TOTW #8: Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back; What Do These Letters Mean?

Computer Tip: Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

Tired of moving your mouse to the Back and Forward buttons on your browser's title bar to navigate between recently visited pages?  Well, there is an easier way.

Different browsers have different supported ways of doing this, but here are a few variations; try them all in your favorite browser and pick one that works.

To go back a page, try: Alt+Left Arrow, Backspace, or hold Shift while rotating the mouse wheel toward you.

To go forward a page, try: Alt+Right Arrow, or hold Shift while rotating the mouse wheel away from you.

Some mice and/or keyboards have dedicated Back and Forward buttons too.

And while I'm at it, instead of using your mouse wheel to scroll a web page, tap the space bar to navigate down one screen at a time, or use the Page Up and Page Down keys.  And don't forget the F6, F8, Control+O and Control+L shortcuts from earlier tips to make browsing with the keyboard easier.

Multimedia Tip: What Do These Letters Mean?

Cameras often have letter designations for the different settings, and their meanings might not always be obvious.  So here are a few common settings and what they are:

P	Program mode; the camera decides how to expose an image, but you can shift the program by rotating the dial under your finger.
Av or A	Aperture Priority.  You tell the camera the size of aperture you want, and it decides the appropriate shutter speed to expose properly.
Tv or S	Shutter Priority.  You tell the camera the shutter speed, and it figures out the appropriate aperture size.
M	Manual Mode.  You select both the aperture size and the shutter speed.
Adep	Aperture depth.  You select two objects at different distances that you would like to be in focus, press the shutter half way down for each, and the camera figures out the aperture size and shutter speed for the proper exposure.

If you're unsure what these terms mean, feel free to go back and watch the first episode of my Introduction to Photography classes, where I explain exposure in detail.

TOTW #2: Control key shortcuts; Camera Flash

Computer Tip: The Control Key

The Control key on your keyboard is actually quite useful. There are many keyboard shortcuts that utilize the Control key, and while many vary by the software you are using, but there are a few that work in most software. (The Mac uses the Command key instead of Control for the following commands.)

(Windows) Control +	(Mac) Command +	Action Taken
X	X	Cut selected text / image (to clipboard)
C	C	Copy (to clipboard)
V	V	Paste (from clipboard)
Z	Z	Undo last action
Y	(N/A)	Redo last action
N	N	Create new document
A	A	Select all of current document
O	O	Open document
S	S	Save document
Arrows	Option + Arrows	Move cursor forward or backward one word (Left / Right) or paragraph (Up / Down)
Home	Left Arrow	Move to the top of the current document
End	Right Arrow	Move to the end of the current document
(Alt + F4)	Q	Close Current Program
Backspace	(N/A)	Backspace over entire word

Then there are character formatting shortcuts as well on Windows:

Control +	Character Format
B	Bold
I	Italic
U	Underline

There you go! The less time you spend switching between your mouse and keyboard the more productive you'll be. Memorize a few of these keyboard commands and you'll get more done in less time.

Multimedia Tip: Using Camera Flash

I've always believed that natural light usually provides the best looking pictures. But sometimes it needs a little help. That's where the flash comes in.

In fact, I almost always use my flash on my camera, whether I'm taking pictures inside or outside, if there are any people or unwanted shadows in the image. And the reason is simple: to take control over my lighting. Anyone who attended/watched my photography class knows that "control of lighting is everything in photography." Don't just turn your flash on all of the time, though; it takes a while to get a feel for how and when. But here are a few guidelines to help get better pictures.

Whenever there is a large difference in the amount of light hitting your subject and their surroundings (for example, someone's face is in the shade but the background behind them is in the sun), turning on the flash to fill in the darker areas of the picture (i.e. your subject) is essential to capturing a usable image. Yet in the camera's default "automatic" setting cameras will leave the flash off in this situation. So turn on the flash to provide the extra lighting needed to brighten your subject to better match the lighting of the background.

Conversely, if you are taking a picture of a subject that is more than about 20 feet away, turning on the flash will do no good. In fact, it will usually result in a very dark image because the light from your flash just can't reach the subject; it dims as it gets farther from the camera. I always laugh when I see hundreds of camera flashes going off in sports stadiums, because 90+% of the time those pictures won't come out properly because the field is just too far away to reflect back any light from the flash. So when taking a picture of a distant subject, just turn off the flash whether it is night or day. The camera will then know to expose the image longer to record a brighter (and properly exposed) image. Of course, the "20 feet" rule varies based on the output capacity of your flash and the camera's ISO setting, but as a general rule, if your subject is 20 feet or more away, just turn off the flash. And if you are exposing a distant object at night, use a tripod to steady the camera.

If you are trying to capture both a dimly lit subject in the foreground and a distant background at night, you will need to find a mode on your camera that exposes the background properly, but turns on the flash as well. On SLR cameras the Aperture Priority (A or Av) setting usually does this; set to the appropriate aperture for the intended depth-of-field, turn on the flash, and fire away. On point-and-shoot cameras look for a night flash mode (an icon with a flash with the moon), but don't be too surprised if your camera doesn't have it; it isn't very common on inexpensive cameras.

Lastly (for this time), when taking portrait pictures, even outside, I like to turn on the flash to not only fill in any shadows, but also to create a little glint in my subject's eyes. Eyes are the window to the soul, and that glint helps to make them stand out more in the photograph.

If your camera has the ability to adjust how bright the flash is (many do), I recommend playing with it to get better control over lighting. Most of the time you will need to dial down the level of the flash (-1 or -2 EV) to avoid having your pictures look flat and washed out. Look for an icon with a flash symbol and +/- to find this function.

TOTW #1: Easier Web Navigation; Better Portraits

So I think I want to start doing a 'tip of the week' posting on my blog. But each one will really be two tips... one computer-related, one for photography, audio, or video. And these aren't going to be targeted at people who already have expertise in these areas; these are for normal people. It has taken me years to figure out all of the little tricks that I use all of time time; and it will be nice to pass on some of that knowledge.

Computer Tip: Open web sites more quickly and easily.

Part 1: Most people type out www.google.com in their browser's address bar to get to Google's web site. A quicker way to do the same thing is to type "google" and press [Control+Enter] on your keyboard. Your browser will automatically add the "www." and ".com" for you. This tip works for any .com web site, in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera, as well as Safari on Windows. Unfortunately Safari on the Mac doesn't support this feature.

Part 2: Instead of grabbing your mouse to click on the address bar in your browser, press [Alt+D] in any Windows browser (or [Command+L] on the Mac). The whole web site address bar entry should then be automatically highlighted, so you can just start typing a new site address. Then use the Control+Enter trick to get to web sites more quickly. So to quickly get to Google's home page, type: [Alt+D] google [Control+Enter]. Much faster than the "normal" way of doing things.

Multimedia Tip: Better Portrait Photos

Since I'm currently involved in a photo directory project, it seems appropriate to give a tip to get better portrait photos. This one is a little longer than I'll be making future tips, but it's full of really good information.

Getting good portraits doesn't require fancy equipment. It's all about the right lighting and getting people to relax and be themselves. Even inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras can capture good portraits.

Start with lighting... the best portraits use soft lighting coming mostly from one side of the subject. Harsh lighting such as the afternoon sun isn't flattering, and on-camera flashes produce a very flat image which hides the features that make people distinctive and interesting. The easiest way to get soft lighting is to use indirect light coming from a window or doorway, or to set your subject near a white object being lit by the sun. If you must take pictures in the sun, have the subject turn so it is at their backs, but not shining directly into your camera lens.

Have your subjects turn their bodies slightly toward the most prominent light source, but keep their head facing the camera. In addition to better lighting, the diagonal line created by their shoulders is far more interesting than the straight line created when someone is standing with their body aimed straight ahead, and it gives more of a feeling of depth to the photograph. I've found that somewhere between 25 and 45 degrees of turn is ideal, but it depends on your subject and lighting conditions. Just avoid right angles in the picture by using diagonal shoulders.

Getting people to relax is trickier; you can only do so much and the rest is up to them. Making a joke usually helps, as does adding distance between the camera and subject. People don't like having cameras right in their faces, so step back and zoom in. In addition, the extra distance helps facial features to be recorded more accurately; the wide lens angle required when too close to you subject leads to noses, foreheads, and chins that are too big, especially when compared to the smaller ears that also result. (Wide angles exaggerate distance and size differences.)

These same techniques can be applied to candid snapshots too.

That's it for this week!

There you go! Two quick tips... things that took me a while to figure out, and now I'm passing that on to you. Good luck!