There are weird things that happen when shooting; cameras stop working, sometimes there are issues with the best way to shoot an image, and other problems that might crop up; here are a few questions with some answers that may help when in a quandary:
Q. What are my options when I am shooting raw, but running out of space on the memory card and forgot to bring another?
A. Switch to shooting in jpeg large..you will have a lot of space on the card…better to get a jpeg than nothing.
Q. My camera gives me an error message or stops working: How do I prevent myself from tossing the camera into the ocean? (start with #1 and work your way down the list if nothing is working.)
1. remove and replace the battery; power up again.
2. replace the battery with a new one.
3. after doing the above, and camera isn’t right, return to default camera settings.
4. upload the latest firmware
5. Call a rep from the manufacturer. (Actually, this happened to me. The ability of my camera to auto focus was lost, I couldn’t get the center focus to even appear on the viewfinder; the rep was able to talk me through some repeated button pushes and the auto focus worked afterward.)
Q. The sky is bright blue, I’m shooting with an ultra wide angle and there is a dark blue blob in the middle of the image. What do I do?
A. Take off the polarizer or turn it so there is a negative effect…polarizers cause uneven skies on ultra-wide lenses.
Q.I am photographing a waterfall, it is cloudy but the water is still very reflective..what should I do?
A. Use a polarizer to cut the glare and slow your shutter speed to get flowing soft water.
Q. I am at the beach at sunset, but the darn sun is too bright on the horizon..How do I control it?
A. Use a reverse Neutral Density filter…it is darker in the middle, put the darkest part on the sun.
Q. I am at the beach and want the water to look misty and ethereal..what do I do?
A. Use a polarizer and a 5 stop or 10 stop ND filter for a long exposure…use an aperture of around f16 or f18 and ISO 100.
Q, I am stuck shooting in the middle of the day on vacation…it is sunny, bright, blue skies with harsh shadows…how do I handle this?
A. Bracket three images. convert them to an HDR image, then use a program like Silver Efex Pro to convert to black and white…because of the HDR treatment, the image will be dynamic in black and white.
Q. It is a cloudy, windy, overcast day…not good for photography…Is there anything I can do to shoot?
A. Pull out a 10 stop ND filter…it will give the clouds movement and drama, convert to black and white if necessary.
Q. I am shooting some scenes in the forest during the fall..it is windy as hell..what should I do?
A. Don’t fight the wind, let the grasses and trees move in the image for a unique shot; the stability of tree trunks will ground the shot.
Q. It is sunny, but I want to shoot a waterfall and there are specular highlights and too much brightness..
A. As a last resort, put on a 10 stop ND and polarizer, sometimes it will give an interesting result..otherwise use a telephoto lens and zoom in on a shady part of the falls, if possible.
Q. The sky is too bright in all my images, what will help?
A. Use a graduated ND filter to control the brightness of the sky and even the exposure…the 3 stop is my favorite, because a 1 stop is almost totally useless, and a 2 stop is often not enough.
Q. I am photographing the horizon on the ocean should I use a graduated ND or a hard edge ND?
A. Use a hard edge ND on a hard edged horizon.
