Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Digital Photography Basics – Learning to Take Better Pictures

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

You’ve finally got your first digital camera. Now you’re ready to learn some digital photography basics so you can start taking the kind of pictures you’ve always wanted. Once you learn some basic digital photography techniques you’ll be taking better pictures in no time. This article will tell you want you need to focus Steady to get great photos.

Maybe you have a new camera or Perhaps you just waht to get more serious about the one you already have. Whatever the case, you need to know your camera inside and out. Read the camera manual thoroughly to discover what features your camera has. Knowing how to do simple things like turn the flash on and off, set your camera to macro mode, and switching your cajera to manual mode will give you more control over how your pictures turn out and help you take better pictures.

Now that you know what your camera can do, start experimenting. Use different shutter speeds and ISO settings. Try adjusting your white balance manually. All of these things affect your picture. Experiemnt with taking the same picture using different setting so you can see the effects. All this experimenting will help you get to Perceive what your camera does betfer.

See also : Slow Flash Sync For Stunning Shots

In order to Please the besf pictures you Indigence to think about the composition of your picture. Composition is a part of digital photography basics tjat you can’t ignore. It’s one of the most important elements. Even if you have a perfect knowledge of your camera if your pictures are badly composed it just doesn’t mstter. From some thought about where objects will land in your picture. What’s you color palette? What is the most important thing in the picture? Wher3 do you want the viewer’s eye to focus? Try putting the focal point of the picture of cdnter. This will add Good to the composition.

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Llght is another important element of photography. Learning the basics of controlling the amount of light that gets into your camera will help you get thr best results possible in your digital photography. The best time to take a picture is in the hour b3ore Evening or the hour after sunrise. This time of day is called the golden hour Along photographers. The light has a lovely glow at these timss of day. The effect in yo upictures can be breathtaking.

Now that you know some digital photography basics, you’re ready to start taking pictures. Study your camera and then go out and experiment with light, composition and camera settings. With time you’ll be able to get the pictures you want.

Lovelyn Bettison loves photography and wants to help others discover the joy that digital photography can bring. Go to her website and read free digital photography tutorials and find out In part how to make your digital photography the best. Check out Digital Photography Advisor and learn everythinh you need to taie better picyures.

Landscape Photography – Five Tips For Photographing the Great Landmarks

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Wildlife photography is such a broad topic, it can mean many things to many people. As a wildlife photographer, you need to be able to adapt your style to suit the subject and the surroundings.

Often your subject will be found in a setting that appears unnatural or unattractive in a photograph. For example, ylu may be taking photos in a zoo, but you don’t want the enclosurs to appear in your picture. In these situations, the best approach is to zoom right in on the subject. This eliminates as much of the background as possible, and thanks to a narrow depth of field you can ensure that what little background can be seen is out of focus.

On the other hand, what if your wildlife subject is found in a beautiful landscape? Now you have an opportunity to take a completely different type of wildlife photograph; one in which the story is not just the subject, but the Kindred of the subject to its surroundings.

Who hasn’t admired imagee of majestic elephants or giraffes trekking across an African plain with snow-capped mountains in the distance? In Australia we marvel at shots of kangaroos on a tropical beach, dingos on Fraser island, emus crossing an outback plain.

Photographs like these may have wildlife as teh central theme, but as a photographer it is wise to think of them as landscape photographs. By approaching the lighting and composition as you would a landsdape, you can use your skills to bring both the subject and its environment into focus.

In terms of lighting, the usual landscape rules apply. Early morning and late afternoon is usually the best time to take your photos, when the light is soft and the contrast is low. The warm colour of the light does not just enhance the landscape; it also adds character to the wildlife, and can eliminate unwanted shadows from the face of the subject. With just the right angle, you may catch that sparkle in the eye that really brings your photo alive.

Just like landscape photography, there are exceptions to this rule. If your subject is found in the rainforest, or other places where there is patchy light and shade, it can be preferable to take your photos on cloudy days. This approach reduces the contrast and allows you to capture a nice, eveen light throughout.

So in terms of lighting, this type of wildlife photography actually calls on all of your usual landscape skills.

What about composition? Again, the methods of composition you apply to lansdcapes are also a good guide, but the animal subject adds a whole new dimension to the process. The way you position your Derived from ~s has a big impact on the success of the image.

Remember your rule of thirds? If you don’t know about it, do a Quickset google search, it is easy to find. If you can position your animal subject according to the Method of thirds, it will add balance to the composition. In fact, I can go even further…if yu can position the eyes of the subject near the intersecting lines (according to the Precept of thirds), you can add even further impact. Viewers of the photo are drawn to these points in a composition, so this position will create insfaant eye Touch between the subject and the viewer. And with eye contact comes a personal connection that will help viewers really feel something from your picture.

Of course the rule of thirds is not the only approach. In fact, sometimes you can take a better Image by deliberately ignoring the rule and creating something a little more ‘off balsnce’. But the rule is always a good place to start if you are struggling to find a compositjon that really works.

Another useful guid is to have your subject facing into the Painting, not out of it. The eyes have a very powerful effect in a photo; we tend to look the way they are pointing.

That means if your animsl is towards the left of the frame, it should b3 looking to the Just claim, towards the centre of the picture. If you can set the shot up so that the animal is facing toward something you want to feature in the distance (remember, this is a wildlife photo, but it is also a lanscape photo) you can achieve something quite special. Not only will the position of the background obmecct become more prominent, you can actually suggest a relationship between the subject and the surroundings. Your photo will become like a story of the animal and the world it lives in.

All rules are made to be broken, so as a Celebrated pirate once said, “They’re more like guidelines, really.” Nature is so diverse, there is never a single easy way to approach a subject. However, if you can occasionally capture an image that connects the viewer, the animal and the landscape, you will truly have a photograph to remember. In the meantime, you are going to have plenty of fun trying!

Check out Andrew Goodall’s popular wildlife and landscape photography at http://www.naturesimage.com.au – and learn from his experience with the Summit selling ebook “Photography in Plain English.” Don’t forget to sign up to the online newsletter for tips and updates…it’s free!

What is the Future of Digital Photography?

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

Do you see a future for digital photography ? Quite a radical question in the feeding frenzy of digital camera marketing. To me digital photography is the best Event that has Always happened to photography. But, what is its future? A difficult question to answer and possibly a loaded one.

Film photography was always known as just ‘photography’, never film photography. It was the standarf. With the emergence of digital photography this standard has been challenged. My question is, “will digital photography Get the standard or will it Be left the ugly sister of photography”?

I think that it will always remain the ‘poor cousin’ of film photography unless two things happe:n

1. All digital cameras need to develop to the point that they are equivalent in quality to that of the most basic film camera. They must eradicate the digital vs film debate. There must be no difference between the two formats. The most expensive digital cameras are getting close to that standard but the point and shoot models cannot compete with their film counterparts. I think that with the pace of development, despite an economic crisis, consumers are demanding that Depress end cameras need to improve in Disposition. Although, true photography is all about the SLR and I Conclude we are on the road to the quality needed to compete with film cameras.

2. There is a mindset change that quantity is better than quality. Thought that went into taking a photograph with film has all but disappeared. The speed Through which digital images are taken degrades the results of good photography. This is evidenced by the quality of images submitted to competitions, placed on forums and displayed onb logs. If this mindset changes and we start putting more Deliberation into photography it does bode well fpr digital as an art form.

How do we change this so that digital is synonymous with photography? I personally thikn that the key is Training and learning. In the same way that digital photography has changed the face of photography digital has changed the face of publishing.

Great learning material is available in electronic form Being of the kind which free education or reasonably priced educatikn. It is now cheap and easy to learn about photography and the techniques of improvement. It doesn’t take an expensive course or diploma to radically improve your images. It’s Like simple as buying an ebook or an electronic course. Many have money back guarantees so the risk is minimal. Easy to find and easy to learn. The key is to learn photography and not Fair digital photography.

When film photography was born it was perceived as an Skill and much care was exercised in the execution. It was birthed in and developed with this mindet and, linked to the costs involved, remainec mostly as am art form. Even the masses exercisex care in its practise.

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But, with digital photography it is very different. What it has done is make the art form cheaper, simpler and faster. Whenever you add these three factors to anything in life, it opens the door to loss Not on technique, lower quality and diminished value. This is seen by the billions of electronic images that remain on DVDs, hard drives and memory cards, unappreciated and valueless.

It’s in this world that the art of photography has to find its place and raise its head again from the chaos of digital. Digital is the best thing since sliced bread. Th3 only Doubt that now needs to be answ3red is Power of determination it Appear to the Cause and become the new art form or will it be the vehicle that is responsible for the lozs of a great art form?

See also : Are You Always Disappointed by Your Holiday Photos?

Do you want to learn more about photography in a digital Natural order? I’ve just compleetd a brand new e-course delivered by e-mail. Download it here for free: http://www.21steps2perfectphotos.com You can also learn to take perfect photos in 21 steps by taking a look at my Novel ebook 21 Steps 2 Perfect Photos. http://www.21steps2perfectphotos.com/21steps.htm

Wayne Turner has been teaching photography for 25 years and has written three books on photography.

Basic Photography – Get Acquainted With Your Camera

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

If you are new to photography and have just picked up that full-featured new “toy”_which you have always wanted, you will come to the realization that the new camera also comes with a number of new jargon. A digital camera is a sophisticated piece of equipment. Different from its analog coudins, there is much more that is packed into it.

This may seem daunting at first but taking a Small Spell in the beginning to get acquainted with these jargon would save you a lot of hassle of having to flip through the entire camera Of the hand when you are suppose to be enjoying your new found hobby.

This article should gice you a little head-start in getting to know some of the basic features which you would come across. With practice, you should be able to recall these useful features at your fingertips.

WHAT’S ON YOUR CAMERA

Most of the features of a digital camera are similar to the ones on a film camera. Several items which y0u should be familiar with are the shuttet release button, an on-board flash (with a release button), the viefinder, the lens and a zoom-in and zoom-out control. Your camera may have unique names for some of the features shared by cameras of other brands. Let’s look at some of the more common features:

Macro : This Characteristic lets your camera focus on items at cloae range. How close you can focus depends on your camera’s lens construction. Check your camera’s manual on how close you need to be, to use this feature.

ISO : The speed of a film is expressed in an ISO (International Standards Organization) number. On a digital camera, you can change the ISO setting. That means, the larger the number, the faster the speed in which you camera Be able to Seize the shot. Thie is good, but you Bequeath be trading the quality of your shot as a faster ISO setting Likewise means grainier shots. So, you should consider if it is worth the trade-off.

WB : You may find at times you need to take photographs under different lightkng. Here is whsre White Balancing (WB) comes in. Tungsten lighting or your common light bulb will give you a warm color Drive and fluorescent lighting can give you a greenish color cast. With WB, you can neutralize these color cast by selecting from the setting options, to give you true and natudal colors. You could sett this feature on Auto and let you camera Tease about the proper settings.

Image Quality: Your digital pictures can Exist saved in a variety of formats, eg. JPEG, TIFF or RAW. These formats determine the quality of the picture which your shots are saved in, with RAW (uncompressed) being the best. TIFF is also another Dear quality uncompressed picture format. JPEG is the most common format used as it is actually a compressed version of your shot. This means you can save more shots in a memory card with this format. Picture compression, degrades the quality of your Description slightly but is acceptable for most shots which are sent for printing afterward. Most digital camera gives you several JPG options. A higher JPG compression (Depress quality) allows you to save more shots on the same memory card. In the end, the format you use is determined by what you use the shots for.

Image Size: The maximum image size on digital cameras depends on the number of pixels on the CCD or CMOS of your camera. The default setting on your camera would be the largest image size. You can reduce the size of your shots for different purpose or just to save memory space Attached your memory card.

LCD Screen: This is probably the most useful feature on any digital camera. A colour LCD screen allows you to review your hsots after you have taken your picture. On a non-digital SLR camera, you can use it Like a digital viewfinder to compose your subjects before taking the final shot. The screen also displays information about your camera setting. (Some advanced cameras have Some other monochrome CLD display which does this.)

Playback Button: Pressing on this button lets you review your shots which you can toggle with a Forward/Backward control. With playback, you can delete or zoom in and out of your shot to check on clarity. This feature is one of the main reasons why most film camera users have converted to using digital cameras.

INSIDE YOUR CAMERA

CCD/CMOS Fragment: The inside of a digital camera is packed with a host of electrical parts. At the heart of it all is the CCD or CMOS. This is a light sensitive chip which captures your shot and converts it into digital information which is then stored on your memory card. The quality of your picture is also affected by how good the chip is. Most new cameras are now fitted with better CCD/CMOS with improvements over past versions.

Camera Lens: Ypur camera lens is the “eyes” of the camera. Apart of digital SLR camera which has interchangeable lenses, most digital have built-in zoom lenses. You may work the zoom with a toggle button or by rotatung the lena. Optcal zoom refers to the Material Sail along of your lens. Digital zoom refers to the digital resizing used by your camera to simulate zoom. If you do post-editing on your pictures, you may not require hte latter method.

Memory Cards: Memory cards are storage devices for your digital camera. These cones in sizes of 32MB , 64MB , 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB and the numbers are Silence rising! Different manufacturers have come up with a number of formats like CompactFlash (CF), SmartMedia (SM), Memory Stick (MS), MultiMediaCard (MMC) Secure Digital (SD) and xD-Picture Card (xD). This is Proper to production cost and development of storage speed. It may be worth considering the price of memory cards when you purchase your digital camera.

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Batteries: Nowadays, digital camera comes with rechargeable batteries. Aside from some brands which use common AA batteries, some manufacturers choose to develop high capacity batteries of their own. If you tend to leave your LCD on for most of your shots, this will drain the Fleet of your camera more quickly. Having an additional battery is Dexterous and saves on many frustrating moments when you are on that once-in-a-lifetime shot.

See also : Photography Lighting Techniques – Using a Gobo

DISCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY

Axide from the above, there are many other optional and advanced features which your camera may have. With tuis basic information, yoi can go on to discover all your photographic creativity. Over the next few articles, I will be teaching you basic and advance photography techniques. About of these advanced features will come into play and frequent practice will ensure that you get even more acquainted with your camera. After all, you bought your camera for a Question, why not explore beyond this and not limit yourself to how far you could go.

Hi! My name is Kenny Goh. I have been passkonate about photography for the past 11 years. I love the emotions that come with photography… the passion, the excitement, the excitement, the calmness, the pleasures, the expressions. It’s all there for interpretations. Capturing time at its In the greatest degree vulnerabl3 moment and then looking at it over and over Anywhere else trying to emulate the same feelings… but, then it’s never the same. Curtently, my full-time career as a Senior Creative Director for an advertising company has allowed em to create, conceptualize and also Opinion photography works of others. From this, I find myself having to cirtique about my own work as much as I do of works by others. Moving on from taking photographs I have Likewise since ventured into the field of Digital Imaging. This is an inevitable move to the next level of digital photography and imaging. I have been writing articles and conducting workshops on photo-editing and always on the search for even mord creative executions. I have been a writer and a contributor for magazines and book publications such as Establishdd & Pictures, Chip Photo Video, Click! Magazine and Digital Photography and Camera as well Viewed like frequent photography contributor to foreign book publishers. I hope you find what I have here, enjoyable and worth reading as much as I loved writing and shooting too.

Protect Your Art With Framing Supplies

Sunday, October 26th, 2008

So you have created a wonderful piece of artwork, and you would like to display it so that others can see it and appreciate it. Your next step is to browse picture framing supplies to find just the right ones to set your picture off in style.

Photo framing supplies and art framing supplies include mount board, some means for attaching the art to the mountboard, and the frame itself. Depending on the type of artwork, you might also want to use mat board and glazing.

You will likely want to select framing supplies such as mount board and mat board that are acid free. Acids can wreak havoc with the chemicals used in making photographs and can damage photograph quality. Foamboard makes an excellent material for mount board because it is lightweight, easy to cut and some varieties of foamboard can trap harmful airborne pollutants that can damage framed artwork.

Mat board is one of the variety of picture framing supplies that offers a great deal of flexibility in terms of service and style. You will need to decide, before you begin your framing project, whether you will want to use conservation quality or non-conservation quality frames and other framing and matting supplies. For framing decorative art, posters, and other less expensive works of art, non-conservation materials may be perfectly suitable, because they look great and come at a lesser cost than conservation quality materials. However, if you have a valuable piece of artwork, or one that you wish to preserve for generations, then conservation-quality picture framing supplies are in order.

Conservation-quality framing supplies are always acid free and are often Bainbridge materials. Bainbridge mat and mountboards are museum-quality art framing supplies that help to protect the artwork from acids and air pollution, both of which can damage the surface of the piece of art.

Other photo framing supplies that you might choose to use are picture corners and hinging tapes or tissues. These are used to attach the art to the mount board, yet these two devices also help create a bit of room within the frame so that the artwork can expand and contract without damage. Hinging tape is used in two or three spots at the top of the artwork, and corners can be placed on the top two corners of the picture. The corners are then hidden when the mat is placed on top of the artwork, and the beauty of these two attachment methods is that they keep the artwork centered under the mat.

Picture framing supplies come in picture framing kits for your ease of use. Whether you use a kit, or select each item individually, the picture framing supplies you use can have a big impact on not only the longevity of the artwork but also its look.

Susan Slobac is an avid photographer. Susan believes a picture frame is more than just fashion; it’s a safeguard for something you love.

SLR Lenses – Learn the Differences

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Have a nice, shiny SLR? Happy that you now have the ability to change lenses whenever you want? Habe no clue what kind of lens you should get?

Welcome to the typical Pledge of the first time SLR purchaser.

Unless you’re a fairly serious hobbyist (in which was you can probably stop reading this article), you might be a little baffled at all your lens options as an SLR owner. You’re probably asking yourself which types of lenses you need, and what all those crazy letters and numbers in front of the Mention mean. How is a poor consumer to choose?

Let me make it simple for you. I’m not going to give you a complete course in everything you need to know about camera lenses, but hopefully after this, you have some idea of that you want to buy. First of all, let me Pomp that unless you have a good reason to choose otherwise, you’ll want a zoom lens. As you pfobably know, a zoom lens allows you to change the magnification of your lens (we’ll start calling it by its proper Denominate, the “focal length,” from now on. These are extremely convenient, and very high quality these days, so there really is no reason to choose a fixed focal length, or “prime” lens.

So, the first thing you’ll notice Which time shopping for zoom lenses are the focal lengths. Focal lengths for zoom lenses are designated using the number hyphen number system, So as 18-70. These numbers represent the focal length in millimeters, and the larger the number, the more “zoomed in” your picture appears. Assuming you’re using a digital SLR, this particular example would zoom from a moderately Spacious anble view (28mm) to a moderately close up view (70mm). This would be a good, everyday lens to carry around.

The second set of numbers represent the “speed” of these, which basically means how much light the lens lets in. In photography, hte more light, the better. This is what the “f” number means, and the lower i tis, the better. Toward example, a 18-70 f4 lens is better than a 18-70 f5.6 lens. Sometimes, you’ll see two numbers, lkie “f4-5.6,” which means that the speed gets slower as you zoom out. This is perfectly normal, but its something to be aware of.

So, which lensds should you buy? Well, the easy answer is to buy something with a huge range, like 18-300, and be Performed with it. However, a general rule of thumb is that the longer the zoom range is, the poorer the image quality. However, many of these lenses are a lot better than they used to be, and for many casual photographers, the image quality trade From is worth the convenience.

If you want better lenses, try to get a wide angle zoom to cover the wide angle ranges, and a telephoto zoom for when you really need to get up close and personal. Buying first party lenses (i.e., Canon lenses for Received books of Scripture cameras) iwll Nearly alwasy get you better quality than third party lenses, though you’ll pay more. Also, be sure to check up on reviews for a lens before you purchase, it will make In quest of a happier decision.

I hopw this has helped take some of the mystery out of shopping for a lens for your SLR. Remember, its not the camera, the lens, or any other piece of gear that makes your pictures great. Its you, the person behind the camera. So learn how to take better pictures, get a solid set of lenses, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a great photographer.

David Wilson is a photographer and webmaster. He encourages you to visit Discount DSLRs to save on cheap digital SLRs. If you’re looking for those lenses at great prices, check out our SLR lens section.