Photographer Light Bulb Joke

I heard this one from Darwin Wiggett while attending the Windsor International Photo Seminar and thought it was hilarious.

How many photographers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Answer: 10,000. 1 to screw it in, and 9999 to say "I could have done that"

Nikon D90 Tip for Fine Tuning a Preset Manual White Balance

One of the most important settings for getting the look you want right out of the camera is white balance. Nikon cameras have had the ability to warm or cool a given white balance setting for some time. For example if you like warmer images you can set your white balance setting to auto with A6 (for amber 6) which will perform the usual auto white balancing then warm it up +6 in the amber direction so to speak. Of course you can accomplish the opposite if you prefer cooler images by dialing in B1 up to B6 for bluer, cooler images. All of this can be accomplished by pressing WB (white balance) button on the back of the D90 and using the command and sub-command dials to select Auto and A6.

This is great, and it can be done separately for each white balance setting (e.g. Incandescent, Fluorescent, Direct Sunlight, Flash, etc...). At first glance however it does not appear possible with the Preset Manual white balance settings, since neither command or sub-command dials alter the blue or amber component of that WB setting when the WB button is pressed. Fortunately if you choose the Preset Manual white balance setting via the menus, rather than the WB button, you can then alter the amber or blue compensation as it were.

So if you are shooting under difficult lighting, like a combination of fluorescent and incandescent, where your best bet is a Preset Manual white balance, but you still want to warm or cool it a bit, now you know how.

Nikon D90 Tip for Active D-Lighting and Center Weighted Metering

I noticed that Nikon claims that Matrix metering is recommended when using Active D-Lighting. Of course they don't mention what happens if you don't use Matrix metering. So if you're someone who always uses Matrix metering then you can stop reading. However if you are someone like me who enjoys using center weighted metering then read on.

Now one benefit of buying a D90 is the feature called Active D-Lighting which essentially increases the dynamic (tonal) range of your images. This feature can be set to Auto, so that it will automatically determine when a scene is high in contrast and could benefit from an increase in dynamic range, and to what degree. This automatic setting unfortunately doesn't work as well if you are not using matrix metering. So if you are a photographer who often chooses to use center weighted metering you will find that the Active D-Lighting will work much better if you set it to one of its non-Auto settings, like Extra high, High, Normal, or Low. In fact, quick tests seem to indicate that when the non-Auto settings are used, there is no difference in dynamic range whether you use matrix or center weighted metering (assuming you've metered well and achieve the same exposure in both cases).

That's my tip for the day.

Some People Think Auto ISO is a Bad Choice

I'm old enough to know that no statement about the best way to make photographs is ever categorically correct. Some might say "always use a tripod" or "never use auto anything on your camera". In looking at the diverse features provided by today's modern cameras, I often wonder who uses some of them. But I'm certain that there is likely someone out there that uses each of them and has their own good reason for doing so.

Recently I witnessed a discussion amongst some very capable photographers indicating that they never use auto ISO set to ON. Personally I find auto ISO to be one of the most useful features on modern digital cameras, for increasing the speed at which I work, when I'm using my camera without a tripod. Perhaps some manufacturers have implemented this feature in a way that makes it awful, however I have not personally used any such cameras.

Method 1: Example of Me Working with Auto ISO OFF
1. I set my ISO to the lowest available ISO setting on my camera (e.g. 200)
2. I compose my image
3. Since I've chosen to work in aperture priority, I dial in f11 to get my desired depth of field, and the camera sets the shutter speed to 1/15th of a second to obtain the desired exposure.
4. I realize since I'm hand holding the camera, that I will need to make a change that allows me increase my shutter speed to at least 1/60th of a second. Here are my easiest options (yes there are others but I'll keep it simple):

• Open my aperture two stops to f5.6, allowing the camera to automatically set the shutter speed to 1/60th of a second. OR
• Increase my ISO setting two stops to allow for an exposure at 1/60th of a second using f11.

Since I chose f11 for creative reasons and the second option would only raise the ISO to 800, I'm willing to put up with some image noise to get the shot I want, so I raise the ISO to 800 (2 stops more sensitive) and
5. make the picture.

Method 2: Example of Me Working with Auto ISO ON
1. I set my camera to auto ISO ON with a Maximum sensitivity of 800 and minimum shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. This means that my camera will automatically increase my ISO if the automatically chosen shutter speed of my camera ever tries to fall below 1/60th of a second, but it won't increase it beyond ISO 800 which I've chosen as the highest acceptable ISO setting.
2. I compose my image
3. Since I've chosen to work in aperture priority, I dial in f11 to get my desired depth of field, and the camera tries to set the shutter speed to 1/15th of a second to obtain the desired exposure. Of course auto ISO doesn't allow this based on my settings and automatically chooses ISO 800 to obtain the desired exposure at 1/60th of a second at f11.
4. I then make the picture

Using auto ISO ON, when using my camera without a tripod, reduces my work flow in many situations by one step, and that speed increase is valuable to me. Have I lost control of what is going on? No I haven't. Automatic features need to be understood to use them effectively with confidence. Is method 2 better than method 1? You might think so if you also value the speed increase when using your camera without a tripod. However, if you mainly shoot using a tripod, or anything other than the lowest ISO is unacceptable to you, then method 1 may be for you. Regardless, you cannot categorically say that method 2 (using auto ISO ON) is a bad idea.