Technique

[Hairyman]

A few pages on how to take photographs.

Add your own tips - please! (I'm looking at you BadPauly!!)

Matt Coles on Exposure (http://www.uscoles.com/technical.html)
Matt Coles on the f-stop (http://www.uscoles.com/fstop.htm)
Anand on Portraits (http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcameras/showdoc.aspx?i=2323)
Anand on Composition (http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcameras/showdoc.aspx?i=2280)
Anand shoots at night (http://www.anandtech.com/digitalcameras/showdoc.aspx?i=2351)
Camera Hobby Teaching Modules (http://www.camerahobby.com/learning_modules.htm)
Norman Koren casts his pearls (http://www.normankoren.com/#Tutorials)
Neil Turner illustrates the point (http://www.dg28.com/technique.html)
Dan likes this book (http://www.dansdata.com/shootingdigital.htm)
Dan reveals his secrets (http://www.dansdata.com/phototute.htm)
DP Review methods (http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Photography_techniques/)
DP Review other stuff (http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Image_Techniques/)
Some slightly disappointing essays from Fred (http://www.fredmiranda.com/ArticlesMain/)
High Speed Stuff that Hippy found (http://www.hiviz.com/index.html)
Portrait Photography (http://jzportraits.home.att.net/)
A Bunch of essays (http://www.photos-of-the-year.com/articles/)
Hippy found this site on shooting drips (http://www.liquidsculpture.com/faq/faq.htm)
PhotoNet has a fair bit to say on a lot of stuff (http://www.photo.net/learn/)
The Germans know a thing or two (http://www.photozone.de/4Technique/index.html)
Silverlight (http://www.silverlight.co.uk/tutorials/toc.html)
Some infrared stuff (http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/infrared/)
IR stuff that Hippy found (http://www.jr-worldwi.de/photo/index.html?irbasic.html)
John Brownlows's Street Photography Methods (http://www.pinkheadedbug.com/techniques/index.html)
How to be a photoethnographer (still under construction) (http://www.photoethnography.com/)
Canon Gives Some Tips (http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/enjoydslr/index.html)
Petteri Sulonen Pounds the Pulpit (http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/Whats_new/a_Recent_changes.html)
ePhotozine rattles on (http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques/)
Digital Photography for What its Worth (http://www.dpfwiw.com/)
Hippy sees the light (http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm)
Directed found this good site (http://photonotes.org/articles/)
Hippy Vindaloo shoots for the stars (http://users.bigpond.net.au/wanglese/Astronomy/Astronomy.html)
Ewe2 shoots at night (http://www.travelphoto.net/photos/english/photo-tips/html/night-photography.html)

[Hippy Vindalou]

Hairyman you have done a superb job of getting these threads rolling. More rep coming your way when I can.

jr-worldwide photography has more info on how IR works (http://www.jr-worldwi.de/photo/index.html?irbasic.html)
The Australian Digital Photograph of the day competition. (http://www.potd.com.au/) I am going to get an entry in for this one day, you can win some cool prizes and its good for just browsing some great pics.
Trek Earth (http://www.trekearth.com/categories.php?ctype=equip) Photos from around the world contributed by amateurs and pros, you can browse by camera type or country or submit your own, some great pics in there.

The DP review site has forums specific to all brands of cameras and they are chockas with people useing the same camera as you. I learnt a bucketload about my camera reading the Sony forums, I recommend a browse when you have a few days.
I have been copying some of the advice I find into a text file for reference like the fireworks one below. I left in the name of the poster if they signed it and all came from the sony forum at DPreview though it probably applies to all cameras.

Photographing Fireworks.
1. Always use a tripod and, if possible, a remote release. If there is no remote release, use the timer. Unfortunately, using a timer will not allow as many shots, and it is impossible to anticipate ten seconds in advance if there will even be fireworks bursts in the sky.

2. Make sure auto review is enabled to be able to monitor whether the zoom/framing is correct. Otherwise you must periodically review manually, and that takes more time.

3. ISO should be at the lowest available setting. Do not use auto ISO.

4. White balance should be set for a tungsten light source. Do not use auto WB.

5. Use manual focus set on infinity. Do not use autofocus.

6. Use manual exposure with the shutter speed in the 1 to 5 second range. Do not use any auto exposure mode. A shutter speed of 4-5 seconds will probably be the most often used, but when a lot of fireworks are in the sky at once (like in the above photo or a finale), you should use a slightly faster shutter speed to prevent blow-out of the image. Also, use a slightly faster shutter speed for twilight skies to prevent overexposure.
When using a timer, I think using longer shutter speeds would provide an advantage, because it gives a longer "window of opportunity". Perhaps 8-10 seconds would work. I would suggest covering the lens with something flat black to keep from overexposing and to limit the number of bursts. The drawback of long shutter speeds is that the dark frame subtraction also takes longer...resulting in fewer shots. Experiment with different speeds and find a comprmise that works.

7. Use a fixed f-stop of about f/11for fireworks. If the camera’s smallest f-stop is f/8 (like all Sony cameras), use f/8 and also add a one-stop ND filter. If you don’t have an ND filter, use a polarizer (which is approximately 1½ stops). This is important to prevent blow-out (extreme overexposure) of the center of each fireworks streak in the image. Digital camera sensors are more prone to blow-out than film. Blown-out images have washed out colors, but preventing the blow-out gives very nice, saturated colors.

8. Don’t get too close to the fireworks or you won’t get everything within the frame. With a 28mm lens, you should be approximately ¼ mile away to catch both the foreground and the fireworks bursts in their various positions.

9. Try to position yourself to have something interesting in the foreground. A photo that only includes fireworks bursts isn’t generally as interesting as a photo of fireworks enhancing a foreground subject.
Havent tried it yet, we only get fireworks here at Easter, but next year I am all over it;)

[jak]

Cheers Hippy. Thats a good read. Never thought of using a ND filter (I just got one a couple of months ago). Will have to try that next time I get the chance.

Here are some fireworks I shot from the Australian Day "Sky Show" in Perth (2004). Let me know what you think?

http://www.angstrom.com.au/fireworks/

[Hairyman]

Great effort Jak, although the shot with the flag left me feeling a bit disoriented.

New links added above.

[Hippy Vindalou]

This is an interesting tutorial about light, how it works and how different types of light effects what your seeing.
It's relevant to drawing, painting and 3d art as much as photography and is worth a read.
http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm

[Hairyman]

Thanks Hippy, links updated.

[Hippy Vindalou]

Not an in camera technique, but for those of us with fixed lenses here is a Tiltshift tutorial for Photoshop.
Fake model photography. (http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/)

I tried it on a few photos and it looks quite good and is fairly simple too.
I would put one up as an example but I cannot upload to my gallery at the moment.

These things are all over Flickr at the moment and done to the right subject and viewed at a decent size they look fricken cool.

[rodenythemutt]

awsome!! thanks

[rodenythemutt]

i made the previous post just so that i can make a new thread in the "newbie lounge" so ignore it.....ahem......

[rodenythemutt]

oh wait i still can't make a new thread, so it has nothing to do with my post count....:gaygun:

[anothe]

bookmarked this thread! + repped everyone in it too.

this is a very helpful thread :)

[Hippy Vindalou]

Lots of tips on Astrophography and lightening shots on a budget.
Some good stuff (http://users.bigpond.net.au/wanglese/Astronomy/Astronomy.html)

[ewe2]

http://www.travelphoto.net/photos/english/photo-tips/html/night-photography.html

heaps of good stuff on these pages, there's not a great deal of hard info on available light photography, this won the Google race so far.

[Hairyman]

Added new links.