photoxelsI was reading the Q&A on a major newspaper here in Toronto and it got me chuckling. Most of the answers that the experts were giving did not seem, well, helpful enough. So, I decided to see if I could add my own two cents. You know I am just an amateur, so take the answers as you wish. I am assuming that you have a good quality DSLR able to produce high quality images at Auto ISO (100-800, or even 1600). If you only have a P&S, the same answers apply, but your image quality may vary. Just keep all camera settings on P, Auto ISO, image stabilizaation ON (unless placed on a tripod).
Here is the interview at Toronto Star and you can follow along with my answers below:
1. How to take a good skyline photo of Toronto.
Most of the skyline photos of Toronto I’ve seen have been taken from Centre Island.
I’ve also taken a couple from the ferry. Get a spot at the back of the ferry as it departs the mainland and heads for the island. This way, you get lots of time and lots of opportunities to shoot the skyline. I like to add some foreground interest, like a sailboat or flowers. Examples
By the way, don’t bother with the skyline that shows reflections in the water. It’s digital manipulation: the buildings are not close enough to the water to be reflected in it.
2. Scene Modes.
Scene modes are easily some of the best and at the same time most deceptive features camera manufacturers have put on their cameras. Don’t get me wrong, a well-implemented scene mode on a capable camera will help you get a good picture of the particular scene, but just because your camera provides a scene mode does it mean that it is capable of taking such a picture. Take, for example, Night scene mode. If your camera takes noisy pictures at high ISOs, then your night shots will turn out, well, noisy. If your camera does not have a fast shutter speed, then the Sports scene mode will not be able to freeze the action. If your camera does not have a large aperture, the Portrait scene mode will not blur the background nicely.
That is why the appearance of scene modes on capable DSLRs are a boon for amateurs. However, as the reader found out, scene modes automate all settings; you are handing over control to the camera. If you want to stay in control, learn what all the scene modes do, switch to P mode and implement the settings manually. For example, a Beach/Snow scene mode usually opens up the aperture one stop from the measured exposure so your subject is not underexposed (since the background is so bright, the camera meters for the bright background and underexposes the subject).
3. Northen lights.
Tripods are essential for detailed landscape shots, but unnecessary for shifting lights in the sky. Even using a tripod, your camera’s shutter speed will probably be too slow to freeze dancing light. If you know you won’t have time to set up your tripod, remember that most shots can be taken without a tripod if you brace yourself against a solid object or place the camera of a stable surface. If you find yourself often in these kind of situations where something interesting happens and disappears very quickly and you need to stabilize the camera somehow, then get a bean bag tripod or one of the gorillapods that attaches anywhere. With the addition of image stabilization in most cameras, we can now also safely handhold lots of shots before the shutter speed gets too slow for handholding.
Aim at the lights and shoot away until they disappear. You will most probably need to post process to bring out the richness of the colors.
