PicaJet Blog

A Great Trick for Photographing a Cat!

We all have pets we love–pets we love to photograph.  But it’s so difficult getting a well-exposed shot without an ugly glassy-eyed stare.  In addition, pets (especially an I-do-as-I-please-when-I-feel-like-it cat) tend not to cooperate with our picture-taking efforts.  But you can trick them into cooperating.

This is a picture of my cat, Winnie.  She is a contrary old beast who will sit still long enough for me to set up my shot, and then as if responding to some inner psychic voice, she moves off,  just as I snap the picture.  Wretched animal! 

In addition, since she is an indoor cat, I must use additional lighting–like my camera’s flash.  That usually results in an ugly glassy-eyed shot, worse than any red eye.  Because a cat’s pupils are so wide, the flash hi-lights the light receptor cells in the back of the animal’s eyes…and that just isn’t pretty.  Photographing her was a huge challenge, until I discovered this trick.

Cashing in on Winnie’s natural curiosity and cat instincts, here’s how I got this picture.  I lay back on my bed, with a bedside lamp beside me (one of those natural daylight lamps).  I forced my camera’s on-board flash OFF.  I set my ISO to 200, left the white balance on AUTO,  and then waited for her to become interested in what I was doing.  That was the easy part since cats like light, especially light that moves around. 

So, while handholding my compact digital in one hand, I used the other hand to wiggle the lamp.  As a result, Winnie turned her complete attention to the lamp, and since the lamplight was beaming down on her, she was completely lit.  That meant I didn’t have to worry about low light conditions, a slower shutter speed, and resulting camera shake. I easily snapped this pretty picture. 

Another thing that helped was shooting the picture at an angle to her eyes; angles definitely help to avoid a greenish glassy stare. 

More tips:  Use your exposure compensation–especially when photographing an animal that is largely all dark or all light.  Here is a good rule of thumb: 

1. White cat against a darker background?  The cat will be overexposed so decrease your exposure compensation.  (The problem is that the camera metres the dark background and decides more light is needed in the photograph, thus blowing out the white cat.)
2. Black cat against a lighter background? The cat will be underexposed so increase your exposure compensation.  (The camera decides less light is needed because of all the light, thus underexposing the dark cat.)
3. Opt for “spot” metering (as opposed to center, average, or matrix metering) when shooting the above subjects; it will help, but will not entirely correct the situation without an exposure compensation adjustment.

Cheers,
Sheree Zielke

The Low-Down on RAW Digital Photo Files – In Simple Terms!

My students are often confused by the file options (RAW or JPEG) in their cameras. Without going into huge detail, I generally suggest my students opt for a medium to high JPEG file because the majority of my students have no interest in adjusting their digital images at a later time. 

But if you want more control over your images, you might want to opt for RAW files…read on…

RAW or JPEG — what’s the difference?   

RAW photo files, like a raw carrot, await a brilliant cook/artist to do something to them.  But, unlike a raw carrot which can be perfect as is, pictures printed from RAW photo files can be much better after manipulation—RAW files are meant to be adjusted before being saved as JPEG prints.

Years ago, before the advent of digital cameras, a film photographer had to visit the processing bath in his darkroom before being able to show off his photographs; that’s where he’d turn his negatives into prints.  In this sense, RAW files are similar to old-fashioned film negatives–that’s “similar” because unlike old film negatives, a RAW file can be printed without manipulation.

Jim McGee, with Vividlight.com, writes, “It’s important to understand that a print of the raw file without any changes will look identical to a high resolution JPEG file captured at the same time. What you’re getting with a RAW file is the ability to make changes later on.”

In fact, when shooting in RAW, your camera will totally ignore any previous settings you might have opted for like a particular white balance, color saturation level, or decreased resolution.

So, what’s a JPEG file?   

JPEG (Joint Photo Experts Group) is a computer formula that digital cameras use to compress RAW information into smaller more manageable files.  But as this data compression or processing takes place, some digital information must be sacrificed (lossy compression).  Setting a camera’s “picture quality” setting and/or “resolution” will determine how drastically information is cut from each image.

In addition, every single time a JPEG file is manipulated, or saved, information is lost leading to a lack of sharpness.  This doesn’t happen to a RAW image file because it remains in it original state.  And remember, too, unlike a RAW image, once a JPEG image is created, the information lost—can never be regained. 

The good news, however, is that JPEG files, while reducing file size, have the uncanny ability to maintain the visual quality of an image, in spite of dumping excess information.

What can a photographer do with RAW images?  

RAW digital image files allow the photographer to later tweak his images in his digital darkroom, using the largely unprocessed information (a little processing does take place in the camera) saved to the memory card during shooting.  A photographer can set a different white balance, he can adjust his exposure compensation by a couple of stops, and he can adjust the image’s finer points like sharpness, contrast, and color saturation.  In short, he can alter his photograph’s “original” data to an adjusted JPEG image, ready for printing.

Why would a photographer choose RAW over JPEG? 

In a word, or two—it’s creative control.  When shooting in RAW, a photographer reserves the right to “fix” his images long after the fact (post-processing), something that can’t be done as efficiently on a compressed and processed JPEG image.

And no matter what, a photographer will always have the option to return to his RAW digital images, months or even years later, and adjust them to his heart’s delight.

What are the drawbacks of choosing RAW over JPEG? 

The biggest drawback is a loss of speed as the camera processes digital images to its memory card.  Fast action shots will be impeded by opting for RAW files.

Also, you’ll need to invest in larger memory cards; uncompressed RAW files use massive amounts of memory per image.

In addition, depending upon your computer’s processor speed, the huge RAW files can cause your computer to freeze up.  I did this once on a photo shoot in New York City.  I was breaking in a new Olympus eVolt 300, and had shot in both JPEG and RAW.  My older laptop couldn’t bear the processing burden and resorted to the blue screen of death.  I was barely able to recover my files upon returning home.  But the lesson was learned–I bought a new laptop with a bigger and faster dual processor.

Note:  You may see RAW files referred to as NEF by Nikon, as CRW by Canon.  Also, you simply cannot fix a poorly-taken photograph.  An out-of-focus image will remain out-of-focus since camera shake is recorded regardless of whether the camera is saving in RAW or JPEG.  So, in low light situations, use a tripod.

And another note:  “RAW” isn’t short for anything.  It should actually be written, “raw.”  But I’ve capitalized it throughout this blog, just because I like it capitalized–looks better that way.  IMHO

Cheers,
Sheree Zielke

Digital Camera AUTO Setting and Scene Modes:
Aren’t they sort of the same things? 

No, no, and no.

New digital camera users make the very wrong assumption that scene modes like Portrait, Landscape, Macro, or Sports are similar to the AUTO setting on their cameras. 

I’ll explain.

The AUTO setting on your camera means you have turned over ALL decision-making to your camera.  Your camera will then be able to run like a willful teenager, making decisions (some good, some bad) on the following:

1. Shutter speed
2. Aperture width (F-stop)
3. ISO (“film” speed)
4. WB (white balance)
5. Intensity of light

Most average point-and-shoot digital camera users don’t know anything about shutter-aperture relationships, F-stops, ISO settings, or white balance color temperatures.  The good news is that you don’t need to know these things so long as you are able to find your camera’s little scene mode icons.  When you select a scene mode, you are exercising more creative control over your photos, without ever knowing anything about an F-stop.

Using your camera’s scene mode options is akin to calling upon a tiny little genius hidden deep within your camera.  Your tiny camera guru, using pre-programmed formulas, will set your shutter speed, your aperture, your ISO, and white balance in accordance with the icon you have selected, resulting in a much better photograph.

For example, in a portrait shot, unless you are an experienced photographer, you won’t know to widen your aperture to obtain a shallow depth of field.  This shallow field makes for flatter, more appealing features on a human face, and it throws distracting backgrounds out of focus.  And because photography is a science, operating on scientific formulas, the camera will also adjust the camera’s shutter speed to account for the wider aperture.

The most popular scene mode icons can usually be found somewhere on your digital camera’s body, on a major dial, or on a rocker switch with arrows.  These tend to be the portrait, landscape, night and sports icons.  Further scene modes can be found deeper in your camera’s files, usually accessed by moving your camera’s main dial to, “Scene” or “SCN,” or by pressing your “Function” button.

If you don’t use your scene modes, or at least experiment with your scene modes, you are wasting your camera’s advanced technology.  Just memorize where the scene modes are situated in or on your camera.  Select the mode pertinent to your picture-taking needs.  Then let the tiny genius inside your digital camera do the rest.  Nothing could be easier.

Sometimes, the scene mode programs don’t always seem to work but that’s usually an issue with camera shake, in low light conditions.  Be sure to “jam” your camera on a bean bag, rest it on a ledge, or screw it to a tripod.

Be sure to discipline yourself right from the beginning and always remove your photos from your camera’s memory card.  Save your photos in a file management system like PicaJet for easy indexing and accessing at a later time.

And remember, to keep your camera’s memory cards in top form, you must “format” your empty cards (inside your camera) when you return them to your camera.  It’s similar to de-fragmenting your computer’s hard drive – it cleans up the bits and bytes, or in this case all the little light-sensitive pixels.

Cheers,

Sheree Zielke