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I’ve been playing with High Dynamic Range photos again.  For this shot I edited a RAW image to create the underexposed, normal and overexposed shots, good job I shot using RAW I guess.  Above is the HDR image and below is the normal image.

I have to admit I’m enjoying the challenge of this type of photography.  Patience and a tripod are a huge benefit.

Second attempt at photographing water droplets today.  Increased aperture from f5.6 to f9 to give a little more depth of field and get more of the actual droplet in focus.  Seems to have worked ok.  Also replaced a plane white cup with a bright green cup to add more colour to the shot.  Will have to have a go with coffee next.

Being as I’m not working at the moment I thought I’d take 30 minutes out of my busy day to have a go at photographing water droplets.  It’s actually easier than I thought it would be.  Just needs patience because of the 36 shots I took I kept only 12.

The key to capturing the water droplets in the air is to use the flash.  I used aperture priority mode with an aperture size of F5.6 and a focal length of around 200mm to keep the camera away from the water.  To activate the shutter I used my infra red remote so I could drop the water with one hand and fire the camera with my other.

Worked pretty well all though the water is very slightly out of focus.  I actually placed a box on the centre line of the cup and manually focused on that.  I’m thinking if I increase my depth of field I’ll get better results.  Time for another go I guess.

I do like taking photos of landscapes.  But I’ve recently learnt that a filter could improve the color saturation of my photos.  What I need is a polarizing filter, in particular, a circular polarizing filter rather than a linear type.  Why a circular?  Simple realy, it means my camera can still auto focus and meter correctly through the filter.

What I aim to do is buy a polarizing filter before my next photography trip and compare shots with and without the filter.  When I have some shots to compare I’ll post the results here for all to see.

I’ve been using my Nikon D60 for a few months and if there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s to practice, practice, practice.  Admittedly I’ve not been using the camera as much as I’d like but looking back at my early shots compared to what I’m shooting now there’s a noticeable difference.

Using the camera in full auto mode still needs a little input from the user.  Auto focus mode is a problem in many cameras and can lead to some disappointing results.  For instance my D60 has 3 focusing rings in the view finder.  As default the camera will use which ever ring has the closest subject high lighted.  For instance if the left ring is on my subject I want in focus and the right ring is on a tree in the background it will use the left ring as the subject is closer.  If the tree was closer it would focus on that.  This is the first thing to remember when using auto focus.

The second thing to remember when using auto focus is to allow the camera to actually focus before taking the shot.  I see this all too often in both point and click camera shots and DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) shots.  Some cameras, like the Nikon D60 won’t allow the shot to be taken if auto focus hasn’t had time to lock onto a subject.  Auto focus works using a 2 stage shutter release button (the button you press to take the shot).  Half press the shutter release button until resistance is felt, this activates the auto focus system.  Depending on how the camera is set up you may get an audible bleep and/or an icon in the view finder to confirm focus is locked.  You then press the shutter release button through it’s second stage to take to the shot taking care not to release the button between focusing and taking the shot.

Some camera allow the user to specify which auto focus ring is used.  This is great when you want to focus on a subject in the back ground.  I recently had the perfect example of this when over at Rainham Marshes.  I was on a river bank and wanted to shoot a heron on the opposite bank.  The auto focus kept focusing on the reads around me as they were closer than the heron.  A quick change of focus mode allowed me to specify which focus ring to use and hey presto, the heron was in focus.

My advice to anyone starting out in the photography field is to master the auto focus mode before attempting anything else.  An out of focus photo can be very frustrating, especially if the shot can’t be revisited, your 3 year old juggling for the first time for instance.