LOCALadk Magazine

Fall 2014 51 LOCALadk above noted resources. The next and most important step is to practice using your camera until its operation (i.e. what dial changes shutter speed, what dial changes aperture, and what direction is up or down) and your ability to locate features in sub-menus (i.e., how the Auto Bracketing feature works, how many images your camera allows you to capture and in what EV levels) become second nature. Like the old saying goes "Practice Makes Perfect". Practicing doesn't have to be complicated; it can be done in your backyard or living room, but know it will take time for you to become proficient. Your goal is to know your equipment well enough for its use to become second nature, so you can focus your attention in the field on the creative aspects of photography. It took me a quite a while and a fair amount of trial and error to learn how to use my equipment. At times I still need to open up the manual or experiment with settings, especially if I am photographing something new or something I haven't photographed in a while. I have all my cameras, lenses, and flash manuals downloaded on my laptop, so if I am on the road the manuals are always with me. How To I would like to share with you a quick overview of how my cameras are set up, and some recommendations of features you should look for and take advantage of. I shoot a wide array of subjects including landscapes, sports, birds, architecture, and editorial. Each of these requires very different camera settings, so I have established separate default Shooting and Custom Menu Settings for each of these types of photography. These Shooting and Custom Setting Menus have been set up exactly the same in each of the three camera bodies I use. For example, my landscape defaults include ISO 100, manual focus mode, mirror lock-up and RAW. My sports defaults include ISO 500, Continuous focus mode with focus lock and RAW plus JPG. If I did not have these presets, I can tell you from past experience that I would inevitably fail to set a particular function. Many of the above noted user groups have members that have published their menu and sub-menu settings for various types of shooting. These can be good resources to get you started, but modify them to meet your specific needs. I would strongly recommend that in your camera's Playback or Display menu the following functions be turned on if they are available to you Highlights – Sometimes referred to as the Blinkies. The blinking section of your image lets you know that certain highlights are blown out. RGB Histogram – The normal playback histogram averages the three color channels (Red, Green, and Blue), whereas the RGB histogram shows you the individual color channel histograms so you can see how your exposure has handled each color channel and whether individual color channels are blowing out. (For instance, if my main subject is red roses, is the red channel exposed properly or are the dark green leaves skewing the average histogram?) Viewfinder Grid Display – Turn on. I find this feature very useful not only for analyzing compositions, but also for helping me visualize an image if I think an 8X10 crop might work better. Birch Path: On this particular morning there was a steady drizzle, and the skies were milky white. I had originally envisioned this as a wide angle image, but the amount of white sky appearing in-between the trees was detracting from the scene. I decided to eliminate most of this space by compressing the trees with a longer lens. This was accomplished by taking three vertical images at a focal length of 85mm and stitching them together in photoshop CS6. (Nikon D700, PC85mm lens, ISO 200, f27, .8 sec.)

• Cover