There’s no need to be embarrassed for asking “What is a histogram?”. While your camera’s histogram is one of the more important tools at your disposal, many photographers are unaware of its capabilities. In this post we’ll answer the question, What is a histogram? And we’ll also answer some of the more common questions around how to read a histogram, where to find it and what you should be looking for on that tiny graph.
Do you want a quick camera tip for making sure you have perfect focus in your images? If your DSLR has a Live View mode you can use this function to magnify your subjects and test your image sharpness. Or alternatively you can zoom in during image playback. Here’s how it’s done…
A major benefit of using an SLR is that you can choose from a variety of lenses suited to particular photographic situations. But knowing how to change lenses safely to avoid damaging your lens or the inside of your camera is one of the first photography tips for beginners that one should learn.
In this post we explain step-by-step how to change lenses on your camera.
If you have a new digital camera, or if you’re new to digital photography, all hose abbreviations on the top dial of your camera might seem a bit confusing. Your top dial is where you will find your camera’s exposure modes.
Contrary to popular belief, the exposure modes you shoot with aren’t a reflection of your technical ability. Your exposure mode of choice is also about selecting a mode that gives you the freedom to stop worrying about other settings and start concentrating on taking great shots.
Your digital camera’s histogram, or exposure chart, offers the most reliable indication of exposure, as it illustrates the range of tones in a landscape shot, from dark shadows on the far left through to bright highlights on the far right.
But there’s no ‘perfect’ histogram. Each landscape scene you shoot is made up of a different blend of tones, and the shape of the histogram will reflect this.
Portrait photography is challenging for a whole host of reasons. Getting your portrait right in-camera is only half the battle. Knowing how to edit your portraits can be quite difficult when it comes to cropping a photo. Cropping in an awkward position on your subject can end up ruining a perfectly good shot.
In the latest of our photography cheat sheet series of free infographics, we’ve put together this easy guide for understanding some of the best places to crop a subject in a portrait, and some of the places where you should not. ‘Yes’ areas are marked in green, while ‘bad’ locations are marked in red.
One thing we consistently hear from people is confusion about aperture and just what exactly those numbers mean. Understanding aperture can take some time for a beginning photographer, but hopefully we can speed this process up for you! Inside is a handy f-stop chart put together by our friends at N-Photo, which you can drag and drop on to your desktop.
What is hyperfocal distance? Hyperfocal focusing is a specialised application of depth of field theory that’s perfectly suited to landscape photography. Calculating hyperfocal distance actually quite simple to get your head around.
When managing depth of field, you need to think in terms of the zone of sharp focus as a distance range, from the near limit (the closest object that will appear sharp) to the far limit (the farthest). With hyperfocal focusing, you place the far limit at infinity, and this automatically maximises the depth of field available.
What is metadata? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. It confuses many photographers at first.
Metadata is simply a set of data that describes and gives information about other data. For photographers, that ‘other data’ is your images. Your digital camera will embed information in each photo it takes that identifies what camera created the file, the exposure information and more.
If you’re like the 90% of photographers who share their photos online, it can be a good idea to add more personal details such as descriptive keywords and copyright and contact information to clearly identify the image as yours.
A raft of new features and up-to-date specs offer beginners plenty of room to grow with the new Canon EOS 600D. But is it too similar to the EOS 550D to justify an upgrade?
