You must 'prep' your camera before shooting. Some of the settings you need to do it once, Some you need to change to change according to shooting conditions.
Personally I think it is better not to buy a card with a very large memory. This way you will limit the number of images you can store in it. Sometimes a memory card fails for no reason. Imagined how frustrating and disappointing this can be if you happened to have several hundreds of pictures still in it!
2. Also make sure you have a fully charged battery at the beginning of each shoot. It is also prudent that you have an extra battery in hand. Of course do not forget to charge this too.
3. Colour Space. This determines the number of colours in your picture. In the camera menu you have the choice of either 'Adobe RGB' or 'sRGB'. I suggest you set your camer to Adobe RGB. This is because RGB is universally accepted. However sRGB is good if you are going to convert your files to CYMK which is used for offset printings. If you have the time explore this subject. There are lots of words and thoughts about this topic. When you are better informd then make your own choice depending on your camera make, editing software and your picture final output.
4. Drive Mode. I shoot 99% of the time in 'single shot' mode. Check your camera manual to see what other mode are available. Most cameras will have a timer mode too. This will set off an in-built timer in the camera to give you a 'delayed' period before the shutter engages. Other than using this to take a self portrait, this is very good for taking pictures in low lights area witout a tripod. Just put your camera on a steady surface. This way you eliminate camera shakes completely!
5. Picture quality and size. I shoot almost exclusively in RAW. A RAW image is an uncompressed format without any camera processing. When you shoot in JPEG some processing will be carried out by the camera processor. The biggest advantage o a RAW file is that you can do your own processing using the unaltered original.
Shooting RAW comes with a price. The file size is very large so you get fewer pictures in your memory card. And you need to process your RAW files with editing software before you can view your image.JPEG files are universally acceptable and you can send your images straight out of the box to your friends. If you are shooting in JPEG, then choose the biggest size and best quality available. You can always resize it smaller if you need to send your pictures using the internet.
6. Exposure Mode. This is perhaps one of the earliest decision you need to make when you switch on your camera. Most beginners will start with 'Automatic' and then progress to Program (P) and then eventually to either Av (Aperture Value) or Tv (Time Value). Eventually you will come to M (Manual) mode. In Manual mode you have full control of how much and how fast you want lights to enter the camera.
7. ISO refers to the sensitivity of the camera pixels to lights. If you find yourself in low lights conditions then consider increasing the ISO. In most DSLR the ISO starts at 100. But remember a big ISO gives you poor quality picture. When the pixels gets sensitive they leaves alot of noise artefacts in the dark area of your picture. It is a good habit to set your ISO to 100 (or below if available) at the beginning of each shooting session.
8. Metering Mode can be a subject by its own. All cameras are fitted with a light meter. And the light meter takes its reading from the center of the lens. The light meter measures the lights at the center and will tell the camera what settings to use for a correct exposure. However for added flexibility the camera gives you several metering modes. In Spot Metering mode the meter reads lighs from only 3.5% of the area from the center. In Partial Metering it takes it a wider area, up to 9%. For beginners I recommend you to use either the Evaluative or the Center Weighted Average. In Evaluative the camera will sample lights from 25 zones. And in the case of the Weighted Average, the camera sets the exposure by averaging the lights reading from all the zones. As your skills progress you will know which mode to choose in order to give you the kind of mood you want by accessing the scene in front of you.
9. Another important setting that you pay attention to is the white balance (WB). Most people will set their camera to Auto. However the WB setting not only prevent 'colour cast' but also help to create moods. When you shoot in a place lighted up with fluorescent lamps, it is obvious you should choose 'Flourescent' as your WB setting. This setting will utilise a warm cast to cancel the 'blueness' of the fluorescent tubes. So if you choose a Fluorescent WB to shoot a sunset scene you will intentionally add an even warmer cast to intensify the golden glow of the scene! Likewise if you want to further cool your image then choose 'Tungsten'.
10. Picture Style. This is a standard provision in all Canon DSLKR. If you are shooting in JPEG then this would affect the fianl result of your picture. There are 5 different styles and another 3 which you can set as you own. Each style comes with it's own pre set parameters (sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone). However you are allowed to tweak these
settings to your own liking. But some of us may not want the camera to do any processing, preferring to have total control. If this is the case then set your picture style to 'Neutral'. Of course if you are shooting in RAW, then all these settings will have no effect at all on your picture.
1 comment:
What about the fotofrafer prepping himself leh... what checklist....
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