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Snap Shots: by Harry Flashman
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Forget the smartphones - get a DSLR
In recent columns I have been comparing smartphone cameras between themselves,
and also against point and shooter compacts. This week I thought I should go
back to basics and show why smartphones can only take ‘record’ shots, but DSLR’s
can take works of art! Take my word for it, DSLR’s are better!
However, to understand just why the SLR is better, it is necessary to understand
just what and how any camera produces a final image. Now, no matter what you pay
for a camera, the basics are all the same. It is a light-tight box with a piece
of glass at the front that can be focussed onto electronic “film”. The rest is
fancy stuff to work out exposures, but the simple light through glass is the
same for every camera.
One of the questions
professional photographers often get asked is, “What lens would you use to shoot
a (insert the subject)?” However, the lens a pro selects depends upon many
factors, and the subject being shot is only one of them!
In some instances, you can almost get the identical looking shot of the subject
with a 28 mm lens, a 50 mm or a 135 mm. By now you are saying, why have all
these different lenses if the shots look all the same? The essential word here
was “almost” the same. There will be tell-tale differences and it is these
differences that make or break your photographs. By using the differences you
can manipulate the shot to produce the effects you want.
Right then, let’s get down to some examples. You are on a tropical beach, and
you want the blue skies over the sea type of picture. Unfortunately, the sky is
only pale blue. What to do? The lens to use to increase the blue colour of the
sky is the widest angle lens you have got in the bag. How does this work?
Simple, you are taking an enormous area of sky with the wide angle and
compressing it into the small 35 mm sized memory card. Compressing all that sky
increases the depth of the color and makes it more blue than it really was!
Another example, you have just bought a car and want to send a photo of it to
your relatives at home. You want them to be jealous. You want it to appear as
imposing as possible. What to do? Leave the wide angle lens on and get down low
and close to the car. Look through the viewfinder and the car suddenly looms
large and powerful above you. The closer you get, the more it looms above you.
Click! It is in the bag and looks impressive.
This time you want to take a photograph of your house. Unfortunately there is a
rubbish dump at the back, and no matter what angle you take it from there are
piles of rubbish in the background. This one is even easier to get over. Use a
long lens (135 mm and upwards) and take the shot. With the short depth of field
available with the longer lenses, the rubbish dump will turn into a nice blurry,
soft, out of focus background, and no one will ever know you are living in Soi
Garbage.
What about a nice close up of your favourite painting you bought? Another
“genuine” Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals. Will you use a close-up lens, the
wide angle setting on the zoom lens? No, you should use the telephoto long lens
and stand back. If you go in close with the wide angle you will get distortions
at the edges and strange shadows across the canvas because you physically get in
the way of the light. With the long lens there is less distortion and the light
will fall evenly across the picture.
Mind you, there are times when the subject being shot does dictate the lens you
would use. Let me assure you that when photographing rampaging lions I would use
the longest lens in the world, or an AK 47. So there you are, think about the
effect you want, as well as the subject matter when deciding what lens to choose
on your state of the art DSLR!
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