outdoor camera projects

7/28/2019 Outdoor Camera Projects

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1How to set yourfor light subjectsarning to set your CanonD-SLR to capture the best

exposure for a subject orof practice and

moreif your subject is light or

against a contrast ingyour camera

to under- or overexposetry and compensate for the

mixed lighting. So. should youleave i t up to your camera. ortake control and manually adjustyour exposure? In this project wesuggest a combination of both!

OPTIONAL HOMEWORKExperiment with AEB, taking sequencesof three shots of your subject or scene tosee which captures the best exposure.

BY STEP Set your D-SLR's Auto Exposure Bracketing

l ln Av (Aperture Priority) modeyou adjust the aperture, andr speed for

. This way you canof field : set a wide

(such as f/4) for a shallowof field to blur backgrounds in

or a narrow aperture (suchf/22) for a narrow depth of field and

UseAEB11;'1 Use your camera's AEB (Auto& Exposure Bracketing) setting inthe Menu to take a sequence of threeshots -standard ('correct') exposure,underexposed and overexposed. Asyou're using Av mode, the aperturewill stay fixed for the three exposures;only the shutt er speed will change foreach shot. Start of f with +/-1 stop andreview your results (see Step 4) .

Drive mode11!1 Set your D-SLR's Drive mode.. o High-Speed Continuous; thisway, the three exposures will becaptured in quick succession whenyou press the shutter button ratherthan you having to press the shutt erbutton three times, which could resultin slightly different compositions, orexposures being affected by changinglighting conditions if you're not quick.

Review your shots.. heck each of the three shots- on your camera's LCD, and pressthe lnfo/Disp. button to display thehistograms to see which has the bestexposure. You want to avoid databeing cut of f at either end of thegraph, which indicates that highlightsor shadows are 'clipped', with no detailin those areas. Aim fo r a 'full spread'of pixel data across the graph.


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Project2Sharper shots!M

st Canon-compatible lensesfeature Image Stabilization (IS)-aka Vibration Compensation(VC) on Tamron lenses and Optical

Stabilizer (OS) on Sigma lenses. For thissimple project. take shots of everythingand anything- but take two shots, onewith IS and one without. The longer yourfocal length (eg over lOOm m or 200mm),the more camera shake will be noticeable,and the more you'll see the benefit of IS.

OPTIONAL HOMEWORKWith your longesttelephoto lens, practice shootingwith and without IS ,and compare the results .

Project 3 Master aperture for macro shots!Knowing which aperture isbest for the type of shotyou're trying to capture isn't always easy. As we'veexplained in Step 1of Project #1,wide apertures (eg f/2.8) blur

backgrounds and narrowapertures (eg f/22) ensure thewhole scene is in focus; whenyou bring macro into the mix ,however, these rules changeslightly. In this special pro jectwe'll help you to master the bestaperture/depth of field for yourown close-up subjects.

OPTIONAL HOMEWORKSet up your D-SLR with amacro lens ona ripod and, using Live View to composeand focus,take asequence of our shotsat different apertures and review yourresults to compare the depth of field.

Tripod down lowFit a macro lens to your D-SLR,choose a flower to focus on and

position your tripod low to the groundfor a close-up shot. As well as keepingthe camera steady for sharp images,a tripod enables you to keep the samecomposition for each of your sequenceof shots taken atdifferent apertures.

Compose and focusUse your Canon D-SLR's LiveView mode to compose your

shot, using the rule of thirds toposition the focal point for best effect.To focus, press the '+' zoom(magnifying glass) button to zoom inxs or xlO view, then switch the lensfrom AF (Autofocus) to MF (Manualfocus) and adjust the focusing ringuntil your chosen area is in focus. Pressthe '-' zoom button to zoom back out.

Shake-free shots11 To make doubly sure you getsharp shots, use the self-timeror a remote shutter release so youdon't have to touch the camera to takethe shot- the slightest movement atthe start of the exposure can meanblurred shots. To combat wind, shelteryour flower with a sheet of cardboard,or peg the stem to a stick.

Best aperture?., lthough it 's good to use a- shallow depth of field to focusattention on the subject, for macroshots wide apertures will capture toolittle in focus. Take a series of shots atdifferent apertures, from the widest tonarrowest available (eg f/2 .8 to f/32),and compare the depth of field in eachone. We think our shot taken at f/8reveals the right amount of detail inthe flower and the background .....


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Project 4 Photographing animals behind glassN thing's more annoyingthan taking what youthink is a great shot ofwildlife at your local zoo, only tofind the protective glass is alsohighly reflective and has ruinedyour photo! In this project we'llshow you how to use a polaris ingfilter and Photoshop editing toget killer results.

OPTIONAL HOMEWORKHead to your local zoo or wildlife park,screw on a polarising filter and followSteps 13on the right.

Fit a polariserFit a polarising filter to your lensto reduce reflection, and rotate

the filter to adjust the strength of theeffect. The filter will reduce theamount of light reaching your sensor,so increase your ISO if necessary toenable fast enough shutter speeds forsharp shots. Position your lens squareon to the glass when composing you rshots to further reduce reflections.

Colour correction151When you're using a polariser_.. and shooting through glass, youmay need to adjust the white balanceof your images. Shoot Raw images (asalways!) so that you can easily adjustthe white balance post-shoot in AdobeCamera Raw. We cooled our shot bysetting the Temperature slider to4250, and added magenta by draggingthe Tint slider to +30 .

Boost the contrast11!1 Although using a polarising filter.. ill help to boost the contrast ofa scene, you can further enhance thecontrast fo r a really dramatic image.In ACR we increased the Exposurevalue to brighten up our shot, thendragged Blacks up to 15 to darken theshadows, and increased Contrast to+50 to boost the overall contrast andbring out the detail in the lion's fur.


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Project 5 Hot and steamy shots!I you've ever tried totake a quick shot in abutterfly or insecthouse, you'll know that it'sfrustrating work, as yourlens is likely to steam upand produce hazy results.Rather than waiting for halfan hour or more for your kitto adjust to the ambienttemperature and the

condensation to disperse(while you get bored andsweaty!) in this p roject we'llshow you how to rescuesteamed-up shots . .OPTIONALHOMEWORKSee if you can capture ahaze-freeinsect shot in a hot house withoutusing Photoshop!

Lens: Canon EF 24-lOSmm f/4L IS USMExposure: 1/60 sec at f/4; IS0400

C non D-SLRs generallyproduce accuratecolours when set toauto whi te balance (AWB),but there are certain lightingconditions that will trick yourcamera into capturing anincorrect white balance (orcolour temperature) - usuallywhen you're shooting underartificial lighting, whether it'sindoors, or outside at night.Here we'll show you how totake control of white balance.OPTIONAL HOMEWORKShoot in Raw, and adjust the whitebalance by playing with the WhiteBalance presets, and the Temperatureand Tint sliders , n Adobe Camera Raw.

Try the WB presets11 First off, your camera has whitebalance presets designed toproduce accurate colours in differentlighting conditions, including WhiteFluorescent and Tungsten fo r takingpictures under artificial lighting.Try these, and see if the colours inyour shots look accurate on the LCD .You want to avoid unnatural-lookingcolours with an excessively cool(blue) or warm (orange) cast or tint.

Reduce the haze11 Open your Raw image in AdobeCamera Raw, increase the Blacksand increase Contrast to between40-50, depending on the amount ofhaze in your shot. Use Brightness tolighten your image if necessary, andboost Clarity to help lift the edgecontrast further. Click Open Image.

Burn thebutterfly!S1l With your image open in the~ main Photoshop workspace(CS or Elements), select the Burn tool,and in the Options bar set Range toMidtones and Exposure to 20%.Choose a suitable brush size for thesubject in your shot, and brushsmoothly over the insect to darkenany areas that appear too light.Sharpen and save the image.

Set a custom WBS1l For greater accuracy, you can~ set a custom white balance. Takea picture of something white (a sheetof paper will do) under the prevailinglighting, zooming in to fill the frame;don 't use exposure compensation, asyou want to capture a standard 'grey'exposure. In the Menu, go to CustomWB , select the 'white' image and pressOK to save it, then select this Customsetting from the WB menu ._


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Project 7 Slowershutter speedsI this project , we'll show you how to set upyour Canon D-SLR to capture the popular'mist' effect in scenes of rivers. sea shoresand waterfalls. Having movement in yourlandscapes can help bring them to life, but ifyour shutter speed is too fast you'll freezeany movement; use a slow shutter speedand flowing water will be blurred, captu ringthat sense of motion. Try and shoot thesescenes early or late in the day when lightlevels are lower, and so shutter speeds willnaturally be slower to work in your favour.

STEP BY STEPGet set for blurry waters

Stable camera11 You 'll need your camera to berock-steady, as you'll be takinglong exposures - much too long toshoot handheld without camera shakebecoming an issue. Attach the camerato a sturdy tripod, and use the built-inSelf-Timer or a remote control/cablerelease to fire the exposure withoutyou having to touch the camera.

Av for shutter speeds~ If you use Tv (Shutter Priority)~ mode, you'll have to set theshutte r speed to the slowest possiblewithout the aperture figure flashing onthe LCD . it's easier to set the narrowestaperture on your lens in Av (AperturePriority) mode; you then know that theresulting shutte r speed is the slowestyou can obtain. Try f/22 or f/32; thisalso ensures front-to-back sharpness.

Raw and ISOm Select the lowest available ISO to~ further slow the shut ter speed:for most EOS cameras this is IS0100,but on pro cameras like the SD Mk Illyou can choose ISOSO. Turn of f AutoISO if necessary and manually set theISO . Milky waters tend to turn white,so shoot in Raw so you can recoverslightly overexposed areas in ACR.

How to use Live View., t's easiest to use Live View- when shooting landscapes usinga tripod. Frame your shot, adjustingthe tripod and zooming in or out fora clean composition. Next zoom in toxs or x10 view, and manually focus toensure your scene is sharp; you canalso use the dig ital sp irit level to keepyour framing level. Now you're all setto capture wonderful misty water!

Follows Steps 1-4 here, but try shooting atyour widest and narrowest apertures/fasterand slowest shutter speeds and compare themovement/blur.


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Project 8 Combine Raw exposuresP otographing landscapes can befrustrating, as it's often impossibleto take a single exposure that willcapture colour and detail in a bright sky, aswell as all the detail in the darker landscapeitself. In this brilliantly simpleproject we'll show you an easysolution to this common problem;and the great thing is,you don'tneed expensive camera filters. asyou can do it with just one Raw file!We'll show you two alternativemethods: one using the GraduatedFi lter tool in Adobe Camera Raw inPhotoshop CS4 and newer. andthe other in Photoshop Elements.which involves processing one Rawimage twice. then combining thetwo versions using a layer mask.STEP BY STEPDarken the skies!

Photoshop CS Darken the skyYour landscape start shot needs to be exposedso there are no blown highlights in the sky; the

land will look dark, but we'll fix that! Open the Rawimage in ACR , and se lect the Graduated Filter toolfrom the toolbar. To enhance the sky, set Exposureto around -1.00, Brightness to around -20 andSaturation to around +15 . Hold down Shift, and clickand drag to draw a straight line from the top ofimage to the horizon/treeline to create the gradient.

Photoshop CS Brighten the land~ Click New, and to lighten the landscape set& the Exposure slider to around +1.00, andBrightness and Saturation to around +15. Draw a newgradient from the bottom of the image up to start ofthe sky. The great thing about this technique is thatyou can adjust the settings for either gradient, tomake either the sky or the landscape darker orlighter. Click Open Image when you're done!

OPTIONAL HOMEWORKDig out some of your old landscape Raw files and try ourPhotoshop (either CS or Elements) technique.

Elements Double RawOpen your Raw image in ACR , set Exposure toaround +1.20 to lighten the land and click Open

Image. Re-open the Raw image, and set Exposure toaround -1 to darken the sky. Click Open Image again(you may need to save the first edit with a new namefirst). You'll now have two images open in Elements.Target the sky image, press Ctri+A to Select All, andCtri+C to Copy. Click the land image and press Ctri+Vto Paste the sky image in as a new layer.

Elements Combine the images~ Add a mask to the top layer. Select the Gradient& tool, and set the foreground colour to black.Click the gradient swatch in the Options bar andchoose the Foreground to Transparent option, thenclick the Linear Gradient button . Hold Shift, andclick-and-drag to draw a line from the bottom of theimage to start of the sky; the black area on the maskreveals the correctly exposed sky on the lower layer.

Project 9Pre-focus forpro results!F r this nice and quick projectwe'll show you how to mastermanual focus to capture shots offast-moving wildlife. This project isideal for photographing animals andbirds when you know which branchesor rocks or feeding spots they'll besitt ing on. With your longest telephotolens. and with a wide aperture andsuitably fast shutter speed (eg f/5.6 at1/500 sec), zoom in on the spot whereyou expect your subject to appear.

Frame the shot so the backgroundbehind your subject will help it standout. Now use autofocus to focus on abranch or other feature in the targetarea. then switch the lens to manualfocus to lock the focus; don't touchyour lens barrel to avoid zooming inor out or nudging the focusing ring.Wait for your subject to appear,and then fire the shutter; as you'vepre-focused you don't have to wait forthe AF to lock on. so you can bag moreshots to maximise your chances ofcapturing a winning image! ..,..

OPTIONAL HOMEWORKTry this technique out by photographing birdsin your back garden or local park .


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LEVEL EXPOSURE

H gh dynamic rangeeffects are hugelypopular, and creating an'arty' HDR image is easy.Theseimages can look like paintings,as they display intr icate detailacross the tonal range, from thebrightest highlights to the darkshadows, for an 'unreal' look youcan't capture in a single photo.

In this pro ject we'll show youhow to create an HDR image bytaking three (or more) exposuresto capture a scene's tonal range,and combining them. You canbuy dedicated HDR software(get a free trial of PhotomatixPro from www.hdrsoft.com) , buthere we've used the Merge ToHDR Pro option in PhotoshopCS4 and above. There's alsoPhotomerge Exposure inElements. but this is better forphotorealistic effects than the'arty ' look. Choose a scene withdetail in both the highlights andshadows- architecture workswell - and ideally with somecloud detail in the sky.

OPTIONAL HOMEWORKCreate an artistic HDR imageofyourownwith photos of a ocal landmark.

Bracketed exposures11 First of all you'll need to take abracketed sequence of shots,using your camera's AEB (AutoExposure Bracketing) featu re. SelectAv mode, set the aperture to aroundf/11, and set the AEB to take threeexposures: 'standard ', -2 stops and+2 stops. Use a tripod for maximumsharpness, and also so that your HDRsoftwa re can align the images easier.Shoot Raw for the best results.

Three shots become oneIn Photoshop CS, go to File >Automate> Merge to HDR Pro,

select your bracketed exposure andclick OK to merge the shots. In theMerge to HDR dialog you can selecta preset effect- we chose SurrealistHigh Contrast- and then fine -tunethe effect using sliders; in addit ion toregular tonal adjustments you can usethe Edge Glow, Radius and Strengthsliders to control the HDR effec t.

Final tweaksClick OK , and wait for a minuteor so for Photoshop to process

the HDR image; this will appear inthe main Photoshop workspace,named Untilted_HDR image. HORscan look a bit 'flat' at this stage, soto boost the contrast we created asubtle S-curve in Curves (use Levelsin Elements after using PhotomergeExposure or Photomatix Pro.)Sharpen the image to finish .


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Project 11 Quick clean up!I can be really aggravatingto find out that the greatshot you thought you hadactually has a few conspicuousdistractions spoiling it. Butcleaning up your images iseasy- you simply need tobecome proficient withPhotoshop's Clone Stamp andSpot Healing Brush tools.

The key is to zoom in to100%, use a small brush andbe clever about which areasyou sample to clone out the

distractions.We find it's goodto use a combination of theSpot Healing tool to removesmall blemishes, then tidy uptrickier areas with the CloneStamp tool. Make selectionsover larger unwanted objects,so you can clone them ou twithout also cloning out detailthat you want to keep.OPTIONAL HOMEWORKPracticecleaningupyourownimageswith the above Photoshop tools.

Project 12 Low-lightevening shots -without a tripod!T e latest EOS cameras offer excellent highISO performance. Increasing your sensor'ssensitiv ity enables you to achieve fastenough shutter speeds to shoot hand held in verylow light conditions- and even at night! Better still,even at these high ISO settings, you can capturedetailed, colourful images with very little noisepollution. So, for this project, we're encouragingyou to really push yourcamera's ISO capabilities!

OPTIONALHOMEWORK

UNTIDY!

Get out with your EOS D-SLRearly evening and shoot yourlocal city lights at night, tryingout your highest ISO settings. The latest Canon D-SLRs, such as the 50 Mk Ill, produce great

results even at high ISOs - these shots were taken at 15012800

Set your ISO highFirst you need to set your camera's sensitivity.Press the ISO button on top of the camera and

choose the maximum setting, such as IS03200 orIS06400. You can expand the ISO further- eg to H1(12800) on the 70, or H1 (51200) or H2 (102400) onthe 50 Mk I l l - but we'd suggest you stick to themaximum unexpanded ISO setting for the optimum

Noise reduction151Your camera will be working hard to tr y& and keep the noise levels down, but whenyou're shooting at your highest ISO settings you'llneed to give it a helping hand. In the Menu, setthe High ISO Speed NR (Noise Reduction) optionto High. Take some shots with and without thissetting enabled, then zoom into the images at

Exposure settings11!1 If you're shooting a night scene with allil wide-angle lens, you only need an aperture ofaround f/5.6 to capture enough depth of field for thescene to be sharp enough from front to back. Andyour shutte r speed (with a littl e help from the ImageStabilisation) only needs to be fast enough for yourfocal length: 1/50 sec at 55mm for instance, will be

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