Discovered Photography:

Ark

Ark by Tom Anthony can be found at DiscoveredArtists at a great price of $70 as an 18″x12″ Fine Art Giclee Print.

Head on over to feature shoot for an awesomely fantastic Theme Friday: Abandoned Swimming Pools! Great collection of images sure to inspire.

Horse lovers will take a shine to this great image “Making Hay” over at LifeSignatures.  Great example of backlighting.

I have to admit that I wasn’t very fond of this whole HDR thing because most of the images from the beginning of this type of photography were just too much.  It’s photographers like Captain Kimo and images like River Bend Park that make me reconsider how I look at this type of photography.

Over at DPS there’s a great post on 10 Rules for Editing Digital Images.

Great photo-story at BOOOOOOOM! of a skate park in Uganda.  SOOOOOO COOOOOOOL!

In the Photoblogosphere

Our friends at Beyond Megapixels have a great set of tips to help you get your portfolio in order .  Funny, I was actually working with printing all day today.  Coincidence?..

Great guest post over at Kim Pace Photography on using auto white balance with gray cards.  Hint: you may know this guest post author very well!

PhotoTech

Tech and Science geeks rejoice!  The Large Hadron Collider looks ready to start and The Big Picture has some great photos inside this massive project.  Naysayers and fear-mongers start your engines.

Pretty cool contraption from Chase Jarvis at his video blog.  Makes for interesting perspective.  Here’s the video.

Most of our pockets aren’t deep enough for Hasselblad’s latest and greatest 50MP Multi-Shot camera.  But we can dream…right?

Photo Post Production

Halloween is over but it’s no excuse not to get your Gothic hands on this freebie cemetery texture from My Photographica.

Here’s a quick tutorial from Flypaper Textures.  I kinda like it.  It’s nice.

Your Photo Tips News

We now have a sister blog about increasing your reach online as a photographer in the digital area.  We’re covering social networking, marketing, branding and more.  It’s young and it’s only weekly but there are some great opportunities to get some exposure for your online profile including your Twitter account.  Check it out at YourPhotoPromo.com.  Yeah…it’s a branding thing.  There’s more to come.

Have a great weekend!

dusk reflections by jst images

Shutter Speed

One of the main components of exposure, shutter speed, is the rate at which the shutter, opens and closes to expose a scene. This process is the same whether your working with a film camera or a digital camera.

Shutter speed works to control two aspects of your exposure:

The amount of light (your light meter will measure this)

The speed at which the scene is shot (your camera will measure this in increments of time)

Often times you’ll find photographers refer to shutter speeds as faster/shorter or slower/longer. It doesn’t really matter what you call them as long as you know that faster and shorter are the same in that a faster shutter will open and close, exposing the media, in a shorter amount of time. Conversely, a slower shutter will open and close in a longer amount of time.

Every camera is different. Most will have a shutter speed range from 1/4000 sec as the fastest to a thirty-second time exposure for the slowest. Most cameras also come with a bulb or “B” setting. This allows the photographer to hold the shutter open for any amount of time.

Shutter speed defined. Short and sweet. Like at 1/500 of a second. Yeah…I went there.

FLASH MODEL

Photography has permeated every part of life, from daily bombardments of advertisement to computer gazing photo enthusiasts, as an instrument of both science and enjoyment, and an influence on other art forms and our perceptions of the world.  It keeps us connected.  Connected in an intimate way to people on the other side of the planet.  Remote events come to bear on us instantly.

Yet photography as most of us know it, as a hobby or vocation, is a private endeavor.  Or at least it used to be.  We make personal statements with our photographs, whether we realize it or not.  It’s in the subjects we choose.  It’s in the techniques we use to capture the scene.  It’s in the post processing extras we choose to use when finalizing our visions.  All of these things work together to say a great deal about who we are as people, as photographers, and as artists.

This is all because photography has the power to do more than just reproduce what we (or the camera) sees before us.  Photography can be used to change the mundane to the poetic.  The real to the surreal.  It’s when we add our real passion and our personal vision to the photographic process that we cross the line from reproduction (taking a photograph) to transformation (making a photograph).

This is the shift from science to art.

744- The stomping grounds.

When we make that shift we begin speaking in a vocabulary of aesthetics.  It’s more than just technology.  With this shift we thrust ourselves into the world of creative photography.  We become artists.

There are no rules here.

No real rules exist in the creative space of photography.   That is not to say, that technique and skill do not matter.  It is important to have a command of those technical skills required for photography.  But these skills, in reality, are essentially simple skills.  They do need to be learned.  They do need to be practiced.  Once they have been learned and practiced enough, they become automatic.  This is your goal as a creative photographer.  To be able to pick up your camera and intuitively match your settings to your scene and your vision.

Drop of water

These skills and techniques can serve as the basis for experimentation and exploration in your craft.  They will allow you the freedom to express yourself in more creative ways.

Photography tips and tutorials that are present in this blog, as well as many other photography blogs around the Internet,  should serve as a foundation and as a reminder of some of the technical skills that can enhance our creative endeavors as photographers.   Learn those skills.  Master those skills.  Only then can you forget about the technical part and truly embark on a complete and creative adventure in photography.

Photographs:

FLASH MODEL by poppaj

744- The stomping grounds. by Just Slip Away

Drop of water by nautsvik

See the video at TED.com

To say that the Canadian photographer has been an advocate for Mother Earth and a leading voice in the visual arts world as pertaining to the Green Movement and other environmental issues is an understatement.
I hope his work and his passion inspire you to do something worthwhile with the talents and special skills you, as a photographer, posses.

Edward raises a good point, not the one about Peak Oil (although that is something to look into), we should all be using our own special talents for the greater good. I call this real humanity.
Be creative, be thoughtful, but above all, be compassionate.

To find out more on Edward Burtynsky he has a book Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky [Amazon] out and a movie based on his book also called Manufactured Landscapes [Amazon].
Photography Matters.

Here are 7 Marvelous Photographers you should be watching for inspiration behind the camera and in front of their computers using the Internet to market their work and get great exposure via their blogs and websites.

Corey Wagehoft is an aspiring art photographer in North Florida experimenting with many genres and styles in photography.

Kim Pace is a photographer in Long Island, New York that specializes in lifestyle portraits for newborns, toddlers, teens and families.

Bruce Clarke is a hard working wedding and event photographer in Edmonton Alberta. Be sure to contact Bruce if you are looking for a fun, fresh, and relaxed approach to photography on your big day.

Beau Hause is a portrait and wedding photographer in Sacramento California who loves working with people to make them look their very best.

Silvia Ganora is an amateur Italian fine art photographer. Her portfolio showcases landscape, abstract, grunge and black & white images.

Daniel Sroka creates dream-like abstract fine art photographs of nature that are compelling abstractions of light, color, and texture.

Marien van Os is a photographer in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He shoots and posts one picture day of different subjects. Sometimes street sometimes a landscape but always with a fresh new look.

timepiece by fcamd

Like most photographers in the digital era you probably have a hard drive (if not many) filled with tons of great photographs just sitting there collecting virtual dust. 101 Quick and Easy Secrets for Using Your Digital Photographs aims at helping to show you how to make the most of those digital photos detailing the best ways to manipulate, manage, publish, share, and promote your digital images.

About the Author

Matthew Bamberg is a photographer and writer based in Palm Springs, California.  He began his career in the arts as  a graduate student at San Francisco State University in 1992  His work in the visual and media arts included video production and software applications.  He completed his M.A. in Creative Arts in 1997.  After being a public-school teacher for 14 years, Bamberg became a photographer and writer, taking pictures for the articles he was writing while working for the Desert Sun and Palm Springs Life magazine.  He has traveled all over the world, photographing everything from wildlife to architecture.  His photography has been published in many magazines, both locally and in Asia.  Bamberg is the author of 101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs [Amazon] and 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco [Amazon] and coauthor of David Busch’s Pentax K200D Guide to Digital SLR Photography [Amazon], all published by Course Technology PTR.

Concept

The idea is to get your photos off the hard drive(s) of your computer(s) and into the real world, whether that includes the online world via photo-sharing sites or the offline world with printing and other projects.

I like that Bamberg has done this book even though most of this information is spread throughout the Internet by blogs and websites like the one your reading now. It’s really handy to have a book in hand that you can reference, bookmark, and share with others. I still like books for reference because of this.

Bamberg is an accomplished photographer with talent and the photographs throughout the book as well as the screen shots make great examples for the various sections and chapters. It’s Bamberg’s past experience as a school teacher, however, that makes this book really shine. The text is easy to read and steps are easy to follow. Bamberg seems to have done a good job keeping his target audience in mind when putting together each of the sections in the book.

The Best

Bamberg does a great job of putting together a “catch all” of things to do with your digital photos. This is great for newer photographers, film to digital switchers, and Internet newbies alike. His writing style is uncomplicated and easy to follow. The flow of the book makes sense going from prepping your photos, sharing your photos, using your photographs, scrap-booking, etc…

There really is enough of a little bit of everything for the digital era photographer.

The not-so Best

I always worry about books like this where new technologies are trying to be introduced and explained to an audience that isn’t as technologically advanced as the earlier adopters. That being said, these types of books are important because we all know people who still prefer to learn from books rather than websites. Nothing wrong with that. Will this book be too dated in a few short years? Perhaps…but I feel like Bamberg did a good job of choosing only the most popular (and perhaps longer lasting) websites and technologies in the book.

Conclusion

We are in an age where digital photographers are wanting to do more with their photos than just share with family. I fully expect to see more books on this topic to come out with greater frequency as technologies and ideas for using digital photographs expands (In fact I have another book on this very topic, for review, on my desk as I type).

Are you Bamberg’s target audience? That’s the real question in rating this book. If you’re a regular reader of digital photography blogs and websites then the answer is probably not. If you’re new here and don’t have time to “look up” or discover things to do with your photos on your own, then this book would probably be a welcome addition to your library.

I’d give this book to one of my favorite relatives that is newer to online photo sharing, doesn’t really read blogs, but always has a camera in hand and I’m willing to bet that they’d love it. And for that reason we’re giving 101 Quick and Easy Secrets for Using Your Digital Photographs [Amazon]…

A 3 1/2 out of 5!

Floating Leaf by Ryan S B

This guest post was provided by Laura Charon of BeyondMegapixels.com

It all started somewhere, this shared obsession we have with photography.  At some point in the past we all bought our first digital SLR camera, we were baffled by the variety of gear available for it, and we struggled with the size of our budget vs. the size of our WANT.

With that beginner photographer in mind, I’d like to share four items of gear which I, looking back upon my first experiences with my DSLR, consider to be essential in order to hit the ground running.  This list assumes that the photographer has already decided upon and purchased a camera with a lens.

ONE – A Remote Shutter Release

Using the camera’s timer function is all well and good, when capturing shots that would be significantly sensitive to camera shake.  I quickly discovered, though, that it’s a pain in the neck to re-set the timer every time I wanted to take a picture – for instance, it’s harder to call to a crowd participating in a group photo, “Hang on, one more,” when you have to spend a good twenty or thirty seconds fiddling with the camera, on top of the timer’s delay.  A remote shutter release is also essential if you’ve got the shot composed JUST SO, and any touch of the camera at all will cause you to have to re-compose and re-focus the shot.

TWO – A Tripod

Pairing the remote shutter release with a tripod exponentially increases the quality and sharpness of your photo.  A tripod is essential for photography in low-light settings, where long exposures make the shot more prone to camera shake and blurriness.  Another benefit to the tripod is the opportunity to actually get YOURSELF into some of the shots that you take (I have years and years worth of vacation photos in which I appear in not a single shot).  Finally, it seems that every budding photographer will at some point play around in the back yard at night, capturing images of the full moon or the stars.  In order to be able to do that, you’ll need a tripod.

THREE – A Memory Card Reader and Spare Memory Cards

I actually owned my DSLR for a full year or more before I obtained a memory card reader.  Prior to that I was just attaching my camera to my laptop via the USB cable and downloading from the camera itself. While that isn’t a bad method in and of itself, it does cause wear and tear on the camera and battery, it is harder on the memory card itself, and it usually takes longer to download all of the pictures than a dedicated card reader.  The need for spare memory cards should be self-evident – you don’t want to be in the middle of shooting and run out of space on the one card you own.  And, too, occasionally a memory card will become corrupt, and you don’t want to be stuck without the ability to take pictures.

FOUR – A Backup Battery and Battery Charger

Another item that may seem self-evident is the purchase of a backup battery and battery charger.  Most (if not all) of today’s DSLR camera kits come with a charger, but not a spare battery.  It’s a very wise idea to keep a backup battery (fully charged!) in your camera bag so that when the little battery indicator starts flashing at you, you don’t have to panic that you’re miles and hours away from an electrical outlet.

Every item on this list, with the exception of the tripod, can be purchased for under $50.  A quality tripod can be purchased for between $200 and $300 – less expensive models can be found, but they tend to be flimsy.

For more great articles on photography from Laura Charon head on over to BeyondMegapixels.com