Digital Photography Camera

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Color

noreply@blogger.com (Zubayr) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:13:00 +0000

As I photographed the turtles under incandescent lights — too red. Right: as I Photoshopped it using masking, levels, other tricks. The base and background should be neutral, so I kept tweaking it. It might be that I made it too green, and not yellow enough. Photographed with a Nikon D200

We think of sunlight as yellow, because we think the sun is yellow. But it isn't. The light it shines is blue because our sun burns blue hot (about 6,000 degrees Kelvin). We usually do not notice the color of sunlight because it is the light we expect. Our brains automatically adjust for the differences from one light source color to another, but film and digital cameras do not.

If you use light other than the mid-day (approximately 10 am till 4 pm) sun, precisely rendered colors are less likely. Early morning, late afternoon and evening sunlight is redder, and as lovely as that is, it is not much good for photographing art accurately.

Under midday direct sunlight, colors are easy. Most film and nearly all digital cameras (unless set otherwise) expect and assume sunlight. If you use something else, it is guesswork. Anything but sunlight tends to be confusing to both users and cameras/film.

Adjusting what we see as white

noreply@blogger.com (Zubayr) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:11:00 +0000

White Great Egret shot at the color setting

for Tungsten light bulbs I set the night before.

Thank goodness for digital cameras with adjustable White Balance settings.

I won't buy a serious camera without it, because I shoot under a variety of light sources, only some of which I have control over. Nine years ago, I had to wait six months to get my Sony F707, then the only Prosumer camera which had that feature.

Unfortunately, not many digital cameras have manual White Balance, and most automatic White Balance features on digital cameras (including expensive ones) don't work well under all lights. Canon cameras, for instance, have notoriously bad White Balance under tungsten lights (or else they believe consumers want to render light bulb light as reddish, which does look romantic). You still have to check feature lists and read camera reviews carefully.

My expensive Nikon D300 allows me to make color balance adjustments for a variety of light sources, so I can dial the exact color in degrees Kelvin for almost any kind of a source (halogen, fluorescent or tungsten bulb, lamp, candle or sunlight under differing circumstances), but it's still iffy with mixed light sources — like daylight plus the dreaded fluorescent and other light source combinations, and its automatic white balance fares poorly (goes reddish) with ordinary light bulbs.

Mixed lighting — like in galleries with big windows and light bulbs — can vary by the inch from warm to cool, and homes with mixed lighting can be a challenge to adjust to. Sometimes I can set the camera before I shoot. Sometimes, because I shoot Raw, I can change the color in Photoshop later. Sometimes I can't do either.

Mixing light sources is a hassle. If you are shooting "indoor" film or digital with indoor lights, and there is an unblocked window letting in outside light (which is probably brighter than anything indoors) so it can shine on or reflect in your art, some or all of your art may be rendered blue instead of the color you expect. Not a major problem with digital (if you know how to use masking in an image manipulation program or how to tune that one color out), but tough luck on film.

If you shoot art inside or near color objects, those objects' color(s) can reflect in the art. I love my Parrot Green (It feels warm in winter and cool in summer.) living room, but I know better than to photograph art there, because when I did, the green walls turned it a sickly shade. Our brains adjust. Cameras and film don't.

Colored walls and ceilings are prime suspects for color shifts, but if you have a big red couch where it can reflect in your art, it can make your art pink. Even outside, a big green tree, a bright yellow garage or red bricks can alter color subtly or substantially. The blue paint on the ceiling of your porch can ruin warm hues.

ISO and Visual Noise

noreply@blogger.com (Zubayr) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 20:06:00 +0000

Left and right: Low (80) and high (1600) ISO — an extreme example to make a point. Spider & Skeleton art by my friend Tre Roberts, photographed in my front window with lots of sunlight on the other side and not much on this side. Note the low noise and high contrast in the low ISO shot on the left and the high noise and low contrast in the right image.

Film and other materials are rated by the International Standards Organization (ISO) according to their relative sensitivity to light. If you use film, use slow film to photograph art. If you use digital, set the camera to a low ISO setting.

We used to call this sensitivity "film speed" or "ASA" (American Standards Association), and it is still expressed as a number, with lower numbers indicating less sensitivity.

With either film or digital, the lower the speed, the lower the visual noise and the higher the contrast. Conversely, the higher the ISO, the higher the noise and the lower the apparent contrast. Grain looks like noise in the image. Fine grain usually looks better than coarse grain.

In film, visible grain was a clumping of light-sensitive silver halides suspended in the hardened gelatin of the film.

In digital, the same effect is caused by other factors, which can be somewhat controlled in PP (Post Production) via image-editing software or a plug-in noise-remover. In digital that "graininess" is called visual noise, which comes in two varieties — color noise and contrast noise — with essentially similar results that look a lot like film grain.

I often use Nik's DFine plug-in for the full-blown (and expensive) version of Photoshop, but there are other noise-reduction plug-ins that work with that and other programs. Photoshop Elements is a good, inexpensive — about $70 — program that will probably suit your art-photographing needs at first. Using digital photographs without editing tends to look amateurish and does not show your art to its best advantage.

At the least, you should correct the tonal range, contrast, color saturation and composition of your images, although more discussion of those techniques is beyond the scope of this article. (See Levels, below.)

80 or 100 is the lowest ISO available on most digital cameras, although 200 is the base ISO of my dSLR. Some even very expensive digital cameras render images that are so noisy at any rating higher than 100, that they are unusable for photographing art. Newer, better and only sometimes more expensive digicams can render images at higher ISO ratings very well. Most professional camera reviews show sample photographs at different ISO settings.

Some cameras are much better than others at controlling noise in high-ISO photographs.

I'll repeat: in general, it is best to use low ISO camera settings when photographing art. Putting the camera on a firm, secure tripod is also recommended

Digital Vs. Analog

noreply@blogger.com (Zubayr) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:06:00 +0000

Before we jump into this century, which will eventually be all digital and is already rushing headlong in that direction, remember: If you need a lot of slides quickly, shoot slide film. It's probably cheaper.

But if you want to save your images in their true colors for a long, long time, forget film. Film fades. Film colors change according to temperature, humidity, storage methods and materials, time and the type of light used to view them. Slides can be made from digital images at any time in their long life cycle and still be great (but it's not necessarily cheap).

Fluorescent lights are especially dangerous to photographic prints as well as offset (printing press) printing and ink jet prints.

Properly stored digital images, however, will last centuries. A copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a digital image file is identical to its original. The first and every subsequent copy of a digital file remains the same.

The first and every subsequent analog copy of a color slide or print or negative will be different. Slightly at first, but after generations of analog copies of copies, your image can become unrecognizable.

Canon PowerShot A1000 IS

noreply@blogger.com (Zubayr) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:12:00 +0000

Canon PowerShot A1000 IS digicam offers a impressive set of features at an affordable price. The new A-series digicam is also almost 25% smaller than its predecessor, the PowerShot A580, so it easily fits into a trouser pocket or small bag. With its super-compact size, the A1000 IS eliminates your excuses for not carrying a camera.

While smaller, the A1000IS still retains the features that made the A580 a favorite budget camera. At the heart of the A1000 IS is a 4x optical zoom lens with a focal length of 35-140mm, One great new feature that Canon has added is optical image stabilization to help prevent blurred photos. In tests, the IS system works pretty well, minimizing camera shake when slower shutter speeds are needed.

Other features of the A1000 IS: 10 megapixel resolution, a bright 2.5-inch LCD screen, real optical viewfinder, and Canon’s DIGIC III image processing engine The DIGIC III engine features impressive Canon’s Face Detection system, which automatically adjusts the focus and exposure for up to nine faces in a picture. Helpful for you don’t want your travel companion’s face overexposed in indoor pictures.

As for shooting modes, the A1000 IS errs on the beginner side of the spectrum, not offering much in the way of advanced manual controls. In fact, the more advanced “creative” shooting modes of the A580 have been replaced by beginner-friendly shooting modes, including a new “easy” mode that allows point-and-shoot operation. Advanced photographers may be disappointed in the lack of manual controls, but the easy modes do the job well if all you want to do is flip the camera on and click the shutter.

Overall image quality of the A1000 IS is excellent for travel photography. In good outdoor light, the camera takes clear, vibrant pictures. As with most compact cameras, pictures can get noisy (grainy) in dim lighting situations. That said, most low-light captures are still smooth enough for small prints.

Performance wise, the A1000 IS is not a sports camera. Shot-to-shot time is a bit on the slow side, and the flash has a bit longer recycle time. Not huge issues, but enough to make the camera better suited for travel photos than for your child’s soccer game.

The A1000 IS is an easy-to-use, well-made and affordable compact camera that earns my recommendation for best $200 compact travel camera. While it will not appeal to advanced photographers, the ease of use allows you to focus on the enjoyment of travel without worrying about the technical details of your photography.

Nikon Coolpix P100 Review

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Photography Camera) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:20:00 +0000

Category: Beginner Amateur

This Nikon P100 Review is based on a production model. All sample images are unretouched, except where specified.

The Nikon Coolpix P100 is an ultra zoom digital camera capable of capturing good shots with point-and-shoot ease. Its major attraction is its 26x optical zoom: a 26mm ultra wide-angle for large group and wide landscape shots and a 678mm tele to bring far scenes up real close. Sensor-shift image stabilization helps reduce camera shake when using long focal lengths.

This camera is packed with features that should appeal to the beginner amateur photographer. It has very good build and construction, and excellent handling. An extra large 3.0 in. Vari-angle LCD has 460k-dot resolution and makes it super easy to take shots above the head or low to the ground. The LCD "gains up" a bit in low-light to help with composition.

Image quality is good at the low ISOs in good lighting. As with similar super zoom digital cameras, higher ISOs tend to suffer from noise and image detail loss. Performance is also good for a super zoom.

The Nikon Coolpix P100 is an easy-to-use digital camera with an abundance of features for those who thirst for more control. The availability of full exposure flexibility should prove attractive to learning amateur photographers allowing them to graduate from point-and-shoot photography. More advanced photographers will miss RAW file format, the hot shoe, and Live Histogram. We recommend the Coolpix P100 for soccer moms and beginner amateur photographers.

What I like about the Nikon P100:

Good image quality at low ISOs in good lighting, especially when Optimize Image is set to Vivid

Ultra wide-angle 26x optical zoom lens (26-678mm, 35mm equivalent)

Effective CCD-shift image stabilization

A tilting LCD for close-to-the-ground shooting

Very good handling and build

Full exposure flexibility

Very good metering

Area AF with 99 positions for easy off-center focus

Accurate AF in good light, even at long focal lengths

Improvements wish list:

Reduce CA (purple fringing) in high contrast shots

Improve low light AF (can be inconsistent for low contrast subjects)

Nikon D300s Review

noreply@blogger.com (Digital Photography Camera) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:15:00 +0000

Category: Serious to Advanced Amateur

The Nikon D300s DSLR is an affordable professional-grade DSLR. It is similar to the Nikon D300 and adds a slightly faster continuous shooting (7fps vs. 6fps), an improved Live View AF, and HD Movie. Like the D300, it incorporates many of the features of the top of the line D3.

The Nikon D300s has more features than the beginner photographer would ever need. It features Live View, which works like in most other DSLRs. Which is to say, it is not as fast as what you are used to on your consumer point-and-shoot digicams. The D300s is not really for the P&S crowd looking to upgrade to a DSLR nor is it for the amateur photographer looking for a first entry-level DLSR.

The professional photographer who already owns a Nikon DSLR and lens system will find the D300s to be a perfect backup DSLR. And if you are an advanced photographer looking to upgrade to a better DSLR, you should certainly consider the D300s.

You get superb handling, exceptional performance, a large, bright and clear optical viewfinder, a body sealed against dust and mositure, and excellent image quality with low noise and preserved detail up to ISO 800.

The Nikon D300s is very responsive and gives a feeling of confidence that it can tackle any challenges you may face as a serious photographer.

Deadvlei – Amazing Graveyard of 900 Year Old Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Zubayr) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:37:00 +0000

Trees in a desert is an unusual enough sight but there is always the occasional oasis. Sometimes, though, the water dries up completely and given the right conditions, reminders of life can be left behing. It is estimated that these acacia trees have been dead for more than nine hundred years. Frozen in time, their twisted and contorted branches immovable even against the occasional breeze, Sleepy Hollow comes, as it were, to the desert.

It is little wonder that Deadvlei, a clay pan in the Namib-Naukfluft Park in Namibia attracts many photographers willing to risk the arduous journey in order to capture its intense beauty. At dawn, when the trees are silhouetted against the lemon and apricot colored sand dunes it is a perfect time for photographers to take advantage of what they call the Golden Hour. The often cloudless, dazzlingly blue sky just adds to the stunning dichotomy of color.

Deadvlei derives its name from two languages. Self evidently, the first syllable works as an adjective and one that is instantly recognizable to any English speaker. The second, vlei, means lake or marsh in Afrikaans. The clay pan does give the impression of a lake – and that its trees are quite dead beyond argument.

The pan was formed when the nearby Tsauchab River flooded. This created pools and allowed the acacia and camel thorn trees to grow and flourish. Then, nine hundred years ago, the climate changed and the area was h it by drought. The sand dunes encroached on the pan, effectively cutting off the trees from the river.

What happened next is something quite amazing. The trees did not, as you might expect, become petrified which is where the organic materials of a tree are slowly replaced by minerals. Rather, the sun scorched the trees, rendering them as black as charcoal. The dryness of the area was such that the wood could not decompose because it was so dry. The trees of Deadvlei are desiccated rather than petrified.

Deadvlei is situated near the more famous salt pan of Sossusvlei, the name of which spookily translates in to the place of no return. It also happens to be surrounded by the biggest sand dunes in the world, the largest of which is known as Big Daddy. These dunes have no doubt contributed to the conditions needed to preserve the trees in their dried out state, a scorched testament to their own destruction.

Don’t be fooled, though, life always manages to find a way. Clinging to life in the pan are beetles, gerbils, ostriches, oryx, and a few other species. The plants and animals manage to cling on to their precarious existence thanks to a light morning mist which sweeps in each morning from the coast of the Atlantic ocean many miles away.

Photographing Eye

noreply@blogger.com (irfan mirza) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:38:00 +0000

Photographing eye is like enlightening much about the person. Use proper equipment and your subject should be capable of expressing emotions while the portrait session. You have to tell your subject the creative and aesthetic aspect of the photograph and touching impact that it will make. To focus on subject eye use prop like scarf so that your focus should be on subject eye or make sure the dress would be nice and simple so that eye can stand out. Pay more attention to the lighting highlights in the subject’s eye if you are doing outdoor shoot you can create this effect by having the subject in the shade. Avoid using flash so that the subject’s eyes look natural. Now you have to talk with the subject, talk about different things this will help in bringing out emotional responses and you will be able to have natural photograph of an eye.

Night-time Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Bilal Hussain) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:03:00 +0000

Night time photography is one of the easiest way to capture a photograph with your digital camera, night-time photography can produce some of the most wonderful impressive and remarkable pictures of your life but night time photography need patience and lot of time and energy and it can be one of the most difficult type of photography to learn.

For night-time photography you have to plan a short trip to somewhere at night and go straight to one direction in the dark, check the weather forecast it might be possible you go for photography and rain will come and be aware of where the sun will be set and from where the moon rises and then plan your direction accordingly. Don’t forget to bring your solid tripod stand with you because camera shake can affect the quality of your picture. If you are at beginner level use the program (P) Exposure mode or if you want to do a little more work than use “A” exposure mode. Don’t forget to bring flash light with you it can show you the way as well as help in making light for camera, don not use flash of your camera. Its up to you weather you want too dark or you want light, Use the exposure compensation control. It doesn't matter if "LOW" is displayed in finder. If too dark and the shutter was open for 30 seconds, then use a larger aperture, or use Manual exposure mode, Bulb shutter setting, and a cable release. Bulb setting lets you hold the shutter open as long as needed for correct exposure. If you want to check the white balance, change and try more pictures and then compare it with the previous one.

How to Photograph Soap Bubbles

noreply@blogger.com (irfan mirza) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:31:00 +0000

Taking photograph of bubbles is difficult due to their momentary nature and impulsiveness but it is possible to capture soap bubble and enjoyed enduringly. It can also be photographed with multiple techniques. Create soap bubble solution but don’t forget to add glycerin, it will give a long lasting affect to bubble which will be helpful for you to photograph it properly. Make sure that you can make large soap bubbles they hang in the air long enough and float slowly on air currents. Now select a backdrop most probably black background will make the color more glowing and lively, while colored or patterned will give reflective effect in soap bubble. Fix your camera on tripod and point it towards the space where you want to create bubbles. Use shutter release cable, adjust the aperture and shutter speed to expose the subject accurately. You should use a fast shutter speed of at least 1/200th of a second to compensate for any bubble movement.

Photographing Ceramics

noreply@blogger.com (irfan mirza) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:23:00 +0000

Talking about ceramic Photography it looks unapproachable, you will think it is not possible without professional photographer but if you follow few basic steps they will make your photograph more professional. Now it’s your decision to shoot inside or out remember if you want to shoot out don’t shoot in bright sunlight this will have bright highlights and shadows that would be dark. Shoot under shade but there should be filtered sunlight and if you are shooting inside, use very bright room where there is no direct sunlight. Backdrop should be natural to get rid of disruptions around the subject. Use tripod to avoid any shaky movement and blurred photography use timer also use white card for reflection this will help to make the dark areas bright. Now for creating soft fill light use bouncing flash you can make it like if you have moving flash point it towards the ceiling if it is stagnant use white card angled upward this will make the flash to hit upward and bounce back.

How to Photograph Your Garden

noreply@blogger.com (irfan mirza) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:03:00 +0000

In summer if you want to capture the gorgeous color just grab your camera and start taking photographs. But remember one thing photographing garden can be a tricky thing so you must have to keep some important aspects related to this in your mind. First of all try to have a narrow focus as you can judge that garden is composed of one main color. Your eyes can see some blooms sometimes long shots shows a lot of plant but details are very little. Determine your source of light sometimes sunlight can cast interesting shadows it will help you to have different things which you didn’t notice. You shouldn’t be there between your light source and subject avoid your shadow also. Pick one flower and focus on that with your camera also look around for faded bloom try to get maximum flowers in your frame. Sun and shadow, raindrops these things can make your photograph interesting. Also focus on your landscaping item in your garden.

Proper Use of Shadows and Lighting

noreply@blogger.com (javeria) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:13:00 +0000

Light creates shadow and shadow in return, Soft light is generally the easiest to work with because it creates soft shadows but, soft light can also lack impact. If you know how to use shadows in the right places you can add drama to any photograph. Without shadows the object may appear plain and boring. Lights and shadows establish the correlation of one object to another and their place in the full scene. The position and strength of the lights and shadows also set the general mood of the subject.

It is engrossing to play with lights because you can do amazing things to your subject just by manipulating it. The sun is inviting and the objects are responding. The latter casts bright and translucent blaze that overly saturates the colors of the scene making sharp shadows. Artificial light also exudes brightness that illuminates a scene from different perspectives. It allows innumerable shadows. Te sun’s shadow identifies the time of the day. It can tell whether it is morning, noon or afternoon just by its shadow. Shadows are also essential in some types of arts like painting, photography and stage play. With Photoshop you can lower your subject’s opacity and blur.

Shadows are created in various shapes and sizes. You can play with it to create an amusing blend of objects forming a remarkable artwork To position the shadow, adjust the Angle field’s value in the Structure of the dialog box. The distance verifies how far the shadow will fall. Instead of trying to run away from shadows, embrace them. For an unconventional, but creative photograph make the shadow the key element. Keep your eyes open in your travels for shadow projections across the ground or on the side of a building. The center of shadows, the umbra, is dark and deep.

Quality Vs Quantity

noreply@blogger.com (Touseef) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:29:00 +0000

Most of the people will like to click as many pictures as they can. They forget while using the camera that there first and utmost consideration is taking the good picture rather than clicking many and none from then is of that level that they can be shown to someone. As clicking a picture is an art which can only be developed if someone is interested in it.

With a little interest any one can master in this art. Depends how keenly he wanted his work to be appreciated. Only few things which every photographer have to keep in mind before clacking a good picture. For example background of the picture, lighting of the picture, its size and resolution in the camera, how much picture is covering in the lens and what is the important and targeted area of the picture. It can be person or watch in his wrist or may be ladies purse which someone wants to emphasize on. With only little bit of thinking anyone can turns up into good photographer. And can turn this beautiful hobby into his profession.

Tips For Photographing Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (irfan mirza) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:21:00 +0000

At first you have to make sure that there should be no reflection while taking a picture of a guitar. Take some test photographs to make sure that there is no reflection which will affect your photograph. It is very hard to find reflection through your LCD viewfinder. Now after adjusting this thing you can take photograph of your guitar but do not rely on one photograph take multiple photographs and also play with angel and lighting, as angel of your camera will considerably change the perspective of your photograph. Always use solid background while taking your photograph this will help you in editing your photograph afterward.

Wildlife Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Bilal Hussain) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 21:48:00 +0000

Wildlife Photography

Photographing animals is the most difficult and time consuming because it requires patience, determination, firmness and understanding of animal behavior to know when, why and at what angle they move, act or react.

Safety Precautions

Safety always come first while dealing with animals, life is more important than anything in the world so make yourself safe and obey all the safety precautions like don’t go near animals, don’t get out of your vehicle if you are photographing a wild animal like lion, bear, buffalo, alligator, snake etc, don’t follow any animal in the woods because there is uncertainty of happening anything at any time because reaction of animals are unpredictable, be aware of what’s happening around sometimes you go so deep in observing something and you did not care that you are in forest and between the wild animals.

Patience

The second most important thing after safety that every wildlife photographer should learn and practice is patience, you can say that fishing and wildlife photography is the name of two same things; both need patience more patience and patience. You can practice this thing by photographing your pet at home and see the reaction when you get your camera in front of them to take picture, move slowly towards them, don’t make any noise and adopt friendly attitude with them. The best pictures are like when animals are moving, walking, sleeping at their natural level and they did not know somebody is capturing them.

Practice

Practice makes the man perfect in every field, if you are at beginner level and going for wildlife photography for the first time then you must practice before by going to local zoo, park and try to capture different birds, rabbits, and ducks, try to learn their attitude and behavior and observe how they react after feeling somebody’s presence around them. Try to learn about the animals you think that they may came across you in your trip so you can handle them much better.

Use camera Optical Zoom

Don’t scare animal and force them to run by going too close, use camera optical zoom to capture a photograph from a safe distance, it will give you much better picture and its good for your safety too. If you go too close they will definitely run away and they can attack and harm you.

Shoot From Different Angels

Don’t take only one or two pictures try to take more pictures from different angles it will give you more interesting and eye catching pictures.

Try to Make Animal Busy

If you are photographing your pet, kitten, ducks, cats, dogs etc, try to make them busy by giving them food, toy, yarn or something at which they start concentrate rather than you and then take different photos from different angels it will give you more interesting action pictures at their original natural level.

Use Fast Shutter Speed

Usually animals are so fast and especially when you are trying to capture birds always keep the shutter speed of your lens at fast level. Animals reacts so fast when they see somebody around them so take as less time as you can and take the picture quickly.

How to Capture Sparks

noreply@blogger.com (¤A.Ï¤) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:48:00 +0000

Sparks are like mini fireworks and capturing them on your digital camera is just like capturing fireworks. This is a picture of a Zippo being ignited. You can see the sparks caused by the rotation of the wheel. In real life all of this is over in less than a second but in photography you can freeze all of this and see all the details which you miss in real life.

Now the question is how to take this photograph through your digital camera. First of you need a couple of things besides you camera like a tripod stand to mount your camera on and a vice to hold steady the Zippo or any other lighter you want and a dark room. Now the trick used is a slightly long exposure just enough to capture the sparks and not long enough to capture the ambient light for this particular photograph the exposure was set at 2 Seconds.

Mount the zippo on a vice and make sure that it does not move when you spin the wheel and there are no unwanted movements, if there are any unwanted movements they will show up in your photo because of the long exposure and they will not look nice. Also I used a large aperture and low ISO value to avoid unwanted noise.

Once you have the apparatus setup select the macro mode and use the AF lock if there is one in your camera and try not to move the position of the camera this will help save you time but not focusing every time you take a picture as you will have to take many photos to come up with a few good ones. Now that everything is setup set the self timer on the camera at 2 seconds and get ready to spin the wheel as soon as the shutter opens. This photo requires patience so make sure you have some on your hands and plenty of snacks to keep you going as well

Smoke Photography

noreply@blogger.com (irfan mirza) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 07:46:00 +0000

It is necessary to have proper settings and tools to experiment with the smoke in picture. You can have interesting results of capturing lights and pattern rising in air. To take a picture of smoke choose a quite room do not allow wind to blow through your scene, have a black background on a wall behind the area from where you are going to have smoke going up. Use lighting to cover the entire area then set your shutter speed to a fast setting in order to freeze the smoke start with 1/250 as your shutter speed. Also set your aperture to a high number as f/8 to f/16. This will make the smoke appear crisper and focused in picture. Look into your viewfinder to see the smoke rising into your frame and adjust the focus so that it appears clearly and the background remains all black. Now take the picture and see the amazing result.

Texture Photography

noreply@blogger.com (javeria) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 07:42:00 +0000

Texture Photography can sometimes be challenging, since composition, light and depth work differently than in, for example, landscape photography. In texture photography, it's all about patterns, colors and depth, and every single detail of a texture plays a significant role in the overall perception of the photograph. The combination of these intricate details, interesting patterns, vibrant colors and a good depth.

Use side light: Side light will always bring out more significant texture than direct lighting.

Don’t get too fancy, but shoot with an angle: Remember that there is always a place for the seemingly unoriginal texture of dirt, but don’t be afraid to shoot that dirt from a variety of different angles and positions.

Remember that while the image is an essential piece of the work, it is not the only piece: Think about how well the image will blend with text, other images, and layout.

Shoot with the highest resolution possible: Graphic artists may take your image and magnify it to emphasize the texture in a piece. This is not possible if your image is low quality.

Shoot in unexpected places: Dumps and recycling facilities have a surprising amount of easy-to-spot textures. Metal, wood, plastics, rust – and all in a variety of conditions. These textures are invaluable to graphic artists.

Pay attention to color: Graphic artists pay special attention to color theory. As color communicates powerfully in design.

Look to the skies: A vivid blue sky or dark and stormy clouds always have a place in a graphic artists’ texture library. As these horizon images are often used as backgrounds, be sure to capture in a maximum resolution size.

Specifically go for lack of detail: You don’t want a lot of variation in color or pattern. Keep it simple.

How to Take Landscape & Scenic Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Touseef) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:59:00 +0000

These are the types of images that almost everyone shoots from us, either professional or not. The only problem is that so many of basic landscape pictures never look as good as it did in person. The reason may be obvious but it also marks the difference between professional scenic photographers and general consumers. The difference is the amount of detail that is able to be captured. Get more detail into your scenic shots and you will greatly improve your images.

The first trick to getting more detail has to do with the time of day the image was taken. Never shoot during the middle of the day if you can avoid it. Go for the Golden Hours as discussed before and take advantage of when Mother Nature looks her best. In landscape photography direct overhead sunlight kills landscape dimensions and makes them look flat and bleak.

A tripod and a shutter release cable are very helpful tools to have with landscape photography. Losing detail due to camera shake would be a terrible crime in landscape photography. In most cases, the landscape isn't moving - at least not a rate that we can tell. Take the time to properly compose and think about the elements in your shot. Look for hidden details within the landscape that can be focused on or even put in the sweet spots of your image.

Flashes are generally not necessary in landscape photography. This is mostly because the flash won't even hit the subject that you are shooting. If your camera tries to use a flash then force it to turn off. This will allow you to have slower shutter speeds.

Increase your depth of field. This can be done a couple of ways. The first way is to use the smallest aperture you can. This will give you a greater depth of field then with a larger aperture. A smaller aperture will also require a longer shutter speed. This is allowed in landscape photography since your subject is not moving. Remember that a small aperture is represented by a large number such as f/22.

Solar rays

noreply@blogger.com (Zubayr) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:07:00 +0000

Solar rays are also known as sunrays or cloud rays. Solar rays can be seen when sunlight passes past sharply defined clouds when the atmosphere is slightly dusty or hazy. Light is scattered by the aerosols and the light paths past the clouds become visible. In fact, it is often the shadow rays near the clouds which are remarkable, rather than the light solar rays themselves. Solar rays are all parallel to eachother, but perspective causes the apparent divergence from the sun.

Observing tips

Solar and antisolar rays are caused by light scattering, and so there should be plenty of aerosols in the air (i.e. the air must not be too crystal clear). A slightly hazy sky makes for good opportunities to see these rays.

The rays are more distinct when the clouds covering some parts of the sky have clearly defined edges, like cumulus clouds. They may even be visible after sunset or before sunrise, when the clouds casting the shadows are so far away that they are below the horizon. The rays can then be seen shooting out of the horizon in the twilight arch (the band with twilight coloring).

Solar rays are easy to photograph, but make sure that the sun is not in the image when doing light metering, or the photo will be underexposed. Usually the sun is blocked by the clouds creating the rays anyhow.

Another opportunity to see these rays is in summer, when the sky is overcast with altocumulus floccus clouds; the moist atmosphere and the high cloud layer can create extensive solar rays.

Star trail photography

noreply@blogger.com (Zubayr) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:47:00 +0000

Introduction

Since the Earth rotates, the stars are not at fixed places in the sky but appear to move, more or less towards the west. To photograph the tracks the stars make across the sky, all you need is a camera that remains fixed to ground and have it expose for an appreciable amount of time. Such photos can be quite artistic.

The stars appear to rotate around both the north and south poles in the sky, of which you generally only see one. Stars very near the pole are almost stationary in the sky, while stars closer to the equatorial plane move quite fast. All move about 15 degrees per hour in right ascension ("horizontally"), but do not move in declination ("vertically").

Star trail photos are always eye-catching, if done correctly. The major problem doing these exposures is that they can last a long time, like several hours. If you have nothing else to do this will be boring. I make my star trail photos during every photography session that I have at night, provided the sky is clear and I stay a long time at the vantage point. You can combine star trail photography very well with astronomy in general.

What you need

All you need to photograph star trails is a camera with lens that can do time exposures (on 'B' or Bulb mode), a cable release or lockable shutter release, and a tripod. I recommend using an SLR camera.

Any star trail photo needs an exposure time of several minutes up to several hours. Make sure the camera shutter can stay open by itself without your help, and that the batteries don't drain. An old manual SLR camera is ideal.

The choice of lens depends mostly on the composition you choose. If you are at middle latitudes on the northern hemisphere, for example, and want to include both the horizon and the north pole with Polaris in the frame, you will need a wide-angle lens. Wide-angle lenses have the advantage that the star trails will all have slightly different curves, while lenses that have a longer focal length allow for a shorter exposure time to make star trails of appreciable length.

For starters, use a 28mm lens and include the pole and horizon, if that horizon is interesting; otherwise use a 35mm or 50mm lens and a tree or big rock as foreground, with the pole centered in the frame.

The tripod needs to be sturdy enough to not move by wind and such, otherwise the star trails will not be perfect.

Exposure times, aperture and film

You should experiment with different exposure times to find out which star trails you like best for your kind of composition: short trails where the constellations are still recognizeable, or long trails to make the photo more artistic. I generally do very long exposure times of over 3 hours using very wide-angle lenses such as 20mm or 24mm, and aim to the east or west, or a telephoto lens that points at the pole with a shorter exposure time of about 30 to 60 minutes.

When you do star trail photography, keep in mind the reciprocity error of film. Every film is subject to this, some more than others. In fact, if you are at a dark location and the glow from cities and the sky itself is very faint, the film may stop responding to the sky background light altogether, except for the stars themselves that are brighter, and thus still produce trails on the film.

You can use this to your advantage. E.g. when doing a 3-hour exposure at f/4.0 on 100 ISO slide film, the film won't be much more fogged than if it would be exposed for 30 minutes! So, unless there is a lot of background glow from the sky, like near cities, you can use low apertures such as f/4.0 or f/5.6. Do not use any lens at its maximal aperture to avoid vignetting, coma, and other abberations.

I recommend using a slow, high resolution slide film like 100 ISO. You won't need a faster film, because the amount of time of your exposure is generally long.

Things to watch out for

If you are using a fast lens and film with short exposure time, you are more prone to have satellites or airplanes, that might fly through your frame, show up on the photo. When using 100 ISO film at f/5.6, most airplanes will hardly be visible if at all, unless they fly overhead or close by.

If an airplane or satellite is going to fly through your frame, you have three choices: either let it pass and hope it doesn't show up, start a new exposure, or temporarily hold a black cardboard in front of the lens while the airplane is in the field (don't touch the lens!). However, the latter option is not so good since the star trails will be interrupted.

Make sure the foreground is not much brighter than the sky; a darker foreground is not a problem.

Variations

You can enhance your star trail photos with some interesting things, once you have enough of the standard star trails:

• Seek other composition: trees, tall plants and rocks do great.

• Starting an exposure, have the aperture fully open for about a minute when using standard or wide-angle lens, or half a minute if using a telephoto lens. Then very carefully close down the aperture of the lens during the exposure, taking care not to move the camera. This will create bright spots at the beginning of the trail, and the constellations are easy to make out.

• Do as above, but hold a black cardboard in front of the lens about 15 seconds after first opening the shutter, for a minute. The trails are then disconnected from the stars.

• Periodically hold a black cardboard in front of the lens for a minute or so to create dashed or dotted trails. This may require a lot of devotion and patience though!

• Bring a flashlight and "light-paint" the foreground in some color. For standard "white" flashlights, the foreground will become yellow-orange.

Young Family Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (irfan mirza) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:43:00 +0000

It is a diverse experience of shooting a family portrait and it is also depend on the number of people you are photographing. You have to be impulsive and also learn to familiarize yourself to the different level of interaction. It is necessary that the children in the shoot should be happy so that the parent will be happy too this will help in taking the natural portrait. Try your best to make family happy through the session to achieve better result by creating amusement and smiles.

Usually children do not stick to one place for a long period as they are very active and they usually move around so keep your session this way also. Continuously move with them to photograph them it is possible to pose the couple where you want then encourage the children to move around them this will create a natural portrait. It is important to make the session cheerful and fun usually children do not follow your guidance so make parents to follow the children until they stop then the job is to have the parents draw close to the child and take series of shots for portrait. Particularly working with small children, don’t be afraid to take more shots than a normal portrait shoot. You want to make sure to catch the right expressions and no blinking – and with children this is much easier said than done. Always think out of the box do not set your mind with some particular ideas. Have some ideas in mind but you have to prepare yourself to shoot what you have and run with it.