Photography FAQs

Question on All Things Photography

Welcome to the Photography FAQs section of ATP. Obviously this part of the site will grow over time and your questions are always welcome, but for now these are just some of the questions we have been asked over the past couple of years.

Remember, these are just short answers to quick questions designed to point newbies in the right direction. If you would like further information on anything covered here, please just ask.

NEW! Now you can participate and add your own question to All Things Photography and receive answers from us and other visiting photographers. You can also contribute by giving your own feedback on questions you may know something about!

Simply complete the form at the bottom of this page to add your FAQ! If there is no category available for your question, we will add one for you.

Lens FAQs

Lighting FAQs

Wedding Photography – FAQs

Photoshop FAQs

Stock Photography – FAQs

Exposure FAQs

JPEG/RAW FAQs

Software FAQs

Printing FAQs

Flash Photography – FAQs

Miscellaneous FAQs

What Others Have Asked

Minolta Lenses – Is there an other camera you can put Minolta lenses on?

I am pretty certain that the Minolta AF and Konica Minolta AF lenses can be used with Sony’s DSLR cameras.

How to copyright photos on a CD – by Nicole (Australia) – Hi there, I have been asked to photograph a wedding for a friend of a friend. However she does not want the photos printed the client just wants them edited and put onto a CD so they can decided which photos they like and print the photographs themselves. I have no problem with this, but how do i go about copyright protection. I thought about adding a watermark only problem with this is that it will be present when they print them. Is there anyway i am able to copyright my photos on a CD but still allow my client to print themselves???? Thanks, Nicole

Hi Nicole, If you are handing over a CD/DVD of images for printing, I assume they are all high resolution? If you are doing that then I hope you have added the value of this to the price of shooting the wedding?

f a wedding client is buying the images at high resolution as part of their package, you are effectively handing over the printing/sharing rights to those images so I am not sure why you would want to copyright them. If you have certain criteria such as you only want the clients to print them for personal/album use, you need to include this along with any other details in your contract…that is better than copyrighting each image, especially with a watermark.

If you want to embed copyright data into each image, you can do this individually with each file by adding it to the exif data. To do this, assuming you have Photoshop, open the image, hit CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+i (on a PC…or FILE-FILE INFO from the menu) and that will bring up all the file info with spaces where you can add your own copyright terms and conditions.
I would be more likely to do this within the wedding contract as I said before…

Hope this helps and good luck with it, Nick ATP

Online photo storage – by John (Mississippi, USA) – I am thinking that storing photos on the hard drive on my computer is a possible dilemma waiting to happen. What experience have you had with services on line, i.e. Photo Bucket etc. and do you have any recommendations?

Online storage
by: Anonymous – Personally I would buy an external hard disk (only £65 at the moment for a 1 Terra-byte) which is worth every penny.
If you have something more than special then copy it to a DVD as well, as a back up. This is the most secure way of ensuring your data is safe – and it stays very much in your possession!

Online Storage Space
by: Anonymous – I think it all depends on what you want to store online. At the moment, I would personally only store non sensitive data online…it still takes a lot to convince me that online storage of sensitive data is a good idea.

If it is just “non important” photos and the like, then I would say there is no problem.

Personally, I am waiting for the price of solid state hard drives to come down and then I will be transferring all of my data to them.

Solid state drives have no moving parts and are therefore safer with a longer lifespan by a long way…

SB-800 by EW (VA) – When you use the sb-800, can you use any combination of shutter Speed and F-stop and let the flash do the needed light compensation to get a correct exposure?

SB800 by: Anonymous – If you have the flashgun set to auto (iTTL), then to a degree, yes. When using faster shutter speeds, you will have to set the “Auto FP high speed sync” on the speedlight. I have taken photos indoors at 2000th/sec at f.8 using the Canon 580EX speedlight which allowed me to freeze the action as well as obtaining a shallow depth of field.
Practice with a number of settings and see for yourself…it’s the best way to learn.

Extremely amateur wedding photography by Shannon – Hello, A good friend of mine recently asked me to photograph her wedding. She’s always liked the photos I’ve taken of her and thinks I could do a good job. The problem is that I am an amateur, I have a Sony Cybershot camera and I’m buying a tripod but that is about it.

Normally I would suggest that she go for a professional photographer instead but they don’t have much money available for the wedding so they cannot afford it. They are getting married rather quickly because the groom’s father is dying of cancer and they want him to be there. I want them to have some beautiful memories but I am rather lost on how I should shoot this wedding based on my limited equipment (I’m rather broke so I can’t afford to buy new equipment). Are there any tips you can give me?

Wedding Photography on a Budget by: Nick Stubbs – Hi Shannon, To be honest, I would say you need a slightly better camera than the one you have. I would suggest that you ask the couple to at least pay enough to cover the rental of a decent DSLR and lens for the day (about £60/$85) and maybe even an extra $65 to get you into www.atpmembers.com). Inside the site you get access to the entire Wedding Photography Blueprint course and videos which will really help you prepare for the day. $130 is nothing for the couple considering what they get and you gain invaluable experience and a great addition to your portfolio!

Software – Hi Im taking part in Enduro Africa 2010, I bought VHoldR Contour camera for the trip, Ive had a few practice goes with it but Im having a problem when I try to burn it onto a disc,I can get video footage but no sound onto the disc, can you tell me what software you use to burn your discs. Thanks, Scott

MPEG Streamclip by: Nick Stubbs – Try rendering first by downloading and using “MPEG Streamclip” from Squared 5 (Google it). The software is free and works a treat…

Wedding Portfolio by angel (California) – Hi, I need to build my own portfolio, but as an apprentice, how and where can I find weddings to take sample pictures of?(other than friends or acquaintances)

A question for many beginners by: Nick Stubbs – This is a question on most minds of any wedding photographer starting out. I cover it in some detail in the book “The Business of Photography” and the Wedding Photography Blueprint DVD’s and eBook but some general ideas are:

1. Hire some models, wedding clothes and accessories and drag them to a location for a shoot

2. Ask a local wedding photographer if you can assist as a second shooter at a wedding

3. Offer to shoot a low key wedding for free

4. Do NOT use images taken on a wedding photography course in your portfolio, as other course attendees will also and it looks unprofessional and fake.

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