Please feel free to send questions for our avid amateur photographers plus Don Henderson and other professional photographers to answer. You can send questions to Craig Nansen and someone will post an answer on this page.

 

The numbered questions are from a 2009 ISTE Webinar, and are a starting point for this page.

 

37. Mary O'Leary: What aperture do you put the camera at when you are at a museum and can't use a flash?  This is using a point and shoot digital camera.

That is one of the main disadvantages of a point and shoot camera - you don't always have the flexibility to change the settings in your camera.

In a case like this your options are to

a) have as wide open an aperture as you possibly can with your lens - most point and shoot cameras do not have lenses with apertures less than 5.6

b) have as slow a shutter speed as you possibly can and still hold the camera steady - most point and shoot cameras don't let you control this

c) use as high an ISO setting as you need to to get a decent photo.

38. kim caise: did the photographer who used the gigapan lens focus on obama and then take the picture at the inauguration?

It is an automated system, that takes hundreds of photos in an area that you specify. The "robot" pans across and up and down as it takes the photos. It might do some auto-focusing, but the photos are taken so quickly that I am guessing they are taken far enough away that it has a small aperture and wide depth of field with everything in focus.

http://gigapansystems.com/system-page.html

39. Cind Marston: Is there a follow-up webinar that goes into the artistic manipulation of images?

Nothing scheduled for this year. I would be willing to do one next year. Make a request to Debren :-)

40. Minnie: Where can I learn more about bracketing?

Hmmm   How about the manual that came with your camera? (I will reply more to this question later.) I am assuming you are talking about auto-bracketing and not just bracketing.

To do manual bracketing you need to be in manual mode, aperture priority or timing priority. Set your aperture and shutter speed for what you would use to take one photo. After you take it, change the aperture to a higher setting (like 1 f stop) and then to a lower setting (1 f stop on the other side). It doesn't have to be a full f stop, it could be 1/3 or 2/3 or 1/2 or even 2. You can also do bracketing with shutter speed, again taking one photo with the normal setting, then taking a second with a faster shutter speed and a third with a slower shutter speed.

You don't have to be restricted to 3 photos for bracketing, you could take 5 or 7, but you usually take as many under exposed as you take over exposed.

Technically bracketing is taking more than one photo without changing anything other than using different exposures. Taking more than one photo by zooming in and out could also be called bracketing, but not in the true sense of the word.

43. stacey campo: If a person wanted to do a Photo Surfari, do you have a suggestion?

The one we took as part of the Apple Distinguished Educators was funded by Apple, Inc. and included Vincent Laforet. We have planned to take a photo safari around North Dakota, just getting a group of people who want to go and a van. Having an experienced photographer along is extremely helpful for learning, maybe a grant or find someone who is willing to volunteer. Check with a local camera club - you don't have to have a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer to learn from them.

45. Peggy Matthews: what did you use to put the frames and corners around the photos?

I had most of the presentation done in Keynote before I found out it had to be in PowerPoint for the best results in the webinar. The frames and corners are in one of the themes in Keynote. When I transferred the presentation to PowerPoint they came right across, but I could not longer insert photos into new slides. I kept going back to Keynote when I added a new photograph, then transferred that slide over to PowerPoint.

46. Howard: Can you recommend a good classroom text for high school students?

Offhand I can't, but #31. Karen Hellyer did!

The Textbook of Digital Photography by Dennis P. Curtin

47. Howie DiBlasi: Where is the best place to get a large 3 megapix digital photo(16x20) printed

We print our own (up to 20 x 30) with a roll-fed Epson printer.

Many local businesses may have a printer that can print this size, but they usually charge about $20 per print. That's why we purchased our own printer.

(More info about this question to come later)

48. Sara Armstrong 2: Where do you find the metadata?

In iPhoto '09 click on the photo, then under the Photo menu select Extended Photo Info

In Aperture - click on the photo, then click on Metadata (right next to Projects in Aperture 2)

In Photoshop Elements - click on the photo, then on under File select File info

(More on this question later)

49. Ann Lavelle: what to use inside for basketball games

This has been an ongoing problem for us, and there is not a good answer. Most coaches don't want you sitting under the basket using flash, and without that you have to rely on SLR cameras and fast lens.

We purchased a 200mm fixed focal length with an f2.8 aperture. It helped, but we had to be so far from the action and couldn't zoom in and out and it was not practical.

Next we purchased an 80mm-200mm zoom with a fixed f2.8 aperture with image stabilization. A fixed f2.8 aperture means that as you zoom in and out, you can always use the f2.8 setting if you want. Most zoom lens don't allow you to use it's widest aperture setting when you zoom in because you are getting light from a smaller area. This worked well for most photos, but still doesn't allow a fast enough shutter speed stop the motion of a ball being passed, shot or dribbled and doesn't stop the hands and feet when there is a lot of movement. We usually try and take the photo with the ball at the top of a dribble, right before the ball leaves the hand on a pass or shot, etc.

We have tried upping the ISO to 800 or 1600, but the photos lose quality at that setting.

Our next option is to purchase a medium length zoom lens (28mm-80mm) with an f1.4 aperture. We will have to get closer to the action, but this lens will allow 4x as much light.

We purchase the special lens for use by the tech department (out of our budget) but they are used by the high school photography class and the yearbook adviser.

If you notice the professional sports photographers, they use the $8,000 lens with wide barrel to allow them to gather more light. At professional basketball arenas they have strobe lighting mounted above the court. The photographers plug into their system which allows the strobe lights to flash when they snap their shutter release. Cost has to be in the tens of thousands of dollars, well out of the range of K-12 school districts!

50. John Sweeder: Other than Photoshop, are there any free, online photo editors you would recommend?

First, I recommend Photoshop Elements for use in schools. It does 95% of what you would want to accomplish, and we purchase our copies for under $40. Mac or Windows. In our district we have a graphic artist who uses the full Photoshop program, and the high school photography class also uses it. Everyone else (including myself) uses Elements. My daughter has an online photo business (http://www.kimsphotocreations.com) and does all her work with Elements.

There is a free online version offered by Adobe - Adobe Photoshop Express - https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html

Also FotoFlexer http://fotoflexer.com/ and Picnik - http://www.picnik.com/

51. Sara Armstrong 2: Craig, what do you recommend, then, as a "starter" camera?

In our district, all technology purchases have to be approved by our department or we don't provide support for them. This helps for training purposes as well as repairs and support (we can't know how to help people with every different type of printer, camera, video camera, etc.) and providing consumables (we only need to keep toner for specific types of printers on hand).

We approve any Canon or Nikon camera that schools purchase with grants or PTA or other funds. For K-8 students, simple point and shoot cameras work fine.

For teachers, we provide Canon Digital Rebels. This is the "starter" camera I would recommend for most people interested in serious photography. The Nikon 40D is also a good starter camera. Once you decide to go with Canon or Nikon, and start purchasing lenses for them, you will will pretty much stay with that brand of camera. I lust for the the new Nikon 90D, but we have made our investment in Canon lenses, and will just have to wait until Canon comes out with a comparable camera.

52. peppi faulk: Hi Craig:  I love taking close ups, but I often have trouble getting clear photos.  Do you have any tips to consistently get good clear close ups that don't blur when are enlarged? Thx!

I am guessing that they are blurred because of camera movement from "shakes" or when you press the shutter release. Try small tripods, a bean bag to support the lens, a faster shutter speed, or a shutter release.

A macro lens is an option, but they run about $400 or so.

53. kristel cronin: How many megapixels did the camera have that took the picture of the plane?

It was an 8 megapixel camera, but the sensor chip records all three colors (R,G,B) in each pixel. Most 8 megapixel cameras capture 1 color in each pixel, taking three pixels to capture all three colors. So this camera could be considered to be a 24 megapixel camera.

54. Carolyn Stanley: I just purchased a Vado HD movie camera -fabulous- can capture stills from the videos with pretty good definition-love it- no real zoom, but it fits in my small purse.

55. PeggyG: Can Craig talk about the camera he uses?

Each person on my technology staff that does technology integration is provided a Canon Digital Rebel. They use it themselves or can let teachers they are working with use it.

I personally use a Canon 40D and love it.

56. PeggyG: Is it necessary to have an expensive digital camera for great photos?

Expensive? No. But if you want to be able to great photos on a consistent basis, you need to have a DSLR with a good lens. I recommend a minimum of a Canon Digital Rebel with a zoom lens that is priced in the $400 range.

57. Scott Merrick: What different language would you use rather than "take" or "shoot" a photo? So far I've heard "make" a photo but hmmmm, what alternatives are there that are acceptable?

I struggle with that, and you may have noticed that during the webinar. It is hard to get away from using the words "take" or "shoot." I know that "make" does not sound right. Snap? Capture? Photograph?

74. Carolyn Stanley: Do you emphasize with your students to always make copies of their digital photos before you work on them - make sure they never edit the original?

I don't work directly with students, but do emphasize to my staff and to teachers in workshops that they always back up the originals before working on them. Every time you open a jpeg and save it, you lose quality due to compression techniques. I personally take most photos in both RAW and jpeg.