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If you are already a member of the Witchology Team, then this is the page just for you, with ideas, guidelines and suggestions on how to help out at Witchology.com.

Witchology Digital Photography Guide

The Composition

As always the KISS formula rules: Keep it Simple, Stupid! So, keep your digital compositions simple! Start by shooting on the level. With experience, you can learn to shoot at an angle to add dramatic impact to the shot.

Keeping your composition simple: avoid telephone poles, wires, cables, litter and street rubbish. Use the zoom lens or physically move yourself to frame these ugly distractions out of shot. Avoid taking pictures in bright sunshine. Always move your subject into the shade where they will not be screwing up their eyes against the sun or baking under its heat. The same goes for you, the hotographer. Make an effort to pose your subject, otherwise you will end up with the typical 'school photo' result with the subject staring straight into the lens and grinning like an imbecile.

Candids, those shots we all love to take without actually talking or looking properly at the subject, almost always never work!

Always keep your eye on what is happening at the front and the back of the frame and not just on the immediate subject.

The Background

If the background is 'messy', then move the subject against a plainer-looking background. If this is not possible, then use the zoom lens to frame distractions out of the shot. Note: If zoomed in, you might have to step back to keep the subject in the frame. Always, always shoot with an uncluttered background so that you look at the subject, and not at the telephone pole or McDonald’s sign that’s sticking out of the top of their heads.

Choosing the Right Shooting Mode

Most pictures will come out well with the camera set to 'P' or Program Mode rather than the Auto everything mode. For portraits, use the Portrait Mode (this helps make the background go a bit out of focus) or set the camera to Aperture Priority mode (called ‘A’ or ‘Av’) and manually choose a setting of about f4 or f5.6. This keeps things sharp on the subject, but reasonably fuzzy everywhere else.

Action

For all action shots, use the simple Sports Action mode, or for greater user control, Shutter Priority mode (called ‘T’ or ‘Tv’). Pick a shutter speed of about 1/500s to 'freeze' the action. When using 'fast' shutter speeds you might run out of llight. If this is the case, choose an ISO sensitivity setting of 200, 400, or higher if there is not enough light).

Landscapes

For landscapes, or far-off subjects, use Landscape (or 'Mountain') mode. This locks focus into the distance and guarantees a sharper-looking distant shot.

Landscape Tips

• Avoid shooting through glass.
• Avoid shooting within three hours of midday. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times and give the best results for landscape photography.

Portraits

Set the controls to Portrait Mode if the camera has one. This ensures that, although the subject of the portrait remains clear, its immediate background and foreground becomes fuzzy. The idea is to 'isolate' the subject using sharpness. For greater control over this fore- and background sharpness, set the camera to 'Aperture Priority', (usually denoted by an ‘A’ or an ‘Av’ icon). This setting is usually located on the main command dial on the top of the camera. Dial in an aperture of f5.6 (or thereabouts) using the thumbwheel. This f-stop number gives a reasonable depth of focus so that the figure that’s focused on is sharp (clear) but the background will be of focus (blurry).

Portrait Tips

• Do not go too close, it can be intimidating. Step back and zoom in.
• Never use the wide angle lens setting on the zoom for single people shots. It produces very unflattering results, although it is acceptable for group portraits.
• Avoid using flash on the face, it can be very unflattering.
• Also consider whether you need to a get the subject to sign a photographic model release form.

Close-ups (Macro)

Macro, or close-up mode, is usually denoted by a small tulip icon, located on the top or the back of the camera. Press this to reset the camera's focus capabilities. Shooting close up allows us to develop a 'different vision', a world of abstract imagery.

Macro Tips

• Always use a tripod or camera support when shooting up close as this can make a huge difference to the final result.
• Always use the camera's self-timer feature. This trips the shutter several seconds (usually adjustable) after the shutter button is pressed allowing the camera to settle and stop vibrating.
• Avoid shooting in windy conditions.

Essential Camera Settings

ISO - Light Sensitivity

Generally, keep to a low ISO setting where possible. Although higher ISO settings are more sensitive to light they have an increased tendancy to produce spotty-looking pictures. This effect is called noise. You should only use the high ISO settings in an emergency. If it is a point-and-shoot camera, then you can have a range of ISO settings from 100 to 400. If it is a DSLR, then this range is pushed up to 1600, and beyond. In poor light, set the camera to 200 ISO (for the former category) and 400 ISO for the latter category, to keep the picture quality 'clean' and relatively free of digital noise. If the camera is left to Auto ISO, then when the light level drops off, the camera will automatically set itself to the fastest ISO setting, producing noisy results.

Resolution - Image Quality

Use all the resolution (pixels) available in your camera. There is no point in spending all that money and not using the camera to its full advantage. You can always reduce the size (resolution) of any picture later, at no loss of quality, but it is impossible to increase a picture's resolution once shot. If you run out of space on your memory card, either download the images to the PC or buy a larger capacity picture card. Resolution is expressed in numbers of pixels so, the larger the number, the higher the resolution. Some cameras make more sense simply by having '1M', '2M', '3M', '4M', '5M', and '6M' as a description of one-megapixel resolution, two-megapixels, and so on. Other models might have labels such as 'L' (large), 'M' (medium), and 'S' for small (check the manual for your camera).

General Tips

Camera Modes

• Avoid shooting on Full Auto Mode. This is an ‘idiot-proof’ shooting mode. None of you are idiots! First, switch to the ‘P’ or Program Auto setting. This is also an automatic shooting mode, BUT in this mode you can override its behaviour in order to make the resulting pictures look even better (ie. lighter, darker, more contrasty, etc).

Viewfinder vs. LCD Screen

• Use the optical viewfinder for normal shooting. It will give you a better idea of what you are getting in the shot because you’ll not be put off by reflections, bright sun or falling off the pavement while struggling to get the viewing angle right.
• Using the LCD for composing is not the best way - it's not stable and is prone to camera shake. Hold the camera to your face and use the optical viewfinder.
• When travelling, use the LCD screen only for close-ups (in the Macro mode) and for reviewing once back in the hotel. Excessive use reduces battery life significantly.
• Most cameras’ LCD monitors are small and they rarely provide a truly accurate view of an image. Make all of your evaluations on a computer monitor after downloading the JPEGs.

Use a Tripod

• Tripods effect how sharp a final shot is. Tripods therefore mean better photos. Use for all non-action, non-candid photography and your results will immediately improve, technically and creatively. Usin a tripod opens up a dramatic, non-flash world of low light. It permits the creative blurring of moving subjects with a super-slow shutter speed. It allows the use of small apertures to attain a deep depth of field (the range of sharpness from front to back in a photo) - regardless of the lighting conditions. It allows you to use a low-ISO film or low-ISO digital equivalent to achieve the very best in image quality. A tripod encourages photo-making discipline.

Find a Theme

• The important thing is to focus on a theme, and photograph with the idea of creating a portfolio. The subject can be broad or narrow, such as woodland or oak trees, moutains or Mount Everest. Find your passion, develop depth and edit tightly.