Shooting to the right

Nikon have expressed their sincere apologies for the delays to some of the new anticipated Coolpix camera due to the recent earthquakes. An apology was not needed and our thoughts are with them in these tough times and we very much appreciate that they have been so diligent as to keep us ap-praised of the new planned dates for these cameras.
The COOLPIX A300 and B500 are expected to be available in May 2016, the COOLPIX A900 and B700 should arrive in July 2016 and the Nikon KeyMission 360 action camera will be available in October 2016 as more time is required for software adjustment.

In addition, the premium compact cameras, Nikon DL18-50 f/1.8-2.8, DL24-85 f/1.8-2.8, and DL24-500 f/2.8-5.6, will be delayed due to the serious issues with the integrated circuit for image processing built into the three new premium compact cameras, originally scheduled for a June 2016 release. Due to these faults Nikon have not, as yet, given a new release date for these much antici-pated premium compact cameras..
Head on over to the Nikon blog to read more.
in-my-viewfinder



Dust is annoying but fungus is a lens killer. Stopping fungus from forming is the key to a long happy life for your lens and this product will go a long way to help you out.
Using a UV LED, this product will kill any bacterial living on or in your lens and if exposed, your image sensor too.
Head on over to Cathay Photo .com to read more and buy your own.
in-my-viewfinder



Snap bridge enables you to take a photograph and using Bluetooth, the image will magically save to your phone. The phone can then auto share the image to Nikon Image Space (should you wish to) or let you play with the image using other apps.
More interestingly the phone can make changes to the camera from simply setting the time and date right to doing a full firmware update!
Head on over to the Snap Bridge website to read more.
in-my-viewfinder

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Intro

Back in 2013 we covered the basics of exposure and have dipped into this subject a number of times. This minth we are going to focus one one particular technique called "Exposing to the right".

So what is it?

When your camera figures out it's exposure it tries its best to stick everything in the middle of the histogtram. In the middle everything is safe and nothing gets blown out.
Everything doesn't always fit in the middle however. This is especially true with landscapes where the camera struggles to expose the ground and the sky either having the ground dark or the sky blown out (white).

The common go to here is to under expose the image and lighten in post-production. This can work, however, completely black areas of the image are the same as completely white areas in that all de-tail is lost in this area. Worse still darker areas tend to be noisier and when you lighten them this noise becomes very apparent. Not a good look.

Another growing technique for many photographers is to take multiple exposures and mash them together in an HDR image. This can be very effective, it can also look crass and cheesy, however it is undeniably a creative tool when used correctly.

An alternative is to expose to the right of the histogram. Similar to under exposing but this way you are only lowering your exposer to just low enough to stop a complete blow out of the highlights.
This way you wont dip too deep into the dark areas of your image, preserving detail in all areas.

How too

When faced with a scene that is stretching your cameras dynamic range you need to take a test shot and look at the histogram. Most cameras have them and can be enabled in the Playback menu>Display mode or similar.
Ideally your histogram should be a smooth transition from left to right tapering off to next to noth-ing at either corner.
Should you find your histogram bunched up to the right, or even just a thin peak, you have blown highlights. Another, and frankly quicker way of seeing this, is to use blinkys which, again, can be enabled in your playback options.

To rectify this problem you just need to lower your exposure till it is just below the point where the white parts of your image blow out. This can be checked after each exposure in playback.
It is worth noting that areas of very strong highlight such as a light bulb or even the moon at night are going to over expose and unless you are trying to show the element of a light bulb then you have to allow for some parts of the image to blow out. Similarly if you have are dropping your exposure down to bring highlights in then take care of your shadows. If things are getting too dark you might want to switch technique of dig out a light source of your own.

Finishing

The image that you will be left with will be okay and most importantly will have data in most if not all of its highlights and shadows. You now need to edit your image in post processing to bring back lost contrast, lighten darker parts of your image where necessary and whatever other tinkering you like to do.

Next time you are out on a cloudy day, you might want to give this a go. If you do this already then please do share your own images and any details you like on this journal for others to learn by.


in-my-viewfinder