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Wedding Photography By Seth Willis
Wedding is not just an event but it is journey that two people have decided to take. Wedding photography may not be a mainstream or commercial photography but it is still an art. It should not be considered to be anything less than serious photography. In fact it is one of the most demanding disciplines of professional work. If you are an aspiring wedding photographer then there are certain key areas that you need to understand. One of the key areas is strategy. Even before you can think about the camera to use, the film roll, the lighting and the background, you need to work on a strategy.
A sound strategy means that you would be able to create opportunities by the numbers. You will have to create an opportunity in every situation. Most wedding photographers take two versions of the same shot to eliminate blinks and at the same time they are able to introduce variety. The norm of wedding photography is to shoot a full-length photo, which is followed by a head and shoulders or half-length photo. Secondly, you will have to create a list of photographs that should be or can be taken during wedding. The list drawn by most professionals include photographs of Bride at home, preparations/wedding dress, parents, bridesmaids, bridesmaids - group photo, bride and bridesmaids, bride and chief bridesmaid, bride and family, parents and bride, mother and bride, father and bride, brothers, sisters and bride, parents and bridesmaids, extended family and any special request.
These will be followed by photographs in the church or outdoors after the wedding ceremony is over. One of the favorite shots is where the bride walks through the aisle. You can take good photos using a tripod so that the flash can bounce from a reflector at around f/5.6 followed by a shutter speed of 1/8 or 1/15 of a second. This will allow ambient light to seep in. If you are not using the tripod then you will need to have one stop less than the normal where the flash will reflect on an 80mm lens and the shutter speed will be 1/30 of a second.
There are basically two types of cameras used for wedding photography. One is the 35mm and the other is a medium format. The 35mm cameras create grainier appearance when the photograph is enlarged as compared to a medium format. Another aspect of photography that you need to know about is the camera film. The camera film is available in both B&W and color. The color film is the most popular one but off late B&W photos are coming to the forefront. The good thing about black & white film is that you can create an artistic look. Secondly, the B&W photos last longer than their colored counterpart. The salient point of color films is that they are more versatile. If you shoot with a color film then you will be able to portray the details of the wedding day. If you are using a 35mm camera for the occasion then your best bet will be 100, 200 or 400 speed film. The 100 speed film gives best quality prints in strong sunlight, the 200 speed film can be used in sunlight as well as shade and the 400 speed film is the best for low light.
About the Author: Seth Willis is the webmaster for http://www.Starephotography.com he enjoys photography as well as painting and blues and Jazz
guitar.Stare photography is an Online school for budding and
seasoned photographers to enhance their skills or start a new career.
Source: www.isnare.com
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Darkroom Equipment By Seth Willis Jr.
You may be photographing in broad daylight or in the middle of the night and it is no concern at all. However when you are developing a film or printing the negatives, one always needs a darkroom and the overall important darkroom equipment for processing your creative photographs into reality. The equipment required for film processing is of diverse variety and you really need a nice square room to house all of these in an organized manner.
What is required?
Before we discuss the most important pieces of equipment let us list them together:
- Books on photography
- Film processing tanks of various types
- Film Reels
- Darkroom chemicals for film processing like developers, fixers, printing chemicals, stop bath chemicals etc
- Chemical storage and jugs
- Miscellaneous chemicals and darkroom equipment like fixer test solution, hypo clearing agent, wetting agent, changing plastic bags, safe lights, timers, and trays
- Printing ancillaries like lint free cotton gloves, glass rods for stirring, printing scale wedges, dodging and burning equipment for color finishing of photographs, exposure meters or timers, funnels, safety photographic paper containers, eye magnifying glasses like the ones used by watch repairers or jewelers (called loupes), focusable magnifying equipment and dryers are some of the main items needed as darkroom equipment.
- If you intend to create art photographs or portraits and stills, an enlarger equipment is also necessary, though this can be pretty expensive.
One important factor in processing of exposed film is the lighting inside your dark room. This should be of low intensity and of dull red color as many readers would know already! This hobby requires greater understanding of the photographic processing and for a novice we suggest a suitable course to be followed before embarking in a professional or even a beginner's way.
Salient features of the darkroom equipment
As one can realize from the above list there are many items to be considered before a processing studio is ready. Some of these are explained in the next paragraph.
1 .The tanks required for developing and printing need to be inert to the photographic chemicals and therefore either stainless steel or plastic
2. The film reels can be either manual rotation or motor driven. They are made from stainless steel or plastic. Check compatibility between the tanks and reels before buying this darkroom equipment
3. The chemicals are to be handled in a careful manner like in any laboratory. The developer, fixer, printing chemicals need to be kept in brown bottles made from glass for best safety and storage life.
4. The type of lighting inside the darkroom is important and great care must be taken to choose this item. Ceiling lights with adjustable hoods is the most useful form of lighting as one can focus it as per needs.
Miscellaneous equipments like trays, timers, enlargers, other printing items are readily available in a photography hobby center and one is advised to carefully choose them by consulting the vast information available on Internet or the expert in the local darkroom equipment shop
About the Author: Seth Willis Jr. is the webmaster for http://www.Starephotography.com he enjoys photography as well as painting and blues and Jazz guitar.Stare photography is an Online school for budding and seasoned photographers to enhance their skills or start a new career.
Source: www.isnare.com
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Take Better Pictures With Your Digital Camera By Review Host
Today's cameras make taking pictures a lot easier than the one's of yesterday. There is always room for improvement, however. Use the following tips to help make your photos go from acceptable to great.
1. Always be aware of the background. You don't want to find trees growing out of people's heads or a passing vehicle to draw attention from your subject. Sometimes moving your subject just a couple steps to either side can make all the difference.
2. Use available light. If your digital camera has an option to turn the flash off and it's light enough outside to read a book then use the available light and turn the flash off. In general camera flashes are too harsh for human skin and make all of us look pale. Indoors, where there isn't enough daylight, place your subject by a window and use your fill flash feature.
3. Aim your camera slightly down at the person's face. Also don't shoot just face on to the person, try a little to the side, a three quarter view, so that you see more of their face. Remember camera higher looking down and a three quarter view, it will slim your subject.
4. Remember your focus. Get closer to your subject. Fill the frame with your subject and there will be no doubt as to what the picture is saying.
6. Never put your subject dead center. Put your just slightly off center- not a lot just a little. When you're shooting groups of people, find the imaginary center line of your group and put that line just a bit off center in your view through your lens or screen.
Following these tips won't turn you into an award-winning photographer today, but you will be on your way to better, more powerful photographs that others will comment on for years to come.
About the Author: Digital Camera
Source: www.isnare.com
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Baby Photography. By TJ Tierney
Tips for photographing babies.
Babies can be the most challenging and rewarding portraits to take, but can also be the most frustrating.
Babies tend to sleep, eat and cry a lot and won't pose in front of the camera but don't let that put you off photographing them. Creating the perfect baby portrait, when done right, will certainly be rewarding.
One of the most important factors in photographing babies is patience and the way you apply child psychology when relating to the baby. Babies over six months may be shy and won't react well to a complete stranger. This is where child psychology comes in - you must try to play with the baby, or even become a child yourself while taking the photograph. The keys of your car can be very effective. But remember, your job is to take a baby portrait- you must be able to react quickly when the infant responds to your entertainment.
Shooting a portrait of a newborn baby can be difficult. At this age the baby will not be active, so it's better to focus on close-up headshots. Try using natural light from a bedroom window to add mood to the portrait.
Babies over a few months of age will be more alert and will have a lot more movement in them. Shooting fast is a necessity, the infant will tire quickly.
Babies seven months or older can be very tricky to shoot. The baby will bore quickly and will not want to stay in the same position.
If you are serious about baby photography and you tend to shoot from your own studio make sure you have a lot of toys to amuse the infants. A light colour background will work best and shoot the portraits in colour and black and white.
Parents may be worried about the affect of studio lights on their baby. Point out that strobe lights have no effect on kids. Try to point this out before the parent asks.
Don't ever handle a baby without the parents consent. Most parents will be very protective and won't react well to a stranger lifting the infant.
Watch out for the fingers - fingers in the mouth can be attractive but on most occasions they will obscure the face.
If you plan to resell the baby photograph to an agency make sure you get a release form signed from the parents. There is a large market out there for baby pictures but agencies or magazines won't touch them without the parents consent. For baby portraits to be sellable they must be technically perfect, but the picture must illustrate the baby being active or some form of child care.
About the Author: TJ Tierney is an award winning Irish Landscape photographer and a freelance writer. He frequently writes for the shopping directory http://www.shop-4us.com and the photography directory http://www.goldprints.com
To view or buy some of his images visit his on line gallery at http://www.goldenirishlight.com
Source: www.isnare.com
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Digital Photography - Tripods Explained By Gary Bunn
A good Tripod is a real necessity if you're serious about photography, and that's that. I know they can be big, bulky and a pain to carry around, but if you want to get rid of that camera shake that seems to appear in every one of your photos, then it's time to start the hunt for a good one! Theyre are plenty to choose from, everything from Manfrotto to Slik, in all shapes and sizes.
A decent Tripod is a great advantage to those Photographers taking nature shots or macro-photography, where you want your subjects to be as clear as possible. However, they're definitely not limited to only those few types. They're also good for long exposure shots, slow shutter speeds or low light situations. Even if you try to just use a high shutter speed, you still won't have as crisp of a shot without a tripod.
So what to look for?
Examine what type of head it has. Is that what you want? Does it come with one? The head is what attaches your camera to the Tripod and, without the correct head, it'd be useless to you!
Some types come with heads that are interchangeable or removable. This will allow you to just buy whichever type of Tripod head thats suits your Camera or preference. Some come with heads that are not, so be aware that if you purchase this type, your stuck with it. Then there are Tripod types that don't come with any at all, allowing you to buy whichever you like.
Heads come in two varieties. There are the pan and tilt heads and the ball and socket heads. I think both have advantages and disadvantages. The pan and tilt heads move up and down, left to right. It doesn't have as much fluid movement as the ball and socket type, and setting up vertical shots is a little more time consuming. They're usually a little cheaper. The ball and socket, which positions in any direction, is nice for moving your camera around while on the tripod. I find if you're trying to just set up a picture and you simply need to move the camera a tad in one direction, this type is more of a challenge.
If you want to move the camera a little to the left with the pan and tilt, loosen it and move it to the left and tighten. With the ball and socket though, you loosen and then you have to try and keep the camera level while you move it to the left. You might end up moving it to the left and down or up or left and who knows what direction.
Now you've checked out the construction, stability and determined which type of head you need. You should be well prepared to choose the perfect Tripod for your needs.
About the Author: Gary Bunn
Editor
http://www.Your-Digital-Photography.com
Source: www.isnare.com
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Photography Portfolio By Seth Willis Jr.
Photographers are known through their profiles
A photography portfolio is like a resume or a portfolio that a super model creates to promote to the public. A well written profile can do wonders for the photographer since the first contact with the art critics and public is through this medium.
As in any profession it is important to sell oneself and the promotional technique used will determine how successful or otherwise an artist would become. One must learn this art of seductive persuasion for attracting the public to make a beeline for one's Galleries.
What are the steps of preparing a Photography Portfolio?
All good things happen in threefold! Let us consider the 3 most important steps to achieving a write-up that everyone will think is written by a professional copy writer!
The first step one should take is conceptualizing the USP of your art. By USP we normally mean the Unique Selling Proposition but in our particular case let's rename this acronym as Unrivalled Self Portrait! What needs to be written or included in good and effective personal achievements in the artistic world?
What ever you have so far completed in terms of picture composing should be placed as a theme in your Photography Portfolio. The theme is what you do best in photography and must be illustrated with an aesthetic design of your theme work.
Maybe you are a black and white photographer of the abstract kind, or a realistic current affairs political events reviewer in pictures, or dedicated to the artistic bent of mind that young children depict and need to be encouraged etc. Always plan your theme presentation before choosing or taking appropriate photographs.
Secondly, be very careful and judicious in picking your best photographs and in case you require a new set for the chosen theme, take pains in creating new photos. A photography profile cannot be just a collage of photographs. They must be systematically placed in the profile document to tell a specific story to the reader.
Out of a multitude of pictures to your credit you must only choose the very best that exhibit your artistic talent and place them interspersed between short text that enhances the art form. It is not that length of your resume matters so much as the relevance of how you promote your acumen towards the theme art being depicted. This makes up the gist of a professional photography profile.
Thirdly and finally you are ready to exhibit your work in the form of a portfolio. This is just what a super model or budding fashion model also does! Become a true salesperson and visit local art collectors and critics who matter.
Learn the art of online and offline marketing to approach your family, friends, acquaintances and show them your aptitude in a subtle manner. Remember, you cannot really promote yourself by giving lectures and talks at seminars etc, but you can surely sell your artistic bent of mind or "camera fingers" by creating an extraordinary photography portfolio.
About the Author: Seth Willis Jr. is the webmaster for http://www.Starephotography.com he enjoys photography as well as painting and blues and Jazz
guitar.Stare photography is an Online school for budding and
seasoned photographers to enhance their skills or start a new career.
Source: www.isnare.com
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Different Types Of Photo Shop Effects Tutorials By Mario Churchill
Photo Shop is the most widely used image manipulation program in the world today. It should be no mystery therefore that so many people know the basics of the program. However, not many people know the full capability of Photo Shop.
This is partly because every person has a limited time to devote to this program. In order to compensate for this, many people are putting up Photo Shop effects tutorials. This is in order to share what knowledge they have and maybe gain a little more. Here are some of the different types of Photo Shop effects tutorials you can find today:
1) Retouching - this type of Photo Shop effects tutorial attempts to teach people how to accomplish the basic goal of Adobe Photo Shop -fix pictures. The retouching Photo Shop effects tutorials helps people get rid of red eye, fix skewed angles and basically make the picture presentable. This is done through the various tools offered by Photo Shop.
Majority of the people who look for Photo Shop effects tutorials go with this first because, let's face it, everyone wants to look perfect in their pictures. By learning this Photo Shop effects tutorial, you will be able to take what you can see in nature and give it a whole new reality. Some people eliminate wrinkles, scars, and some actually erase people from group pictures!
2) Lighting effects - a change in the lighting can dramatically alter the mood of a photograph. In the past, photographers either had to wait for the sun to be just perfect or make use of special lighting in order to achieve the effect that they need. With lighting Photo Shop effects tutorials, you can adjust the lighting of a photograph even after it is taken.
Think of the possibilities! You can take the picture of a sunset even in the middle of a cloudy day. You can light up the subject of a photograph even without using a flash. Photo Shop effects tutorials will even teach you how to make it look like you are living on an alien planet, by adding 2 different colored suns to your picture. The great thing about this is that, unlike other image editors which just paste a sun into the background, Adobe Photo Shop can really make it seem as if the addition does affect the lighting within the image.
3) Presentation effects - want to place your image inside a glass sphere? You can find Photo Shop effects tutorials to do precisely that on the internet. You can find different ways to manipulate your images. You can put an object in space, traveling at light speed. You can place yourself in field of flowers. You can turn your picture into an oil painting. A Photo Shop effects tutorial will teach you how to do these things and more. With Photo Shop, your imagination is the limit.
4) Photography - many photographers today resort to using special filters and customizing their cameras to get different effects. They take pictures in ultra-red, monochrome, and other styles to give people a whole new perspective of the world. Some Photo Shop effects tutorials can teach you how to make it seem like you took a picture using the same techniques as professionals do. This is certainly something every person wants, right?
About the Author: Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For a free photo shop tutorial and or to purchase a video photo shop tutorial checkout his website.
Source: www.isnare.com
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Wildlife PhotographyBy Seth Willis
Just close your eyes for a moment and try to visualize what the essence of wildlife photography might be. You are bound to see the mesmerizing images of a lion or a cheetah going for the kill. This is because this class of photography aims to capture and captivate you! If you have a passion for photography and if you love being in nature, raw and unforgiving, then photographing wildlife is the ideal choice for you.
There are certain key factors that will play an important role in shaping each image while drawing you out for a ‘kill’. You just can’t pick your camera and walk right into a game hunting reserve to shoot a wild animal. You will have to learn and unlearn. The results, when drawn out of your camera, will be well worth the wait despite the difficult but thrilling process involved in shooting the game.
There are some commandments that you need to follow in wildlife photography and they are:
1) Tracking: You need to study and develop skills that will help you to track a tiger in 100 sq miles of forest land. Tracking is important for the perfect photograph and you can do it by following the paw marks, and the feces.
2) Patience: patience is a big virtue and if you want a great picture, you will have to wait. Remember, you are in their territory!
3) Eye Contact: One of the important rules of photography in the wild is: never try to make eye contact with a wild animal that is bigger and more dangerous like lions, cheetahs, leopards and even wilder beasts.
4) Timing: Timing is synonymous to animal photography. If you are not there at the appropriate time then you will most certainly miss the opportunity. You can achieve perfection in timing by applying the watch and wait theory.
5) Proximity: Don’t get too close to predators as their behaviors can be erratic and dangerous. If you are using a digital SLR camera with a telephoto lens, then you can even take wildlife photographs from a distance.
6) Clothes: During photography, it is always advisable to wear clothes with earthen tones rather than camouflage.
7) Movement: Wild animals respond to movements and even the slightest movement can scare the nervous types like the Deers and Zebras. Sometimes, you will also have to "stalk" your subject, as a predator stalks its prey.
Now that you know the various aspects of photographing wildlife, all you need is a good camera. Any camera that offers the following makes for a good buy:
It should provide a manual override of automatic functions. The camera should have an auto-focus as well as manual focus option.
The camera should allow you to set the required shutter speed and aperture.
It should also have an option for mechanical remote release.
Your camera should have a wide angle lens starting at 28mm and can go up to 70mm or 105mm. It should also have a telephoto zoom between 70mm and 100mm and capable of reaching 300mm.
Some of the other accessories required are a polarizing filter, warming filter (81A or B), UV filter, lens hood and the camera bag.
Once you have the camera and lenses in place, you should start from your backyard to get a taste of it before trying out serious wildlife photography. Don't forget to enjoy your "shoot"!
About the Author: Seth Willis is the webmaster for http://www.Starephotography.com he enjoys photography as well as painting and blues and Jazz
guitar.Stare photography is an Online school for budding and
seasoned photographers to enhance their skills or start a new career.
Source: www.isnare.com
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