100 Great Tips for the Amateur DSLR Photographer
The Cape Town Best Seller e-Book Series
International Edition
100 Great Tips for the Amateur DSLR Amateur Photographer addresses the basic ‘must know’ and ‘need to know’ tips to get you going with your DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera. It is written in a language that is easy to understand and cuts to the chase. No complicated technical jargon, or sequential training methodology. My method is one of emersion – YOU are thrown in at the deep end! YOU, the learner and aspirant photographer, yes YOU, decide the pace, the topic or tip, the duration of practice, etc. And it is all demonstrated in clear photographs that illustrates the underlying tip. Just page to the topic of interest and ‘Voila!’, it is explained in one or five (?) printable and descriptive photographs! Take this with you and go and practice it. There are 100 easy to understand tips – all beautifully illustrated by yours truly in about 190 or so photographs covering all the issues you need to get you going and truly enjoy this fine art form. Topics include studio work, panning, spot metering, nudity, z-cards, low light photography and host of other topics. You'll love it!
Michael Paulse (AUTHOR)
Table of Contents
Tip #1 3D Photography and the Wireless Flash.
Tip #2 Action Shots - The Art of Anticipation.
Tip #3 Angle shots.
Tip #4 Aperture Priority.
Tip #5 Assignments.
Tip #6 Backlit Subjects.
Tip #7 Backup Buddy - Your Second Camera.
Tip #8 Basic Lighting in the Studio.
Tip #9 Beach Shots.
Tip #10 Black & White Dramatic HDR Portraits.
Tip #11 Bouncing Flash for Flattering Portraits.
Tip #12 Bracketing different Exposure Settings.
Tip #13 Buildings in all their Stature.
Tip #14 Candid Shots.
Tip #15 Candle in the Wind.
Tip #16 Cars, in all their muscular splendour.
Tip #17 Centre-weighted Metering: Politics 101?
Tip #18 Chromodek or Blue Box Photography.
Tip #19 Churches and Cathedrals - "Look Ma, 'No Flash!'"
Tip #20 Clutter junkie! Keep your Composition Simple.
Tip #21 Cropping for Impact.
Tip #22 Depth of Field and the Aperture. (Sounds like a bad Novel).
Tip #23 Devil is in the Detail.
Tip #24 Evaluative, Honeycomb, Matrix and other Puzzling Metering Settings.
Tip #25 Exposure Lock[ing] the Reading.
Tip #26 Exposure Value or EV Explained.
Tip #27 Fans - Don’t forget about them!
Tip #28 Fill Flash at High Noon and dealing with other Shadowy Characters.
Tip #29 Filters: UV & Polariser - unintended uses.
Tip #30 Fireworks and the Bulb Setting.
Tip #31 Flash you flashlights at Night.
Tip #32 Flower Arrangements.
Tip #33 Focus Lock.
Tip #34 Food made Yummy?
Tip #35 F-Stop, not F&%$king Stop, Build up.
Tip #36 Fun! That’s what it’s all about!
Tip #37 Getting the Background right.
Tip #38 GIMP® (or GNU Image Manipulation Program)®
Tip #39 Glaring dealt with the Lens Hood.
Tip #40 Going down... Huh? Unique angles.
Tip #41 Great Resources on the Internet.
Tip #42 Grey 15% Card explained.
Tip #43 Group Composition Basics.
Tip #44 HDR Photos explained.
Tip #45 Height of the Subject vs the Photographer.
Tip #46 High Key Photography.
Tip #47 Histogram clearly exposed.
Tip #48 Indoor Shots with your [Creative] Flash.
Tip #49 ISO Setting for great low-light photography.
Tip #50 Kids should be Seen (at their Level).
Tip #51 Know your Camera is Step One.
Tip #52 Landscaping and Aperture (Wide Depth of Field).
Tip #53 LCD Screen Setting - The bane of Proper Exposure.
Tip #54 Leading Lines: Follow my eyes.
Tip #55 Low Key Photography.
Tip #56 Macro & Close-up Photography.
Tip #57 Merging differently Exposed photos.
Tip #58 Motion and Busyness recorded for Impact.
Tip #59 ND Filters and Washouts.
Tip #60 Never leave home without it!
Tip #61 Night Shots that are Sharp and Clear.
Tip #62 No movement please - Auto-timing and the Tripod.
Tip #63 Nudes.
Tip #64 P Mode - The Start of taking Control of your DSLR.
Tip #65 Panning is a Skill that starts to Showcase your ability.
Tip #66 Panoramas that impress.
Tip #67 Pets.
Tip #68 Photo of a Photo Techniques.
Tip #69 Portraits - It’s in the eyes!
Tip #70 Positioning yourself for that Shot.
Tip #71 Post-processing, like post Apartheid... its, or we are, free.
Tip #72 Raw Quality Mode - Getting the wrong White Balance right.
Tip #73 Re-composing - Excuse me?!
Tip #74 Reflections.
Tip #75 Rule of Thirds - Sounds like Math!?
Tip #76 Scanning a Document.
Tip #77 Scrap Yards and other Junk areas made good!
Tip #78 Self Portraits and other Narcissistic Personality traits.
Tip #79 Seperating Bride and Groom at Weddings - Huh?
Tip #80 Sex in... or is it, ...and the City at Night?
Tip #81 Shutter Priority.
Tip #82 Silhouettes - adding a bit of Mystique.
Tip #83 Skew Perspectives.
Tip #84 Slow Boat? Slow Sync.
Tip #85 Soft Box Flash and effective Diffusing.
Tip #86 Sonop, Sonsak!(Sunset & Sunrises and other Surprises).
Tip #87 Space... the final frontier in Composition.
Tip #88 Spot Metering wonders.
Tip #89 Stitching of Photos.
Tip #90 Street Photography.
Tip #91 Taking a Photo of your Television Set and other poor Social skills.
Tip #92 The 50mm Lens - The Wedding Singer.
Tip #93 The Shot after the Shot!
Tip #94 Trailing Lights made easy.
Tip #95 Wedding Blues.
Tip #96 White Balance and other Far Right tendencies.
Tip #97 Z-Cards.
Tip #98 Zoom Lenses and ISO Setting explained.
Tip #99 Zoom Trails.
Tip #100 Zzzzz
Purpose and Topics
This guidebook aims to equip amateur DSLR photographers with 100 practical, accessible tips to master their camera equipment and improve their artistic compositions without the burden of overly technical jargon.
- Essential camera settings and exposure control
- Creative composition and lighting techniques
- Practical advice for diverse scenarios (weddings, landscapes, low light)
- Post-production guidance and software recommendations
- Strategies for professional conduct and subject engagement
Excerpt from the Book
Action Shots - The Art of Anticipation.
Getting the shot and being ready for it is of crucial importance. I would dare to say, more so than the correct exposure or composition. It is about being ready for the expected 'unexpected' to happen. By positioning yourself to where you anticipate the next "move" to be taking place is critical. But it can also be a bit of a hit and miss affair. You need to, it goes without saying, understand the nature of the game or sport.
Typically, I may set my camera to the Action (or Burst mode) setting. But these have their shortcomings such as poor and incorrect exposure because the Action setting uses Evaluative metering and auto focusing. I prefer, instead, to set my camera to P- or Program Mode, change the drive mode to Burst; change the Auto focusing to Single Shot and the metering to Centre Weighted metering.
Finally, I always use a telephoto or zoom lens (especially for sports photography) and I may marginally ramp up my ISO number setting to at least 400 to 800 to compensate for the one or two lost stops due to the telephoto lens’ polarizer filter. A lens hood is also recommended to deal with glare and potentially washed out shy lines.
Summary of Chapters
Tip #2 Action Shots - The Art of Anticipation: Discusses the importance of anticipation in sports photography and provides specific settings for better results.
Tip #22 Depth of Field and the Aperture. (Sounds like a bad Novel).: Explains the relationship between aperture, focal length, and depth of field for artistic focus control.
Tip #47 Histogram clearly exposed.: Guides the reader on how to interpret camera histograms to achieve proper exposure balance.
Tip #72 Raw Quality Mode - Getting the wrong White Balance right.: Highlights the benefits of shooting in RAW format to allow for greater flexibility in post-processing.
Key Words
DSLR, Photography, Aperture, Exposure, ISO, Shutter Speed, White Balance, RAW, Composition, GIMP, Lighting, HDR, Portrait, Landscape, Metering
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this photography guidebook?
The book serves as a practical, hands-on guide for amateur photographers who own a DSLR and want to learn how to move beyond basic automatic settings to capture better images.
Which specific areas of photography does the author cover?
The book spans a wide range of topics, including wedding photography, sports/action shots, low-light environments, studio lighting, landscape composition, and post-processing techniques.
What is the author's primary goal in writing this?
The goal is to demystify technical photography concepts using plain language and real-world examples, ultimately helping hobbyists feel more confident in their ability to handle their cameras.
Does the author recommend a particular technical approach?
The author favors "Program" (P) mode over full automatic modes, encourages the use of RAW for editing flexibility, and emphasizes manual control over focus and metering to achieve better creative results.
What content can readers expect in the main body of the work?
The main body is structured into 100 distinct "tips," each containing a specific piece of advice, a photographic example, and sometimes, the reasoning or technical settings behind the shot.
What defines the author's chosen keywords?
The keywords are centered on technical hardware controls (Aperture, ISO), essential software tools (GIMP, RAW), and fundamental artistic principles (Composition, HDR, Exposure).
How does the author advise handling low-light situations?
He suggests using a tripod to allow for slower shutter speeds, increasing ISO, using "Slow Sync" flash, or adjusting exposure settings manually to capture the scene's ambient light.
What role does post-processing play in the author's workflow?
Post-processing, primarily using GIMP software, is presented as an essential step for refining photographs, particularly for correcting white balance, cropping for impact, or merging HDR exposures.
- Quote paper
- Michael Paulse (Author), 2010, 100 Great Tips for the Amateur DSLR Photographer, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/171017
