Month: January 2018

After extensive research over the past two and half months we have concluded that there is no bad gelato in Rome.  There is only good, better and best gelato.  This should reassure anyone who comes to this city that they will enjoy a sweet treat from any vendor on just about any street in the city.

If, however,  you are really looking for the best gelato in Rome we have our top four favorites to recommend.  As I stated in a previous post we prefer to use credit cards to pay for everything.  So most of our recommendations take into consideration method of payment.  We also highly value a large choice of flavors, the intensity of the flavors and the creaminess of the gelato.

Our number four choice for best Gelato in Rome is from The Gelateria del Viale Trastevere.  We mentioned this one in the previous post.  Just take the Ponte Garibaldi to Trastevere and the shop will be on your right two blocks from the bridge.  The address is Piazza Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, 9.  They have a very nice selection of flavors.  We particularly love the fondente (dark chocolate) but you really can’t go wrong with that flavor in most any gelateria.  The flavors have a nice intensity and you can still taste them even when your mouth gets cold from the gelato.  (By the way, I find that eating smaller servings of gelato at one time minimizes that issue.  About half way through a large gelato my tongue will be too cold to taste the flavor anymore and then it is wasted.  You can always get more later if you have a small and want more.) A small cup is €2.50.  The gelato here has a creamy consistency that we really like.  Best of all, they take credit cards without any eye attitude or heavy sighing.  That makes the whole experience a welcome treat.

Piccola Fame Gelateria is our number three choice.  They are located at Via Arenula, 17.  They have some unusual flavors that are really delicious.  We have enjoyed the pistachio, hazelnut and fig in particular.  They don’t always have the same flavors so you have to be open to new choices.  All gelaterias will let you taste the flavors first if you are not sure so take advantage of this to help you decide.  The intensity of flavor and creaminess is even better than the Trastevere shop.  We find that the more intense the flavor the more satisfied we are after eating and we don’t need to eat as much.  A small cup is €2.50.  They also take credit cards without any attitude.  This shop offers pastries and coffee, as well.  We haven’t tried any of the pastries but they look delicious.

(Some of the delicious choices at Piccola Fame)

Our number two choice for best gelato is Il Gelato di San Crispino.  There are two locations.  One is south of Piazza del Popolo and the other is near the Trevi Fountain.  This gelato was recommended to us by the husband of one of my friends and we are very grateful to him.  They have a very large selection of flavors.  Unfortunately, you can’t see them because they are stored in bins with covers on them.  Since we often make our flavor selection by sight as well as name of flavor, not being able to see it makes this a little challenging.  We usually ask for a taste to confirm before ordering here.  We highly recommend the honey flavor and the caramel meringue flavor.  They have a very intense flavor and are very, very creamy.  You will not be disappointed.  The small cup is a little more expensive at €3.50 but it is worth it.  They will take credit cards but with a good bit of attitude.

 

Our favorite gelato in Rome is from Ciuccula.  They are just around the corner from the Pantheon.  They have one of the largest selections of flavors in town and every one we have tried is delicious.  The amareno  (cherry) is wonderful as well as all the chocolates (there are at least three different chocolates).  Even the vanilla is amazing!  They are the creamiest of all the gelato we have sampled.  They really are the best in town.  A small cup is €2.50.  They do not, however, take credit cards.  You know that we really love them if we are recommending them as our number one choice!

(Our Favorite Gelato Shop in Rome)

We hope this list will help you in your choices of gelato when you come to Rome.  As we mentioned in the previous post, there are some gelaterias that offer milk-free gelato like Pompi near the Spanish Steps.  We have not seen any sugar free gelato but we weren’t really looking for them.  If we do see that we will mention it in a later post.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

In this, the final part of the series, we’ll talk about some creative things you can do with your equipment.  We’ll try to apply all of the knowledge and experience  we have gained to come up with something special.  The real goal here is to help you learn enough about photography so that you’ll be able to capture the shots you’ve always wanted to take.  What can be more fun than that?

What follows is a general description of these techniques.  Each camera/lens combination is unique and will produce different results.  Experimentation will be required

Note: there is no one, definitive way to take any sort of photograph.  The techniques and opinions expressed below are things that I have discovered and that have worked well for me.  Think of them as a starting point.

Framing

One of the most important rules in photography is to ‘fill you frame’.  Photos with a lot of dead space are just not that interesting.  No, that doesn’t mean that your subject should always be front and center but it does mean that your photo should tell a story and things that don’t relate to that story should not be included.

In the first picture the sky dominates and it’s hard to tell what the subject of the picture really is.  Do we really want to see the street lights and the traffic sign?  The second picture corrects those issues.  I think it’s more interesting.  (Castel Sant’Angelo)

There is another important rule in photography: the rule of thirds.  Imagine your frame as a 3×3 matrix.  Important aspects of your photo should lie at the intersection of those lines.  It will give your photo a sense of balance and proportion.

This photo illustrates the rule of thirds.  There is a sense of proportion.  The subject and the background play an important role.  This photo also illustrates the use of bokeh.  (The Coliseum is in the background)

One of the more creative things you can do is frame a shot through something like a tree, arch or doorway.  This creates depth and draws your attention to your subject.

This was shot through an arch and is a good illustration of the technique.  The subject could be a little more interesting.  Using a high f/stop helps insure everything is in focus.

Studio Portraits

Most of us don’t have actual studios but we can create a nice, static environment where we can take these types of shots.  Because all aspects of the environment are under our control it shouldn’t be necessary to use exposure compensation.  You should practice taking photos with a variety of settings before ever inviting your subjects in.  Here are a few tips for taking great studio portraits…

1. Use as low an ISO setting as possible.  Just remember that your subjects can’t sit perfectly still for a full second (especially children) so you’ll typically need a shutter speed near 1/60 of a second.
2. Don’t neglect the background.  It may be best to have a rather plain background so that it doesn’t distract from the subjects.  The type of background selected will definitely affect the overall lighting of the shot.  Tend towards darker backgrounds.
3. Create a bokeh effect by using a low f/stop.  Don’t be afraid to place the camera closer to the subjects.  Use a long lens and focus near the maximum.  Make sure all portions of your subject are in focus even if you have to use a higher f/stop.
4. You should choose a room with no ambient light and cover any windows.  The room should have a ‘warm’ light and should not be brightly lit.  You may want to cover your ceiling lights with something translucent.  Use a ‘fill’ flash on medium power and don’t point it directly at your subjects; let the light bounce off a ceiling or wall.  Try not to create deep shadows.  You just want to highlight your subjects because the natural light in the room will likely cause shadows.
5. Try setting your camera on a multiple-exposure setting.

Street Portraits

Street Portraits refers to semi-composed and candid photos outside of the studio.  This would include things like wedding photos as well as everyday scenes.  Many times these are ad-hoc shots with no time for any type of setup.

1. Use a long lens at maximum magnification.  This will isolate your subject from the entropy around them.
2. Stand fairly close to your subject.  Try to compose the scene so your subject is not too close to the background.
3. Use a low f/stop to get a bokeh effect.  Using a faster lens will help.
4. Take multiple exposures and/or use exposure compensation.  There may be little/no time to setup and you want to maximize your chance of getting the shot.

A street portrait using the rule of thirds with bokeh.  (The Arch of Constantine is in the background)

Landscapes

Depending on the planned exposure time you may, or may not, need to use a tripod for your landscapes.  Many very fine landscapes can be taken with a hand-held camera.

For me the most important feeling in a landscape is depth.  You should have something of interest in the foreground and the background.  A good technique is to use ‘leading lines’ to help your viewers eyes through the picture.

In most landscapes you want the entire picture to be in focus.  For this you will need to use manual focus and learn about your lens’ hyperfocal’ distance. Hyperfocal distance and focusing at infinity are not the same thing.  There are many charts and formulas to get the exact distance but the simple rule is to focus about one-third the distance between the first object you want in focus and the last object you want in focus.  This, in combination with a higher f/stop, should do the trick.  Note: if the nearest object in your photo is not very close you can probably use a smaller f/stop and let in more light; you’re picture will still be in focus.

Having something in the foreground and the background creates depth.  This was shot hand-held at f/18. (The Grand Canyon)

How’s that for leading lines?  That tiny bit in the foreground really helps open up the picture   Since the subject was far away this was shot hand-held at f/8.  (The Grand Canyon)

Shadows

We’re accustomed to think of shadows as being a bad thing.  In some cases, however, we can use them to our advantage to create dramatic effects.  I could have used a flash to get rid of the shadows but that would have ruined this picture!

I moved in tight to get this shot and because of that there is significant bokeh even at f/5.6.  It’s very dramatic. Talk about filling your frame!  Photoshop could probably get rid of the lens flare to the left of the head but I don’t post-process any of my photos.  (Bronze sculpture from Trajan’s Market)

Other Techniques

There are a great many other fun things you can do but they require the use of a tripod.  I don’t have one.  I could tell you a long story about my failed attempt to buy one the other day but, suffice it to say, I still don’t have one.  Here’s a few things to try on your own.

Shutter Speeds

With your hand-held camera you can easily photograph a river.  Use a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second and you’ll get a crystal clear still life photo and the water will be in perfect focus.  Now try putting your camera on a tripod and setting the shutter speed for two seconds.  The background is still in perfect focus but the water now has a soft focus.  Keep increasing the timer and you will see different effects.  It’s best if only the water is moving and the surrounding area is absolutely static.

Watch two children throwing a beach ball between them.  At 1/1000 you will get a stop action photo.  Put the camera on a tripod and try changing the shutter to something like 1/5 of a second.  Now there is a slight movement in the children’s position but the ball seems to track through the air.  Different shutter speeds will give you different effects.

Try capturing a light stream.  Use a similar setup but this time go to some street after dark and photograph cars.  The car’s lights will create a stream.  It’s fun to experiment and see what kind of effects you can achieve.

Summing Up

Post-processing photos using something like Adobe Photoshop, something I have never done, is an expansive subject.  There is no end to what can be done using these tools.  It’s fair to say that most professional photographers, no matter what type of photos they take, spend more time post-processing photos than they do taking them.  It’s an art form unto itself.  Tools like Adobe Lightroom can be used on a subscription basis which makes them cheap and easy to try.  It’s a whole new dimension of photography and it might appeal to you.

There’s tons of information out there on photography from basic to advanced topics.  Do some research, join a club, find some friends with a camera and learn new things.  There’s a million different ways of looking at the world.  Everyone has a unique perspective.  Try to capture some of what makes you special in your photos.  It’s never going to be a dull day again.  Good luck and remember to have fun!

In the last installment we discussed the wheres and whys of camera settings.  This article contains a number of tips on how to improve your photos and workflow even more using your camera’s more sophisticated features.

Raw Mode

DSLR cameras can save your pictures in a number of different formats.  JPG format is often the default and most people just leave it that way.  There are many reasons for considering RAW instead.

First the bad news: files saved in RAW mode are much larger than JPG format.  This means that you can save fewer pictures on your memory cards.  It also means that if you’re taking many pictures in quick succession your camera may run out of buffer sooner and slow down.  These tend to be minor issues.

JPG is a compressed format.  This means that some of the information available from your camera’s sensor is lost.  This translates into a loss of some dynamic range, highlights and details.  Most people will never notice the difference until they try to enlarge their photos.  RAW files contain all available information.

Why is this important?  When you decide to take your photography to the next level it’s likely that you’ll start post-processing with something like Adobe Photoshop.  Tools like Photoshop work best when using RAW files.  Even if you don’t plan to post-process your photos any time soon you will always have that option if you have the RAW files handy.

Dual Memory Cards

Many DSLR cameras are capable of handling multiple memory cards.  If yours is one of them then it may be a good idea to have the camera write to both of them at the same time.  Sure this will cut down the amount of memory available by half but it will also insure that you don’t lose any pictures due to memory card corruption or other random event.  Fast, high quality, high capacity memory cards are reasonably priced.  How would you feel if you just came home from a wedding and found that you lost all of your photos?  Think of it as a cheap insurance policy.  It just makes sense.

Use Your Histogram

It’s likely that your camera will show you pre-shot and post-shot histograms.  This is a great way to insure that you have a good exposure.  What is a histogram?  It’s a graph that indicates how evenly lights and darks are distributed in your photo.  A perfect histogram, if such a thing exists, would look like an arc.  The left side of the histogram indicates how dark the darkest portion of the photo is and the right side the brightest.  It has nothing to do with the left to right composition of your picture – it’s just a scale of light and dark.

The Pre-shot histogram in the lower right hand corner.  It shows a good distribution of light across the entire graph.  According to the light meter (+0.7) the photo is over-exposed by 2/3 of a stop.  I really hate it when the light meter and the histogram do not agree.

The post-shot histogram.  Now it shows a breakdown of white, red, green and blue.  You can see the blue is blown out on the left side but the other colors are  just fine.  This means there is a little too much blue in the shot; something this simple could easily be fixed by just about an photo editing software.

In normal lighting a good histogram should have a fairly even distribution and should fill up the entire graph from left to right.  If you see the histogram starting about a third from the left it’s likely that you’re picture is over-exposed and you should compensate – you need more darks.  Of course, if you’re taking a picture with lots of shadows you’re histogram may favor the left side of the graph, but that would be expected.  It’s just another tool to help you set your exposure.  Check your camera’s manual for more information on how your histogram works.

Bracketing

So, you’ve set the camera on manual and fiddled with the settings, you’ve checked the histogram and it says you’re good to go.  You’re giddy with anticipation.  You release the shutter only to find the photo did not come out the way you wanted.  What can you do now?

Lighting conditions and shadows are not always easy to discern and low light photography can be especially challenging.  Here’s a simple way to make sure you get the shot that you want: bracketing.  What is bracketing?  It is a feature on DSLR cameras that allows you to take multiple pictures with different exposures.  On my camera I can take 3, 5 or 7 photos at a time and specify how many stops to increment/decrement in each.    If I choose 5/.03 then my camera will take five photos with an increase/decrease of one-third of a stop each time.  One picture will have the correct exposure, one will be over-exposed by one-third of a stop, another will be over-exposed by two-thirds of a stop.  I will also get two corresponding under-exposed photos.  Remember to keep your finger on the shutter release because the shutter will click multiple times.  At the end of the day you’ll have a lot more photos to wade through but you’re much more likely to get the shot you wanted.  This technique is especially useful in challenging lighting conditions.

Multiple Exposures

On my camera I can set the drive mode to continuous shooting.  In this mode the camera will take multiple photos in quick succession.  Unlike bracketing all of the photos will have the same exposure.  This is especially good for candid shots or when your subjects are moving about.  Surprisingly, it’s also a useful technique when doing portrait work.  May times a subject will move, wince or change expression just as you’re about to press the shutter release.  Shooting multiple exposures will help you get the perfect shot.

My camera also has a burst mode.  It will take up to ten shots in very quick succession.  Unfortunately, when in this mode, my camera reverts to full auto.  Hopefully your camera has better functionality.

White Balance

Ever notice that sometimes the color palette on your photos just seems wrong.  Indoors this is caused by artificial lights.  Incandescent bulbs and fluorescents tend to skew the color of the light in different ways.  When outdoors bright sunlight, clouds and shade can have a similar affect.  Most cameras have a White Balance setting.  Typically it defaults to AUTO and it never gets reset.  In many cases AUTO does a great job but sometimes it’s necessary to set your own values.

Your camera probably has a bunch of presets like sun, shade, cloud, incandescent, etc.  You should definitely try these.  It’s also possible to set a custom value using KELVIN.  Lowering the KELVIN value will introduce more blues and raising it will introduce more reds.  This is also a great way to change a gray sky into a blue sky in camera as long as you don’t go to extremes (there are other post-processing methods that involve merging multiple photographs).

Experimentation is key here.

Metering Mode

Your camera likely has multiple metering modes.  The default mode on my Sony is called ‘Multi Segment’.  This is a fancy way of saying it’s going to measure the light from the entire viewing area and come up with a mean value.  Most cameras also support ‘Center Weighted’ and ‘Spot’ metering although they may use different names.

When you are shooting in places with uneven light and heavy shadows it’s often necessary to take several readings from specific portions of the viewing area in order to determine the best exposure.  Spot Metering is great for this.  You simply put the spot at the exact place you want to measure and it will give you a reading.  You’ll have to manually interpolate several readings to determine the best exposure but it’s a great tool to have in your bag.

Focus Modes

There are a huge number of focusing modes available on modern DSLR cameras.  I will talk about just a couple of the most commonly used.

Manual Focus Mode

Why would you turn off auto focus?  There are many creative things you can do with manual focus but the one I use the most has to do with depth of field.  In a previous installment I used salt and pepper shakers to demonstrate bokeh.  I said that even at a high f/stop like f/11 you might not get the entire picture in focus.  If there was still some blur it was because your camera didn’t know the best place to focus for the shot.  If you put the focus on manual and focus on a spot about one third from the way from the front object to the back object (and use a high f/stop like f/11) you will get a perfect shot.  That’s what I did for that example and the result was perfect.

Auto focus tends to fail badly when subjects are back lit or in conditions where the lighting is constantly changing.  Changing over to manual mode will often make life easier.

Focus and Recompose Mode

When the subject of your photo is not in the center you may find that they’re out of focus.  Why is this?  It’s because you’re camera tends to think the the center of the photo is the most important part and it tends to focus there.  Trying to get the camera to focus off-center can be a very frustrating experience.  When I find myself in this situation I use Focus and Recompose.

The Focus and Recompose technique is considered to be old fashioned but I like it and use it all the time.  Point the camera directly at your subject and press the shutter release button half-way down.  This will cause the camera to focus on that object.  Keeping your finger half-way down you can then move the camera so that it frames your intended shot.  When you’re happy fully depress the shutter release.  Very often I use this technique with a low f/stop to get a bokeh effect.

Tracking Focus Mode

Tracking Focus Mode is a good choice when photographing sporting or other fast paced events.  It is often used in conjunction with Continuous Focus Mode.  Once selected the camera will keep focus on an object as it moves about as long as the camera is generally pointed in that direction.  It usually works pretty well but having a faster lens is always preferable.

Lens Hoods

Lens hoods can be very useful.  They help prevent lens flaring by reducing stray light.  They also help protect your lens from bumps and bruises.  When you’re not using them they can often be screwed on backwards, thus saving a lot of space in your camera bag.  Don’t leave home without one.

Buying Decisions

You saved up and bought the newest full frame, highest resolution DSLR that has every feature known to mankind.  That’s great.  What type of lens did you purchase?  In actual fact you might want to choose your lenses first and then decide which camera works best with your intended lenses.

In most cases cameras of the same class/type have similar features, perform similarly and cost about the same.  Unless there’s a specific feature that one camera has that you can’t live without you might want to think about what kind of photography you’d like to do and investigate lenses that are optimized for your interests.  Not every camera has a good selection of lenses for every type of shot.  It’s easy to buy a 28-200mm zoom lens and think you’re covered for all occasions but that’s really not the case.

Not all lenses perform as expected based solely on their specifications – this is especially true of low cost zoom lenses.  You may have purchased a lens that says it goes down to f/4.5 but you never get the bokeh effect you want.  Why?   Because this lens actually performs no better than f/5.6.  You may have a camera that shoots at a resolution of 50 megapixels but when you blow up your pictures they look terrible.  Why?  Because the lens will only produce 14 megapixels of data.  Your 300mm lens may do a great job magnifying but at its full focal length it suffers from a bad case of vignetting.  You get the idea.  High quality lenses are very expensive but you’ll be able to use them for many years.  Think of them as an investment.  You may just point and shoot on AUTO now but in the future, when you start experimenting and try to take more interesting photos, you’re going to want to get some better lenses.

The moral of the story is this: buy a lens based on both its stated specifications and its actual performance rating.  Often, they are not the same thing.  For excellent, unbiased information about lenses check out dxomark.  They rate both lenses and cameras.  Once you’ve chosen some great lenses then decide which camera to buy.

That’s all I have to say about hardware.  Yes, I know I didn’t talk about strobe equipment at all but that wasn’t an oversight.  You see, I rarely use flash even indoors so it’s a subject I know very little about from a practical point of view.  Flash photography is a vast undertaking in itself.  If you like doing this kind of work there’s plenty of information out there for free – and some of it is very good.

The last part of this series will talk about some creative ways to use your equipment.  Here you’ll be able to apply all of the knowledge and experience you’ve gained and apply them in new and interesting ways.  Hopefully, you’ll never look at the world the same way again.  It’s time to have fun!

In the first installment of this series I told you how to use aperture, shutter speed and ISO but I didn’t tell you what they were or why we use them the way  we do.  In this article we’ll talk about each component in detail and discuss how they are interrelated.

The basic concept is simple: each setting changes how much light the camera sees – but in a different way.

Aperture or f/Stop

Aperture is normally used to select the depth of field.  This setting determines how much of the background is blurred.  A photograph with a very blurry background tells a different story than one with a slightly blurry background.  This technique is called Bokeh.  It is important to understand that the resulting blur is caused by aperture setting and not your focus setting.  Creating blur using aperture and focus produce very different types of results.

Why bother doing this at all?  It is considered to be very artistic.  It makes photographs look 3D in a 2D medium.  It makes your subject ‘pop’.  Now that you are aware of this technique you will start to notice it everywhere and will come to appreciate it’s beauty.  It is also an excellent way to practice with and learn more about your camera.

Ok, so the aperture creates bokeh.  I thought this article was going to talk about how the settings affect light.  Well, to create bokeh you will use a low aperture setting like f4; some types of lens go down as low as f1.4.  You see it’s the lens that produces bokeh – not your camera.  When we set the aperture what we are actually doing is changing the size of the iris in the lens.  The iris in the lens gets larger and smaller just like the iris in your eyes.  When we lower the f/stop we open the iris and let in more light.  Of course if you don’t want bokeh in your photos then use a higher f/stop.  This will make the iris smaller and let in less light.

If we’re using something like f4 then the lens is providing the camera with a lot more light than normal.  To get the correct exposure you’ll have to compensate by using a faster shutter speed.  We’ll talk about how ISO figures into all of this later.

Here’s a few tips for creating maximum bokeh in your photos…

1. Use as small an aperture setting as you can.
2. Stand close to your subject.
3. Set your subject and your background far apart.
4. Use a longer / telephoto lens and use maximum zoom.
5. Use a fast lens.

The picture above was taken using a telephoto lens at its maximum of 300mm using an aperture of f5.6, shutter speed of 1/100 and ISO 400 for maximum bokeh effect.

What does it mean to use a ‘fast’ lens?  That means using a lens with a small f/stop setting.  What has that got to do with being fast?  Well, as I said before, when you use a low f/stop setting you need to use a ‘faster’ shutter speed.  Yeah, it sounds a little nutty to me too but you might as well get used to  the lingo now.

Here’s another interesting thing.  Many common telephoto lens don’t have a really low f/stop setting; this helps keep the cost down.  If you want a telephoto lens that goes all the way down to f2.8 it’s going cost a lot more than one that goes down to f4.5.  It’s also common for an f4.5 telephoto lens to only go to something like f5.6 when at maximum zoom.  I’m sorry for you but you’ve chosen a very expensive hobby.

Here’s a little description about f/top numbers.  f/top numbers are a geometric sequence of powers of the square root of two.  Seriously?!  From a practical standpoint what this means is that going down one stop (like from f5.6 to f4) lets in twice as much light and going up one stop (like from f2 to f2.8) lets in half the light.  Larger f/top numbers let in less light and smaller f/top numbers let in more light.  Of course that’s the exact opposite of what your intuition would tell you.  Welcome to photography 101!

ISO

Previously I told you to think of ISO as the type of lighting that you have.  Doesn’t that concept seem a little redundant?  When we change the aperture we compensate with shutter speed.  Why do we need a third setting to worry about?

If you harken back to the days of film you might remember that you bought film by ASA setting.  ASA 400 was commonly used because it was less expensive than ASA 100 or ASA 200.  ISO and ASA are the same thing.  A few years back the American standard was switched to the International standard.  That description doesn’t help you?  I’m not surprised.

In digital photography ISO refers to how sensitive your camera is to light.  Ironically, you want to use a low number to make your camera less sensitive to light.  Why?  Because at a lower sensitivity your pictures will have finer details and less noise.  Noise shows up as course grainy details, bumpy textures, rough shading and backgrounds with splotchy colors.  With small sized photos it’s hardly noticeable but when you enlarge your photos you’ll be amazed at what you see.

So, why not shoot at the lowest setting possible all of the time?  If your camera is less sensitive to light then it needs more light (aperture) or more time (shutter speed) to get the proper exposure.  Typically you don’t want to change your aperture setting so that leaves the burden on shutter speed.  If you’re inside and use an aperture of f4.5 and an ISO of 100 then your recommended shutter speed will likely be over one second.  If you’re handholding your camera your hands will shake and the picture will be blurry.  You might think, ‘ok, I can easily solve this by putting my camera on a tripod’.  That might help but the person you’re shooting can’t stay perfectly still for over one second.  Your picture will still be blurry.  Of course if you’re shooting a still life photo a tripod may work well.

You might want to set your camera to AUTO ISO and let the camera choose the ISO for you.  If you do this you may be shooting at an ISO that is higher than necessary.  Do you really want to sacrifice the quality of your photos?

The moral of the story is this: choose an ISO suitable for your lighting conditions that also gives you a useable shutter speed.  Don’t be afraid to use an ISO as high as 16,000, it’s better than not getting the shot at all.  Click here to see a good example of noise.

Here’s a little description about ISO numbers.  ISO numbers are a geometric progression of powers of two.  When you increase the ISO by one stop you let in twice as much light.  Increasing it two stops will let in four times as much light.  ISO numbers typically start at 100 and progress to 200, 400, 800, 1600 and so on.  Your camera may have other ISO values to choose from but they are ‘virtual’ ISO numbers that use software to try to optimize your photo.  Generally speaking ISO values and shutter speeds are inversely related.  You asked.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed controls the amount of time that the shutter is open and collecting light.  Generally your shutter speed is set to compensate for the aperture and ISO settings.  The light meter on your camera will help you set it to the proper value.  If you’re like me, and you like your pictures a little over-exposed, you can make that adjustment here.

In every day photography the shutter speed has to be high enough so that it freezes the motion of your subjects.  Otherwise things tend to come out blurry.  There are many creative things that you can do with longer shutter speeds – usually in association with a tripod.  Some of these techniques will be discussed in a later article.

A handheld shot with a shutter speed of 1/2 second.  Notice the blur.  My hands aren’t that steady.

Here’s a little description about Shutter Speeds.  Shutter Speeds are typically described in seconds.  Modern DSLR cameras can range from 1/80,000 of a second to several seconds.  Longer shutter speeds are usually possible with external triggers.  Most people can’t shoot slower than 1/8 of a second without a tripod.

Now that you know the how and the why of camera settings get out there and have some fun.  Remember to experiment.  Don’t worry, your camera equipment may have cost a bundle but taking pictures is free.

I’ve always liked taking pictures and, being somewhat of a tech nerd, I’ve always liked fancy cameras.  As a kid I found an old box camera laying around the house.  It had an accordion front and used size 620 film, which was an oddity even in  those days.  I also participated in the instamatic craze in the 1970s.  Do you remember those size 110 plastic film cartridges?  In 1983 I went to Europe for the first time as a student with the Juilliard Orchestra.  For that trip my father let me borrow his Olympus 35mm SLR camera.  It was a semi-automatic camera and I got some great shots.

When I got out of college I bought my first ‘real’ camera.  It was a Pentax P3.  I took it everywhere and took pictures of everything.  I loved that camera. I used it until it was stolen from our house in Connecticut.  Suffice it to say that over the years I owned a series of progressively more complex cameras (it’s actually embarrassing to say how many cameras and lens I owned at one time).  I was even the proverbial first kid on my block with a digital camera.  I had quite a few of those too, including a fantastic Sony HD video camera.  That camera also took three megapixel stills and was my main camera for much of the time we lived in New Hampshire.

About five years ago I acquired a Sony A99 DSLR.  It’s the only camera that I still own.  It’s got every bell and whistle you can think of and then some.  I use it mainly for stills but it takes HD video as well.  When I got the camera I read the manual cover to cover.  It was horrible.  It barely described the buttons on the camera, of which there are many, but had nothing to say about how to use the camera.  I just set the thing to automatic and used it that way for years.  Sometimes I bemoaned the quality of the shots but I just never had the patience to play with the various settings.  The funny thing is that I have always loved taking photographs and I have an obvious weakness for buying cameras but I never really knew much about photography.

Since we’re now retired and have nothing but time I decided to learn as much as I could about my camera and to educate myself about photography.  You can find just about anything you want on these subjects on youtube.  I made some interesting discoveries…

1. My five year old camera is still considered to be state of the art although in 2016 Sony released a 2.0 version, which has some features I would really like to have.  No, I’m not planning to buy it.  It’s not in the budget.
2. My camera has an overwhelming number of features.  Many of them are checklist items so that it compares favorably to the competition but some of them are really interesting and useful.
3. Putting the camera on full manual allows you to control every detail of the shot and allows you complete and total creativity.  Once you’re familiar with how things work using full manual is not hard nor is it time consuming.  That little bit of extra effort will allow you to get the perfect shot every time.  It’s also a lot more fun!
4. I tend to like my photos overexposed.  This is easy to do when you have the camera on manual.

All of my recent pictures have been taken with the camera on full manual.  I’ve loved the results.  It’s been a great learning experience and I believe it’s improved the quality of my photos.  The problem is that there is a lot of information out there and much of it is complex, technical or just badly presented.  Here is a short, easy to understand tutorial on the basics.  Once you’ve got that mastered you’ll be well on your way to taking better pictures.

Basic Photography Course

Photography is all about light.  There are three core settings when taking a photograph: aperture (f/stop), shutter speed and ISO.  Together, these settings make up your ‘exposure’.  The important thing to remember is that they’re all related.  Once you have these mastered you can start investigating more advanced techniques.

I always start by setting the aperture first.  Take a look at some photographs.  You will notice that in some everything is in focus and in some only the subject is in focus and the background is blurry.  Your aperture controls this.  Set the aperture to a low number like F4 and your background will be blurry.  Set it to a high number like F11 and everything will be in focus.

It’s fun to try this and see how it works.  Twist the mode dial on your camera and set it to ‘A’ for APERTURE PRIORITY.  Go to your kitchen table and put the pepper near you and the salt farther away.  Set the aperture to F4, focus on the pepper and shoot.  The salt is blurry.  Repeat the process but each time add a ‘stop’ of aperture until you reach F13.  The entire picture should be in focus now.  (If the entire picture is almost in focus it’s ok; this is only meant as a demonstration).

These pictures demonstrate the use of aperture.  On the left the photo was taken with F4 and on the right it was taken with F13.  Now you know why aperture is often referred to as depth of field.  Portraits are normally taken with a low aperture (F4) and landscapes are normally taken with a high aperture (F11).  I encourage you to experiment.

The next setting I go to is ISO.  Think of ISO as indicating the type of lighting you have.  For bright outdoor shots set it to 100.  For cloudy days set it around 400.  Indoors, in a well lit house you can probably get away with 1,000.  For the inside of dark churches 1,600 seems to work well.  For reasons that I won’t discuss here it’s best to use the lowest ISO setting possible.

Let’s see how this works.  Twist the mode dial on your camera and set it to ‘M’ for MANUAL.  Set the aperture to F4.5.  Set the shutter speed to 1/125.  Set your ISO to 500.  The display is probably completely dark.  Now move the ISO setting a few stops higher to 800.  Is there a difference?  Maybe your picture is starting to show.  Keep moving it higher until your picture is bright.  In my apartment I had to set the ISO to 16,000 before the picture seemed right.  Every camera will react to these settings differently.

Here is a good demonstration of ‘exposure’.  Basically this refers to whether the photo is too light or too dark.  The combination of aperture, shutter speed and ISO combine to make a proper exposure.  Here the left picture is properly exposed.  The one in the middle is under-exposed by two stops and the one on the right is over-exposed by two stops.  Personally, I tend to like my photos over-exposed by one stop.  When you shoot on manual you can make those decisions for yourself instead of having the camera make those decisions for you.  (I really should have my camera checked and see if the issue is the camera or my aging eyes).

This is a good time to talk about shutter speed.  Put the ISO down a few stops and you’ll see the picture become darker.  This time change the shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/60.  Notice how much lighter the picture got?  So, are ISO and shutter speed doing the same thing? No, but you have to remember that all three of these settings are related.

Here’s the issue: for technical reasons we want to shoot with the lowest ISO possible.  If we use a lower ISO then it means we have to use a slower shutter speed.  If you’re on a tripod then you can crank these settings to extremes.  If you’re hand holding the camera you really can’t use a shutter speed that is much slower than 1/8 because your hand will shake and the picture will be blurry.

Play with different shutter speeds and ISO combinations to see how your picture is affected.  This is a good time to note that changing the aperture will also affect how bright your picture is.  You see aperture, shutter speed and ISO  affect, in different ways, how much light comes into your camera.

In the olden days people used charts to determine the best camera settings for a particular situation.  Luckily for us modern DSLR cameras make the job much easier.  Now that you understand how these things work let’s take a real picture.

1. Put your camera on MANUAL
2. Set the aperture for your intended depth of field
3. Set the ISO for your lighting condition
4. The only thing left to set is the shutter speed.  Check out your camera’s display.  You may not have noticed it but there is a meter there; it looks different on every camera.  On Nikon and Canon cameras it looks something like a line with arrows on either side with zero in the middle.  On Sony cameras it’s simply a number like +1.3.  Change the shutter speed until the meter reads zero.  If the resulting shutter speed is too low for handheld photography then set the ISO higher and recalibrate your shutter speed until the settings make sense.  Note: make sure that you are pointing at your intended subject while doing this or your exposure will be off.

That’s all there is to it.  Now you have the perfect exposure.  What should you do next?  Go out and take some pictures!  Most of all, remember to have fun.

If all this is a little too much to take in all at once then I recommend setting your camera to APERTURE PRIORITY.  This will allow you to choose, what I think is the most important aspect of a picture, the depth of field.  The camera will automatically choose an appropriate shutter speed and ISO setting for you.  Once you get the hang of this mode you can then move on to full manual.

There are approximately 300,000 feral cats in Rome.  They are protected by law as part of Rome’s ancient heritage because the ancient Romans highly valued cats for their ability to kill rodents and prevent rodent-borne diseases. The cats living in the Coliseum, the Forum and Torre Argentina were officially named part of the city’s bio-heritage in 2001.

There are two official cat sanctuaries in Rome  located at the Protestant Cemetery, near the Pyramid of Cestius, and the Largo di Torre Argentina.  The cats there are fed and cared for by the “Gattare” or Cat Women.  All the cats are spayed or neutered and vaccinated.  This is funded by donations and fundraising activities.  Many people volunteer to work in the sanctuaries and you can even adopt one of the cats.

(The cats of the Largo di Torre Argentina Sanctuary)

The Torre Argentina cat sanctuary is near our apartment and we walk past it almost everyday.  This area contains ruins from the portico of Pompey where Julius Ceasar was killed in 44 B.C.  The cats use the ruins as shelter and enjoy sunbathing on the ancient pillars and steps.  Many of the permanent residents of this shelter have special needs.  They are blind, missing a limb or come from abusive homes.

You can see cats all over Rome.  Sometimes they are very friendly and want to be petted like the cats in Ostia Antica.  Most of the time they are very aloof and mind their own business.  Just remember not to disturb them as it is against the law to harass the cats.

We are frequently out walking in the parks and historic sites in Rome and often we hear the cries of the various birds of the city.  The seagulls are particularly noisy and are the birds you hear most.  We noticed them the first day we were here.  (I think I will write some music for seagull and emergency vehicle to remind me of my time here in Rome.  These are the sounds we hear most.)

The seagulls are an invasive species that arrived in Rome in 1971.  An injured female gull was given to the Rome zoo to recover from her injuries.  Apparently, a male found her and they were the Adam and Eve of the Rome Seagulls.  They thrive on the garbage and food dropped by tourists.  They are reported to be very aggressive if they nest on your terrace but, aside from that, they do not have much of an impact on their new environment.  The law prohibits anyone from killing them so everyone just has to learn to get along.

Another very noisy and invasive bird is the monk parakeet.  They are not quite as noisy as the seagulls but they are much more attractive.  We heard them many times in Rome but hadn’t seen them until we encountered them in Ostia Antica.  They are a beautiful green color and, when they fly as a flock, are gorgeous to see.

The monk parakeet is originally from South America.  There is a story that a clothing outlet center had a huge cage with dozens of these parakeets in it.  When they closed they just let the birds go.  The parakeets have adapted very well to an urban home and have not had a significant impact on the environment.

(The Monk Parakeet)

The rose-ringed parakeet is another beautiful green bird with a distinctive call. (We have seen them but have not been able to photograph them.)  These birds are from Asia and were first noticed in the 1970s in the Villa Pamphilj.   They can be distinguished from the monk parakeet by their bright red beaks.  Neither species of parakeets migrates so they are in Rome all year long.