The Observation Deck

Gary,

you've given great tips above.

The "shoot tight" tip is probably the best tip you can give someone. I always have photographers asking me why I zoom in so close. Actually I shoot with a lens that doesn't have a zoom, called a prime.

That lens is used to shoot football and soccer, but I use it for everything from baseball to basketball (which is very close in distance).

Ivor,

Thank you for your kind words.

You are an absolute master of the dramatic tight shot.

The use of a prime lens vs. a zoom lens has been an interesting controversy for years. These days, I believe that zooms are better than ever, but the discussion of prime vs. zoom seems to go on and on and on...It's a good topic for a rainy day internet search question.

Camera steadiness is also a critical factor in attaining sharp pictures. I try to brace my left elbow directly under the camera and against my body to steady my shots. This is critical, particularly in low light situations. It also helps to remind me to check my composition one more time.

Cropping is the term we used in the old days, when we used to trim the excess image out of a picture in the darkroom. It's far better to crop in the camera and get the shot right the first time. Of course, nowadays, digital photography makes cropping easier to do; with some models, this can even be done in-camera.

By the way, here's another trick too. An ink-jet printer will often soften the hard squared-off "pixel look" edges of a blown-up digital image.

Gary Rice wrote: Camera steadiness is also a critical factor in attaining sharp pictures. I try to brace my left elbow directly under the camera and against my body to steady my shots. This is critical, particularly in low light situations. It also helps to remind me to check my composition one more time.

That's probably my biggest problem, no matter what I do, I can't stop the camera shake. My next purchase is definitely an image stabilization lens.

Bryan Schwegler wrote:

Gary Rice wrote: Camera steadiness is also a critical factor in attaining sharp pictures. I try to brace my left elbow directly under the camera and against my body to steady my shots. This is critical, particularly in low light situations. It also helps to remind me to check my composition one more time.

That's probably my biggest problem, no matter what I do, I can't stop the camera shake. My next purchase is definitely an image stabilization lens.

Shoot faster.

Crank the ISO level up.

Also nothing like a bean bag to get rid of shakes.

I carry a couple different sizes.

.

The problem with digital is that when you crank the ISO, you increase the chance for noise in the photo.

A program called Noise Ninja does a great job of eliminating noise from photos. It's available as a stand-alone app and as a Photoshop plugin.

David Lay wrote:The problem with digital is that when you crank the ISO, you increase the chance for noise in the photo.

A program called Noise Ninja does a great job of eliminating noise from photos. It's available as a stand-alone app and as a Photoshop plugin.

Good tip.

Of course that would have happened with film.

Somewhere there is always a happy compromise.

.

All my photos are taken at 3200 ISO.

it's gotten to the point where I rarely change the setting. A well exposed photo will have little noise at 400, 800, 1600 and even 3200 ISO, you just have to know how to expose it right.