Our gallery is in a busy upscale retail area where we get a lot of visitors from all over the world. As you can imagine, they are thrilled to be in Hawaii and come see us to purchase a memory of their visit…a beautiful shot of a waterfall, dolphin, turtle, wave, mountain, Milky Way or any of the volcanic activity that takes place here. Occasionally, they are intent on getting a high quality shot of their own to take home, so they do a Costco run and buy a fairly high end digital professional type camera. Next stop, back at our gallery with the unopened box in hand asking us for some help in getting started with the new equipment.
If CJ or Don happen to be in the gallery, we are happy to help…IF we have the time to do so. We get a lot of traffic in the gallery and try to greet and engage everyone who is so kind as to stop in. If the new photographer is patient and we do get the time, we can at least get them started. However, I have often thought that it might be good to get them started and then point them to our blogs for some further tips…tips that might be good for anyone wanting to improve their photographic game.
So…I am going to give this a try. CJ is our master photographer and has taught Linda and I and many others a great deal about photography. Linda’s secondary talent, after her photography, is that of an artist and interior designer. My secondary talent is that I am a writer and story teller. So, I will engage CJ and Linda and then distill their thoughts into some ONE SUBJECT…SHORT…lessons for those fairly new to digital photography using fancy cameras and lenses rather than just phones for their photos. I will do a bunch of them over the next month or so and see if you like them. If you do, I will continue on a regular basis and build up a “library” of simple tips that may be of help to those who could use that assist. So here goes with an example of what you will see in this series….
Did you know your new camera has a diopter built in? Heck, I didn’t even know what a diopter is. It is a little dial, usually found close to the part of the camera you stick your eye up to…the view finder. You can move that small dial one way or the other AND CORRECT THE VISION OF THE IMAGE YOU ARE SEEING. It acts like glasses…and makes it possible for you to shoot your camera without wearing your glasses…in fact, that is the way you should be shooting your camera. It does NOT change the image you are shooting…it changes the image you are seeing.
I’m an old guy and my vision is not what it use to be. However, when I dial in the diopter…it is perfect. If I then hand that camera to my grand kid with his or her perfect vision, it will appear out of focus to them…so they can twist that dial and get it perfect for their needs. It is simple to use and adjust. It will help you make sure that the photos you are taking are in perfect focus.
Find the diopter on your camera right now and twist the dial a bit to see what it can do for you. When the view finder turns to perfect vision…give it a smile and you are ready to get the perfect images you have always wanted. Aloha.