Beginning Photography – 5 Mistakes To Avoid While Learning
Photography is an exciting and challenging hobby that is accessible to almost everyone who has an interest in it. The great thing about photography is that anyone can pick up a camera and start taking pictures, but if you choose to learn more advanced methods there can be a steep learning curve. Then again, there are a few common pitfalls that you may wish to avoid if you’re just getting started.
Photo Equipment Overload!
It’s easy to get swept up in all of the possibilities for your photography gear. The list of cool photo equipment is endless- filters, tripods, extra lenses, lights, reflectors and timers and so many others. If you don’t have a solid understanding of what you’re able to do with your camera, you’ll never be able to truly master the use of all of the accessories. Start off small with a basic digital SLR or a basic 35mm camera and only one lens so you can really learn the photographic basics. When you feel like you’ve pushed that as far as you can, then start looking for some fancy attachments.
Not Every Shot Will Turn Out
In the beginning, it’s common to miss a lot of great shots. There will also be times when you get a shot but it turns out badly. For this reason, it’s probably a good idea to take every photograph at least twice. This will help teach you about the subtleties of your camera’s inner workings, as well as provide a bit of safety in knowing you won’t miss the important things. Besides, in the day of digital the cost of shooting thousands of images is no more than shooting only ten.
Don’t Use Your Flash
You don’t need it. An automatic flash will at best teach you to ignore… Continue reading
Learn Photography: 8 Reasons Why You Should Learn It
So you’re interested in learning photography – congratulations! Photography is a fascinating, practical hobby as well as an exciting career choice. Learning photography takes a little patience, but the rewards are worth it. Let’s start with the reasons why you should learn photography:
- The chance to capture special events like a special birthday or the family vacation with clear, well composed pictures.
- Never missing another “Kodak moment” while looking for the correct button or dial to push on your camera.
- Taking beautiful photographs that you and your loved ones proudly frame and display.
- Communicating through the use of images. A picture is truly worth a thousand words (especially if you put it in a beautiful jeweled picture frame)! You can capture an expression that says it all. Or as we’ve seen in magazines like Time and National Geographic, you can shoot photographs that convey messages powerful enough to open a mind or convey just about anything you want to communicate. You don’t have to be a professional photojournalist to get out there and take some great shots.
- The ability to take a portrait photograph in a home or outdoor setting that captures the unique personality and beauty of a loved one – the type of portrait that uplifts the person and makes them want to see the portrait framed on the wall, not hidden at the bottom of a box.
- Excitement! With a good telephoto lens you can take exciting images of wildlife and weather phenomena while still being a safe distance away. Picture your friends reactions when they see your photographs beautifully framed on your wall.
- Fun! It’s fun to take photographs of people, places and things we love. It’s even more fun to take them after learning a few skills!
- Fortune and Fame! Many a photographer… Continue reading
Five Tips for Taking Photography Portraits
There are lots of great reasons why you should learn how to take family portraits and you don’t even have to embark on a photography career to do so. Having portraits taken professionally can sometimes be too expensive for many families. And sometimes, it can be impossible to get everyone to the studio at the appointed time.
Every family deserves to have at least one nice portrait together displayed in a picture frame. And, as a family grows and ages, it’s nice to have additional portraits done too. If you want to learn how to take portraits, learn by taking a portrait of your family or someone you know who would love to have a family portrait! If you are taking a portrait of your family, you have to be in it too! So be sure to use a camera with a remote shutter button release and a timer.
If you are new to photography, learning how to take good family portraits will come in handy when taking group pictures at family gatherings like Thanksgiving.
Without further ado, here are some tips to help you get started taking memorable family portraits, whether formal or informal.
1) Avoid the “Police Line Up” Portrait – Instead of lining everyone up shoulder to shoulder, try a more natural arrangement that also makes it easier to to fit a bunch of people into one picture.
Staggering is one such technique. For example, you might stagger the family members on the front steps of a porch or on and around boulders near a pond, with some family members standing and others sitting. If in a park, two siblings might sit on a low hanging branch of a tree or all could sit on the lawn clustered together. Show family togetherness by spacing relatively… Continue reading
Digital Photography Vs. Film Photography: The Great Debate
Ever since the introduction of the digital camera, a war has raged within the photographer community. There are those that would claim 35mm film is the one true “professional” media, and digital its casual, amateur counterpart. Conversely, as costs decrease and quality increases, there is an ever-expanding group of working photographers that shoot and produce only in digital. So what is a consumer to think? Is 35 still the way to go, or is it time to trade in that old junker for a newer, flashier model? It’s time to look at each format and decide once and for all which is better.
Digital: Amateur?
It is true that there are many digital cameras on the market, and like their 35mm counterparts there is an endless supply of variables that can impact the images each one is capable of producing. Image quality (in terms of color contrast and depth of field) have always been a major concern for those taking digital images and is still one of the common excuses heard from the opposition. Add to this the fact that finding a digital camera that could match the sheer raw data contained in a photograph on film was both arduous and incredibly expensive, and the 35mm enthusiast has a fairly solid argument.
But fortunately for the consumer, the price of an excellent digital camera has dropped steeply in the last few years, while the “quality for the dollar” has increased dramatically. Canon’s popular “Digital Rebel” line of SLRS (single lens reflexes) have given people an affordable entry level camera with near professional results for under $1,000. And since Canon isn’t the only camera company, it’s a safe bet that consumers can look forward to even better cameras at lower prices in the near future.
35mm: Is it Antiquated?
These… Continue reading
Photography Basics: How to Use the F Stop
Taking pictures and adjusting the settings manually can be intimidating to the new photographer. Veterans of the craft will no doubt remember the first roll of film they ruined by reading the light wrong, or the irreplaceable moments in time lost behind a lens cap. A photographer’s job is to be the conductor of a symphony of moving parts, influencing each element to make sure the end result is more than just the sum of the parts.
Without understanding the elements of photography individually, it is impossible to understand how they relate to the whole. So let’s start our trip into the inner workings of photography with one of the most unfamiliar topics: aperture.
Defining Aperture
Aperture is simply what controls how much light is exposed to your film (or your digital camera’s sensor). It can be opened and closed using the camera‘s f-stop, which is usually a ring located around the lens between the focus ring and the body of the camera. If you’ve ever looked into someone’s eye as light was shone into it and watched the pupil get smaller, this is how the aperture works too.
Most cameras have an F-Stop range of 1.7 or 2.0 to 22 or so; the range of values usually increases with the quality and cost of the camera. You can see your camera’s range by checking the numbers around your lens. Lower F-Stops are more open and expose the film to more light, while high F-Stops close the aperture and shut the light out.
How Aperture Can Impact Images
Using your F-Stop to purposefully manipulate the camera’s aperture will allow you to change the depth of field in your photographs. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “depth of field” it describes how much of your picture is sharp… Continue reading
