
distance, and use a wide aperture, you can blur-out
the foreground elements to some degree.
Even if the primary subject is in the distance, a wide-angle lens
can bring foreground elements into a picture that strengthen it.
Here, the subject was the tower in the background, but adding the
foreground information gives us a powerful photograph.
Rudy Winston
Summary
Art Wolfe knew his shot of the monastery needed more. Changing his shooting position slightly, and in-
corporating items in the foreground did the trick for him. You wont always have conveniently-placed ags
in the foreground of every scene you shoot, but anything from tall grass and tree leaves to another building
can sometimes be incorporated into your foregrounds. Shots of distant subjects often need something to
make them a strong, memorable photograph. Putting something in the foreground can be an effective step
in getting powerful photographs.
With the explosive growth of the internet, viewers
now expect to see more than just a few still images.
Multimedia is the buzzword of the day, and whether
people are looking at a companys web site or simply
viewing a friends images, video content is progres-
sively becoming the expected norm.
For years, serious photographers have wanted that
camera that can handle both stills and video cover-
age and deliver professional-quality results in both.
Certainly, there have been compact still digital cam-
eras with video capability, but there are compromises
with image quality in both stills and video for critical
users. Many of todays digital camcorders will let us-
ers either pull a still image from moving video footage
(a so-called frame grab), or even sometimes snap a
separate picture while video is being recorded. How-
ever, the quality of these still images is only so-so,
especially if they need to be used for any printed ap-
plication.
Canons new EOS 5D Mark II, introduced in late 2008, changes the game completely. For the rst time,
professional photographers and serious, dedicated amateurs can have both stunning still image quality,
along with video quality that not just matches, but in some areas exceeds, what most professional video
camcorders can deliver. Its a 21-million pixel, full-frame digital SLR with true 1920x1080 progressive HD
video capability. As more and more photographers nd new uses for video content, the EOS 5D Mark II
arrives and allows them to do it, without compromising still photographic quality.
Video revolution: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
It looks like a traditional digital SLR, but the new EOS 5D Mark II
has ground-breaking video capabilities. Of course, its a superb
still camera, too!
Video basics:
The EOS 5D Mark II allows users to record either full 1920x1080 HD video, or web-ready 640x480 video,
onto the cameras CF card. Video is recorded at 30 fps. Sound can either be recorded by a basic built-in
microphone (its actually located directly under the 5D logo on the front of the camera), or photographers
can use available external microphones that plug into the standard-size 3.5mm diameter connector on the
side of the camera.
Up to 12 minutes of continuous, uninterrupted high-
denition video can be recorded at a time, before
the camera requires users to pause for a second
or two (video recording can begin almost imme-
diately, by simply pressing the cameras rear SET
button). Twelve minutes of HD video takes up about
4GB of space on the CF card. Multiple clips can be
recorded on a card, up to the cards total capacity.
Any Canon EF, TS-E, or MP-E lens can be used for
video recording with the EOS 5D Mark II, and zoom
lenses can be zoomed manually by the photographer
during recording. Thus, photographers can record
video using the same lenses they now use for every-
day still shooting.
Video recording is possible with any Canon EF, TS-E, or MP-E
lens when used on the EOS 5D Mark II.
Video operation
To begin video recording, photographers must rst
enable both Live View and video recording in the
cameras set-up menu. Once this has been done, the
camera must be put in Live View mode (so that view-
ing with the LCD monitor is active) this is easily
done by pressing the rear Live View button to the left
of the viewnder. Then, a press on the rear SET but-
ton activates video recording in less than second; a
red icon appears in the upper-right corner of the LCD
monitor to alert the photographer that video is being
recorded. Pressing the SET button again stops video
recording.
Priority is always placed upon high-quality still shoot-
ing with the EOS 5D Mark II. Even during video re-
cording, a still image can be taken by fully pressing
the cameras shutter button. While a still image is
taken, there will be brief pause in the video, with the
last-recorded video frame frozen for approximately
Video operation is simple with the EOS 5D Mark II. After enabling
Live View and video recording in the set-up menu, press the Live
View button and then the rear SET button to start video recording.
Set Button Live View Button
Focusing during video recording
Manual focus can always be used with any Canon EF, TS-E, or MP-E lens during video recording with the
EOS 5D Mark II. In fact, during actual video recording, Canon recommends manual focus in
most situations.
Autofocus during video recording is possible, using either the Live Mode AF or the Face Detect Live Mode
AF. However, there are some important limitations when either type of Live Mode AF is employed during
live video recording, including audible noise which can be picked-up by the camera, and the systems need
to focus on a well-lit, contrasty subject. With the EOS 5D Mark IIs outstanding 3-inch, high-resolution LCD
monitor, many experienced users will nd that Manual focus is often the quickest and most effective way to
change focus during video recording. The full-time manual focus feature on most mid-range and high-end
Canon lenses is a real benet here, allowing AF if the shooter wants by pressing the rear AF-ON button,
and still allowing totally free manual focusing by simply turning the lenss focus ring even if its still in the
AF mode.
second; video recording immediately resumes after that. Still images will be taken at the image quality set-
tings currently in effect when the shutter button is pressed.
The EOS 5D Mark II aims for maximum ease of operation, along with simply superb image quality, during
video recording. Exposure control for video shooting is always fully automatic, with the camera adjusting
ISO, video shutter speed, and lens aperture based on the prevailing ambient light conditions. Unlike many
upper-end camcorders, these settings cannot be overridden for video recording on the EOS 5D Mark
II. The camera does allow using Exposure Compensation (to deliberately lighten or darken the video, up to
+/- two stops), and AE Lock is also possible with the cameras rear AE Lock button.
Video image quality
The EOS 5D Mark II uses an imaging sensor thats far larger than nearly any professional digital cam-
corder, regardless of price. Because of this, it has two characteristics that separate it from virtually all other
camcorders: it makes limited depth-of-eld easy to achieve with many Canon lenses, and it has light sen-
sitivity in dim conditions thats essentially unmatched by any other video recording device.
ISOs are automatically set for video recording, ranging from 100 thru 6400, depending upon lighting
conditions. (ISO can be expanded with a custom function to range up to 12,800.) Even at ISOs such as
3200 or 6400, the low levels of digital noise and the richness of color are breathtaking. Video shooters ac-
Video image quality is outstanding with the EOS 5D Mark II,
especially its low-light capability. A full-frame sensor signicantly
larger than the sensors used on most camcorders is the chief
reason why.
customed to taking large quantities of lighting gear
and even portable generators with them on-location
will nd that many of these tasks can be recorded
with the EOS 5D Mark II using nothing more than a
fast Canon EF lens and available light.
Even in bright sunlight, the EOS 5D Mark II astounds
with its broad tonal range and outstanding ability to
record highlight details.
Video is recorded in the industry-standard H.264
compression method (MPEG-4 AVC equivalent). The
digital video les can be edited using the basic soft-
ware supplied with the camera, and can also be ed-
ited by most popular high-end video editing software
programs. Video is not compatible with the so-called
AVCHD format used by some video camcorders.
Summary
While Canons new EOS 5D Mark II makes no effort to replace the traditional high-end camcorder (such as
those used to record the Travels to the Edge series), the fact is that this camera completely changes the
game for many professional photographers. They now have a still camera in a compact form-factor which
can easily record video of simply outstanding quality exceeding, in some ways, the quality of professional
camcorders. But at the same time, its got still image quality that is arguably the best in the industry, with a
full-frame CMOS sensor, 21 million pixels, and outstanding high-ISO image quality.
Whether youre an amateur enthusiast who loves photography and the excitement of digital imaging, or a
full-time professional, the video capabilities of the EOS 5D Mark II expand what a photographer can achieve
in a given situation. For pros, the potential is there every day to be more valuable to their clients. And for
the enthusiast, it offers a way to take advantage of the fast-growing multi-media opportunities on the inter-
net and elsewhere. Its not often that a photographic product can be hailed as revolutionary, but its not a
stretch with the EOS 5D Mark II.
The video tips for this episode are interesting, because they give us insight into how this beautiful PBS series
was lmed. Often, when we watch TV, were drawn into what were watching, and lose sight of whats required
to bring the outstanding moving images onto our TVs at home.
The video cameras used by the lm crew in this series may look large and imposing, but in fact, theyre re-
markably light and compact for camcorders of this type. In the tips video, you can hear professional videog-
raphers speaking of how these compact high-denition video cameras made globe-trotting with Art Wolfe a
pleasure.
Traditionally, photographers have gravitated to either still images or moving images, and devoted their atten-
tions there. But in todays world, the internet has changed the playing eld. Whether its your aunt and uncle
who want to see your children growing up, or a professional photographer working with his or her clients, us-
ers expect to be able to see both still and moving images on-screen. The internet is becoming more and more
of a fact of life in sharing of images for all photographers. Even the most dyed-in-the-wool still photographer
really needs to think how adding occasional video content to his or her imagery will expand their appeal to
their audience.
Todays HDV camcorders
The professional Canon XL-H1 camcorder may seem large, but to the pros shooting Travels to the Edge, its extreme light weight and
compact size made it a pleasure to use. For consumers, far smaller units are available, such as Canons VIXIA HG20.
Canon XL-H1 camcorder Canon VIXIA HG20
Types of camcorders available
Well speak very quickly and generally about whats available, and priced within range of most
photographers. Clearly, the heavyweight professional camcorders typically used by videographers (which
can cost over $30,000) are not likely to be on the shopping list of most still photographers who are thinking
about adding some video capability.
Video camcorders can record moving les onto small tapes, onto removable memory cards (much like a still
digital camera), onto removable DVDs, or into built-in memory in the camera itself. Typically, they have a
permanently-attached zoom lens, although some high-end models like the Canon XL-H1 series used to lm
Travels to the Edge have fully interchangeable lenses. Zoom lenses for camcorders often have very broad
ranges, compared to what still photographers are accustomed to.
At moderate price points, most camcorders record standard-denition or high-denition les, using a single
(and physically small) imaging sensor. As you go higher in price, you can encounter 3-chip cameras, which
have three separate sensors one each for red, green and blue information. These can be expected to
deliver higher image quality, but of course at a higher price.
Please note that in nearly all cases, the large cameras you see news photographers and TV professionals
working with are far more expensive cameras, with larger imaging sensors for superior image quality. These
are the camcorders that sell for well into ve-gure prices. In the Tips video, you may recall a speaker
saying how pleasantly surprised he and the crew
were at the image quality from the Canon XL-se-
ries camcorders they used, which are small-sensor
cameras. They benet from being far smaller over-
all, as well as lighter, but are entirely capable of pro-
ducing outstanding HDTV-quality video.
Features on camcorders
Like compact digital cameras, consumer-lev-
el camcorders try to keep things simple for the
video shooter. They frequently have few adjust-
able features, and emphasize easy and automatic
operation. Frankly, for still photographers venturing
into video for the rst time, this is often just ne.
Certainly, as you begin to explore more advanced
As with digital SLRs, higher-end digital video camcorders have
more user-control available. First-time video shooters may get by
perfectly well with simpler, fully automatic video cameras.
Summary
For many of us with years of experience shooting
still pictures, video was always something other
people dealt with. But in todays world, its not just
amateurs at Disney World and professionals follow-
ing Art Wolfe around the world for TV who are work-
ing with video. Many photographers who previously
shot only stills are beginning to realize that video
presents an opportunity to add to their imaging, and
theres increasing demand to have multi-media con-
tent when people view images.
A compact camcorder may be just the ticket for tell-
ing visual stories in a different way. Think about tak-
ing a look at whats available the next time you walk
into a camera dealer. And think about what goes into
lming a spectacular TV series like Travels to the
Edge. Art Wolfe isnt the only master at work!
Video for the web
As appealing as true high-denition video sounds, it comes at a price: large le sizes. This is little problem
for users who want to simply connect their camcorder to a large HDTV and play back their video. But if
youre thinking about video for the reason so many still photographers are making your les available on-
line size becomes a major problem. Large, high-denition video les can play back poorly when viewed
on-line, even with a high-speed connection. In almost all cases, you or your clients will want to edit video,
and then reduce both its pixel size and further compress it, to make the video les smaller and much easier
to play back on ordinary internet connections. Consider this if youre thinking about a video camera.
Lightweight, professional camcorders were a key to the lming
of Travel to the Edge. And in spite of their smaller sensors and
far lower cost, they produced outstanding quality footage for the
PBS series.
HD camcorders, you get more available features and controls much as youd expect on mid-range and
upper-end digital SLRs compared to simple, entry-level models. Some of the variables you begin to see
are adjustable frame rates (30 fps, 24 fps, etc.), different manual exposure adjustments and overrides, and
many more.
True HDTV resolution in todays marketplace is 1920x1080 pixels. Some affordable camcorders, like Can-
ons compact and robust VIXIA HF11, are capable of recording in true 1920x1080 resolution. Many others
record at a lower gure, such as 1440x1080 pixels but these can still provide stunning detail and color
when viewed on a top-notch HDTV.
The video recording team has a chance to speak
about the lming of the series Travels to the Edge
in two Tips videos for Episode 11. Along with lots
of insight into how this marvelous PBS series was
lmed, they make an interesting observation about
how working with Art Wolfe, they actually picked up
some insights into shooting wildlife.
One of the main difculties in shooting effective shots
of wildlife is simply getting close enough to it when
youre out in the wild. Many birds and animals simply
wont let humans approach them, and even if youre
equipped with a 600mm or 800mm telephoto lens, it
can severely hamper your ability to get
good photos.
Positioning in wildlife photography
It looks traditional on the outside, but the EOS 5D Mark II has
video-recording capability thats unmatched by many camcorders,
along with its ability to shoot 21-million pixel still images.
Moving closer, without being observed
Its beyond the scope of this article to go into all the
techniques skilled nature photographers use to ap-
proach timid wildlife. But even in the brief Tips video,
its clear that the video team learned a lot by following
a master like Art Wolfe.
Art made a very interesting point by asking the video
crew to walk alongside a fence, so that their silhou-
ettes wouldnt be apparent against the horizon to
the black neck cranes that they were attempting to
photograph. Its one thing to walk quietly, but entirely
another to be thinking about how youll appear from
the animals perspective. But its a great example of
how the best photographers dont just take great pic-
tures, they think about all aspects of whats needed
to make great pictures happen.
Art Wolfe had the foresight to use a fence so that the video
teams silhouettes wouldnt be visible to nearby birds. Years of
experience allow Art to understand how various animals see,
think and react.
Using surroundings, and shooting from above
Two more great points were made by the video team about how Art shoots wildlife. One was to try to posi-
tion the camera above the wildlife, to minimize the
chances of them being alarmed by the camera. By
itself, this is something many of us probably wouldnt
think of when trying to photograph elusive wildlife.
Another excellent point was Art positioning himself
within white prayer ags in Bhutan. As we saw in an
earlier Tips video, these prayer ags were an actual
subject he spent time photographing. But he had
the insight to use them as a place to stand within,
to reduce his visibility to birds in ight as he photo-
graphed them. Very few of us would probably have
the foresight to use a subject like these prayer ags
in two totally different ways, but Art did another
example of his ability to think on his feet, and a great
lesson for all prospective nature shooters.
Art Wolfe very cleverly used his surroundings to conceal himself
and his camera from birds hes photographing. In this case, he
stood among the same prayer ags on a mountaintop in Bhutan
that hed photographed earlier.
Summary
As mentioned a moment ago, theres an entire book that could be written about the techniques and under-
standing that top nature shooters have to make themselves invisible to the subjects theyre photographing. But
Art Wolfes techniques obviously impressed the Travels to the Edge video crew, and they learned a lot
working with him.
Aspiring photographers should always keep their
eyes and ears open, to learn techniques that
they can use when photographing in different
conditions. Even if youre not an avid bird or animal
photographer, its entirely possible that things you
learn watching this great PBS series, or seeing the
Tips videos and the written Tips articles on the Can-
on Digital Learning Center site, can be put to use by
you at some point in the future.
One of the most important, yet difcult, aspects of great nature
photography is being able to get close enough to wildlife for great
shots without alarming or endangering them, or yourself.
For years, photographers have known about the
so-called rule of thirds, which basically says that
pictures are more compelling when a central sub-
ject is placed off-center, about one-third of the way
from an edge. This applies to actual subjects like
peoples faces, as well as horizon lines. Compared
to dead-centered compositions, this rule of thumb
has a lot going for it, and many advanced amateurs
practice it on a regular basis.
In fact, learning to move subjects off-center is one of
the fundamental steps in a photographers develop-
ment from a snap-shooter to a true photo enthusi-
ast. An understanding of the so-called rule of thirds
is easy to acquire, and easy to put into practice in
many circumstances.
But sometimes, you can be even more radical. Art
Wolfe demonstrates this vividly in his video tip Ho-
rizon Composition, which might be better named
extreme composition. His point is clear: something
made the photographer stop, look at a scene, and
want to photograph it. Why not have that element
dominate the frame?
Awareness of the entire frame
Using the entire frame like this calls for an aware-
ness of whats happening over the entire picture
area. Sounds basic, but many shooters lose this by
not holding the camera properly, and by not using the viewfnder correctly.
Its vital to see the whole picture area, and with the eye-level viewfnder, that means pushing the camera
into your face and having the eyepiece as close to your eye as possible. Watch amateur shooters hold their
SLRs, and youll often see that that camera is held an inch or more from their eye. With modern SLRs, its
impossible to see out to the edges of the frame when holding the camera this way. By pressing the rear
Off-center composition
The shot of the boats at dawn illustrates the Rule of Thirds,
which has long been a part of photography. Arts composition
puts the horizon line far more off-center, for a much more
dramatic effect.
Art Wolfe
Rudy Winston
of the camera into the photographers nose, the eyepiece naturally comes right to the users eye and
it suddenly becomes easy to see the edges of the frame, as well as the shooting information display, with
only slight side-to-side (or up-and-down) movement of the photographers eye.
Another great tool with modern digital SLRs is Live View. In fact, any time the camera is on a tripod, Live
View gives a great way to see the whole picture area with little stress. Its 100% accurate, corner to corner,
with all EOS digital SLRs (as of January, 2009). In other words, what you see out to the corners is what
youll get in the actual digital fle.
Something in the scene needs to be boss
How elements in a picture are arranged in the frame
speaks volumes about what the photographer was
thinking, and what his or her visual priorities were.
In Arts example, he openly says that the vast, fat
steppes of the Mongolian landscape needed more
to make a dramatic picture. The brooding sky with
a developing storm provided just that. And by mini-
mizing the role of the fat grassland but not totally
eliminating it he make it very clear in the picture
what hes trying to photograph. If hed put the hori-
zon line half-way through the picture, the viewer is
much more confused: is Art trying to show us some-
thing in the fat grassy landscape, or something in
the sky? Which is more important? Which captured
his eye, and made him want to take the picture?
In any picture, something has to be boss. The more
clearly the photographer gets that across, the stron-
ger a picture he or she likely has produced. There
are numerous ways to make some element of the
scene dominate a picture, but simply composing so that it takes up a lot of the frame is one very strong way
to make a visual statement.
The effect is similar to Arts photograph, even though here, the
photographer included a vast area of foreground rather than
sky to make a strong visual statement. Just as in Arts shot, its
obvious that the sky is his main subject; here, its clear that the
boardwalk is the primary element in the frame.
Rudy Winston
Off-center subjects dont always have to
be large
Art moved his camera well off-center, so that the
sky takes up nearly the entire frame. But some-
times, you may be shooting something smaller than
an entire sky. Its still possible to move a subject far
off-center and make an effective statement about
your subject and its surroundings.

Once again, an awareness of the frame and how
your subject relates to its surroundings is a key,
but its something that photographers can develop.
Part of it is making a commitment to start placing
subjects off-center, and from time to time to ex-
periment with moving subjects far off-center. The
rule of thirds works well in many situations, but
as the saying goes, rules are sometimes made to
be broken.
Summary:
Composition is always a subjective thing, and
theres no one single right way to take a picture.
But open your eyes and your mind to the possibili-
ties. A great way to start down this path is to see
what experts like Art Wolfe are able to do when pre-
sented with challenging yet beautiful subject mat-
ter. Take different pictures of the same scene, and
experiment with moving things around the frame.
Become aware of how youre using the eye-level
viewfnder, and make a conscious effort to be more
in charge of seeing the entire frame at all times.
Look at pictures in magazines and books that show
excellent photography, and start to analyze the
scene and how the photographer dealt with it for
that particular image.
The possibilities are endless, but it starts with a willingness to push the envelope, start moving things off-
center, and once youre comfortable with the rule of thirds, to start pushing the envelope again and see
how things look when theyre well off-center.
It doesnt take up the frame the way Art Wolfes dominating
sky from Mongolia does, but theres little question that the
stature thats far off-center is still the primary subject in this
picture. Dont be afraid to experiment with moving a primary
subject far off-center!
Rudy Winston
Top photographers like Art Wolfe always are looking for ways to
exploit their subjects. Sometimes, simply moving the camera to
change to an unexpected composition is enough to produce a
memorable image.
Arts video tip for this episode on painting with light
revives an old-school technique that photographers
have used for years. But even in todays age of digi-
tal SLRs with remarkable high-ISO capabilities, its
sometimes rewarding to come up with an unusual
image by slowing down, using lower ISOs, long shut-
ter speeds and a tripod, and adding your own light to
a scene.
Painting with light
Painting with Light is a technique thats been around for a
long time, but that doesnt mean it cant be used in digital im-
aging. Art Wolfe combined a long shutter speed, tripod, and
light from a fashlight to create an image that wouldnt have
been possible otherwise.
Art Wolfe
How is it done?
As Art demonstrates in his Tips video, its a pretty easy process, once youve got a subject selected and
the camera positioned on a tripod. Exposure control will require some experimentation. While most digital
SLRs today are capable of automatically providing excellent exposures long after the sun has set, you must
remember that exposure is calculated based on the ambient light before the picture is taken. When you paint
with light, as Art does with the Mongolian monuments, the main source of light isnt going to be visible to the
camera until after the exposure starts.
Provide yourself a suffciently long shutter speed to allow time to move your light source around your sub-
ject, so its fully covered. Youll note that Art didnt just turn the light on for a moment or two and then turn it
off. Instead, he moved it evenly around the surface of the monument, to illuminate it evenly, during a ten-
second long exposure. Furthermore, he stood off to the side, so that the light would enhance the texture of
the monument if hed stood right behind the camera and simply shined the light straight into the stone,
the texture and detail would be lost by the fat lighting.
For most situations, its best to switch to either Manual exposure mode and pick a slow shutter speed such
as 8, 15, or 30 seconds, or alternatively use the Bulb setting for longer exposures. Aperture should be
stopped-down at least a stop or two for better image quality. And ISOs wont usually need to be very high,
unless youre trying to build-up background lighting to avoid a black sky shortly after sunset (late at night, its
almost impossible to avoid skies looking near-black unless you pick up the glow of city lights).
The light source:
Almost any portable light that can be aimed and
moved around so that the subject is evenly lit can be
used, and it doesnt necessarily need to be super-
powerful, either (unless youre trying to illuminate a
huge subject like a building). Art used a fashlight.
Since the camera wont see this light source until
the picture is taken (that is, until the shutter is al-
ready open), the Auto White Balance setting wont
factor-in the hand-held light. In Arts case, the tung-
sten light of the fashlight was rendered in a beauti-
ful golden color, since the camera was set to properly balance the daylight in the scene. If youre using a
conventional fashlight or similar tungsten light source, and you want the painted light to look white, at the
very least youll need to switch your cameras WB setting to Tungsten. Upper-end cameras that allow you
to dial-in Kelvin WB settings allow even more control; to avoid the yellowish look, you may need to use the
Kelvin WB setting and dial-in a reading lower than 3000K. The lower you set it, the whiter this type of light
source will appear.
Keep in mind that this applies to a conventional battery-powered bulb only. If youre using a hand-held light
with a different type of bulb (fuorescent, LED, etc), youll need to experiment to see which white balance
settings work for you.
Youll need to experiment with exposure settings,
though. Theres no one setting that will always work
best. Digital cameras are a huge advantage here,
since you can see the results of your work after each
shot is taken, and make the appropriate changes
as needed. For example, if Art had found that his
frst shot was too light, its easy to either switch to a
smaller lens aperture, and/or change to a lower ISO
setting either will darken the next picture.
The painting with light technique is best done with the camera
in Manual mode, rather than using automatic exposure. The
reason? The light youre adding, like Arts fashlight, is not seen
or metered by your camera once exposure starts.
Painting with light, using fash
Yes, its possible to do this with an off-camera fash
unit thats hand-held as well. Were not talking about
conventional wireless TTL fash, like the wireless
E-TTL system offered by Canon EOS digital SLRs.
Instead, we mean taking any portable fash unit, and
popping it multiple times with its Test button to even-
ly light up a subject.
With many TTL-type fash units, if you simply pull it off
the camera and press the Test button, itll fre at full
manual power. Full fash power is usually too bright,
if youre close to your subject like Art was. If theres
a Manual fash mode (on the fash unit; were not
talking about Manual mode on the camera), and you
can manually dial-down the power, this is the time
to do it. Repeated fash pops at 1/4, 1/8, or lower
power levels will be far more controllable with small
subjects like the Mongolian monument. Youll need
to move the fash so that each pop lights up different
areas of the subject, to avoid hot-spots.
Exposure, again, is going to require some experi-
menting. Aside from reverting to wireless TTL (which
is designed to use ONE burst of fash, albeit from an
off-camera speedlite), if youre painting with light us-
ing fash, youll be fring repeating pops of low-pow-
er fash, building up light similar to how Art did with
the monument in Mongolia. The only difference is
youre not using a continuous light source. Exposure
is going to need to be Manual on the camera, and to
change it, adjust aperture or ISO (shutter speed has
no impact on fash exposure, although it will affect
how ambient light in the background is recorded).
Painting with light can also be done with a hand-held fash unit.
With most fashes, its best to switch to Manual fash exposure
mode on the speedlite, and dial-down the power to a reduced
level. The Canon Speedite 580EX II, for instance, allows the
user to lower its power from full to 1/128th.
If you try this with fash, be aware of the fash units angle of fash coverage, too. Since you cant see the
light continuously in the same way Art could see how the fashlight illumination was lighting up the monu-
ment, be careful that youre not spreading fash over too wide an area, and lighting up the ground in front
of the subject as well as the subject itself. The zoom fash head on many mid-range and high-end fashes
can be very helpful here. Setting it to a higher zoom setting (such as 50mm, 70mm or 105mm of cover-
age, instead of 35mm or 28mm) narrows its beam, and lets you be more selective about where each pop
of light is going.
One fnal hint: for help in precisely aiming a fash any time youre hand-holding it, try placing your index
fnger on top of the fash head and point it in the same direction the fash is aimed. Since the time when we
were babies, we learn instinctively how to point accurately, and this can actually help in getting good results
in off-camera fash situations.
Summary
Arts revival of an old photographic technique allowed him
to make a memorable image in a scene that had virtually no
natural light.
Arts video tip is a nice reminder of how we can
sometimes make our own photo opportunities. Sure,
its great to stumble across a building or monument
thats spectacularly lit, and to make great pictures of
it. But even in the middle of a totally darkened area
at night, there are opportunities to not only take pic-
tures, but to make compelling pictures. This is easy
to try out for yourself, so dont wait until your next
international trip to give it a whirl. With a little experi-
ence, many of the uncertainties of exposure and so
on can be squared away, and you can spend less
time experimenting and more time shooting!
As great as our autofocus systems in todays digital
SLRs are, there are times where the subjects were
photographing can be hard for them to capture. For
technical reasons, scenes where the subject doesnt
have a lot of detail are particularly hard for modern AF
systems to latch onto, even if theres a lot of light.
The spectacular landscape image of the incoming
storm that Art Wolfe photographed in his Horizontal
Composition tips video is a classic example. Even
though there are distinct clouds dominating his pic-
ture, theres a real good chance that the AF system
in most cameras would have a tough time focusing
upon this sort of subject. How would you know? The
camera would tend to hunt back and forth, driving
the lens repeatedly from nearest to farthest focus
distance, but having diffculty zeroing-in on the dis-
tant sky.
Even if you got the camera to latch-on for one picture, if you removed your fnger from the shutter button and
re-composed the camera for the next shot, theres a good chance youd go through another time-consuming
cycle of trying to get the AF to lock-on to another part of the clouds. Autofocus is supposed to simplify our pic-
ture-taking and speed things up so we can get more done in less time, and in most circumstances, it indeed
works as advertised. But if the sky is actually our main subject, it can actually do the opposite. And in some
conditions, like trying to focus on a totally clear blue sky or on a night sky, AF can be outright impossible.
Situations like these call for simply turning AF off, and focusing manually. Since the sky is about the most
distant subject we can photograph, the lens needs to be parked at infnity. Its one of those things that sounds
simple, and it is up to a point. But if you know a few things, you can eliminate a lot of guesswork, and be
assured of 100% sharp pictures in these sort of scenes.
Pre-setting infnity focus
If you try to Autofocus on a subject like these clouds, you may
fnd AF is hesitant to lock-on, or it may fail entirely. Dont give up
the photo opportunity if your subject doesnt have a lot of detail
simply switch to manual focus!
Art Wolfe
Turning off Autofocus
Well discuss how this is done with Canons EOS digital SLRs and lenses, but the principles apply to nearly
all other brands as well (for details, consult your instruction manuals, company web sites, or their technical
support staff).
Canon EOS digital SLRs place the primary control
for autofocus on the lens, not the camera body.
Each lens has a switch labeled AF / MF (or simi-
lar). Switching it to MF or Manual disables all au-
tofocus operations, and requires you to now manu-
ally turn the lenss focus ring to focus.
Theres another method of accomplishing this as
well, if youre using a Canon lens with a ring-type
Ultrasonic motor. The so-called back-button AF
Custom Function allows the photographer to re-
move AF activation from the shutter button, and in-
stead activate AF by pressing a button on the rear
of the camera with his or her right thumb. Along
with this, more than half of Canons EF and EF-S
lenses have a feature called full-time Manual Fo-
cus. This allows the photographer to manually ad-
just focus even if the lenss AF/MF switch is still in
the AF position. Thus, theres no need to switch the
lens to the Manual Focus position.
For more information on the back-button AF feature, see the Tips article in Canons Digital Learning Center
(http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2286).
Caution: before you try to manually focus with the lens still in AF mode, verify that your lens is
(a) a Canon USM lens with an Ultrasonic Motor, and
(b) that theres a distance scale on the lens barrel.
USM lenses with the distance scale allow you to perform the full-time manual focus when the lens is still
in the AF mode. If the lens does not have a distance scale of any type on its barrel, you MUST move the
switch on the lens to MF to safely manually focus the lens. In any case, if you try to turn the manual focus
ring and it seems to resist, STOP and move the switch to MF and try again. If its now much smoother to
turn the manual focus ring, the lens does not have the full-time manual focus feature, and it requires fip-
ping the switch to safely focus it manually.
Please be aware that third-party lenses from other manufacturers used on a Canon EOS camera often do
not offer this feature. If you use such a lens, consult the lens makers instructions or their technical staff
or information.
(EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM)
Canons full-time Manual Focus is available on any Canon EF or
EF-S lens with both an Ultrasonic Motor and a distance scale (like
that pictured here) on the lens barrel. This means you can manu-
ally focus the lens, even if its still in its AF mode. Its especially
handy when combined with back-button AF, since you wont en-
gage AF every time you press the shutter button half-way down!
Turning the lens to infnity focus
Lenses with a distance scale will indicate infnity focus with an infnity symbol, which looks like a number 8
turned on its side. Youd expect that setting infnity focus would be nothing more than turning the lenss focus
ring to the end of its travel at the infnity side. However, theres a catch: many lenses are actually designed
to focus beyond infnity.
What this means is that simply turning the focus ring
all the way toward infnity will result in a blurry pic-
ture of distant subjects landscapes, sky, the moon
and stars, and so on. You actually have to place fo-
cus a bit before the end of the lenss travel.
The reason some lenses focus past infnity is to al-
low for possible internal optical changes that can oc-
cur if the lens is used in bright sunlight and becomes
hot internally.
Regardless, there are two methods the shooter can
use to get proper results manually focusing a Canon
lens (with a distance scale) to infnity: either view
through the cameras viewfnder (or evaluate focus
using Live View the 5x or 10x magnifed views in
Live View can be very helpful for seeing precise focus here, if your subject has some detail), or alternatively
turn the ring so that the index mark in the distance scale lines-up with the line leading up to the infnity icon
(see example above).
Many lenses are designed to actually focus PAST infnity, to ac-
commodate optical changes from temperature within the lens.
With these lenses, you need to precisely focus manually at a
distant subject. At normal temperatures, you can set the lens to
this index mark if the lens has a distance scale.
Lenses without a distance scale
Some of Canons lightweight and affordable lenses, like the EF-S 18-55mm zoom lens thats standard with
many EOS digital cameras and the popular EF 70-300mm zoom lenses, use a simpler construction and
dont have a distance scale on the barrel at all. Lenses like these can still easily be manually focused to
infnity, for shots like Art Wolfes stunning clouds landscape.
First, these lenses MUST be physically switched into Manual Focus mode, using the AF/MF switch on the
side of the lens. You can damage these lenses if you try to force the manual focus ring to turn while theyre
still in the AF mode.
Summary
Composition is always a subjective thing, and theres
no one single right way to take a picture. But open
your eyes and your mind to the possibilities. A great
way to start down this path is to see what experts
like Art Wolfe are able to do when presented with
challenging yet beautiful subject matter. Take differ-
ent pictures of the same scene, and experiment with
moving things around the frame. Become aware of
how youre using the eye-level viewfnder, and make
a conscious effort to be more in charge of seeing the
entire frame at all times. Look at pictures in maga-
zines and books that show excellent photography,
and start to analyze the scene and how the photog-
rapher dealt with it for that particular image.
The possibilities are endless, but it starts with a will-
ingness to push the envelope, start moving things
off-center, and once youre comfortable with the rule of thirds, to start pushing the envelope again and see
how things look when theyre well off-center.
The focus ring is usually at the front of the lens.
There are two ways to tell if youre focusing to-
ward infnity:
1. Looking at the front of the camera (holding it
as if you were going to take your own picture),
turn the ring clockwise until it stops. Youre now
set to infnity focus.
2. Looking at the top of the lens, youll notice
as you turn the focus ring that the lenss over-
all length shortens if you turn the ring so its top
moves to the left. With the lens at its shortest
total length, youve set infnity focus. (This has
nothing to do with zoom focal length, it refers
strictly to the physical length of the lens.)
(EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens)
Many compact and lightweight lenses dont have a distance
scale. You can still manually focus them to infnity for shots
like the clouds Art Wolfe photographed in Mongolia see
steps 1 and 2 above.
Any time your main subject doesnt have a lot of detail, be
ready to take charge of your AF system to get best results.
Sometimes, that means taking over completely, switching to
Manual focus, and leaving it there as you explore your subject.
Art Wolfe
Photographing fying birds with his 400mm DO lens
in Iceland, Art Wolfe is up against the limits of tech-
nology. As good as the continuous focus-tracking is
on many of todays digital SLRs, there are some fast-
moving subjects that will challenge even the fnest of
autofocus systems. Rather than stress-out and try to
force the camera to do something it simply may not be
able to, Art falls back on another old-time technique:
pre-focus the lens, and wait for a subject to come to
the camera. His goal, after all, is great pictures.
Pre-focusing the lens for action pictures
Realizing that hes got a very tough moving subject, Art Wolfe
moved away from autofocus, pre-focused his lens, and shot con-
tinuous bursts of puffns in fight as they neared his camera. The
result? Some superbly sharp, tightly-composed shots, that would
have been very hard for the AF system to deliver.
Why might AF not be the best choice?
The fying puffns in Iceland pose two major challenges to any cameras continuous AF system. One is that
even the fastest-moving subjects can be fairly readily tracked when theyre a suffcient distance away. But
as they get closer, their apparent speed increases. You can see this for yourself: step out of a car thats
parked in the breakdown lane of a highway with fast-moving traffc, and look at approaching cars in the
distance. Even if you know theyre traveling 60mph, 70mph, or faster, when viewed in the distance, they
seem to be moving quite slowly. Now look at cars moving the same speed, but which are only a few yards
away. You suddenly realize that 60 or 70mph is a lot faster than it feels when youre inside your car.
The principle when trying to photograph subjects like birds in fight is the same. Its pretty easy to capture
them with AF when theyre hundreds of yards away, but even the longest of telephoto lenses will render
them as tiny dots against the sky at those distances. For tighter shots, they need to be much closer to the
camera. And what happens when they are? Their apparent speed and changes in direction can be diffcult
for any AF system to keep up with.
The other challenge is keeping this small, fast-moving subject completely covered by at least one AF point
in your cameras viewfnder. The AF system can only respond to what it sees, and its eyes, so to speak,
are the little boxes you see in your cameras view-
fnder. For best performance with moving subjects,
its recommended to manually choose ONE AF point,
rather than having all of them active. But this beneft
is a double-edge sword, because now, the photogra-
pher has the challenge of keeping the lens and cam-
era solidly upon that fying bird.
When the subject is a runner or a race car moving
in a fairly predictable path straight toward the cam-
era, most modern AF systems are more than up to
the challenge of tracking movement. But make the
subject a physically small one thats moving fast and
possibly very erratically, and the AF systems success
rate will drop exponentially.
Shooting continuously, youll only get a few sharp shots when
pre-focusing the lens but if youve set a close distance, those
few shots should be winners.
Art Wolfe
The answer: pre-focus the camera lens
The solution is simple: either switch off the AF entirely,
or remove it from activation via the shutter button with
back-button AF (a Custom Function on many digi-
tal SLRs, including nearly all Canon EOS models).
Either way, you now can fre the camera without AF
trying to kick-in and change the lens focus distance to
something other than your pre-set position.
Watch the subject(s), and calculate their likely path
of movement, and how close theyll come to you. Ask
how close theyll need to be for effectively tight pho-
tographs. Now, manually move the lenss focus ring
to about that distance.
With high-end lenses, this is often easy, for two rea-
sons: the lens has a distance scale on it, allowing
you to focus it to an approximate pre-determined dis-
tance; also, many Canon lenses have a cool feature
called full-time manual focus, which allows you to
(EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM)
With most high-end lenses, a distance scale like this helps when
youre pre-focusing the lens. If your lens doesnt have one, gauge
focus distance by focusing on another object a similar distance
away, or with the lens set to MF (Manual Focus), turn the focus
ring as a subject approaches the camera and get a sense of an
appropriate distance to pre-set.
Shooting after pre-focusing the lens
Once youve committed to shooting some pre-fo-
cused pictures, follow through! Dont be afraid to try
working the technique for a while. Since the subjects
are moving and the lenss focus is not (its pre-set
and fxed at one distance), yourre not going to get
every shot sharp. Especially with a 300mm or longer
lens, theres a very thin plane of sharp focus youre
waiting for your subjects to pass through, and hope
the camera fres when theyre in it.
Set your continuous advance to a high-speed setting,
and fre multiple shots in a burst as you follow the
subject, moving the camera and lens if necessary to
keep it in the frame. Youre looking for the occasional
shot where everything comes together. Dont worry
about out-of-focus pictures, since youre bound to
shoot many of them. The good news is that unlike
when we shot flm, with a digital SLR, its not costing
you money every time you press the shutter button;
you can delete the out-of-focus shots later when you
return to the computer.
On that note, remember that frequent erasing of images in-camera, while youre playing them back on the
LCD monitor, can actually generate problems with your memory cards. Erasing a shot or two is OK, but
dont spend lots of time erasing 50% or more of your images during playback. Either wait until youre ready
to copy them to your computer and only copy the good ones, or copy them all and then review/delete them
from the computer using your browser software.
turn the focus ring and manually focus the lens even if its still in the AF mode.
If youre using a compact lens that doesnt have a distance scale, all is not lost. Switch the lens out of the
AF mode (move the lenss switch to MF), and turn the focus ring while looking through the fnder at either
the moving subjects, or something nearby that you calculate is about the same distance away as youd like
the birds or moving subject to be (a tree limb, etc).
Once the lens is pre-focused, you may need to fre off dozens
of pictures to get a few sharp ones of fast-moving birds in fight.
Fortunately, with digital SLRs, it basically costs you nothing to take
many pictures in one situation unlike when most enthusiasts
shot with flm!
Rudy Winston
Other situations where pre-focus works well
For sports and other action situations, there are certainly times where what you want is a nice, continuous
sequence of a player moving right toward the camera, hopefully with each frame tack-sharp as he or she
gets larger and larger in the viewfnder. As mentioned before, for sports and other such subjects, todays
high-end cameras can do a very good to superb job at that sort of shooting.
But sometimes, you know you need ONE image of a key moment, and you CAN predict where its going to
occur. Example: youre shooting a 100 meter dash, and youre positioned behind the fnish line, with your
camera and telephoto lens aimed right at the line and the tape that the winner will break as he or she crosses
the line. You know for this scene, your shot is the winner at the instant they make contact with the tape. You
could use continuous AI Servo AF, track the runner, and in all likelihood get a nice sequence of shots with
most of them sharp. But what if he or she is wearing a uniform with almost no writing or other detail? What
if the AF simply misses at the instant they break the tape?
You can avoid problems by pre-focusing the camera on the tape, waiting for the runner to hit it, and pressing
the shutter button at that instant or possibly a split-second sooner. The beneft? Theres no chance that
the AF could get thrown off by that fashionable, solid black track jersey with no detail. Theres no chance
that someones arm or hand could come up and momentarily throw off the AF sensor. And for what its worth,
there are no wasted frames. You get the shot you needed.
There are countless other examples, from the baseball pitcher at the instant he releases the ball to the Indy
race car coming out of Turn 3. Pick a spot, focus upon it, wait for the action to come there, and then press
the button. Even the most challenging of moving subjects can sometimes be successfully captured using
this technique.
Pre-focus for close-ups
Theyre not action pictures, but any time youre shooting an extreme close-up shot of a small object, youll
often get more consistent shooting and better results by pre-focusing your lens. Move the entire camera
back and forth, until you see the critical part of your subject snap into sharp focus in your viewfnder. When
it does, take the picture.
As appealing as autofocus sounds for the challenge of extreme close-ups, it can sometimes tend to get fdg-
ety, and hunt back and forth if it momentarily is asked to focus on a plain area of your subject that doesnt
have a lot of detail. While AF normally speeds things up for SLR photographers, the fact is that in macro
shooting, it can sometimes actually slow things down.
If youre working with a true macro lens (like Canons
EF-S 60mm f/2.8 macro, or the popular EF 100mm
f/2.8 macro), you can pre-set your close-up magnif-
cation. Its printed on the focus distance scale, along
with distances in meters and feet). This makes it easy
to pre-set the magnifcation you want, based on the
size of the subject, and then simply move in and out
until you see the shot you need in the viewfnder.
Summary:
Were certainly not saying that AF isnt extremely
useful to most action photographers. While success
with autofocus defnitely is an acquired skill that takes
more than just turning the camera on and pointing it
at something, the fact is for years pros have learned
that AF can work beautifully to photograph challeng-
ing moving subjects that all but the fnest of sports or
wildlife shooters would have a tough time duplicating.
But good as it is, there will be times where the main goal is one (or a few) good, sharp pictures, and where
truly diffcult conditions make AF a gamble. Moving away from AF, intelligently pre-focusing the lens, and
shooting either a continuous burst, or (when the subject is moving predictably toward a known spot) shoot-
ing a single shot at the instant the subject arrives, can sometimes deliver the sharp pictures youre looking
for. Dont hesitate to give this a try, become familiar with the technique, and apply it in those few instances
where its needed.
Extreme close-up shooting is another situation where pre-focusing
your lens, and simply moving back and forth until you see sharp
focus in the fnder, can often be faster and more effcient than
trying to use autofocus.
Rudy Winston
In this episodes accompanying Long Exposures tips
video, Art Wolfe points out how moving water is often
best photographed at very slow shutter speeds his
favorite speeds are typically around second to 1 full
second long. He specifcally speaks of the challenge of
making these intentional long exposures during day-
light. But photographers are presented with another
challenge whenever they try to produce these types of
pictures: getting shots where only the water is moving,
and the rest of the scene is tack-sharp.
Sharper pictures with slow shutter speeds
Slow shutter speeds work beautifully to capture the movement
of fowing water. But with them come additional requirements to
keep the rest of the scene tack-sharp.
Step One: use the best tripod you can get your hands on
In the entire Travels to the Edge series, you see Art with his tripod almost as often as you see him with
a camera. This isnt an accident. As weve said before, no one carries a tripod with them when shooting
pictures because they enjoy transporting it and the time it takes to set it up. But in so many situations,
it simply provides sharper, better and (for the pro) more saleable pictures than relying on hand-holding
the camera.
Like most products, tripods come in many different categories and types. They may seem to be pretty
much the same at frst glance, but there are hundreds of different tripods and furthermore hundreds of
choices in tripod heads for todays photographers. Its certainly beyond the scope of this article to make
specifc recommendations, and personal preferences will strongly infuence what works best for you. But
the message is clear: tripods = sharper pictures. End of story.
At frst, many photo enthusiasts are tempted to work with the lightest and most portable tripod that they
can put their hands on. Unfortunately, when they really carefully look at the results they obtain after using
affordable compact tripods, they usually have a frst-hand understanding of why pros like Art use the high-
est-grade, full-size tripods available. The fact is that most compact tripods simply arent effective at stop-
ping all forms of camera movement and particularly vibrations from mirror and shutter movement. Theres
a saying that some photographers repeat when it comes to recommendations for small, lightweight tripods:
small, sturdy, cheap pick any two.
A tripod that may seem perfectly fne in a store when
you mount your camera with a standard lens on it
may suddenly seem totally inadequate when you put
a 70-200mm or 100-400mm telephoto lens on the
camera. Even though many large, professional lens-
es have their own tripod mount, you need a strong
yet smooth-working tripod head to use telephoto
lenses effectively.
Great tripods are an investment, and a top-of-the-
line pro tripod with a pro-grade head can easily cost
$1,000 or more. But like a great lens or camera, its an
investment in a photographers craft.
Finally, remember that even the best tripod is compro-
mised if you forget your remote release and have to
press the shutter button by hand to fre the camera.
Mirror lock-up
Listen to any old pros or long-time photo enthusiasts, and youll eventually hear them speak of the benefts
of mirror lock-up. Its a feature missing on many of todays popular digital SLRs, although nearly all pro mod-
els and many mid-range cameras preserve this capability.
Its an unfortunate fact of life that when you take a picture with an SLR, as its mirror pops upward, it does
so with considerable speed and force. Camera engineers take numerous steps to cushion its stop when it
reaches the top of the mirror box (fully exposing the shutter and imaging sensor), but the laws of physics
pretty much dictate that some of this collision force will be transmitted to the camera. And it is, in the form of
movement and vibration.
In ordinary, everyday outdoor shooting at fast shutter speeds (such as 1/250th or 1/500th of a second), this
is essentially a non-factor, and most photographers are scarcely aware of its presence. However, as speeds
get slower, this movement begins to have the potential to impact the sharpness of images. Just as a shak-
ing hand can completely blur a picture at slower shutter speeds, its entirely possible for a tripod-mounted
camera to produce enough vibration to blur a picture. Conditions will vary, but most users agree that shut-
ter speeds between about 1/60th thru 1/2 second are most at risk of blurs from camera vibrations and
mirror movement.
A top-notch professional tripod may not be fun to carry around on
location, but theres a reason you see a pro like Art Wolfe carry it
with him almost everywhere he goes.
Live View means sharper long exposures
The Live View feature on most recent digital SLRs is something that some advanced users and pros sneer
at, regarding it as a totally amateurish feature. However, they should take a second look, because Live View
can produce sharper pictures in two very important ways.
First off, its a form of mirror lock-up. Since by defnition, the mirror must be fully raised and the sensor
exposed to allow Live View to operate in the frst place, shooting these types of tripod-mounted images in
Live View means no mirror movement. Furthermore, most EOS digial cameras (as outlined above) require
the photographer to raise the mirror separately for EACH shot taken, when the Custom Function for mir-
ror lock-up is activated. With Live View, this is no longer necessary. The mirror remains up (at least, with
Canon digital SLRs) and doesnt move for any pictures taken during Live View shooting. (Exception: the
With all this in mind, for years, camera enthusiasts
have turned to the mirror lock-up feature. With it, when
a button is pressed or a lever is turned, the cameras
mirror rises completely, before a shot is taken. Now,
the photographer can press the shutter button to take
the shot, and since the mirror is already up and out of
the way, it generates no slap or vibration. Sharper
tripod-mounted pictures are the result.
Again, not all cameras have this feature. Canons
digital SLRs, including low-price models like the EOS
Digital Rebel XT, XTi, and current XS and XSi models,
actually do have mirror lock-up available as a Custom
Function. It requires the user to be in a creative zone
shooting mode, such as P (Program), Av (aperture-
priority), Tv (shutter-priority), or Manual Custom
Functions cannot be accessed if the camera is set to
a fully auto setting like the Green Zone, Landscape
Mode, and so on. Once set, the user presses the shutter button fully to raise the mirror, and then has up to
30 seconds to press the button again to take the actual photo. When the picture is taken (or after 30 seconds
has elapsed, if no picture is taken), the mirror will return down. Pressing the shutter button fully again will
repeat the process.
For other brands of digital SLR, check your cameras instruction book, the manufacturers web site, or their
tech support staff for information on mirror lock-up shooting.
The challenge of smoothly fowing movement, yet sharpness
throughout the rest of the picture, can be met with the right
photo techniques. Mirror lock-up is one that pros have used for
years to get sharper pictures at slow shutter speeds, and many
digital SLRs have it available.
Art Wolfe
mirror will return down if you either activate the Quick Mode autofocus, or if you shoot a fash picture with
the built-in fash or an EX-series EOS speedlite.)
And, theres another beneft you dont get with ordinary mirror lock-up: with some Canon models that offer a
so-called silent mode during Live View shooting, the shutter is opened fully before exposure takes place.
Therefore, theres even less potential vibration and camera movement. This isnt possible during ordinary
mirror-up operation. Cameras with this feature (as of January, 2009) include the EOS 50D, EOS 40D, and
EOS 5D Mark II.
One additional beneft: any small mistakes in focus can be quickly and easily seen and corrected, using
Live Views 5x or 10x magnifed viewing with compatible Canon EOS digital SLRs. This ability to check and
fne-tune focus for utmost sharpness comes into its own when working on a tripod, and even at ordinary
shutter speeds in daylight it can mean the difference between shots that look pretty good vs. shots that
jump off the screen with sharpness and detail.
(With the new EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II cam-
eras, if Live View autofocus is set to Face Detect
AF mode, the 5x and 10x magnifcation feature
is disabled.)
The bottom line: Live View eliminates one or some-
times even two forms of in-camera vibration, and thus
can mimic or even surpass traditional mirror lock-up
for steadiness during slow-speed shooting. Oh, and
one last thing: unlike mirror lock-up, where the view-
fnder is blacked-out and you no longer can view your
subject through the lens, Live View gives you full,
100% accurate viewing the entire time, before and
after you shoot each picture.
The Live View feature on many recent digital SLRs actually has
direct benefts to photographers shooting long exposure im-
ages, particularly when working from a tripod.
Rhonda R. Dorsett
Summary:
Good equipment and good photographic technique work hand-in-hand in generating sharp images. Simply
putting a camera on a tripod is a big step forward in getting sharper images at the slow shutter speeds
needed for beautifully blurred water that Art is photographing in Iceland. But you cant take the tripod for
granted, and any additional steps you can take to reduce in-camera vibrations or movement will pay off in
more sharp pictures. Fortunately, with many of todays digital SLR cameras, the tools to get these results
are built-in. Spend some time getting to really know your cameras features, and practice using them from
time to time. That way, when a truly great opportunity presents itself, youll know what to do and exactly
how to get there.
Its not directly discussed in Art Wolfes video Tips from his superb series, Travels to the Edge. But a feature
thats been a part of Canons high-end telephoto lenses for years deserves a quick mention, and its especially
relevant as an alternative to the manual pre-setting of focus that Art discusses when shooting Puffns on the
coast of Iceland.
The feature were speaking of is called focus pre-set. It lets a shooter focus on a particular distance or sub-
ject (AF or manual focus can be used to lock-on to this distance), and then the distance can be memorized
by the lens. Once in memory, it can be instantly recalled and the lens driven to it in a fraction of a second by
turning a ring just above the focus ring on the lens.
Canons AF pre-set feature
Lenses with Canons focus pre-set feature
If youre a Canon EOS user and arent aware of this
feature, dont worry. One reason you may not be
aware of it is that its exclusive to a handful of top-of-
the-line super-tele lenses in the Canon system.
As of January 2009, Canon EF lenses with this fea-
ture are the following:
EF 200mm f/2.0L IS
EF 300mm f/2.8L IS
EF 400mm f/4 DO IS
EF 400mm f/2.8L IS
EF 500mm f/4L IS
EF 600mm f/4L IS
EF 800mm f/5.6L IS
Older Canon EF super-teles which pre-date Image Stabilization also have this feature. These lenses have
been discontinued for a number of years, but some readers may either own them or be in a position to
purchase one on the used equipment market. Previous lenses with the feature are the EF 200mm f/1.8L,
300mm f/2.8L, 400mm f/2.8L, 400mm f/2.8L II, 500mm f/4.5L, and 600mm f/4L.
No other Canon lenses have this feature, as of January, 2009.
(EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM)
The Canon focus pre-set feature is limited to select super-tele-
photo, L-series lenses.
Situations where focus pre-set is useful
The focus pre-set on these high-end super-tele lenses
can be tremendously useful in some situations. One
example often cited is a sports photographer whos
shooting a baseball game. With focus pre-set, its
easy to pre-focus on a spot like 2nd base or home
plate, and then use AF to follow action around the
feld. If something critical happens at 2nd base (for
instance), all thats needed is for the photographer to
turn the playback ring on the lens a few degrees in
either direction. The lens will instantly jump back to
the memorized distance.
Wildlife shooters could easily pre-focus on a spot like
the leading edge of a birds nest, the edge of a water
hole, or another spot where a bird or animal might re-
turn. If it does, the lens can instantly be driven back to
the proper focus distance, even if youre now shooting
in near-darkness.
An event photographer working with a 200mm f/2.0L or 300mm f/2.8L lens could pre-focus on an on-stage
area where something is expected to happen, and be able to instantly have the camera ready for it even
if the subjects would be diffcult for AF to quickly lock on to.
For birds in fight or general sports action, another use of focus pre-set is to lock-in a normal focus distance
so that if the AF system ever were to get fooled and start to hunt back and forth, or perhaps inadvertently
focus on a distant background, you can almost instantly return it to a good starting point to
re-acquire focus.
When you need to instantly point the camera and shoot, the focus
pre-set can save you time and produce good, sharp results.
Rudy Winston
Setting the focus pre-set
The procedure to set and use Canons focus pre-set is simple. First, be sure its active by sliding the switch
on the side of the lens for Focus Preset to either the I or beep icon setting. Using AF or manual focus
(whichever the shooter prefers), focus sharply on a subject or distance you want to lock into memory. Once
youre confdent its sharp, press the Set button on the lenss control panel. The lens will now memorize
this distance.
You can now resume shooting, using either AF or
manual focus. If and when you need to jump back to
the pre-set focus position, simply turn the metal ser-
rated playback ring, adjacent to the manual focus
ring, in either direction by a few degrees. Its spring-
loaded, so itll return to its normal centered position
when you let it go.
As soon as you turn the playback ring a few degrees,
the lenss Ultrasonic AF motor will instantly drive the
lens to the spot youve memorized.
If you move or simply decide to lock-in another focus
spot, all you have to do is focus on this new target
and again press the SET button on the lens. The new
distance is memorized, and the last distance you set
is cleared from memory. Only one distance can be
memorized at a time for focus pre-set.
The focus pre-set is entirely within the lens, so if you
move a lens from one body to another, any distance you have memorized stays in effect. And the feature
works on any Canon EOS camera body, so there are no restrictions on which cameras a compatible lens
can be attached to.
Pressing the round SET button (at bottom of the lens switch panel)
is about all thats needed to memorize a distance once youve fo-
cused on it. To instantly return to that distance, just turn the white
serrated playback ring, which is just ahead of the rubber focus
ring, a few degrees in either direction.
Instantly change exposure when its needed:
One other interesting twist: for those using Canons top-of-the-line EOS-1D Mark III or EOS-1Ds Mark III
cameras, theres a totally separate Custom Function that lets the photographer change exposure settings
or even exposure modes by simply pressing the rear AE Lock button. Custom Function I-14 on these cam-
eras lets you set the camera for a particular type of exposure (you can pre-set an exposure mode, shutter
speed and/or aperture, and metering pattern), and lock it in. Now, if a subject suddenly moves from sun into
shade, or you suddenly need to jump from manual exposure with Spot metering to Aperture priority with
Evaluative metering, just pressing the rear AE Lock button will do it. As soon as you remove your thumb
from the rear AE Lock button, the camera reverts back to whatever settings you had it set to.
Combining this with the ability to instantly re-set a
super-telephoto lenss focus distance is a remark-
able pair of features for the serious photographer.
No doubt photographers will discover new ways to
utilize this capability once theyve worked with it in
real-life conditions.
This particular capabilitiy (Custom Function I-14s
ability to instantly change exposure settings) is only
possible on the EOS-1D Mark III and EOS-1Ds Mark
III cameras, as of January, 2009. And just to clarify,
its totally separate from and independent of the focus
pre-set feature weve been discussing in this article.
A very compelling option on Canons professional EOS-1D Mark III
and EOS-1Ds Mark III is a custom function that allows users to jump
to totally different exposure modes and settings, when the rear AE
Lock button is pressed. Its activated with C.Fn I-14.
Summary:
If youre thinking about some day stepping up to one of Canons prestigious super-telephoto lenses, or
certainly if you own one already, the focus pre-set feature is yet another beneft that these lenses offer. It is
useful in a number of different situations, and its quietly out of the way when not needed. Especially when
combined with the ability to instantly shift exposure modes and settings with the professional Mark III
models, its a powerful feature that can let the EOS photographer react to fast-moving subjects and situa-
tions, and come up with pictures that users of other equipment may not be able to capture.

Canon Tips Art Wolfe

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