Photography Tips
Wisdom from Simon d'Entremont
I'm a budding photographer and one YouTube channel I follow is Simon d'Entremont. He's a wildlife photographer living in eastern Canada, and I find his videos to be full of awesome tips and ideas. I decided to jot some of these down in point form here, for my future reference.
TOPIC: Composition
VIDEO: THIS is why your photos are boring
- Don't shoot all photos at eye level - get up, get down, shoot from unusual angles
- use shallow depth of field to make subject pop - get down to get the background further away
- getting elevation allows to add foreground, middleground, background
- use environment to try and frame the subject (ie: branches around bird, grass in front of house)
- help photo tell story - ie: photo of owl on lobster trap in front of ocean is better than just own in field
- shoot wide or tight to get out of normal view (ie: 50mm can be boring) - zoom shows lots of interesting detail
- ie: elephants - boring to just have shot of elephant filling frame - instead back out and get herd, or an elephant near a building or tree, or close up of elephant eye or trunk
- shoot in portrait mode - vertical is much more social media friendly or if the shot calls for it (ie: a river or bird in tree)
- use reflections to enhance photo (ie: puddles, lakes, ponds, windows) - get low!
TOPIC: Exposure Compensation
VIDEO: EXPOSURE COMPENSATION DEMYSTIFIED!
- camera is trying to achieve 18% medium gray (in b&w) automatically
- bird on tree-top in bright sky is a good example of where camera will get it wrong and make bird too dark
- another example is shooting wildlife under bushes - camera will lighten and could blow out highlights of subject
- use exposure compensation to tweak exposure to get the shot right (+/-)
- mirrorless camera lets you see effect on final shot, DSLR only shows what sensor sees
- better of under exposing as it can fixed in post, whereas too bright blows out highlights - can't be recovered
- PRO TIP: check your exposure compensation at the start of every shoot (set to zero!)
TOPIC: Shooting Videos
VIDEO: Demystifying how to SHOOT VIDEO, for photographers.
- set Framerate = 24 fps (normal), 60 fps (2x slow-mo), 120 fps (5x slo-mo)
- set Resolution = 1080 (smaller files than 4K, easier on camera)
- set Shutter Speed = 1 / (2 x fps) (ie: 24 fps, shutter speed = 1/50
- use ISO or Aperture to keep brightness corect (since shutter speed is fixed)
- alternatively, if shooting in bright light, use Neutral Density filters
- don't use internal mic for audio - use shotgun mic on hotshoe, or use lavalier mic on lapel
- cover mic with wind sock!!!
- use tripod (with fluid head) and/or image stabilization for smooth footage
- TRICK: shoot in slow-mo when shooting hand held to smooth out footage