Astrophotography

What Does Astrophotography Mean? Astrophotography is the art of photographing nighttime skyscapes and astrological objects such as stars and planets in the night sky. Successful astrophotography requires knowledge of various photography techniques such as use of long exposures for creating star trails, knowledge of camera sensitivity to avoid excess noise levels in photographs of dark skies, and the use of camera steadying equipment such as tripods to aid in the capture of sharp long exposure images. Astrophotography techniques can even be used to capture images of objects that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye for example far away stars …

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Back Button Focus

What Is Back Button Focus? Back button focus is a focus technique often used by professional photographers who want to independently control their camera’s autofocus and shutter. By default, cameras usually activate autofocus when you press the shutter button, but there are many instances where it is actually preferable to separate these two controls into two different buttons. This is a very important technique that can improve both image sharpness and compositions, so long as you understand why and when you would want to use it. To expand on this from the simple glossary entry, I have written an in-depth …

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Bulb Mode

What Is Bulb Mode? When selecting the shutter speed on a camera, almost all cameras are limited to shutter speeds up to 30 seconds long (see shutter speed chart).  If you want to shoot a photo which has an exposure time of longer than 30 seconds, you need to use bulb mode.  Many cameras have a “B” setting on the mode dial next to the “M” for manual, and this indicates bulb mode.  Sometimes a camera might give access to bulb mode when yo try to change your shutter speed past the 30 second mark as well.  Again, if you …

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CFWA

CFWA stands for Close Focus Wide Angle, and it typically used to describe a technique that is popular with underwater photographers. The idea is to use a lens that allows extremely close focusing, but still shoot with a relatively wide angle in order to take in the surrounding underwater landscape. Popular lenses for this technique would be the Canon 8-15 fisheye, the Nikkor 8-15 fisheye or the Tokina 10-17. In the example CFWA photo at the top of the page, you can see from the image’s edge distortion that the photo was taken with a fisheye lens. The central coral …

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Chimping

What Is Chimping? Chimping is the act of looking at your camera’s LCD screen as soon as you have taken a photo.  The term is jokingly derived from the noises that photographers often make when they see a shot they like on the back of the camera (oooh ohh), followed sometimes by “ape like” hand motions for others to take a look. To Chimp Or Not To Chimp, That Is The Question….. There’s two distinct schools of thought on this.  At events, where action is not necessarily predictable, chimping can cause you to miss an important shot.  Over the years of …

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Fill Light

What Is the Definition of Fill Light in Photography? Fill light is form of supplementary light mainly used to lighten shadows in an image. Fill light is often used in portrait photography to create a contrast between the image subject and image background giving the scene a sense of depth despite the final product being 2 dimensional. In this situation the use of fill light also reduces the overall dynamic range of the scene allowing for easier selection of the exposure settings required to capture an image. When fill light is correctly applied it does not significantly impact the main light …

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Focus Stacking

What is Focus Stacking in Photography? Focus stacking is a technique that blends together multiple images that were shot with varying focal points, to create a single final image with a greater depth of focus. There are two primary reasons for focus stacking: To increase the depth of focus in the image past that which is possible from a specific aperture setting on your lens. To increase sharpness in your image by deliberately shooting your image at an aperture value which provides maximum sharpness, prior to the point of diffraction, even though it doesn’t provide enough depth of focus from …

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Grip and Rip

What does the phrase “grip and rip” mean in photography? The phrase “grip and rip” means exactly the same thing as “spray and pray”. It means to set your camera in a fast burst mode, shooting several photos per second, and then to simply hold down the shutter button while hoping to capture the perfect image. The phrase is a bit of a dig that with this technique it could be seen as blind luck rather than skill whether you actually capture a great image. Sometimes it is used in a more beginner/intermediate manner when a photographer is not familiar …

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Light Painting

What Is Light Painting and How Is It Used in Photography? A ‘light painting’ is an image that is created by capturing a long exposure of a dark scene that contains a moving light source. By moving the light source within the scene whilst the photographic medium is being exposed the photographer is able to produce an effect which resembles the brush strokes made by an artist’s paint brush, only composed entirely of light. A classic example of a light painting is writing your name using a sparkler at a firework display. Light Paintings can be created by capturing any …

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Long Exposure

What Is Long Exposure Photography? In what you might term ‘regular photography’, with your camera in an automatic or semi-automatic exposure mode, you’re likely working with a shutter speed of somewhere between 1/60 of a second and 1/4000 of a second.  These kind of shutter speeds tend to cover most normal situations, from bright sunlight at midday, to occasional indoor shooting. Long exposure photography is when we are using a much longer shutter speed, and it’s usually used as a specific technique to achieve a certain effect.  There’s no defined transition point at which a shutter speed becomes slow enough …

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