Korean Job Discussion Forums

[matthews_world]

I've been playing around with my Canon A-80, especially with different lighting and action shots.

Please help me take a macro, i.e. aperture and ISO, etc.

Any good books you recommend that could be bought in Korea.

[wylde]

make sure the lens cap is off

[Derrek]

A fun way to play with all of that is to do some long exposure night shooting.

I still like setting it to ISO 50 and leaving the shutter open a long time (7 to 13 seconds).

[Maranag]

The Canon is a great automatic camera. Just hit the button and it will take great pictures. But, I'm sure you were looking for more help than that....:

A camera is basically a device that opens and closes a hole that lets in light. So, how long the hole is open for is the Shutter Speed, and the Aperture is the size of the hole (the bigger the number, the smaller the hole).

Shutter Speed: This is the enemy of most people shooting indoors (and complaining about blurry images). Make sure your shutter speed is at least 1/30 if you're holding your camera. If you want to take cool night shots, as Derrek suggested, make sure the camera is stabilized (tripod or just set it down on something - be careful not to move it!), set the shutter speed to something high (1 second and above) and experiment. Remember that because the 'hole' will be open for 1 second or more, any objects moving within that one second will blur (streaky car lights, etc.)

Aperture: Honestly, on a digicam, you don't really have to worry too much about this because the range available to you isn't big. Remember that because you're changing the size of the hole, you're changing how much light goes into the camera. If you are at a high aperture (small hole) then you're not letting in a lot of light - so the camera (or you) compensates by making the shutter speed longer. If you're taking action shots, you should use a small aperture. If you're taking pictures outside of something specific (like - not landscapes) than experiment with using a high aperture. Basically, the smaller the aperture (the bigger the hole is) the less Depth of Field you have. NO Depth of Field means that everything is in focus. If you have HIGH depth of field, that means only your subject (and whatever else is on the same plane) is in focus and everything else in the background is blurry. About the only way you can accomplish this effect with a digicam is by using macro...

Macro: Taking pictures of things really close to the camera. If you're doing this, press the little macro button to tell the camera that you're taking a picture of something close. Usually your lens will have a macro 'sweet spot' which will allow you to be as close as possible to the subject. You have to play with your camera's zoom to figure out where that is. I'd say use your macro button anywhere between a few CM and a meter or so. Different cameras act a little differently in this regard, so play around with it.

ISO: Only mess with the ISO if you want to try to capture some sort of action in dim/unnatural light and you can't use your flash. The disadvantage of using a high ISO is that you get very noisy pictures. The advantage is that it makes your camera more sensitive to light. So, instead of having a shutter speed of (for example) 1/15 of a second (blurry, if not stabilized), you will be able to shoot at 1/30 (not blurry).

Flash: The best way to stop action in dim light is to use your flash. When you use a flash, the extra light will let you shoot at 1/60 or higher (but not usually, on a digicam) which results in no blurring.

That's a rough guide on the basics. If you (or anyone) has any questions, post them here!

[The Lemon]

Nice overview! One nitpick:

[matthews_world]

I haven't taken many pics with my Canon but when I have, I've generally taken AUTO exposures. I haven't messed with any of the special modes.

My Canon has:

Aperture-priority AE
Shutter-priority AE
Program AE
Manual Exposure
Shutter-priority AE
AUTO
Portrait
Night Scene
Landscape
Custom1
Custom2
Movie
Stitch Assist
Slow Shutter
Fast Shutter

I'm gonna try and play around with those.

[hojucandy]

my son, "flist" on this board - has the same camera as yu. PM him and i'm sure he'll give yu some tips if he has time.

the most important thing i have learnt about the digicam is to turn of that damn flash! they are sensitive devices and take great low light pictures without the flash. get a small tripod. it helps.

[Maranag]

[flist]

i've hit onto this a bit late (that's what having dialup will do to you...), but i've got an a80 and i think it's a damn fine little machine. there are a few little tricks i've picked up on in my fumbling around (bought it in korea so the manual is in japanese). the most useful things i can say are: when you're taking low light shots set it on "P" and give it a two second delay. this way it shows you the settings the camera will pick by itself. then you can change to "M" and use that as a starting point. keep the two second timer so that the camera is sitting still when it takes the pick (no movement from pressing the button); use the white balance as much as you can. it brings out some really great textures. if you can (with the korean smog) white balance to a blue sky, it'll give you a really nice yellow, semi-sepia tint to the photos; turn off the autofocus assist beam, the red eye, the flash and the beep it makes when you take a pic so people don't know you're taking shots of them and don't pose; the macro and the autofocus (the little flower button) are a bit hard to use, but once you get the hang of them it's amazing how many things look good closeup. my photographing 'fetish' at the moment is slightly blured closeups of faces below the eyes. that's just my thing for the moment, but they look pretty good. ah, there's another thing, turn off the digital zoom. it's crud.

well, that's about all i can think of right now. just get yourself a decent sized memorey card, some spare rechargeable batteries and a tripod and go nuts. take lots of pictures and you'll quickly get the hang of it.

[tokki]

sheesh ...I guess no one told ya guys that a digital camera isnt a real camera.

[The Lemon]

[tokki]

[Swiss James]

why would it matter that an image has been touched up in photoshop?
Why are you so snobby about digital cameras?

[The Lemon]

Actually, the cemetary one of mine was messed with in PS - desaturated the color about 90 percent and tinted it slightly blue. And I cropped it to frame it a little better. Took about 90 seconds.

The other photos don't look retouched at all.

[tokki]