In general, I expect most of you already know how to use a camera. However, there are some aspects of shooting a photo that I believe you must pay specific attention to when shooting photographs that potentially will be sold as microstock. First, RAW is your best friend. When I first started I shot only in JPG, then switched to RAW after the advice of some coworkers. Once I started shooting in RAW I never stopped. Today, I always shoot in RAW+full JPG. While this does fill up my hard disk easily, this also means I do not need to post process every picture – just those that I feel are worth it. RAW gives much more flexibility in terms of changing the exposure (to a limit) and white balance.
Always account for camera shake either by using a tripod together with a remote release and mirror lock, or use a high enough shutterspeed. The rule of thumb is to use the reverse of the camera lens – so a 400mm lens should have a shutter speed of 1/400, but with today’s lenses that contain IS and various optical tricks there are often exceptions to this rule. Still, keep your shutterspeed high if you are not using a tripod.
I always try to stay at ISO 100, even on the Canon 5D. With some of the newer cameras capable of better high ISO handling, you may be able to go higher without risking the possibility of requiring noise reduction.
Finally, always check for blowouts when taking shots. These will almost always cause your image to be rejected. Proper exposure will often fix this but sometimes you may need a diffuser or need to create an HDR.
A lot of attention has been paid both to the amazing accomplishments of Michael Phelps and to the wins by the USA basketball team, but there has been a lot of hard work that has gone unnoticed. A prime example of this is one of my best friends from childhood – Jason Turner.
Ironically I believe we both started shooting around the same age – somewhere around 11 or 12 years old. While I only shot for a few weeks each summer, reached a few rungs on the NRA Sharpshooter classification, then gave up, Jason took it far more seriously. He would shoot during the evening multiple times each week and later on moved to Colorado so he can practice all of the time with some of the top trainers in the world. Sadly, we did not maintain contact after high school but I still did keep track of his accomplishments – from the Pan American games to the Olympics.
This year all of the effort finally paid off with a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. At first I was sad for him because he came in 4th place by only a single point. However, the North Korean shooter ahead of him was stripped of his medal due to doping and the medal was then given to Jason.
Of course, I’m sure very few Americans have heard of him, but he has put the same amount of effort into his sport as the other more well known names there. Here’s a list of some of his other accomplishments. So again, congratulations that all of that hard work finally paid off with an accomplishment you will be proud of for the rest of your life.