PHOTO TALK
Prepared by the staff of Marshall’s Camera -A03
Auburndale, Florida

So you want to stop being blown around on the winds of chance and become the master of your photographic fate.
The following might not guarantee total success but it won't hurt either.

QUESTION: I have two children, a girl and a boy, and every time I take their picture indoors they look like little devils with red eyes. I bought a new camera with a feature that was supposed to get rid of red eyes but I still kept getting red eyes. I bought a red-eye pen that is supposed to color out the red eyes but my hand is not steady enough to color only the red part of the eyes. What can I do so that my kids have normal looking eyes every time?
ANSWER: Glowing red eyes occur in pictures because the light from a flash that is very close to the lens goes into the eyes, hits the back lining of the eye which is blood red, and reflects straight back to the lens. The bigger the opening of the eye (known as the pupil) compared to the size of the eye the more light that will be reflected. The red eye reduction feature now built into many modern cameras helps by causing the eye opening or pupil to become smaller before the picture is taken. However this camera feature will only reduce and not eliminate the red eye problem. The only way to totally eliminate red eye with flash in a film camera is to make sure that the eye never receives light directly from the flash. Indirect flash lighting is usually accomplished by directing the flash light toward the ceiling or using “bounce flash.” This gives pleasing overhead illumination that looks natural. Of course this requires a more advanced (but still simple to use) camera on which a bounce flash can be mounted. So what will it be, red eyes or more equipment? That decision is up to you.
QUESTION: We live on a lake in the country and see some spectacular birds and other wildlife on a regular basis. I can’t get physically close without scaring the creatures away. The pictures I take are disappointing because the animals all look like little dots. I realize that I will need to get more equipment but I don’t know where to start. What can I do so that I can see more detail?

ANSWER: There is either a short answer or a long answer to this question. Let’s go with the short answer for now. At the minimum you will need a camera that uses interchangeable lens (SLR), a telephoto lens (200mm to 500mm), a good sturdy tripod weighing 5 to 10 pounds, and a remote release for the camera when it is on the tripod. We are assuming that all the pictures will be shot during the day when there is a lot of light so an external flash will not be needed. The lens is the most important item here in that it will determine how close the animals will appear in the pictures.
If you are using a 35mm SLR camera, then dividing the magic number fifty (50) into the maximum focal length of the lens will give the magnification factor of the lens. Hence a 200mm lens will give a magnification factor of 4 (200 divided by 50). Divide the magnification factor into the actual distance to find the apparent distance in the picture. A magnification factor of 4 will make an object 100 feet away appear to be 25 feet away in the picture (100 divided by 4). A good photographer sometimes has to do some math. This is the short answer.
Notice I have not said anything about the features and quality to look for in the camera, lens, and tripod. The next time some one shows you a good close-up picture of a wild animal you can assume that a lot of time, effort, and money went into getting the shot. We have had people tell us that they get much more pleasure hunting with a camera than they ever did with a firearm.
Conclusion: See announcement of photo classes at
MarshallsCamera.com. If you have questions or comments please email us at marshall@marshallscamera.com or write by letter to Photo Questions, P.O.Box 1217, Auburndale, Fl 33823.
Copyright 2004 by Marshall Ledbetter