Posts Tagged ‘Photography’

Make Your Vacation Photography Projects A Fantastic Conversation Piece

{ November 28, 2008 @ 3:09 am } · { Photography }
{ Tags: } · { Leave a Comment }

Who doesn’t take pictures while on vacation? We want pictures of family and friends and we want to capture the flavor of the landscape we are in. Some are interested in the architecture; some are interested in the flora and fauna. Whatever you’re interested in you can organize your pictures to really communicate what it was you were seeing at the time.

A good way to organize your pictures is to categorize them. If you take a look at pictures of past vacations you’ll see an album of everything you saw on that trip. While that is ok, you may find that when someone is looking at them that you are sitting there explaining every picture. After all, you want others to experience some of the flavor and excitement you experienced on your trip.

This is where some good organization comes in. It takes a bit of time but is well worth the effort.

When you have your pictures back, separate them into categories such as, all your pictures of gardens and flowers, pictures of family and friends or your favorite sunsets or interesting architecture you took. Buy albums that suit the categories they are in.

Make a little caption and date of each picture and insert into the correct album. Doing it this way makes it easier to look at and becomes self explanatory. Whether you have visited a particular place or several places, categories with captions make it a lot easier.

(How many times have you looked at photographs of past vacations and wondered for a second where this picture was taken?)

Here is an example of a fascinating category;

My husband used to work for a phone company that installed phones in jails. He took a picture of every jail up and down the east coast. This made for some of the most fascinating albums we have. The architecture of some of these buildings was spectacular ranging from very modern to castle like in nature. It never fails to create interest and conversation and it’s all in the same album, there is no question about what kind of buildings they are.

Whether you are a seasoned traveler or not and love sunrises and sunsets, you can create an album just for that. Labels and dates complete the picture.

The beauty of theme albums is you can continue to add to them over the years. They are beautiful and easily understood by all.

There are so many categories you can think of. The only limit is your imagination.

Theme albums are very organized and easily understood and are great conversation pieces! Give it a try!

Black And White Digital Photography

{ November 17, 2008 @ 9:53 am } · { Photography }
{ Tags: } · { Leave a Comment }

There are several ways to achieve black and white digital photography. With black and white digital photography, you are bringing the end user back into a period of time when life seemed a lot simpler. Many digital cameras come equipped with a function to take these types of photos. If your digital camera does not support this function, you can still change your photographs into black and white with software programs.

You’ll want your black and white digital photography to look its best when you are finished. A technique that can help you get the best image out of your digital photograph is through image manipulation. You may find it better to convert your eight-bit color images (which are usually jpegs) into 16-bit colors first. This is important because an 8-bit RGB can be the same as a 10-bit grayscale.

You can find information all over on the Internet to help you with your black and white digital photography. These resources can be found in everything from websites to magazines. Colored pictures can look truly beautiful as a black and white display. You will usually have to convert your graphics, because although there are options with digital cameras, there are no true black and white digital cameras.

Correct the Colorcasts

An important part of black and white digital photography is correcting the colorcasts. These are caused by bad lighting, but you can use software such as PhotoShop Elements to make the relevant changes by using their editing applications. The Imaging Factory is also software that can help you to easily convert and fix lighting areas in your graphics to get the best look with your black and white digital photography. If you want to turn your graphics into black and white digital photography, you can step into a completely new dimension in photography. You can do an endless array of projects right from your own computer.

How to Increase Your Chances of Winning a Photography Contest

{ November 14, 2008 @ 2:30 am } · { Photography }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

These days, with the advancements in technology, more and more people are buying cameras. It’s very easy to own one because of the improvements in ease of use and maintenance. We don’t have to buy rolls of film just to use a camera. It’s also easier to take great pictures, because we can preview the image that’s going to be taken and if it’s not up to standard, it can be deleted in just a press of a button. No film is wasted, and the photos come out as we want them.

It’s normal practice to bring a camera everyday, especially those that are compact and lightweight. This is so that every important moment is captured and thus, preserved throughout time. With this in mind, more and more people are getting interested in photography and enjoying it. Even non-professional photographers can take very good pictures, and there shouldn’t be any surprise if there are more people who join photography contests, whether it’s for the prize, the recognition, or just for fun.

If you’re one of the many people who enjoy photography, and someday you hope to enter and win a contest, here are some photography contest tips and advice:

Follow all the rules of the contest
There is always a different set of rules for every contest, and you should be aware of them first and foremost. Familiarize yourself with them and follow them to the letter. You might not understand why some rules are there, but don’t assume you can just disregard them. They are there for a reason. It’s better to follow the rules rather than have your work returned to you because you did not follow the rules.

Research on past entries
Researching on past winning entries will help you learn more about the contest that you want to join and its standards. If you know more about the standards and the judges’ basis for a good photograph, you’ll have a better edge against the other contestants. You also might get inspired from studying the past entries.

Study the categories
There are different categories in every contest, and you must consider the requirements of each category before submitting an entry under the category that you’ve chosen. Your photograph should be focused on the category’s topic. Many entries get disqualified for not following the requirements, and it’s sad because the photographer may be talented, but the entry is not even seen by the judges because of a technicality. For example, there are categories that might require your picture to have a few items at the background of the photograph’s main focus. One missing item may hurt your chances in the contest.

Consider your work with a critical eye
You might have a photograph that you’re really fond of. You might even consider it as your best, because of its meaning to you. Remember, your contest entry will be judged by many different people who are strangers to you. They don’t know the story and circumstances behind your favorite work, and they don’t care. They are also given a set of guidelines in choosing entries, and each of them has unique standards. If you want a good chance of winning, better submit photographs that are good on all technical factors. For your entry to stand out, your subject should be doing some actions. A subject that is doing something is more noticeable and has more depth compared to a subject that is on a pose.

Send only your best work
There are contests that allow multiple entries, and if you plan on submitting more than one entry per category, it’s better to submit just a few of your best work, rather than submit a lot of entries that include a few decent, but lackluster, photographs. This is to protect how the judges think of your best photograph. If you include a few second-rate photographs, chances are the judges’ opinion on those photographs might dampen their opinion on your best entry. Instead of your best photograph standing out, it might get buried under the mediocre ones.

It’s easier now to take pictures, and it’s even easier to prepare for a contest if you only study how. Apply these photography contest tips and advice, and improve your chances of winning a photography contest.

To read more articles like this one visit: http://www.hobbyphotographytips.com

Top Tips For Achieving Great Children’s Photographs

{ November 11, 2008 @ 4:28 am } · { Photography }
{ Tags: , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

In my work as a pro photographer I would guess that a good 70% of my images are of children. As a result I have discovered various methods of achieving the completely natural images that people love. There are many things to remember when trying to capture children’s images. There are some methods that work and some that don’t, here are a few hints that I have learned along the way.

Don’t rush into things.

Children can be very shy at first and it takes a real skill to get a child’s trust in a short period of time. I have an advantage over studio photographers in that I regularly shoot out doors (about 95% of the time). This means I can often meet the children at there home or a place familiar to them which makes it easier for the child to be relaxed. Having arrived at the location I set about gaining the child’s trust and breaking down the shy barriers. This is essential if I want to capture the completely natural images I have made my name on. I never take the camera equipment in to the house straight away. I’ll leave it in the car until I feel the child is ready. This also helps the parents to settle down. Its important to realise each little one is an individual and as such there is no hard and fast rule of how to treat any of them.

Timing

Not only is your timing of each shot vital but also the time of the day. Children normally run on a routine that involves sleep, food, drink and play. If you schedule the shoot to take place in anything other than a child’s natural play time you are asking for trouble.

It should be fun for all involved.

If you want to capture natural expressions of joy (and who wouldn’t) then the only way to achieve this is to make it fun. Depending on the age group the way this can be achieved differs but the basic guideline is, you play by their rules. Find something that would entertain them. For example for 0-4 year olds can be easily distracted with a bubble machine. For over 4’s perhaps a kite or remote control car something that is both colourful and enjoyable. What you are aiming to achieve is a happy child who soon forgets about the camera and really is having great fun.

Don’t force things

As any parent will tell you trying to get a child to do something they don’t want to do is as close to impossible as things get. You can guarantee tantrums and tears follow if a child is forced into doing something they’ve decided they don’t want too. The trick is to get them to want to do whatever it may be. Constant praise is all that should come from the photographer on how well they are doing. When I’m photographing children and for whatever reason they decide that they’re not going to lie down / kneel or even stand I try once and then move on to something else. Ten or twenty minutes later I’ll come back to the original pose and try it again, nine times out of ten this will succeed as the child has forgotten about not wanting to do whatever it was and we get the shot. As is mentioned before, you’re playing by their rules.

Be prepared

You never know what each second holds when photographing children especially when you’re outside. Many things can make fantastic photographs, throwing stones into a lake, patting a dog, throwing leaves all this and more. If you switch your camera off and put your lens cap on it’s a sure way to miss fantastic unscripted moments.

I hope these points have made sense and will help you next time you take on the challenge of photographing children. I wish you fantastic luck.