Using Symmetry

 

Another trick to introduce novelty in your photos is to use symmetry. If you look at professional photos, they usually apply this trick here and there. If you’re taking a picture of a mountain, try taking in the reflection of the mountain in water as well. Alternatively, you can just shoot the reflection of the mountain in the water itself – which produces another good perspective.

A mountain photo with good symmetry

Other Ideas

Here are other ideas for taking unique shots of your subjects. Think about applying them the next time you’re out taking photos:

• Shoot your subject up close. This is one of my favorites techniques, especially when shooting flowers, insects or products. Make use of the macro mode on your camera to achieve the best results.

• Shoot a series of pictures and create a panorama. Many digital cameras allow you to stitch photos together in a panorama. What you do is snap many pictures of a wide scene and stitch them together in software – the result is a vast expanse of scenery that’s simply breathtaking to behold.

• Shoot your subject via a mirror reflection. This is similar to using a subject’s reflection in water as a means to jazz up the photo. Instead of directly shooting a subject, shoot the subject via a mirror. It can create an interesting and more professional effect.

thanks http://www.basic-digital-photography.com

Trailing Lights

A cool and basic effect that you often see in night photos is the effect of the trailing lights. This is a simple trick that has everything to do with shutter speed and long exposure. You basically need to set your camera on a firm surface (or ideally use a tripod). If you don't have a firm surface, you better have rock steady hands otherwise expect to get some extra unwanted blur a.k.a. lack of focus. Make sure that the flash is not on. Put your camera in TV (Shutter) mode. Set your shutter speed to a longer setting. And take a photo of a busy street in a city or a ferris wheel. The longer you leave the shutter open, the longer the sensor is exposed to the movement of the lights. Open it for too long though and you will get a pretty messy picture.

You can get some pretty spectacular photos with long exposures at night, so experiment with moving lights in different settings and see what you come up with. This is in Vienna when watching a flame throwing street performer at Stephens Square and got this result:

Thanks to http://eosrebels.com

Create your own Bokeh

Bokeh is an adaptation from a  Japanese word meaning blur. In photography this term is used to describe the quality of the areas in the picture which are not in focus.

When referring to Bokeh, we can distinguish some of it characteristics:

- Is the light/dark gradient smooth or sharp?

- What shape will a small dot of light take what it is in the Bokeh area? (mirror lenses for example, create a bagel like Bokeh)

We can play with those two variants to create a special Bokeh.

You will need :

• One large aperture lens (a Canon 50mm F1.8 is used here, but Nikon 50mm 1.8 will also do, and the superb Nikon 50mm 1.4 will work even better)
• One sheet of black paperboard

1. Cut and shape the sheet to make a fake lens hood. The Diameter is made so that it snugly fits on the lens.

2. In the middle of the filter the wanted bokeh shape is cut out - in out example a heart is used. I’m not sure how big a hole the shape can be. But you can check it right away by just looking through the viewfinder. On the 50mm lens @ F1.8 a 15mm heart gives a metering value equal to F3.2, so it can probably be a little bigger (you can use a puncher or cut it by hand).

3. Set your camera to its lowest aperture value (completely open).

Here are two shots to demonstrate this technique  - one with a bare lens and the other with the hearted hood. see more shots here and here (I leave it as an exercise to tell which is which :)

Here are the parameters for the example shown above:

• Lens - Canon 50mm F1.8
• "Lens hood" Diameter: 70mm (2.75 inch)
• Hole diameter: 15mm (0.6inch)

Here are two more great examples for this technique from RottieLover (note - there only one "real" heart in each picture):

Do you have a cool bokeh? show off on the comments or on the flickr group.

This article was contributed by Karsten Stroemvig.

Shooting Products

The first thing is to find a nice shaded place on a good sunny day. your porch is fine for that, and so is your back yard. Next, you need a wall, or a chair or anything you can lean your professional backdrop (A.K.A piece of paper) against.

now tape the paper to the wall/chair and tape it to the floor. TADA!! your seamless backdrop is installed. I used my porch as a shady place and a green table I have as a backdrop mount.

Taping the top of the polypropylene seamless backdrop to the table

A side view of the setup

The next thing you will need is a model. This set up is really good for still life photography or for taking product shots (for eBay.com, or for stock agencies like Fotolia). For this tutorial, I used my daughter's caterpillar toy.

Shutter speed and aperture- If you have a good sunny day, you can go up and nice with the shutter speed. All the caterpillar pictures here were taken with F/8 and shutter speed of 1/200-1/400.

Here is one picture taken at this "homemade studio"

Multi-color seamless backdrops - To add some interest to the pictures, I use several sheets of paper and polypropylene, each with different color. This way, I have instant multi-color backdrops.

My roll of papers - each color a different backdrop

Here are two more pictures taken with the homemade studio setup:
(a RED backdrop and a BLUE backdrop - both polypropylene)

And here is another picture taken some time ago utilizing the home studio setup
(white polypropylene as my seamless backdrop)

Good luck with your still life studio,

Thanks to www.diyphotography.net

Visit to a Commercial Photography Studio

This commercial studio was amazing with a lot of equipment and the surprising thing was that it didn’t have many employees. There was one person pretty much that knew everything about managing this business. She knew from a the least important to the most important. Beside this person there were a other people working there that had to know everything too. Because photography is really hard to support itself, having less employees make this business easier to support.

The equipment was really expensive from lighting equipment to computer equipment. Computers have to be connected to a server where everything is stored and handled.

As a photographer you don’t have to forget that you have to build your portfolio to show your costumers your work. This is really important to have if you want to success in this business.

This studio charges costumer $1800 per day. You don’t have to forget that you have to pay the people that work for you like a Photoshop Editor  who chargers $80 per hour or a photographer that charges $75 to 100 per hour. The total money at month that this studio needs to survive is $9000 that means that you cant stop working.

This visit was really interesting because I was able to see how is to have and maintain your own business. Thanks to this I realize about all the thing that I have to consider if I want to have my own photography business.

Homemade Studio

So, you want to start your own homemade photography studio but you are totally broke and you want it to be cheap. Actually, being cheap is your prime demand from this studio. You don’t need no external fancy lighting or strobes, you don't want them expensive soft boxes. You just want to try out some still life photography, or you need take some shots for eBay. This article is just for you.

Here is what I have to offer for about 1–3 USD. This still life photography studio utilizes a huge soft box and a seamless backdrop. But before we start lets see some of the prime requirements from a still life photo studio. We want to get even light, with good shadow management and a smooth background that will not distract from our main subject.

If you are serious about your homemade studio and your lighting, you should check out the guides for homemade reflector stand, homemade backdrop stand, homemade hot lighting panel, and the rest of the homemade studio articles.

Here are the materials you will need for your still life studio:

• A few inches of Duct tape (or just any tape)
• A thick, A0 sized, sheet of paper. (I use polypropylene sheets because they are more durable and can be cleaned - this is the backdrop I used for the Wolverine shot in the soft box guide).
• A sunny day and a shady location.
• A wall/table/chair/fence

Now, this will not take care of your all your studio needs, but it will provide you with a cheap way to start exploring studio like pictures. Namely, you will get good background for your pictures, pictures with little shadows and good even light. If you only want to take "eBay pictures" this is enough.

Thanks to www.diyphotography.net

Janelle Brooke Presentation

Janelle Brooke is a Wedding Photographer who has a college  degree in photography.

When she went to school she realized that a photographer has to find his/her passion. She found that she love to photograph weddings because she enjoys to interact with people.

She started with an internship  in a modeling agency. She learned how to deal with setting up the equipment to get the best of it in a picture. 

Starting in the wedding photography was hard for her. It was a big investment in advertizing and equipment. That is why she advice the new photographers to use free tools like facebook, myspace, blogs, etc. That is why new photographer should have a little knowledge of everything.

She loves the details before she starts shooting. this process if you get it right it will simplify the editing process in photoshop. Editing is complex and it can make the picture look too fake. Also editing needs of a lot of inspiration to take one image and then transform it.

She thinks that the best to improve your business is giving the customer what they want. You as a photographer have to listen to the costumer to get the idea of what they are looking for and use your experience to make things happen.

This presentation was really good because I was able to hear from somebody who is working in the field all the important the keys that took Janelle to success in the real world. Thanks Janelle for telling us how it looks out there and what we can do to keep in business.

Views

A photograph of acceptable landscape is not possible without a correct choice of the point of view. The perfect camera placement is one of the fundamentals of getting a decent picture. Photographers such as kappa or Doisneau acknowledged, it is essential to be in the best site and well prepared.
We always surprised that so many handbooks photo initiation is settled summarily as basic as the location of the "stage" and point of view on an image, things when working so many good photographers has consisted of finding a significant environment, search from where to take the picture and expect to happen something. The essay be called "decisive moment"; in the landscape perhaps "synthesis of light and space".

Selecting Pictures to Show

Only choose the best images to show to others and let the others in the drawer.Showing all pictures dilute the effect of the best pictures and becomes very boring. You may want to display 20 pictures of the small Johnny Park because they are all quite good and you cannot decide which are the best, don’t worry you will improve picking the best pictures if you keep doing the selection. This may not seen important but the presentation is an essential part of the picture. Follow the advice above and immediately you will become a photographer who knows what he is doing.

http://www.geofflawrence.com/esp

What to know about your equipment

 

Usually each photographer creates its own method to achieve the desired results in the final image here.

We will discuss equipment, here all depends on what we have in hand, a good lens with a perfect correction and a good lighting. this may seem secondary but it isn't, the brightness of a goal can affect the diaphragm. It is true that the optical quality is not so important in digital photography as it is on chemical picture, post decision process can greatly alleviate optical deficiencies. Cameras are another thing, here sensors have improved a lot, but light pollution between a sensor and the adjacent is the main problem and cause primary that effect blurry that all we have seen to open a digital picture and compare it with one from a negative.

Tone, Saturation, Luminosity

 

The tone is ultimately what defines a color red, green, yellow.... actually is enabling us to differentiate them from other.If we define a color like red or green we are simply taking one of their qualities.
Saturation we can define as the purity or intensity of a color saturation, when we mix a pure color with other colors we would get that its intensity vary. To have a notion of the degree of saturation of a color we can give an example... the green saturated color of an Apple when the sun is up and the unsaturated green of the leaves from the forest at dusk.
Luminosity is the degree of clarity or darkness of a color. If add you a color white we increase its lightness, if we add black reducing.
Something that we must realize is that to correct a parent of a particular color we must add the complement and for that I show below the circle chromatic subtractive synthesis, if you choose the magenta its complement is green, with this circle we can see color to add to delete a parent.

The power of the light

Light has other properties that significantly affect the final result in a landscape that could be characterized as "atmospheric". Lighting can give a scene for a dramatic, melancholic, mysterious, vibrant hue, i.e. suggest different mind States or different emotional responses as individuals. In other words the light causes aesthetic responses in people covering directly a landscape so that you can also do this your photographic representation.
This transfer to a picture is not simple, to make possible the photographer should develop a special sensitivity to the lighting and infinite patience: learn to expect and to recognize it. That is the decisive moment of shooting a picture of .

The Hyperfocal Distance or Depth of Field

This is the distance approach achieved greater depth of field, extending it from half the distance to infinity.

Imagine the following experiment: in a landscape we will set the focus to approach to infinity; then we try to find the closest object to us which is still the most acceptable focused object, this is the nearest limit of the current field depth.

 

 

If we fix this and now we focus to that point  we will achieve keep sharp plain infinity and we will have obtained an extra depth of field in front of the focused point, about half of the distance from the object to us. The found point is located at the hyperfocal distance.

 

In formulas:

Hyperfocal distance: H = (L2 / (f d)) + L

Where:

H = hyperfocal distance (in millimeters) L = focal length of the objective, the real, not the equivalent according to factor clipping (in millimeters)
f = diaphragm opening
d = diameter of the circle of confusion - see definition below-(in millimeters)

Some 'd' values

-In film: for 35 mm d = 0.03
-In digital: for FF d = 0.03; for 1.6 factor d = 0,019; to factor 1.5 d = 0.022.

They are general values that vary depending on the size of the photo sensors and its density.

Landscape Photography

According to www.fotografiasdepaisajes.com the landscape is a misleading genre characterized by its apparent ease. Supposedly is available to anyone, but is extremely complex to do a photo worthwhile. On many occasions we have already dealt with this issue which is summarized in the affirmation of: "view is one thing and photograph, quite another". Perhaps sound to truism, however that scene in which so many expectations had and was eyes spectacular or impressive, often just converted in a failed image; the source of the error is located in a deficit of display. There is a widespread opinion according to which the camera makes the photographer. Think so leads to photo impoverishment, clear language in the anodyne images mass which concludes much of pictures.

1. Viewing
   When someone is learning picture is interesting to consider that, before the object and before shooting, imagine the photo that you want to take, then you have to try to make it. Then increasing and refining "cruelty", you may be prompted to improve the imagined and photo run until no longer you possible to make it more. This effort asking you is simply the Act of viewing.
   A display is a kind of anticipation of the outcome of a picture, know how this will be to do it. We do not want to imply that simply display for master pictures, only that reduces the chances of making mistakes and increases the achieve good results: is a minimum program not peak is not applicable in all photographic domains. However, if one is in the full sense, is one which was formulated in theory: the classic landscaping. The large format that accompanies many of these photos is due in part to the larger image ground Viewer "easy" display work.
2. Learning the process
   In the display affect factors of a different nature and all of them have taken into account for bridging the gap between it and the photographed: class of camera and format, point of observation and perspective, framework and composition, objectives and depth, color or black & white, as well as the play of light and shade.
   Of all refer to the picture of landscapes, one last thing on the display is a process of progressive learning that probably not never finished or allow return back. Said Minor White, a well-known American photographer of the system of zones school, he always picture all mentally to practice. Over time the photographer is unable to see differently from the photo and converts their eyes on a camera. It is time to stop and rest.
3. Camera and formats
   So far we are adopting a very Orthodox position. First locates the landscape, you choose the place of placing the camera and the appropriate objective; then look on the framework, is refined the framing, attends to the compositional relationships between colors or shades (lights and shadows in black and white). Everything points to go put a large format camera on the tripod. It is an option (for many of the large gender is "option", a very interesting picture such current example provides it the work of the German photographer Andreas Gursky) and we must be aware that certain results of definition, sharpness and quality color and tonal range are, so to speak, only accessible by such means. However, the attitude of the photographer should not depend on the camera that uses, whichever is good to learn how to view: we can work with the same patience, care, and care with a digital low resolution with a monster 20X25cm, from the perspective that arises one plate is not more than the other, just learn to take pictures that before is has been able to plan.
4. Benefits of the digital
   Each machine and format has its own personality and highlights the rest somewhere that will be taken to maximize. For example, by continue with this kind of comparison between most and least, remarkable wide-format has been called "overwhelming feeling of photo reality"; the strength of a compact digital (for such enough use with 2 megapixel) is its extreme potential display: allows us to explore different photographic opportunities for the reason on-site, refining the missing often make image (changes in perspective, the focal, composition, etc). Even better, allows us to do a digital photo gallery of the area include important aspects in audio files and download the information on your home computer for "processing" quietly.
   Also we find very valuable data focal distance, diaphragm, speed (of course are reinterpreting when change format), distance approach, framing, composition or lighting at different times of the day. Also enables simultaneously view the image in color and black and white, which is not bad for a first overview of its expressive value in two very different languages. Such systematic analysis will conclude with the most interesting photos photo; can only return to the site with the "good" camera (or be) to make them.
5. Return to the scene
   The nostalgic will recall the chassis instant movie or will say all of this can also be done with a conventional compact and a notebook. We are going to be controversial: the first always was an annoying (we personally never use it to that end, nothing to do with fun and possibilities to ensure the digital mini-cameras), the latter is true, but it seems a waste of time and money (disclose movies, contact and extend relevant negative). Anyway we dislike this kind of exclusion as fashion between the analog and digital, rather we are in favor of taking advantage of two systems which hopefully live together long. A habit of photographers of landscapes is returning to the crime scene necessary to achieve that dreams image.
6. Select the place
   Let us focus more specifically, how do you know where to place the camera, how to find the point of view? We must walk, forward, back, up and down, but without camera using the single eyes. People in the film uses a kind of practical Viewer zoom that pound you the nonsense search camera shoulder, weigh much point of view. Again we insist on the right that are small compact digital for this mission, however, are not essential, a baseline learns much to do at a glance. So the first thing is to look at what strikes us and we want to photograph.
   Most pictures show something that looks best represented from a specific position: high, low, close or distant. Does not affect movement equally to all the elements of an image, the more is far less object note it change the position of the camera, however, that same change alters a radically the spatial relationships of things in the foreground. If we take the camera to one side, nearby objects seem to move in the opposite direction to the distant. These offsets in the horizontal and vertical axes with the consequent changes in the positions of objects according to the distance to the camera or the position of observation, are the first discussed to locate the point of view.
7. Changes in perspective
   Away or separate us object entails, therefore, always more or less significant variations in the perspective. In an open visual field close "appears" bigger and separate fund, that increases the sense of depth; conversely when view focuses on a distant object, this "appears" crushing against the Fund and melt with him, as if there were no space between the two.
   When photographing a landscape we must be aware of how look at you, if we eyes toward him as a "widescreen" or "concentrated"; If you look at more or less elements which we would like to emphasize one or some; if this or these elements provide a more accurate composition including a clear foreground or a more or less deep background. These are guidelines to locate the point of view is not exclusive of photography, landscape painters have more time to do so, seek your observation point to paint. That Yes, have a great advantage, may distort spatial relations photographers accepted as invariant because they are conditioned by the focal length of the selected target. We have tried to resolve the problem from the point of view and this came to the lens. What objective is the most convenient to display?
8. Essential objectives
   The perspective depends on the distance from the camera to the object and only indirectly focal lens. When it is photographed with a wide-angle usually near of the object or parent objects, the logical consequence is the exaggeration of its dimensions and their distance from others more distant. Conversely, with a telephoto usually separation between the camera and the subject increases, and this perspective is compressed, i.e. is lost the feeling of space and depth.
   When photographing a landscape each we must be aware of the feeling of space and depth with which we are seeing or which we want to transmit, because there is key optics or focal distance that we should employ. Choosing the ideal goal is child's play whenever the terms chosen reflexively.
   Once placed camera us remaining just be consistent. If we are close to the object and scene referred to "Polaroid" and with sense of depth, everything points to the appropriate goal is a wide-angle. If from afar view concentrated it on something, rather seems to need a objective and is adopting a two-dimensional than three-dimensional strategy.
   Chosen the objective, we will concentrate on compositional aspects, slowly studying all items that fall within the framework, that is exactly what means frame, in order to place them, select them or delete them if they were annoying. A telephoto technique is examined in four directions and slowly from the edges of the box up to the center of the image, and discovered all what that harm in the foreground or background.
9. Basic equipment
   To approach the problem of an expressive way discovers that the essential love see ways are, so to speak, "Pan" and the "selective" and that both correspond to the objective angle and the telephoto. Is almost mandatory minimum a landscape photographer team consists of a lens and a telephoto or a zoom in 35 mm format covering the focal 28 mm to 100 mm.
   When we want to minimize the weight and be sure to photograph anything, we must save the photo bag an average lens and a moderate telephoto. We do not deny that the usefulness of a normal objective, but we think you probably have less likely to expressive in a landscape, although there are no fixed rules, some photographers have shown us the way they see the world with great photos and have just used a different from the normal objective. The secret of the display perhaps learn to do love with a single goal, not using another to discover you are not able to him express what you want.
10. Lights and shadows
    A landscape as the Union into an image of light and space has been defined. We have already given some tips to love address space. We only have reflect on the light on the display. Our brain nor see light as does it a photo support; differences as soon as it comes in the color temperature are obvious, but the problem goes much further, exist many factors of distortion (contrast, color and lighting tones or colors brightness intensity differences perception).
    The eye also should re-educate love to know how you're going to answer a movie or an electronic sensor before lighting specific because the idealization of the brain capacity is by completely absent in photo translation. So soon can surprise pleasantly playback in a scene that eventually we seemed anodyne on a cloudy, grey day as disappoint us representation spectacular color under a radiant Sun objects black-and-white color. The display has to look at all these incidents and the only way to learn them requires experience profusely with sensitive materials and relate the tone and brightness with the photometer values.

Some Landscape Pictures from Ecuador.

Photography Class

Hello everybody, this semester I’m taking a photography class in college. This is because when I went Back to my country (Ecuador ) and while I was there enjoying my vacation and taking pictures of beautiful places that I didn’t visit when I used to live down there, I was kicked out of all the classes that I was already registered.  This happened because I didn't confirm my attendance. This made me register to different classes because the classes that I picked before were closed. One of the classes that I didn’t expect that I was going to attend was Photography.

I didn’t have too many choices and Photography was the best one for me because I like to take pictures but I love to edit pictures using my computer. I thought this would be a good combination for to improve my photographer skills.

I looking forward to enjoy everything new that I could learn in this class.

 

This is one of the places that I visited when I was in Ecuador.

Love how this picture came out. It is a water fall but if you turn it looks like the sky.