Photography has an amazing ability to change the way in which we really see light. It’s color and luminosity, the way it plays against and wraps around a subject. Photography has changed the world for me, and I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that. It may not always happen immediately, but give it time and I guarantee photography will change everything about how you perceive the world. Many of you are forever changed. Some of you long time professionals have known this for decades.

When you begin to look at everything as if it may be a photograph, you realize that everything truly is. Every experience and area in our lives holds a portion of interest, wonder or perhaps terror, but something that grabs and affixes our attention if we simply look at it beyond the casualness with which we often meander through life. Take the time to stop and really look at something. Study it. Appreciate every detail. Learn to bring out what makes it unique and interesting.

Better yet, grab your friends, children or family. Head out on a photo journey with them and discover everything around you. Creatively capture and freeze that single expressive moment in time that this wonderful device known as a camera allows you to. Be inspired.

Share with our readers how photography has inspired and changed your life. How photographically old are you?

We wanted you to look at things a little differently, and to do that, our assignment was on Low Angles. Getting down close to the ground can give a different perspective to your photo. It might make the subject look more powerful or even more whimsical. Overall, changing your perspective from the usual 5-6 foot vantage point can really help add interest to a photo’s composition. Our winner this week was phillj’s motorcycle rider. This is one of those shots that helps add a feeling of power to a shot. Getting low on this photo not only showed that photographing motorbikes from a low angle works great, but also that it can really add a different mood to a shot. Our first runner up was tzk333’s cityscape. This shot was nice and crisp, and combined with the cool colours and good composition it was definitely a winner. This goes to show that getting down and adding to the foreground in a cityscape can really help to capture the feeling of the city. Not necessarily because it shows the height of the building, but also because it can help show its character at a more personal level. In this case, you get to see a more human based side with the people coming down the walkway. And last, but not least was skoggiel’s cat. We all know that cats have a superiority complex, and the low angle really helps emphasise that. This shot has some really nice warm colours, and the depth of field concentrates on the lower features of the face. Although the general rule is that you want to focus on the eyes, with the lower perspective this sort of focus works perfectly. Well done everyone!

We also started a new assignment this week, and we’re focusing on Mid-Day Portraits. We’d all love to shoot during those golden hours during the day, but sometimes it isn’t feasible. So this week, show a portrait using one or more of the 3 techniques mentioned in Darren’s blog post. As always, a quick reminder of the rules. First, your photo must have been taken between 16-30 June 2010. Second, your post must include the words “Assignment: Mid-Day Portrait” and the date that the photo was taken. Finally, your EXIF should be intact, and it’s helpful if you can include some of the main points, such as camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc. Next week’s assignment will be The Eighties. This idea comes from that “lover of eighties music”, Sime. What did you look like? What did photos look like? What did cameras look like? Take us back to those glorious days of parachute pants and shoulder pads, big hair and Cabbage Patch kids , Back to the Future and E.T., Madonna and MC Hammer, early Nintendo and huge mobile phones, etc. Have fun with this one!

Hot Threads

• Doing Black & White Right: 3 Methods: While there are probably dozens of different ways to convert colour photos to black and white, OsmosisStudios has shared a great tutorial with 3 of the most common ways to convert to B&W. If you’ve ever wondered how to get better black and white photos, this thread will be a wealth of information for you.
• How to Photograph a Jump: We’ve all seen the photos of people jumping. In fact, just a few months ago, we had a jump assignment over on the forums. But how do you do a good job of capturing those jumps? Come share your tips for photos of jumping over in the forums.
• What 2 Places in the World Would You Want to Take a Self Portrait In?: It’s a pretty straight forward question. But say you could go anywhere. Absolutely anywhere. And once there, you can take a self portrait. Where would you go? Would it be to the top of Mount Everest? The bottom of the ocean? Some tiny little village at the end of the world or a suite at the top of a luxury hotel in a major city? Come share your 2 locations and tell us why over in the forums.
• Fast Lenses?: If you have an SLR of some sort, you may have come across the term fast lenses. Fast lenses refer to lenses with a wide maximum aperture. But what is the benefit of having these kind of lenses? Obviously if there were no constraints on price or manufacturing we’d all have them. But why is the shallower depth of field seen as a good thing? If you’ve ever wondered or you’d like to offer your opinion on the subject, pop on over to the forums and share your thoughts.
• What Would You Do: We’re back with another week of WWYD, our post-processing challenge where you get the chance to edit another member’s photo and show them how to do something they may not have expected with it. Whether you’re new to post-processing or could photoshop in a new hat, you’re welcome to participate in these threads. And if you’re in the mood for another challenge or game, pop over to the Games & Challenges area of the forum and see what catches your eye.

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

Edward Verosky has just released an eBook aimed to make photographers more confident in all flash photography situations. Flash photography is definitely a tricky subject, I know that I have been one to panic at dimly lighted events when people are depending on me to capture great photos. This new book is called 100% Reliable Flash Photography and is all about gaining the skill and confidence you need to create great images with the most basic and available lighting sources.

100% Reliable Flash Photography is now available for $9.95 through Edward Verosky’s website.

The book starts off by familiarizing you with the necessary flash photo equipment and the camera controls involved. The most useful information is the extensive instruction given on most flash situations you may find yourself in involving indoor and outdoor lighting situations. Here are some of the situations it will bring you up to speed on with tutorials, diagrams, and examples:

Indoor Lighting Flash Situations

• Wall: Straight-On
• Wall and/or Ceiling: Side Bounce
• Wall and Ceiling: Room Bounce
• Floor Shots
• When There’s No Built-In Bounce Surface
• Ambient Light as Background
• Ambient Light On Your Subject
• Ambient Light Only
• Window Light
• Single Off-Camera Flash
• Multiple Off-Camera Flash Units

Indoor Flash Photography Situations Explained

Outdoor Lighting Flash Situations

• Diffuse Sunlight, On-Camera Flash as Main/Fill Light
• Direct Sunlight as Backlight, On-Camera Flash as Main/Fill Light
• Adjusting Ambient Exposure, Maintaining Subject Exposure
• Outdoor Bounce Lighting with On-Camera Flash
• Multi-Point Lighting Outdoors, Putting It All Together

Edward Verosky is a creative music, fashion, and editorial photographer. His distinctive photography is emotionally engaging, and often stylistically cinematic. The list of magazines and TV shows where his work has been featured is impressive, and he has done projects for many desirable clients.

My Thoughts on the Book

Flash photography is a very tricky subject which takes a lot of time to master. This book definitely has some good information that can make you more confident in any lighting situation.  The diagrams are a little confusing at times and the example photos could be better, but the information contained in this book makes it worth considering.

"Twilight Inferno" captured by DailyTravelPhotos.com (Click Image to See More)

One of the most frustrating experiences for a photographer is to get home from a photo trip with some great images only to find that some of the images are not sharp. To help solve this problem, this article covers seven things that a photographer can do to create really sharp images.

Tripod

When it comes to getting sharp images, the first place to start is with a tripod. A tripod provides a stable platform that holds the camera rigid — dramatically increasing the sharpness of the image.

Weighting the tripod

A tripod is a good start. However, a tripod can be made even more stable by using some object to weigh down the tripod. This produces even sharper images. This is so important that many tripods have some type of mechanism at the bottom of the center post that was designed for hanging objects to add weight to the tripod. A simple way to take advantage of this feature is to carry a small net bag with your photo equipment. The bag can be filled with rocks, or other materials, and attached to the tripod. Even if a tripod doesn’t have such a mechanism, other methods can be used such as hanging a camera bag from the center column of the tripod.

Shutter release

Just because a camera is on a tripod doesn’t mean that the camera will be steady. The simple act of pressing the shutter can cause vibrations that will cause a loss of sharpness. The solution is simple. A remote switch can be used to release the shutter. A remote switch is a device that attaches to the camera through a cable, or wirelessly, and allows the photographer to release the shutter without touching the camera.

Mirror lock up

Even if the camera is set up on a tripod, the tripod is weighted down, and a remote switch is used, image quality can still be degraded due to vibration from the movement of the camera’s mirror when the shutter is released. This vibration is primarily a problem with shutter speeds between about 1/30s and 1s.

"Happy New Year Singapore" captured by fady (Click Image to See More From fady)

This is easily solved by enabling the mirror lockup function on the camera. Once enabled, pressing the shutter button once swings the mirror out of the way. Pressing the shutter button a second time releases the shutter. This way, the mirror vibration dies out before the shutter is released.

Aperture

The middle apertures (around f/8 for most lenses) produce the sharpest images. The larger apertures produce softer images due to various aberrations while the smaller apertures produce softer images due to diffraction.

Shutter Speed

While a tripod eliminates camera movement, the subject that is being photographed may be moving. Thus, a shutter speed that is high enough to freeze the subject movement should be used. This may require that a larger aperture be used in order to get the proper exposure

ISO

Increasing the ISO will allow a higher shutter speed to be used in order to stop the movement of the subject.

"Cloud Chafers" captured by DailyTravelPhotos.com (Click Image to See More)

Following these techniques will put you on your way to creating some really sharp photos.

About the Author
Ron Bigelow has created an extensive resource of free articles to help you develop your photography skills.

Visit Ron’s site at http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/articles.htm.

The first thing to do is plan to take your flower pictures when the lighting is good and the wind is still. Even the most gentle breeze can cause enough of a quiver in the stem to create blur in a close up. Usually the calmest time of day is around dawn. Dawn is also the time when you can usually find the best lighting.

“Southern Belle” captured by Debra Vanderlaan (Click Image to See More From Debra Vanderlaan)

But if you don’t want to get up early, you can still get great flower pictures. Other good times for lighting are the hour before sunset and anytime there is high overcast (bright overcast). These times offer soft light without the dark, harsh shadows. The times just after dawn and before sunset add a warm glow. And if it’s a little windy, you’ll need to set up a blind or a temporary windbreak.

Many of us have taken a picture of a flower and thought it was perfect – that is until we saw it enlarged or on a computer screen. Another problem many new flower photographer enthusiasts find is that their pictures come out blurry and out of focus. Blurry or poorly composed pictures are all things that are easy to avoid if you know what to do.

The other main cause of blurry or out of focus flower pictures is the camera, more specifically taking a close up without the proper setting. Depending on how close of a shot you want, set your camera to Portrait or Macro. The macro setting lets you shoot from within an inch up to a foot depending upon your camera (check your camera’s manual). If using manual settings, choose a wide aperture (small F-stop number). All of the above settings sharpen the subject and put the background out of focus, even blur it.

“surreal” captured by Shery Han (Click Image to See More From Shery Han)

Let’s look now at turning that pretty flower into the perfect subject for your photo.

• Look for a flower with pristine undamaged petals. Or if you find a flower that’s almost perfect, except for a ragged petal or two, simply remove them. If removing the petals will leave a gap then leave it alone and move on to another flower.
• Look for tiny bugs and loose particles like dust, and then remove with them with a soft, makeup or artist’s brush.
• For a dewy look, gently sprinkle or spay the petals with a few drops of water.

Next it’s time to compose your picture.

• Look at the flower from different positions to see what angle looks best in your viewfinder or preview LCD. Make sure to look for shadows and other things in the background that may not look good in your picture. Notice how the light plays from different angles. You should also look at taking your picture from different angles or vantage points. Try standing directly above the flower and then try lying on the ground to see which angle looks best.
• Make sure that if you’re leaning over the flower you don’t cast a shadow on it. And if the flower is backlit (which can create a nice, iridescent effect), avoid lens flare by using a lens shade or wearing a broad brim hat to prevent light from entering the lens.
• Also look at the tones in the background. Contrasting tones will make your image pop.

“Blue curacao” captured by Debra Vanderlaan (Click Image to See More From Debra Vanderlaan)

Once you find the best angle to take the flower, fill the viewfinder with the flower and use classic composition methods like the “rule of thirds” to position the flower in the best position in the camera frame.

Then focus on the part of the image you want to be the sharpest – this could be the stamen, a ladybug, etc. Then keeping super steady, press the shutter down.

As you can see, flower photography is all about detail. And how you display your flower photo also makes a difference so make sure to display it in a picture frame that compliments it.

About the Author
Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames and loves taking pictures. Shop online and see our large selection of picture frames in a wide variety of styles, colors and sizes like our beaded picture frames and ornate frames.

Photo captured by Federico (Click Image to See More From Federico)

Ensure before you begin to photograph your child that you have all your equipment with you. Ensure you have picked your spot and setup your props if you are using them. Props will help keep the younger ones entertained, especially if its their favorite toy or a toy they have never seen before.

Ensure you have tested your camera settings and are ready to start taking photographs or you are at least very close before you get your child into the position to be photographed.

While older children might have the patience to sit still for a few minutes while you prepare yourself, in general the younger ones will not and all interest in your little corner will be lost before you even begin if you are going to be more occupied with technical camera settings than you are with keeping them entertained.

I find it always helps to start out with an image in mind. That’s not to say you don’t take an image that does not fit in with this plan. Sometimes you won’t get the shot you set out for at all. A photo session with a child is not like a photo session with an adult. Direction is often ignored and in these situations, the more direction offered the more they can be ignored, especially if the photographer is also the parent. It’s best to have a loose plan in mind and then try your best to work around this plan. However some days children just does not want to cooperate at all. In these situations, rather than getting frustrated its best to put the camera away and leave it for another day.

Toddlers

Toddlers are wonderful to photograph. Place them in nice light and play with them. This will keep them interested in the moment and they will reward you with wonderful facial expressions totally unaware of the camera. But be aware, they have very short attention spans and move quickly so if you don’t keep them entertained they will be off.

Photo captured by Lindsay (Click Image to See More From Lindsay)

Picking them up at this point and placing them back where you want them when something else obviously has caught their attention can end in disastrous consequences and you just might be better trying to work around this new location you find yourself in.

Baby Photos

Newborn babies are not that difficult to shoot, especially if they are asleep. They do not move much and even if they do they can’t move far. They are however difficult to photograph well. Your setups will be very limited, they can not hold their heads up, body movements are not very coordinated and they can’t see very well leading to a kind of gazed spaced out look.

Skin can also be a problem, its often blemished with large amounts of red and they can scratch themselves with their uncoordinated movements. Turning the image to black and white or using colour correcting techniques in Photoshop are often the easiest ways to combat these skin blemishes. With a bit of patience in Photoshop scratches can easily be reduced a to nothing.

Photo captured by Lindsay (Click Image to See More From Lindsay)

Once your baby can hold their head up and focus their eyes you have the potential for having much more fun photographing them. Sitting your baby on large sofa not only props them up but give an impression of size, or lack of it and if the sofa is made of a white/reflective material all the shadows on the baby will be softened with reflective light.

Older Children

From about 3 years old onwards photography gets a little more difficult but can be very rewarding. Especially if you plan to have the photo session in doors. You need to find activities to keep them entertained like painting, dressing up, blowing bubbles etc. I find it much easier to let this age group out doors and just follow with the camera in hand. Try and play games with the child, enter their world and you will rewarded. Play games like peek-a-boo behind a tree, or go on an adventure to Africa from your own backyard or local park. The added bonus is these little adventure games are good for your child and good for the bond between you both.

Playgrounds are also a very good too and provide ample opportunity for photography. However, they can be a bit more of a challenging location. Some of the issues I’ve experienced with playgrounds are other children getting in the shot and poor quality of light. Quite often playgrounds are not situated in the best lighting locations.

By this I mean, they are generally in very open areas and if it’s a sunny day open areas don’t make for great photographs as easily because of the high contrast range of the light and the shadows created from the high over head light.

"children" captured by b-bee (Click Image to See More From b-bee)

So at this point I wish you the very best of luck and would like to remind you to have fun and you will be rewarded with natural photographs capturing no only the essence of childhood but the true personality of your child.

About the Author
Specialist in stunning Wedding Photography. I’m a wedding photographer living in Skerries, Co. Dublin, Ireland. If you would like to know more about me, the services I offer or if you are interested in learning more about photography and Photoshop then you can find more information and be kept up to date on my blog or on my website:

Gerard Foy Photography
Blog: http://www.gerardfoy.blogspot.com

Free 8×10 Canvas Print

A canvas print, also known as a stretched canvas or canvas art, is the result of an image printed onto canvas which is stretched, or gallery-wrapped, onto a frame and displayed. Canvas printing can provide better looking photos and greater quality prints. The nature of the canvas material means that high levels of photo reproduction offer exceptional realism from any photo.

Canvas People is offering a free 8×10 canvas print of any photo you choose as a way to try out their service. You can get the free 8×10 or get $55 off a larger print – your choice. Click Here to Get Started

All of their prints are gallery wrapped. This means that the canvas wraps around the side of the image and is secured to the back of a frame. The image wraps around the sides to make a lovely presentation.

Here is how it works:

1. Choose Your Photo
2. Choose Your Size
3. Choose a Frame (optional)
4. Choose an Effect (optional)
5. They Send you the Completed Canvas Print

Free Canvas Print (Click Image to Get Started)

They coat all canvas prints with a protective coating. This coating will help protect your canvas from moisture, humidity, abrasions, fingerprints, and more. Plus, it gives a really nice finish. Click Here for the Free Canvas Offer from Canvas People

"Forbidden Swim" captured by Timothy Poulton (Click Image to See More From Timothy Poulton)

A very powerful method of improving the composition of photos is the use of lines. Properly used, lines can significantly increase the impact of images.

Lines serve to affect photographic composition in two ways. First, they serve to create a mood. Second, they lead the eye through the photograph. By affecting mood, lines add emotional content to images. By leading the viewer’s eye, they keep the viewer’s attention focused on the image. When dealing with lines, the subject can be broken into the following types:

• Horizontal
• Vertical
• Diagonal
• Jagged and irregular

Mood: Horizontal

Horizontal lines tend to indicate a sense of homeostasis (lack of change). This use in an image often projects a feeling that an image, or part of one, is somehow frozen at a point in time. Horizontal lines should be used when a photographer wants to impart a sentiment of timelessness or lack of change to an image. In addition, they can serve to provide a contrast with more dynamic parts of an image. Examples can be found in buildings, horizons, and fallen objects (e.g. trees).

Mood: Vertical

Vertical lines can project either a mood of stability or peace. When projecting a mood of stability, they often function similarly to horizontal lines. This can convey an implication of substance or permanence. Examples of vertical lines used to impart a mood of stability can be found in rock formations, power line poles, and vertical lines of buildings.

Proper use of vertical lines can also impart an impression of peace and tranquility. Examples of this use are trees in a fog shrouded forest, old fence posts on an isolated prairie, and a figure on a secluded beach in the early morning.

"Railway" captured by Damir (Click Image to See More From Damir)

Mood: Diagonal

Diagonal lines can convey a sense of action or make an image more dynamic. For this reason, diagonals are a very powerful tool. Their power resides in their ability to grab the attention of the viewer. The viewer’s eyes tend to travel back and forth along diagonals. Diagonal lines can be formed, not only of objects such as streets or sidewalks, but also of color. For instance, a diagonal section of color can add drama to a flower image. Examples of diagonals are plentiful: roads, streams, waves, and branches are but a few examples of objects that can be utilized in a diagonal manner.

Mood: Jagged and Irregular

Jagged and irregular lines take us one step further on the continuum of emotion and feeling. While diagonals move us into the area of the dynamic, jagged and irregular lines often impart a sense of unease, tension, or fear to the viewer of the image. Heavy use of jagged and irregular lines can cause a negative feeling in the viewer (which may be exactly what the photographer intended). Therefore, they are the tools of choice for the photographer who wants to create a feeling of disquiet or agitation in the viewer. Examples can be found in roots, a crocodile’s teeth, stark mountain peaks, and the twisted metal of an automobile wreck.

"tube" captured by Federico (Click Image to See More From Federico)

Leading the Eye

As powerful as lines are in helping to create a mood in an image, they become even more powerful when they are also used to direct the viewer’s attention. When using lines to direct the viewer’s attention, two rules need to be followed. First, make sure that the lines always point toward the most important object in the image. This will direct the viewer’s attention directly to that object. Second, make sure that the lines never point outside of the image. Lines that point outside the image will make the viewer’s eye leave the image. This weakens the image and may result in the viewer losing interest in the image entirely.

About the Author
Ron Bigelow has created an extensive resource of free articles to help you develop your photography skills.

Visit Ron’s site at http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/articles.htm.

As you can gather from the title, this post relates to travel photography. However, I want to note that travel photography is a broad topic and so for most part, the mistakes that I’ll discuss here are actually made by the majority of those of us who are in the beginning of our journey into the world of photography, regardless of the genre we’re involved in.

Because I wanted to go into some detail and to provide some visual examples, we’ve decided to split this post up into two parts. Without further ado, here’s part I and check back for part II tomorrow.

1. Having misconceptions about equipment

The two main misconceptions that we most often have about equipment when we’re starting out in photography are:

• The latest, greatest gear results in better photos.
• The gear you have is not good enough because your images are not. In other words you blame the equipment.

A camera doesn’t take the photo, nor does any piece of photographic equipment. Photos are made by you – the photographer. Sure in some very rare cases you might have a technical issue with a camera body or a lens, but for most part that’s not the concern. Most of the essential photographic gear is better than good enough these days, it has been for the last five years or so (with the development of affordable digital SLRs), one just has to know how to use it to its full potential.

My advice here in short is – forget about chasing the latest, greatest stuff. Get out there with what you have, figure out how to get the most out of your equipment, learn when to use one lens over another, when to use a tripod and of course, learn about the basics of photography – setting the aperture, shutter speed and ISO. This might seem like the most obvious advice imaginable, but somehow so many aspiring photographers still think that it’s all about the equipment you have, there’s just nothing further from the truth.

2. Not Researching

When I refer to research, I simply mean gathering as much information as possible about the place you’re traveling to. The best time/season to travel, the DOs and DON’Ts, the modes of transportation – these are the necessities, that we must find out about before every trip in order to have a smooth experience not only as far as photographing, but traveling in general.

Beyond the necessities, when photography is the main focus of your trip, it’s worth finding out as much as possible about what’s visually special in the place you’re going to. Sometimes this isn’t going to be obvious, you might have to dig a little, but when you do, a great number of photographic opportunities arise.

Traditional Vedhic school, Thrissur, India

I’ve chosen to include the image above because the story behind it is a good example of what even simple research can lead to. The photo depicts a Namboodiri boy (priest caste) chanting the Vedhas (which can be described in short ancient Indian bits of wisdom) in a traditional Vedhic school in the town of Thrissur. This place (the school) is not a major attraction, it’s not something that the regular visitor travels to Thrissur for, but to me it provided an incredibly interesting photographic opportunity. Despite the fact that I would have never just wandered in there by random chance, as the school is isolated from the main town, it wasn’t at all hard to find it or gain access to shoot there, it was simply a matter of knowing that it existed.

The reason I knew about it is very simple – I researched and by this I don’t mean that I did something complicated and difficult. I went into the tourist office and chatted to the staff there, telling them that I’m a photographer and that I’m keen to see anything that’s visually interesting and unique in their town. After “picking their brains” for about an hour I got a few bits of useful information and the traditional Vedhic school was one of the places I realised I just had to check out.

3. Not looking beyond the main attraction

A lot of travel destinations have “must see”, “must photograph” main attractions. Sometimes we get so obsessed with getting an image of these attractions that we fail to see the subjects around them which could be equally or even more photographically interesting.

I’ve been guilty of this numerous times in the past and so these days I consciously force myself to look at what else there is to photograph besides the obvious. Sometimes this might even mean that I stay at a place for an extra day or two. I photograph the main attraction and then discover the lesser known yet still photo-worthy subjects. This is how the following image came to be. It was taken in Bromo National park.

Bromo National Park, Java, Indonesia

During my first couple of days I shot what everyone shoots there – the Bromo volcano and the neighbouring mountains, from different viewpoints. On the third day, rather than make my way to another viewpoint from which to photograph the volcano and mountains at sunrise, I decided to purposely focus my attention elsewhere. I rode around the area on a rented motorcycle and noticed the spectacular scene of these horsemen walking in the fog through the surrounding volcanic desert.

4. Not being aware of light

Not being aware of light means that you simply shoot whatever you see in any given lighting conditions without giving much thought to the whole matter. Your results might have impact on the viewer every now and then and they might sometimes reflect what you want to say and how you feel about what you see, but more often than not that won’t be the case.

Being aware of light means that you know there are different kinds of light and that the way your image looks will greatly depend on the light you shoot it in. This of course also means that you can make a conscious effort to photograph in the kind of light which will reflect what you want to say and how you feel about the subject you’re photographing.

Let’s look at a simple example.

Transylvanian countryside, Romania

The landscape in the image above looks beautiful, vibrant and dramatic because it is lit by the golden light during sunrise. I made a conscious decision to photograph in this kind of light because I knew that it would bring the colours present in this scene to life and it would basically “beautify” everything.

The light enabled me to create an image that reflected what I wanted to say – how beautiful Transylvanian countryside is, as well as to communicate the excitement which I felt. Had I photographed the same scene without considering light, I could have very well ended up with something much less dramatic. I would have likely just photographed the landscape the first time I saw it and that was on an overcast day, when the light made everything look rather grey and drab.

5. Avoiding artificial light

As we get a little more familiar with light and begin to develop an understanding of how it effects our photographs, a lot of us tend to move away from using artificial light, especially flashes.

The reason most of us do this is because we don’t have enough knowledge about artificial light. It’s true that the on-camera flash should indeed be avoided at all costs, but it’s not the only available artificial lighting option and avoiding artificial light altogether means you’ll never see what you can achieve with it, which in my opinion is a big mistake.

The artificial lighting tools that I consider a great addition to any serious travel photography enthusiast’s kit are an off camera flash in a softbox and/or a reflector. The reason these tools are great is that they allow you to control the light or to manipulate it. This opens one up to a whole range of creative opportunities or even opportunities to make photographs in situations where it would be impossible to do so otherwise. The following image is a good example of this.

Nomads at a camel fair, Kolayat, Rajasthan, India

The only reason I could make this shot was because I had the artificial light from an off-camera flash in a softbox “assisting” the light from the fire, which on its’ own was no where near strong enough to allow me to make the kind of photo I wanted.

Without getting into too much more detail because of the constraints of a blog post, I will say that artificial light is a very exciting topic. If you’re interested in learning more about it, particularly portable, artificial light in the form of an off-camera flash and a reflector, you can check out my eBook “Seeing the Light”, which was featured here on DPS a while a go. Find out more about Seeing the Light.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a continuation of this topic and another 5 mistakes travel photographers often make.

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

5 Common Mistakes Aspiring Travel Photographers Make (+ How to Avoid Them)

• The sensor in your camera is the brain. It receives data and information.
• ISO is how sensitive the ‘eye’ is to the light.  The higher the number, the more sensitive the eye.
• Aperture is like the pupil. The wider it is (the lower the f/stop number), the more light is allowed into the eye. Over exposure is like when you’re inside where your pupils are more dilated to compensate for lower light. When you step outside, everything it too bright and your pupils have to get smaller to compensate for so much light. Then when you go back in, everything is too dark (under exposed) because your eye’s aperture needs a moment to open up and let in the light.
• Shutter speed is like blinking. The faster it blinks, the less light is allowed in and vice versa.

As painfully simple as this is, it really doesn’t get too much more complicated than that – the explenations just do!

How about everyone else? If you had a total beginner ask you to explain how a camera works, what would you tell them?

Post from: Digital Photography School – Photography Tips.

For Beginners – Your Camera Explained in Plain English