STILL CAMERA TIPS: Tricks, equipment, and techniques

[gdjsky01]

Filters

Filters:

All lenses should have a filter. The main reason is to protect the actual lens glass & its special coating. It’s easier to clean & replace a filter than a lens!

The most common filters are ‘Skylight’ & ‘UV’ filters. We photographers put them on, and leave them on. We will swap them out for others, when needed.

UV & Skylight filters reduce the amount of ‘blue’ that can come thru on outdoor shoots. Most won’t notice the slight reduction of the blue cast in outdoor photography. But then again, with Photoshop & such, the blue can be altered to suit the shot.

Again, mainly to protect the lens glass itself. They come in a wide range of sizes. I’ve seen some ‘point & shoot’ cameras with threading to allow the addition of a lens filter.

Circular Polarizer filter: This is probably the next most common filter in a photographer’s kit bag. Add it can help ‘punch up’ colors & will reduces glare & reflections. Reflections off water, or off a window front.. You can get some pretty dramatic sky & clouds with one. The outer ring rotates, so you can align the polarizer to match the light waves.

There are a myriad of other filter types, some artistic, some limit certain color wavelengths.. But anybody starting out should have at minimum a UV or skylight on each lens..

[gdjsky01]

One site I like to use to see specs and reviews is
dpreview.com

[jadebox]

I agree on the filters. I usually leave either a UV or circular-polarizer filter on each of my lenses. They protect the lens and generally improve the photos. If you have a good camera and lens, pay a little extra for a good filter that won't degrade your images. Polarizing filters reduce the amount of light that gets to the camera, so they are best if used only for outdoor daylight photography. A UV filter is a better choice as a lens protector since it has little effect on your photos in any light.

Other kinds of filters which tint the light (like sepia-tone filters) aren't as useful for digital photography since you can apply the effects in "post production" using a program like PhotoShop or Lightroom. The same goes for those special effects which may be supported by your camera. You don't need the special effects since you can apply them later.

Check to see if your camera has "White Balance" settings like Daylight, Fluorescent, etc. If your camera has an Auto setting for White Balance, then that's a good choice. Otherwise set it to Daylight (or maybe Cloudy) if you're taking photos outdoors (as we usually do when photographing rockets).

An incorrect white balance setting can cause the photo to be tinted. For example, a bluish tint might appear if you have the white balance set wrong for a daylight photo. It's something you can fix with PhotoShop, but it's best to avoid - especially if you want to share photos without editing them.

I usually have white balance set to "Auto" on my cameras. The only time I think about it is when recording videos using multiple cameras. I'll manually set the white balance for each of them so that the video looks the same from each camera. For still cameras, "Auto" seems to always work for me.

-- Roger

[WiK]

+1 on UV filters. I've seen a UV filter save the lens on a dropped SLR on more than one occasion, so well worth the extra few dollars!

Check to see if your camera has "White Balance" settings like Daylight, Fluorescent, etc. If your camera has an Auto setting for White Balance, then that's a good choice. Otherwise set it to Daylight (or maybe Cloudy) if you're taking photos outdoors (as we usually do when photographing rockets).

If your camera can spit out RAW image files then you'll be able to change the white balance of a picture in software later, without losing any quality or the end result being any different than if you'd set that white balance on the camera in the first place. I find that Auto WB is fine for just about everything, but it's nice to have the option to change it later if you really need to.

The best "trick" I can think of at the moment is this: memory cards and spare batteries are extremely cheap now, so buy lots of them. Take them all to the launch with you, and take hundreds and hundreds of photos. Then when you get home and start getting them ready to upload, be ruthless about the photos you choose to include. Only pick your absolute best shots, edit them carefully, and try to keep the gallery you upload from getting too big.
None of that directly helps you to take awesome shots of a specific rocket, but it does mean you end up with nice galleries at the end of it all which make you look like a much better photographer than you really are.

Cheers,
Phil

[jadebox]

The best "trick" I can think of at the moment is this [...] Only pick your absolute best shots, edit them carefully, and try to keep the gallery you upload from getting too big. None of that directly helps you to take awesome shots of a specific rocket, but it does mean you end up with nice galleries at the end of it all which make you look like a much better photographer than you really are.

Shhhh! You're giving away the big secret - take lots of photos, but only share the best ones!

-- Roger

[gdjsky01]

My last vacation I took over 2500 images. Many intended for HDR processing. In general, yes, unload them right away into any 'decent' photo organization tool (the one that came with your camera might be fine), and start culling the herd. I wind up with maybe 1/4 worth keeping sometimes even less. I like to back my images up raw to DVDs or an external HD, then cull the herd down to the best.

THE number one secret to take a great photo is to take lots of them. Tons and tons. Practice on every rocket launched. Don't just wait for your rocket. They cost nothing but time.