Without going into great detail about RAW files at this point let’s just look at simply converting RAW to JPG. Since Leonard’s already spent a bundle on his camera and Photoshop expecting him to plunk down more money just to convert a RAW file to a JPG is asking a bit much. So instead I’m encouraging Leonard to use a freeware program on this one and save up for his 50mm lens. Leonard’s going to use this converter and you may as well give it a test drive too.

RAW Shooter Freeware Download

Leonard Says:
I’ve downloaded the freeware program. Of course This can be done in photoshop one picture at a time. It’s a heck of a lot quicker to instantly convert all of the pictures to .jpg. Now I can quickly view all of my pictures and select the one I want to work with. Lots more time is saved this way than it would be to open each picture in Adobe Camera Raw. Also, no further steps are needed to share the pictures with friends or print them out. I don’t like this at this point being that I can modify my pictures for the best outcome if I do it the long way. This is a good idea if I want to send someone the original picture and then show them the after part once I am done with my modifications. Great program to have and anyone who shoots in RAW should have. It’s really instant!

Most cameras allow for at least two ways to get digital images from the camera to the computer. The first being the use of a cable to interface the camera with the computer and the second by removing the media card from the camera and downloading them directly to the PC. The cable necessary to interface your camera to your computer comes with your camera and was in the plastic bag full of gizmos and goodies that was in the box with your new camera.

Because of the sheer number of cameras out there I won’t even approach exactly how to attach everyone to a PC. However, the basics are the same with all the cameras I’ve seen: plug cable into camera; plug the other end of the cable into your PC; turn on the camera and Windows basically takes care of the rest. Simple.

“Downloading pictures from your digital camera” from the Microsoft Learning Center

Using your media is pretty much the same as well. Remove the SD card (or whatever media your camera uses) and slip it into the appropriate slot on your computer’s media card center – assuming your PC is equipped with one. The media card center is easy to spot – it would be on the front of your PC and have 5 or more different sized slots to read a variety of media types. If your PC is not equipped with a media card center I’d highly recommend getting one and installing it into your computer. They’re not expensive at all – about $13 online from CompUSA and readily available at any computer store at about the same price point. They even make them with a floppy drive included if for some ungodly reason you still use floppy disks.

The last thing to mention is you should have a folder set aside for your photographs. There’s a “My Pictures” folder in Windows XP and you can have your camera download to that folder for the sake of ease – that’s what I do. But inside my “My Pictures” folder I have added some folders. Inside My Pictures I have folders for each year (2008, 2009, etc) and inside those folders are individual folders for each shooting event.

Be sure to name your folders something descriptive to make them easy to find later. The format I use is 2009_10_09 – Pictures I Took Today. This format accomplishes several things. By putting the year, month and date in numeric form like in the example I force my picture folders to appear in chronological order through the year followed by a description of the folders content. By using this method if I can’t remember exactly when I took the pictures I can use the Windows “Search” feature to use a key word like “birthday” or “grandchildren” to search all folders with “birthday” and “grandchildren”. By using this method I’ve found I can easily and quickly find any digital photographs I’ve taken in the last eight or ten years.

Leonard Says:
I have incorporated a way to distinguish my pictures in folders as well. I have all of my pictures in a folder that leaves little to the imagination. First of all I have only been having this camera for a short amount of time so that leaves me in a place that I can wrap my arms around before it gets out of hand. All of the pictures with my previous camera are in a seperate folder named ~JPG~. Any pictures I have taken with my D60 are in a folder named ~RAW~. The reason for the tilda “~” is that windows will put these folders in the beginning of the list. Within these folders I have subfolders that represent the date taken and any description that would hone me in on the picture(s) that I am searching for. This actually keeps me from searching for hours for that shot I took. Saving time here allows me to get other things accomplished. Taking the time in the start to create a functional way to save the pictures saves a lot of time for taking pictures.

It’s incumbent upon the photographer to create a peaceful or powerful “eye flow” in a photograph. Lines when used in composition should lead to a simple eye flow and avoid causing confusion or chaos in an image. The longer a viewer looks at a photograph likely the better the photographer has done at his job concerning composition. Lines alone aren’t enough to create a good photograph the photographer must still consider such elements as the rule of thirds, texture, shape and balance in the image.

S-Curves in the Dunes at White Sands - Photo by: Ron

A popular and graceful line for use in photographic composition is the S-curve. The S-curve’s gentle lines leads the viewer through a photograph in a quiet and peaceful sort of way. Rivers, streams, foot trails and lazy country roads are classic examples of s-curve use. The natural shape of s-curves and its easy flow through an images brings the viewer on an easy, soft sojourn through the photograph. The s-curve is a very natural shape for the viewer to follow. The entry and exit points of an s-curve is important to the image’s composition. Having the s-curve meander through the photo can lead the viewer to a specific point or subject in the photo.

The use of the s-curve and perspective can be used together to create a dynamic image. One way to accomplish good use of an s-curve is to position yourself at an angle along the curve while another way to make great use of s-curves is careful use of a wide angle lens. By assuming a low vantage point where the photographer wants the s-curve to begin leads to the foreground appearing larger and quickly recedes into the distance. By creating an obvious entry point for the s-curve the viewer’s eye will naturally flow to the s-curve’s end.

The S-Curve by Mark Hemmings
S-Curves by BestPhotoLessons dot com

Leonard Says:
I have plans to go out and find some s-curves to photograph. I have a few in mind but I have to put my eyes on them before I will know for sure. I know I have taken pictures with some already but I don’t want to search and find them. I would rather take new pictures with the concept in mind. It’ll probably be better practice to do it that way.

A few of the things we are not jealous of – your shooting and equipment skills. It’s particularly funny to watch you newbies try and change a lens quickly when a once in a lifetime moment comes your way and there you are with the wrong lens on your camera.

With that said here’s a down and dirty way to quickly and efficiently change your lens and not look like a total rookie doing it.

The following steps should eventually, with time and practice, be accomplished in one smooth, fast motion. The only thing that’s a catch about this is Nikon lenses are removed in a clockwise turn and Canon lenses in a counterclockwise turn. Sorry, I’m not sure about other brands but I think Nikon and Canon make up a huge percentage of the DSLR market so it’s not such a big deal. Whatever brand you have you can figure this out, I’m sure.

1. Hold your camera in your left hand and approach the lens with your opened right hand and your right forefinger extended a little.

2. When you close your hand around the lens and have a firm grasp depress the lens release button with the left side of your extended right forefinger. At this point the lens is no longer locked to the camera body

3. With your right hand still grasping the lens simply rotate the lens clockwise – or counterclockwise for Canon – and let your right index finger slide along the still depressed lens release button.

4. Lastly the lens slides smoothly off the camera and is now in your right hand.

Mounting the lens, as you might guess, is simply the reverse action and should be performed just as smoothly as the lens removal. There is one difference, of course, the lens release button won’t need to be depressed – it’ll be snapped into place and lock at the end of the lens mounting motion.

With a few minutes of practice you should able to go from not touching the lens to having the lens off in your hand in under a second with no fumbling. Don’t believe me? Try it. Think of it like learning to type – do it slow at first and learn the motions and the speed will come as you get the muscle memory down pat.

The benefit of being able to perform this quick, non-thinking function will allow you to keep your eyes on your subject instead of turning away to fumble around with your camera.

One other thing – once you’ve mastered this technique and no longer need to look to remove and replace a lens then learn to do the task with your camera facing downward. With the your camera body open to the elements in the few moments a lens is off the body is a great time for dust and debris to be introduced into your camera body. By keeping the gaping hole in your camera body pointed downward you reduce the risk of dust inside your camera and eventually on your image sensor.

Try it – you’ll be surprised at how easy it is.

Leonard Says:
I was a victim of not ready in time for that fleeting shot. A hummingbird came about eight feet away from me to feed and my lens was in my hand not on my camera. I did get the lens on in record time (for me) but nonetheless too late. I only have the one lens so I don’t think I’ll be taking it off any time soon. Darn the luck of this being the lesson one day after I missed the shot.

Any shots Leonard didn’t get done on his Photo Friday can be done during the weekend. His camera is new and we won’t always get away to shoot on Friday afternoons and I like to get out and have some weekend fun too. We’ll leave the learning to the week days and leave the weekends for fun.

Any shots Leonard didn’t get on Photo Friday he can get over the weekend. Heck, I may get out and shoot a few myself and share here. I’ll use the same rules Leonard’s working with for this first week of Mentoring Leonard.

Leonard Says:

Basically the rule of thirds simply divides any image into nine equal sized parts by drawing two imaginary horizontal and two vertical lines in the camera’s viewfinder. Basically you’re breaking the image up into something in your mind that looks like a tic-tac-toe game layout. From there the photographer can put the subject of the picture in one of the four intersecting points or divide the image into thirds horizontally or vertically.

Let’s suppose Leonard’s at the beach this weekend and it’s sunset and he wants to get a picture of the beautiful sunset. Given he’s struck out with all the chicks on the beach and left to taking pictures of the sunset he’d want to get a good shot of the sunset. Setting his camera’s automatic mode to landscape and having the bottom third of the image beach, the middle third ocean and the top third sky he’d have a pretty good shot. If he wanted to leave the beach out and include just the water and sky then he’d maybe shoot two shots – one with the sky in the upper one third of the image and another with the sky taking the upper two-thirds of the image.

As an example that would give Leonard a good exposure by using the correct automatic mode (landscape) and a good sunset photo by using just a basic concept of the rule of thirds and likely a pretty nice looking photograph.

Rule of Thirds from Digital Photography School dot com

Guidelines for Better Photographic Composition: Rule of Thirds from photoinf dot com

Tomorrow is Leonard’s first Photo Friday and he’ll be back on Monday to show some of his photographs (finally).

Leonard’s Photo Friday Challenge is… the envelope please…

1. Ensure the lens and protective filter are clean and free of dust and/or smudges.
2. Shoot at least one photograph that requires a tripod – it can be a day or night shot.
3. Shoot a photograph in at least three different automatic modes discussed this week.
4. All photographs should make use of the Rule of Thirds.
5. Replace camera and equipment to its bag/case after inspecting for cleanliness.

Leonard Says:
With the rule of thirds fresh in my mind, I’ll go out and try to apply them. I know that when I look through that viewfinder, I will have all of what I read rush into my head trying to be the prominant thought. I know I will need a moment to relax and take it all in. First photo Friday seems like it will be an adventure for sure. Wish me luck! Over and out.

Many DSLR owners may never take their camera off automatic mode and that’s a shame. The first step in learning photography versus taking pictures is to move the mode dial off automatic and over to aperture or shutter priority – or even take the baby step of moving from automatic to program mode. (More on the difference in automatic and program modes later.)

Leonard is new to both his camera and photography in general and his first Photo Friday he’ll be shooting in automatic mode and concerning himself with composition and letting the camera do the thinking. We’re going to work first on Leonard developing a photographic eye (i.e. using composition) before we tackle the intricacies of aperture and shutter priority and the dreaded manual mode.

Ill. A - Mode Dial on a Nikon D60 DSLR

The dial in Ill. A is the mode dial on a Nikon D60. It is currently set to the Automatic mode. If you follow along the dial counter-clockwise you’ll see several other modes.

– No Flash Mode: This turns the flash off. Handy when you may be visiting a museum or plantation home where photography is allowed but FLASH photography is not allowed. This makes dang sure you’re flash doesn’t get you kicked out of the tour.

– Portrait Mode: This mode is used for *drum roll please* portrait type photos. This mode is used to set the camera’s settings to allow for the best possible skin tones – which is a pretty good thing in a portrait.

– Landscape Mode: This mode is just what it says. If you’re taking photos of a beach or mountain scene while on vacation or you’ve run away from home.

– Sports Mode: The sports mode would probably be better described as the “in motion” mode. Sports are all about motion and sports photography is all about stopping the action and capturing a split second of time in the action clearly and without motion blurriness. This mode would be the one you’d want to use of not only Junior’s fast moving basketball game but also of kids running and playing, cheerleaders doing flips and somersaults, a car race or anything else in motion.

– Close-up Mode: This is another mode that could be called something else. This could easily be called the “flower” mode. Everyone’s tempted by flowers and sooner or later everyone’s going to want to get in close and take a flower picture. But this mode could be used to take a close-up of a newly married couple’s wedding band(s), broken equipment or parts or Bubba’s black eye.

– Night Portrait: Same as “portrait” mode only for once the sun has gone down. This would better be called the “fill flash” mode but we haven’t covered fill flash yet. If the sun has dipped below the horizon and you want a people picture this is the mode you want to use.

Digital SLR Camera Settings Explained from slrphotographyguide dot com

And the final mode where a bit of thinking isn’t involved is the Program mode.

Mastering Your DSLR Camera: Program Mode from lifehacker dot com

Leonard Says:
I have been using the D60 in automatic mode so far. I was told this would help me get a good feel for the camera and would help me get over the fear of screwing up out. Just like with a computer, I tend to think of how much this equipment costs and how eager I am to have to replace it. I imagine a lot of people think this way. Over time after I’m comfortable with where I am, I like to push the envelope a little at a time to see how far I can go.

I have experimented with the different automatic modes and have gotten a basic hands on feel for what each one does. This does not mean I can go out for a photo shoot today and I would immediately know what auto I would use for each shot before the trial and error. I do know that once I see the image and notice the errors within it, what adjustments to make. That’s a confidence builder.