Table Of Content
DAVID BUSCH’S
MASTERING
DIGITAL SLR
PHOTOGRAPHY
THIRD EDITION
David D. Busch
Course Technology PTR
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David Busch’s Mastering Digital SLR © 2012 David D. Busch
Photography, Third Edition
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David D. Busch
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All images © David D. Busch unless otherwise noted.
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For Cathy
Acknowledgments
Once again thanks to the folks at Course Technology PTR, who have pioneered pub-
lishing digital imaging books in full color at a price anyone can afford. Special thanks
to executive editor Kevin Harreld, who always gives me the freedom to let my imagi-
nation run free with a topic, as well as my veteran production team including project
editor Jenny Davidson and technical editor Mike Sullivan. Also thanks to Bill Hartman,
layout; Katherine Stimson, indexing; Sara Gullion, proofreading; Mike Tanamachi,
cover design; and my agent, Carole Jelen, who has the amazing ability to keep both pub-
lishers and authors happy. I’d also like to thank the Continent of Europe, without which
this book would have a lot of blank spaces where illustrations are supposed to go.
About the Author
With more than a million books in print, David D. Buschis the #1 selling author of
camera-specific photography books, and the originator of popular series like David
Busch’s Pro Secrets and David Busch’s Quick Snap Guides. He has written more than 30
hugely successful guidebooks for Canon, Nikon, Sony, and other digital SLR models,
including the all-time bestsellers for many models, as well as many popular books
devoted to dSLRs, including Digital SLR Pro Secrets. As a roving photojournalist for
more than 20 years, he illustrated his books, magazine articles, and newspaper reports
with award-winning images. He’s operated his own commercial studio, suffocated in
formal dress while shooting weddings-for-hire, and shot sports for a daily newspaper
and upstate New York college. His photos and articles have been published in Popular
Photography & Imaging, The Rangefinder, The Professional Photographer, and hundreds
of other publications. He’s also reviewed dozens of digital cameras for CNet and
Computer Shopper.
When About.com named its top five books on Beginning Digital Photography, debut-
ing at the #1 and #2 slots were Busch’s Digital Photography All-In-One Desk Reference
for Dummies and Mastering Digital Photography.During the past year, he’s had as many
as five of his books listed in the Top 20 of Amazon.com’s Digital Photography Bestseller
list—simultaneously! Busch’s 130-plus other books published since 1983 include best-
sellers like David Busch’s Quick Snap Guide to Using Digital SLR Lenses. His advice has
been featured on National Public Radio’s All Tech Considered.
Busch is a member of the Cleveland Photographic Society (www.clevelandphoto.org),
which has operated continuously since 1887.
Visit his website at http://www.dslrguides.com/blog. There you’ll find news, tips, and
an errata page with typo alerts from sharp-eyed readers.
Contributor Bio
Technical Editor Michael D. Sullivan added a great deal to this book in addition to
checking all the text for technical accuracy. A veteran photographer (in the military
sense of the word!), he contributed some of the best images in this book, and volun-
teered his expertise in Mac OS X for important behind-the-scenes testing of software
and hardware.
Mike began his photo career in high school where he first learned the craft and amazed
his classmates by having Monday morning coverage of Saturday’s big game pictured on
the school bulletin board. Sullivan pursued his interest in photography into the U.S.
Navy, graduating in the top ten of his photo school class. Following Navy photo assign-
ments in Bermuda and Arizona, he earned a B.A. degree from West Virginia Wesleyan
College.
He became publicity coordinator for Eastman Kodak Company’s largest division where
he directed the press introduction of the company’s major consumer products and
guided their continuing promotion. Following a 25-year stint with Kodak, Sullivan pur-
sued a second career with a PR agency as a writer-photographer covering technical imag-
ing subjects and producing articles that appeared in leading trade publications. In recent
years, Sullivan has used his imaging expertise as a technical editor specializing in digi-
tal imaging and photographic subjects for top-selling books.
Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
PART I: BASIC DIGITAL SLR TECHNOLOGY
Chapter 1
The Incredible Transformation of the
Digital SLR 3
Amazing New Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Sensor Sensations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Other Camera Hardware Improvements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Software Innovations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Inside Your Digital SLR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Key Components of Your dSLR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Sensors Up Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Capturing Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Noise and Sensitivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Dynamic Range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Controlling Exposure Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
How We Get Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Infrared Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Using Interchangeable Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Lens Interchangeability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Viewfinders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Choosing the dSLR That’s Right for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Questions to Ask Yourself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Contents vii
Chapter 2
Mastering Your Exposure Controls 41
Exposure Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Tonal Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Histogram Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Understanding Histograms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
What Affects Exposure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Choosing an Exposure Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Programmed and Full Auto Exposures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Adjusting Exposure with ISO Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Semi-Automatic and Manual Exposure Modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Aperture-Priority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Shutter-Priority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Manual Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Exposure Metering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Bracketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Bracketing and Merge to HDR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Chapter 3
Mastering the Mysteries of Focus 69
Manual Focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Autofocus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Autofocus Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Autofocus Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
How Focus Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Phase Detection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Contrast Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Other AF Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Fine-Tuning the Focus of Your Lenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Chapter 4
dSLR Quirks and Strengths 83
It’s Done with Mirrors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Mirror Bounce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Mirror Size and Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Focus Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Pentaprism/Pentamirrors and So Forth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Eyepiece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
viii David Busch’s Mastering Digital SLR Photography, Third Edition
Protecting the Sensor from Dust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Whither Dust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Dust vs. Dead Pixels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Protecting Sensors from Dust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Fixing Dusty Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Cleaning the Sensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Secrets of dSLR Image Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
One Slot or Two? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Key Considerations for Choosing a Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Working with RAW and Other File Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Format Proliferation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
JPEG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
TIFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
RAW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Image Size, File Size, Image Quality, and File Compression. . . . . . . . 116
Use JPEG, RAW, or TIFF?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Advantages of Shooting RAW+JPEG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Advantages of Shooting RAW Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Advantages of Shooting JPEG Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Chapter 5
Working with Lenses 123
Lenses and dSLRs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Digital Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Lens Designs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
If It Ain’t Bokeh, Don’t Fix It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Understanding Lens Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Typical Upgrade Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Image Stabilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
The Bane of Image Blur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Causes of Camera Shake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Diagnosing Camera Shake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Preventing Camera Shake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Using Image Stabilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Contents ix
Chapter 6
Working with Light 157
Two Types of Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Continuous Lighting Essentials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Electronic Flash Essentials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Understanding Flash Sync. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Lighting Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Working with Existing Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Working with Electronic Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Painting with Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
PART II: EXPLORING NEW TOOLS
Chapter 7
Live View and Movies 177
Working with Live View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Live View Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Shooting Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Capturing Video/Sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Tips for Shooting Better Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Shooting Script/Storyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Storytelling in Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Composition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Lighting for Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Recording Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Tips for Better Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Chapter 8
Exploring GPS and WiFi 189
What’s Geotagging? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Nikon Leads the Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Eye-Fi Upload. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
