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.

April Digital Photography FAQ

PC World's monthly digital photography FAQ answers some of the most interesting questions submitted by readers. For April, some of the digital photography questions answered deal with photographing dark subjects in bright lighting conditions, recovering lost digital photos from defective memory cards, and blurring the background when shooting digital photos. Also addressed is the effect of airport screenings on your digital camera and how fading batteries can influence your digital photos.

PC World readers can submit their own digital photography questions and the most interesting questions are rounded up at the end of the month.

Read Full Article - Frequently Asked Digital Photography Questions for April

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.

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.

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

Composition In Digital Photography

by Jason Cox

The art of composition, or putting a digital picture together in the viewfinder can make the difference between a good picture and a bad one! It is a visual process of organizing the elements and individual details of a scene into a balanced and pleasing arrangement. Because what one person finds pleasing is not pleasing to another, digital picture composition is largely a matter of personal taste.

There is no right or wrong composition in digital photography. A composition that conveys a photographers intended meaning is an effective one. A composition that does not or that confuses the viewer is not.

There are certain rules of composition that most photographers agree will make the best digital pictures. However, the word rules is used loosely here as they are intended to simply be guidelines to take great digital pictures.

They are based on recreating similarities in the make-up of many different digital images that many people have found to be esthetically-pleasing. A rule of composition or a design concept should not be taken as a hard and fast rule that must be observed.

In fact, some renowned digital photographs violate all the rules of composition and are still excellent digital pictures. This does not mean that the rules are without value. They are tremendously valuable. They are time-proven, and provide great guidelines for photographers at any level.

These rules are great guidelines to start out with. But if you feel you want to break one of these rules, by all means go right ahead. Photography is not about perfection. Its about capturing digital images that will be pleasing to you and those you want to share the pictures with.

Here are some of those rules:

1. Choose a primary point of interest before taking the digital picture. Determine which area is of the most importance to you and compose the picture around that area.

2. Be sure that only the things you want the viewer to see appear in the digital picture. If there are numerous objects cluttering up the background, your message will be lost. If you can not find an angle or framing to isolate your subject, consider using depth of field control on your camera, if it has one, to keep the background out of focus.

3. Give your digital picture contrast. A light subject will have more impact if placed against a dark background and vice versa. Contrasting colors may be used for emphasis, but can become distracting if not considered carefully.

4. Consider the balance of what you are shooting. Generally, asymmetric or informal balance is considered more pleasing in a digital picture than symmetric (formal) balance. In other words, placing the main subject off-center and balancing the weight with other objects (smaller or lower impact) will be more effective than placing the subject in the center.

5. Frame your picture. A frame in a digital picture is something in the foreground that leads you into the picture or gives you a sense of where the viewer is. For example, a branch and some leaves framing a shot of rolling hills and a valley, or the edge of an imposing rock face leading into a shot of a canyon. Framing can usually improve a digital picture. The frame does not need to be sharply focused. In fact if it is too sharply detailed, it could be a distraction.

6. Be sure the viewpoint is pleasing. You can often change a digital picture dramatically by moving the camera up or down or, stepping to one side. One of the best ways to come up with a prize-winning photograph is to find an unusual point of view.

7. When the subject is capable of movement, such as an animal or person, it is best to leave space in front of the subject so it appears to be moving into, rather than out of, the digital picture.

8. Linear elements such as roads, waterways, and fences placed diagonally are generally perceived as more dynamic than horizontals in a digital picture.

9. Use the rule of thirds. This is a principle taught in graphic design and photography and is based on the theory that the eye goes naturally to a point about two-thirds up the page. Also, by visually dividing the image into thirds (either vertically or horizontally) you achieve the informal or asymmetric balance mentioned above.

Although there are many ways a digital picture can be composed effectively by basing it on the use of thirds, the most common example is the placement of the horizon line in landscape photography. If the area of interest is land or water, the horizon line will usually be two-thirds up from the bottom. On the other hand, if the sky is the area of emphasis, the horizon line may be one-third up from the bottom, leaving the sky to occupy the top two-thirds.

About the Author: For several years now, Jason has been reviewing hundreds of online products and services. Many consider his reviews to be very insightful and reliable. Visit his website Best Camera Bargains.

Article Source: Art Symmetry

Photography Tips - Portrait Photos

Portrait photography is an important aspect of photography in general. High quality portrait photos are impressive projections of emotions and feelings, and captures the objects' character forever. This article will provide you with guidelines for achieving such high quality portrait photos.

Although producing true high quality portrait photos is an art and requires experimentation and experience, there are some simple general techniques that you can follow in order to quickly improve your portrait photos. Here are a few:

Background: A good portrait photo, or for that matter any photo in which a person is the center of attention, should have a passive background that does not take the attention away from the object. Specifically a portrait photo is all about the objects face. Take your photos in a neutral background. A background that is comprised of soft solid colors is an example of a good background to use. A busy street or people moving around are examples of bad backgrounds to use in portrait photos.

Blurring: Another way to focus the viewer's attention on the object and not the background is to blur the background details. Blurring the background will literally lift the object out of the photo and make it stand out. The technique to blue the background is pretty simple you will need to set your camera to a shallow depth of field. You can do that by using a zoom lens and shooting from a short distance or with a wide aperture manual setting.

Lighting: Lighting is a simple but important issue in portrait photography. Natural lighting is preferable whenever possible. Natural light is much better at capturing the full color range and warmth of the skin than artificial lighting. Try taking portrait photos outdoors during the day. Position the subject in such a way that sunlight hits them from an angle and not directly. Taking photos with the sun behind the subject will result in a silhouette. On the other hand, taking photos with the sun right in front of the subject will result in overexposure and color distortion. You can use a fill-in flash to compensate for some shadowing that might occur on the face, especially in the nose area.

The eyes: Although a face has many details - nose, eyes, mouth, and so on - the eyes are the overwhelmingly important feature to focus on in a portrait photo. The eyes tell a story and they convey emotions, feelings and state of mind. Focusing on them will make the photo better project all those feelings. Depending on the emotions and story that you are trying to convey through the photo, guide your object to look straight to the camera or to look sideways by focusing on another object.

Experiment: It takes time and experience to perfect your portrait shooting abilities. With digital cameras the cost of taking photos is literally zero, thereby allowing you to experiment extensively until you get a good sense of how to produce high quality portrait photos.

A Photographers Guide to Digital Camera Focus Modes

While some of the least expensive digital cameras have only automatic focus, meaning the camera does all the work on bringing your subject into the best possible focus, most SLR digitals offer three different focus modes manual, single auto focus and continuous auto focus. All three of these will be addressed here.

With manual focus, the camera stays out of the focus equation and you, the photographer, make all the decisions regarding this. This is done by setting different buttons or actually using an attached focusing ring that rotates on the camera lens. For those who like to have complete creative control of the finished product, this is the best focus mode.

In single auto focus mode, the camera automatically focuses when you press the shutter button either all the way down to shoot a photo or half way down to lock the focus. This mode is useful when shooting static objects.

In continuous auto focus the camera continuously focuses on the objects in the photo. In this mode the camera continuously corrects the focus as the objects distance from the camera changes. This mode is useful when you shoot photos of moving objects such as a race car during a race or airplanes during an air show. You can hold the shutter button half way down and continuously move the camera to follow the object. The camera will continuously keep the object in focus.

Like any other feature automatic and manual focus modes have their pros and cons. The first step to using them to your advantage is to understand how they work and what they were designed for. The next step is to experiment shoot photos using different focus modes and different types of objects and see how the camera behaves. Once you have done that you will be ready to instinctively use the best focus mode for each photo situation.

Article Source: http://www.artsymmetry.com

Rick Sammon's Top Ten Digital Photography Tips

Rick Sammon's Top 10 Digital Photography Tips

1. Learn How to See the Light - See the color, quality, angle of light as well as shadows and contrast when taking digital photographs.
2. Depth and Dimension - Try to create a sense of depth and dimension in your digital photos. One way to do it is to use foreground objects when composing a shot.
3. Take a Hike - Take your time and walk around a scene to look for the best shooting angles.
4. Always Look Down, Back, and Up - Look around to find better shooting opportunities.
5. Tell the Whole Story - Take wide-angle, medium angle, vertical, and horizontal shots as well as digital photos of details.
6. Frame It! - Look for some object to frame the digital photograph to make it more interesting
7. Beware of the Background - Backgrounds can make or break a digital photograph.
8. Fill the Frame - Try to fill the entire shot with the subject.
9. RAW Rules! - RAW format preserves all the information while compressed formats like JPEG lose some information in the digital photograph.
10. Envision the End Result - Editing can change the whole look of the digital photograph, so think of the end result when composing an image.
    

Nature Photography: Five Tips for Great Wildlife Photos

Wildlife photography falls under the category of nature photography, and encompasses the photographing of animal subjects. Photographing wildlife can be one of the most challenging and rewarding fields of nature photography. With digital cameras creating such widespread interest in photography in general, new photographers all over the world are taking an interest in wildlife photography.

Many photography guides these days focus on the technical aspects of the camera, but good photography relies more on composition, lighting, and sensitivity to your subject. Therefore, you can improve your photography by thinking creatively, not technically.

Here are five tips for taking better wildlife photographs.

Wildlife Photography Tip #1

Get to the subject's eye level. Wildlife photos are most effective if they create an intimate connection between the subject and the viewer. The best way to do this is to take your photo at the subject's eye level. This way, your wildlife photo can create the illusion of sharing a moment inside the world of the subject, rather than from the outside looking in.

If, for example, your subject is low to the ground (like a lizard, frog, or even a pet), crouch or lie flat, getting as low as possible so you can take your photo at the subject's eye level.

Wildlife Photography Tip #2

It's All In The Eyes. The personal connection mentioned in tip #1 is really about eye contact, so it is important to get the eyes right. If the eyes in your wildlife photo are sharp and clear, the photo will probably work. If they are out of focus, lost in shadow, or if the subject blinks or turns its eyes away, the connection will be lost, and the photo will almost certainly fail.

You don't even need your whole subject to be in focus. Your animal could be mostly hidden by leaves, in shadow and out of focus. The picture could still work...as long as the eyes are open and captured sharply in the picture.

Wildlife Photography Tip #3

If The Background Doesn't Help, Get Rid Of It. Many wildlife photos are spoiled because the background is cluttered, distracting, ugly, or just plain inappropriate. For example, seagulls on a beach can be quite beautiful, but seagulls at the local rubbish tip is a different matter. Also, wildlife photos look far less natural if you can tell they were taken in a zoo. Apply this principle: "Anything that does not make my photo better, makes it worse."

This does not mean you can't take a good wildlife photo at the zoo, at the tip, or anywhere else for that matter. You just need to manage it. If your background is spoiling your shot, zoom right in on the subject to eliminate as much of the background as possible. By zooming in, you will also reduce the depth of field to a minimum, so any background that does appear in your photo will be out of focus and less distracting.

Wildlife Photography Tip #4

If Your Background Is Working For You, Use It Well. A wildlife photograph that captures the subject in a beautiful natural setting can be even more effective than a simple close-up. My photos of a kangaroo on the beach, for example, show the subject in an unexpected context, making a more interesting image than a close-up portrait style photo.

If you take your wildlife subject as part of a wider landscape, you need to consider all the techniques of composition that apply to landscape photography. Remember the rule of thirds (which may or may not help) and be careful to position your animal so that the subject and the background work together to make a more effective composition. In particular, try to position your wildlife subject so that it looks toward the centre of the picture, not towards the edge of the frame.

Wildlife Photography Tip #5

Capture your subject in the best possible light. Even the most perfectly composed wildlife photo can fail because of bad lighting. Losing your subject in the shadows, glare reflecting off shiny feathers, and shadows across the face of the subject are all simple mistakes that can ruin a photo.

There is no single rule for lighting in a wildlife photograph, but here are some suggestions. I often find the best results when the sky is lightly overcast with thin cloud. This produces light that is bright, but soft and even compared to full sunlight. Your subject will be well illuminated, but you avoid harsh contrast and heavy shadows that rob the image of important detail.

If the weather is sunny, try to take your photos early and late in the day when the sun is low. At these times the light is soft and warmly coloured. It is also easier to catch the full face of your subject in sunlight, rather than half-obscured by shadow.

So there you have my five tips for wildlife photography. I could cheat and add tip #6: take lots of photos. Animals move, blink, flap their wings, and generally find ways to frustrate the wildlife photographer. Don't forget, with digital photography it costs you nothing to keep snapping. So practice, persevere, and try out these tips...you could be taking better photos in no time.

About the Author: Andrew Goodall's collection can be found at his Nature's Image Photographyhttp://www.naturesimage.com.au Andrew's ebooks have helped thousands of beginners learn the art and skills of nature photography.

Seven common mistakes when taking Digital Photos

By: Ziv Haparnas

You have probably taken photos before just to find out later that they did not come out as expected. Although digital cameras are getting smarter there are still a lot of decisions that the photographer has to make. There are also many mistakes that the photographer can make. Here are seven common ones.

Many mistakes can ruin a photo. Here is a list of seven common ones. The first step to avoid these is to understand what they are and why they ruin a photo. The second step is to be aware of them when shooting your photos.

Out of focus: An out of focus photo looks blurry and has low contrast. Usually such a photo is useless and can not be corrected. Most digital cameras can automatically set the focus for you and in most cases they choose the right focus for the scene. Some scenes however are harder to focus on and can fool the cameras auto focus mechanism. If you are using an SLR camera you can make sure that the objects are in focus by looking through the viewfinder. Most cameras sound a short beep when the focus is locked and also display a green rectangle around the area that they focused on. Always make sure that this area is where the objects that you care about are. For example if there are two objects in the scene in different distances from the camera make sure that the camera focused on the object you want.

Blurry photos: Blurry photos are most likely the result of camera shakes. Learn how to hold your camera to minimize shaking: it should be held firmly with two hands and it should touch your face. If you are shooting photos using slow shutter speeds you should use a sturdy tripod to prevent shaking. If you can not guarantee that the camera will be stable for example if you are shooting while youre moving set the camera to shutter priority and choose a fast shutter speed (assuming of course that the light conditions allow such setting) for example setting the shutter speed to anything faster than 1/250 of a second will most likely guarantee a non blurry photo even if the camera shakes a bit.

Underexposed: Photos that are underexposed look dark and lack details. The reason for underexposed photos is setting the exposure too low. Although the camera can measure ambient light and make the exposure decisions for you it can be confused by more complicated scenes. For example if there is a very bright light source in the photo it can confuse the camera to believe that there is enough light in the scene for a low exposure setting. The result will be a photo that captures the bright area but darkens all the others. Usually you can assume that scenes that have extreme lighting gaps between different areas confuse the camera for example if a quarter of the photo is very bright and the rest is very dark the camera is likely to set the wrong exposure. In such cases you can manually correct the exposure.

Overexposed: Photos that are overexposed have blown out areas and sometimes are completely saturated and white. The reasons for overexposed photos are similar to underexposed ones. The camera makes an exposure decision that is incorrect due to complicated scene conditions. In such scenes you can manually correct the exposure.

Shaded objects: A good example of shaded objects is when taking a portrait photo in daylight. The camera measures enough ambient light to set a low exposure value. Although there is enough ambient light shades can appear on the object depending on the angle of the light source relative to the object. For example if the objects face is lit from the side the objects nose can create shades. Or maybe if the object is wearing a hat and is lit from above the hat can create shades on the objects face. The camera can not automatically correct such shades. By understanding what causes shades you can easily eliminate them by turning on the fill-in flash. Firing the fill-in flash (make sure that the object is within flash range) will remove the shades from the object.

Red eye: This is a very common phenomenon. When taking photos of people or animals using a flash in a dark environment the eyes have some red glow in them. There are a few things that you can do to prevent red-eyes: some cameras support a red eye reduction mode. In that mode the camera fires the flash a few times before taking the photo. Although this can help reducing red-eye it can also result in photos of people with their eyes closed (as they are blinded by the pre-flash their reflex is to close their eyes). Other ways to prevent red-eye is to use bounce flash (you can do that with special equipment or for example by pointing the flash to a white wall) and using more ambient light if possible (for example by turning on all the lights in the room). Some cameras include built-in image processing software that automatically removes red-eye from the photos or alternatively you can use many software packages on your home computer to accomplish the same.

Dark Silhouettes: When taking photos with a bright light source behind the object (for example when the sun is behind the object) the result will be a silhouette of the object. One example is taking a photo of someone on the beach against a sunset. The result will be a dark silhouette of the person with a good photo of the sunset background. This problem can be solved using a fill-in flash. The fill-in flash lights the object making sure that it is captured with all its details. Simply remember to use a fill-in flash when taking pictures of objects with a bright light source behind them. One limitation is that the objects must be within the flash range otherwise the flash is useless and they will appear as silhouettes in the photo.


Author: Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology and science issues. You can find more information digital photo printing printing and photography in general on PrintRates.com - a site dedicated to photo printing

Article source: Articlecat.com

Editing Digital Photography

Adobe Photoshop today is the world's leading digital imaging software program, and it allows users to edit their pictures with an amazing array of tools. Adobe Photoshop Elements is based on the market-leading professional Adobe Photoshop software, but is a lighter version. Aimed at the home digital photo enthusiast, elements performs basic photo editing tasks quickly and easily and there are also many sophisticated Photo shop features available to you at the click of a mouse. Truly, Adobe Photoshop is changing the face of digital photos.

If you've always wanted to learn how to watermark, add a realistic magnifying glass effect, create a paint-by-numbers drawing, Adobe Photo shop can help you do it. Photoshopcafe.com is one of dozens of sites dedicated to nothing but Photo shop. You not only get tutorials online, you also get textual tips, reviews of new tools, sneak peeks at Photo shop books and new releases and info on video tutorials as well. If you have a special Photo shop conundrum, you can even join a forum to post your question. Tutorial categories include: effects, text, photo, using texture, using Photoshop for the web and a miscellaneous link for those Photo shop tricks you can't put a name on. There are also 9 video tutorials from Photo shop experts.

The best thing about Photoshop is not only the integrated tools and devices you can use to tweak images and create your own, but because of the flawless interaction of its commands and tools. Given one image, you can do virtually anything you want with the confidence that Photo shop tools will follow your command and produce an edited picture the way you want it to appear. Export-ready - When it comes to exporting its images, Photo shop allows seamless program shifts among other Adobe software used in image editing, authoring and animation such as Adobe Illustrator, ImageReady and After Effects. Photoshop files (.PSD or Photoshop document format) may be manipulated to produce special effects such as adding textures and changing backgrounds. Non-linear editing is also a breeze.

Lighting effects - a change in the lighting can dramatically alter the mood of a digital photograph. In the past, photographers either had to wait for the sun to be just perfect or make use of special lighting in order to achieve the effect that they need. With Adobe Photoshop lighting effects, you can adjust the lighting of a digital photograph even after it is taken. Think of the possibilities! You can take the picture of a sunset even in the middle of a cloudy day. You can light up the subject of a digital photograph even without using a flash. Photo shop effects tutorials will even teach you how to make it look like you are living on an alien planet, by adding 2 different colored suns to your picture. The great thing about this is that, unlike other image editors which just paste a sun into the background, Adobe Photo shop can really make it seem as if the addition does affect the lighting within the image.

Tone - With just a click of your mouse, you can immediately turn your 100% colored photo into a black and white picture to make it seem older. You can also choose to give it a sepia look for a similarly quaint but more artistic impact.

Text - With the help of an Adobe Photo shop tutorial on effects, you can also add cute text or captions to and within your photos. Unlike older programs which require you to copy and paste text with white backgrounds, Adobe Photo shop has a transparent background so that only the very shapes of the letters are pasted on your photo. With this option, the text you're adding will be made a part of the very photograph.

Choosing the Type of Image File - Whenever you edit a photo in a major way, the default settings of Photo Shop would usually ask you to save the file in psd format; be that as it may, it's better for you to save your photos in jpeg as this is the most commonly accepted file and allows you to upload photos easily on just about any website. Images without Background - Let's say you wish to create a particular shape or text or you've cut out a particular figure and you wish to use it on a website or even any design without white background. This is impossible to do with MS Paint, but certainly easy to achieve with Adobe Photo Shop. First, set the background to transparent. Next, paste or create the desired text, shape, or photo. Once you're done, you have to click on Save for Web and not simply Save As because the latter would cause your photo to lose its transparent background.

Great Landscape Photography

By: Mark A. Fenwick

Be at One with the Land.

Buyers and collectors have accepted photography as art for some time, but only if it's of significant artistic merit. Great landscape photography sells because the buyer is searching for escapism and the need to dream. As a species we have always been linked to and drawn to the landscape. Do you have a love for the countryside and an understanding of the landscape?

When you're out in the great outdoors, away from the bustle, what do you see

• sunlight filtering through trees and dancing on the landscape?
  
• snow on the mountains and a gushing river in full flow?
  
• coastal cliffs with the shimmering sea lapping onto the shore?
  
• a brooding sky casting a spell over the windswept moors?
  
• the warm glow of the sun setting at the close of day?
  
• or mists and changing patterns of wind, clouds and magical light?
  

Do you see the beauty and feel the connection?
To produce a great photo landscape you need to understand the countryside and how light affects it. You need to have a passion for the land and experience an intimate connection with nature. The best way of doing this is to explore an area on foot and become part of the landscape before taking any photos.

On your walk look for:

• Light (shadows and highlights)
  
• Shapes (round and angular)
  
• Color (harmony and discord)
  
• Texture (rough and smooth)
  
• Composition (strong and weak)
  
• Tones (light and dark)
  
• Patterns (even and odd)
  
• Mystery ( ? and ? )
  

So the next time you're out with your camera looking for that open vista of rolling hills and mountains, also observe the intimate details in the landscape and maybe just photograph a small section of the bigger picture.

Where do you go to find the perfect or most interesting images? Do you have a favourite place or do you simply like to travel and see what you find?

The world is full of wonderful locations and the image creator is blessed with so much choice. Some of you will specialize in a particular area capturing the wildlife silhouetted against golden sunsets in Africa; the architecture of ancient civilisation in Egypt; the vast skies and tumbleweed of Nevada or the diverse, often moody landscape of the British Isles. Whatever gives you the most joy and satisfaction, go there and get creative!

If you only have a vague idea of the landscape work you would like to do, the best idea is to just go out there and explore. Start locally. It's surprising what you'll find literally on your back door and this will give you a chance to experiment and see what locations you are drawn to.

Your personality and your vision must come through in every photo you take; it's up to you to capture the essence of the landscape in front of you. If your photograph works, the person viewing your image will feel they can step into your picture and experience the emotion of being there. A great landscape photograph is a great escape.

Author: Mark A. Fenwick is a Fine Art Photographer. For tips and tricks of professional photography, and photography jobs and opportunities, visit Photography Update

Article source: Articlecat.com

Photography 101: Aperture and Depth of Field Demystified

It is imperative to understand how photography and cameras work in general, in order to have more control over how your photos turn out. Three things directly influence how photos are captured on both film and digital cameras:

1) Aperture: the lens opening

2) Shutter Speed: the speed of opening and closing the shutter, which determines how long the subject matter stays on the film that comes through the given aperture

3) The speed of the film (a.k.a. ISO setting), which directly influences what choices of aperture and shutter speeds you can use


ISO Setting
Before your camera can detect aperture and shutter speed for a particular subject, it must be told how many worker bees are loaded into the camera (i.e. the film and its corresponding ISO or film speed). The more worker bees there are, the less time they need to capture the same amount of light, so the ISO setting directly impacts the aperture and shutter speed settings.

These days, ISO on film cameras is detected by a bar code on the film's cassette, which the camera reads and then tells the light meter. On digital cameras, you can set the ISO to a particular rating by selecting it in the menu, or leave it on the automatic setting so that the camera decides which ISO speed to use. Once your camera knows how many worker bees it has, it will be able to detect which aperture and shutter speeds are ideal for various conditions.


Aperture
Aperture controls the volume of light that passes through the lens and onto the film. The volume of light is determined by the size of the lens opening (the aperture): big, medium, or small openings. Aperture works in conjunction with Shutter Speed to correctly expose an image. Depending on the lighting conditions (night vs overcast vs sunny), a given aperture will require a different partner shutter speed.

Most cameras recommend these settings automatically for you, assuming you want everything in the photo to be in focus. You can usually opt to set the aperture and have the camera pick an appropriate shutter speed (called aperture-priority), or vice versa (called shutter speed-priority). If ever you want to change the depth of field (i.e. what's in focus), the aperture-priority setting will come in handy, if not full manual where you set both aperture and shutter speed.


Depth of Field
The term "Depth of field' simply refers to a picture's overall sharpness. It is the direct result of the aperture setting on your camera. By setting the aperture (a.k.a f-stop) to a small number , e.g. f/2.8 , you are setting the lens opening to be large. Such a "wide-open" aperture limits the plane or field of focus to be very narrow: this is called a small or narrow depth of field. For example, if you're photographing a long line of fuzzy ducks extending into the distance, and you only want one duck in the middle to be in focus, then you would open up your aperture by setting it to a small number, such as f/2.8. Once you've chosen this setting, your camera will help you figure out the appropriate shutter speed to provide a good overall exposure.

By setting the aperture to a large number , e.g. f/16, f/22 or even f/32 , you are setting the lens opening to be very small: this is called a large depth of field. This small aperture allows the camera to focus clearly on things both close and far in the same shot. Continuing on with our fuzzy duck example, using a small aperture will allow you to capture the entire row of ducks in perfect focus. The near duck will be just as sharp as the far duck, as will all the ducks in the middle.

Try it out! Once you've focused on a subject, you will notice that there are areas beyond and/or in front of what you focused on that are not sharp. Assuming you want everything sharp, the laws of depth of field say to use a small aperture of f/16, f/22, or f/32. If you instead want a narrow field of sharpness in your image, the laws of depth of field say to use a wide-open aperture of f/2.8 or f/3.5.

In a nutshell, those big aperture numbers - f/16, f/22, f/32 , render the greatest depth of field or area of overall sharpness and those smaller aperture numbers , f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6 , render a minimal area of sharpness beyond or in front of what you have chosen to focus on. Again, depending on lighting conditions, different shutter speeds will be required to expose the image correctly.


Caveat for digital photographers:
These depth of field rules and example f-stops were created for those using 35mm format cameras, and you will find reference to them all over books and the internet. Digital cameras are typically closer to 38mm format, and will thus have better results narrowing their aperture (so as to get everything in focus). The claim to fame of digital cameras is to have excellent focus from near to far - infinity and beyond, but in doing so have limited ability to capture narrow focus. For example, f/2.8 on a typical digital camera will not be a large enough aperture to narrow your depth of field sufficiently to only get one fuzzy duck in focus. DSLR owners can simply purchase a macro lens to do this, but digital point & shoot owners may not have the capability to narrow their depth of field noticeably. Best to stick to landscape shots!


Author: Jennifer Clarkson is a Canadian photographer living in Ottawa. For a full explanation of digital camera features and more information about what amateur buyers need to know, please visit her website at Jennifer Clarkson Photography

Article source: Articlecat.com

Digital Photography News

Digital cameras revolutionized photography in the 1990's, slowly replacing film cameras that had been standard for decades. Digital photography allowed endless experimentation due to its instant results, whereas with film cameras one had had to wait to see their shots.

The ease of use of digital cameras made the the choice equipment for everyone, and with the introduction of high performance digital SLR cameras, digital photography also was an option for serious photographers.

With the wide range of products and tools available today to digital photographers, this site aims to give you all the information you need to make the right choices as well as tips and tricks to produce lasting, powerful images.