continued from previous page.



This is a service for beginners. I'm afraid I can't give advice on specific makes of camera (see the My Camera page for this) or on other equipment, or on film processing. Otherwise, you are welcome to email me your question about photography (but not about computers or processing please). To find my email address (and how to send me photos for review), please click here.



78. Photographing church (stained glass) windows.
79. Apertures and shutter speeds.
80. Red, pink, and blue filters.
81. Which photo editing software do I use?
82. How convert slides to prints?
83. Viewfinder does not accurately show area photographed.
84. Avoiding reflections on plastic or glass.
85. Football under lights at night.
86. Exposing for interiors with window in background.
87. Football stadium and flash.
88. Hair highlights without sun?
89. Books on how to use PhotoShop
90. Film speed with stage lighting?
91. Getting rid of green eye in a dog photo.



78. I am not an experienced photographer so I would appreciate a bit of advice - please. I have been asked by a friend to take some black and white photos of church windows. She has been advised to use ASA50 colour film (that she has purchased already) and have them processed as black and white - hopefully this can be done. I have a fully automatic Minolta Dynax camera that is about five years old and know I will need to use a tripod to avoid camera shake as it is slow film. The only flash I have is the integrated one but hope there will be enough light coming through the windows so that I won't need flash. Also I don't have one of those delayed reaction things that keep the camera lens open for a long time (sorry don't know what they are called) so could that be a problem? I realize that I may have to set the camera to manual but do not have much of a grasp on the aperture/shutter relationship. I would think that the shutter has to be open for longer to let more light in ???? perhaps !!!! PLEASE CAN YOU HELP. The photoshot is scheduled for next Tuesday 15 July. THANK YOU VERY MUCH (Jenny Oliver)

You'll have to check that your particular film can be processed in b&w. But if there's ever a subject that looks better in color, it's surely a stained glass window! You don't say why your friend doesn't want it in color. If you choose a bright day, there's likely to be plenty of light coming through the windows and you can use the fully automatic setting as long as you take the exposure reading from the centre of the window, so that the exposure meter isn't misled by any dark areas around it. Don't even try to use flash as it's essential to see light behind the window. You may not need a tripod even with such a slow film, and a delayed action release wouldn't help at all. There could, however, be a problem with apparently sloping windows, as illustrated on my Computer Enhancement page.




79. I am a beginner and I really dont understand the use of the different apertures and shutter speeds, can you explain the aperture numbers to me as to why you use different ones and when to change to different numbers. thanks. (Karen)

You don't say what sort of camera you are using. If it is an automatic one, you'll probably find the automatic exposure setting will work very well nearly all of the time, so you can leave f numbers and shutter speeds until you are more experienced. The smaller the aperture number, the larger the lens opening, so f4 lets through twice the amount of light of f5.6, and that lets through the twice the light of f8, and so on. As to when to use particular apertures or shutter speeds, it might be worth your while to have a look at one of the books listed on my Useful Books page. Kodak's How to Take Good Pictures would make a good start.




80. I am very new to photography. I was given three filters. The first says Hoya 52mm R(25A) JAPAN, it is red. The second is Tiffen 52mm CC30M made in USA, pink. The third is also Tiffen 52mm 80B USA, blue. All three fit my Minolta Camara but I don't know when or how I should  use them. Could you give me some advice or let me know where I could look for advice on when and how to use them. Thanks. (Elizabeth Fell)

You would only use color filters like these with b&w film. Color filters allow their own colors to pass through and darken complementary colors. So your red filter would transmit red, and block green and blue. It might be used, for example, for darkening the sky to make it look more dramatic. Such filters require an increase in exposure. For information about the types of filter than can be used with color film, please see my Filters page.




81. Hi and thanks for providing a fantastic photography site - giving examples of photos and how to better them is so useful. I was wondering what software you use to improve the examples sent in to you. I have access to Photoshop but seems limited and is unable to produce results such as yours. Kind regards." (Debbie)

I use Photoshop 7 - but it is usually me that is limited, not the software! For most photographic purposes, the much cheaper and easier Photoshop Elements 2 will be perfectly adequate. But Photoshop is the undisputed market leader, even though it is expensive and quite a challenge to learn.




82. Could you tell me how i can convert slides into prints. Can't seem to find this anywhere. Any tips much appreciated. Thanks (Ralph Simpson, UK)

A convenient way of obtaining prints from slides is to scan the slides with the aid of a transparency scanner. There are firms that will do this for you, such as: http://www.filmscanning.co.uk/




83. I am not a very pro photographer. I use a Minolta Maxxum 5. I have a problem (not exactly a problem) when I use a Zoom lens of 70-210mm. The image which I get after developing the foto, using this zoom is actually farther than what appears in the view finder. For ex: I am capturing a bird, then, in the finished foto, the bird would appear farther than when I saw while taking the picture. Then, is it normal while using this kind of a zoom lens ? I would appreciate your response, thanks (Amol Shenoy)

Yes, the viewfinder usually shows rather less than the area actually photographed - so you have to remember to allow for this!




84. i'm a weaver. i am in the process of framing with mats and plexi, 6 of my baby kimono. i will be taking pics of them...i have a nikon coolpix 4500 digital...however, i'm no photographer. since everything i do is subject to exhibition jury and acceptance, i need to make them look professional done. in the past, i have relied on photoshop to help eliminate some novice mistakes since i don't have the money for professional pics...whew...my question is...is there a way that i can successfully (relative term to be sure) photography my kimono through plexi and not get horrendous reflection. i have no studio lights, could probably borrow a set of two. my husband says i should take them outside, but they do have to look like studio shots...can you offer any advise...my other work is on my website, http://www.katework.com...the large kimono are under portfolio. the two smaller ones have been taken apart and are being reframed...thanks ahead of time for your help. (kate groff)

Reflections can be a curse - and have to be avoided by trial and error. At least, with a digital camera, you can immediately see the result. It certainly would be worth trying to photograph the baby kimono outside in a shaded place with, if necessary, a suitably colored card as background. If it was placed on the ground, you could look straight down on it, preferably using a tripod. If the worst came to the worst, you could photograph it at an angle (so that any reflections were no longer seen) then use a Photoshop transform tool to restore the correct shape.

On the right is an example of what Photoshop can do with its distort tool. The original photo is on the left. I also had to use the clone tool to remove the remaining reflections on the top of the picture and on the wooden frame. It's obviously a lot simpler to line up the picture properly in the first place if at all possible!




85. I currently have a Kodak digital camera with several automatic settings and a manual mode.  My problem is photographing a football game at night under the lights.  Could you help me with what manual settings would be appropriate for still shots and in motion shots. 
In manual aperature mode I can set the aperature and exposure compensation settings, the shutter speed then sets automatically based on the other two settings.
In shutter mode I can manually set the shutter speed and exposure compensation, with the aperature setting automatically based on the other two settings.
Your help is greatly appreciated, thank you. ( Brian Heilman) 

It all depends on the lighting! But I'd be inclined to try the fully auto setting first. If moving figures are blurred, set a shutter speed of 1/250th sec or less. At least with digital it's easy to make experiments. And the best of luck!




86. My name is Bob Mallow and I live in Sarasota, Florida.  Currently we are tracking Hurricane Ivan and hope we are still here to get your answer to my question. Just found your website and enjoyed browsing through it for some really expert advice. Have just purchased an Olympus C-740 Ultra Zoom.  As you probably know it has a total zoom of 30 ( 3x10).  It was purchased primarily for taking pictures of friends that could be cropped  to get a very clear image which I use for making greeting cards.  This camera seems to have met my expectations; however, it does seem to have some features that require study since I am complete novice at photography. So much for background (Hope I didn't take too much of your time in this prologue).
   My question (finally) is what setttings (adjustments, etc.) need to be made so that the foreground items of an indoor picture (with sunlight behind ) is not completely obscured by darkness?  Have tried the flash, but it hasn't helped the foreground much.  Noted your indoor picture with sun in the background--the subjects in the room in your photo were far lighter than any of mine. Thank you for your time and consideration. (Bob Mallow)

The simplest solution is to use automatic exposure but first swing the camera towards a darker area, semi-depress the camera release button so as to set the exposure mostly on the darker area, swing the camera back to the area you actually want to photograph then totally release the button. I took the test shots below to illustrate what happens.


If there is a bright window in the background as here, the automatic exposure will cause the interior of the room to come out dark.








Here I've first swung the camera down so that only a very small part of the bright window was included, semi-depressed the camera release button, then swung back to the area shown here before fully releasing the button. If you want the foreground to be lighter still, simply include even less of the window when setting the exposure.

If you swing the camera down too far and don't include any of the window, as here, you end up exposing for the carpet and the end result looks very washed out. With a digital camera, though, you can go on experimenting until you find out exactly how much of the window you need to include to get the precise result you want.

When you set the exposure you are also setting the focus, so ideally the dark area you include should be roughly the same distance from you as your main point of interest. Hope you safely escape the hurricane.




87. I'm going to Lambeau Field for Monday Night Football next week and wanted to get some great shots of the stadium. I was thinking about using 800 Kodak film and not using a flash for most of the interior shots. What would you recommend? Thanks a lot!" (Denis.Demuth)
I quite agree with you - use a very fast film. Except when subjects are near to the camera, flash is a waste of time. Good luck!




88. Hi, thanks for the great information on your website. I'd like to have a friend take a couple of photos fairly soon that show off the highlights in my hair, but it's been rainy and cloudy, so can't go out in the sun. Do you know of any way to simulate sunshine with lighting, so that I can capture my best shots? Thanks so much for your insights. (Judy Powers)
It's probably best to wait for the sun, but you could experiment with back-lighting using a lamp indoors. It'll really be a matter of trial and error, but, if you've got a digital camera, it doesn't cost you anything to experiment - and the camera should adjust itself to match the main lighting. Of course, if you've an ambitious photo editing program like Photoshop you could always add a spotlight effect afterwards.
Thanks so much, Philip. As a matter of fact, we did just buy Photoshop. I'll give it a try, but at least with this information I know where to start experimenting. I appreciate the response very much.




89. Can you recommend any books that explain PhotoShop photo editing and techniques? Thanks." (Simon Dinney, Toronto)
I can recommend the very well illustrated but comparatively simple "Photoshop CS in Easy Steps" by Robert Shufflebotham, published by Computer Step in England, but you may have difficulty in getting this in Canada. There's also the much more comprehensive (and much more expensive) "The Photoshop CS Book" by Scott Kelby published by New Riders Publishing that you will be able to get quite easily. The cheapest source of most books is likely to be Amazon. The easiest way of all to learn is to use the video lessons supplied each month on a free CD-ROM by the English "Digital Photo" magazine.




90. I need to shoot a theatre production trying not to use flash, but want to be able to enlarge later to 8x10. Using Nikon 35mm....do I use 400 or 800? Thanks! (Diesta Gundacker)
It all depends on the strength of the stage lighting, but you'd probably be safer with 800, even though it is grainier. (I also sent you this reply by email, but it was rejected by AOL.)




91. I am desperate to correct this green eye on my dog. This is my Christmas card and Spartacus, my Newf looks like he is auditioning for the Omen. Please can you help, I am not looking for free service  so please inform of any fees.........thanks." (Alisa Kember, Egg Harbor, NJ)

Green-eye is the dog/cat equivalent of red-eye and can be difficult to avoid. What I've done in my version on the right is use Photoshop to copy the dog's other eye, reverse it, then paste it in. No charge!

"Your the BEST!!!Thanks" (Alison Kimber)




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