Creative Inspiration Photography Online Course

lynda.com, a leader in online software training videos, has released the Douglas Kirkland: Creative Inspiration, a video course on photography featuring one of the most renowned photographers of the 20th century - Douglas Kirkland. The course covers his insights on photography and techniques and tips to improve your photography.

Creative Inspiration Photography Course

Ventura, CA, 6/3/2008 - lynda.com, the leading provider of software training videos online, today announced the release of Douglas Kirkland: Creative Inspiration, a video course featuring one of the most renowned photographers of the 20th Century.

Members of the lynda.com Online Training Library® receive on-demand access to this entire course, while non-members can access 10% for free by visiting the course page at lynda.com. Kirkland shares his insights on photography craft and technique, gleaned from 50 years photographing the entertainment industry. He also takes viewers to on-location photo shoots, and discusses cameras, Photoshop, and the art of capturing his images.

"Douglas Kirkland brings a lifetime of photography experience to this video course, having created some of the most iconic celebrity images of the last half-century," says Lynda Weinman, CEO of lynda.com. "We are thrilled to have been able to profile Douglas's passion, wisdom, and outstanding imaging skills, to provide our subscribers with this informative and inspirational view into the world of photography from one of its great practitioners."

To view free demo video tutorials of this course, visit the Douglas Kirkland: Creative Inspiration course page.

For more information on lynda.com, visit www.lynda.com or call 1-888-335-9632.

About Douglas Kirkland

Douglas Kirkland is one of the most accomplished and celebrated photographers of the last 50 years, from his early career at Look magazine during the golden age of photojournalism in the 60s and 70s to his transition from analog to digital photography in the 90s. He has worked on the sets of more than 100 motion pictures, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Titanic, and Australia. His iconic images of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Nicholson, and Antonio Banderas, among others, are known all over the world. Douglas has received numerous awards, including a Lucie for Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment Photography in 2003, The Golden Eye of Russia in 2006, and also in 2006, a Lifetime Achievement Award from CAPIC in his native Toronto. In 2007, Douglas received an honorary MFA from Brooks Institute, which honored his deep commitment and dedication to his profession.

Top 10 Tips for Taking Better Night Photos

Night photography can open new avenues for taking stunning digital photos of various subjects. However, photographing in the dark poses its own set of challenges because of the low-light condition. Knowing how to take digital photos at night can be a useful skill for any photographer.

The key to producing good digital photos at night is properly handling light. DSLR Doctor has the top 10 tips for taking stunning digital photos after dark. Take Better Night Photos handles the key issues regarding night photography including the ISO and shutter speed settings as well as tips for keeping the digital camera steady.

Digital Photography Tutorial - Infrared Photography

Cliff Smith presents an easy to follow tutorial to take digital photographs in the infrared spectrum. Infrared photography opens new possibilities for digital photographers and is a wonderful opportunity to experiment.

The colours of visible light by which we see the world around us are only a small part of the total spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Other parts of this invisible spectrum have an effect on us though. We're all familiar with the effects of ultraviolet light, which has a shorter wavelength than visible light. UV is what gives us a suntan and makes our teeth, underwear and dandruff glow in a nightclub. It can also give us skin cancer and make inkjet prints fade.

At the other end of the spectrum, longer wavelengths are known as infrared, and we feel these wavelengths as heat. Infrared light is emitted by the sun and other hot objects. It is used in thermograph cameras for tracking criminals, and by alien predators tracking Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The electromagnetic spectrum doesn't end there. Beyond ultraviolet lie Gamma rays and X-rays, while longer wavelengths than infrared include microwaves and radio waves, but for today we're interested in the infrared portion of the spectrum.

Read the Full Article - Digital Photography Tutorial – Infrared

Shoot Better Low-Light Digital Photos

Indoor, low-light photography is not always as simple as point and shoot, even with the latest digital cameras. The following tips can help you take better indoor digital photographs in every kind of low-light situation.

Avoid Using the Flash When You Can

Although using a flash seems to be the obvious solution to low light digital photography, digital flash images have their downsides. Not only will a flash interfere with the setting, it also tends to flatten images, distort colors and wash out skin tones. This problem is especially apparent with the cheap, built-in flashes on most compact digital cameras.

The first thing pros will suggest is to increase your camera's ISO setting, or its "light sensitivity." Traditionally, high speed film (ISO 800 and higher) was better suited for low light photography. Unfortunately, higher ISOs on digital cameras tend to produce color noise - little specks of red green and blue scattered across your image.

Most point and shoot cameras, even those with manual controls, won't produce quality images above 400 ISO. The solution then is to use lower ISO settings, which however, requires long exposure times in low light situations.

Dealing with the Blur

Whether through the subject's movement or yours, long exposure times increase the chances of blurring the digital photograph. These techniques will help produce blur-free shots:

• Start with the largest aperture allowed by your digital camera. Use aperture-priority mode if you have one.
• Zoom out as much as possible if you have a zoom lens. More light will hit the photo sensor of your digital camera and exposure time will go down.
• If the exposure time is still greater than what you can handhold without shaking, use a tripod. Consider something small like the innovative Joby Gorillapod - a small, flexible tripod which will fit nicely in the average coat pocket. There are several sizes available, some of which probably won't fit in your pocket but still aren't as cumbersome as full-size tripod.
• Use the digital camera's timer function to reduce the shake that results from pressing the shutter button. Most digital cameras will have a two-second delay timer that works great, especially on long exposures.

If you have very steady hands, you can try holding the digital camera even on long exposures. Pick a solid stance with your legs slightly apart, and brace the digital camera against your face and hold your breath while you press the shutter. Be sure to zoom in on the resulting image on the preview screen of your digital camera to check for blurring!

Balancing Your Whites

The biggest challenge you face in low light situations is, obviously, the lighting. Chances are you will be shooting in artificial light. Light temperatures from incandescent bulbs or fluorescent overheads can cast yellow or blue tones over a scene. Sometimes, as in the case of incandescent light, this can have a nice warming effect, but it may not be what you are looking for at other times.

The solution is to adjust the white balance in your digital camera. Most digital cameras offer a variety of preset white balance settings which you can experiment with. If all else fails you may be able to customize your own settings. You can also change the white balance after the shooting using software if you shoot RAW images.

Killing Digital Photo Noise

There tends to be unacceptable levels of color noise in the finished digital photograph when using high ISO setting. There are ways to get rid of color noise after the fact using software. Adobe Photoshop features a noise filter that blends surrounding areas together. There are also dedicated software like Noise Ninja ($35-$80, depending on the license) that can provide much more pronounced improvements without blurring or other side effects.

Techniques for Winter Digital Photography

Winter digital photography can be an exhilarating experience. Winter brings with it its own unique beauty worth capturing in digital photographs, as we as its own set of challenges for the photographer. Knowing how to deal with the digital photography issues in winter will allow you to better capture the splendor of snow and ice.

by Rajendran Varma

Equipment for Winter Digital Photography

Two important considerations for digital photographers in winter are comfort and safety. Therefore, it is imperative to dress warmly and in layers for your digital photography trips in winter. The low temperatures also cause digital camera batteries to run dry faster, so make sure to take extra batteries. Condensation can also cause problems for your camera hardware, so take precautions such as not breathing directly on your camera.

Lighting for Winter Digital Photography

The light reflected off snow and ice during winter makes for very interesting lighting conditions for digital photography. However, this reflected light is very often the problem with winter photography since you can end up with too much light in your digital photographs. This results in reduced contrast and less details as well as washed out colors. One solution that is not intuitive is to use flash to help balance the light off the snow and ice, and fill in darker areas. Many newer digital cameras also have adaptive lighting technology to deal with high contrast scenes you are likely to encounter in winter digital photography.

White Balance in Winter Digital Photography

White balance can be especially tricky in winter digital photography. White balance is meant to balance colors in a shot based on the lighting conditions. However, very dark and very bright scenes can be tricky situations for your camera’s white balance, and causes winter digital photographs to turn out dark and grayish because the camera underexposes the scene. Therefore it is important to manually control settings to adjust the white balance in you digital camera. Newer digital cameras often have winter shooting modes that do this automatically.

Contrast and Color

Winter’s photographs are especially striking when the bare, white landscape is punctuated by contrasting and colorful subjects. Trees, mountains, wildlife and people all make interesting subjects for winter digital photography. The interesting patterns and textures that are unique to winter also make for intriguing subjects. As always, experiment with different shooting angles and digital camera settings.

View Amazing Winter Digital Photography

Digital Photography at National Parks

National parks are one of the most popular destinations for digital photographers at any level of expertise. Not only are there stunning scenery and natural features, national parks also allows you to view wildlife in their natural habitat. This opens up a wide variety of digital photography opportunities.

by Rajendra Varma

The landscapes and animals at America's national parks provides a multitude of digital photography subjects simply because national parks in fact were set up to preserve the beauty of these areas in their original state. Therefore, national parks are as close to nature as most of us will get to. The following techniques will help you produce stunning digital photographs of America's natural wonders at these national parks.

National Parks Digital Photography

There are many national parks across America, each with its own distinctive beauty and uniqueness that were deemed worthy of preservation. For digital photographers, this opens up a variety of options. The many national parks offer stunning views of mountains, canyons, geysers, glaciers, valleys, lakes and vistas. They also contain within hundreds of different types of wildlife in the natural setting, giving you the opportunity to get up close with some of these animals.

Planning for Digital Photography

Planning ahead can be very helpful when you are going to shoot digital photography at national parks. Go through park websites and user comments about the parks you are interested in for information on good shooting locations and ideas for your digital photos. You can also search for photos of the parks on digital photo sharing websites like Flickr to get ideas for your own digital photography. Park visitor centers will also often have information on unique shooting locations. Most importantly, however, walk around on your own when you get to a shooting location to find the best angles and lighting conditions to create stunning, unique digital photographs.

Best Time for Digital Photography

The best time to shoot scenery is right after sunrise and just before sunset when the lighting is best. Animals will also be most active during these times, allowing for amazing wildlife photographs. Therefore, plan to be at your shooting location while its still dark before the sun rises or to stay there after the sun sets.

Lighting Conditions

Lighting is the key to high-quality digital photography. It is important to always think about how the lighting will affect your photography, and for outdoor photography, lighting could not be more important. Think creatively about how you can use the lighting conditions to properly reflect the sense of the place, and then plan to shoot when lighting is optimal. Cloudy days are perfect for photography in forests or of waterfalls, while sunny days are optimal for sweeping landscapes.

Composing Photographs at National Parks

Composing your pictures properly can mean the difference between a good digital photograph and an average one. Try to fill the frame with your subject and bakcground or foreground elements. Simplify the composition to focus attention on the subject by eliminating any element that does not add constructively to the digital photograph. Think about the shot and how you compose the digital photograph before shooting.

Also try to shoot unique shots of well-known features like the Grand Canyon or the geysers at Yellowstone. Try to give your digital photographs you personal touch by exploring different angles and digital camera settings.

Stitch Photos

A panorama is a series of photos 'stitched' together digitally to form one wide digital photograph. A lot of medium-range and higher-end digital cameras nowadays offer in-camera stitching feature for shooting panoramic shots of vistas and mountain ranges.

Always experiment with different angles and shooting techniques when taking digital photographs at national parks. It will help you grow as a photographer in addition to producing unique digital photographs of America's natural treasures.

Night Digital Photography

Photographing The Moon In The Landscape with a Digital Camera - Techniques and Digital Photography Tips.

by David Rose

Photographers have been trying to utilize the light of the moon in their landscape photography ever since the photographic process was invented. It was not until World War II, however, that technology had improved enough to make night photography possible.

Night Digital Photography Techniques

Today, despite technological advances, knowing the phase of the moon during a night photography shoot is important as it will affect everything from the type of equipment that you'll need to the actual composition of your photos.

The best times for landscape digital photography without additional light sources, or looking at it in a different manner, away from city lights, is either when the moon is full, the two days before the full moon and the two days after the full moon. Any clouds in the sky will also affect the amount of light available for your night photography, just as they would if you were shooting during the day.

You will have to experiment with your exposure times as so many elements will affect the outcome. The degree of available moonlight; any other light sources; clouds; rain; light reflective surfaces; each of them can make a huge difference to the amount of exposure time needed.

Night Digital Photography Equipment

When embarking on a night digital photography trip, there are standard types of equipment that you will need to take with you.

• A digital camera that will allow you to manually set very long exposure times.
• A good, sturdy tripod is mandatory.
• Extra batteries for your digital camera.
• Sufficient memory card space for your digital camera.
• Lenses with which you are already comfortable.
• A cable release.
• A good carrying case or a vest with a lot of pockets for your equipment.
• A flashlight so that you can easily record your information.

Remember that if this is your first attempt at night photography by moonlight, you will largely spend your time experimenting. The resulting digital photographs and your records will help you plan your next venture more effectively.

Digital Camera Settings

In general, during night photography, one can say that on a night of full moon, with optimum conditions, 8 seconds at f/8 using ISO 100 film will be about right. If there’s a crescent moon and conditions are also optimal, you’ll need as much as 10 hours on one shot! So you see, experimentation while photographing the moon is really the only way to go.

Repeat your shots with different exposure lengths so that you can get a feel for what your digital camera will do for you. A very nice composition for a moonscape might include the moon with beams bouncing off of a river, stream or creek. As the moon moves through its different phases, you can still enjoy landscape photography at night although you may have to bring some "extras" and move locations.

Moonscape Photography Compositions

Different moonscape compositions to experiment with during your moonlight digital photography shoot include:

• A waxing crescent, or a small portion of the moon, hanging in the sky over sparkling city lights.
• Bring a flash or a flash unit to your moon digital photography shoot in order to illuminate an abandoned house, use colored gels to get different color effects and have a muted last quarter moon lurking in the background.
• As the moon goes from full to new, you can play with light effects from the stars or allow car lights to streak through your composition.

When photographing the moon with a digital camera, be sure to record not only the length of time that you exposed your film, but also general weather conditions and what phase the moon was in. This will help you to produce better digital photos in the future. Night photography becomes easier when you're able to plan properly so knowing how much natural light is likely to be available will help you pick the right time to go out and what kind of equipment to take.

Nighttime landscape photography is a creative, rewarding challenge that every keen digital photographer should try.


About The Author: David Rose is a nature photographer and creator of the popular moon software, QuickPhase Pro, the fun and easy way to view the phases of the moon.

Advanced Techniques - Producing HDR Images

High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography was once exclusively in the realm of video post production, but with the advent of digital photography and thanks to digital photo editing software, it is possible for average photographers to produce HDR images.

by Sam Zaydel

High Dynamic Range images are a fairly recent subject matter, at least as far as the average digital photographer is concerned. In case you are not familiar with HDR, it is the process of combining multiple exposures of the same subject into one image that more closely matches what the human eye sees. While HDR is primarily photography, it is considered to be a mixed medium art, because of the digital processing which takes place after the images have been captured. An HDR image is of course only as good as the sequence of images captured to produce the final image. There are several considerations that have to be made before capturing any images for HDR post-processing.

What is HDR?

First and foremost, let's talk about what HDR images are. Even though this is a fairly new subject in photography, the concept behind it is rather old. Dynamic Range simply put, is a measure of how many levels of light an image capture device, such as your digital camera, can capture. Think about shooting a bright sunrise. Why is it that when the sun is exposed properly, the rest of the image appears dark and underexposed? Simple, because the camera used to capture the image has less Dynamic Range than the scene being captured.

A sunrise is a high-contrast situation. The rising sun and the surrounding sky are hundreds of times brighter, than other elements in the image. While digital sensors are extremely sophisticated, and so are film emulsions, some scenes are still too much for them to render for bright highlights, and deep shadows. This is where the concept of an HDR image comes in. You know that if you shoot a sunrise, and meter for the sun, the rest of the scene will be dark, likewise if you meter for the rest of the scene, the sun and the sky will turn into a sheet of white.

What if you could bracket your exposures, but later take properly exposed portions of each exposure of a particular scene, and put them all together into a single beautifully exposed image? That's what an HDR image is.

Software

Using special software, such as Adobe Photoshop or Photomatix, you merge the exposures together, let the software generate a 48bit image, and you then tone map the image, meaning you adjust the image to make sure that both highlights and shadows are represented correctly.

Capturing Digital Photos for HDR

First and foremost, a tripod is absolutely necessary. Most serious photographers use a tripod despite having fast lenses, often with optical image stabilization. Secondly, while shooting a completely static scene is the most common method, dynamic scenes will produce beautiful HDR images too when shot correctly. The most important part of producing a good HDR image is spacing exposures correctly. I wish I could say: “Always bracket by 1.5 stops and you will have an excellent sequence!” That would be easy.

Bracket your Images

Unfortunately, the spacing between exposures will vary, based on the scene. There is no limit, other than your computer's memory to how many exposures of the scene you use. Realistically, most situations will be covered by three exposures. Unless I can see that a scene has extreme variations in contrast, I will space the images 1½ or use a one-third stop if the camera offers it.

Always shoot in RAW format. Using RAW, I cheat at times, and underexpose or over expose a copy of one of the images in an HDR sequence. I then use this under, or overexposed image along with other 'real' photos to generate my final HDR composite image. Some cameras offer a custom setting, which you could program with any settings. I can always change the ISO, but I try to keep it at 50 to reduce noise. Remember, as you combine exposures, you also increase noise. Your choice of software will vary, and every image will look best at different settings. There is no one silver bullet here, you will have to use a lot of trial and error.

The Final Image

Summary

To summarize, producing high quality HDR images is primarily in the exposures you make of the scene. Expose your primary shot for the part of the scene that is most important, and bracket other exposures from there. Try to capture fewer exposures at first, and study your final products to figure out what you need to do better. Experiment with exposure bracketing. Try different spacing, and with time you will find what works best for you. After all, even with HDR imaging, some people will choose to expose for more shadows, while others for more highlights. Try to streamline your image capture process with custom camera functions. There is a lot of information online about the available software, and the process itself. This article is a good start, and will hopefully get you on your way towards great HDR images. Nonetheless, use other resources, and experiment!

For more information read Produce HDR (High Dynamic Range) Images


About the Author: Sam Zaydel is a professional photographer, who recently started an Online Photographer Community, to allow photographers freedom to share their most favorite shooting locations and places. To learn more, please visit www.worldonpaper.com.

How to Shoot Absolutely Stunning Sunsets

Sunsets are truly amazing expressions of beauty and colors that can be captured in a digital photograph with the right equipment and techniques.

by David Glassanos

Whether it’s the warm tones that attract people, or the fact that every sunset is unique, people love looking at sunsets. Here’s a checklist for those of you who are interested in capturing these great natural wonders with a digital camera.

Know when the sun is going to set. This is the number one thing to remember when shooting sunsets. I guarantee you will not get a good picture if you show up once the sun is below the horizon. Keep in mind any landscapes that will affect the time of the sunset. If the sun is going to be setting behind a mountain range then anticipate the sun to drop below the horizon a few minutes before the sun actually sets.

Set the exposure and compose the picture in your digital camera well before the sun actually sets. Give yourself at least half an hour before the time the sun will set to get your digital camera and tripod ready. Play around with the composition and try different angles while the sun is still in the sky. Look for objects, buildings, or landmarks that will create interesting silhouettes with the sun behind them. Exposure is a little harder. You will not know the exact exposure until the sun has actually set but you can have an idea of the exposure values that will look best. Play around with the exposure on your digital camera until you get something you like.

Take as many shots as you can. A sunset is a dynamic scene and is always changing. I recommend taking a couple pictures every minute on your digital camera. Each picture will be different from the one before.

Use a tripod. Sure, you can still digital photograph a sunset while holding your digital camera but using a tripod will allow you to take longer exposures while eliminating camera shake. A sunset is considered a landscape so stop down your aperture as much as you can. Try something like f/22 or higher. This will increase the depth of field, putting the whole scene in focus. The smaller aperture will increase the shutter length, giving you richer and warmer colors.

Try to include clouds in your composition. Someone once told me that amazing sunset photos almost always include clouds. Take a look for yourself. Almost every beautiful digital photo of a sunset you see will have clouds in the frame. This is because clouds are dramatic. They invoke emotion. If you want great sunsets, look for clouds.

Make sure the sky is the most dominant part of the digital photo. Sounds obvious, but what good is a photo of a sunset where two-thirds of the photo is the ground and only one-third is the sky. The sky is the main subject of the picture so emphasize it.

Work fast. The sunset will be over before you know it. Your timeframe will be about 10 minutes or less so it is good to know how your digital camera works before you get to the scene. The more sunsets you photograph the quicker you will become so if you have free time during the evening go take some pictures!

Wear sunglasses! Always remember not to look directly into the sun. You can cause severe eye damage by looking directly into the sun whether it’s with your naked eye or through the viewfinder. You have an LCD for a reason…use it.

Well there you have it, some tips for taking great sunset photographs. Just remember, the more you go out and practice the better your shots will become.


About the Author: David Glassanos runs the photography magazine at PhotographedBy.us

Advanced Techniques - Hacking Canon Firmware

Supercharge Your Canon Digital Camera with Open-Source CHDK Firmware

from Wired How-To Wiki

ONLY FOR CERTAIN CANON DIGITAL CAMERAS!

It has become apparent that digital cameras have capabilities beyond what is immediately available to the user. On a standard Canon, for example, the fastest shutter speed option offered is 1/1,600 second, but the hardware can actually handle much more than that - up to 1/60,000 of a second.

The Canon Hacker's Development Kit, or knows as CHDK, is an open-source software project that can be loaded on cameras using Canon's DIGIC II or DIGIC III firmware platforms. It unleashes new features including RAW file format, live histogram display, a battery readout, in addition to the ability to run scripted actions on a camera.

The good news is that CHDK does not replace the existing firmware on your Canon, so the process is completely reversible. The existing firmware stays intact, while the CHDK software is loaded on demand from an SD card.

How To Install It

It's best to start with a blank SD card, so if there are pictures on your card, remove them first.

There are numerous incarnations of the CHDK software, different builds incorporating different features. If you don't have a particularly rare camera or unusual needs, the best build to start with is probably the Allbest build, a good all-purpose build that incorporates a majority of features.

Determine which camera model you own, by looking at the model number on the camera. Download the appropriate CHDK package for your digital camera from this site.

Note: The "Ixus" designation is European: what Americans call the Canon SD800, Europeans call the Ixus 850. The filename of the firmware should include both names, e.g. allbest-ixus850_sd800-100e-49.zip.

Also download the "english.lng" language file.

Unzip the zip file. It should contain two files, DISKBOOT.BIN and PS.FIR. Put your SD card in your card reader and copy those files, plus english.lng, to the topmost directory on your card.

Once you've put those files on your card, put the card back in the camera.

How To Use It

Switch the camera into View (not Shoot) mode, and turn it on. When you press the Menu button, you should notice a new menu option: Firm Update. Select this option (remember, it's non-destructive) and the CHDK software will be loaded on your camera, which should reboot itself. Immediately, you'll see a display of battery percentage and storage remaining.

The extra features can be accessed and configured via "Alt mode," an alternate mode into which you toggle by pressing a particular key. On the SD700, it's the Print key; it may be different on your camera. It should be configurable in the Alt menu.

You can tell you're in Alt mode when there's a little "ALT" displayed at the bottom of the screen.

After entering Alt mode, press the Menu key to bring up the menu. This reveals all sorts of options: customizing the on-screen display (called the "OSD"), playing games, you name it. Use the camera's directional keys to navigate the menu.

Play Around

Your camera is now set up to take all kinds of fancy photos. You can do Edgerton-style high-speed digital photography, or low-light high-ISO tricks, or script complex actions. The CHDK wiki includes lots of digital photography tips and tutorials and user-written scripts. Here are some of our favorites:

• Unlimited Interval Shooting - Use your camera for surveillance, or use it to shoot at precise intervals during a lunar eclipse or meteor shower.


• High-Speed Shutter - Use this override option in the AllBest firmware to explore life's littler moments. You can also override the camera's slowest shutter speed settings to shoot exposures of a minute or longer.


• Long Exposure Intervalometer - Take multiple long exposure shots all night, then assemble the shots into your own time lapse videos.


• Shoot better HDR pics with CHDK's auto-bracketing features.

Set CHDK as Your Default

At this point, CHDK is only loaded manually when you select Firm Update as you did above. When you shut the camera off, it'll be gone (although your configuration options are stored in a config file on your card). If you want to have it load automatically every time you turn on the camera, follow these steps:

1. Go to Debug Parameters in the Alt menu, and select "Make card bootable."
2. Turn off the camera, remove the card, and switch its manual switch to Lock position. If your card doesn't lock, you can't auto-boot CHDK, sorry.
3. Put the card back in. Now CHDK will load automatically whenever you turn on the camera. Unlock the card to disable this.

Home Digital Photo Printing Tips

How To Get The Best Results When Printing Your Own Digtal Photographs

by Gregg Hall

One of the biggest joys of using a digital camera is to then have the ability to print out digital photos in the comfort of your own home. Usually, when you own a computer, the printer is a common accessory attached to it. This is all you need to be on your way to producing the images from your digital camera. When you are interested in printing out your own digital photos, you should take into consideration some of the techniques you can use to achieve the best results.

Digital Photo Paper

All printer companies produce their own line of ink and paper for their consumers to use. With most of the printing projects you deal with, any type of paper or ink is sufficient, but with digital photo printing, a different type of paper is required. This ensures that you will receive the best quality for your digital photos, including brighter colors and a clearer appearance. If you mix different brands of paper, you will find that each one will give you varied results.

One of the options for choosing digital photo printing paper is one that claims to be of the unique archival variety, which is supposed to keep photos from fading over the years. But, once your digital photo is saved to a file, you can always reprint; gaining the same original appearance as the first time you printed it out. All you have to do is find digital photo printing paper that is compatible with your inkjet printer.

There are many different kinds of finishes available for your digital photo printing paper. You may choose from a glossy to matte finish. When storing paper, make sure it is placed within a cool place that doesn't receive any direct sunlight. You will also find that paper designed for digital photo printing costs more than regular copy paper. This means, try not to waste. When you want to use the majority of the paper, let your software guide you on the correct positioning. Speaking of waste, don't forget how expensive the printer ink is.

Digital Photo Printer Settings

Make sure that when printing digital photos that you have chosen the "normal" print setting. Choosing higher options will not make a 300 dpi photo come out any better and sometimes it actually decreases the appearance. These options are really just a waste of ink.

Some users opt for the purchase of a printer that is only used for printing digital photos. These options possess a different kind of technology, which are responsible for producing better quality digital photos. A disadvantage to using one of these digital photo printers is that the most common maximum print size is 4 x 6 inches.

But, for portability and added convenience, they are a joy for avid photographers. These types of digital photo printers also tend to create photos that last longer because they use a different method to apply the ink to paper. The long lasting finish is also made possible through a protective overcoat that is added as a final layer.


About the Author: Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as quality digital prints at www.qualitydigitalprints.com

Secrets to Editing Digital Photography

Digital photo editors allow you to create and modify graphics and digital photographic images. This includes tasks such as painting and drawing, color correction, photo enhancement, creating special effects, converting images, and adding text to digital photographs. Your digital photo editor will probably be your most frequently used tool for working with graphics so it should be flexible and intuitive. Many software programs are available for enhancing and otherwise working with bitmap images, but unless they can perform all of the tasks above sufficiently, they should only be considered as companion tools to your primary digital photo editing application.

The best thing about digital cameras is that it's easy to take a lot of pictures. That is also the worst thing about digital cameras. After you've owned your camera for a few months, you will not be able to find that great picture you took a couple of months ago if your pictures aren't well organized or named logically. Folders are the best way to organize groups of pictures, and the My Pictures folder in Windows is a great place to start. In your My Pictures folder, create a sub-folder for each year: 2004, 2005, 2006, and so on. This might seem silly the first year you own your camera, but after five years, you'll be glad you did this because you can go back to your 2005 folder and easily find a picture from a vacation you took that year. Arranging pictures by year is also helpful if you're scanning older photos stored in shoe boxes or albums that you took before owning a digital camera. This is also a good way to start organizing the pictures that you currently have on your computer.

Digital Photo Editing Software

When it comes time to touch up your digital photos, you will need a digital photo editing software. You can choose a low-priced, consumer-oriented program or a high-priced program targeted at professional photographers. For most of us, the consumer-oriented digital photo editing programs are more than adequate-and, in fact, you might have received one with your computer or digital camera. Depending on what you do with your photos, you may not need a lot of the bells and whistles when it comes to photo editing. Explore your options and find out which software is best for you. If you're a beginner, you may be happy with a package that offers only the basics, like cropping and red-eye removal. Or, perhaps you need something with more creative effects. For the ultimate in photo-editing, you may consider investing in a professional editing suite. Be warned though, software like that is going to cost you. Adobe Photoshop, for instance, has become the industry standard among professional photographers everywhere. It allows functions like level adjustment, advanced compositing, and RAW image processing.

Digital Photo Sharpening Tools

Sharpen filters bring out detail in digital photographs by increasing the contrast of pixels next to one another. More advanced image editing programs offer several options such as Sharpen, Sharpen More, Sharpen Edges and Unsharp Mask (USM). Unsharp Mask gives you a lot of control over how an image is sharpened. Sometimes a digital photograph will benefit from selective sharpening. You select an area with a programs selection tool and only sharpen the area. The important thing is not sharpen an image too much. The Unsharp Mask searches through your image looking for where colors change, and sharpens those areas. The Unsharp Mask is superior to any other sharpening because it makes decisions based on adjacent pixels, not random color changes, so it usually can find and sharpen just the true edges of color areas.

Resizing Digital Photographs

Often times digital photographs are posted on the web and resized with HTML code. This leads to an image full of jagged edges. By resizing your image in a digital photo editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop, you can utilize smoothing algorithms that will make an image look much smoother. Additionally, resizing the image will reduce the file size, allowing a web page to load faster than usual. When you resize a digital photograph, you are resampling the image. In other words, your program is taking all of the image data and redrawing the pixels so that the image is the desired size. However, when you ask the application to increase the size of the image, the size of each pixel is increased, which inevitably leads to degradation of the image. You can also change image resolution when you resize the digital photograph to keep the quality of your image.

Digital Photograph Cropping

At times the subject of a picture is lost in the surrounding parts of a picture. If this happens, you can always crop your picture. This means cutting down the picture to a certain size. There are many ways to do this in terms of the size of cropping. In just about every digital photo editing program there is a cropping tool, and you can experiment with the size of the area that you take out of your digital photograph. If you don't like what you've done, all you have to do is click "undo."


Learn more about editing knowledge editing digital photography at Edit Your Digital Photos.

Photography 101: Content in Digital Photography

Even with good techniques and composition, without content digital photography loses its substance. It is important to think of the content when you photograph something.

by Kelly Paal

Even if you feel that you already know what kind of digital photography you like to do, it’s always a good idea to try your talent at different aspects of digital photography.

Pictorial
This is a general term but it applies to any digital photographer who’s goal is simply to create beautiful photos. This breaks down into smaller subsets but the most popular form is landscape and nature digital photography. This is what I do and it’s tempting to go on and on but I will just say that this form of digital photography, to me, is a real art. At least that is goal to create art in photographic form. It is the goal of the digital photographer to use their abilities to capture an image in it’s moment of beauty and simplicity.

Portrait
This can be people and even animals. It also includes wedding photography as well. This is an aspect of digital photography that can be a lot harder than it seems. Not only do you have to know your basic photo composition but you need to understand what makes each person look their best. You must know how to bring out their personality and character in the shot. If you love working with people this may be your field. It’s fun and challenging.

Photojournalism
Now this isn’t just press photography, though that is one aspect of it. It is also documentary photography as well, the latter doesn’t always need an event to occur right in front of you. Either way the purpose is to tell a story. Really good photojournalism shouldn’t need the text below it to tell you what is going on. It should be compelling and storytelling. Composition still plays a part in digital photography, you can’t tell a story if the story can’t be seen. And while these digital photos can be beautiful in their technical aspects they aren’t necessarily beautiful images. The story telling is as important.

Abstract
Probably not as common of a form of digital photography but I’m seeing it more and more. This is usually characterized by extreme close ups of detail of something, so much so that you can’t identify the original subject. But in this case that doesn’t matter since the abstract detail or pattern is the subject of the digital photo. (Color can also be the subject as well.) Basic composition still plays a part, maybe a bigger part in this form of digital photography.


About the Author: Kelly Paal is a freelance nature and landscape photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Photography 101: Basic Composition

Basic information about the rules of composition in digital photography. Composition turns digital photography into an art.

by Kelly Paal

Now that you are beginning to understand how your camera works you can begin to understand basic composition in digital photography. I know that many people that I’ve talked to think that digital photography is just pointing your camera and taking a photo but it’s more than that. After you understand how your equipment works you can begin to get into the real art of digital photography and that art is called composition.

Basic Principles

1. Use all of your available space. Fill the image with the image. If the reason that your taking the photo is your daughter’s beautiful face then get closer. If you’re taking an image of the breathtaking valley before you. Fill the frame with the valley. Keep distractions out of the frame. They’re called distractions for a reason.


2. Look at the forms in your image. You almost have to look at the people or the landscape before you in their simplistic geographic forms. A good way to learn form is to practice taking photos of still life objects, that you can arrange into pleasing forms. A good digital photograph is always a beautiful arrangement of form. Whether it’s the beauty of a woman’s face, her features being forms, or a wonderful landscape, trees, rocks, and hills being forms.


3. Line or direction, motion. The direction of the forms in your photos is very important. Never have action or motion moving outside of your digital photograph. It will direct the eye away from your image. Diagonal motion lines are good, curves and “s” curves are better. The last two is probably way landscape photography is so popular nature is full of curves. Also never put a horizon line in the center of your frame.


4. Contrast, the difference between black and white. Now it is possible to have a beautiful photo with little contrast if that is your intention, this works best with color. But a lot of shots, some really beautiful shots have a nice balance of black, white, and grays. This can be manipulated for artistic purpose of course, but in the beginning you want to focus on trying to take digital photographs with equal amounts of black, white, and shades of gray.
   


5. Color, you may have to familiarize yourself with the color wheel. Whether you’re shooting nature or setting up your own shots in a studio you need to know what colors go together and why. Many of us have an instinct as to what looks good. When in doubt follow your instincts. Start out by taking shots of things that you think have pretty or beautiful colors. Show the photos to others and see if they agree. Digital photographers learn not only what they think is beautiful but what is universally beautiful as well.

Now the hard part practice all these principles at the same time. It’s not easy! Now you really know why digital photographers take years to really learn their craft.


About the Author: Kelly Paal is a freelance nature and landscape photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Photography 101: Digital Photography Basics

A simplified digital photography course aimed at new photographers out there who want to know where to start.

by Kelly Paal

If you really want to learn digital photography the first thing you need is a good and reliable camera. It must, and I repeat must, be able to shoot in fully manual and fully auto focus modes. To really learn digital photography you must understand the equipment. You’ll need to learn how manipulating the shutter speed, aperture, and focus will have a dramatic effect on your digital photos. Meters, if you have a camera that can work in a fully manual mode it should have an internal meter suitable for what you will be doing. Tripod, you’re going to need one whether it’s portrait work or landscapes you’ll need one eventually to improve your digital photography. Luckily you don’t have to spend a lot here. Just something lightweight and durable. Flash, you can buy a separate camera mounted flash, which is great if you can afford it. Consider what kind of digital photography that you will be doing though. If you’re going to do mostly nature and landscape digital photography, you may only need the fill flash that comes with most cameras today. If you plan on doing portraiture only you will definitely need a camera mounted flash that has an adjustable angle.

Film Speed
ISO setting to be exact. Slower speeds (25 to 400) are intended for portraiture and landscape digital photography. Faster speeds (600 and above) are intended for actions shots and photojournalism. So first you need to know what you going out to digital photograph and make sure that you have the appropriate film for the job.

Shutter Speed
Now that you have the camera loaded with film consider the shutter speed. Do you want to blur motion, or freeze it? If there is no motion at all what shutter speed do you need to expose the scene with natural light. Shutter speed plays a very important role in digital photography. From 1/60th and down to the bulb setting will blur most motion. For example if you want to blur the water in a waterfall, a setting of 1/30th should work. (You’ll need a tripod though.) 1/125th is a normal setting for most shots. On many cameras the 125th setting is marked in a different color to make it obvious. If you want to freeze action you’ll need to start with 1/500th and work up from there. The faster the motion the faster the shutter speed needed to stop motion. Many digital photography cameras go up to 1/2000th of a second. If you’re trying to use natural light alone in a scene you will want to determine the aperture first and then see what shutter speed you need to properly expose the scene for available light. (Keep in mind sometimes there isn’t enough light.)

Aperture
These are the set of numbers on your lens closest to the body of the camera. They can go from 1.8 to 22, and they are also referred to as f-stops in digital photography. These numbers determine how much light reaches the film inside of your camera. Most internal meters will blink on the appropriate aperture for the shutter speed that you’ve set, or the speed you’ve set will blink if your f-stop is correct for the speed. Both the f-stop and shutter speed can be changed to expose the scene correctly in digital photography. Consider that the faster the shutter speed the more light will be needed to expose the scene correctly. This makes logical sense if you think about it. If the shutter isn’t open as long, fast shutter speed, then there is less light able to make it to the film and so the scene must be brighter to expose correctly. To learn, bracket your digital photography shots. Take the first shot at the aperture suggested by your meter, move one stop up, take a photo, one down, take another photo.

Flash
I personally like shooting with natural light whenever possible and at most I use a fill flash in digital photography. But if you’re going to do portrait work then most of the time you may be indoors and you will need a flash sometimes. For the amateur the fill flash units that are on the top of most of today’s cameras are wonderful for basic work. You will have to read your manual on your particular flash unit to learn what it can and can’t do. This is where the camera that is fully manual and fully auto is great for the amateur. You can usually set it so that the camera will meter and set the flash output accordingly and then you still can control the shutter speed and aperture.


About the Author: Kelly Paal is a freelance nature and landscape photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Photography 101: White Balance Demystified

White balance is a very important concept in digital photography, and involves the process of measuring light and colors. Understanding how it works will allow you to do wonders with your digital photography.

by Jennifer Clarkson

The term “white balance” originates from the world of video imaging where a device (waveform monitor) was used to match or “balance” the signals from the camera’s red, green, and blue channels to make accurate whites under various lighting conditions, thus balancing your white. In this article, we’ll use “white balance” for digital cameras in a similar sense: the process of measuring your light source’s color temperature accurately, based on your lighting conditions, and using that information to correctly balance your whites and colors.

Symptoms of Poorly Set White Balance
If your digital camera’s white balance is set incorrectly, or if your digital camera chose the wrong algorithm for measuring color temperature, then you will observe a color cast on your digital photo: it will either look slightly blue, slightly orange, or slightly green. A low color temperature shifts light toward the red; a high color temperature shifts light toward the blue. Different light sources emit light at different color temperatures, and thus the color cast. Let’s take a look.

What is Color Temperature and How Is It Measured?
Color temperature is effectively the warmth that is emitted from a light source, and the effect that temperature has on the intensity of any particular color in the visible spectrum. For example, a 200 W bulb has more intensity in the orange/red end, and shows purples and blues with very little intensity. This makes your photo appear “warm”. Daylight has equivalent intensity across the whole spectrum, so you see purples and blues with the same intensity as oranges and reds. But shade or a heavily overcast sky has more intensity in the blue/purple end, so your oranges and reds will have very little intensity. This makes your photo appear “cool”.

Here are some examples of color temperatures from common light sources:
1500 K: candle light
2800 K: 60 W bulb
3200 K: sunrise and sunset (will be affected by smog)
3400 K: tungsten lamp (ordinary household bulb)
4000-5000 K: cool white fluorescent bulbs
5200 K: bright midday sun
5600 K: electronic photo flash.
6500 K: heavily overcast sky
10000-15000 K: deep blue clear sky

Newer light sources, such as fluorescent and other artificial lighting, require further white balance adjustments since they can make your photos appear either green or magenta.

How Does a Digital Camera Auto-Detect White Balance?
Your digital camera searches for a reference point in your scene that represents white. It will then calculate all the other colors based on this white point and the known color spectrum. The data measured from its R G B sensors is then run through a whole lot of numbers and predetermined equations to figure out which white balance setting is most likely to be correct. Remember, white balance is the automatic adjustment that makes sure the white color humans observe will also appear white in the image.

Setting your digital camera’s white balance to auto white balance (AWB) will provide color accuracy under many conditions. Your digital camera will adjust the white balance between 4000K – 7000K using a best guess algorithm. Auto white balance is a good choice for situations where the light changes over time and speed is an issue (e.g. animal photography, sports photography). However, you should avoid using auto white balance settings in the following situations:

1. Your scene is heavily dominated by one color
2. Color accuracy is absolutely imperative
3. You are photographing particularly warm or cool scenes (e.g. a sunset)

White Balance Presets
Most digital cameras come with multiple white balance preset options. These presets work well when:

1. The light source matches one of the preset white balance options
2. Your scene is heavily dominated by one color

Common Preset Options:

• Tungsten - "Tungsten" is the name of the metal out of which the bulb's filament is made. The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 3,000K. Best Use: indoors at night. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too blue. Creative Use: Set your exposure compensation to -1 or -2 and use this setting in daylight to simulate night.


• Fluorescent - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 4,200K. Best use: Fluorescent, mercury, HMI and metal halide lights used in your garage, sports stadiums and parking lots. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too purple.


• Daylight - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 5,200K. Best use: studio strobe lights. Otherwise, your exposure may have a slight bluish tinge.


• Cloudy - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 6,000K. Best use: direct sunlight and overcast light. This setting will warm your photo by giving it an orange tinge, which is often desirable in landscapes and portraits. Creative Use: sunsets.


• Shade - The color temperature of this setting ranges from 7,000K - 8,000K. Best use: shooting in shade, no direct sunlight (cloudy), backlit subjects. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too orange. Creative Use: direct sunlight – it will warm up your photos even more!


• Flash - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 5,400K. This is almost identical to Cloudy but sometimes redder depending on the camera. Best use: overcast skies. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too red.

About the Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For more Photography Tips, and to browse her Photo Galleries, please visit her website at www.jclarksonphotography.com

Using Long Lenses in Digital Photography

Great digital photographs can result from using a telephoto lens to get in close to the action or sneak up on a subject from a discreet distance. But the high magnification of long tele and zoom lenses serves to accentuate the effects of camera shake caused by your inability to hold the camera and lens absolutely still. The effects of wind, moving or shaking floors, residual vibration from camera mirrors flipping up just prior to exposure, atmospheric haze, and heat waves can also add problems.

When hand-holding your digital camera and zoom lens, start with a fast film, ISO 400 or higher. This will allow you to use higher shutter speeds (1/1000 sec and above) and minimize the effects of shake in a variety of lighting conditions. Use the proper stance: arms closely tucked into the body, elbows partially supported by the chest or abdomen, lens and camera balanced by the left hand and arm.

Practice supporting and focusing the digital camera with your left hand. Aim the digital camera slightly above the subject, take a deep breath, let the view drop to the proper composition while exhaling, and gently press the shutter.

For support, find a fence post, parked car, or folded jacket. Lean on it or rest your digital camera on top of it while shooting. If you have such a support, a 1/30 second exposure isn't an impossibility, even with a 500mm lens. You'll be using slower shutter speeds more often than you'd like. The minimum shutter speed rule of thumb for hand-holding a long tele or zoom lens is this: Slowest safe shutter speed = 1 over the lens focal length.

For example, if you're photographing with a 500mm f/4 lens, the limiting shutter speed for a hand-held digital photo would be 1 /500 second at the correct aperture for a good exposure. This rule applies to a properly-braced photographer standing on solid ground.

Chest braces, rifle stocks, and similar devices aren't as practical as a lightweight monopod or tripod. A monopod is easy to carry, and you can set it up just about anywhere.

It won't allow you to set shutter speeds as slow as you can get away with using a tripod. But it will let you shoot safely—that is, without a serous risk of image-softening shake—at speeds two or three steps slower than you'd have to use if you were shooting handheld. That may make it possible to shoot in lower light, and/or to use a slower, finer-grained film.

Get a monopod that can be raised to your eye level, is quick and easy to set up. If you shoot a lot of verticals, you may want to add a good swivel ball head for maneuverability.

A tripod is the best device for insuring minimal effects from vibration with a long tele or zoom lens. With a sturdy one, you can use slower shutter speeds and lower ISO-higher resolution films. If you own a shaky tripod, tie a three to five pound weight to the center column for added stability.

Physically long tele-lenses should have tripod-mounting collars to attach the lens at the proper fulcrum to the tripod rather than the digital camera. You can also use a secondary support for the digital camera like Bogen's Long Lens Support. This telescoping brace attaches to most tripod legs via a universal clamp at one end and a swivel ball head for the digital camera at the other. The brace makes it more difficult to change camera position, but it considerably lessens the effects of vibration.

If you're on shaky ground, tripods won't help. They'll actually transmit the motion right to the lens and camera. It's better to handhold the camera if you can set a reasonable shutter speed, and let your body damp the vibration.

Atmospheric haze and heat waves can't always be eliminated, but using a haze or polarizing filter can help cut through the haze and increase color saturation and contrast. Also, use your lens hood, or shade the lens, to minimize the possibility of flare.

Few techniques in photography require more expertise and skill than the successful use of a long tele or zoom lens. If you want to become more proficient, practice, practice, practice!


About the Author: Jan Linden is a professional photographer and designer.

Photographing Waterfalls

Top 4 Mistakes made when Photographing Waterfalls and How to Correct Them

by Jennifer Clarkson

Waterfalls often make great subjects of photos, but it's very easy to get a bad result if you're not paying attention when you click the button. Here are the top 4 mistakes photographers make, and the easy ways to improve your shots!

Mistake #1: Setting your camera to auto-select aperture and shutter speed
Metering is something that cameras generally do very well. They begin to fail, however, when you start to introduce very white or very black subjects in an image. The reason for this is because humans see in 16-stops, whereas cameras "see" no more than 5-stops. This means that images with high contrast are not correctly exposed when left to the camera's automatic settings , if you have a lot of white in your subject of focus, the camera tends to make it grey in the final image, and correspondingly underexposes the rest of the image. Similarly, if you have a lot of black in your image, the camera tends to make the black turn out grey in the final image, thus overexposing the rest of the image.

Mistake #2: Photographing Waterfalls on a sunny day
Sunny days in the forest may be nice for close-up studies, but adding sun to a waterfall landscape is not a good idea , the range of light and dark is so extreme that your compositions will be washed out or hidden in blackness. The best time to head out for a waterfall shoot is on an overcast day, with or without rain.

Mistake #3: Shooting Waterfalls without a polarizing filter
In a nutshell, polarizing filters cut the glare. Wet surfaces tend to reflect the sky colour, so you'll actually need the polarizing filter more for rainy days where the sky colour is grey than for sunny days. But we've already agreed you shouldn't photography waterfalls on sunny days Removing glare from an image allows you to see the colourful world underneath the glare, and no amount of Photoshopping after your shoot will fix it.

Mistake #4: Leaving your waterfall site without trying to slow the water motion on camera
Let's face it, it's fun to try to make those ethereal shots of rapids or waterfalls where the movement of the water looks like silk. Why walk away from a waterfall if the conditions are right for taking such a shot? To capture water motion, experiment with these techniques.

• ensure the sky is overcast
  
• decrease your ISO setting to as low as possible
  
• consider enabled auto-bracketing on your camera, if you have it, or setting the exposure to 2/3 of a stop
  
• set your camera up on a tripod and frame your waterfall in the viewfinder
  
• lower your shutter speed to 1/15th of a second or less
  
• take a shot and check the histogram
  
• play with slower shutter speeds and different exposure bracketing
  

Metering and Exposure for Waterfall Photography
The idea is to meter off the part of your composition that would be closest to medium grey, should the image be turned to greyscale. If your waterfall is surrounded by lush forest, try metering off nearby green leaves or grass , never off the waterfall, and never off anything in shade. If you're photographing at dawn or dusk, meter off the sky. This will make the waterfall appear white, and the shady areas appear black. It's really very simple!

In automatic mode:
First, learn how to "lock" your camera's exposure so as to trick it into getting the right exposure. Enable bracketing if you've got it. Point your camera at the green leaves or dusky sky, and lock your exposure. Re-focus your camera on the waterfall, and click the button , this should tell your camera to expose the scene how we see it, and not what its algorithms have told it to do.

In manual mode:
Set your exposure to 2/3 of a stop. Point your camera at a spot nearby the waterfall that is neither bright nor dark. Set your aperture and shutter speed to whatever you prefer (see Mistake #4). Now point your lens at the waterfall and frame the scene in your viewfinder. Click the button and voila , beautiful exposure!





Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For a more information on exposure, aperture, and depth of field, please visit her website at Jennifer Clarkson Photography

Article source: Articlecat.com

Photography - Rules of Composition

by Richard Schneider

Composition is defined as the combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole. In photography that definition is very important in taking quality pictures. The following rules of composition should be learned and considered but not necessarily used in every photo. Once you have learned these rules you will be more observant of the possible photo opportunities that surround you. But keep in mind that the really famous photographers usually find a creative way to stretch or break the rules of composition.

Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds has been used through the centuries and is probably the most recognized rule. The rule of thirds directs that the frame can be divided into three vertical sections and three horizontal sections. Wherever the separating lines connect is an ideal spot for a subject or point of interest. By positioning your main subject at any of the four intersection points, you are giving your subject more emphasis than if it is right in the middle of the photo. The intersection points can also work if there is more than one main subject in a photo. Most famous photographs and paintings have the rule of thirds applied to them in some way or another.

Simplicity
The simplicity rule directs that you should keep the items in your photo relatively simple. If your main subject is close to the lens, then your background should be very simple in order to avoid distractions. Another good idea is to avoid objects or lines that lead the eye away from your main subject.

Contrast
The contrast rule directs that light subjects should be placed against dark backgrounds and vice versa.

Framing
The framing rule directs that using natural surroundings mindfully can add more meaning and focus to your subject. The surroundings could be anything such as bushes, windows, trees or even a doorway. When using this rule be sure to focus on the main subject and not on the surroundings that are framing it. It is also a good idea to use a narrow aperture (high f/stop) when using this rule in order to create a high depth-of-field.

Texture
The texture rule can add a great amount of interest to most photos. When people see texture in a photo it can spark their imagination and make the photo more real to life. Texture would be a good idea when taking photos of rocks, walls, surfaces, hands or even leaves. In order to create texture try to compose your photo so the light is coming from the side and therefore casting shadows in key places.

Diagonals
The diagonal rule directs that diagonal elements or lines can make a photo more dynamic. Diagonal elements could be fence posts, roads or even tree branches.

Leading Lines
The leading lines rule can be used to direct the eye deeper into a photo and commonly to the main subject. Leading lines can lure the eye to a subject by leading to it from any side or depth of the photo. Leading lines could be roads, rivers, tree branches or even bridges.

Color
The color rule is what adds interest and emotion to your pictures. Different color configurations can inspire and amaze viewers. Colors can also be used to accent certain parts of a photo.

It might not be a bad idea to keep these key terms with you when you practice taking photos. The best way to learn and improve your composition is just to use them often and to experiment.

What is Macro Photography?

by Felix Zhucha

One of the most satisfying forms of photography, and one of the easiest to master is macro photography.

A practical way for defining macro photography is by the strength of the lens, or how nearby it can focus. For true macro photography, you'll want to have a lens that focuses down to a 1:1 range. For example,for 35mm film,your camera has to have the ability to focus on an area at least as small as 24×36mm ,because this is the size of the image on the film.After having the film developed,the picture of the subject on the negative or slide will be exactly the same size as the subject photographed.

What makes macro photography seductive is the level of detail that you see, sometimes for the first time - familiar objects become unusual and abstract and unusual objects become even more interesting.

There are many applications for macro photography: flowers,plants,butterflies, minerals,snowflakes... Your own backyard, a local garden,beach or forest can provide you with hours of fun with macro photography.

Of course macro photography isn't always centred on the natural world. Collectors use macro photography to record coins,stamps and other collectibles that are very small.Some people use macro photography for documenting their possessions for insurance purposes or to illustrate their auction listings online.

Working with macro photography can be a whole new visual event for even the most advanced photographers.Every day can yield another subject and an endless supply of captivating images.The possibilities of macro photography are limited only by your imagination.

If you are interested in macro photography, then by all means consider purchasing a dedicated macro lens. Digital SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses are ideal for macro photography.If you're primarily interested in outdoor photography, consider a 180mm or 200mm macro lens.

Alternatively you can use extension tubes,reversing rings, or close-up diopter lens.

An extension tube is placed between the camera body and the lens.There is no glass in the tube - its purpose is to move the lens farther from the film (or digital sensor) so that magnification can be bigger.

Reversing ring is attached on the front of a lens and makes it possible to attach the lens in reverse.

Close-up diopter lens are placed in front of the camera's main lens. These screw-in or slip-on attachments provide close focusing at very low cost.However,the quality of the pictures is variable.