| Lesson Four: Creating a Country Music Fansite - Digital Photo Suggestions | |
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Digital Photo Suggestions:
I won't claim to be the world's expert on taking concert photos, but I can tell you what I know of how to get good shots using the camera's I've used. View many of my photos on the many pages of the Country Photo Album
It's a given, but the best photos come when you have a fairly close seat to the stage. No more than 20 rows or the equivilent is my estimation. The lighting of the artist on the stage should provide enough light at that distance.
The two cameras I've used for the majority of my photos are the Sony Mavica FD90 and the Olympus C-740 Ultra Zoom. I've taken pictures with some 35 mm cameras, but my digital photos have always come out best, and I can recommend both of the camera models above.
When sitting within 20 rows from the stage, it's important to know that you do NOT need to use the flash on the camera. When I've used a flash on the camera, it washes out the subject, so I just make sure I have close seats and I use my zoom lens.
My Sony Mavica has a 16X zoom and I can take photos anywhere from 640x480 to 1472x1104. I've always used the lowest resolution setting (640x480) as it will save the most photos per floppy disk, which is 30 per floppy. The camera uses regular floppys to store your pictures, which is cheap and easy for uploading to your website when your concert is over. You'll need some sort of photo editing program to crop and lighten or sharpen your photos. I use Paint Shop Pro.
My Olympus C-740 uses a memory chip to store your pictures. It comes with a 16 meg chip, which won't save many photos, but you can buy larger chips, and it's highly recommended that you do. The Olympus has a 30x zoom lens and takes photos in resolutions from 640x480 to 2048 x 1536. While my Sony is 1.6 megapixel at the highest resolution, the Olympus is 3.2 megapixels at the highest resolution. The higher the megapixels, the more clear your photo will be.
With either of my cameras, I don't do anything fancy. I use the normal setting on the Mavica, and auto setting on the Olympus. If you are within 20 rows, you can get good shots with either camera.
On the Mavica - while pointing the camera at the subject, the camera will autofocus. Wait for the picture to clear up in the LED screen, which shows you what your photo will look like and snap your photo. Be careful not to move the camera as you snap.
On the Olympus - while pointing the camera at the subject, push the button down halfway to focus, when it's focused release then push down fully on the button to take your shot. Again, you have to be careful not to move or your picture will be blurry.
Erasing:
On the Mavica - Set the slider to Play and then move to view the photo using the selector button. Click Yes if you want to delete the file.
On the Olympus - Turn the setting button to the left arrow, which is view mode. Push the right button to scroll forward, the left to scroll back. To delete a picture, push the trash can button. It will ask you to confirm yes or no, so there is no worry that you can delete something on accident.
Transfering your photos to your computer:
On the Mavica - Insert your floppy in your computer's floppy drive, load up your Editing software and view.
On the Olympus - you'll use a cable which hooks up to your USB port on your computer. You'll need to install the program the very first time. After that plug the cable into your USB port and then to the port on the camera and a menu will ask if you want to view the photos or print or copy them to your hard drive. I'd recommend copying them to your hard drive, then load up your Editing software and view them.
Batteries:
On the Mavica - It uses a lithium cell specifically made for the Mavica cameras. When you are done using the camera, you plug the battery charger into the camera and recharge the battery for next time. Battery and recharger come with camera.
On the Olympus - It runs on 4 AA batteries. While you can use regular batteries, they won't last long at all. It's recommended that you buy 4 AA rechargable batteries. Kodak NiMH 1850 mAH are the ones I use. They will last for a while, depending on how much you leave the camera on during the show. It's best to have a spare set charged up just in case your batteries die during the show. As an alternative, you can also buy CRV3 batteries. They are lithium, and last longer than the rechargables, however once they're dead, they're dead. You can't recharge them. They look like 2 double A batteries soldered together. The camera comes with 2 CRV3 batteries, so you will need to buy an additional set, or 4-8 of the rechargables, plus the recharger.
Both cameras are very easy to use. The Mavica is probably the easiest for someone with no photo experience. Floppies are easy to carry, plus you don't have to worry about uploading your photos. But, the Olympus has the better lens and can take closer shots, but you have to invest in memory cards. Looking online, it seems that the model of Mavica I have is outdated, however I'm sure the FD200 is quite similar. The zoom isn't as good, but the resolution is higher. There are also Sony Mavica's that write to CD RW discs.
Sony Mavica Cameras & Supplies:
Sony Mavica FD200 Writes to Floppies
Olympus C740 Camera and Supplies:
Olympus C740
In the next lesson, download free backgrounds for your site.
Shel
Sony Mavica CD350 Writes to CD RW Discs
Sony NPF550 Battery
50 Floppy Disks
10 Pack of Sony 156 MB Rewritable CDs
4 pack of Rechargable AA Batteries
Kodak Battery Charger with 4 AA Rechargable Batteries
256 meg XD Picture Card
128 meg XD Picture Card
64 meg XD Picture Card
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