SHOOT THE DOG™: Fundamental Tools

If you spent a little time over the last few days pounding out your first assignment of thousand shots per week (you have, haven’t you?), then it’s safe to assume that you can now put that camera to your eye and find the shutter release (that’s the little button you push to take a picture) without looking.  This is important.  There’s nothing more embarrassing than waiting for the perfect moment only to find your finger is pushing on the little button to change ISO.  So that’s an accomplishment.

Now, the next thing I’m going to tell you might make some of you wish you weren’t taking this road.  Get the manual for your camera and take it everywhere you go with your camera.  How many of you know where the manual is?  Anybody out there read it?  Wow.  I was giving a private photography lesson a few days ago, and the fellow didn’t have the same kind of cameras I shoot with.  I was explaining to him that exposure depends on three things – shutter speed, aperture, and the sensitivity of the sensor (ISO) – and that he should take a few minutes to change some settings to see how this worked.  He knew how to change shutter speed and ISO, but not aperture.  He handed the camera to me for help, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure it out either.  I have Canon cameras.  His camera was Canon.  They both do the same things.  But his camera had the buttons in different places, with different mysterious symbols indicating what they do (what does an arrow pointing up mean?).  I was no help at all.   I asked for the manual.  Hmmmmm.  No manual.  Must be at home someplace.  So we didn’t learn about aperture that day.

Let me ask you this.  Would you buy a piece of expensive, complicated equipment if, on the outside of the box, it said “Manual not included”?  Probably not.  But on the other hand, everybody has a manual for their camera but hardly anybody reads it.  Instead, people fumble and experiment and twiddle this dial and push a button or two, and can’t figure out how to get the darn camera to work properly.  Life is short.  Read the manual.  The answers are there, waiting to help you.  Now, I don’t recommend that you sit down and read it cover to cover – it’s boring, complicated, and you won’t remember anything when you’re done.  But when you need to know how to set the aperture, you turn to that page, look at the little picture of your camera with an arrow pointing to the correct button, and you’re back to shooting.  What a time saver!

Fundamental Tool #1 is the Camera Manual. 

If you don’t want to pack it around with you, you should be able to download the pdf file from the manufacturer’s website and save it on your smart phone so you can access it anytime, anywhere.  Whatever you do, don’t bother to ask me how to work your camera.  I’ll tell you to read the manual.

Fundamental Tool #2 is the Camera.

Why isn’t the camera #1?  Because without the manual the camera is worthless.  What kind of camera do you need?  You can take fun, interesting photos with a DLSR (digital single lens reflex – the type of camera that has a body and interchangeable lenses) as well as a compact camera.  You will want a camera that will let you shoot in “Manual” mode, where you can have complete control over the camera settings because this is the only way to learn how the camera works.  You can shoot in Program mode if you want later, but to learn you should start in manual.  Other than that, most any camera will do.

If you’re ever going to take great photographs, you have to understand how a camera works.  There are zillions of websites now that discuss the basics of photography.  I suggest you do a simple search so you can visit a dozen or so and find one that seems to be at about your level and has the right mix of text, photos, videos and whatever else that suits the way you like to learn.  You’ll know it when you find it.  Maybe you’ll find several.  Use these as resources while you learn.

If you’re serious about tackling this beast, I can highly recommend a wonderful resource at Kelby Training (www.KelbyTraining.com).  You pay a modest amount for a year’s membership, and that gives you access to a large and growing library of online videos on photography.  There are dozens of different instructors, and you might find that you prefer some over others.  But if you want to know how to shoot into the sun on a cloudless day, or how to keep all your shots from coming out yellow when you shoot indoors, you can find your answer there.  If you also join NAPP (National Assoc of Photoshop Professionals), you’ll get a discount, and the NAPP website is also a great resource and comes with a magazine subscription as well.  (Yes, you will learn how to use Photoshop!)  It will be money very well spent.  They don’t pay me to say this.  I just think they’re great.   (If you want to start on square one, the video you want to watch first is “Digital SLR Basics”.) Another site that also has video training modules that I have found useful is www.Lynda.com.  There are probably more, and I would encourage you to make use of them.  It’s a university in your computer.

Fundamental #3 is Light.

Light is what creates the image on film or on the sensor in your camera.  To get great photos, you have to learn how to control light.  To control light, you need to know about shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.  So that’s where we will go next.

In the meantime, have a look at the photo of this gorgeous Pekingese dog.  This breed can be hard to photograph because it’s basically a flat face stuck on one end of a bunch of fur.  In a wind, it can be hard to tell it’s even a dog.  I wanted to create an image that captured the dignity and beauty of this ancient breed.  I wanted the dog to have a look of elegance about him, yet have a soft, appealing expression that would draw the viewer into those dark, milky eyes.

Pekingese have very short legs, and I wanted the coat under his chin to be able to fall freely instead of bunching up on the floor.  So we perched him atop the remnants of an old stone wall, and when we put his front paws right at the edge, the chest coat and long ears were able to fall naturally around him.  As it happened, there were some lovely roses in the garden in the background that added some nice color to the image, and a gentle breeze put some life into his coat for a natural look.

The real trick to this shot, however, is the cool pack we hid underneath all that fur to keep him from getting hot.  I wanted his mouth closed so we would get that wonderful expression on his face.  This is a very unusual way to photograph a Pekingese – they are usually sitting on a velvet pillow (on top of the cool pack!) in a studio with not a hair out of place.  But I think that by doing a few things differently, we were able to create a lovely image of a breed that isn’t the easiest to photograph.

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