Yes, well I’m still learning all about this Canon 7D itslike, for me learning a whole different new system. Previously I owned a Canon 450D, beautiful camera and as I mentioned in my previous blog the 7D is a more professional machine which means I’ve really got to work at it. Sure it has automatic settings but that isn’t good enough for me. I’m going up north this weekend so hopefully the weather will be fine for me to play with it.
Ladies and Gentlemen I have to say the instruction booklet that was supplied with the 7D was so small it is like reading the smallest font imaginable! I use the instruction book a quite a bit so that’s why I got it reprinted and bound A4 size so much easier to read.
So, in my previous blog I mentioned that I was going to Franklin Road to photograph some Xmas tree lights, and I did! It was a wonderful night, no rain! A bit unusual for Auckland isn’t it? Anyway we arrived at Franklin Rd but I soon realised it was a hard place to take photos as there is heaps or tress and just about every angle you’d get something that you would want in the photo. In saying that I did get some shots that I thought were good but not perfect.
Well here we are 1st of December 2009 and its still raining in the City Of Sails, what is going on with our weather. Us photographers want to get out shooting so I’d strongly recommend get a rain jacket for your SLR they retail from $59.99 and most camera stockists.
For those of you that are wondering where to go to take photos, go to Western Springs Gardens. I went there a week ago, the park is huge and there are plenty of things to photograph and be creative with.OK, now for one of my creativity tips: When shooting on location we tend to concentrate on shooting the big things like building, cars, people etc……… Well as welll as concentrating on the big thing try the small things. I’d give you an example lets say you’re at a Marina trying taking pics of people getting on boats or old sailors hats (if you come across them. Remember your pictures have to tell a story
OK, Here are my top 10 tips on how to take creative Xmas tree lights at nights
1.You want to set your camera on Aperture Priority Mode on canon SLRS, this is the Av mode. You want to choose a large f-stop such as f/28 or f/34. IMPORT TIP: Use a tripod the shutter speed maybe long.
2.A creativity tip here if your DSLR has movie mode put it on and when you start have you movie out of focus start recording and slowly bring it into focus! I’ve tried this myself, works well! A tripod may not be necessary here
3.Set your camera on BULB and try taking picture with the shutter open 1 or 2 or even 5 minutes at a time. You can get some very interesting results from this.
4.Increase and decrease your exposure! Increasing and decreasing your exposure can sometimes give you some interesting effects.
5.Experiment, Experiment, Experiment!Remember the days when film was around and you had to pay 20-30 dollars to get it developed? Not any more play with your SLR, doesn’t matter if you takes you a couple of hours!
6.Don’t worry about composition or framing. When taking Xmas lights you can forget about composition and framing just concentrate more on the colours, shutter speed and aperture!
7.Take your time. This has to be one of the most important, playful tips in my book. Take your time, experiment!
8.Never use flash! This can ruin your image making it look dark and boring
9.Use cameras self timer or cable release, you need to eliminate camera shake any way you can.
10.Shoot in RAW once you get home you will have so many more option to play with inside of Adobe Camera RAW.
If you don’t follow any of these tips please at least use a tripod!
One last important tip: Always make sure your lens is clean!Because your taking pictures at night, if your lens isn’t clean, your just wasting your time!
