Digital Photography for Next to Nothing

Digital Photography for Next to Nothing

Digital Photography for Next to Nothing FREE and Low-Cost Hardware and Software to Help You Shoot Like a Pro JOHN LEWELL

This edition first published 2010 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Registered office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at w w w.w i l e y. c o m. The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Digital Photography for Next to Nothing is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Microsoft Product screenshots are reproduced with permission from Microsoft Corporation. ISBN 978-0-470-68726-0 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Set in 8.5/10.2 Interstate Light by Thomson Digital Printed in the US by CJ Krehbiel

For Oi and Jonathan

About the Author John Lewell is the Editor of PhotoSoftwareNews.com, the Internet s premier guide to photographic software. His previous books have included Computer Graphics (Van Nostrand Reinhold), The A Z Guide to Computer Graphics (McGraw-Hill), Multivision (Focal Press), and, more recently, The Digital Photographer s Software Guide (Cengage). A graduate of Peterhouse, Cambridge, John Lewell has worked extensively in both the United States and the United Kingdom as a freelance journalist for dozens of publications. He is married to Thai cookery writer Oi Cheepchaiissara. Acknowledgments I d like to thank my editors Kezia Endsley and Abi Saffrey for their many helpful comments and recommendations. I also wish to thank all the staff at John Wiley & Sons who have helped to bring this book to publication, especially Chris Webb who commissioned the original project and Ellie Scott for her meticulous day-to-day liaison.

Publisher s Acknowledgments Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Editorial and Production VP Consumer and Technology Publishing Director: Michelle Leete Associate Director Book Content Management: Martin Tribe Associate Publisher: Chris Webb Executive Commissioning Editor: Birgit Gruber Assistant Editor: Colleen Goldring Publishing Assistant: Ellie Scott Project Editor: Juliet Booker Development Editor: Kezia Endsley Content Editor: Céline Durand-Watts Copy Editor: Abi Saffrey Marketing Senior Marketing Manager: Louise Breinholt Marketing Executive: Chloe Tunnicliffe Composition Services Compositor: Thomson Proof Reader: Sarah Lewis Indexer: Thomson

Contents PART I: TAKING BETTER SNAPS WITH A CHEAPER CAMERA 1 Chapter 1: Getting the Best from a Low-Cost Camera 3 How Cheap Is Cheap? 3 Getting to Know Your Camera 7 Ten Universal Questions for Every Shot 8 Chapter 2: Why Most Snaps Fail to Impress 11 Some Common Errors 12 What Makes a Good Snapshot? 13 Ten Cost-Nothing Tips for Better Snaps 14 Chapter 3: First Steps in Portraiture with FREE and Low-Cost Lighting 17 Creating One-Lamp Portraitures 17 Making Your Own Low-Key Lighting Kit 20 Creating No-Lamp Portraitures: Taking It Outdoors 20 Using Scrims to Soften Sunlight 21 Getting More Lights for Less 23 Resources 25 PART II: GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY 27 Chapter 4: Choosing a Better Camera 29 The Four Digital Camera Types 29 Shopping Around for a New Camera 30 Users Recommendations 31 Getting an Entry-Level DSLR at a Rock-Bottom Price 32 Read FREE Reviews Online: 10 Leading Review Sites 35 Chapter 5: Keeping It Steady: Tripods, Monopods, and VR Lenses 39 Blur Reduction: A Big Step Towards Better Photographic Technique 39 Using Tripods and Heads 40 Low-Cost Tricks for Reducing Blur 44 Chapter 6: Saving Money on Lenses 47 Why People Argue About Lenses 47 Recommended High-Value Lenses 50 Using Older Lenses on a New Camera 52

x Contents.................................................................................................................... Chapter 7: In Praise of the 50mm Lens 55 Using a Lens Chart 55 Using 50mm with Full-Frame, 1.5x, 1.6x, and 1.7x Crop Factor Sensors 56 Five Reasons to Buy the Nifty Fifty 57 Shooting with a 50mm Lens 58 PART III: KEEPING COSTS DOWN 61 Chapter 8: Cost-Cutting Tips for Better Photography 63 Setting White Balance 63 Setting Exposure 66 Cropping: The Pro Technique Available to All 67 Chapter 9: Shooting RAW and Processing It For FREE 69 The Rise of the RAW Format 69 The Snags of Using RAW 70 Software for RAW Processing 70 Chapter 10: Shooting Macro Without a Macro Lens 81 Four Ways to Get Macro Shots 81 Lighting for Your Macro Shots 85 Using Lens Stacking to Take Macro Shots 86 Making a Tabletop Studio for Macro Photography 87 Building a Mini Light Box for Small Product Photography 88 Chapter 11: DIY: Cleaning Your DSLR Sensor 91 Common Contaminants and How to Get Rid of Them 92 Cleaning the Chamber 95 Testing Your Cleaning Method 95 Chapter 12: DIY: Making Your Own Lens Hood 97 Considering Lens Hood Types 97 Finding Lens Hood Templates Online 98 Making a Superhood for a 50mm Lens 99 Making a Flexihood for a Telephoto Lens 100 Chapter 13: More DIY Photo Fun Accessories 103 Making Pop-Up Flash Diffusers 103 DIY Accessories for Flash Guns 105 Making Your Own Lenses 107 Getting Decorative Bokeh Effects 108 Getting Soft Focus Without a Special Lens 110

..................................................................................................................... Contents xi Finding Low-Cost Tripods for Your Compact Camera 110 Emulating Aerial Photography Without the Airplane 112 Chapter 14: FREE Photo Calculators 117 Printing, Cutting, and Assembling Your Own FREE Exposure Calculator 117 Using the Golden Ratio 119 For a Few Dollars: Photo Calculation Software for the iphone 119 Optical System Calculators 121 Print Size Calculation 124 Chapter 15: FREE and Low-Cost Utility Software 127 FREE and Low-Cost Exif Tools 128 FREE and Low-Cost Screen Capture Utilities 129 FREE Color Pickers 132 FREE Online Color Analysis 133 FREE File Archiving Utilities 133 Low-Cost Image Compression Software 134 FREE JPEG Lossless Rotation 135 FREE and Low-Cost Data Recovery Software 135 Free Scan Photo Recovery Software 136 PART IV: SCRUTINIZING, SORTING, AND RESIZING YOUR IMAGES 139 Chapter 16: Monitor Calibration for Next to Nothing 141 Understanding Gamma 141 Calibration for Windows and Mac 142 FREE Online Monitor Calibration 148 FREE Online Tutorials on Monitor Calibration 148 Chapter 17: FREE and Low-Cost Image Viewers 151 Top FREE and Low-Cost Image Viewers for Windows 152 Image Viewers for Mac: Why the Mac Is Different 159 Chapter 18: FREE and Low-Cost Photo Organizing Software 161 The Difference Between Sorting and Cataloging 161 Searching Through Untagged Images 163 Other Good FREE Photo Organizing Software 164 For a Few Dollars: More Photo Organizing Software 167 Chapter 19: FREE and Low-Cost Image Resizing Tools 171 Choosing the Right Tool 171 FREE Desktop Image Resizing Software 172

xii Contents.................................................................................................................... FastStone Photo Resizer 172 FREE Software for Batch Resizing 175 FREE Online Image Resizing Tools 176 For Just a Few Dollars 178 PART V: IMPROVING YOUR IMAGES 181 Chapter 20: FREE and Low-Cost Image Enhancement Software 183 Enhancement and Editing: What s the Difference? 183 Recommended FREE Basic Image Adjustment Tools 184 Other FREE Image Adjustment Tools 186 FREE Batch Correction Image Adjustment Tools 186 For a Few Dollars 187 Chapter 21: FREE Image-Editing Software 191 What to Look for in a FREE Image Editor 191 The Top Four FREE Windows Products 192 Seashore for Macintosh 197 The Best of the Rest: All FREE 197 Chapter 22: FREE Online Image Editors 203 Online Software: The Long-Term Winner 203 Featured Software: The Top Five 204 Best of the Rest 211 Chapter 23: FREE and Low-Cost Denoising Software 219 Noise Reduction Software 219 Recommended FREE Denoising Software 219 FREE Multiplatform (Java-Based) Denoising Software 223 For a Few Dollars: Low-Cost Denoising Software 224 Chapter 24: Building Powerful Software Suites with Plug-ins 229 Adobe Photoshop Elements: The Low-Cost Host for Best-of-Breed Plug-ins 229 GIMP: Pimp Your GIMP with Dozens of Great Plug-ins 232 Enhancing Paint.NET with Plug-ins 235 PART VI: MAKING HI-RES MOSAICS, PANORAMAS, AND HDR IMAGES 239 Chapter 25: Getting Hi-Res Images from a Low-Res Camera 241 FREE Versus Commercial Stitching Software 241

..................................................................................................................... Contents xiii Chapter 26: Panoramic Photography 251 Taking Panoramas Without a Tripod 251 Finding the Optical Center of a Lens 252 Why Is Panoramic Photography Normally Expensive? 252 The Panosaurus: a Low-Cost Panoramic Head 253 Building Your Own Panoramic Head 255 Useful Resources 256 Chapter 27: Low-Cost Panoramic and Virtual Tour Software 257 Software for Making Panoramas 257 Software for Displaying Panoramas 260 Chapter 28: Creating High Dynamic Range Images 263 Two Reasons to Use HDR 264 Commercial or FREE? Which Software Is Best for HDR? 264 FREE HDR Software 264 Low-Cost HDR Software 269 PART VII: SHARING & PUBLISHING YOUR WORK 271 Chapter 29: FREE Image Hosting 273 What to Look for in a FREE Image Host 274 Directories 275 Selected FREE Image Hosting Providers 276 Chapter 30: FREE Online Photo-Sharing Sites 281 Must-Have Photo-Sharing Features 281 Selected FREE Online Photo-Sharing Sites 283 Photo-Sharing Sites with FREE Basic Accounts 287 FREE Sites with Additional Features 289 Chapter 31: Online Photo Communities 293 What Online Photo Communities Can Do for You, and You for Them 293 Communities FREE to Registered Users 294 Low-Cost Photo Communities 299 Smaller and Specialist Photo Communities 301 Chapter 32: FREE Web Publishing Software 305 Using PHP to Create Your Online Gallery 305 FREE PHP-Based Photo Gallery Software 306 FREE Flash Gallery Creation Software 310 CSS-Based Image Galleries 313