Fire off a few shots and check the image on your LCD screen. If you used all the correct settings, you should have a perfectly exposed ocean sunset with your subject rendered as a black silhouette. First, focus the camera on the woman subject. We want the outline of her silhouette to be crisp and in perfect focus. I recommend using a large aperture opening, specifically f8 or higher. The reason for this is we want the background sunset and ocean to be in good focus too. One great portrait effect can be had just by remembering that you don?t need to see a face to know who the person is, as when they are in silhouette. These do take some extra thought in creating, as you need to really get the lighting ?right-on? but if all else fails just go outside at sunset and place the person in front of it. Just expose for the sky area a bit away from the sun and the person will then automatically come out as a silhouette. These kinds of shots also make for great romantic images such as a couple at a beach at sunset.
Getting closer to your subject with a zoom telephoto lens will both isolate your subject and draw attention to it. Many second rate photographs aren?t visually interesting because the photographer hasn?t taken the time to isolate the subject and make it pop. When you zoom in on the important details, your subjects will always steal the show. Normal lenses don?t always give you this luxury, which is another reason why telephoto zoom lenses are crucial. In addition to offering you the marvelous convenience of being able to change focal lengths quickly between pictures, zoom lenses enable you to create a novel special effect by changing focal lengths during an exposure. The result of this zoom effect is a relatively sharp central subject engulfed in a radiant burst of light streaks. The effect works best with a strong color or tonal contrast or with a brightly colored subject set against a dark background. In order to use shutter zoom, unwind your lens so it is zoomed out as far as possible. As soon as you hit the shutter use your left hand to scroll the lens back in. Check the LCD to judge your results and experiment with the speed at which you zoom in to create different effects. Also try starting with the zoom as wide as possible and during the exposure zoom in to your subject for a variation of results.
Regarding this topic, I also have written a What are the most important upgrades for the Canon G13? article. You are welcome to click and read it. I hope you like it!
I love when all the color start coming back out. The pinks and greens and reds and yellows. It?s like a fresh start. I grew up in Indonesia, it had pretty and warm 80 degree weather all year? there is no such thing as four seasons there, because it is tropical. When I moved here I just could not believe the four distinct seasons of winter, spring, summer, fall?each season brings its own colors and feel, I just LOVE it! :) I often wonder why so few photographers explore the world after night falls. Perhaps they feel that capturing light is a daytime adventure, or that night photography a mysterious and difficult assignment. In fact, night photography is remarkably simple - but you have to invest a bit of effort to achieve images that will make your friends open their eyes and say, ?WOW!?
