Free Your Eyes

This is a step by step process of how to have control and use an SLR Camera. I will be using a Canon Digital Rebel (6 mega pixel) Camera. Other camera companies use different symbols at times so i just wanted to be as clear as possible during these steps that they might be seen differently on your camera.

1. Buying Film or using your ISO choices.

Generaly at a store you will find your film with something described as an ISO. Normal ISO's go from 200ISO to 800ISO in most common stores. Now the significance of this is based off of how much light can be absorbed into the film. 200ISO absorbs the light slower, so in a well lite area its a good choice. Now 800ISO absorbs much quicker so you can shoot in darker areas. If you use 200ISO then you will have less film grain than if you use 800ISO. Film grain can make a picture look nasty or pretty depending on your opinion. I personally like film grain. It seems more savage. But now you know what to look for depending on your lighting situation. To set your ISO on your Digital camera just tap the button labled ISO and use the wheel to choose. This is nice because you can choose from shot to shot instead of winging it.

2. Setting Up your SLR Camera.

*turn it on *set to manual (turn the top knob to M) *take off the lens cap *READY

3. Focusing

Ok now its time to look thru that hole in the back. There are only 2 rings to move on the lens the one closest to the end of the lens is the one for focusing. Now like the picture to the right make it look clear as you can. If your having a hard time moving this you might have it on auto focus. There is a switch on the lens to turn that off if you like. it will have intials next to it like AF for auto focus and MF for manual focus. During low lighting situations you might want to do it set it to manual focus because it has a hard time seeing anything to focus on.

4. Zooming

Zooming is the other ring on your lens. It doesn't make things closer it crops the picture to fill the area. This actually flattens the picture and doesn't make it seem like anything is closer to you. A good focusing tip is to zoom in on the object you want clear and fucus then bring it back. This will give you a great "Focal Point."

5. Shutter Speed

The shutter is in the camera and opens then closes to expose the film or censor. On my camera it is located on the bottom left of my veiw finder (the hole behind the camera.) To see it you might have to half push down on your shutter release button (a.k.a. picture taking button.) 2000 is a fast shutter due to the fact that it is open for 1/2000th of a second, which also means you will not need to have a tripod because thats hard to shake. Now if you set it to 30" then the shutter will be open for a while because that stands for 30 seconds. You should have a tripod unless you light making light art or are experimenting. The closest shutter speed that might need a tripod is 100. There is also a shutter described as B or Bulb which is open as long as the button is open. This is great if your only light sorce is the stars. To set it just turn your wheel above your shutter release.

6. f-stop

This is the hole that lets light into you film or cencor. It follows as so. f22 is a very small hole so it lets in a very small amount of light. So if its a very bright day awsome because everything will be amazingly clear if you can use f22. Now if you are using f2.4 or something around that number you will have a shortened depth of feild meaning you will have a blurry forground and background. The focal point of this will be whatever it is you focused on. It makes it seem very dramatic. To set this you must hold down a button marked Av and turn the wheel on your camera.

7. Light Metering

This is basically balancing everything I have been talking about. Now point your camera at a grey card if you have one, if not improvise and find something grey, if you still dont have anything then for get the grey. The grey just helps balance everything perfect. Sometimes imperfection is perfect. Now look thru your camera and you should see something like whats to the left. And set your f-stop then set your shutter speed and get that light or needle or what ever into the middle and that is a perfect light reading and shoot. Basically mess with those 2 things untill your happy.

8. Color Balancing (digital shooting only instructions)

This is for shooting based on lighting. This is all base on where you are and what kind of lights are making the effect. other wise your pictures will look like the left set instead of the right one. Basically it goes as so. Hit the WB button (white balance) and pick the picture with the wheel of the sun or light bulb or tungsten light bulb or just AWB (auto white balance) to ckeck your picture after you shoot hit the triangle in the box button to see how your picture turned out. It will help you figure it out.

9.End Basic

This is the end of the basic instructions on how to shoot using a SLR camera.

ADVANCED

Shooting HDR Images (high definition range)

This requires some equipment. First you need a gazing ball (mirror ball) this can be purchased at garden equipment stores. Then you need to get HDRshop which is a free program to students and commercial industries. This technique is great for 3d programs on making artificial lighting using a picture as the light source. It helps with realism on your 3d models. It can also be used for virtual tours and many other various ideas besides just looking cool.

Now first set up your mirror ball in the middle of your area that you want a 360 picture of. Then set up your tripod as far away as you can from the ball and shoot a clear picture of the ball filling from the top to the bottom of the frame. You need to take at least 4 pictures to do this right. One at each corner if the ball was a square. Then crop each of the pictures so the ball fills the frame. The cropping tool is circled in the top left corner so you know what it looks like in photoshop. I dont have a good zoom lens so i made do with what I could. I should be much further back so I wouldn't have to rubber stamp my self away as much. But this is just clean up and not part of the shooting. This is not a photoshop tutorial. I'm just letting you know this is what your frame should look like. Now after you crop these is photo shop open HDRshop. Open your cropped files in HDRshop and convert them by going to Images/Panorama/Panoramic Transformations. Then from there set your source image as the format mirrored ball and your desination image as Latitude/Longitude and hit ok. This will unwrap your picture to look more like the picture above. The reason i have you take 4 photos is so you can clean them up and sew them together. This will be in a later tutorial in the Maya section. I just thought i would add it in here for some fun.

I hope any of this is helpful. MM

This is a step by step process of how to have control and use an SLR Camera. I will be using a Canon Digital Rebel (6 mega pixel) Camera. Other camera companies use different symbols at times so i just wanted to be as clear as possible during these steps that they might be seen differently on your camera.
	1. Buying Film or using your ISO choices. Generaly at a store you will find your film with something described as an ISO. Normal ISO's go from 200ISO to 800ISO in most common stores. Now the significance of this is based off of how much light can be absorbed into the film. 200ISO absorbs the light slower, so in a well lite area its a good choice. Now 800ISO absorbs much quicker so you can shoot in darker areas. If you use 200ISO then you will have less film grain than if you use 800ISO. Film grain can make a picture look nasty or pretty depending on your opinion. I personally like film grain. It seems more savage. But now you know what to look for depending on your lighting situation. To set your ISO on your Digital camera just tap the button labled ISO and use the wheel to choose. This is nice because you can choose from shot to shot instead of winging it.
2. Setting Up your SLR Camera. turn it on set to manual (turn the top knob to M) take off the lens cap READY 3. Focusing Ok now its time to look thru that hole in the back. There are only 2 rings to move on the lens the one closest to the end of the lens is the one for focusing. Now like the picture to the right make it look clear as you can. If your having a hard time moving this you might have it on auto focus. There is a switch on the lens to turn that off if you like. it will have intials next to it like AF for auto focus and MF for manual focus. During low lighting situations you might want to do it set it to manual focus because it has a hard time seeing anything to focus on.
	4. Zooming Zooming is the other ring on your lens. It doesn't make things closer it crops the picture to fill the area. This actually flattens the picture and doesn't make it seem like anything is closer to you. A good focusing tip is to zoom in on the object you want clear and fucus then bring it back. This will give you a great "Focal Point." 5. Shutter Speed The shutter is in the camera and opens then closes to expose the film or censor. On my camera it is located on the bottom left of my veiw finder (the hole behind the camera.) To see it you might have to half push down on your shutter release button (a.k.a. picture taking button.) 2000 is a fast shutter due to the fact that it is open for 1/2000th of a second, which also means you will not need to have a tripod because thats hard to shake. Now if you set it to 30" then the shutter will be open for a while because that stands for 30 seconds. You should have a tripod unless you light making light art or are experimenting. The closest shutter speed that might need a tripod is 100. There is also a shutter described as B or Bulb which is open as long as the button is open. This is great if your only light sorce is the stars. To set it just turn your wheel above your shutter release.
6. f-stop This is the hole that lets light into you film or cencor. It follows as so. f22 is a very small hole so it lets in a very small amount of light. So if its a very bright day awsome because everything will be amazingly clear if you can use f22. Now if you are using f2.4 or something around that number you will have a shortened depth of feild meaning you will have a blurry forground and background. The focal point of this will be whatever it is you focused on. It makes it seem very dramatic. To set this you must hold down a button marked Av and turn the wheel on your camera.
	7. Light Metering This is basically balancing everything I have been talking about. Now point your camera at a grey card if you have one, if not improvise and find something grey, if you still dont have anything then for get the grey. The grey just helps balance everything perfect. Sometimes imperfection is perfect. Now look thru your camera and you should see something like whats to the left. And set your f-stop then set your shutter speed and get that light or needle or what ever into the middle and that is a perfect light reading and shoot. Basically mess with those 2 things untill your happy.
8. Color Balancing (digital shooting only instructions) This is for shooting based on lighting. This is all base on where you are and what kind of lights are making the effect. other wise your pictures will look like the left set instead of the right one. Basically it goes as so. Hit the WB button (white balance) and pick the picture with the wheel of the sun or light bulb or tungsten light bulb or just AWB (auto white balance) to ckeck your picture after you shoot hit the triangle in the box button to see how your picture turned out. It will help you figure it out. 9.End Basic This is the end of the basic instructions on how to shoot using a SLR camera.
	ADVANCED Shooting HDR Images (high definition range) This requires some equipment. First you need a gazing ball (mirror ball) this can be purchased at garden equipment stores. Then you need to get HDRshop which is a free program to students and commercial industries. This technique is great for 3d programs on making artificial lighting using a picture as the light source. It helps with realism on your 3d models. It can also be used for virtual tours and many other various ideas besides just looking cool.
Now first set up your mirror ball in the middle of your area that you want a 360 picture of. Then set up your tripod as far away as you can from the ball and shoot a clear picture of the ball filling from the top to the bottom of the frame. You need to take at least 4 pictures to do this right. One at each corner if the ball was a square. Then crop each of the pictures so the ball fills the frame. The cropping tool is circled in the top left corner so you know what it looks like in photoshop. I dont have a good zoom lens so i made do with what I could. I should be much further back so I wouldn't have to rubber stamp my self away as much. But this is just clean up and not part of the shooting. This is not a photoshop tutorial. I'm just letting you know this is what your frame should look like. Now after you crop these is photo shop open HDRshop. Open your cropped files in HDRshop and convert them by going to Images/Panorama/Panoramic Transformations. Then from there set your source image as the format mirrored ball and your desination image as Latitude/Longitude and hit ok. This will unwrap your picture to look more like the picture above. The reason i have you take 4 photos is so you can clean them up and sew them together. This will be in a later tutorial in the Maya section. I just thought i would add it in here for some fun.
	I hope any of this is helpful. MM