Photography Blog

Today’s cameras make taking pictures a lot easier than the one’s of yesterday. There is always room for improvement, however. Use the following tips to help make your photos go from acceptable to great.
1. Always be aware of the background.
You don’t want to find trees growing out of people’s heads or a passing vehicle to draw attention from your subject. Sometimes moving your subject just a couple steps to either side can make all the difference.
2. Use available light.
If your digital camera has an option to turn the flash off and it’s light enough outside to read a book, then use the available light, and turn the flash off. In general camera flashes are too harsh for human skin and make all of us look pale. Indoors, where there isn’t enough daylight, place your subject by a window and use your fill flash feature. Continue reading »

As a photographer, you are up against stiff competition when it comes to getting gigs or jobs. Newspapers, magazines, weddings, family and student photos – how do you reach the multitude of people who may be interested in hiring you? Portfolios are expensive and targeting the many different segments of the population who would benefit from your services is no simple marketing feat.

By building your own photography website to showcase your work and your services, you handle all these problems in one fell swoop.

Digital photography offers you the ability to share your work with the world. Many magazines and newspapers will only take submissions in .jpeg or .gif formats. The days of negatives, proof sheets, and slides are over. Though you may still choose to offer 35 millimeter prints or other specialty photo services, digital photography is where the money is in the industry. Continue reading »

Digital noise in photos taken with digital cameras is random pixels scattered all over the photo. It is a similar effect as “grain” in film photography and it degrades the photo quality.

Digital noise usually occurs when you take low light photos (such as night photos or indoor dark scenes) or you use very slow shutter speeds or very high sensitivity modes.

When taking pictures with a digital camera an electronic sensor (also known as a CCD) built from many tiny pixels is used to measure the light for each pixel. The result is a matrix of pixels that represent the photo. Continue reading »

Many couples get so caught up with planning all the obvious details of their wedding–such as the cake, the wedding decorations, the gown and gifts for members of the wedding party–that they often overlook the importance of selecting the right wedding photographer. It’s important to remember that the photographer you choose will be responsible for capturing the moments and memories of what may be the most important day of your life! With this in mind, you’ll want to take great care in selecting a wedding photographer considering there are no second chances.

As you might imagine, wedding photography is one of the most challenging types of professional photography. The wedding photographer has to make everyone look beautiful, shooting in a multitude of locations in all kinds of weather conditions–and accomplish all this in minimum amount of time. At the same time, your wedding photographer should have the personality to complement you on your most joyous day. Take your time and follow some of the simple suggestions discussed below, and you will most certainly be satisfied with the outcome.

Where Do You Begin? Continue reading »

Having lost count of the number of people who have asked me: “have you gone digital?” I am always left wondering why it’s such a much-asked question. The camera is only a tool in which a photographer creates an image. His personal ability to create a unique image remains the same.

For many forms of photography, digital has long held obvious advantages, but for landscapes the resolution necessary to make larger prints just wasn’t available. But things have changed and digital cameras are fast becoming the tools that most pros use.

Modern digital cameras are perfectly capable of matching the 35 mm film - the format which most landscape photographers begin with. But can they really match the large format film cameras? This is probably the greatest question that all photographers face. Continue reading »

If you have ever photographed your weekend outing, family reunion, or a special vacation getaway with your friends or family, you know that outdoor photography can present some very special challenges. This is true even for the most seasoned photographer. Direct sunlight can be harsh. Unwanted objects can interfere with your composition. Proper color rendering can be problematic. And many times, good old Mother Nature is just not feeling cooperative. Perhaps, there’s not much that can be done about Mother Nature, but with some practice and patience you can overcome many of the other challenges you face as an outdoor portrait photographer. Along my journey as a photographer I’ve learned some outdoor techniques that may benefit those who choose to follow:
1. Keep it simple. The subtle pattern and color of an adobe wall, the simple repeating pattern and muted tones of planks on a fishing pier, or the uniform color of a patch of blue bonnets, snapdragons, or yellow primrose can serve as wonderful backdrops for your outdoor portraits. When you are composing your portrait, you want your subject to be the focal point that all eyes are drawn to. Busy patterns, large areas of excessively vibrant colors (especially a mixture of different colors), or over imposing forms in your foreground or background that are not treated properly, can really distract from her if you are not careful.

2. Control the depth of field (the range of distances from your camera that are in focus). The edge of a forest, or mountains in the distance may render beautifully as a backdrop for your subject with proper control over the depth of field. If you have an SLR camera, you can adjust your depth of field to bring the background more or less out of focus relative to your subject. This serves as eye control for the observer of your portrait. The eye is naturally drawn to what is brightest and most sharply focused. If your subject is sharply focused relative to the background, she will be accentuated as the focal point of your portrait. Controlling the depth of field is accomplished by adjusting your aperture setting (the size of your lens opening, expressed in f-stops). The smaller the f-stop the larger the opening of your lens, and the smaller the depth of field will be. For instance, when you see a photograph in a nature magazine of a beautiful butterfly in a patch of flowers, and the butterfly is in razor sharp focus but the flowers are gently blurred; this was accomplished by the photographer using a narrow depth of field (small f-stop setting). For bright light situations this may be difficult to achieve. For any given intensity of light, as you open up the aperture (lower the f-stop) you must increase the shutter speed (thereby decreasing exposure time) to avoid over exposure. Increasing the shutter speed generally reduces resolution in the image. Experiment to find the combination of aperture setting and shutter speed that gives the result you desire.
Continue reading »

<strong>How does auto-focus work?</strong>

All of us use it every time we click on the shutter button. Practically all modern cameras include some sort of an auto focus system. Thanks to the auto focus system we can enjoy an easier photography experience and can concentrate on composing the right photo and capturing the moment rather than on manually setting the focus.

Automatic focus though has its limitations. For example sometimes one might want to produce photos which are a bit fuzzy as an artistic expression. Also the auto focus implementation has its limitations and in some scenarios it might fail. One example is using a high end SLR camera with a passive auto focus system to take a picture of blue skies. In most cases the camera will move its motor back and forth and will eventually give up and fail to focus. Continue reading »

Did you ever put your flash unit in manual mode? Did you ever manually turn on the flash when taking a day time outdoor photo? For many the answer to both questions is “no”. For most amateur photographers flash is just a solution for taking photos when there is not enough natural light. Although a legitimate use of flash photography there is much more ways to efficiently use flash. In this article we will cover the various types of flash units available, the different scenarios under which they can be used, the advantages of using flash to achieve better photos and the common mistakes people do when using flash photography.

As with any other technology knowing how it works behind the scenes and what your options are can help in better utilizing it for your advantage. Flash photography has been around for more than a hundred years. It started with a dangerous and manually controlled technology that used a powder that was lit by either fire or electrical current. These flash solutions were both dangerous and hard to use since the flash was not automatically synchronized to the camera’s shutter. Modern flash units use an electronic flash tube that is synchronized with the camera’s shutter. When turning the flash on the photographer does not need to worry about flash timing - the camera takes care of it automatically.

There are two types of flash units: Internal and External. The internal flash unit is built-in to your camera. It can be controlled through the camera’s menus. Some low end cameras only allow the use of their built-in units. Some low end cameras and all high end cameras also allow the attachment of an external flash unit. External flash units are either attached to the camera’s body through a dedicated slide-in slot or are connected to the camera using a cable. They vary in strength – how much light can they generate for how long - and in mechanical characteristics – can they be tilted or skewed or are they fixed in relation to the camera’s body. Regardless of the connection type external flash units are electronically connected to the camera and are synchronized with the shutter. Continue reading »

Did you ever see an image where only a small part of it is sharp? Using the aperture ring correctly can maximise the artistic look of your image.

Not only does it determine the depth-of-field, it also has the power to direct the human eye.

The human eye is instinctively drawn towards noticeable points of an image. These are usually the sharpest and most important parts of an image. Using a wide aperture to limit the area of sharp focus can direct attention to the most important elements of your image and blur out any off-putting backgrounds. Continue reading »

Finding the right digital camera can be a hard decision for you to make because there are so many different types, brands, styles, and sizes available on the digital camera market today. This article is going to show you the specific things you should consider when purchasing a digital camera.

The first thing that must be done is to budget the amount of money you are willing to spend on a digital camera and stick to it. Doing so will allow you to shoot directly for the cameras that are in that price range or lower. A digital camera can come with so many different, attractive features that it is easy to be lured into something you simply cannot afford.

Another key aspect in choosing the right digital camera for you is to consider how you intend to use the camera. This is important because a digital camera can snap pictures at different speeds. If you simply intend to take pictures of your family and friends, this may not have much bearing for you. However, if you intend to take photographs of moving objects, you will need a camera that will snap a picture at a higher speed. Continue reading »