Lee's Camera Center - Photographic Tip Archive

Digital Cameras
Use the biggest resolution as possible. BIGGER is better!

Say goodbye to red eye. How does red eye happen?

A quick biology lesson
Red eyes are worst in dark rooms. The pupils of your eyes get bigger and smaller depending on the amount of light. Lots of light makes them smaller. Low light makes pupils bigger. When you use the flash on your camera, the light reflects off the blood vessels inside the eye. That’s where the red comes from.

Quick tips There are things you can do stop red eye. Some work better than others, but try them to find which works best for you.

• Use the camera’s “red-eye reduction” feature. It’s the one that has a circle-slash over an eyeball. It creates quick bursts of light that make the pupil get smaller before the main flash goes off. This is often a big help, but it doesn't remove red eye…it just makes it less obvious. Be careful: in some cameras, using this option can slow down the camera’s ability to take the picture when you want it.

• Turn on a light or move to a brighter area. The pupils become smaller and red-eye is less noticeable.

• Have the person look away from the lens, either above the camera or to the side opposite the flash. If you have a camera without the red-eye feature, consider holding the camera straight up and down (vertically) in a way that places the flash closer to your feet than to your hair. The puts the flash at a lower angle and makes red-eye go away.

Sometimes, even trying all of these things, a photo will still have red eye. If that is the case talk to Our Digital Department!

Airport x-ray Security
Don’t forget to put your film in a high quality, lead-lined film shield bag when traveling by air. Nobody can question the validity of the heightened security measures being implemented at our nation’s airports. However, it is necessary to protect your film from the harmful effects of X-ray radiation. A good quality film shield bag is a relatively inexpensive measure we can take to protect our film.

Fall Tips for Capturing Autumn Scenic Images

Aim for the "magic hours". Anytime of the day you’ll find great pictures of the fall foliage, but try to take photos in the early morning or lateevening. You may have heard the term "magic hour" in photography, which refers to the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. Though it's not written in stone that you’ll get the best photos at these times, you are likely to get some great lighting.
Think BIG & small Don’t spend all of your time shooting big broad landscapes. While those make nice images, remember to take pictures of the little things, too. A thousand red and yellow leaves do look pretty but, like people, each is unique and deserves a close-up.

Fall Color Tricks And Tips
The brilliant colors of fall inspire us to try to capture some of these beautiful images with our camera. But too often, the great scene we saw doesn't translate into a great photo. But with a little extra thought and care, casual photographers can catch some of the magic of fall in their images.

• Photos of fall landscapes need something significant to catch the eye, such as a figure, a prominent physical feature, a condition of light, or a splash of color.
• Show depth in landscapes by putting elements in the foreground, middle distance and background. The eye travels to a light spot in a picture, so try to place one deep in your composition.
• Frame your subject with branches or other elements to call attention to it. To avoid a static, symmetrical look, set up off-balanced compositions. Place the focus of interest away from the center of the photograph.
• Shoot early and late in the day. Early morning and late afternoon light turns a golden color, bathing everything it strikes in a warm glow.
• Try using a polarizing filter, which deepens blue skies and enriches fall colors by removing glare and reflections in shiny leaves.
• Avoid direct, front lighting. Look for other angles to side, or back light your subject.

Maybe it's cold outside . . . but it's a great time to take pictures!
If you're not an early riser, or you like to get to bed early, winter is your season for sunrises and sunsets.

The sun rises nearly three hours later, and sets nearly three hours earlier, in mid-winter than it does in mid-summer. So you can sleep in and still catch those neat things that often happen around sunrise (such as the alpenglow on pre-sunrise lenticular clouds shown here)—or photograph the sunset and still have time to go out for dinner and a movie. You can also capture those sunsets over picturesque parklands that close at 5 or 6 p.m. (which is well before sunset in mid-summer).

Camera Shopping for the Holidays? Do you need the bells and whistles?

The days of carrying around a gigantic camera bag with various lenses, flash bulbs, and spare rolls of film are over. Nowadays, there are a lot of compact or ultra-compact digital camera options that you can carry in your pocket. If you are new to digital photography or simply looking for a new digital camera, you don't need all the bells and whistles to take great shots.

There are several key elements to look for when selecting a camera, including the image quality. If you have an older digital camera, you may want to look at replacing it with one that's at least five megapixels. A pixel is a single point in an image (see image at left). One million pixels equal one megapixel. The more pixels you capture, the better your image looks when you enlarge and print it.

Lower-resolution cameras (up to five megapixels) deliver sufficient resolution for attractive prints, even at sizes of 8 by 10 inches and larger. But if you're a serious shutterbug, a seven-megapixel camera provides more control over your photographic results. For example, you can crop shots more drastically without compromising image quality. Canon offers compact point-and-shoot cameras that sport seven to nine megapixels and fit perfectly in a purse or pocket; you may even find you get many of the same features offered in more cumbersome models.

Winter Photo Tips - Caring for Your Camera & Gear
While winter doesn't always mean snow, in the northern hemisphere it does mean colder weather. Cold weather affects your camera gear as well as you. For your gear, keep the camera, lens(es), film and digital memory cards under your jacket or in an insulated camera bag until ready to shoot, and return them quickly when done shooting. Keep spare batteries in a warm pocket.

Cold weather saps battery power (lithium types do better than most under cold conditions, but even they exhaust more quickly when it's very cold), so take spares and keep them warm.

Keep your film in its protective wrapping until you're ready to use it. On returning indoors, let the camera naturally reach room temperature (placing it in a tight airtight plastic bag helps) before trying to take pictures. And let film warm to room temperature before removing it from its packaging.

Remember: Condensation is a problem when moving the camera or film from a cold environment to a warm one, but not when moving from warm to cold.

more. . .
• Cameras run on battery power, and batteries hate the cold. The chemicals in batteries that create electricity don't work well when the temperature drops, so if you'd like to extend your picture taking possibilities, remember to keep the camera inside your jacket.

• Be careful when bringing your camera from a very warm environment directly into the very very cold. You may get condensation. to avoid this, try the zip lock bag trick, keep your camera in the zip lock while inside, and then let it acclimate inside the zip lock for a while outdoors before you start shooting.

• LCD screens hate the cold as well, and the screens use a lot of power. If your camera has an LCD screen, it's a good idea to turn it off when working in the cold.