Chez Spud

Drum roll….dim the the lights….queue spotlight…queue vast applause….introducing our first guest blogger here at Chez Spud, the fabulous Amber of Aswirly’s Place. Please take a moment to skip over to her place and be wowed by her amazing photography and her uniquely creative approach to shots. She’s a truly outstanding photographer and has a mind for the unusual. I was amazed to learn that many of the ‘wow’ shots that she is known for were taken with a point & shoot. This really proves the point I’ve been banging on about in CCC Parts 1 and 2…it’s NOT about having a fancy ‘big’ camera, a point & shoot or a cameraphone will produce amazing results too! Ah, how I love being right ;-) Also, topical, an email dropped in to my inbox today highlighting this great post of P&S tips and tricks. Inspired by Amber’s post I cracked open the P&S today and took the macro shot above…hmm, think she makes it look easier than it is!

Her post focuses on getting the best from a P&S, and using the benefits that a P&S offers over a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex AKA ‘big camera’). But much of it is great reading for all photographers, and it also introduces some cool techniques such as HDR and mini-cloning. I’ve linked to Amber’s excellent tutorials on both these techniques if you want to read a bit more (like me, who knew nothing about either!!). I asked Amber to include some of her super-cool whizzy ‘processed’ shots in the post – whilst they might seem a bit beyond us beginners, it’s good to get a basic grounding in some more advanced techniques to inspire us!

I have a few questions to tackle from CCC Part 2, I’d planned to tack these on to the end of Amber’s post but I think it’s better to do questions separately? Please ask questions here about Amber’s post, or anything else that’s on your mind and the next CCC post will address them (with Amber’s help as necessary).

Enough wiffle from me, hands mic to Amber, heaps praise and thanks on her and heads to the bar…cheers!

LOVE YOUR POINT & SHOOT!

Anyone who has followed my work for awhile will know that my obsession with photography started with my modest point and shoot camera.  I had always had a 35 mm film camera until 2000 when I got a brand spanking new all digital camera. My husband convinced me it would be ideal to have for our honeymoon that year. Boy, was that camera fun! I went through a handful of digital point and shoot cameras before finally aquiring my first DSLR camera in early 2008.

Having a DSLR is a necessary tool for the serious amateur photographer. Such things as night photography, controlled depth of field, and soft water, are not possible, or not as successful, when using a simple point and shoot camera. However, that being said, a point and shoot is still very useful in creating beautiful images. Often times having the  limiting factors makes the user of such cameras more creative. Let’s talk about that. How to be creative in using your point and shoot camera!

Point and Shoot cameras are small:

What’s so great about that?  Well, a number of things… For one, a P&S camera is not as noticeable as a large clunky dslr camera. Take advantage of this fact by snapping candid shots of interesting people on the street, the insides of street cars and subways, restaurants, concerts, anywhere that might be of interest. I have found that carrying my P&S in my purse allows for some great sneaky photo opportunites like this shot inside the Westfield Mall in San Francisco :)

Or how about his shot from inside a girly dresshop in San Francisco. You can actually see me sneakily taking the shot in the mirror. By the way, I processed this one with a little extra color and used the anistrophic filter in Photoshop:

Make use of the display screen:

Typically with the dslr camera the photographer uses the view finder to compose the shot.  However, with a point and shoot, it is much easier to just use the display screen on the back of the camera. Sure, using the screen uses some batterly life, but it does allow for composing some great shots.  For instance, have you ever seen a photographer lying on the ground trying to get that perfect low angle with a big dslr?  Be a little less conspicuous by simply setting your point and shoot on the ground and using the screen to view from a distance and see if your shot is right. If you have a flip out screen like mine it will make this even easier.  Low angle shots are easy and fun with a point and shoot!

P&S have GREAT Macro lenses!

If you own a dslr you know that purchasing a macro lens is no inexpensive investment. They’re hundreds of dollars. Heck I still haven’t been able to get one although it is on my list. BUT, the macro feature on most point and shoot cameras is excellent! Seriously! If you are a point and shoot user make use of your macro feature. Macro means you can take a very closeup image of a subject such as a flower. All you need to do is push a button, or set the dial on your camera to the picture of a flower.

After pushing the button or setting the dial, get really really close to you subject until you see it become in focus on your display screen and then shoot! With the macro feature, compounded by your camera’s small size, you can achieve macro results that rival dslr users :) Try some interesting angles on subjects like these:

Pump up your images!

Do you have Photoshop? If so there are many many things you can learn to do. The world wide web is full of tutorials on how to process your images and most techniques can be applied to your point and shoot images. For instance, you can contour one image over another, like this picture ‘Tres Expressif’:

If you have a small tripod you can even play with cloning by taking a few different shots of yourself, or someone else, in a single scene, and then overlaying them. Check out my first mini clone here :)

Hey, did you know that you can even do HDR (High Dynamic Range) shots with your point and shoot?  Well you can! Yes, even if you do not have Photoshop. We all know how expensive photoshop is. If that is not an investment you can make you can make a smaller investment in a program called Photomatix that will allow you to tonemap and HDR your images.  Generally HDR is created from RAW files which unfortunately point and shoot cameras do not support. But, as long as you can take 3 exposures, or duplicate 3 exposures in ANY editing software (this means making 2 extra copies of your shot and making one a little darker, and one a little lighter) you can make an HDR using Photomatix. Here is an example of an HDR from a point and shoot image.

In conclusion…

Point and shoot cameras are fun! Let your imagination go wild and don’t let intimidation by the dslr users hinder your creativity. Remember, your point and shoot camera has many assets like being small and inconspicuous, and it is built with a great macro lens. Plus you can process like the grownups with a little dedication and learning.

Now get out that point and shoot and start shooting!

If you liked that, you might like this ...

• CCC: Guest post…Amber on ‘Shooting Stars’
• CCC Part 5: Guest Blogger ‘Funky Slug’ on low light challenges
• Camera Club: Backing Up
• Guest blogging
• Camera Club: Special Edition…what I learnt this week