Exposure Bracketing with Your Nikon D2x

With digital photography you can see the results of your exposures right away. But, since the image viewing LCD is backlit, your images may appear a bit brighter than they really are. You can use the histogram to make sure your exposures are accurate, or you can be even safer with exposure bracketing.

The Nikon D2x is especially flexible in this area, providing controls for bracketing the exposure, flash, and white balance. Since virtually the same method is used for all three, with only the variance of Custom Setting e5, one can use the same controls and method to set any of the bracketing systems.

In review, "bracketing" is the method whereby one takes an exposure at the suggested meter reading, and then one or more images under or over exposed. By using bracketing, one almost guarantees that at least one exposure will be exactly right. With digital you can afford to take the extra exposures, so why not?

In Figure 1 below, please notice that the default setting for Custom Setting e5 is “AE & Flash” which means that if you don't change it, both AE (auto exposure) and flash exposure bracketing will be set when you adjust the camera's bracketing controls. So, if a picture is taken with or without flash, the bracketing still works. That is what we will discuss in this D2x Tip.

The controls we use to set the bracket range are as follows in Figure 2 . Note the BKT (bracket) button, the front and rear command dials, and the LCD on top of the D2x.

With your camera in hand, try out the following steps, and in no time, you will have mastered bracketing with your D2x.

Four Steps to Set Exposure Bracketing

1. Press and hold the BKT button. 2. Rotate the REAR thumbwheel Main Command Dial one notch to the right. (See Figure 3 below) You will note on the top LCD that you now have a horizontal exposure line showing between +/- signs. Notice just below the exposure line that there are three small vertical lines. One of the vertical lines is below the 0 position of the exposure line. Another is to the left of it on the “+” side, and the other is to the right of it on the “-“ side.

This means that we will have three exposures in our bracketing series. (Each vertical line represents a separate image) That is also noted by the “3F” notation above the exposure line (see Figure 3 above). 3. With the BKT button still held down, rotate the Sub-Command Dial on the FRONT of the D2x. You will see the top LCD change the bracketing exposure value between 0.3 stop and 1.0 stop. Select the value you want to over and underexpose the extra images. (See Figure 3 above) 4. Release the BKT button.

Taking Bracketed Images

At this point, you're ready to take your pictures. This is where it gets really cool! If you have your motor drive set to CH or CL (Continuous High or Low) you can simply compose the image and hold down the shutter. The D2x will take the three images in rapid succession and then stop. If you then recompose and press the shutter down again, it will take three more pictures and stop. The motor drive only works long enough to expose those three bracketed exposures then ceases.

Each time it is making one of the three exposures, the D2x is changing the exposure value by the amount you selected in # 3 above. The first exposure is at the suggested meter setting. The second is underexposed, and the third is overexposed, in that order. (normal, under, over)

If your motor drive is set to S (single) then you will have to take three separate exposures yourself, by pressing the shutter three times.

The camera will stay in bracketing mode until you change it by holding down the BKT button and rotating the rear main command dial until the small vertical lines go away.

One can vary the number of exposures, and whether the extra images are under or over exposed, by rotating the rear main command dial in varying degrees with the BKT button held down. (i.e. you'll change the rotation direction in step # 2 above). There is a chart on pages 100 to 101 of your D2x manual that shows the amazing variety of ways one can vary the bracketing.

Remember that the default for the camera is to bracket both the AE exposure and Flash exposure at the same time. If you only want to bracket the AE exposure only, the Flash only, or the White Balance only, you will need to set Custom Setting e5. (See Figure 1 above)

On pages 98 - 105 of your D2x manual there are instructions on setting the Custom Function e5, and very detailed information on AE, Flash, and White Balance bracketing.

Nikon is making our favorite cameras more flexible all the time. Learn to use features like exposure bracketing to give yourself more power in your photography.

http://www.cleanimages.com/Tips-D2x-ExposureBracketing.asp

Doing a Slide Show with your Nikon D2x

The monitor on the back of the Nikon D2x camera is big and sharp enough to watch a movie, if there were a DVD slot on the D2x. It's a shame to waste that beautiful monitor by not using it often. With the massive battery capacity of the D2x, it won't hurt to use it whenever you'd like.

One of the coolest things I've found on my D2x is the slide show feature. After a few hours shooting in the Great Smoky Mountains, I'll often find a nice local restaurant and sit down for a meal. During the meal, I appreciate a little entertainment, so I set my D2x up for a nice slideshow. As my mouth is feasting on steak and potatoes (or a burger and fries), my eyes are feasting on a display of all my beautiful images. Ahhhhhh!

I know that I've helped Nikon sell dozens of DSLRs from all the people who walk by and stop to watch the show. You just don't see something like a portable slide show every day.

To set your D2x up to do a slide show is pretty easy. Why not pick up your D2x now, and let's walk through the setup and use of the Slide Show feature. Make sure you have a card inserted with a few images on it for testing the slide show.

There are a couple of decisions you must make initially. You must decide the "frame interval" for how long each image will be displayed, and how the camera will handle images with Voice Memo recordings.

Initial Slide Show Setup (see details below)

1. Open Playback menu (first menu on top)
2. Select Slide Show
3. Select Frame Interval
4. Select 2 to 10 seconds display time for each image
5. Select Audio Playback
6. Select On
7. Select Length of Voice

Let's now examine each of the Initial Slide Show Setup steps. First, we must get to the Playback menu. To start, press the MENU button, then toggle left with the thumb toggle switch, and toggle up until the Playback Menu shows. select Slide show.

With Slide Show selected, toggle to the right and you'll see the Slide show screen. Toggle down and select Frame interval.

Toggle to the right and the Frame interval screen will show, with its selection of seconds from 2 to 10. Select one of the intervals. I use “ 2 s ” or two seconds myself, because I usually have a lot of images, and find two seconds is enough to view an image. Some may like more, so you can select all the way out to 10 seconds

Now that you've made a selection of the number of seconds each image will be displayed during the slide show, the display jumps back to the Slide show screen. Now select Audio playback.

Toggle to the right on the Audio playback selection and the Audio playback screen, with its On or Off selections will display.

Select On and toggle to the right. Now you'll see the Audio playback Frame interval and Length of voice screen. I normally select Length of voice here. If you select Frame interval the voice memo will start to play but will be cut off if the time runs out and the D2x switches to the next image. If Length of voice is selected, the slide show will pause long enough to hear the entire Voice Memo Recording before switching to the next image.

Congrats! You have completed the setup, and now your D2x is Slide Show Enabled! See pages 157-160 for other features of the slide show.

Use the steps below anytime you want to do a slide show.

To start a slide show (see first two images above)

1. Open Playback menu
2. Select Slide Show
3. Select Start

Why manually scroll through all those hundreds of images, when you can sit back, relax, and watch a slide show on your favorite camera. Even your voice memo recordings will add to the presentation.

Your friends will love it, and think more of you for having such a cool camera. Your clients will appreciate your skill even more if you show them a display during a pause in the event you are shooting.

Use the marvelous (and enviable) new high-resolution display on your D2x for showing off your sharp and colorful images. Nikon has made it easy with the new Slide Show capability built into your D2x. Use it often!

http://www.cleanimages.com/Tips-D2x-DoingSlideShow.asp

Digital Darrell Buys a D100

The FedEx truck pulled into my driveway at 12:30 pm on August 12th. In his arms he carried two boxes, one large, one small. A signature later and I was happily cutting tape and tearing cardboard. My Nikon® D100 and IBM® Microdrive had finally arrived!

I spent nearly the entire day of August 9th calling camera stores all over the USA. At each store I heard the same story..."Sorry, were out of stock, if you'd like to prepay we can get one for you in three to six weeks." Of course, with my chronic obsessive personality, that was impossible to accept, so I kept calling.

One store in particular Cameta Camera had a D100 listed on eBay. I called them early in the morning to beg that they stop the auction and sell me the camera. No dice! I looked around eBay and found several D100s for sale, but it seemed that they were mostly bringing about $2,400.00. I wanted a D100 pretty badly, but not that badly! So, onward I pressed (the phone buttons) and talked to a plethora of stores. I called B&H Photo, nope...out of stock. Six weeks to arrival, and no prepay possible. 17th Street Photo, Adorama, Thompson Photo (local store), all out of stock.

Flipping through my Peterson Photographic magazine out of desperation for new camera stores to call, I found Broadway Photo with an unbelievably low price of only $1649.00. Well, that sounded promising, so I called them up, credit card in hand. The salesman assured me that they had a "good supply" of D100s, both USA and Grey Market versions. I asked him why the price was so low, and he said, "well, you have to buy a few accessories like a battery and charger for only $249.00." I was a bit wary of this, since I had read DPReview's detailed D100 review, and knew that a battery and charger was included FREE with the camera. So, I asked him a very specific question, "What will this camera cost me if you leave everything in the box that came from the factory?" "$2,395.00" was his sheepish reply. Needless to say, I hung up quickly. $750.00 extra for manuals, strap, batteries, charger, and body cap, seemed a bit pricey. Why not just charge a normal price? Hmmm...
On I pressed (beep beep beep), and over and over I heard the same thing. Six weeks, six weeks, SIX WEEKS! I was starting to despair! Didn't Nikon know how badly I wanted a D100? Why weren't there enough to go around?

By 3 o'clock I was getting desperate. I looked on eBay again, and saw that blasted Cameta Camera auction again. Out of resignation I decided that I would just bid on it, and pay the $2,400.00 that I knew it would sell for. But, before I bid, I wanted to make sure that they were going to include everything that came in the original box, so I called Cameta back once again to ask. When I got the nice lady on the phone, I told her that I was going to try and win the auction, but wouldn't they PLEASE reconsider stopping the auction RIGHT NOW and let me buy it? She sighed, and then said some marvelous words. (Harps playing)

"Well, no, we won't stop the auction, but I think a couple of D100's just arrived! Would you like to talk to a salesman?" Gaaaaaahhhhh I said, unable to form intelligible words. Gaaaaaahhhhhh! Gaaaahhhhhhh! She must have understood my deep and abiding interest in talking to a salesman, for one was on the phone right away. He said, "May I help you?" I said, "My credit card number is [censored]!, when can you ship it! He said, "Ship what? Who is this?" I then tried my best to calm down and explain that I was in desperate need of a D100, and that my grandmother needed it for an impending operation, and could he please sell it to me and possibly save her life?" He must have believed me, for he affirmed his willingness to part with his D100 for only $2,195.00. In no time flat it was on its way by FedEx Priority Overnight Air, of course!

With great rejoicing, I leapt from my chair, kissed the wife and kids, tossed my obviously obsolete Nikon F5 in the drawer, and sat down in satisfaction. (What am I gonna do with the 20 rolls of Provia I bought last week?) Now that I had an affirmed D100 shipment on the way, I realized that I was not the owner of a Compact Flash card to store pictures on. My wife has a Nikon CoolPix 990, and a couple of 128 megabyte cards, so I thought "why not borrow one of hers?" As my hand headed for her camera bag, I heard a noise that brought back memories of the time my momma found me sneaking cookies from the cookie jar. The noise clearly meant "NO YOU DON'T!" So, I resigned myself to finding a memory card of my own.

The calling started again. Some of the people at the camera stores remembered me. One said, "Did you find a D100 in stock in time for your grandmother's operation?" Yes, I said, and now I need a memory card. In a flash (pun intended) I realized that, with the 9.5 megabyte RAW images I would soon be shooting, I would need a sizable card. An IBM Microdrive with a One Gigabyte capacity would fit the bill, since that would hold over 100 full resolution RAW (.NEF) images.

Most of the stores were listing the IBM Microdrive at about $350.00 to $400.00. I found one at B&H Photo for only $279.00, but, guess what, they were out of stock. So in desperation (again) I turned to the internet and google.com.

On some web page or the other, I found a listing for a price comparison on stores selling Microdrives, and one of the lowest costs in the USA was at a place called the d-store (Digital Photography Solutions, Toll-Free Phone: 888-313-1587). I talked to a nice salesman named "Matt" there and said, "I just bought a D100, can you guess what I need?" Amazingly, he knew and said, "a one-gigabyte IBM Microdrive?" He was speaking my language! I was happy to find that his price was less than $250.00 for the bulk packaged card. I ordered one right away!

So, circling back to the beginning of this week's article I now am the owner of a D100, and an IBM Microdrive. I have a wedding to shoot in a couple of weeks, and so, between my obviously obsolete Nikon F5, and this new whiz-bang D100, I should get some quality images.

I just bought a new AF Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 G ED lens from 17th Street Camera, plus a Nikon SB-50DX flash unit and two extra Lithium-ion battery packs (EN-EL3) from B&H Photo. The USA lens was about $359.00, and should be a good one (I hope). The flash was only $159.00 for the USA version, and the batteries were $48.00 each. I read in my manual that the Nikon D100 can go as long as 1600 pictures without changing batteries. I do not believe that, but do believe that it can take several hundred images without changing them. On Photo.net I read one fellow who said that he had taken as many as 500 images without the battery dying, and this month's Popular Photography's review of the D100 said that they got over 400 images without a dead battery.

Stop back soon for my hand's on review of the D100, along with some pictures created with it. Thanks for stopping by!


http://www.cleanimages.com/Article-DDBuysAD100.asp

Digital Darrell Does a Wedding...Digitally

The bride arrived at the church at 1:30 pm, but Digital Darrell was already onsite and ready for imaging. My film-based Nikon® F5 and its digital companion, the D100, was turned on and ready for fast action. Fast action is what happened!

Those among us that have shot weddings realize the incredible speed with which events unfold before, during, and after the ceremony. Everybody in the building is stressed out of their minds on this the "happiest" day for the bride and groom.

Without a powerful combination of cameras and flash, the wedding photographer would be in trouble. As it was, my two memory capturing devices didn't let me down. The F5 was as ready as it's always been, but today a newcomer, the D100, was with us. How would it do under stress? Could it even begin to keep up with the fast-paced action like the F5 could?


At first I wasn't entirely sure, so I depended heavily on the F5. I never like to enter a live wedding situation with unfamiliar equipment, so my F5 was my friend. With it, I shot the most important shots first. Only after they were recorded, did I use the D100. I was waiting for a full D100 picture buffer, or a slow focus to give me a problem, and if so, the D100 would be retired to the camera bag quickly.

It never happened!

As I used the D100 more and more, I realized that it was very capable of performing in a wedding environment. I shot with the F5, waited a moment for a new angle and used the D100.

The F5 was slightly faster, but I had NO idea how my images were turning out with it. I was depending on my experience in shooting past weddings to make sure the images were nice. In contrast, my D100 was happy to show me any image I wanted to see, RIGHT NOW!

This was a new experience for me. I could use the D100 like a polaroid, take a picture, look to see the effect, erase it, or shoot on. After a short while, I became addicted. I found that I was shooting FIRST with the D100, then the F5. By the end of the formal portraits, which were shot just before the wedding ceremony, I realized something, and was shocked. The D100 was not only capable of shooting a wedding, but using it was easier and much more reassuring to me. I could see the results of each shot if I wanted. That means a lot!

It only takes a couple of seconds to push the little monitor button, see the picture, and start shooting again. I didn't even bother to turn the monitor off, since it shut down on its own in ten seconds. I could have set the monitor to come on by itself for a few seconds after each shot, but, I wasn't interested in seeing each shot, and did not want to waste batteries. I thought for sure that the batteries would fail at a bad moment, since digital cameras are well know for sudden battery death. I kept on shooting, and shooting, and shooting...for two days and 400+ images. The battery monitor didn't even drop to the first notch. I was delighted!


As I progressed through the ceremony, and on into the reception that lasted until 11 P.M. that night, my faithful F5 and D100 continued to perform. I ran out of film at about 10:00 pm, after shooting ten rolls of Fuji NPS, and was then forced (or freed) to use the D100 exclusively.

Everyone was dancing to beat the band. I was shooting even faster. All around me were revelers eating cake, drinking wine, dancing, laughing...a photographers dream. And here I was with one of Nikon's latest cameras. Free to shoot at will, model releases signed. And shoot I did. By the time this

reception was finished, I had polished off over 750 images. 360 were on film with the F5, and 400 were with my new, and now familiar D100.

I shoot a wedding differently than some. Instead of offering a few expected pictures, I want to capture the entire event...completely. In a few years, when the couple, or their kids are looking back, those memories are irreplaceable. I haven't broken 1000 images on a wedding yet, but it's not for trying.

Hey, guess what, I figured something out. I saved my clients over $175.00 USD in film processing costs by using the D100. (400 / 36 = 11 rolls at $16.00 each)


That doesn't even include the savings on the 11 rolls of NPS film. Whew! Digital cameras are expensive, but then you can shoot until you drop. No extra cost!

During the entire wedding, the D100 never missed a beat. It handled just like a Nikon is supposed to handle. I made some 11x14 prints from the digital group shot above. My processor used one of the LightJet printers that writes directly on real photo paper with a laser beam, and then the image is processed chemically like a regular wet print. I was completely BLOWN AWAY, as were my clients. I, personally, have never seen a 35mm image deliver that kind of quality. Smooth, no grain, rich colors. (Sigh!)

My next wedding will be more digital than film based. Over the next few years I will phase film completely out of the picture. The digital quality is very high, every bit as good as NPS film. That's a bold statement. If you don't agree, go have some D100 digital images printed on a LightJet printer. Maybe your mind will change, after you put your eyeballs back in your head. The D100's images are that good. Find out for yourself. I will never shoot medium format in a wedding again! There is no longer any reason to do so.

If you don't have a D100 yet, go get one RIGHT NOW! You are missing out on hundreds (or thousands) of mostly free images that are higher quality and easier to work with than 35mm film based. I'll pay for my camera in only a few weeks of using it. The cost savings on processing are that great in a commerical environment. Did you get that. Read my lips, "No more tax...er, processing fees!" We are free!


http://www.cleanimages.com/Article-DDDoesAWeddingDigitally.asp

Understanding Depth-of-Field and Aperture & Shutter Speed Relationships

Depth-of-field is one of those things that confuse a lot of new camera users. Yet, it is very important! Also, how the aperture and shutter speed works is initially hard to comprehend. This article is written to help you understand those relationships so that you can control your image's look, and correct exposure.

I'm going to attempt to explain these concepts with pictures.

Let's say you are taking a picture of a friend, who is standing 2 meters (~5.5 feet) away from you. About 2 meters behind your friend is another person. There is also a third person standing about 2 meters behind the second person. Three people total, about 2 meters apart, with the friend in front.

You are shooting with a 50mm lens. You focus on your friends face, and take a picture. It looks like this:

(50mm lens, Aperture: f/1.8, Shutter Speed: 1/6000th of a second)

F/1.8 is an "aperture" number. An aperture is simply an opening in the front of your lens controlled by blades. You can't see the aperture when you look in the front of your lens, normally, since your SLR camera allows you to focus with the aperture blades wide open, and out of the way. The aperture closes down to its selected setting when you press the shutter release to take your picture.

Apertures on your zoom lens probably start at about f/3.5 (big aperture), and stop at f/22 (small aperture). The bigger the aperture can get (the larger the opening) the "faster" the lens is considered. When you hear about a "fast" lens, someone is talking about a lens with a big maximum aperture opening. The 50mm f/1.8 lens is a fast lens. F/1.8 is fast!

Notice in the picture above that your friend (in red) is in good focus. The girl standing behind her, to the right, is not in focus, nor is the young lad even farther away to the left. This is the result of shooting with a big "aperture." F/1.8 is a big opening in the front of your lens. It also causes the depth-of-field, or "zone of sharp focus" to be shallow. Only the girl in front is in focus at f/1.8. Not much else is in focus, so there is very little depth-of-field. The depth-of-field in this picture is well less than one meter. Probably more like 1/2 meter. (~1.5 feet) The zone of sharp focus is only about 1/2 meter deep.

So what would happen if we closed the aperture down ("stopped" down) to a medium aperture like f/8? The picture below shows what that will do to the depth-of-field:

(50mm lens, Aperture: f/8, Shutter Speed: 1/500th of a second)

Notice how the girl in front still looks sharp, and the girl to the right is now in focus too. You focused your camera on the girl in front, but now the girl to the right is sharp too even though you did not change your focus control. The depth-of-field, or zone of sharp focus now extends past the girl in front and covers the girl in back. But, also notice that the boy to the left is still not in focus. The background is not in focus either. This image is the result of a medium aperture opening (f/8), not fast (f/1.8), not slow (f/22). Now, let's consider what happens if we "stop down" or close the aperture to f/22:

(50mm lens, Aperture: f/22, Shutter Speed: 1/40th of a second)

Aha! Now everything in the picture is sharp. An aperture as slow and small as f/22 makes it easy to get sharp focus. Remember, you focused on the girls face in all these pictures. At first only the front girl was in focus (f/1.8), and as the aperture got smaller more and more of the surroundings came into sharp focus (f/8 and f/22).

So, Depth-of-Field is simply the zone of sharp focus. It extends in front of and behind your focused subject, and gets deeper in both directions as you “stop down” your lens. If you set your camera to A mode, or Aperture Priority, you can adjust this powerful functionality to control what is in focus in your pictures.

Shutter Speed and Aperture Relationship

Notice also that the shutter speed changed as you stopped down your lens. At f/1.8 you needed 1/6000th of a second to keep the light from overexposing your image. A large, fast aperture lets in a LOT of light, so you can only let it in for a short time -- by using a fast shutter speed.

As you stopped down to f/8, your shutter speed moved to 1/500th of a second. The aperture opening is smaller at f/8 than at f/1.8 and less light is getting in through the smaller opening, so the light needs to come into the camera for a longer period of time. 1/500th of a second is a much longer time than 1/6000th of a second.

Then, notice how your shutter speed dropped to 1/40th of a second when you stopped down to f/22. At f/22 very little light is coming into the camera, so you have a long shutter speed at 1/40th of a second to let enough light in over a longer period of time. (1/40th vs. 1/6000th)

Conclusion

As you make the aperture opening smaller (f/22), you must let the light come in longer. As you make the aperture opening larger (f/1.8) you must let the light in for much less time. Does that make sense?

Aperture = Quantity of Light
Shutter = Time of Light

These two things work together to help you control the exposure and look of your image. With a fast aperture (large opening, f/1.8) you have very little depth of field, so you can isolate your subject from her surroundings. With a slow aperture (small opening, f/22) nearly everything in the image is in focus.

Experiment with your camera in M (Manual) or A (Aperture Priority) modes and learn how these relationships affect depth-of-field and the subsequent image's appearance.

http://www.cleanimages.com/Article-UnderstandingDOFandShutterAperture.asp

Why Should I Shoot in RAW Mode, or White Balance Follies

Since so many of us have switched to digital photography these days, we are now having to deal with White Balance, and different image file types. But, many are unsure just what White Balance is, and how to work with it. Lots of new digital users also wonder whether they should shoot primarily in RAW or JPEG modes.

Each Nikon Digital SLR camera has some way to change the white balance, and it is beyond the scope of this basic article to show you how. But, instead I want to talk about how white balance affects images, and how to correct white balance problems later, if you are shooting in RAW mode.

When you take a picture with your digital Nikon, it collects analog light data, and then converts it to a digital image file. If you are shooting in JPEG mode, the camera is creating the final image on the fly. If you are shooting in RAW mode (.NEF files) the camera is creating a file that is not yet really a picture. It is only the raw black and white image data and markers for what your camera settings were at the time you created the image. Nothing has been applied to the final image until you use a raw converter like Nikon Capture or Adobe Camera Ready (Photoshop), and then save the image out to another format like JPEG or TIFF.

Below is an image that I originally shot with an incorrect White Balance. I had been inside shooting under fluorescent lights and had used the fluorescent preset in my Nikon D2X. I then went outside to get a flash shot of my son gazing at the snow. I am displaying the image with the original white balance, and then after I corrected it in Nikon Capture:

The original image had a white balance of less than 4000K, a very cool temperature. When I was shooting under the fluorescent lights, I needed more blue light frequency for the light to be balanced and normal looking, since that type of light has very little blue. The first image shows how it looks when I used flash. Flash light is about 5000K, which is much warmer, and has plenty of blue light mixed in, so my image had too much blue.

Now, had I been shooting in JPEG mode, I would have been in trouble. JPEGS are created by the camera immediately and any white balance color information selected in the camera is applied as soon as you take the picture. You may be able to adjust some of the blue out later, but only by degrading the image slightly. And, it will never really look right with a huge color shift applied to a JPEG. But, since I was shooting in RAW mode, I was not in trouble at all. Since no color information is applied to the image until later, all I had to do was select "Flash" from the Nikon Capture white balance selections, and my image popped into correct color like you see in the second picture below:

Many people have chosen to shoot in NEF (RAW) mode, so that they will have complete control over the image later during post-processing. Of course, this implies that you have time for post-processing in the first place. If not, JPEG mode is great, unless you do what I did and forget about your white balance.

I love RAW mode, and use it almost exclusively. Even when I shoot a large number of images, such as at a wedding, I can batch process the entire bunch of images, while converting them to JPEGS in the process. In effect, I am doing later in-computer what the camera does when you shoot JPEGS natively.

If you choose to shoot in RAW mode, you have then created a file that you can use later over and over, each time reapplying different settings for various effects. This reminds me of a negative in the old film days. If one shoots JPEG, you are trusting your camera to do a good job, and end up with a file that can be adjusted only a little without degrading it seriously. That is fine, if you're not interested in taking the time to post-process all your images after you shoot them.

However, if you consider yourself an image fanatic, you might want to look seriously at using RAW mode frequently.

http://www.cleanimages.com/Article-WhyShootRAW.asp

Understanding Your Digital Camera's Histogram

Digital photography offers certain benefits for thinking photographers that are only realized with a basic understanding of a metering feature called the "histogram."

Using the histogram in your camera's image viewing LCD will guarantee you a much higher percentage of well exposed images. It is well worth working to understand the histogram, and is not overly complicated. I will try to cover this feature with enough detail to give you a working knowledge of how to use the histogram to make better pictures. If you are deeply interested in the histogram, there is much research material available on the Internet. This article is only covering a small amount of the information that is actually available, but will present enough knowledge to improve your technique immediately.

Light Range

A digital camera sensor can only record a certain range of light values. Remember how with film the light range was limited to only a few f/stops of range? With transparency film the limitation was about 3 or 4 "stops" of light, while with negative film it could go on out to 5 or 6 stops. Today's digital sensors seem to be able to record about 5 or so usable stops of light. Most will agree that the digital camera can record a little more than transparency film, and a little less than negative film. This will change, since some digital cameras are now offering extended range sensors.

Unfortunately, many of the higher contrast subjects we shoot can contain over 12-stops of light values. This is quite a bit more than it is possible to capture with film or a digital sensor today. It is important to understand how your digital camera records light, so that you can better control how the image is captured.

Look at Figure 1 below. The gray rectangular area is a representation of an in-camera histogram. Examine it carefully! Think about it for a minute before reading on.


http://www.cleanimages.com/Article-UnderstandingYourDigitalCamerasHistogram.asp

Photography 101 Series

I just bought a new digital camera! I see that my new digital delight can take images in several different formats. There's JPEG mode, TIFF mode, or even a mode called RAW. Is one better than the other? What differences will I see in the final images between the three formats? Which will it be, JPEG, TIFF, or RAW?

The type of photography YOU do weighs heavily on which mode you use. And, you may want to use ALL the formats at one time or another. Since your camera is flexible enough to shoot in multiple formats, you shouldn't be afraid to test them all. There are pros and cons for each of them, and we'll consider each below:

JPEG Mode

The great majority of photographers use the JPEG image as their primary image capture mode. This is mainly for the following reasons:

* Maximum number of images on camera and computer hard drive storage.
* Fastest writes from camera memory buffer to memory card storage.
* Absolute compatibility with everything and everybody in imaging.
* High-quality first use images.
* No special software needed to use the image right out of the camera. (No post-processing)
* Immediate use on websites with minimal processing.
* Easy transfer across Internet, and as e-mail attachments.

If you use JPEG as your primary image mode, just be aware of these facts.

* JPEG is a "lossy" format, which means that it permanently throws away image data from compression algorithm losses as you select higher levels of compression.
* You cannot use JPEG to manipulate an image more than once or twice before it degrades to an unusable state.
* Every time you modify and resave a JPEG image, it loses more data.
* May not be as sharp out of the camera as TIFF or RAW modes, due to initial camera compression.

Other than that, a JPEG image is capable of making marvelous images. The initial image out of the camera is considerably smaller in file size, and yet still yields an excellent image for web use or printing. You simply cannot take the image and modify it over and over again for special effects without the image becoming unusable. Many photographers work within this knowledge, and shoot exclusively JPEG images.

TIFF Mode

Many other photographers select the TIFF image mode of their cameras for primary usage. The list of reasons to select this mode are:

* Very high image quality.
* Excellent compatibility with the publishing industry.
* Is considered a "lossless" format, since the image normally uses no compression, and loses no more data than the initial conversion from 12-bit to 8-bit in the camera's software.
* Can modify and resave the images an endless number of times without throwing away image data.
* Does not require software post-processing during or after download from camera, so the image is immediately usable.

The drawbacks to using the TIFF imaging mode are as follows:

* Very large files in camera memory, so your ability to take a lot of images requires large and expensive storage cards.
* Must have large hard drives on your computer to store these multi-megabyte images.
* In-camera image processing is significantly slower, so you will be limited in the number of fast pictures you can take.
* Unless you have a high-speed Internet connection, don't even consider sending one of these monsters across the Internet. My D100 in RGB-TIFF Large Mode generates a 17.6 megabyte file.

RAW Mode

Camera purists, large print aficionados, and weird website article writers prefer this mode above all others. Here's why:

* Allows the manipulation of image data to achieve the highest quality image available from the camera.
* All original detail stays in the image for future processing needs.
* No conversions, sharpening, sizing, or color rebalancing will be performed by the camera. Your images are untouched and pure!
* Can convert to any of the above formats by using your computer's much more powerful processor instead of the camera processor.
* You have MUCH more control over the final look of the image, since YOU, not the camera are making decisions as to the final appearance of the image.
* 12-bit format for maximum image data.

The drawbacks to using RAW mode are these:

* Not compatible with publishing industry, except by conversion to another format.
* Requires pre-processing by special proprietary software as provided by the camera manufacturer or third-party software programmers. (This is generally included with the camera.)
* Large file sizes, so you must have large storage media. (Although, not as large as TIFF)
* No accepted industry standard RAW mode. Each camera manufacturer has their own proprietary format. Adobe® has recently introduced a new RAW format called DNG (Digital Negative) that may become a industry standard. We'll see!
* 12-bit format not really in use as of yet, since 8-bit is industry standard.

Which do I prefer? Why, RAW, of course. But, it does require a bit of a commitment to shoot in this mode. The camera is simply an image capturing device, and YOU are the image manipulator. You decide the final format, compression ratios, sizes, color balances, etc. In RAW mode, you have the absolute best image your camera can produce. It is unoptimized, and ready for your personal touch. No camera processing allowed!

If you get nothing else from this article, remember this...by letting your camera process the images in ANY way, it is modifying or throwing away image data. There is only a finite amount of data for each image that can be stored on your camera, and later on the computer. With JPEG or TIFF mode, your camera is optimizing the image according to the assumptions recorded in its memory. Data is being thrown away permanently, in varying amounts.

If you want to keep ALL the image data that was recorded in the image, you must store your originals in RAW format. Otherwise you will never again be able to access that original data to change how it looks. RAW format is the closest thing to a film negative or a transparency that your digital camera can make.

That is important if you would like to use the image later for modification. If you are a photographer that is concerned with maximum quality you should probably use RAW mode, and store your images in RAW format. Later, when you have the urge to make another masterpiece out of the original RAW image file, you will have ALL of your original data intact for the highest quality.

Now, to qualify this a bit, the TIFF mode is surely a very capable mode, since only a very small amount of the image data is gone. So you could use TIFF mode to make or remake a great image, and have an image format that is compatible with any image processor out there, or any computer program that is modern. And, a JPEG image is very capable also. When modified only once, is beautiful to behold. JPEG images can only be diddled with to a degree, or your image will degrade. It is a widely compatible image format, since most digital "consumer" cameras default to it and pro cameras have the mode available.

Another consideration in digital imaging is short-term storage on the image card in your camera, or longer-term storage on your computer. The JPEG mode will definitely allow you to store more images. For instance, on my Nikon® D100, with a one-gigabyte IBM® Microdrive, I can store about 330 images in JPEG FINE mode, in RAW mode that drops to 107 images, and in TIFF mode, surprisingly, it drops to only 54 images. Due to how TIFF images store color information, they are nearly twice the size to store than RAW images. And the RAW mode contains more data for later use!

As this article is being written, and is mentioned briefly above, no RAW mode standard yet exists, although one has been proposed. Each camera manufacturer has proprietary RAW formats. If Adobe's new DNG (Digital Negative) standard RAW format is accepted by camera manufacturers, this may change. In the meantime, the software that pulls the image off of the camera is proprietary and will not work with another camera maker's images in RAW format. So this might be a drawback if you need maximum compatibility with the rest of the printing industry. But, with the new Photoshop CS this problem is going away. Most image shops will be using Photoshop, since it is the industry standard graphics program.

So, if you want maximum compatibility and maximum reusable quality, use TIFF mode. If you need maximum storage, and excellent initial image quality, use JPEG mode. If you want maximum quality period, use RAW mode.

Many do as I do, and shoot in RAW mode, store the image in RAW mode, and later make TIFF or JPEG images from the RAW images. I can do that over and over without losing my image quality. In fact, JPEG or TIFF images that have been converted on your computer from a RAW image are noticeably higher quality.

Why not go out and make a bunch of digital images today. Whatever mode you use will give you an excellent image later. You can experiment with the various formats and see which YOU like best. Digital photography makes this easy. Now that you have made the investment in digital camera equipment, you can shoot and shoot until you are satisfied, at no extra cost!

Most cameras will allow you to change formats at any time, and will store all the formats on the same camera image card, so, go and experiment a bit.


http://www.cleanimages.com/Article-AreYourImagesRaw.asp