1. Dramatic backdrops
Take time to find the right location as it can make all the difference to the feel of a portrait photo and even alter the mood entirely.

2. Main element
Think about why the photograph you’re taking appeals to you, it will help you focus your thoughts on how best to capture the most important elements.

3. Creative cropping
Try cropping a single photo in a few different ways and see the difference it makes in your photo prints, it’s a great technique for helping you think more creatively.

4. Monochrome made easy
Try converting a colour photo to black & white with photo editing software to give an image or photo album a completely different feel.

5. Spark your creativity
Give yourself a fun theme and see what interesting photos you can come up based only on this theme.

6. Double take
When the sun is at a right angle to your subject its shadow has the same proportions, so use this symmetry to create fun shots that look like you’re seeing double. This type of shot makes for a great photo canvas.

7. Feeling reflective
Just for the fun of it try building up a series of self-portraits using reflective surfaces whenever you see them.

8. Blink trick
If someone tends to blink when you photograph them, ask them to close their eyes and only open them when you say so.

9. Impressive panoramas
Take a series of overlapping landscape shots and stitch together with photo editing software for a really impressive panoramic picture.

10. Alter the angle
Get into the habit of always taking a few shots of each image from slightly different angles and then editing out the best ones. This will improve the overall quality of your photos no end.

11. Impressive patterns
A telephoto lens can help accentuate repeating patterns as it compresses what it sees giving greater impact to the pattern.

12. Just enjoy it
More often than not when you enjoy taking pictures it shows in your photos, so get out there and enjoy your photography. Happy snapping!

13. Photography is a gift
Use your fabulous photos for fantastic personalised gifts and share your luck with your friends and family.

Julian writes great articles about how you can make the most of your personalised photo gift from Photobox
Article Source

Crop, Crop, Crop
In a perfect world, no piece of photography software would have to come with a “crop” feature. If you don’t know the term “cropping” it refers to removing all of the extra stuff in the image that the photographer should have avoided when shooting the picture. Rather than cropping the junk out of the background afterwards, make use of your camera’s zoom and fill the frame with only the important parts of the image. Pictures of family gatherings are notorious for this one – if you’re taking a picture of the birthday boy or girl, you probably don’t need to get the rest of the restaurant in the photograph.

Stand Back
No type of camera lens will reflect the subject with 100% accuracy. In every kind of lens there is a tiny bit of distortion, and this can and should inform your decisions with your camera zoom. As an example, shooting portraits with a zoom lens from a little farther away will give you more flattering results than shoving your regular lens in someone’s face (and they’ll probably be glad you opted with the zoom). Give it a try the next time you take a portrait style picture. Take a few up close then take a few with the zoom and see which your subject likes more.

Nicely Spy on Your Loved Ones
If you do have a powerful camera zoom or a great lens, it may be time to start being a little sneaky. Naturally it’s never a good idea to invade the privacy of your friends and family, but candid photographs are some of the best at capturing the people you love as their natural selves. When you’re far from the action, people act more natural and you’ll find that you capture amazing moments that might have been missed if everyone was paying attention to the camera.

A zoom isn’t just a tool to use when you’re far away. Use it to improve your composition, make your subject comfortable, and steal moments that you could have never captured. A lens that is capable of zooming is a powerful and flexible ally in your quest to become a great photographer, so try and find new and creative ways to use it. You will love the results.

Autumn Lockwood is a writer for YourPictureFrames.com and loves framing photos. Visit our website or call 1-800-780-0699 and see our huge frame selection of gold frames and many other unique colors and styles.
Article Source

Related articles by Zemanta

• Zen and the Magic of Photography (oreilly.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Photoshop Tips For Black & White Photography (makeuseof.com)

Many photographers are psyched about this new digital SLR. It was only a short time ago that Canon introduced the Canon 7D which has been received by the photographic culture with rave reviews.

Nevertheless check this out. Camera discussion boards are exploding with remarks about these two new models. And particularly that they may perhaps be interchangeable.

Is this likely?

There are a few of explanations for this being brought up. First, both cameras share a similar image sensor size at 18 megapixels. Another reason is the video function. Both can take 1080p HD video. So, with these two likenesses, are they not equal?

The answer is a definite NO!

Even though both are excellent cameras, they are not equal. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they were, though? You could just purchase the Canon Rebel T2i vs the Canon 7D and save 50% right off the top. That’s $800 rather then $1600.

Nevertheless they are not the same.

Here are a couple of differences:

* First and most evident when you hold the two DSLRs, you would discover a difference in the construction. The Canon 7D has a magnesium body with weather resistant seals, while the T2i is made with some metal parts, but not nearly as well constructed as its elder sibling.

* Second is the burst rate. Burst rate is the amount of pictures that can be taken in one second. It’s 8.0 frames per second vs 3.7 frames per second. A definite advantage for the more advanced elder sibling.

* Third is the control features. The 7D is considerably more robust when you evaluate the quantity of control you have as a digital photographer. It is just a lot more specialized than the newer digital SLR.

So, while the Canon Rebel T2i is a ‚gem of technology‚, it ain’t a 7D. And Canon never said it was.

The producer does, nonetheless, mention the comparable movie mode. And each of these Dslrs take wonderful HD movie clips.

The important point here is this: If I were coming into the Digital slr marketplace today, I would definitely buy a Canon Rebel T2i. It is an awesome entry level Digital slr at its current price.

If, on the other hand, I could afford to buy a Canon 7D instead of a T2i, there is no question I would take that choice in a heart beat.

I love photography and all things related to it. Cameras, camera gear, and image editing software fascinate me, so I am either buying the newest piece of equipment (or software) or researching my next purchase.
Which digital SLR is right for you? There is a perfect camera for every level of photography. Find one at www.digitalslr-camera.info.
Article Source

Related articles by Zemanta

• Canon EOS Rebel T2i: new king of the cheap DSLRs? (dvice.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Sponsor Post: The Greatest Camera of Our Time? It’s in Your Phone (readwriteweb.com)

Overworked Exploding Heads and Too Much Responsibility

Not too long ago I blogged about feeling overworked. I illustrated the blog with a stock photo of a man’s head exploding. I was mulling that image over in my mind, thinking about whether it would behoove me to create another version.

My thoughts morphed from the concept of having too much information, to having too much to do, to carrying to large a load to carrying more than one’s share of the work. Certainly a lot of us, I would guess all of us at some point or another, feel like we have to carry too much of that load.

Too much weight, too much responsibility, too much everything! And if all of us feel that way, there must be companies that have products and services that help us deal with those situations. Those companies need to advertise their services and products. So how can we create images that will work for them?

Visually Interesting with a Clear and Compelling Message

I came up with the idea of a businessman with his fellow workers all piled onto his back. It is an image that I haven’t seen before, is visually interesting, and when accompanied by a headline can have a clear and compelling message. It is also tricky enough, and time-consuming enough, that there aren’t going to be a whole lot of people creating the same image. All in all, it sounds like a good stock photo to invest in.

Images with Environments Bring In More Revenue

OK, how to make it? I could shoot it on white…but I have found it to be the case that images with an environment seem to bring in more revenue than those on white. It seems logical that a business environment would be a good one. I don’t really want to go out and find an office just for this one shot. The solution, for me, is to create the environment.

Concept Stock Photos

The way I work these days is to come up with a series of concept stock images and shoot the models all in one session, then spend the next week or two doing the composite work. I have a small but serviceable studio (1,100 square feet) in Sausalito, Ca. I have a shooting area, an office, and an extra room for whatever.

It was in my studio that I shot a few models in enough poses to create roughly a dozen composite images. You can see that I don’t get real picky about backgrounds…sometimes I end up cursing myself for my cavalier attitude! For this image, as you can see, I had my model stand on the floor (he is standing on a discarded piece of white seamless that I was simply too lazy to move) and pretend to hold the models on his back.

They were actually seated on apple crates; except for the one woman who actually was sitting on him piggyback style. I then photographed another model seated on a table. This model is George, a neighbor of mine, who filled-in at the last minute when one of my scheduled models simply failed to show (I hate that!).

A Cubicle Set and a Quick Test

In that “whatever” room in my studio I have a cubicle set up which I sometimes use for a kind of business set. The corner office area was still “dressed” from a previous shoot, and in fact, even my strobes were still in place. This is actually a pretty small room. I pressed myself against one wall and with a 16mm lens fired off a few frames.

My idea was to do a quick test to see if the cubicle set would work for this image. I didn’t bother moving the storage boxes on the left, which are actually full of transparencies that I don’t know what to do with. On the right are some extra cubicle parts piled in the corner.

Photoshop, Clipping Paths, and Tango Dancers

I used the pen tool in Photoshop to create a clipping path around the cubicle walls and foreground, and, after converting the path to a selection with a 1-pixel feather; I did the old “Command-J” to create a new layer.

This way I could pick a background and paste it behind the cubicle to provide some sort of larger office environment. After trying a few things out I came across this shot of tango dancers in an office setting. I had shot this a couple of years back in Buenos Aires. I pasted it behind the cubicle, and then made two separate files out of it, one for the right hand wall and one for the left hand wall. I next used the Transform & Distort function to give the walls similar angles to those of the cubicle walls.

The Extract Filter and Unwanted Hair

Next I used the pen tool to create a clipping path around the models. I left extra room around their hair. Again I converted the path to a selection and created a new layer out of the selection. I used the extract filter to eliminate the unwanted areas around the hair. I pasted the group of models into the image of the set, and then pasted George in.

I used the liquefy filter to adjust his legs a bit so that he fit in as if he had been also seated on my standing model. I used a combination of adjustment layers (Brightness/Contrast), and airbrush layers (painting black with the airbrush) to light and darken appropriate areas and to add shadows.

Debris on the Rug and Cloning

There was a fair amount of cloning and so forth to clean up the right hand corner of the room, eliminate various imperfections, shoe logos, and debris on the rug. I never did re-shoot the room, just got caught up fixing up the shot I had…oh well!

I also had to get rid of some color fringing which I had neglected to do in RAW. I used an airbrush set to “Color” with the opacity set to 50% to accomplish that task.

Storage Boxes and an Air of Authenticity

Once it’s complete I have an image that can be cropped vertically for a magazine cover, horizontally for a spread or billboard, or anything in between. There is plenty of room for headlines and body copy. I left the storage boxes in, figuring they lend an air of authenticity to the situation…and can also indicate moving or such; or the end user can easily crop out the boxes.

A Half day, No a Whole Day!

Total imaging time came in at around a half-day, though I keep interrupting the process to check on my web traffic, peruse my e-mail, answer the phone and run to a nearby café for a cup of coffee. The end result is that it takes me a day to do an image like this.

Excluding my time, this way of working usually ends up costing me an average of around $100 to $150 per image model fees, props, assistants, shoot food, etc.. In an interesting aside, my most expensive shoots have also tended to return me the most money.

Management Problems and Fairness in the Workplace

The new stock photo is great for dealing with management issues, administration problems, and fairness in the workplace, overworked employees and workplace perceptions. The photo addresses ethnic diversity, gender diversity and age diversity. A creative art director or designer can use a shot like this in ways we could never even imagine. I believe that creating useful, versatile stock photos with impact is a way of providing excellent service to the clients that we, as stock photographers, seldom ever get to meet.

Royalty Free and Return On Investment

I submitted the completed image to Blend Images and it was accepted into the Royalty Free collection. I thought briefly about arguing for Rights Managed, but then decided that perhaps my art director was right, and that it might even do better in RF than RM. At any rate, as more of my concept images go into RF I should get a more concrete idea of which model actually gives me the best return on my investment. We will see…

Circuit board pics: Printed Circuit Board and Enter Key   
 
Circuit Board Photos:  face in a printed circuit board 
 
Stock Photo: Printed Circuit Boards Forming Waves  
Article Source

Related articles by Zemanta

• Cubicl.com – Chatting With People In An Ordered Way (domainmacher.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Exhibitions picks of the week (guardian.co.uk)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ten Tips on How to Choose Your First DSLR Camera (teabreak.pk)