Additionally, you can “salvage” some really grainy color photographs by making them B&W.

There are quite a few ways to take a color photograph and make it black and white. The Digital Photography School describes several ways, all of which work. Scott Kelby also offers some killer ways to convert color to black and white in his outstanding book series, Photoshop Elements.

How to Convert Color Digital Images into Black and White Ones

So set up your tripod and start shooting. Recommended: Tripod!, remote shutter release or use the camera’s builtin self-timer. Set your camera to Manual mode and set the f-stop to f/11 and the shutter to 1/250. This should keep everything in focus and give you a good exposure. Of course, try other settings — experimentation is the essence of the art.

Choose burst mode. The second or third bursted photo will usually be much more in focus (i.e., clearer) than the first.

Here’s why: When hand-holding (i.e., not using a tripod or remote shutter release), pressing the shutter button moves the camera, if only slightly. This movement, especially in low light or with moving objects, can really blur a photo. However, when using burst mode, that first shutter press is the only one you’ll need to get 2 or 3 (or more) photos. Since the second and third photos do not require a shutter press, those photos will be clearer.

Half Dome Near Dusk,
originally uploaded by billspaced.

Here’s a photo I took while on vacation with my family. This was taken in the Yosemite valley floor near sunset. Simple set up:

Tripod
Polarizing filter
Tamron 28-300mm zoom
Canon Digital Rebel XT

Fireworks,
originally uploaded by billspaced.

Fourth of July 2005. I took this picture with my new Canon Rebel XT. It’s not a perfect representation of the actual fireworks that took place, but I think it’s a really cool image.

What do you think? Let me know!