Friday, October 28, 2011

Aperture With Wedding Photography and Landscape Photography

Aperture is a term widely used in the photography industry. It is a confusing topic for the amateur photographer to pick up and understand it. In this article we will not define the image in technical terms but give you a better understanding of the different settings and what you can achieve when shooting wedding photography and landscape photography.

The most common aperture settings used are mid-range between f8-f11 which is basically set on automatic depth of field. When first starting off set the camera to Auto or P mode and the aperture will be set automatically combined with shutter speed.

Technical Photography


Wedding Photography

Aperture With Wedding Photography and Landscape Photography

If you are shooting weddings, set the camera to Aperture mode with a f2.8 to f5.6 which produces a shallow depth of field. This will highlight the subject you are taking in photos blurring out the background. Fantastic for portrait and kids photography where you want to focus on the people as opposed to what is in the distance. This is known as large aperture settings.

Technical Photography

Landscape & Real Estate Photography

Smaller apertures are most commonly used for photographing wildlife and landscapes. This will create sharp images both in the foreground and in the background. An aperture from f16 to f32 will create sharp images. You will find landscape photographers using these settings to capture the mountains and clouds in the distance.

Aperture in Technical Terms



• Smaller the aperture (larger f-stop numbers) produces longer depth of fields allowing all elements in the image to be in focus.
• Larger aperture (smaller f-stop number) produces shallow depth of fields focusing on near subjects and blurring out the background.

The best method to understand the capabilities of your camera and aperture is to test drive different settings and work out what suits the photography you are shooting.




Aperture With Wedding Photography and Landscape Photography

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Steps That a Photographer Can Take to Be prepared For a Photoshoot

A photographer needs to demonstrate competence. Demonstrating competence will consequent in repeat business and higher orders. One way to show competence is to be well prepared at every photo shoot taken. This record describes steps a photographer can take to be well prepared.

1. Know the location in which you will be shooting. There are separate levels of effort required for accomplishing this task. If a photographer has shot in a location many times in the past, performing this test can be quick. Just arrive a few minuets early so you can see where the best lighting is given the time of day and weather. If you have never been to the location before and you know the location is not one that is normally used for photography, go to the location at least a day before the shoot and plan where and how you will setup your portraits. You want to recognize where there is enough shade to contribute good lighting and where the best back drops can be found.

Photographer


2. Chat with the client about their expectations the shoot. If it is a wedding you are shooting you will want to know a estimate of details together with who should not be shot with whom. Families are complex and there are normally a few in the extended families that do not want to be with each other. In addition, the bride normally has friends and house that she wants to make sure is photographed with her.

Steps That a Photographer Can Take to Be prepared For a Photoshoot

3. Make sure you equipment is ready. Make sure you have at least one spare camera available. Make sure you your flash cards are empty and ready to take another shoot. Make sure your camera has enough batteries.

Photographer

4. If you are bringing an assistant, prep him/her on the game plan for the shoot a day or so before the shoot.

5. Send out a form offering some suggestions as to how the subjects should dress and what they should expect during the shoot.

6. Bring double equipment. Bring at least two cameras. You should also have back up lenses. While doing this is all the time important, it is particularly prominent for weddings. Often modeling pictures can be shot again; however a once a wedding is over, it's over. It's valuable you are ready for any mechanical malfunctions which may arise.



Being prepared for all of your photo shoots will make things run more smoothly and inspire belief in your clients of your abilities.




Steps That a Photographer Can Take to Be prepared For a Photoshoot

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tips To settle on A Wedding Photographer

There are couples who do not plan to hire a wedding photographer. Instead they will ask the help from their friends. However, if allocation allows, it is great to hire a photographer. In most cases you will be just disappointed if you ask your friends to help to take the wedding photos.

It is true that hiring a photographer for your big day can be very expensive. As a result, you have to choose with care. It will be a waste of money if you agree a wrong one. However, money is not the most foremost issue to this end. You will have your wedding only once in your life and the photos authentically mean your memories of the big day. You are trying to ruin your memories of your wedding if you do not choose your photographer with the many care.

Photographer


From the above you will probably know the importance of hiring a good wedding photographer. In fact, you have to reconsider some practical issues when you are choosing your photographer. Below are some points to remember.

Tips To settle on A Wedding Photographer

Before you make your decision on your wedding photographer, you should try to meet him / her for at least once. If it is possible, you will try to arrange so that you can meet the inherent photographer in the wedding venue. You will tell the photographer what you need and what you want so that he / she can give you some suggestions.

Photographer

If you are going to host an outdoor wedding, you may need to ask for extra lighting equipments. Besides, you should also ask for samples of former works. This is authentically an foremost step. There is no way for you to know how the photographer will achieve on your wedding. However, you will have a good idea what he / she will do by investigating the past projects.

Be sure to meet some photographers before production your final decision. You have to do that even if you are authentically busy at work. You are doing that firstly because every photographer will have his / her own style. You have to see which style you love most. Besides, you will also need to assess the prices and services. This is just like all the other wedding items. You will try to assess as thoroughly as inherent to get the best deal.

If you can bear the above points in mind, you will be able to find a good photographer and your wedding photos will authentically be fabulous.






Tips To settle on A Wedding Photographer

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Who Visits Your Tumblr Blog? - How to Add Visitor Counter Code to Tumblr Blogs


Sometimes its nice to know who's been visiting your blog and where they came from, rather than just a numbers game - "I had so many visitors last week" etc. Making good use of visitor statistics can help you fine-tune copy and content if you're a serious online marketeer.

And if you're not, then there's still nothing more satisfying than seeing daily visitor numbers rise week on week. If nothing else, it proves you're doing something right.

Technical Photography


Blogger and WordPress blog platforms make it really easy to quickly add stat programs like Google Analytics and StatCounter through their Admin User Panels. In Blogger's case, you simply need to add a html/javascript gadget and copy and paste the StatCounter tracking code into it. It really is that simple.

Who Visits Your Tumblr Blog? - How to Add Visitor Counter Code to Tumblr Blogs

However, when I came to add StatCounter stats to my Tumblr account, I found it rather more challenging.

Technical Photography

Tumblr is described as "a blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, video, links, quotes, and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users are able to "follow" other users and see their posts together on their dashboard. You can like or reblog other blogs on the site and other users can do the same to your posts. The service emphasizes customizability and ease of use" (see Wikipedia)

I've been using Tumblr to collate a fantasy iPod playlist, posting a different music track or video from YouTube each day. I now have a steady stream of fellow music lovers following my posts.

I couldn't find anything in the help pages and most online searches drew a blank.



Then I found, almost by accident, the nugget of information I needed: how to install javascript into your Tumblr template, and so I'd like to share that information with you here.

As with all template changes, please, please make sure you've got a back up somewhere first (expand widgets if you're doing such template changes on Blogger) as things can go wrong and be very very hard to recover from. You've been warned! (But don't let that put you off trying altogether).

So in my case, I wanted to install the custom tracking javascript supplied by StatCounter. Here's what you do.

1 - Log into your Tumblr Account.
2 - Click the "Customise" link.
3 - Click "Theme" and then select "Use Custom HTML".
4 - Scroll to the end of the code and paste your StatCounter code JUST BEFORE the

tags.
5 - Don't forget to click "Save Changes".
6 - Log back into your StatCounter account to check that it is recording visits (unless you've purposefully blocked your IP address from being recorded as a visit).

Jonathan C Crouch




Who Visits Your Tumblr Blog? - How to Add Visitor Counter Code to Tumblr Blogs

Monday, October 24, 2011

Top Photography Schools

Top Photography Schools

Do you have an eye for compelling images or do you have the desire to capture special moments or keep old memories in prints? If you have the desire, but believe you do not have the skills, there are top photography schools where you can take photography lessons from the best the world can offer. There are mostly no restrictions in enrolling in one. You can choose between using the traditional analog cameras or move in to the more advance digital cameras. Whichever you may select, most of the training would be the same.

Most top photography schools are located in cosmopolitan centers all over the world. Cities like New York, Paris and London boast some of the best schools and teachers in this industry. Most top universities also offer great courses in photography.

Technical Photography

Top photography schools would have you take a class on the historical background of the industry of photography. They do it to try and give you a sense of appreciation in the changes that the industry has gone through, through the years. These top schools would make sure that by the time you leave their campus, you are an expert in handling different kinds of cameras - from analogs to a digital model - and the different equipments that are available to you.

You would learn how to do flash photography and how to use different flashes, different lenses, studio equipments and lighting for portraiture. They would teach you not only the technical aspects of handling the camera, but the creative techniques as well - the composition and the photographic controls and the pre-visualization of capturing the photograph. You would know how to capture and develop stunning images both colored and black and white alike.

You would be taught advance techniques such as red eye reduction, digital work flow, digital file management, and some basic computer techniques. With these skills, you would be able to not only capture images but make enhancements on them. Top photography schools convert you from a hobbyist to a world-class photographer.



Top Photography Schools

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Five Key Ways To Promote a Photographer

Let's face it, most of us do photography on the side. Our dream or goal may be to make a living at it, at some point in time. But to do that, we have to make a lot more sales. To make the sales we need more customers. To get more customers, we need to promote ourselves.

I'm going to go out on a limb, and make some assumptions. First, I'm going to assume that money is an issue. We can't all afford to run Google Adwords or even take out an ad in the local newspaper. Second, I'm going to assume that your work is nothing else but good. I don't mean good, because your family and friends say so. I mean your work has to impress other photographers (people who know what it takes.) That being said; here are five key ways to promote yourself, (that doesn't cost a fortune.)

Photographer


1. Enterprise Cards. This is Not an option. You have to have them. Ideally, they should have your name, your picture, the word "Photography" or "Photographer", your web address and your phone number. Notice, I did not say your street address or a list a mile long of every type of photography you have ever done. When I say: "Your Picture", I mean just that; it must be a photograph of you. If you're shy sorry but you're in the wrong business. If you want citizen to recognize you as a photographer, they need to remember you not one of your great shots.

Five Key Ways To Promote a Photographer

2. A Web Site. In today's High Tech world this is also Not an option. In the old days, if I did "Weddings" for

Photographer

example, I created a folder that showed my best work and would show it to inherent customers one at a time. The question was only one buyer could view the work at a time and often you would have to wait to get it back, to show person else. With a web site, you can show off your work and promote yourself 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You don't have to spend a fortune. There are still sites out there that will give you space for free (if you don't mind their advertisements.) Or . . . Very cheaply, I pay .95 per month for 50,000 Megabytes of space!

3. photograph Reoccurring Events. Ok, let me define a reoccurring event. Sports and Drama productions come to mind. You want to be able to shoot something that citizen will see you shooting again and again. If you take pictures at the Rodeo every Saturday afternoon, citizen will notice. If you shoot a wedding, some of the guest may see you at several weddings, but that does not make the same impact. If you shoot all 24 games of a basketball season, that will stick in peoples memories. That doesn't mean you are wee to selling basketball shots. This is only to get you in the minds of others as a photographer. Once you start handing out those Enterprise cards that will lead them to your website. Your website can show all the distinct types of photography that you

can do.



4. Write Photo Articles. Write about what you know best. If you love taking pictures of horses, write about that. Write about the tool needed. Write about going to horse shows. Write about how to perceive horse owners. There are literately hundreds of article directories on line that would love to have your articles. Let's say you write 20 articles and submit them to 100 article Directories, that's like handing out 2000 Enterprise cards! This not only gets you more traffic to your website, but it establishes you as an master in that area of photography!

5. Enter Photo Contests. If you submit one photograph to a photo contest per week for one full year, you may or may not make any money, but... You will have publicity. Even if you only win one or two out of your fifty two entries, you are now an award winning photographer! You can use that on your website, on your Enterprise card, or even just talking to inherent customers. A word of caution, some contests have one purpose in mind and that is Not to promote you. Some photo contests will try to sell you photo related items again and again. In other words, this may end up putting your name on a mailing list that you had not planned on. If it is an email list you should be able to unsubscribe from most of these.

Obviously, development a thousand Enterprise cards and setting them on a shelf is not going to help you. But on the other hand, if every sale you make you give that buyer 10 Enterprise cards and tell them (don't ask) to let their friends know, you will be surprised at how fast the word can get around. If you are trying to show your work to a crowd that is not into the whole internet scene, remind them that most group libraries now have internet access. If they themselves don't have internet access, the odds are in your favor that person they know does. One of the advantages for you having your own website is that your can modernize it whenever you please. One benefit for your buyer is that they can view it whenever they please.

Each of these suggestions is only a tool. No one tool is going to necessarily make you rich and famous, but as you start putting some of these things together, you might be surprised at the photography Enterprise that you can build.




Five Key Ways To Promote a Photographer

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Tips on How to Shoot Vintage Glamour Images

Tips on How to Shoot Vintage Glamour Images

Shooting vintage glamour pictures is altogether fun and daring challenge: not only it requires profound knowledge of various technical aspects (lighting, posing etc.), but also history of glamour images and what they were like in those glorious days. Shooting vintage glamour image is fun because it makes the subject look as if it was a star of the past golden age or a pin-up model while being dramatic with a lot of contrast. As a beauty artist, you will be able to produce vintage glamour pictures with the help of some particular lighting, retro glamorous accessories, cosmetics and posing.

Almost 90% of work here is done by arranging lights properly. Studio is the perfect place for shooting such Glamour Photos as various lighting from different angles are required. One of the appealing nuances is shadow under the nose, achieved by strong and focused light from sharp angle, so that the main persona would look as if in the spotlight. Moreover, you would need two fill lights to shine on the model. To sever the main subject from the background, some backlight would be necessary.

Technical Photography

Another nuance to take care of is colors, because they do matter in Artistic Glamour Photography; obviously, black and white will be just fine for evoking all that nostalgia and mimicking vintage glamour images. In addition, you should concentrate on contrast and edginess; in order to show the facial features in their whole splendor and to preserve the details, fill lights shouldn't be stronger than a third from the key light intensity.

Posing is of great importance in creating vintage glamour images, as the subject in the past rarely looked straight into the camera, so in order to give the golden age look, you are a photographer should make the model look to the side with a mysterious expression. Old-school glamour photographs are not about natural looks but about dramatic atmosphere. For retro beauty photography the primary subject is the model rather than her garment and entourage; so try to minimize the glamorous impact that trinkets should have and try to concentrate on the girl instead. If you shoot in monochrome, black or white garment should be just fine for creating an edgy look. Do not use too many colors as the lighting will take the colors away, and try to get the make up matte, not gloss so as to absorb the hard light.



Tips on How to Shoot Vintage Glamour Images