Amature photography

Father and his daughter's

2008-10-14T13:43:00.006+08:00

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Photography Lessons - Basics - The Rule of Thirds

2008-10-07T08:16:00.000+08:00

I am an absolute photography enthusiast. My eyes have always been fascinated by the art of photography. In this "Photography Lessons - Basic - Rule of Thirds" article, I will share with you a basic yet a very popular and helpful technique that will surely enhance your the way you take photos.

Perhaps the most well know principle of photographic composition is the "Rule of Thirds". It's one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.

What are the basics in using "The Rule of Thirds"?

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. Mentally divide your viewfinder or LCD screen into thirds, using two vertical and two horizontal lines to create nine smaller rectangles and four points where the lines intersect. It has been repeatedly shown that by placing objects over these intersections, a pleasing and balanced arrangement often results, whether the composition is horizontal or vertical.

Too often, photographs have their subject placed smack in the middle, making the image look dull and uninteresting. A simple shift in composition can change all that. The Rule of Thirds is probably one of the cardinal rules of composition. When an image's center of interest is placed at one of these intersections, balance in the picture can often be achieved by placing a secondary object (known as a "counterpoint") at the opposing intersection.

How does this help improve my shots?

Using the Rule of Thirds helps produce nicely balanced easy on the eye pictures. Also, as you have to position things relative to the edges of the frame it helps get rid of ' tiny subject surrounded by vast empty space' syndrome. The Rule of Thirds is fairly structured but there are a great many methods you can employ which rely on your ability to "see" things and incorporate them into your composition.

Conclusion

The Rule of Thirds may be a great way on having great and well balanced images. But as they say rules are meant to be broken. One last thing about the Rule of Thirds for the time being, once you have got the hang of the Rule of Thirds you will very quickly want to break it ! Its ok.. It's how you interpret your subject. Always remember, photography is an art where anyone or everyone can tell their story.

Prince Vasquez
Photography Enthusiast
http://photographylessons.site90.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Prince_Vasquez

How to Take Better Photos With a Digital Point and Shoot Camera

2008-08-27T18:09:00.000+08:00

A common misconception with many photographers is that good quality photos can only be taken by using a big bulky digital SLR camera. Technically, yes the digital SLR can produce a photo that has more pixels, but there are more things to a photo than pixels. Here are a few ways to take better photos with a digital point and shoot camera.

Learn the limitations of your camera. The boring method would be to read the manual. The method I prefer is to go out and take a bunch of pictures. Change the settings and then see what the results are. Most digital cameras have these three basic settings: Portrait, Landscape, and Auto(matic).

Portrait and Landscape does not refer to the horizontal or vertical orientation of the picture. It simply means one setting is better for portraits and one setting is better for taking pictures of the landscape.

In the "Portrait" setting, the item that the camera is focusing on will appear in focus, and the background and foreground will normally be out of focus. This is a setting in which emphasis needs to be given to one object in the photo. The next time you watch a movie and two characters are on the screen, but one character is closer than the other, pay attention to who is in focus when someone is talking. Usually, the person in focus is talking. Visually your eyes are drawn to that person and you kind of forget the other person is there. This setting doesn't apply to just people, it could apply to objects in a photo that need more emphasis.

In the "Landscape" setting, almost everything in the picture will appear to be in focus including the background and foreground. If you are taking pictures of scenery, this would be the setting to use, unless you wanted to focus on a particular subject. What if you are taking a picture of a lot of people? If people are standing at different distances from you, Portrait mode may render a few people out of focus.

Most of the time the Auto(matic) setting will work just fine, and you will have more time to address other items such as composition. I'm not talking about professionally posing a person or thing, I am talking about simple composition.

Dos and Don'ts of composition

1. Don't center all your subjects. Pictures usually look better when the subject is slightly off centered.

2. Don't center a person's head in the frame. This leaves a lot of space above them in the photo.

3. Do try and keep all lines perpendicular when possible. Tall buildings will never be perpendicular when shot from the ground, they will always appear to be leaning backward, but other things can be lined up to look more appealing.

4. Do try to keep garbage cans and drinks out of a picture unless you want those things in the picture.

5. Do be mindful of where people are standing. Is that tree branch coming out of his ear?

These Dos and Don'ts are not strict standards. Sometimes, a photo is more fun and appealing when these Dos and Don'ts are not followed.

The best tip for taking better photos with a digital point and shoot camera is, your camera flash is only good for a distance of about 10-20 feet, and the flash is not only for using at night or in dark places.

Have you ever been to a concert or seen a concert on TV? When the artist comes out on stage, the crowd goes wild and you can see a bunch of flashes from people trying to take a picture of who or what is on stage. Guess what, they probably got a nice picture of the person directly in front of them, but not a very good picture of whom or what was on stage. If the area is dark and your subject is more than 20 feet away, chances are the flash will not help you at all. You can either try to get closer or try to take a picture without the flash (picture will be brighter, but most likely out of focus). Do you know how to turn the flash off?

NOTE: The person with the bulky SLR has a flash distance of around 30 to 100 feet. At a concert, the person with the bulky SLR would get almost the same results as the guy using the point and shoot camera if they were both standing more than a 100 feet away from the stage.

In the daytime, standing under the shade of a tree, or indoors under bright fluorescent lights, these are the times when a flash would be a good idea. Under the shade of a tree, if you are going for the dark, shadowy look, leave the flash off. But if you want to see the details on a persons face, turn the flash on. If you like the greenish or yellowish haze of the lights, by all means, leave the flash off. But if you would rather see the natural color of your subject, turn the flash on. Do you know how to turn the flash on?

Not every picture looks good on the automatic setting. This is why understanding how your camera works and knowing how to turn the flash on and/or off is a good thing. Most people like the simplicity of a digital point and shoot, they didn't get it to mess with all the settings, in those cases, the best advice is...Take the Picture! Better to capture the moment then worry about all the other stuff.

I worked in a 1 hour photo lab for over 5 years giving photography tips to all my customers, and I have had a few of my own photos published in the local newspaper on Maui.

Peter Rabasa - Honolulu, Hawaii

http://www.myuniverablog.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Rabasa

Learn How To Make Money Taking Photographs

2008-01-17T10:05:00.000+08:00

Thanks to the internet and digital cameras there's a huge market now for selling all kinds of photos featuring themes, styles, topics,etc.

There is money to be made from taking and selling photographs. Taking pictures is easy, fun and you can work at your own pace. You don't have to be a professional photographer or have a college degree. All you need to get started is a digital camera,computer and a photo-editing program (Adobe Photo Shop,etc). You don't have to be a professional photographer or have a college degree.

The market for photographs is huge. Estimates show magazines and newspapers buy over 50 million photos a year,

There are many different ways you can make money with your digital camera. You can make money taking and selling photographs for people's personal use, decor, family reunions, birthdays, anniversaries, memories, portraits, weddings and pets.

Clearly to be a success in making money taking photographs includes tips on finding the best revenue sources for your type of work. Depending on what method you choose to market your photographs with you will either be selling them per download via sites such as Stock and Prints, Crestock, iStockphoto, Dreamstime etc. or local Business People, Travel Agents, Realtors, Car Lots or even directly to clients on a contract basis. Photographers are needed in many fields. For instance many people use car web sites and they sell their products as a result of photography. People celebrate special occasions more with photography, than they did years ago. The travel and advertising markets have a greater need for landscape, travel and nature shots. The key to finding your clients is simple: find out where they buy their current photographs and make yourself visible there!

These are some of the photograph markets that will pay you for taking pictures:

Marketers
Writers
Magazine Editors
Weddings
Scrap Bookers
Business People
Peoples Pets
Travel Agents
Realtors
Web Designers

There are many other markets that you can check out that you can sell photographs to.

Learning how to make money with your camera via the internet can be relatively easy. All you need is to get enough determination to give this endeavor everything. You must also have the initiative. This will ensure that you make the first move to making the business a success.

Almost anyone with the right camera equipment, and the necessary skills can set up a home business, marketing photography. You only need to convert a room of your house into an office, and then you can work immediately. Because you have modern technology in the form of digital cameras, you do not even need the room for a dark room.

The technical skills needed to make a successful photographer have never been easier. The market for photographs of almost every type has widened, the world seems to have an insatiable appetite for photographs. . For instance many people use car web sites, they simply did not exist ten years ago, and they sell their products as a result of photography. Cameras used by scuba diver's are now an excellent quality, and whilst they are initially expensive, they have forged a new market. People celebrate special occasions more with photography, than they did years ago. The travel and advertising markets have a greater need for landscape, travel and nature shots.

It is now easier than ever to turn your dream into reality and create a profitable business out of what was once a hobby.

Lamar Deane shows you How to Make Money Selling Photographs. Visit http://thephotosite.info/photos.html for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lamar_Dean

The bottle

2008-01-17T00:07:00.004+08:00

Tiger, your friend in need

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Dead Strawberry

2008-01-16T23:20:00.001+08:00

Meaningless

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Beer can

2008-01-13T23:29:00.000+08:00

A red beer can. Mmm beeee..rr

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Tips For Taking Digital Photography

2008-01-13T22:27:00.000+08:00

Beginning Digital Photography

With the rapid advancement in photo technology especially in the field of digital photography we now have access to digital cameras and software to help us save our precious memories for ever. The latest advent in camera technology have introduced high performance photo resolution cameras which helps makes taking photos so easy especially for the novice photographer. Though it's sad to see the good old 35MM camera go, we now have in its place easy to use digital cameras.

In the world of photography a good photographer will always pay close attention to timing when it comes to taking good photos. Great shots of photographs are rare to come by and one must wait for the right moment to take the shot of a beautiful sunset on the horizon or capturing the final moments when a winner crosses the finishing line in a competition. Steady fingers which control the trigger on the camera must know exactly when to capture that final moment. Photography may appear to look simple to the onlooker but in reality it's a science in its own right.

We all may appear to take a picture that may seem to be good but it is seldom that we take the extra step to make our pictures stand out without any blurs etc. You should always pay attention to not only the proper framing of your pictures but the lighting is just right so your pictures come out the way you want them to. Maybe you have taken steps to make sure your lighting is set up properly but you may have forgotten that you may need a flash bulb as well or maybe you have not set the settings on the camera to remove red-eye in your pictures. For this reason digital photography becomes a necessary part in your overall plan to get perfect pictures. It time to start your digital camera work and beat your friends at taking pictures.

Digital Photography Backgrounds

The frequently asked questions that people ask when the topic of digital photography comes to mind are: is taking digital photos expensive, it has so many features and how do I learn about them, or how did digital photography come about and why has it taken over from old style photography. To get started in your new hobby all you need to do to start off in digital photography and to move forward in this exciting past time is buy a digital camera. When you are ready to buy a camera make sure it's a good digital photographic camera to start with so that you can with easy take the best pictures with no problems that you would have faced in the past with the old 35MM cameras.

It is hard to analyse a digital camera by its looks alone. The digital camera looks so much like a mini video camcorders these days. Gone are the days of using camera film as now in your camera you will use a small very light and sensitive chip that will capture your images instead. Because of the capacity of this small chip, you now have the ability to take more pictures and store them in the memory of your camera. This was not possible with the old style film cameras of yesterday. When you have taken all the pictures you need or part of them, then all you need to do is connect your camera to your computer or laptop by means of a cable supplied by the camera manufacturer and download the pictures to a folder in your computer for viewing or editing later on. It's that easy.

As you are aware technology is improving day by day and this has caused the price of digital cameras to fall to prices that are so affordable today. There are many brands on the market to choose from, that are constantly being upgraded with each one displaying a varied amount of features for the user that it has becomes so easy for you to be able to take photos and keep track of your memories for as long as you want. Even though the difference in the inside features of the camera is rarely seen by the photographer it makes a big difference to your picture when taken.

Claude Fullinfaw is a successful publisher of digital photography tips at digital-Photography-For-Beginners.com where he provides more information on digital photography that you can research in your pyjamas on his website at Digital Photography For Beginners

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Claude_Fullinfaw

2008-01-13T21:58:00.000+08:00

Sitting at the passenger seat of my buddy's 4 wheel drive on the way to Tawau town.

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A farmer friend

2008-01-13T02:56:00.000+08:00

A very good friend of mine who lives near Tawau area, in Sabah. He runs his own business mainly farming. Mr. Aspar Daslara a.k.a 'Azroy'

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Sunlight on leaf

2008-01-13T02:35:00.000+08:00

Taken during my Christmas holidays in Sabah. I was in the church compound when I happened to notice that the sunlight was just peeping softly through the tree branches as I was searching the ground.

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Fender Champion guitar amp

2008-01-13T01:47:00.000+08:00

A second hand guitar amp I bought from a dude in a flea market in Kuala Lumpur

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Happy Couple

2008-01-12T18:41:00.000+08:00

Taken during my Christmas holidays in Sabah. Here folks are having some fun and games in the church compound.

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