Basics of taking better photographs
Before you even begin taking your photos, think about your end use. Are you going out to the pasture to take some fun herd shots and cute pictures of nursing crias. Or is your goal to get a super photo of your top herdsire, or auction animal for a sales catalog? The first type of photo is what is commonly referred to as an editorial photo, one that tells a story. And the latter photo is simply a sales photo. Editorial images tend to be more emotional and can be more creative. The alpacas don't need to be in perfect form, or completely in view. Whereas, for an alpaca sales image, you definitely want the alpaca in perfect form, and completely in view and not obscured by other alpacas or objects. Both of these types of photos require different techniques and preparation. So knowing your end goal ahead of time will make things go much easier. And as you might imagine, taking a sales photo, may take additional work ahead of time, such as preparing your animal, locating a helper perhaps, and selecting an appropriate location to stage the photo. This last part is essential. A good sales photo is not one that is taken in front of the poop pile, in front of a tractor or next to your clean up tools. Take a little extra time and locate a place that provides an attractive and simple background. The focus should be on your animal, not the extension cords stretching out of the barn to the outside water heater! Below you will find a list of 10 rules of thumb for getting better photographs. Following that are definitions and explanations about digital cameras, that will help to take out some of the complexity and confusion around their use.
1. Simple is better
a. This is especially true with sales photos like those used within a catalog or on your alpaca website sales listing.
2. Eye level, everyone has seen it
a. Great for portraits of people, less interesting for everything else
b. Alpacas -- often better from about knee height. It makes them appear more dynamic and commanding, especially the males.
3. Think about your frame
a. Framing can provide visual structure and focus the viewer's eye. Think about where you want the viewer's attention to be drawn, and select potentials for framing the focus their attention. An example of framing might be a darkened barn entrance with an alpaca shot in daylight in front of it.
4. Look for details
a. When everything seems ordinary, isolate a detail
5. Consider the space For editorial images, don’t be afraid of the edge!
a. For editorial images, don't be afraid of the edge! Place your subject in different parts of the frame not always in the center.
b. For alpaca sales images avoid using landscape formats. The best method is to center your alpaca within a vertical frame with the alpaca standing in profile. The proportions of the alpaca lend themselves to a vertical format and therefore most catalogs and alpaca website sales listing are designed to use vertical alpaca images. To do that you will actually have to turn your camera sideways to shoot the alpaca. Do not come overly close to your alpaca though, as you want to allow some room for cropping if necessary.
6. Hold the camera steady
a. gently squeeze the button to avoid camera shake
7. Morning light and evening light are best.
a. Strong sun can cause severe shadows.
b. Cloudy days can often be very good portrait days
8. Be aware of things growing from the subject’s head (unless you want it done for the funny effect! )
a. This is especially important with sales shots for use within catalogs, ads and even on your website. It is less important for editorial photos of your alpacas in the pastures.
9. Expose for the highlights
a. Shadows can unusually be brought out in post-processing
b. Digital cameras suffer from “bloom” bright areas flair out into other nearby regions on the photo-sensitive pixel-element pad causing “bloom” or blowout.
10. If your camera allows, play with Depth of field
a. If you are aiming to get a great sales photo of one single alpaca, try using a short depth of field so that the background is blurred and the main focus is left on the alpaca.
b. If the goal is to get a great pasture shot, then a long depth of field may be best.
Using your Camera—The basics
Image Quality
Image quality in digital photography means the way the image is saved. Image quality is usually controlled by settings in your camera. We recommend using the highest quality setting your camera can muster. Each camera has a different method of designating 'highest quality. But look for designations such as Fine, Super Fine, High Quality, etc. It is usually some form of a superlative identifying the option that will result in the highest resolution image. Magazine, catalogs and anything professionally printed, requires a much higher resolution image than that required by desktop publishing or for use on your website. So when photographing your alpacas, we recommend using the highest quality setting so that when you get that one perfect image of your super herdsire, you have a photo that is suitable for use in all your marketing materials. One thing to note, when taking photos on high quality settings, you won't be able to take as many as you could when shooting on a low quality setting. Simply put. the higher quality setting takes in more information with each photo. So each photo takes up more space than if shot at low quality.
Image Resolution
Image resolution in digital photography relates to the dimensions of the image. Digital cameras are constrained by the photo-sensitive chips that are replacing the film of your traditional camera. The more photo-sensitive pixel-elements or pixels on the chip, the larger the image resolution can be.
Exposure
P = Program
Program – This is the Automatic setting and is the general purpose setting for most shooting situations. Full program mode allows the camera to choose the exposure that it feels is best and sets the aperture and shutter speed to it’s pre-defined program.
A = Aperture Priority
Aperture Priority – Also an “auto” setting. “A” does NOT stand for Auto but Aperture. This setting allows you to set the camera’s aperture and it will find the appropriate shutter speed automatically. Can be very helpful when you want to control the “depth-of-field.” Also known as “f-stop”
Shutter S = Shutter Priority
Priority – Also an “auto” setting. This setting allows you to set the camera’s shutter speed and it will find the appropriate aperture setting automatically.
M = Manual
Manual – This setting let you choose both shutter speed and aperture. Use the camera’s light meter in the view finder to determine if your settings will expose your image properly. Can be very useful in difficult lighting or in situations where want finer exposure control.
Focus
Depth of field – not how much forage is in your pasture. The depth of field is the range of feet, or inches that will appear “in-focus around your selected subject.
- the higher the “aperture” number, the smaller the opening in the lens AND the greater the depth of field
- a low aperture number, f 2.0, will give a very short range of focus, or small depth-of-field
- a high aperture number, f 22, will give a very deep range of focus, of big depth-of-field
NOTE:
o a low f-stop will actually let a lot of light in through the lens, and will require a faster shutter speed, usually.
o A high f-stop will let very little light through the lens, thus require a longer shutter speed.
