When I was younger, I was a hardcore videogamer. RPGs were really my favorite games. Not only I could live through an epic story driven well-crafted adventure, I could customize my characters with many boosting accessories and mostly discover a very effective combination that would lead to the accomplishments of difficult challenges. When I transitioned, my videogame habits onto photography, I kept playing with the in-camera menu until I got my settings right the way I want them to be. Canon Powershot A series were really my favorite kind of digital camera because of the awesome L menu on which I could modify most of the shooting settings prior to the shot. When I held a Canon dSLR, I’ve noticed how such features are lacking in ergonomics (on the Rebel... sorry) while a Nikon D80 body could change those things faster than I ever did on a Canon Powershot A series. Since that time, I’ve been a Nikon shooter for a year now. While extensively playing with it, I’ve discovered a bunch of switches that will prove useful to any new Nikon user.
1. Open the camera
DUH!!!!
2. Enter PENCIL or RED MENU (or GREEN MENU for d90/d300 users) and activate AUTO ISO function (set it to on) (on D90 go to ISO sensitivity settings)
AUTO-WHAT? You’ve guessed it, Nikon has a super customizable AUTO-ISO function. You set the highest ISO value the camera can go up to and the minimum shutter-speed to maintain. If the Nikon cannot maintain it, it will jump to a higher ISO value until it reaches the maximum value that you’ve set. It will even cheat the value by going in-between value! Ex: If it sees that it cannot maintain the minimum shutter-speed at ISO 100 but can do it on ISO 125, it will jump to it! It’s very small. You can thank the almost unfaultable 3D Matrix Metering for it.
3. Set the lowest ISO value to the lowest ISO value possible.
DUH again… you want the best image quality possible but wish to maintain a good enough shutter speed to prevent blurred images? That is your solution! Do not put Lo1 as this is a "fake ISO value" but do put hi1 because in low light it helps a lot!
4. Enter RED MENU again and Activate the GRID (d80/d90 series)
I think it's the parameter number 8 on a d80. it activates an overlay grid in the viewfinder to help out if composition and alignment.
It is when I discovered such a feature that I consider Nikon cameras to be the best ones in the world. Well it’s one of the reasons anyway… That’s why people usually see me shooting on Program Auto mode a lot on casual days. It may look a bit n00b but if I can capture the moment and you can’t because you are playing with your settings, I win and you lose!
Appendix A: Knowing the minimum shutter speed (for still subjects)
Very useful to know in lowlight, it all depends on your focal length.
1- Set yourself on SHUTTER PRIORITY
2- lock the shutter at 1/(focal length - stops of Image stabilisation or VR)
3- point and shoot
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Nikon Cheat Codes :: PYKtures Tricks
The importance of capturing a moment instead of worrying about image quality on dSLR :: PYKtures Point of View
Life is full of moments. Good or bad, they are all worth our attention. Of course capturing a moment is part of the fun of photography. We don’t always get the right condition to boot and we have to work with what we have. I’ve recently come across photographers who suffer from high-ISO-phobia (a self-explanatory term for people who wont use the high-ISO settings of their camera) and I’m a bit sad for them.
The ISO value on digital is the sensitivity level of the sensor. The sensor on a digital body captures light by heating up its photosites on a variety of temperature values to get the colors as accurate as possible. The more sensitive it is, the more it is prone to “overheat” resulting in production of noise. Noise is the pixel grain you get when shooting on high-ISO values. High-ISO values (ISO 800 and up) give the user to take pictures at higher shutter speeds than low-ISO values (under ISO 400). Of course the lower the ISO value, the less noise you get; an opportunity that usually happens in very good light conditions.
Now, when faced with horrible light conditions or very low-lighting, do you still try to use a low-ISO value while handholding the camera? NO! Low ISO values lead to slower shutter-speeds that increase the chances of blurring a moment while high ISO values can freeze it at a higher shutter-speed leading to a successful capture. It is up to the shooter to know when to use each ISO value according to the light (there are customizable auto-ISO function on several dSLRs but I’ll explain this on another article…).
Now, noise reduction is a tried and true feature that is installed in the firmware of most digital cameras that can effectively reduce noise. But by doing so, it also reduces the details of the image. It is best for the people who are used to post-processing images to turn such a feature to off as better noise reduction software are out there to do a better job than the camera most of the time.
Does that mean that the image is less sharp? NO! You were able to freeze the moment! KNOW THAT ANY well-captured moment is stronger than missed opportunities regardless of image quality.
Does that mean that you have to follow my word to the letter and use the highest ISO value possible? NO! Of course, our world isn’t perfect and is made of acceptable limits. dSLRs of 2007 can confidently go up to ISO 1600 without dramatically failing on producing useable images at web and full screen resolutions (which cover most of the use of the photo users I know). The next generation can even go higher without getting to fuzzy!
I bought f/2.8 lenses because my normal kit lens couldn’t catch the moment at a good enough shutter speed while shooting on the highest acceptable ISO value. How do you know? Well, to be sure of a good minimum shutter-speed, divide 1 by your focal distance. So if you were shooting at 50mm, the lowest “safe” shutter-speed would be 1/50.
High ISOs on dSLR are true values and aren’t there for marketing purposes, they really work and do a VERY good job! So get to it and capture moments anytime instead of missing them!
HAPPY SHOOTING!
I will leave you on moments where I NEEDED high-iso performance. All shot at ISO 1600
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PYKtures Stories :: My very first photoshoot
I've been taking landscape shots since I began photography. Which had occasionnaly people in them, but not as directed as a real photoshoot would be. I would usually be very shy towards good looking ladies (well I still am but a bit less) and wouldn't know how to actually talk to them.
It was the time when I first got my dSLR and was quite the photonoob regarding such a machine. My 18-135 kit lens broke on me the first time (there will be other times but I'll tell you this in another story) so I was stuck with my dad's old set of lenses (thank god he's a Nikon!):
- The Nikkor Ai-S 50mm f/1.8 (excellent lens)
- The Vivitar Series 1 28-90 f/2.8-3.5 (very sharp)
Because they are all manual lenses, I had to manually manage EVERYTHING (shutter, aperture, iso, focus blabla)
Yan Leng, a good looking female colleague of mine at my summer job saw my shots and proposed to have her pictures taken by me. I was first surprised, then I browsed flickr for pictures of asian girls. Ended up of this user http://www.flickr.com/photos/msmelva/ who I still think is my favorite "asian girl" photographer. So I threw a few idea to my first model ever to see how she'd react. She also never posed for anybody so it was a fresh experience for the both of us. I decided on Mont Royal.
The day of the shoot, I found her having her makeup done by her best friend (Michelle, who you will see in future stories...). Then, we went to Mount Royal. Because I didn't do any location scout, I was totally improvising on the poses and the places. Missed a lot of shots but kept having such a cool conversation with Yan. It totally took the stress away. The more I was taking pictures of her, the more I was amazed at how cool such an activity is, the more I felt confident of what I was doing.
The photoshoot was a blast. I've learned a lot from it. I look back at it today, noticed that I made a bunch of errors on many of the shots but I'm still thankful to have finally broken the glass of shyness over the opposite sex and models in general.
Totally cut her shoulders on that shot... the framing is a bit bad. Though what I really like is the lighting that I got right on her (such a cool backlight the sun did).
That one was one of my favs... but I totally forgot to notice how bad the uber-huge bag is hanging on the side... and she posed totally flat on the fence... she could at least move back her right (my left) shoulder a bit more to create a more feminine silhouette haha.
That one was very cool and sereine but I shot her body turned flat towards me again... which doesn't enhance her femininity one bit... if she could counter rotate her body a bit more but leave her head like that I think she would draw a more feminine side of her.
Flat again! lol I was trying to evoke the feeling of wait and missing but ended up not emotionnal enough haha. I still like it though. As always, my color processing skills serve me well :)
We end up with the one I find that is the coolest. Look at how the leaves are complementing her beautiful hair. She is very cute on that shot and I've partly succeeded on doing a nice portrait of her.
To sum it up, I was stressed on my first photoshoot ever. I didn't know what to expect and I was pretty shy, but human contact bonded Yan and I giving us the confidence of nailing many shots nonetheless. I can't insist more on this, a link of trust has to be built for model and photographer to work together so that both forge a team to make the world's next cool pictures. No one is more important than the other, everyone works, everyone wins. That is my philosophy. If you happen to work with me, I will treat you as a part of the team.
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the PYKtures blog is now online!
Since I've become a member of Deviantart in the summer of 2007, I've discovered the power of having an art community and it helped me a lot to improve my photography. Since I got my first dSLR, I've met so many interesting people passionate about this hobby and learned a lot from them.
I stand today with a bunch of friends with photography being their primary hobby and feel very happy to live in such a world.
The PYKtures blog is my way of giving back some of the knowledge to all of them.
Have a good read
P.S.: for those new, most of my work is displayed on my deviantart page.
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