Page 2 - Contents; Welcome; from Practical Photography editor Andrew James; Focusing; Extra settings
2 | Get more from your digital SLR 3 Contents Welcome from Practical Photography editor Andrew James ■ Metering modes 18 ■ Exposure lock 22 ■ Colour settings 24 ■ Custom white balance 26 ■ Histogram 28 ■ Flash compensation 32 ■ Creative fl ash techniques 34 HAS A DIGITAL SLR improved your photography...
Page 4 - Focus points
Focusing 7 E ver wondered what the little squares are in your D-SLR’s viewfi nder? These are known as focus points and allow the camera to focus on objects in different parts of the frame. The default setting on most cameras will use the centre focus point, which is fi ne if your main subject is in th...
Page 5 - Focus point selection; Group selection
8 | Get more from your digital SLR Focusing 9 Focus point selection D ifferent cameras offer various numbers of focus points and ways of selecting them. The precise detail of how to change them will be given in your instruction manual, but to give you an idea of how they work we’ve taken two of the ...
Page 6 - Focus modes
10 | Get more from your digital SLR Focusing | 5 Single shot mode In single shot mode the AF will lock onto the subject when you press the shutter, and stay focused at the same distance for as long as the shutter is held down. This is great for static subjects, but if either you or the subject moves...
Page 9 - assessment
?? | Get more from your digital SLR | 5 Metering & assessment There’s a metering mode for every occasion and feedback at the touch of a button. You just need to know which mode to use and when and how to read a D-SLR’s histogram. GET MORE FROM YOUR DIGITAL SLR
Page 10 - Metering & assessment; Metering modes; Metering options
19 18 | Get more from your digital SLR Metering & assessment A ll D-SLRs offer a range of metering modes for you to choose from, but what are the differences and when do you use them? All metering modes base the readings they give on midtones. Segment and centre-weighted systems take an average ...
Page 11 - What to meter from
20 | Get more from your digital SLR Metering & assessment 21 Metering modes Spot-metering How we used spot-metering for this shot The bright highlights produced by the cascading water of this waterfall, positioned near the middle of the frame, meant that both the multi-segment and centre-weighte...
Page 12 - Exposure lock
23 22 | Get more from your digital SLR Metering & assessment B oth multi-segment and centre-weighted metering modes will often give poor results when shooting a subject against a light or dark background. If the background is very bright the camera will underexpose, while a dark background will ...
Page 13 - Colour settings
25 24 | Get more from your digital SLR Metering & assessment W hile D-SLR users who shoot RAW fi les have access to RAW conversion software that allows for all sorts of post-capture tweaks, those of you who still shoot JPEGs have fewer options when it comes to getting optimum results. However, if...
Page 14 - Custom white balance
27 26 | Get more from your digital SLR Metering & assessment W hen you’re working under diffi cult lighting conditions, such as artifi cial lighting or in heavy shade, your images can take on a strong colour cast. This is because ambient light is actually a different colour to direct sunlight. The...
Page 15 - Histogram
29 How to read the histogram This is a histogram and it can be accessed while viewing an image in playback mode and also during the preview, directly after you’ve taken a shot. To view it on a Nikon camera, try using the left and right directions on the D-pad with the picture on screen. If you’re us...
Page 16 - Flash action
?? | Get more from your digital SLR | 5 Flash action Your D-SLR’s built-in pop-up fl ash is an often overlooked creative tool that can help to improve your portraits and action shots. Let’s take a closer look at its many uses... GET MORE FROM YOUR DIGITAL SLR
Page 17 - Flash; Flash compensation
33 32 | Get more from your digital SLR Flash Perfect portraits For great results using fl ash you need to be in full control of the amount of light your camera produces. The secret to success is fl ash exposure compensation – perfectly exposed portraits in even the darkest of conditions. W ith the exc...
Page 18 - Creative fl ash techniques
34 | Get more from your digital SLR Flash 35 First curtain All D-SLRs default to fi rst curtain fl ash. This simply means that the fl ash fi res at the start of the exposure. When combined with a longer shutter speed and a moving subject, this setting will freeze the subject at the start of the exposure...
Page 20 - Multiple exposures
39 38 | Get more from your digital SLR Extra settings C ombining two or more exposures isn’t just a technique for those into manipulating their images in Photoshop. High-end D-SLRs allow you to shoot more than one image on a single frame using the multiple exposure function. Unlike combining images ...