January 13, 2025 • 22 mins
* Photographer Toolkit- Photo Prompts for Families, ChatGPT business growth prompts, The creative shotlist
My Amazon Store
Find me on Instagram!
Book a session with me!
Try AFTERSHOOT AI editing with 10% off
Getting sharper photos is easier than you think when equipped with the right settings. We demystify crucial camera settings for sharp images, discuss the magic of snow as a natural light reflector, and explore engaging ways to prompt kids into action.
• Creating captivating snow photos
• Snow acts as a natural reflector, enhancing photo brightness
• Engaging prompts lead to joyful, candid family moments
• Importance of aperture, ISO, and shutter speed review
• Focus modes: continuous vs. single-shot autofocus reviewed
• Introduction to new AI photography app for blending memories
• Challenge to experiment with autofocus settings and areas
If you have any questions, feel free to message me @BPoshPhoto on Instagram, and if you post anything, I would love to see it. Please use #BetterPhotosPodcast and just let me know if you are having any struggles or if you are still wondering about something, and we can hopefully answer those questions on future episodes.
Try AFTERSHOOT AI editing with 10% off
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, mama, whether or not you're trying out your
camera for the very first timeor you've been doing this a
while and just looking for somecreative inspiration, I've got
all that and more.
I'm here to help you see yourworld differently, challenge you
creatively and find yourpassion for photography.
Guys, we are back with anotherepisode of Better Photos.
(00:22):
How did you do on yourchallenge?
Did you try it out?
Did you figure out somethingelse that you didn't know before
with the aperture, your shutteror your ISO?
Let me know how it went.
I am about to do mine todaybecause we are expecting snow.
(00:43):
It's Friday and my kids are offschool because of the weather,
even though they definitelycould have gone to school.
But everyone is waiting inanticipation for snow, because
where I am outside of Charlotte,we haven't gotten snow for like
(01:04):
three years, like nothing.
So it is a big deal.
My husband went out and boughtlike all the snow outfits and
made sure we all had gloves andall the things, so I was really
praying that it would snow,because who wants to go through
all that effort?
And then for nothing?
So even driving to the gymtoday, it was like there was
(01:27):
already salt on the roads andI'm like can't we just be stuck
at home?
I'm okay with that.
Like I got my workout in, I'vegot my groceries, like we are
okay with canceling all thethings.
Everybody loves to get thosepictures in the snow and if
you've ever wondered why, it'sbecause the snow bounces the
(01:48):
light from the ground up ontoyour skin.
So it bounces the light to yourunder eyes, to your wrinkles,
anything that is shadow it isgoing to illuminate and brighten
up.
So people love snow photos andthat's why People also use
reflectors.
(02:09):
If they want that look in otherphotos and maybe they do
natural light photos and theydon't use flash, then they can
use a reflector and reflect thesun to bounce light into their
subjects.
Or they can use it in a studiowith flash and bounce light off
(02:30):
the flash back onto theirsubjects and not use natural
light.
So I will link some of thosethings in the show notes if
you're interested in adding thatinto your photography.
I don't really use those thingsbecause I'm trying to be
minimal and that's just more tocarry and you can still place
(02:51):
people in ways where you don'thave to use a reflector to
minimize skin textures andthings like that I will talk in
the future about, I think, nextweek, actually with light.
You can stay tuned for that.
So some prompts to get somephotos in the snow.
(03:13):
If you want to set your phone ona tripod or your camera, you
can get some really cute photosby cueing or prompting these
things with your kids and justbe ready to capture them.
You can set it on a self timer.
You can do an interval timer,which I love to do on my camera,
(03:34):
but you could also have someoneelse holding the camera and
just making sure that they justhit the click button, just hit
the shutter, so you can tellyour kids to hug you tight, to
stay warm, and so just wait forthe kids to come and hug you and
keep you warm.
You can tell them to have asnowball fight.
(03:56):
Let's have a snowball fight andlet's try to throw the snowball
at whoever has the camera.
You can say give me a kiss onthe cheek.
You can spin in a circle andholding hands and laughing.
You can say who can catchsnowflakes on their tongue, and
(04:18):
those are some fun candidmoments.
You can say, show me yoursilliest snow angel pose and
have the kids lying in the snow.
Maybe lie down there with themwould be great to get in the
shot.
Do an overhead shot of that.
You can also have the camerachange angles some with just
your hair, some above you, somea wide angle or far away Lots of
(04:44):
different options there.
You can all be in front of thecamera and you can say something
funny.
I always like to bring in likeinappropriate kid words to make
kids laugh or just to get thosenatural expressions.
So I apologize to the parentswhen I bring up words like poop
(05:06):
and poopy.
If you've had a session with me, you've definitely heard me say
that.
So sometimes I'll be like okay,look at whoever has the
stinkiest feet.
Or I'll say look at daddy andsay poopy really loud, and say
(05:30):
poopy really loud, and so thatcreates a lot of funny smiles.
You can also say let's warm upby pretending to blow on our
hands together Basicallyanything that helps a child not
know that they are in a photoand that the camera is there
capturing them.
That is key for my business andthe way that I like to shoot.
I like to get candids but theylook posed, but they were really
(05:50):
just prompted.
You can also say everyone puttheir hats or scarves on me like
I'm a snowman and they candress you up with funny stuff or
something like that.
Other things that you can dowithout prompting is you can
make sure to give everyone a bighug.
(06:12):
You can do piggyback rides.
Maybe dad is holding mom on apiggyback ride, or maybe you
guys are walking away from thecamera holding hands, or maybe
you're walking towards thecamera holding hands.
Maybe you build a snowmantogether and you get a picture
with the snowman.
(06:33):
Or maybe you're pointing outthe funniest things about the
snowman so that people are notlooking at the camera, which I
feel like creates a more genuinemoment.
Mom or dad pulling the sledwith the kids on and everybody
laughing, maybe tossing kids inthe air that's always a go-to of
(06:54):
mine.
Maybe you bring a blanket outand everyone cuddles in the
blanket.
Or maybe you just geteveryone's boots in the snow or
the feet prints.
Or don't forget, like some ofthe detail shots of cold hands,
cold noses, their snow gearBecause, as we all know, kids
(07:16):
grow up and those things willchange and just document the fun
of it all.
So those are some things thatyou might want to try, whether
it snows today or sometime inthe winter.
Document the fun of it all.
So those are some things thatyou might want to try.
Whether it snows today orsometime in the winter, those
are going to be some fun thingsthat you'll want to come back
and listen to this episode.
If you are in an area that hassnow or maybe it'll snow again
(07:36):
in North Carolina, hopefully,hopefully or if you're at a ski
resort, or if you are goingsledding or if you're going
anywhere with snow, then this isa good list to refer to.
Um, another thing that I justsaw on Instagram which is very
intriguing.
I don't know if things get likethis promoted to me, but I
(07:58):
definitely downloaded it and Ihaven't played around with it
yet.
But it's called Reviva, I thinkis the app and it takes like an
old photo or you can mix itwith like an old photo and a new
photo and it makes it uses AIto make people come alive and
make it like a video thing.
(08:19):
So there's been some posts.
I guess it does the same thing,like I've seen some of those
reels that were going aroundwhere it's like somebody gets
smushed and it looks like cakealmost, or they get like it's
like a picture or video ofsomebody and then like they blob
down to like I don't know, likesomething gushy um, I guess
(08:40):
that's what this app does too orlike oh, it's called like
Squish or Crumble, but the oh orCakeify is one of them.
You turn like a picture intocake, like somebody cutting it,
okay.
So those are kind of weird, butit definitely stops you in your
tracks.
So don't be alarmed if you seethat on my Instagram sometime.
(09:02):
But the interesting one is justthe blast from the past and
hugging the future.
I'm really intrigued with this.
Like it showed a picture oflike grandparents, like an old
photo of your grandparents ormaybe like war times or you know
, just like a super old photoand you I don't know if you take
(09:25):
a picture of it or you scan itonto your phone, I don't know,
um, but then you can somehow itmakes it come alive and makes
them like kiss each other or hugeach other or dance or
something.
So I don't know, I kind of wantto get like a picture of my
grandparents or I don't know puta side by side, like you can
(09:46):
take like a future current imageof you and like an old-timey
picture of your mom or something, and put them side by side and
like the people come out of theimage and like, hug each other,
like in the image, I don't know,it's so mind-blowing and so I
just downloaded it.
So I'll have to keep you posted, or check out my Instagram next
(10:07):
week to see if I post somethingabout it, because it looks
really cool and you know, likeyou're always trying to stop the
scroll when it comes tobusiness, you want people to
engage and be like whoa, oh, mygoodness.
And then, anyways, that's kindof like more businessy stuff,
which I will talk about some ofthat, if you decide that you
(10:30):
want to take your hobby to abusiness, or maybe you already
are a business and want to takeit further.
But for today, we are going tobe talking about focus settings.
So and if you or someone youknow are expecting this year,
please have them reach out fornewborn sessions.
I also have some other sessionscoming up at a greenhouse and
(10:54):
some with many highland cows, sobe sure to check in the show
notes about those sessions and Iwould love to see you this year
.
So if you've ever been annoyedwith getting a blurry photo,
today's episode is for you.
So today we are going to talkabout the next important thing
(11:15):
with our camera settings andthat is your focus modes and
getting your photos sharp.
If you turn your camera on andgo to your settings, what we
learned last week is that youraperture decides what is in
focus and what is blurry, andhow much blur you have in a
(11:37):
photo.
Iso really shows how much lightyou want to let in or what your
camera can read.
So in a dark room you want tobump up that ISO and on a bright
day you want to turn it down tomake sure that you don't have a
bunch of noise or grain,especially when you're shooting
(11:58):
skin tones.
I don't want to have to.
I mean, you really can't evenPhotoshop that.
So just to be safe, before youyou shoot, you want to make sure
that you have all your settingscorrect, and then the last one
shutter speed is getting a photosharp or blurry.
But if you have all of thosesettings correct and you are
(12:19):
looking at your meter and it isat zero or around zero, and so
you have all your settings good,which, honestly, that was my
main goal slash.
My only goal when I started outwas to make sure that my
exposure triangle was good and Ididn't really have any other
(12:40):
agenda other than that.
It was just with my newborn Iwas turning it down to the
lowest aperture that I could andjust doing all the other
settings.
And then, as I grew as aphotographer, there was things
that I wanted to change aboutthat and try to purposely put in
motion, blur or to purposelyget some things in focus and
(13:03):
some things not, or details thatI wanted to pay attention to in
focus and some things not, ordetails that I wanted to pay
attention to.
So if you're just starting out,the first thing you want to do
is just make sure that exposuretriangle is correct and you are
making your meter fall somewherearound that zero, but if you
are still not getting sharpphotos.
The next thing that we want tolook at is your focus modes.
(13:27):
So we have two things that wewant to look at focus modes and
focus area and under yoursettings when you turn your
camera on.
This will be different for alltypes of cameras, but when you
find your focus mode mine issays AF, mf, and then I go to
one and focus mode you'll have acouple different options and
(13:49):
then I go to one and focus mode.
You'll have a couple differentoptions, but the main two that
you want to look at is singleshot autofocus and continuous
autofocus.
Single shot autofocus is goingto be when you have a subject
that is being still, so maybeyou're not even photographing a
person, but if you are, it'slike one person and not a child,
(14:09):
unless it's a baby sleeping orsomething like that but you want
to make sure that that subjectis very still for having it on
that mode.
Continuous autofocus is whatyou will probably want it at
most of the time.
So that says continuous AF, andthat just means that your
(14:32):
subject will be moving and sothe camera will have to keep
readjusting focus.
The other thing that you coulddo is manual focus, and that is
helpful if you want tophysically move the focus from
one thing to another, or if youwant to sit it or set it at a
(14:53):
particular focus.
Say, you're doing a landscapeand you don't want it to change
or keep refocusing on themountaintop or a tree or a stump
or things that are going to becoming into the foreground.
So that's mainly when you woulduse manual mode for autofocus
(15:14):
or for manual focus.
The next thing that you want tolook at is your focus area.
Okay, so your focus area isgoing to be where you can have
it to, and so different camerasare very different.
So my canon, when I had that,you had focus points and there
(15:38):
were like little squares on thescreen and you could move your
squares to what you wanted infocus.
And so my first camera did nothave a lot of squares to choose
from, and so you kind of had tojust pick one and make sure that
what you were photographing wasin that square or move yourself
(15:58):
, which was pretty, pretty hard.
But then I upgraded and then ithad like 80 focus points or
something.
But then you're moving yourdial around trying to find the
focus point that you want foryour image.
And when we talk aboutcomposition we'll kind of talk
more about the best focus areas.
(16:20):
Because there is you have onthe mirrorless camera the wide
focus area, and this is going tokind of guess where you, if you
have the continual, continuousautofocus, it is going to keep
changing what is in focus, ifit's on the screen and it's
(16:43):
getting closer to you, or ifyou're touching the back of the
screen and touching the thingthat is moving or where you want
focus, but it is going to tryto guess what you want in focus.
If you have the wide area it'sgoing to be pretty much the
whole image is what your camerais searching for for focus.
So that'll help you out.
(17:05):
Generally there is zone focus.
So on zone you can either pickif you want the top zone, like
if you're shooting verticallyinstead of horizontally, and you
want the top of your image tobe where your camera is trying
(17:26):
to find focus first, then youcan set that.
If you want the bottom range ofthe image, then you can set
that, and so that can just helpyou out with focus that way too.
So there's wide, there is zone,there is spot focusing, there
is zone, there is spot focusing,and so on that you can
(17:52):
basically just pick a spot ofwhere you want the image to be
in focus.
So on the back screen you canjust select or touch it with
your finger.
That one I like or I'm reallyjust learning more about these.
(18:14):
I've had it in wide andcontinuous for a while on my
Sony camera and, like I said, onmy Canon I manually adjusted
all the focus points.
So it's something to get usedto on mirrorless, because
sometimes I'll press where Iwant it to be in focus and then
the camera's autofocus will pickup another subject.
Or the nice thing about Sony iswhy people want the Sony
(18:37):
mirrorless is because of theirface and eye auto detection,
which is great when you'rephotographing toddlers or kids
running or families that aremoving to get their eyes and
faces in focus.
But sometimes I'm wanting tocapture their fingers holding
something or a tiny detail shotwhere their eyes and face are in
(19:00):
the image, and so my cameraautomatically thinks that I want
to have that as my primaryfocus their eyes.
But I'm trying to tell it likeI don't want their eyes, I want
their hands or their fingers,and so I think I'm going to
switch to spot focus so that Ican just see if that makes a
(19:24):
difference.
I think it should.
And so there's spot, which islike the direct, exact spot that
you want to have in focus.
But then there's spot expanded.
So if that spot what you'retrying to focus on moves a
little bit so say a kid's handholding a flower or something
and they move a little bit tothe left or to the right when
(19:44):
you're photographing, then yourcamera will adjust it a little
bit.
If it's on spot expand, alsotracking wide and just regular
wide.
There's zone, then there's alsocenter focus, and so this might
be one if you want to start outdoing center, and basically
that means it is going to getwhatever is in the middle of
(20:09):
your composition, in the middleof your frame, in focus, but if
your image goes to the side oryou're trying to do the rule of
thirds which we'll talk aboutlater in composition, then this
is not going to be the bestoption.
So what I would suggest isplaying around with wide and the
spot expand if you have that,and you can try center and see
(20:33):
which one you like the best.
Take a day of shooting and seewhat images land in focus.
And is it the focus that youwanted?
Is it the kids hands, but youwanted the eyes?
Is it the eyes, but you wanted?
Is it the kid's hands, but youwanted the eyes.
Is it the eyes, but you wantedthe hands?
And so just getting used toyour settings and knowing what
(20:55):
to change is so helpful, and sothat's going to be something
that you have to learn on yourindividual camera and what works
for you.
The challenge for this week isgoing to be changing your
settings on your autofocus modeand area.
So go ahead and change yourfocus mode to continuous
(21:18):
autofocus or CAF Whateversetting your camera says may
look a little different, so youmay have to do some
investigating there and changeyour focus area to wide,
photograph five things usingthat mode, and then change your
focus area to center and takefive more photos.
(21:39):
Then change it to spot or spotexpand or spot expand tracking,
and take five more photos.
Then you're going to uploadthose on your computer or look
at them through the viewfinderand see where are you nailing
focus the most.
Is it on wide focus area, is iton center, is it on spots?
(22:00):
And then you can know whatbetter settings you should have
for the next time you shoot.
So go ahead and try those out.
If you have any questions, feelfree to message me at
BePoshPhoto on Instagram, and ifyou post anything, I would love
to see it.
So please use the hashtagBetterPhotosPodcast and just let
(22:21):
me know if you are having anystruggles or if you are still
wondering about something, andwe can hopefully answer those
questions on future episodes.
For you, you can takeeverything that you've learned
today and hopefully make betterphotos.
So I will see you guys onepisode three next Monday.
(22:42):
Bye, bye, you, you, you,no-transcript, no-transcript.
Hey, mama, whether or not you're trying out your
camera for the very first timeor you've been doing this a
while and just looking for somecreative inspiration, I've got
all that and more.
I'm here to help you see yourworld differently, challenge you
creatively and find yourpassion for photography.
Guys, we are back with anotherepisode of Better Photos.
(00:22):
How did you do on yourchallenge?
Did you try it out?
Did you figure out somethingelse that you didn't know before
with the aperture, your shutteror your ISO?
Let me know how it went.
I am about to do mine todaybecause we are expecting snow.
(00:43):
It's Friday and my kids are offschool because of the weather,
even though they definitelycould have gone to school.
But everyone is waiting inanticipation for snow, because
where I am outside of Charlotte,we haven't gotten snow for like
(01:04):
three years, like nothing.
So it is a big deal.
My husband went out and boughtlike all the snow outfits and
made sure we all had gloves andall the things, so I was really
praying that it would snow,because who wants to go through
all that effort?
And then for nothing?
So even driving to the gymtoday, it was like there was
(01:27):
already salt on the roads andI'm like can't we just be stuck
at home?
I'm okay with that.
Like I got my workout in, I'vegot my groceries, like we are
okay with canceling all thethings.
Everybody loves to get thosepictures in the snow and if
you've ever wondered why, it'sbecause the snow bounces the
(01:48):
light from the ground up ontoyour skin.
So it bounces the light to yourunder eyes, to your wrinkles,
anything that is shadow it isgoing to illuminate and brighten
up.
So people love snow photos andthat's why People also use
reflectors.
(02:09):
If they want that look in otherphotos and maybe they do
natural light photos and theydon't use flash, then they can
use a reflector and reflect thesun to bounce light into their
subjects.
Or they can use it in a studiowith flash and bounce light off
(02:30):
the flash back onto theirsubjects and not use natural
light.
So I will link some of thosethings in the show notes if
you're interested in adding thatinto your photography.
I don't really use those thingsbecause I'm trying to be
minimal and that's just more tocarry and you can still place
(02:51):
people in ways where you don'thave to use a reflector to
minimize skin textures andthings like that I will talk in
the future about, I think, nextweek, actually with light.
You can stay tuned for that.
So some prompts to get somephotos in the snow.
(03:13):
If you want to set your phone ona tripod or your camera, you
can get some really cute photosby cueing or prompting these
things with your kids and justbe ready to capture them.
You can set it on a self timer.
You can do an interval timer,which I love to do on my camera,
(03:34):
but you could also have someoneelse holding the camera and
just making sure that they justhit the click button, just hit
the shutter, so you can tellyour kids to hug you tight, to
stay warm, and so just wait forthe kids to come and hug you and
keep you warm.
You can tell them to have asnowball fight.
(03:56):
Let's have a snowball fight andlet's try to throw the snowball
at whoever has the camera.
You can say give me a kiss onthe cheek.
You can spin in a circle andholding hands and laughing.
You can say who can catchsnowflakes on their tongue, and
(04:18):
those are some fun candidmoments.
You can say, show me yoursilliest snow angel pose and
have the kids lying in the snow.
Maybe lie down there with themwould be great to get in the
shot.
Do an overhead shot of that.
You can also have the camerachange angles some with just
your hair, some above you, somea wide angle or far away Lots of
(04:44):
different options there.
You can all be in front of thecamera and you can say something
funny.
I always like to bring in likeinappropriate kid words to make
kids laugh or just to get thosenatural expressions.
So I apologize to the parentswhen I bring up words like poop
(05:06):
and poopy.
If you've had a session with me, you've definitely heard me say
that.
So sometimes I'll be like okay,look at whoever has the
stinkiest feet.
Or I'll say look at daddy andsay poopy really loud, and say
(05:30):
poopy really loud, and so thatcreates a lot of funny smiles.
You can also say let's warm upby pretending to blow on our
hands together Basicallyanything that helps a child not
know that they are in a photoand that the camera is there
capturing them.
That is key for my business andthe way that I like to shoot.
I like to get candids but theylook posed, but they were really
(05:50):
just prompted.
You can also say everyone puttheir hats or scarves on me like
I'm a snowman and they candress you up with funny stuff or
something like that.
Other things that you can dowithout prompting is you can
make sure to give everyone a bighug.
(06:12):
You can do piggyback rides.
Maybe dad is holding mom on apiggyback ride, or maybe you
guys are walking away from thecamera holding hands, or maybe
you're walking towards thecamera holding hands.
Maybe you build a snowmantogether and you get a picture
with the snowman.
(06:33):
Or maybe you're pointing outthe funniest things about the
snowman so that people are notlooking at the camera, which I
feel like creates a more genuinemoment.
Mom or dad pulling the sledwith the kids on and everybody
laughing, maybe tossing kids inthe air that's always a go-to of
(06:54):
mine.
Maybe you bring a blanket outand everyone cuddles in the
blanket.
Or maybe you just geteveryone's boots in the snow or
the feet prints.
Or don't forget, like some ofthe detail shots of cold hands,
cold noses, their snow gearBecause, as we all know, kids
(07:16):
grow up and those things willchange and just document the fun
of it all.
So those are some things thatyou might want to try, whether
it snows today or sometime inthe winter.
Document the fun of it all.
So those are some things thatyou might want to try.
Whether it snows today orsometime in the winter, those
are going to be some fun thingsthat you'll want to come back
and listen to this episode.
If you are in an area that hassnow or maybe it'll snow again
(07:36):
in North Carolina, hopefully,hopefully or if you're at a ski
resort, or if you are goingsledding or if you're going
anywhere with snow, then this isa good list to refer to.
Um, another thing that I justsaw on Instagram which is very
intriguing.
I don't know if things get likethis promoted to me, but I
(07:58):
definitely downloaded it and Ihaven't played around with it
yet.
But it's called Reviva, I thinkis the app and it takes like an
old photo or you can mix itwith like an old photo and a new
photo and it makes it uses AIto make people come alive and
make it like a video thing.
(08:19):
So there's been some posts.
I guess it does the same thing,like I've seen some of those
reels that were going aroundwhere it's like somebody gets
smushed and it looks like cakealmost, or they get like it's
like a picture or video ofsomebody and then like they blob
down to like I don't know, likesomething gushy um, I guess
(08:40):
that's what this app does too orlike oh, it's called like
Squish or Crumble, but the oh orCakeify is one of them.
You turn like a picture intocake, like somebody cutting it,
okay.
So those are kind of weird, butit definitely stops you in your
tracks.
So don't be alarmed if you seethat on my Instagram sometime.
(09:02):
But the interesting one is justthe blast from the past and
hugging the future.
I'm really intrigued with this.
Like it showed a picture oflike grandparents, like an old
photo of your grandparents ormaybe like war times or you know
, just like a super old photoand you I don't know if you take
(09:25):
a picture of it or you scan itonto your phone, I don't know,
um, but then you can somehow itmakes it come alive and makes
them like kiss each other or hugeach other or dance or
something.
So I don't know, I kind of wantto get like a picture of my
grandparents or I don't know puta side by side, like you can
(09:46):
take like a future current imageof you and like an old-timey
picture of your mom or something, and put them side by side and
like the people come out of theimage and like, hug each other,
like in the image, I don't know,it's so mind-blowing and so I
just downloaded it.
So I'll have to keep you posted, or check out my Instagram next
(10:07):
week to see if I post somethingabout it, because it looks
really cool and you know, likeyou're always trying to stop the
scroll when it comes tobusiness, you want people to
engage and be like whoa, oh, mygoodness.
And then, anyways, that's kindof like more businessy stuff,
which I will talk about some ofthat, if you decide that you
(10:30):
want to take your hobby to abusiness, or maybe you already
are a business and want to takeit further.
But for today, we are going tobe talking about focus settings.
So and if you or someone youknow are expecting this year,
please have them reach out fornewborn sessions.
I also have some other sessionscoming up at a greenhouse and
(10:54):
some with many highland cows, sobe sure to check in the show
notes about those sessions and Iwould love to see you this year
.
So if you've ever been annoyedwith getting a blurry photo,
today's episode is for you.
So today we are going to talkabout the next important thing
(11:15):
with our camera settings andthat is your focus modes and
getting your photos sharp.
If you turn your camera on andgo to your settings, what we
learned last week is that youraperture decides what is in
focus and what is blurry, andhow much blur you have in a
(11:37):
photo.
Iso really shows how much lightyou want to let in or what your
camera can read.
So in a dark room you want tobump up that ISO and on a bright
day you want to turn it down tomake sure that you don't have a
bunch of noise or grain,especially when you're shooting
(11:58):
skin tones.
I don't want to have to.
I mean, you really can't evenPhotoshop that.
So just to be safe, before youyou shoot, you want to make sure
that you have all your settingscorrect, and then the last one
shutter speed is getting a photosharp or blurry.
But if you have all of thosesettings correct and you are
(12:19):
looking at your meter and it isat zero or around zero, and so
you have all your settings good,which, honestly, that was my
main goal slash.
My only goal when I started outwas to make sure that my
exposure triangle was good and Ididn't really have any other
(12:40):
agenda other than that.
It was just with my newborn Iwas turning it down to the
lowest aperture that I could andjust doing all the other
settings.
And then, as I grew as aphotographer, there was things
that I wanted to change aboutthat and try to purposely put in
motion, blur or to purposelyget some things in focus and
(13:03):
some things not, or details thatI wanted to pay attention to in
focus and some things not, ordetails that I wanted to pay
attention to.
So if you're just starting out,the first thing you want to do
is just make sure that exposuretriangle is correct and you are
making your meter fall somewherearound that zero, but if you
are still not getting sharpphotos.
The next thing that we want tolook at is your focus modes.
(13:27):
So we have two things that wewant to look at focus modes and
focus area and under yoursettings when you turn your
camera on.
This will be different for alltypes of cameras, but when you
find your focus mode mine issays AF, mf, and then I go to
one and focus mode you'll have acouple different options and
(13:49):
then I go to one and focus mode.
You'll have a couple differentoptions, but the main two that
you want to look at is singleshot autofocus and continuous
autofocus.
Single shot autofocus is goingto be when you have a subject
that is being still, so maybeyou're not even photographing a
person, but if you are, it'slike one person and not a child,
(14:09):
unless it's a baby sleeping orsomething like that but you want
to make sure that that subjectis very still for having it on
that mode.
Continuous autofocus is whatyou will probably want it at
most of the time.
So that says continuous AF, andthat just means that your
(14:32):
subject will be moving and sothe camera will have to keep
readjusting focus.
The other thing that you coulddo is manual focus, and that is
helpful if you want tophysically move the focus from
one thing to another, or if youwant to sit it or set it at a
(14:53):
particular focus.
Say, you're doing a landscapeand you don't want it to change
or keep refocusing on themountaintop or a tree or a stump
or things that are going to becoming into the foreground.
So that's mainly when you woulduse manual mode for autofocus
(15:14):
or for manual focus.
The next thing that you want tolook at is your focus area.
Okay, so your focus area isgoing to be where you can have
it to, and so different camerasare very different.
So my canon, when I had that,you had focus points and there
(15:38):
were like little squares on thescreen and you could move your
squares to what you wanted infocus.
And so my first camera did nothave a lot of squares to choose
from, and so you kind of had tojust pick one and make sure that
what you were photographing wasin that square or move yourself
(15:58):
, which was pretty, pretty hard.
But then I upgraded and then ithad like 80 focus points or
something.
But then you're moving yourdial around trying to find the
focus point that you want foryour image.
And when we talk aboutcomposition we'll kind of talk
more about the best focus areas.
(16:20):
Because there is you have onthe mirrorless camera the wide
focus area, and this is going tokind of guess where you, if you
have the continual, continuousautofocus, it is going to keep
changing what is in focus, ifit's on the screen and it's
(16:43):
getting closer to you, or ifyou're touching the back of the
screen and touching the thingthat is moving or where you want
focus, but it is going to tryto guess what you want in focus.
If you have the wide area it'sgoing to be pretty much the
whole image is what your camerais searching for for focus.
So that'll help you out.
(17:05):
Generally there is zone focus.
So on zone you can either pickif you want the top zone, like
if you're shooting verticallyinstead of horizontally, and you
want the top of your image tobe where your camera is trying
(17:26):
to find focus first, then youcan set that.
If you want the bottom range ofthe image, then you can set
that, and so that can just helpyou out with focus that way too.
So there's wide, there is zone,there is spot focusing, there
is zone, there is spot focusing,and so on that you can
(17:52):
basically just pick a spot ofwhere you want the image to be
in focus.
So on the back screen you canjust select or touch it with
your finger.
That one I like or I'm reallyjust learning more about these.
(18:14):
I've had it in wide andcontinuous for a while on my
Sony camera and, like I said, onmy Canon I manually adjusted
all the focus points.
So it's something to get usedto on mirrorless, because
sometimes I'll press where Iwant it to be in focus and then
the camera's autofocus will pickup another subject.
Or the nice thing about Sony iswhy people want the Sony
(18:37):
mirrorless is because of theirface and eye auto detection,
which is great when you'rephotographing toddlers or kids
running or families that aremoving to get their eyes and
faces in focus.
But sometimes I'm wanting tocapture their fingers holding
something or a tiny detail shotwhere their eyes and face are in
(19:00):
the image, and so my cameraautomatically thinks that I want
to have that as my primaryfocus their eyes.
But I'm trying to tell it likeI don't want their eyes, I want
their hands or their fingers,and so I think I'm going to
switch to spot focus so that Ican just see if that makes a
(19:24):
difference.
I think it should.
And so there's spot, which islike the direct, exact spot that
you want to have in focus.
But then there's spot expanded.
So if that spot what you'retrying to focus on moves a
little bit so say a kid's handholding a flower or something
and they move a little bit tothe left or to the right when
(19:44):
you're photographing, then yourcamera will adjust it a little
bit.
If it's on spot expand, alsotracking wide and just regular
wide.
There's zone, then there's alsocenter focus, and so this might
be one if you want to start outdoing center, and basically
that means it is going to getwhatever is in the middle of
(20:09):
your composition, in the middleof your frame, in focus, but if
your image goes to the side oryou're trying to do the rule of
thirds which we'll talk aboutlater in composition, then this
is not going to be the bestoption.
So what I would suggest isplaying around with wide and the
spot expand if you have that,and you can try center and see
(20:33):
which one you like the best.
Take a day of shooting and seewhat images land in focus.
And is it the focus that youwanted?
Is it the kids hands, but youwanted the eyes?
Is it the eyes, but you wanted?
Is it the kid's hands, but youwanted the eyes.
Is it the eyes, but you wantedthe hands?
And so just getting used toyour settings and knowing what
(20:55):
to change is so helpful, and sothat's going to be something
that you have to learn on yourindividual camera and what works
for you.
The challenge for this week isgoing to be changing your
settings on your autofocus modeand area.
So go ahead and change yourfocus mode to continuous
(21:18):
autofocus or CAF Whateversetting your camera says may
look a little different, so youmay have to do some
investigating there and changeyour focus area to wide,
photograph five things usingthat mode, and then change your
focus area to center and takefive more photos.
(21:39):
Then change it to spot or spotexpand or spot expand tracking,
and take five more photos.
Then you're going to uploadthose on your computer or look
at them through the viewfinderand see where are you nailing
focus the most.
Is it on wide focus area, is iton center, is it on spots?
(22:00):
And then you can know whatbetter settings you should have
for the next time you shoot.
So go ahead and try those out.
If you have any questions, feelfree to message me at
BePoshPhoto on Instagram, and ifyou post anything, I would love
to see it.
So please use the hashtagBetterPhotosPodcast and just let
(22:21):
me know if you are having anystruggles or if you are still
wondering about something, andwe can hopefully answer those
questions on future episodes.
For you, you can takeeverything that you've learned
today and hopefully make betterphotos.
So I will see you guys onepisode three next Monday.
(22:42):
Bye, bye, you, you, you,no-transcript, no-transcript.
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!