Practical Photography

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Know Your Stuff IMAGE BROKER I’ve recently bought a 70-300mm lens to shoot wildlife, but why are some of my pics more blurry than those taken with my kit lens? Graham Bell, Canterbury Dan says: Telephoto lenses have the ability to magnify a scene and make faraway subjects, such as birds, appear much larger. Any lens with a focal length above 50mm on a full-frame camera is classed as telephoto, as these have a narrower, more ‘zoomed-in’ angle-of-view than the human eye. The longer your focal length, the easier it is for camera shake to appear, as any tiny vibrations from handholding your camera become more apparent. But there’s an easy rule you can follow to stop this distracting blur from appearing. Left Take control of your shutter speed to stop camera shake when using a lens with a large focal length. Why are my telephoto pics blurry? The trick is to make sure your shutter speed is equal to, or higher than the ‘reciprocal’ of your focal length. This means with a 200mm lens you’ll need to shoot at 1/200sec or faster to get a sharp shot. Remember that on APS-C bodies, such as Nikon’s D3400, there’s a crop factor to think about, so be sure to use the reciprocal of the full-frame equivalent shutter speed by multiplying Above A slow shutter speed will record small vibrations from handholding, resulting in blurry camera shake. the lens’ focal length by 1.5x first. For example, a 200mm lens on a D3400 effectively becomes 300mm, so you’ll need a shutter speed of at least 1/300sec. The rule gives the minimum shutter speed for a sharp shot, but shoot faster if you can. The technique only stops camera shake and not subject blur – for this your minimum shutter speed depends on the speed your subject is moving. Three ways to eliminate camera shake Watch your shutter speed To make sure your shutter speed is equal to, or greater than, the reciprocal of your focal length, use aperturepriority mode. Open up the aperture to let more light in. This may be f/4-5.6 on a 70-300mm, or f/2.8-4 on a 70-200mm. If the speed is still too slow, up the ISO. Frame up on a tripod Attaching your camera to the top-plate of a tripod is the best way to ensure a sharp shot. It eliminates camera shake, caused by your hands moving when shooting handheld. Be sure to engage the 2sec self-timer so you don’t jog the camera as you press the shutter button. Use image stabilisation If your camera has IS it’s worth switching it on when shooting handheld. It may be built into your camera body or lens, which can help get sharp shots when shooting at slower shutter speeds. But disable this feature when shooting on a locked-off tripod as, here, it can introduce blur. 108 PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY
What do the buttons on my triggers do? I’m really getting into off-camera flash and have purchased a set of radio triggers. But I don’t know what all of the buttons do. Can you help? Jeremy Hill, London Tim says: Wireless flash triggers are an essential tool for all budding strobists. They allow you to fire a flashgun wirelessly away from the camera body so that the light isn’t striking the subject directly from the front. This allows for more creative and flattering light. Using larger trigger sets, you also can fire several flashguns at once from one transmitter, allowing for more advanced lighting patterns. Although some triggers are very basic, most offer a range of different functions. We explain the most commonly found features here, so you can unlock their full potential... Flash sync port Studio heads don’t have a hotshoe, but connect to the trigger via the Strobe Sync port. Most have a cable to do this, though, if not, you may need a 6.3mm jack adapter. Signal range Some cheaper triggers use an infrared signal, so only have a range of a few metres. Radio triggers are better as they work at 100m+, and don’t require line of sight. Indicator light R&T modes Triggers are Transmitters (T), which sit on the camera hotshoe, or Receivers (R), which connect to the flashgun. Transceivers both transmit and receive. A green light shows when your triggers are working and a red light tells you the trigger can’t connect to a flash to fire it. This will help you work out if there’s a fault, or a loose connection between trigger and flash. Test button Hit this button to check if all of your flashes are firing as you would expect them to. This is built into all good transmitters/ transceivers, so you can check this from your camera rather than going over to each flash to check they’re operating. Should I use my LCD at night? I love shooting night sky images, but every time I compose with the bright screen it’s hard to see in the dark again afterwards. Is there a way around this? Terry Hughes, Fakenham Louise says: The rear display has to be one of the most useful features on your camera – you can use it to compose shots, check settings and instantly play back your images. But a bright screen is a problem for astro-photographers because it affects night vision. In fact, once the human eye is adjusted to bright light conditions, it can take up to 30 minutes for optimal night vision to return. Your best bet is to go into the menu and adjust your LCD’s brightness down to its minimum setting. To do this on a Nikon DSLR, press Menu, go to the Setup tab, find Monitor brightness and set it to -5. On a Canon, go to the Settings Menu, choose LCD brightness, then turn it down to the lowest setting. You can also help to preserve night vision by using a torch with red light instead of white. In fact, one of the features of Nikon’s astro- DSLR, the D810a, is that it displays some LCD information in red. You can buy an astro torch online for a few pounds, or some headtorches have a red light option built in. NORTHERN NIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHY Shutter/PC insert port This port is where you would tether a flash and trigger to your camera via a cable for local flash triggering. This is handy for holding your flashgun next to the camera with one hand, for a slightly off-camera angle, but is limited by the PC cable length. Channels & Groups Channels stop you firing the flashes of nearby photographers using identical triggers. If this happens, you simply select a different channel. Some models allow you to group your flashguns together so you can adjust settings for several at once. Above The brightness of most camera screens can be adjusted. PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 109
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Practical Photography

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