One thing that I regret most - keeping a low ISO on some of my photoshoots. Some years ago I read that you should keep your ISO as low as possible every time, preferably 100-200, otherwise your photo will be ruined by digital noise, etc. I can't remember how many photoshoots were ruined, how many shots I screwed because my ISO was low/not high enough and I was afraid to bump it higher to compensate for low-light conditions and to shoot faster. Please don't be afraid to set up high ISO, 500, 800, 1000, 1200 and even higher if there is not enough light. It's better to have an amazing sharp photo that you can later edit and remove noise, than a blurred photo that you can't repair or not get a photo at all.
Another good video this morning Joshua. At 76 years of age I often have problems with camera shake so I bump up my shutter speed and ISO to compensate and with Topaz De Noise AI it helps quite a bit. I believe you should always take the hand held shot first anyway because the light just may change before you get your tripod set up and you would have missed your chance completely . There are many times I just go for a walk with my camera on local trails and enjoy nature around me.
I'm quite an experienced photographer already, but I can't help but to enjoy your videos. The advice you give and the photos you take are both exceptional!
I've just found your channel and love it! Because of your comment about trolls I looked at the comments on this video and was pleased to see that your presentation style encourages positive comments from newbies and oldies alike. You are on the way to building a strong collaborative community. Well done and keep the videos coming!
Joshua just wanted you to know I really enjoy your videos. For a rookie like me you break it down where I can understand it whatever the topic may be! Keep um coming! Rookie Photographer Ken
A nice trip to Hafren Forest there. The old mine up on the moor over the other side of the river to where you walked is well worth a trip: there is old machinery still there from the early 1900s. This morning I was photographing the deer at Powys Castle with, shock horror, 3200 ISO! No way I could get sharp shots in the poor light without it. I use Define from the NIK collection to ease off some of the noise.
I wouldn't consider myself a beginner, still I find your content enjoyable and refreshing to watch. Especially because you show how gear doesn't mean "that" much and make quite entertaining content.
Another great video! Love you channel as unlike a lot of other channel this seems like you are ‘one of us’. No top end gear , giving us great tips and advice using the same gear most of us use and still grabbing some great shots. Almost 5000 subscribers now! I remember when was only a couple of hundred 👏👏👏
Your channel has quite literally been a godsend. I've been doing photography for about 6-7 months now and I feel like I've kinda stagnated. After watching a few of your videos, I feel like once I'm able to get out and about I'll be able to take much better photos than I have before. I hope to head out to Shenandoah National Park this weekend to give a lot of your advice a go :)
Thanks Joshua. Recently l have avoided the low iso mafia and found that iso ,200/400 works wonders for my hand held shops. Thanks for your videos which have helped me a lot.
Useful video, on the other side of the coin if you want pin sharp photos and can use a tripod also consider weighing down with something. It's surprising the shake you can get on a light tripod with wind and a slowish shutter speed.
Nice video! Make the shutter speed equal to your focal length or above to avoid any blur occurring from camera shake. The shutter speed is one of the more important aspect to consider when when hand-holding your camera.
You are doing great with your videos. Your consistent growth in subscribers is verification. Your authenticity and honest assessments coupled with the ability to laugh at yourself from time to time provides all of us a sense of being able to relate to your photography tutorials. Keep them coming. You are doing well.
Thanks for sharing these amazing videos, I’m a new follower from Costa Rica 🇨🇷 and it’s a joy seeing all those beautiful locations you go out to. I love the fact that you show us the photos with all the details about how it was taken, this helps me a lot. If is not too much to ask can you also add what’s the lens you are using or maybe say it at the begging of the video. For beginners (at least in my case) is hard to find out what’s the best lens to use in different scenarios or for different compositions. This is one of the best channels I’ve seen mate, keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your experience with such an awesome way of explaining it!
Enjoy your video style, calm informative and useful at all levels. Like you I prefer hand hold but I am getting frustrated with blur. I live in Birmingham and love my canal photography, and hand held goes with the environment. So thanks for this and the 50mm 1.8 vid as well. :)
I get an adrenaline rush right before I take a photo all the time. That's why I like "run and gun", street photography, and all photography where you only get one shot because that moment is never going to occur again.
Another good tip for beginners to maximize sharpness in your photos is to use your lens zoom/magnifier and “check” the sharpness on your subject before taking the picture…. Another excellent teaching video, Joshua…
When I shoot handheld, I use the 2 second timer and the breath-out method. When on a tripod I use the 10 second timer, or my phone app. I would like to get some long spikes for the tripod feet.
Another tip might be, when you're pushing limits on shutterspeed and focallength, just take a bunch of photos of the subject and you've got a good chance to get a sharp one.. Really like your channel by the way.
One tip that really helped me on my Sony A6500 was to set the minimum shutter speed to 1/125 (Aperture priority mode), you do have to be careful that this doesn't cause your ISO to go to high though.
you have 250D handheld shot much easier. Fullframe & medium format shutter mechanism shakes a lot when you take photos, much challenging. I'm excited to see you use fullframe or the fuji medium format on you adventure in the future
I think noisy image can be fixed in Post. Recently the two tools I use are DeepPrime for fixing iso noise. Topaz Sharpen help to sharpen those slightly off focus images. I am non believer of software tool until I started using them and I am not affiliate with these tools makers.
Thanks Joshua for sharing your thoughts and tips....very helpful for me even though I am only a hobbyist. Interesting comments on ISO as I always leave mine on Auto & on most occasions I get good shots. Just one less setting to worry about. However I get your point so maybe I should try... cheers from Australia 😀
Awesome video Joshua 😎...love your take on this... especially love the ones u took with the 50mm...I always thought the 50mm was portraits...u giving me the zeal to go make art.have a blessed Sunday
Very slick transition :) I use the tripod to slow me down, but on so many occasions it’s not needed at all, though what I find is to keep my ISO as low as possible is usually helped by using the tripod, though does depend on the subject and ambient light, love seeing your channel grow. 👍
I like using a tripod because my camera has a lot of noise over ISO400, but you are likely to miss opportunities if you don't shoot handheld when there is a brief chance of a photo. You can do both - grab a snap at ISO800 hand held, then set up on the tripod at ISO100, then if the light changes at least you get the shot, whereas tripod only means you missed the chance.
Bumping up ISO can help in a few ways , different camera's handle higher ISO better than others. I have taken a shot in lowish light with the 250D at ISO 3200 and 6400 and turned out ok only a little noise which was workable. if i too the same picture on my 2000D the noise would have been more notable. On many of my pictures i tend to work with ISO 100 - 800 on the 250D they seem fine even at 800, what i will say though is if i can get away with ISO 100 i will always use it.
I rarely use a tripod. I find them a pain to use and with image stabilization as good as it is these days there's really no need most of the time. Waterfalls, sunrise/sunset or just general low light conditions is about the only times I'll use one.
As far as hand held, you can brace the camera against a tree or boulder, with out having to use a tripod. Another tip...if you have a strap, you can wrap it around your right forearm and create a tight sling 👍
The 250D works great up to 1600 ISO. Above that, it's too grainy. Grain is significantly less noticeable when photos are printed, versus looking at them on a monitor.
Great video as always! Thanks for all the tips and detailed information. I only have one question that came as part of this video you have to deal with a bit of rain. How do you protect the lens and camera from drops getting in?
Get a camera with good IBIS (about 6 stops stabilisation) - I can hand hold mine to reliably get up to 2 seconds with sharp detail with 50mm equivalent and do at 400m equivalent down to 1/30th. And I drink plenty of coffee and over 60!
Your style of vlog and instruction is fantastic,over the years I have watched many vlogs from all walks of photography, you are a natural keep up the good work.
Just caught up with this blog, I have just started doing hand held+ Manual+Auto ISO+AF and not using my tripod, my settings are usually 125 at f8-f11, in any outdoor conditions, when checking my pics back home I was very surprised how high the ISO was in some of the pictures and yet there was little noise! so now I hardly ever worry about trying to use 100 ISO what's the point? Thanks for the tips...
I see subs are still a bit bonkers! You said focal length and I was sure you were going to use the old 35mm saying of never using a speed below your focal length. EG 50mm use 1/60s, 200mm use 1/250s. Always worked for me and as for the body stance and hold of the camera, make me wonder what the folk using mirrorless do. From the early days of digital when I would see folks with there arms held out to see the image I used to wonder how the heck they got on. In an earlier life I used a 645 format for weddings and with that it was essential to get your arms into the body and the camera against the head. 1/60s (focal plane shutter) was flash sync speed so that was the usual speed to work at, with the 80mm lens, difficult but I used to manage. Sounds a bit daft, but it tucking the arms in works even with a TLR (my first medium format) where you can't get it against the head, well I couldn't anyway. LOL.
Thank you 😁 That was always a very good rule to follow, but with modern stabilisation, it doesn't quite apply like that anymore, and is more individual to each camera and person. Still, it's a very good one to know as a guide 😁
I'm very new to photography but I really like using the screen on my camera rather than the viewfinder, is this something that will become a hindrance in the future or just a preference thing?
It's good to be able to use both. It's fine to use your screen as a beginner (I still do all the time) but as you progress, you'll probably find you'll want to use your viewfinder more and more
The issue I face is when using 70-200 or 200-500 lens. I have taken some great sports shots with iso 500 and fast shutter speed. But f 2.8 and 1/30 is a different ball game…would a higher iso help ?
You say in your video, shooting sharp photos without a tripod. However, I see one in your backpack...:) I don"t like using a tripod, except for long exposure photography.
I forgot to ask, have you changed the camera you use to make these videos? I am getting a black line top and bottom of the image on YT and your face is a bit washed out. It does not seem to compensate very well for the usually darker background
Coming from bird photography I can only laugh at the ISO barriers. Sure it would be preferable, but in animal photography, especially of those hectic little birds, the object must be in 100% pure sunlight for a low ISO to be feasible. And even then it makes much more sense to increase the ISO to increase shutterspeed to avoid movement blur. Of course landscape photography is different but that "100 ISO" 'rule' still makes me laugh. (Also: I prefer taking photos without tripod as well, I usually rather up the ISO than get the tripod out - unless the light is really bad of course)
i will admit that there have been times where I compromised when there was a possibilty of using a longer lens I used a mono pod as a working walking stick / camera support and it was worth it
Lol it's just like how I'm thinking when I take photos when i take photos of people. Take my photo when i breath out and 3 points of stability to stay still. That is for the other tips man. Keep it up.
