[Umpqua Birds] Camera Settings
- From: Matthew G Hunter <matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 19:08:11 -0800
Hi Folks,
In attempting to discern details from Liz's photos of her large falcon
(and finding it difficult because of the blown highlights and high
contrast), I was reminded of a couple things that Bob and Jeannie Pollock
wrote to me a year or two ago when they saw many of my first photos with my
Canon SX50HS (Liz used same model for her falcon photos). While Bob's
details of the instructions are specific to this camera (or one very
similar), the basic adjustments can be done with many cameras. What I have
done is made these adjustments and applied them to one of the custom spots
on the dial on top of my camera, so that I can use or access it any time.
I could have just sent this email to Liz, but I know that at least 6 of you
on this list have this very same camera, and the rest of you may learn
something from what I learned from Bob and Jeannie. Again, these suggested
settings are especially for outdoor conditions of strong light and high
contrast with these small cameras (may not be necessary for a camera with a
larger sensor). If photos are taken in lower light or less contrast
conditions with these settings, some photos will end up somewhat dark and
dull, but this is easily corrected with photo editing software (Bob, feel
free to clarify anything I muddled).
SET CONTRAST TO LOW OR LOWEST SETTING
"One thing that I suggest you do is go into shooting mode and press the
Function Set button. Go down to My Colors on the left bar and then over to
Custom Color on the bar that has appeared on the bottom of the screen. Now
press Display and the first choice is Contrast. Set Contrast to the lowest
setting (the leftmost one) and press Function Set to go back to the
shooting screen. The reason that I suggest this is because the very small
sensors in our cameras have a tendency to blow out highlights (they retain
no detail) and the best way to reduce the possibility of that happening is
to use the lowest Contrast setting. To see what I mean, take two pictures
of an object with white or light areas with Contrast set to the lowest and
then to the highest setting." MATT'S NOTE: Under this setting, some photos
may come out with lower contrast than desired, but this is easily remedied
with photo editing software.
SET EXPOSURE MINUS 2/3 STOP
"Here's one other thing that you might want to play around with. We've
discovered that both of our Canon compact cameras produce better exposed
pictures if we set the exposure to minus 2/3 of a stop. To do that, in the
shooting mode press the function set ring upwards to bring up the exposure
compensation bar and then change the exposure by rotating the function set
ring. Slightly underexposed pictures (underexposed according to what the
camera thinks is right, that is) usually look better, are less likely to
have blown highlights, and require a faster shutter speed that
coincidentally increases the probability that the picture will be sharp."
MATT'S NOTE: Again, if the photo turns out a little too dark, it is easily
lightened up with photo editing software. However, without this adjustment,
if the pale areas are blown out (meaning they are so white there is no
detail left in that part of the photo), that area cannot be salvaged.
Thanks to Bob and Jeannie for those tips--they have helped me tremendously
over the last year or so--and I hope some of you find these helpful as well.
Hoping to go look around for a large falcon Monday....
Matt Hunter
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