Improving Our Landscape Images - Part 1

 All the world’s cameras, films and other photographic equipment are no more than tools for making landscape pictures.  Cameras don’t think for themselves.  Whether we use digital or film camera, the same photographic principles apply.

We don’t have to stick to many rules to produce great landscape images, but knowing what they are will make your pictures more successful. There are two salient points in landscape photography: how to compose your image, and how to use available natural light in any given situation.

Lets start off with light: There are three basic qualities of light: intensity, direction and colour.

Intensity: refers to the strength of light. If the sun is high in the sky, light can be harsh and too strong. Cloudy days bring soft and defused light.

Direction: this refers to light placement. There are three categories of light placement: front, back and side-lighting. Side lighting produces more texture between light and shade.

Colour: the colour of sunlight varies depending upon conditions and time of day. If the sun shines at the beginning or the end of the day, the colour of the light will be much warmer, and will lead to a much more dramatic scene.

Understanding natural light will develop your ability to see. You will start to see the beauty of light in a different and exciting way.

In landscape photography it is very important to take care with composition. A normal scene can be transformed by paying close attention to detail. Composition is all about how you arrange the elements in front of you.

Here are a few ideas in which you may find useful.

Lead with lines: To lead with lines into the main part of the scene will draw your viewer into your image. These lines don’t have to be straight. Lines, such as tracks, riverbanks or fences, may work successfully.

Foreground interest: Simple foreground objects can give your landscape a greater sense of depth. Use a small aperture (f/22) to keep the entire scene in focus.

Natural frames: Frame your scene with the elements all around you. This will focus attention on the main part of the picture. Trees make great natural frames.

These are just a few essential guidelines, and combined with a good eye, you have all you need to get the best out of photography - especially landscape photography.  These are just a few rules to get you started, but like all rules, they are there to be broken.

How To Take The Most Clear, Breathtaking, Majestic  

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Top Ten Digital Camera And Photography Tips

Digital cameras have definitely simplified the manual labor of the photographers and do their job at mere a click of button. But, that does not mean you can have perfect shots with just the aid of your camera equipment. You can feel a bit more confident with digital camera in your possession, but the job of “clicking” has become specialized. Some misunderstandings about its functional aspects, and the entire love's labor is lost! The photography of an event is lost for ever...

So, some standing instructions, some important workable tips need to be followed by the man holding a digital camera. Experience combined with technical expertise is what makes you a perfect photographer.

1. Look your subject in the eye, don't spray your attention all over. Sometimes, you get a fraction of a second to click an important event. There are occasions, you have to vie with hundreds of other photographers. You need to develop the meditative concentration, to 'hunt' your object.

2. Use a plain background. If the background is a hotchpotch, it will have a direct bearing on the main photograph.

3. Use flash outdoors.

4. Move in close. Adjustments from the close range can be done easily. They will be more effective.

5. Move it from the middle. That is always the safest way. If you move from one side, there is every chance of missing the activity on the other side.

6. Lock the focus. That is very important as it is your main job.

7. Know your flash's range. This is a very important technical aspect, that is mastered by experience. A bad flash can spoil, beyond repair an important shot.

8. Watch the light. It constantly change.

9. Take some vertical pictures. This adds variety to the total number of pictures that you have shot.

10. Be a picture director. A sense of involvement is necessary. You need to be in a position to anticipate the results, just as a movie director directs his actors for getting a perfect shot.

Don't credit those magnetic eyes and bewitching smiles to the account of digital camera alone. It is the skill and the sense of timing of the photographer that matters most. You need to know when to tell your photo-audience to “say cheese”, and those fraction of seconds before their response to the cheese. Have an eye contact of a sharp shooter, with his shooting object.

Get The Most Out Of Your Camera - Part 2

In part 1 of: Get the most out of your camera, we looked at how to use the aperture and the creative uses of depth-of-field. In this part we’ll look at how to use the shutter button on your camera and how both the shutter and the aperture control exposure.

The shutter is a mechanical device that controls the length of time that light is allowed to act on the film.

 
Most standard cameras allow us to use a range between 16 second and 1/1000 second. You might be wondering, why anyone would use a long shutter time of 16 seconds: I’ve used this and even longer shutter times when taken low-light landscape images. I would always advise the use of a tripod with these long exposures time to avoid blur images.

Using a shutter speed of 1/125 second should safely avoid overall blur due to camera movement if you hold the camera by hand. Any longer shutter time should require a tripod.

Each time you open the shutter by one, we double the light, when we close down the light by one we half the light.  Open the shutter at 1 second allows twice the light as that of a ½ second.

The shutter can also be used creatively when taking landscape images or sport images. If you want to add motion to your image a slow shutter speed can give an image an extra bit of sway. No more so than taking images of streams. Using a slow shutter speed when photographing water will cause the water to blur, resulting with the image expressing motion.

By contrast, a fast shutter speed of 1/250 would be used in shooting wildlife or where the subject that you’re shooting needs to be still and sharp.  Most wildlife photographers would use a fast shutter speed.

By using the shutter and aperture together we control exposure. Both allow light to enter the camera: the shutter by time and the aperture by the size of the hole in the lens.

For example: you’re shooting a landscape scene;  you get an exposure reading at f/11 at ¼ second. You know that by using f/11 that the entire image wont be sharp. You want to shoot at f/22, which is four times less light than f/11. You need to quadruple the light through time; each time you open the shutter by one you double the light, so open it by two stops and your exposure time will be 1 second. Your final exposure should read f/22  at 1 second.

At the best of times, calculating the correct exposure can be a difficult task, but with a few simple tips our images can produce eye-catching colours that we see all around us every day.

Wedding Photography Secrets: Tips For Taking The Best Wedding Day Photos Possible

It’s your wedding…one of the most beautiful days in your life. How else can you make the perfect occasion last? Capture the momentous event with great wedding photographs. Read this guide to make sure you choose the right wedding photography service for your big day.

The first thing to do is to give the most opportunities for the photographer when scheduling activities during the wedding day. When planning the time of the wedding ceremony and of the reception, couples should incorporate the time that the photographer requires to capture all of the couple’s special moments. There should be a gap between the end of the ceremony and beginning of the reception, to allow for more photographs for the bride, groom and wedding entourage, especially if they are in two different locations. The photographers and subjects will have a more relaxed shoot and will enjoy all the parts of the wedding if the events are well spaced out.

Next, think of important factors when selecting a wedding photographer. The photographer should be able to show more than one complete set of wedding photos. Couples should not accept someone who shows only selected prints of their best photographs from different weddings. Ideally, all photographs from 3 to 4 complete wedding sets that are at least satisfactory should be a criterion of a professional wedding photographer.

It is also good to have a photographer that gives a package with unlimited coverage for the whole day. Again, this way, photography will not be rushed.

Next, try to be aware of photography companies or individuals that contract out jobs to a pool of wedding photographers or even freelancers. Salespersons often pose as actual photographers and try to woo customers. Make sure companies deal openly, and ask them to show 3 to 4 complete weddings from each of the photographers they offer you, so you can choose. Make sure the one chosen is the one that will cover your wedding. Otherwise, it is better to find a photographer that personally shoots weddings. A two-person team is an even better package because two points of view of the wedding can be taken.

Some photographers only offer the traditional wedding photography style, or strictly a photo-journalistic style. It is best to find a versatile photographer that can do both.

Lastly, couples should take note of some important questions to ask a prospective wedding photographer:

· Are colored and black and whites included, or would he charge extra for B/W? Dramatic effects can be made with black and white photographs, so ask if this is a premium.

· Are hand and digital coloring or digital color separation included in the package or would he charge extra for these? Better pictures are developed when the photograph colors are separated first, improved, and then printed.

· What kinds of cameras does he use? Does he use medium format equipment and have a back up? Does have a "leaf" shutter or "focal plane"?

· What lenses does he use? Does he use only one, or will he change lenses? Make him show you photo effects that he is able to achieve with different lenses and choose the ones which you like to appear with your photographs.

· Is he willing to customize a package that is within your budget?

Asking intelligent questions will encourage photographers to deal openly with customers. Remember, it’s your special day, and you should make sure that the wedding photography is something that will help you and your loved ones relive those wonderful memories.

Get The Most Out Of Your Camera - Part 1

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

This isn’t that hard to accomplish, and can be blissful if done correctly.

Lets start off with understanding depth-of-field, aperture and f/stops.

Depth-of -field:  The distance from the front to back that is in reasonable sharp focus is called the depth-of-field. There are two ways of controlling depth-of-field: Use a small aperture or focus on a point farther away from your camera.

Aperture and f/stops: The aperture is an opening in the center of the lens through which light passes. The amount of light, which passes through an aperture, is indicated by f/stops. The lower the f/stop the more light that passes through the aperture. Opening up one full f/stop doubles the amount of light entering the camera.  F/4 admits twice the light of f5.6. 

By selecting a small or narrow aperture (f/16 or up), all or most of the scene will be reasonably sharp. This is ideal for landscape photography. By using a small aperture you increase the depth-of-field.

By selecting a large or wide aperture (f/5.6 or below) you decide which part of your image is sharp. This is ideal for taking pictures of wildlife, portraits, sport and small objects. By using a large aperture you decrease the depth-of-field

The smaller the f/number, the wider the aperture.

There is about twice the depth-of-field behind the point of focus as there is in front of it, using any aperture.

Now you know how to isolate your subject, so it’s time to put it to use. Set your camera to aperture-priority (AV) mode, and then select a large aperture (f/2 - f/5.6). By doing this the camera will select the shutter speed automatically. If you are shooting wildlife choose a low viewpoint to maximize the image, try putting the camera lens at eye-level with the subject.

While the above will help to isolate you subject, it’s only a start. Know your subject, especially when shooting wildlife. Don’t be fooled into thinking all elements of an image must be sharp to be considered a good photo.

Taking Portrait Photos with Blurry Background and Understanding Depth of Field

  

We have all seen beautiful photos where the object is perfectly focused while the background is blurred. Such a photo can be very dramatic and might seem to be hard to shoot. In this article we will give you a few tips on how to shoot blurry background photos that will impress your friends and family. You will also understand what Depth of Field is and how to control it.

Depth of field (also known as DOF for short) is the most important thing to understand before shooting a blurry background photo. Depth of field is defined as the range in which the photo is in focus. For example an infinite depth of field means that the photo will be in focus from a certain distance from the camera and up to infinity. When taking a blurry photo the goal is to set the depth of field just around the object. In this way the object is in focus while the background behind it is not.

How do you control the depth of field? After all there is no “depth of field” menu in the camera (wouldn’t that be nice…). Depth of field is an optical figure that is influenced by a few factors:
 
The distance of the object from the camera: This is obvious to understand when taken to the extreme. Shooting an object 10 feet from the camera will result in a smaller depth of field than shooting an object 100 feet from the camera. Obviously shooting an object which for all practical purpose is infinite distance from the camera will result in the camera focused on infinity and the depth of field being infinite too..
 
The aperture: The wider the aperture (f number decreases) the smaller the depth of field and vice versa: the narrower the aperture (f number increases) the greater the depth of field. Just remember that the depth of field changes along with the f number: when the f number increases and depth of field increases and vice versa. Unfortunately you can not just change the aperture as you wish. Changing the aperture results in a need to change the shutter speed (either manually or the camera can most likely do that for you automatically). The wider the aperture the more light that penetrates the lens and the faster the shutter speed needs to be so there is a limit to how wide you can set the aperture to.
 
The focal length of the lens: The shorter the focal length the greater the depth of field and vice versa the longer the focal length the smaller the depth of field. For example if you use normal lenses at somewhere around 50mm your depth of field will be much greater than if you use zoom lenses at 200mm. With long focal length the depth of field can be extremely small. For that reason zoom lenses are a good choice in order to shoot a good blurry photo that is practically focused only on the object.

After understanding the theory it is best to go to the field an experiment. You will get a sense of how your photo will look like and how blurry the background will be after playing with different lenses, different apertures and different distances from your object. If you own zoom lenses start with taking photos of a relatively close object while using your zoom lenses. You will find out that it is extremely easy to get a blurry background photo using this method even without setting the aperture. Once you feel comfortable with that setup start changing the aperture and also change to your normal 18mm-55mm or similar lenses.

Most cameras allow to manually change the aperture by putting the camera in “A” mode – while you are changing the aperture the camera will automatically set the shutter speed accordingly. Some cameras allow you to manually set both aperture and shutter speed.

In conclusion shooting dramatic blurry background photos is easy with some minimal understanding of depth of field and some experimenting.

"Turn Your Photos Into Cash" Home Study Course Review

Seller: Dan Feildman

"Turn Your Photos Into Cash" is a home study course about making money online through digital photography. Written for anyone who can use a digital camera, the course focuses on selling digital photography through stock photo sites on the Internet. The text and video formats allow different types of learners to make the most of the course.

Product Details:

"Turn Your Photos Into Cash" - The main course is a 129-page Ebook with the following chapters:

- Introduction
- Jump start Your Career
- Before You Begin
- Four Ways to Make Money with Your Digital Photos
- Five Secrets to Making More Money with Your Stock Photos
- Tips and Tricks for Taking Better Photos
- Tips and Tricks for Enhancing Your Photos

The product also comes with the following bonuses:

1. "Offline Opportunities Report" - A 34-page special report about offline ways to make money with digital photography

2. "Slash Your Learning Curve Using These Five Checklists" - Detailed checklists or cheat sheets guide the user through the essential points of the course. The checklists are:

- What You Need to Make Money Online with Your Digital Photos
- The Legalities of Digital Photography
- How to Protect Your Photography
- How to Take Better Photos
- How to Improve Your Image Editing

3. "Five Action Steps Guides" - Step-by-step guide to make money through specific websites. The guides are:

- How to Make Money with iStockPhoto
- How to Make Money with Stockxpert
- How to Make Money with Cafe Press
- How to Find Freelance Projects with Elance
- How to Make Money with Break.com

4. "Turn Your Photos Into Cash Mind Maps" - Excellent for visual learners, the mind maps allow the user to grasp the strategies at a glance. The mind maps offer an excellent overview of the course, and can be used to refresh the lessons in the user's mind. The 8 mind maps are:

- Complete Mind Map
- Introduction
- Jump Start Your Career
- Before You Begin
- Four Ways to Make Money
- Five Secrets to Making More Money
- Tips for Enhancing Photos
- Tips for Taking Better Photos

5. "Turn Your Photos Into Cash" Video - This is the complete home study course in either video or audio-only formats.

Format:
The main course and first four bonuses are digital text files in the form of PDF. The videos are in digital Flash format. These can be either viewed online or downloaded into the user's hard drive. The audio version of the course is in mp3 format, which can be loaded into any mp3 player.

Thoughts on the Product:

"Turn Your Photos Into Cash" was created for anybody who knows how to use a digital camera and has access to a computer with Internet connection. One does not have to be a professional photographer to understand and benefit from the course. While it briefly discusses the technical issues of digital photography, the course really isn't about how to take digital photographs. It is about how to sell those photographs online and make money.

The course presents these marketing strategies in easy to understand language. Even complete newbies or amateur digital photographers will not be overwhelmed or intimidated. The strategies don't take a lot of time or energy to implement. The bonus cheat sheets, step-by-step guides and mind-maps make it even easier to actually take action and simply jump into making money with digital photography.

The video and audio formats will appeal to visual and auditory learners. That you can load the lessons into your mp3 player and listen to them on the go is a definite plus.

Digital photography is a little-known work at home business model, particularly among those who are not professional photographers. With "Turn Your Photos Into Cash," however, even amateur photographers with a little time and motivation can soon be making money with their photographs.

Where to Learn More:  Turn Your Photos Into Cash