Introduction to common problems in photography

Lead: April, May and June are the days when small holidays get together. Every holiday, the author always receives a lot of "help calls" about cameras. For many friends who are not familiar with the camera, it is inevitable that they will encounter some very difficult problems in the shooting process. If you only rely on the instructions, you are likely to be at a loss. Below, the author will take stock of the "camera problems" that I often receive, and see how we can solve the problems when shooting.

What if the photo is blurred?

Among the messages I received for help, the first one was "Why are my photos blurred?" . Actually, there are many reasons for this problem. Usually, according to the author's experience, camera blur has the following small problems that are difficult to solve.

1. Manual focus mode is turned on unexpectedly.

The most common and difficult problem of photo blur is that the camera has turned on the manual focus mode. Many friends use cameras, especially small card machines. Because the focusing process of the camera itself has not changed much, it is difficult to find that the shooting is blurred because it is not focused.

Among the focusing errors, manual defocusing is the most common problem.

Solution: For focusing mode, as long as it can be determined whether to turn on manual focusing, it can be solved. Generally speaking, the possible situations include: manual focusing of lens, manual focusing lever of fuselage (Nikon, Fuji, etc. ) and manual focus settings (various micro-orders) on the fuselage.

There are many ways to switch the manual mode, and many levers are most easily touched by mistake. In addition, many lenses, especially those of auxiliary factories, are still push-pull and need special attention.

The shutter speed is too slow.

The second common problem is the slow shutter speed. It usually appears in a dark environment. Judging this is actually very simple, just listen to the sound of the fast door. The normal sound should be a crisp "click" sound. If the sound stops intermittently, the shutter must be too slow. Of course, if many light sources in the photo are dragged into lines, then naturally the shutter is too slow.

When shooting in low light, either use a tripod, or improve the sensitivity and use a large aperture.

Solution: Improve the sensitivity, use a large aperture and turn on anti-shake. In general, the shutter is too slow, which is caused by insufficient light. Improving sensitivity is the most effective method. In addition, it is very necessary to check the aperture value, and photographers need to pay attention to the aperture value at all times. If you want to shoot people, use a large aperture and high ISO. If possible, it is very helpful to use a flash and a tripod.

Too slow shutter speed and sensitivity are related to aperture, so it is not enough to modify only one.

3. The wrong focus mode is selected.

Choosing the wrong focus mode is a common mistake made by many advanced novices. I believe that the error of using point focusing or autofocus can be generally noticed by everyone, but the error of focusing mode is often ignored.

Choosing the wrong focusing method is also a reason.

Solution: Focusing methods are usually divided into single focus, continuous focus and smart focus. Daily shooting, usually using a single focus. When using continuous focusing or intelligent servo focusing, the camera will automatically track the moving objects in the picture, which inevitably looks inaccurate.

4. The shooting distance is too close or too far.

The last problem is that the shooting distance is too far or too close. First of all, for all lenses, there is the closest focal length. If the shooting distance is too close, then naturally focusing cannot be completed. Although some card machines have macro mode, they can't approach the subject infinitely.

If it's too close and exceeds the nearest focal length, it's definitely not clear.

Solution: If you are too close, you should shoot from a distance. But sometimes, some card machines or micro-cameras have macro mode, which may not be able to focus at infinity, so it is necessary to check whether the camera mode setting is correct.

For the card machine, the shooting of distant objects in macro mode may not be clear either.

What we see on this page is the problem of blurred photos. There are many reasons for blurred photos, but in general, focusing error and exposure error are the two most common problems. Of course, too large aperture leads to too shallow depth of field, but this truth is usually easy to understand and will not be explained here.

What should I do if the photo exposure is abnormal?

Of all the questions, the same number as the photo blur question is "Why are my photos always too dark or too bright?" Exposure is the core topic of photography. There may be many factors for abnormal exposure, but for friends who are new to photography, the author summarizes the most common problems.

1. Unexpected opening of exposure compensation.

When the exposure is abnormal, many times people will accidentally turn on the exposure compensation. This is especially common in Canon fuselage, because many Canon fuselage can be equipped with a rear impeller to quickly adjust the exposure compensation, and everyone accidentally adjusted the exposure compensation range.

Be careful about exposure compensation.

Solution: Check the fuselage settings. If exposure compensation is turned on, please adjust the exposure compensation to 0 before shooting. However, it is also possible that the camera turns on surround exposure. At this time, we press the BKT button to see if the screen display is 0. If it is not adjusted to 0.

Attention should also be paid to the exposure around.

2. The ambient light ratio is too large.

There is also a longest encounter that the light ratio of the environment itself is too large. The common situation is when people are photographed in the backlight, so that in most cases, people are a silhouette.

Because of its large light ratio environment, it is difficult to shoot normal exposure directly without relying on auxiliary equipment.

Solution: For the environment with large light ratio, you can do it without relying on the camera. First of all, try to avoid backlight shooting with large light ratio. If necessary, spot metering can be used or exposure compensation can be increased appropriately. Of course, the problem of large light ratio can also be solved to a great extent by using flash lamp and reflector. Shoot with original documents.

We can increase exposure compensation and use spot metering cautiously in the environment with large light ratio.

3. Wrong exposure/metering mode selection

The wrong selection of exposure/metering mode is also a common cause of exposure error. First of all, we have to check whether the camera gear is in M gear, that is, manual gear. In addition, in most cases, we suggest that beginners try to use global exposure, because in most cases, the accuracy of global exposure is higher than spot metering or central key metering.

Because of the most common mistakes, you should pay special attention to three exposure options.

4. The actual shutter speed exceeds the shutter speed limit.

Sometimes the abnormal exposure is caused by the shutter speed limit. There are two possibilities here: when shooting with large aperture under strong light, the required shooting shutter speed is higher than the upper limit of camera shutter; Video mode is used when the shutter takes real-time view, and the lower limit of shutter speed is the reciprocal of frame rate.

Solution: The highest shutter speed of many SLR cameras is 1/4000s, while the upper shutter speed of some card machines is 1/2000s, so using f/ 1.4, f/ 1.8 and other apertures in the sun is likely to lead to overexposure. In addition, sometimes when we shoot outdoors, the ISO setting is too high, which will also make the shutter speed exceed the upper limit. At this time, you should check the sensitivity setting first, then narrow the aperture or use the ND mirror.

It is common for the shutter to exceed the upper limit, but in fact, the shutter speed has a lower limit, that is, in video mode.

Another common situation is that when you use live view, you change the mode to video instead of taking pictures. You can still shoot in video mode, but there is a minimum shutter speed limit. For example, if the video format is 1920× 1080 60P, then the lowest shutter speed can only be 1/60s. The inspection method is very simple, we just need to change the mode to the photo mode.

What should I do if the color and tone of the photo are strange?

The next question that people often encounter is "Why are my photos always strange in color?" In general, there are many reasons for the color deviation of photos. The first thing to determine is whether an optical filter is used. Except neodymium mirror, subtracter, CPL, gradient mirror, etc. It will cause the change of color tone to a certain extent. If it is not the reason of the filter, the author will summarize the most common body setting problems for everyone.

1, wrong white balance setting.

White balance error is a very common error. Because the white balance will not be displayed directly like the exposure parameters, it is sometimes difficult to find out after the white balance is set incorrectly.

For example, the overall color deviation of such photos, especially red, yellow or blue, must be a problem with the white balance.

Solution: After seeing the wrong color of the photo, the first reaction should be to check the white balance. If you don't know what kind of white balance is appropriate, the automatic white balance of the camera is actually very accurate now. In addition, using RAW files can solve the problem of white balance.

If you don't know what kind of white balance to use, use automatic.

2. A camera special effect filter is used.

The special effect filter will also directly affect the color of the photo, so if there is abnormal color in the photo, in addition to checking the white balance, we should also see if the special effect filter is turned off.

Most entry-level cameras have filter effects mode. If the shooting color is abnormal, check whether the filter is turned on.

3. The camera color management mode is set incorrectly.

Color optimization mode also needs special attention. Generally speaking, cameras have various color optimization modes, and various parameters can be customized in each mode, so if the parameters are adjusted too extreme, the photos will become abnormal. Of course, Sony has something more special.

Color style also needs special attention.

For an extreme example, Sony has a machine with S-LOG curve. If the S-LOG curve is turned on, the picture will look like this (suitable for video adjustment, but not suitable for photo shooting).

Solution: First check the color setting (Fuji is the film effect), then enter the custom menu and set all options to the default values. In addition, if you use a Sony camera, you need to check whether the logarithmic curve is used in color.

Why don't you respond to the camera operation?

The frequency of the following problems is relatively low, but they also appear in common problems. Why did I operate the camera and it didn't respond?

1. After the shutter is pressed, the camera does not shoot.

Pressing the shutter camera without taking pictures is also a problem encountered by many friends. In general, if the camera is set to self-timer mode, it is easy for people to notice, but there are two possibilities that people will misunderstand. These two possibilities are: the camera is set to the reflector pre-rising shooting mode; The camera is set to out of focus and the shutter is not released.

First, check the MUP function of the mirror. The check method is to press the shutter and then press it again. If the second shutter is released, it will be opened.

Solution: First, check the focus setting of the camera. If it is set to unfocused and the shutter cannot be released, we will not be able to press the shutter when the focus is unsuccessful. In addition, if you choose to pre-hang the mirror, the inspection method is very simple. After we press the shutter, if we press the shutter again, we will release the shutter. If the result is this, we just need to close the reflector and pre-lift it.

In addition to the pre-elevation of the reflector, there is another possibility that the shutter will not be released without focusing.

When the shutter is half pressed, the camera doesn't respond.

The following are the reasons and solutions for the out-of-focus of the half shutter camera. There are many reasons for half-pressing the shutter not to focus, and they are generally caused by many reasons at the same time, which is difficult to judge. Usually, some problems may include: switching to manual focus, wrong focus driving mode selection, improper focus selection, video mode shooting, change of shutter focus button setting, etc.

Shutter buttons can also have a variety of custom functions, and the author only lists one of them.

Solution: It is complicated to solve the problem that the shutter does not respond when it is half pressed. According to my experience, switching to manual focus or incorrect focus setting is the most common problem. In addition, some machines focus slowly under video (such as Sony RX 10II), which needs special attention.

3. After a long exposure, it takes a long time for the camera to display the photos.

For photographers who have just started shooting landscapes or starry sky, sometimes they often encounter a problem, that is, it takes a long time (usually the same as the exposure time) to display the picture after the camera is shot.

After the noise reduction of long exposure is turned off, the processing time of long exposure can be reduced.

Solution: This problem is mainly caused by the long-term exposure noise reduction of the camera body, and the specific principle will not be explained here. As long as we turn off the long exposure noise reduction, we can preview the photos immediately after shooting.

The problems I introduced today are all common problems in daily life. If you have any unsolved mysteries, please feel free to ask me, or leave a message at the bottom of the article, and I will answer them patiently.