GoingManual.com It's time to take control!    Home    Tutorials    Photography Forum  Photography Tutorial Introduction Part I – Gear The Camera  -  Focus  -  Resolution  -  MegaPixels Vs Print Size  -  Sharpening Semi auto settings  -  Aperture Priority (Av)  -  Shutter priority (Tv) Zoom and Focal Length  -  A Note About Sensor Size Other Camera Features  -  Viewfinders  -  Lens Hood  -  LCD screen  -  White Balance Extra Equipment  -  Tripod  -  Cable Release  -  Filter systems  -  Polarizer and ND filter  -  External Flash  -  Studio Lighting  -  Reflectors Part II – Capturing The Scene Your First Manual Photo  -  It's All About Exposure  -  The Light Meter  -  Exposure Explained  -  Controlling Exposure Creative Effects  -  Aperture and Depth Of Field  -  DOF Preview  -  Shutter speed Putting it all Together  -  ISO  -  Ap. & Shutter Relationship  -  Stop for a minute  -  So What?  -  The Bulb Setting Metering the Scene  -  18% of Everything Metering modes  -  Matrix  -  Average  -  Center weighted  -  Spot or semi-spot Taking Meter Readings  -  Expose for your subject  -  Sunsets and sunrises  -  Reflecting sun  -  Night Exposures  -  Moon  -  Green Foliage  -  Bright or White Scenes  -  Dark or Black Scenes Understanding Your Histogram  -  Flash Metering Composition Lead in The Viewer Eye  -  Point of Focus  -  Fill the frame  -  The Rule of Thirds  -  Moving Subjects  -  Print and frame Sizes Different Styles Learn by doing  -  Giving and Getting Critique  -  Portraits  -  Groups  -  Children  -  Shooting Outdoors  -  Silhouettes  -  Macro  -  Products  -  Landscapes  -  Sports and Action  -  Panning  -  Rear Sync Flash  -  Abstract  -  Long Exposures  -  Black and White A few Other Useful Things  -  Blown Out Skies  -  Neutral Density Filters  -  Polarizing Filters  -  Electronic noise You're Half Way There! Part III The Digital darkroom  -  Computer hardware  -  Card Reader  -  Printers  -  Mouse Post Processing  -  The Ethics of Altering  -  Choosing Your Program  -  Tutorials   Photoshop Tutorials   Photoshop Primer   Saving Your Image   Adding a Border   Using Levels   Using Curves   The S-Curve   Correcting White Balance   Improving Saturation   The Clone Tool   Correcting Lens Distortion   Blending Multiple Images   Black and White Conversion   Sepia Conversion   Reducing Noise   Cropping for Different Print Sizes   Sharpening   Working With RAW Files   The Gimp Tutorials   The Gimp Primer   Saving Your Image   Adding a Border   Using Levels   Using Curves   The S-Curve   Correcting White Balance   Improving Saturation   The Clone Tool   Correcting Lens Distortion   Blending Multiple Images   Black and White Conversion   Sepia Conversion   Reducing Noise   Cropping for Different Print Sizes   Sharpening   Working With RAW Files   << A Few Other Useful Things You're Half Way There! >> Neutral Density Filters Neutral Density Filters We looked at graduated ND filters when talking about blown out skies. Non graduated neutral density (ND) filters, reduce the light coming through the lens without adding a color tint. They don't require a fancy holding system as they screw onto the front, are cheap and will be one of your most used top 2 filters! Your lens will be marked with the size you need to buy and is measured in millimeters. You may want to add a blur to your image for creative effect for motion effects or for to give water that milky look at a waterfall. So you turn down your ISO as low as it will go and close your aperture to the highest f number. It possible the meter still indicates a shutter speed too high to produce the kind of blur you wanted. If you add an ND2 filter you'll be able to go 2 stops slower. You have a choice of a range of ND filters but they usually come in 2, 4 and 6 stops. Polarizing Filters The previous waterfall image was taken using both an ND filter and a polarizing filter. The polarizer takes the glare off the rocks and the reflection off the surface of the water. This type of picture is best taken when the sky is overcast giving a nice soft light. The polarizing filter rotates. In one position, it will have no effect but rotate it 90 degrees and the light from all angles but one is blocked. So in this picture the light coming from below is blocked by the polarizer. This type of filter is also used to give rich dark blue to skies. Tip: if you want a people free photo in a busy place try adding two ND6 filters and adjust so your exposure is very long. People passing will blur so much they disappear. Electronic Noise One of the drawbacks to a DLSR is electronic noise. When the sensor is activated for a for a long period of time a grainy effect is recorded, sometimes along with 'hot pixels' (individual overexposed pixels), the longer the exposure, the worse the noise. There are programs and processes that can help to reduce the effect but none are perfect. High ISO will also cause noise but will reduce your exposure times. For a long exposure I try to use the lowest ISO I can, typically 100 or 200, while keeping the exposure times down to a minimum. With long exposures changing ISO can make a big difference. For example a ten minute exposure at ISO 100, is only 5 minutes at ISO 200. Another trick is to take multiple exposures and put them together in post processing. Have a look at the 'Reducing Noise' tutorial in the post processing section to learn more. Some cameras have an in camera noise reduction setting. This will try to remove the noise immediately after taking the picture. The process typically takes as long as the exposure. << A Few Other Useful Things You're Half Way There! >>

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