Extreme Macro Photography on a budget

So, you like the idea of doing macro photography, but you think you can’t afford it? Think again – with less than £1 worth of equipment, a little bit of sweat and tears (and blood, if you, like me, are a bit on the clumsy side), and you can build yourself a surprisingly good macro lens. Don’t believe me? Well, have a look at the article, and think again!

Of course, as I’m using a Pringles can to make this lens, you also have the opportunity to pause for a snack. Now that’s the type of DIY projects I like.

So you want to take pictures of things up close, do you? You have gone tired of all the regular ways of doing so? Ready for bellows and reversing rings, but can’t afford them? Have no fear, there is a far cheaper way to get a reasonably good result!

Also, Before we go any further… Need I say that you do all of this on your own risk? If you chop a finger off, ruin a lens or your camera body, it’s your own fault, and your own problem. Just be really careful, and you should be fine.

Cannibalising lens covers

This project takes base in cannibalising a few of the lens- and body covers that most of us have laying around. These are great, seeing as they are already created to connect to the camera – the easiest way to get the correct bayonet fittings to attach stuff to your camera body and lenses!

Obviously, the covers are solid, which is no good to us. So, in order to get them into an useful state, I attacked them with a Dremel tool.

Such a grind…

Carefully chopping the fronts out of a camera body cover and a lens cover takes quite a bit of time, not least because I wanted to do it as neatly as possible.

When you are done, remember to matte the cut by using emory paper (sanding paper): You want to make sure it doesn’t reflect light.

Pringles box to the rescue

What you make the actual distance tube out of is relatively unimportant, as long as it is completely light-proof. I decided to use a pringles tube because I have done projects in the past with them, so I knew that they were approximately the right size. It turned out, in fact, that it was exactly the right size. Nifty.

After removing the top and decantering all the lovely crisps into a bowl (nope, I’m not affiliated with Pringles. And the jury is still out if the crisps type have any impact on the photo quality of the end product), it was time to attack the bottom of the tube

Sparks! Oh, the pretty sparks!

Cutting out the bottom of the pringles can caused a lot of pretty sparks, so I couldn’t resist the temptation of taking a few shots.

Ladies: sorry about the unwashed hair, beard stubbles, messy room, and general colour mismatching of this photo. If this turns you on, marriage proposals go on an ePostcard to the address at the bottom of the article.

So… Why the lens cover?

There was no logistical reason for why I decided to cut holes in both the body and the lens cover, other than that I thought it might come in handy later. With the final design, it turned out to not be necessary. It did, however, come in quite handy: The lens cover cap works as a flare-reducing hood, and it helps protect the electrical contacts built into the lens. In addition, it makes it easier to grab on to the lens as it is stuck in the tube.

Chalk that one up to luck rather than than planning, but cut a hole in a lens cover as well, because it makes your life easier, and it reduces the chance of putting one of your lenses out of commission. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to keep my lenses in one piece. I’m not that rich: I’m writing an “on the cheap” guide.

Sticky situation

So, once the pringles tube had a big hole in the bottom, I set out to attaching the body cover and the Pringles tube.

Any strong glue should do. I suspect a hot-glue gun would probably be best, but I was out of glue sticks, so decided to use epoxy glue instead.

Anything to make the two pieces stick firmly to each other. If the glue you use sets translucent, you may want to take a black felt-tip pen and colour it dark, to prevent light leaks.

Firmly attached

After the epoxy glue had set, I had to try to see if it fitted on my Canon 20D.

Sure enough, it was a perfect fit.

Professionality aside, I gladly admit to doing a minor victory dance at this point.

A snug fit – banishing light
My idea was to use black felt to block out the light leaks from outside the lens.

The particular lens I decided to use for this project is the cheapest Canon standard lenses, namely the Canon 50mm f/1.8 MKII.

It is just the right size, and despite being cheap as chips, it has a couple of tricks up its sleeve – more about that in a minute. Ideally, using an older lens would be a better idea – especially if it has manual aperture controls.

By wrapping black fabric (in my case, a t-shirt I didn’t really like anymore) tightly around the lens, I managed to block out all superfluous light.

Textile Hack

I’ll gladly admit that getting it right took a couple of tries, but eventually I found exactly how much fabric was needed. To hold the bundle together, I decided to tape it all together.

After this, the lens fitted snugly in the Pringles container. Not only did it not fall out, it slides quite easily, so if you need to move it, you can just push or pull it to where you need it. Once you let go, it stays put. This is actually quite important, as it’s part of the focussing strategy: You don’t focus using focus rings, but by moving the lens closer or further away from whatever you are photographing.

Finally: Taking photos!

Right, everything has come together, and now it is time to do the fun stuff: Take pictures!

Modern HDR photography, a how-to or Saturday morning relaxation

Today’s digital cameras match or slightly exceed the performance of silver halide film. Computer graphics has achieved the goal of photorealism. Now the goal is to go beyond simply matching paper and silver halide – to create display technologies which can present any visual stimuli our eyes are capable of seeing.

One area of rapid development is in dynamic range. A new crop of technologies using High Dynamic Range imaging (HDR or HDRI) aim to extend the dynamic range of digital imaging technologies way beyond traditional media.

In this article, I’ll look at recent advances in the field of high dynamic range imaging. I will cover the basic concepts of dynamic range, and talk about new HDR technologies.

The Problem

Here’s the problem in a nutshell:

* Real-world scenes contain light ranges that exceed a 50,000:1 dynamic range.
* For over a thousand years, media has been limited to around a 300:1 dynamic range.
* So you have a mapping issue: how do you represent light values in a scene using a much more limited set of light values for a particular media?

Old Solutions

Master painters were very clever about mapping scene intensities to canvas. They used a large number of tricks


Dynamic Range in Photography

Photography involves a capture device (the camera), a storage medium (e.g. film), and a display or output device (e.g. paper).

The dynamic range of each stage (capture, storage and output) plays a crucial role in the quality of the results. In general, technologies with greater dynamic range produce more realistic results. But photography is a compound process, and the dynamic range of each stage must be considered. When the dynamic range of the source scene is too great for any one stage of the process, something must be sacrified: you must either give up detail in the shadows or the highlights. Photographers have to know and work withing the limitations of their camera, storage and output devices.


The Next Horizon: Digital HDR

Over the next decade, the imaging industry will inevitably transition to high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, creating devices that provide a latitude range far greater than traditional silver halide film. This change will affect all aspects of image making. Each of the systems in the image workflow will be modified, including capture, storage, editing and output.

Capture

Today’s cameras have ample resolution. So the next area of product differentiation for camera manufacturers will be the quality of the pixels, rather than the number of pixels. This shift is starting to happen already.

For example, Fuji’s SuperCCD S3 Pro camera has a chip with high and low sensitivity sensors per pixel location to increase dynamic range (the same trick as used in color film to achieve broader latitude).
Although the resulting chip has lower overall resolution, it captures greater dynamic range. This tradeoff of resolution for dynamic range is the beginning of an important trend.

A second alternative is to merge multiple images to increase dynamic range. Paul Debevec at SIGGRAPH 97 showed how to take multiple photographs at different exposures and merge them together to create a single high-dynamic range image. This technique is now incorporated in products such as Photogenics and Photoshop. For now, the technique works best if the camera is mounted on a tripod. But researchers have already built HDR image “stitchers” which merge multiple images and automatically account for camera motion between snaps.

For most consumers, “HDR” will simply mean that the camera records more details in shadows and in highlights. Just as RAW images extended the detail held in digital images, HDR will further increase the available tonal range.

Consumers will benefit from the true point-and-shoot ability that broader latitude offers, because HDR cameras will produce usable images from a much wider range of lighting situations.

Eventually point-and-shoot cameras will lose their built-in flash. Anyone who uses a camera with a cheap flash soon learns that the pictures generally look better if you turn the flash off. Sensors are becoming more sensitive, cameras are getting smaller, and light metering is getting smarter. Add three or four stops of dynamic range, and the flash becomes a creative ad-on rather than a requirement.

Professional photographers will also benefit from HDR. With HDR technologies, photographers can really push the creative envelope, exploring the extremes of high-key and low-key effects.

Professional cameras will offer a multitude of HDR image-taking modes. For example, they will automatically blend multiple images taken with different exposures, with and without flash, possibly using multiple light sources, to produce a single and extremely maliable master image.

Storage

All image file formats have range limitations. Formats such as JPEG and GIF provide eight bits per color channel (often referred to as 24 bit color). Using 8 bits, you can represent 256 different intensities per channel. Most 8 bit formats use a “perceptual” mapping, meaning that they use a gamma (exponential) curve rather than a linear map of intensities. See Human vision and tonal levels or the venerable Gamma FAQ for an explanation of this. While JPEG and GIF are great for moderate dynamic range images, banding becomes apparent if you edit the image extensively, and the formats cannot store high-dynamic-range scenes.

Newer formats including JPEG2000, RAW and PNG offer up to 16 bits per color channel, which is plenty for most purposes. However, there is no support for “underage” or “overage” – these image formats state that “0″ should be mapped to the darkest black of the display, and “65536″ (or the equivalent) should be mapped to the whitest white. If you want to represent images that contain brightnesses beyond what your monitor can currently display (e.g. as produced by HDRShop), you need to look elsewhere.

The most exciting HDR image format today is OpenEXR, developed by Industrial Light & Magic.

I say this partly because their documentation includes photos from Star Wars (see above). But it also supports both 16-bit and 32-bit float representations, lossy and lossless codecs, and has a great definition for underage and overage.

Other examples of High Dynamic Range formats include SGI’s TIFF LogLuv format, Floating Point TIFF format, Radiance’s RGBE format, and Portable Float Maps (PFMs).

HDR image formats are especially significant for archival and stock uses, since they store data with enough precision to record what we can see, rather than what our displays can show.

There are a range of proprietary formats that offer medium or high dynamic range. The various RAW formats support whatever dynamic range the underlying device associated with the RAW file uses. Personally, I am not a fan of RAW formats for long term image stoage, since they are too device and vendor specific. However, that’s a whole other debate.

I don’t yet know if OpenEXR will become a consumer standard, or if it will remain a file format used only by Hollywood. Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Canon and others will no doubt have a big hand in shaping that decision.

Editing

Of all imaging tasks, editing is the one that demands the highest dynamic range. Editing operations need high precision to avoid aliasing artifacts such as banding and jaggies.

Audio professionals know this. Editing tools like ProTools already use 48 bits per sample internally, even though the common CD output format only supports 16. Why should we image makers accept anything less?

Recently, Adobe announced supports for 32-bit-per-channel HDR images in Photoshop CS2, a great step forward.

Idruna Software is another company doing interesting HDR software. I played with their PhotogenicsHDR when it first came out, but I found it a little hard to use. Perhaps the newest PocketPC version is different…

Photoshop users are familiar with the issues of low dynamic range today. With 8 bit channels, if you brighten an image, information is lost irretrievably: darkening the image after brightening does not restore the original appearance. Instead, all of the highlights appear flat and washed out. To avoid this problem, you must work in a carefully planned workflow.

With a true HDR tool, if you brighten an image and then darken it, you should see something very close to the original image. True HDR editing tools will enable image workers to follow a much more flexible and simplified workflow, using fewer adjustment layers, with fewer aliasing artifacts. I expect HDR software will lead to increases in productivity and greater expressiveness.

It will take the imaging software industry some time to retool and retrain. There are plenty of unsolved issues.

With HDR, for example, you run into the issue of representing brightness values present in the image but beyond what your current monitor can show. Do you clamp to the monitor’s gamut, show zembra stripes, map the colors some other way?

Another issue is how to create graphical user interfaces for HDR editing. Many designers are familiar with the RGB 0-255 color values, and can type in RGB color numbers directly using this system. e.g. 128,128,128 is a mid gray. But what happens when intensities go from 0 to several million? Where is mid gray? And how do you represent that in a graphical interface? If the tonal range goes from 0 to something close to the brightness of the sun, where is “white” on that scale? Do you mean monitor white, paper white, 3200k white, 5600k white …?

A third unsolved issue is image size: If each channel of an image is 32 instead of 8 bits, the image becomes four times larger. Switching to HDR therefore makes a 100mb image take up 400mb. Not surprisingly, editing operations take about four times longer. Software will need to become smarter about scheduling work. Live Picture, an early image compositing tool, did a good job of this, but is no longer available. I expect to see a revival of these techniques as people grapple with 10GB images.
Tone Mapping

Most LCD/CRT displays (and of course printed paper) have low dynamic range.

So if you want to output an HDR image on paper or on a display, you must somehow convert the wide intensity range in the image to the lower range supported by the display. This process is called tone mapping.

One old tone-mapping method is the manual dodge-and-burn technique familiar to photographers – where you manually select different tonal ranges for different regions of the image, using a dodging or a burning tool. HDR software will of course support manual dodge and burn.

Another solution is to use an automated tone mapping filter to reduce the dynamic range of an HDR image. There are already several filters to choose from.

The left image above shows what you get if you display Paul Debevec’s HDR photo of Stanford Memorial Church using a very basic tone mapping technique (simply clamping to the nearest available color on the monitor). Some areas of the image are “blown out”, and the shadow areas are muddy and lack detail.

The right image show’s Fattal, Lischinkski, and Werman’s tone mapping algorithm, which uses a more sophisticated adaptive approach – you see more details in the shadows and the highlights (look at the stained glass windows), though the image also has a somewhat “flat” or “computerish” quality.

Tone mapping is a hot area of research in computer graphics. As with HDR file formats, there is currently no clear winner. Several techniques are listed in the resource section. I expect the major companies to each champion their own tone-mapping technologies in service bureaus and print finishing.
Output

Over the past decade, display companies have steadily improved the dynamic range of LCD and DLP displays. Today many digital displays have a 2000:1 dynamic range, unheard of ten years ago. This trend of increasing dynamic range will continue.

A few displays available today indicate where the market is going. The most astonishing is the BrightSide HDR display with a claimed contrast ratio of 60,000:1, good enough to reproduce the effect of a sunlit scene. They achieve this using high-power white LEDs.

The only bad thing about the BrightSide display is that once you look at it for a few minutes you just assume that this is how images are supposed to look – it is such a transparently great technology that until you see a normal image on a normal display you don’t really think of the HDR display as that exciting. The display is still in the very-expensive bracket, but this will change quickly.

Of course, HDR displays work best if you have lots of HDR images. I anticipate a huge market for stock HDR imagery. See the Flickr HDR group for starters.
Applications

Today, the main users of HDR imaging devices are specialized professionals working in the film, animation and VR industries. Some applications are listed below (see the Resources page for links).

Film – Tools such as HDRShop by Paul Debevec enable you to convert a series of photographs into a light probe – a special image that represents the lighting environment in a room. You can then use the light probe to light virtual objects, so that the virtual objects actually appear to be lit by the light from the room. This technique is especially useful for compositing computer graphic objects into images of real scenes. Hollywood films use light maps extensively to blend CGI into a scene.

Panoramas – Another use for HDR is in panoramic images. Panoramas often have a wide dynamic range, e.g. one part of the panorama may contain the sun, another part may be in deep shadow. Online web panoramas constructed from HDR images look much better than non-HDR equivalents.

Games – A third use for HDR is in computer games. Recent computer graphics cards support HDR texture maps. With HDR texture maps, you can render objects using light probes, in real time, yielding much more dynamic and interesting lighting effects. “High Dynamic Range Lighting Effects” are now all the range in high-end games.

As more consumer-oriented HDR products arrive, I believe the largest application of HDR will be in consumer photography, though the term HDR is unlikely to be seen – instead you will see branding terminology, e.g. companies will make up words like “DynaChrome”, “MaxBright”, “SuperColor” etc.
Do we really need HDR?

I recently read this comment from Sam Berry:

… the whole article has no mention of the fact that the reason most controlled lighting is almost always done to ratio of less than 8:1 even with neg film /modern digital capable of much more is because that’s what looks good. HDR technology now means you can reproduce your harsh midday sunlit scene perfectly, and it will look identically awful compared to the original.

The debate boils down to this: Does an image with a 300:1 dynamic range look good because it represents a physical sweetspot — something to do with our perceptual system that works well at that ratio? Or is it that all we’ve had access to for hundreds of years are reflective images with a roughly 300:1 dynamic range, so we are accustomed to that?

I had a similar question in my mind before seeing the BrightSide HDR display. Now, after looking at a HDR image on a 50,000:1 HDR display, I am no longer concerned about over-brightness, 50,000:1 is still way less than the brightness of looking directly at the sun. It wasn’t blinding. It isn’t a question of harsh. Images simply looks better when they look more real.

In the coming decade, HDR digital imaging technology will arrive, and change how we take, manipulate, store, use and display images forever.

Photography, the Golden Mean, and Geeky Coolness

The "rule of thirds" dictates the placement of the focus of your photograph. Why?

The rule should actually be called the "rule of the Golden Mean". Across cultures and history, designers such as artists and architects - and even composers and poets - have adopted the Golden Mean as a ratio that is pleasing to the human eye. Nobody is certain why, but a rectangle with sides in the ratio of 1:1.6180339887499... just seems to please the aesthetic sense of the human brain. Simply - it just looks good.

The ratio of height to width of the rule of thirds is 1:2/3 (or 2/3:1, depending on whether your photo is oriented down or across). This gives a ratio of 1.5. This ratio, however, is only an approximation of the Golden Mean, which is why the rule of thirds seems to work so well: it is building an approximation of the Golden Mean within the boundaries of your photo.

Almost mystically, the Golden Mean seems to be a naturally occurring number, like pi or e. The Fibonacci series of numbers starts with 0 and 1, then adds two numbers to produce the next in the series:

0
1
2
3
5
8
13
21
34
55
etc.

Now, if you take successive ratios of consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci series, you get ratios that more and more closely approach the Golden Mean as you use higher and higher pairs of numbers.

For this and other major number coolness, check out this Golden Mean Web site.

Photographer Article

Landscapes in Contention
By Katie Winchell
Newport Beach/Costa Mesa Daily Pilot


As a rule, artists are passionate about their work. Acclaimed photographer Robert Ketchum goes a step further: He's just as ardent about the mission behind his messages as the images themselves.

For 25 years, Ketchum has produced photographs that fulfill two functions: artistic interpretation of the natural world and studied documentation of conflicting ideas on wildland use. A selection of his images are currently on display at the Newport Beach Central Library through May 31.

The exhibit draws the viewer in. The large Cibachrome prints, taken with a Pentax 6-by-7 medium-format camera, show Ketchum's mastery of composition and use of vibrant color.

"This show has had more attention and success than any other show at the library," said Newport Beach Arts Commissioner William Valentine. "We're really lucky to get him down here."

Two of the photographs are of Rancho San Carlos, one of the largest land grant ranches left in California. The 20,000-acre property is the site of a bitter contention between the land's owners who want to develop it in a manner that preserves much of the beauty, and local residents who oppose the development.

One of Ketchum's images is a broad landscape of rolling oak woodland, the other a study of an ancient moss-covered oak tree.

"This is an encapsulation of a lot of the things going on right now," said Ketchum. "I've chosen to document this project for a decade because it's a good example of what's happening with real estate and development here at the end of the 20th century."

Another breathtaking image is of a marsh and tree area in the Tongass National Forest, taken from Ketchum's book "The Tongass: Alaska's Vanishing Rain Forest."

Ketchum explained how the book, given to every member of Congress, helped sway opinions in the Capitol, resulting in George Bush signing the historic Tongass Timber Reform bill into law, protecting a million acres of old growth trees and creating five new wildernesses.

When Ketchum describes the stories behind his images, he combines the knowledge base of an environmental professor with the passion of an artist dedicated to his vision. It's easy to see why he is in such high demand by environmental groups and art collectors alike.

Ketchum's photographs are in most of the major collections in the United States. His work has been featured in more than 400 shows at institutions ranging from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the White House and Brazil's National Museum of Fine Arts.

His photographs have been published in magazines such as Life, Sports Afield and Audubon. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Sundance Institute and he has authored and photographed numerous books. He was presented the United Nations Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award by King Gustav of Sweden in 1991.

"We so often interject ourselves into nature [through development] carelessly, without thought," Ketchum noted.

"When I'm outside, I feel nature's vibrancy. I think that if we shed a little bit of our urban-ness and we spend a little more time in wild-ness, we become more careful with wilderness, so we don't wipe it out. We're in a race with time."

Warning: These 9 Photoshop Techniques May Result In Great Photos

Post-Processing (or photo editing) is what makes a good photo great. Cameras produce a good starting point, but post-processing is where the magic happens. If you’re feeling a little bored with your current arsenal of Photoshop techniques, try out some of these creative post-processing tricks to boost your artistic style.

High Contrast Color

Boosting the contrast in a color photo can produce some stunning results. Bump up the contrast, play with the colors, and add that sort of “grunge” mood to your photo.

High Contrast B&W

I love black & white photos, but I really love a good high-contrast black & white. This method creates a focus on the shapes, lines, and patterns rather than the tones. Also be sure to read my other black and white photography tips.

#
High Color Saturation

One way to make your photo “pop” is to really push up the color saturation. Just be mindful of color clipping and banding if you push it too far.

Vintage Look

Making a photo look older than it really is gives it a lot of character and mood. To get this look, you can toy with color saturation, color tinting, and adding imperfections.

Lomo Look

The real lomo photos have a very distinct look to them, but it’s a look that can be replicated through post-processing. They tend to be saturated in a very interesting way.

Oversharpen

Most photos need to be sharpened anyways, but some photos can actually benefit from oversharpening. This method gives the image a “harder” look and feel.

Texturize

Overlay texture to bring in subtle elements to your image. It’s a great way to deal with flat and bland portions of the photo by introducing detail and complexity into i

Add Vignette

Some images really stand out with some applied vignette. It helps create a natural frame around the image and it draws the eye toward the center of the photo.

Add Noise & Grain

This is another way to spice up the bland parts of your image. Adding noise or simulated grain adds texture and feeling to a photo, and can sometimes produce very “gritty” results.

As you can see, many of these photos apply multiple Photoshop techniques in addition to other techniques not listed here. So if you see a photo that intrigues you, ask yourself why. If you like it partly due to the post-processing, try to imitate the technique on your own photos.

And as for how to do some of these things… maybe we’ll save that for another day.

The Top 5 Black & White Photography Tips

Black & white photography, for me, is one of the most interesting and inspiring aspects of this art form we call our hobby and passion. It’s raw & refined, natural & unusual, bold & subtle, mysterious & open, emotional & impassive, simple & complex, black & white & everything in between. The monochromatic image has been with photography since the beginning, but what began as the only way to capture images has turned into something much deeper.


Interested in stepping-up your black & white game? Here are five tips to get you going in the right direction. If you want to learn more about the actual black & white conversion process in Photoshop, see my past entry that lays out 12 Ways to Make a Black & White Photo.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

An experienced black & white photographer can see the world without color. They’ve trained their mind to pick up contrast and tone while blocking the distraction of colors. This isn’t a skill that you can pick up in a short amount of time; it’s something that comes naturally in time. I can’t say that I’m gifted enough to have monochrome vision, but I have been able to notice certain scenes and subjects that would lend themselves to black & white.

One way to help train your brain is to make a conscious effort — in other words, practice. Trevor carpenter gave us the perfect example when he started his October Challenge. Basically, he decided to limit his photography to black & white for an entire month. This gave him a chance to experiment with the medium and learn from his own work, and in his project recap he states “I have found, especially in recent days, that as I’m shooting and conceiving a shot, I see the potential impact of the composition in black & white.”


FOCUS ON CONTRAST

Black & white photography is about the black, the white, and all the tones in between. The human eye is built to pick up two things: light intensity and color. When you remove the color, your eyes become more sensitive to the light intensity. We naturally pick out areas of contrast — it’s how we distinguish one thing from another. As a black & white photographer, your main objective is to make your point with shades of gray. Use contrast to show your onlookers what’s important and what’s not. Seek out scenes that naturally show signs of high contrast, and your black & white photos will be more compelling right from the start.

When post-processing a black & white image, the use of Photoshop techniques like levels, curves, and layer blends give you a wide variety of output options. In addition to these things, burning and dodging are highly effective methods of improving contrast. They work so well because they allow you to focus the edit on a localized portion of the image without affecting the surrounding areas.


FOCUS ON TEXTURE

Texture is really just a form of contrast, but it is perceived quite differently. If you think about it, texture is the regular or irregular pattern of shadows and highlights at various intensities. Black & white photos really lend themselves to texture because color generally add another layer of complexity, thus masking most subtle textures. Look for areas of interesting texture that can be photographed by zeroing in on specific surfaces and examining them for signs of patterned contrast.

The choices you make in post-processing can really make a difference in the texture too. During the black & white conversion, you can usually pull texture out of otherwise smooth surfaces based on your choice of conversion methods. In digital photos, blues and reds generally contain more noise than greens, so tools like the channel mixer and the black & white adjustment layer in Photoshop can really accentuate those embedded textures.

CAPTURE IN COLOR

This is mainly aimed at digital photographers… If your camera gives you the option of shooting in color or black & white, NEVER shoot in black & white. The camera is really capturing color, then converting to black & white. Photo editing software can do a much better job at the conversion, and you’ll have more flexibility on the output of the final image. It’s really amazing how different a photo can look solely based on the post-processing, so it’s best not to limit yourself before the photo even makes it out of the camera.

The one exception to this rule is if you wanted to use the black & white capture to give you a preview of what the scene might look like as a monochrome image. It may help you identify good black & white scenes more immediately, but once you find your shot switch back over to color capture and shoot it again.


USE COLOR FILTERS

Black & white film photographers make use of color filters to change the captured tones in their photographs. Ever see those monochrome images with dark skies and puffy white clouds? That’s not natural; it requires the use of color filtering to produce the desired effect.

Using an actual color filter with a digital camera is perfectly acceptable and it has its merits, but it’s not completely necessary. Software like Photoshop has the ability to apply non-destructive color filters. It also has the ability to produce the same results as a color filter during the black & white conversion. For those of you using Photoshop CS3, you’ll see that the black & white adjustment dialog has several preset filters that can be applied and modified to suit the photo.

So if you’re interested in pursuing a little black & white photography, really think about these things — before, during, and after you shoot. Anybody can produce black & white photos, but it takes a little more thought and skill to produce good black & whites.

Why black and white?

Why not? It is crisp and clean with its patterns, shapes and lines to intrique our minds. Black and white photography is honest. No flashy punched up colors to get in the way. It's art, plain and simple. From the deep dark richest blacks to the crisp clean clear whites, it tells a story. With its gentle gradations of gray, it holds our attention and makes us want to see beyond the surface.

This is the way photography was meant to be before color took over and clouded our vision of what a great print should look like. Now we often look at a photo as an exact rendition of a scene and that is all. "Oh look, my couch is green, what a lovely shade of green." Black and white photography is different. It is about textures and emotions, light and the absence of light.

Lately there has been a resurrgence of interest in black and white photography. So much so that the major film manufactuers are now marketing newer black and white films designed for the consumer market. The new chromogenic films or C41 films can be developed by minilabs in the regular color processing. This allows consumers who do not have their own labs to shoot black and white film and have it developed at the local one-hour photo store.

It's been said that there is something sexy about black and white photography that you just can't get from color. I think it's true. Once you remove the color, it is like stripping a scene down to the bare bones removing the layers and leaving the form. You do not have to be an expert photographer to try black and white photography, after all, it was black and white film that not so many years ago captured the memories of many generations.

Why not give it a try. Research some of the different types of black and white film on the market today. One of my favorites is Kodak's Technical Pan film. It is very contrasty, but it makes fabulous enlargements and if developed in C41 developer(yes that is a color developer) it turns out gorgeous. Experiment with it. Black and white films are exciting because you can literally process your own film in a bathroom sink.

For those who like to drop off their film at the local one-hour photo place, try the new chromogenic films that can be processed in C41 along with the color negative films.

Get back to basics and try the classic look of black and white photography. To learn more about the different film types, click on the links below to read the datasheets in .pdf format.

Read more at Suite101: Why black and white? http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/photography/79428/2#ixzz0dQjnYiQ1

Composition: Getting Beyond the Snapshot

With today's high-tech pro cameras and IS and VR lenses, learning to take perfectly sharp, expertly exposed photographs is a snap. There are thousands of technically perfect photographs in print and on the web and it seems there are as many talented amateurs emerging every day. But there is a notable difference in the work of a photographer who takes the time to think about the composition of their image. The composition sets the mood for the shot and tells the story. Compositions can be used to evoke powerful emotional responses in a viewer, a goal for many photographers, but something that is achieved by few.

In order to create a technically good, visually pleasing photograph it would make sense that a photographer have a solid understanding of both the technical and aesthetic sides of photography. The ability to intertwine the two is what propels the work of masters like John Shaw and Galen Rowell far above the seas of documentary shots.

I have always felt that the best way to improve composition skills is to first learn how to see compositions. Try to see the compositional elements in every photograph you can find. Look at the lines in the image. Do they work together or against each other? How does your eye travel around through the image? Does it flow smoothly from one thing to the next or jump all around in the image? Look for space distribution, color, mood, perspective, depth, light and time of day, shapes, etc. How did the photographer use major components of the image like light and shadow, shape and form, background and foreground?

Below I have created what I call "composition maps." They are photographs that I have marked in Photoshop highlighting various aspects of the composition. I use them as visual teaching aides to break images down to their basic parts and see the underlying composition. There are many aspects of these photos that could be addressed such as quality and direction of light, patterns and repetition, balance, weight, shape vs. form, negative space, perspective, contrast, etc. The list goes on but there is not enough space to put it in writing here, so I focused on one compositional element for each graphic.

Many other maps discussing different highlights could be drawn for a single photograph. I recommend practicing at home with your own photographs. Studying compositions builds good design skills even though you are not actively designing the image. Seeing is half of the art of photography and this exercise will help you to recognize that prize-winning shot when you have it in your viewfinder.

If you keep composition in mind when in the field, it will eventually become second nature to you. It will go from being a source of uncertainty to a powerful tool that will enable you to speak to the world through your images, exactly how you want and on your own terms.

Framing Your Photos

A good argument could be made that one of the most frequently used if not popular digital imaging software tools is the crop tool. Not necessarily because people really want to use it, but because they have forgotten to frame their shots properly before snapping away.

Granted, it is easy enough to crop away unwanted areas after the fact and thereby make them look like they were well composed in the first place, but unless you have a high-megapixel camera and have remembered to shoot at high resolution, cropping can put severe limitations on the size at which your photos can be presented onscreen or in print without looking jaggy.

f you don't intend to run full-screen slide shows for friends and family or print out any enlargements, then the limitations of cropping won't worry you. But if you'd like to retain as much flexibility in your images as possible and avoid having to bother with cropping, then here are a few easy-to-remember things to think about.

First, if your photo is going to include people, take a moment to reflect on what you'd like to have in the photo before you request that your subjects hold still. Once they are standing still and holding a smile you'll be under pressure to get on with it and will likely spend less time thinking about image composition.

Second, look for both natural peripheral (side) borders that might frame your shot nicely and for objects near the sides of your shot that might be distracting. Think of it like this: While fitting the full trunk of a tree into your border might look great, including the public trash can in your shot of a cathedral probably won't.

Finally, with the above in mind, try to ensure that you are getting just the right amount of foreground and background. There is no hard and fast rule for specific amounts as they will change according to what kind of photo you are taking. But here are some general guidelines: The horizon should usually be above the middle of the photo. In people shots, foreground should be minimized, while in landscape shots more foreground can lend better perspective. Likewise, don't allow too much additional space on either side of your subjects in people shots.

These tips should help keep you from having to use your crop tool too often. Happy snapping!

photography TECHNIQUE,S

SPOTLIGHT
Another possibility to enhance the importance of the main subject is to look for spot light. The dark areas around you subject take the role of a frame. Obviously metering is a bit more tricky here - using spot or center-weighted is certainly a good idea here.

HI-KEY/LOW-KEY
A contrast between an object and its surrounding can either stress the importance with a high contrast or hide it via low contrast..

The following pictures shows bright (colored) objects in front of a dark (colored) background ("Low-Key" environment).


BACKLIT

Taking advantage of backlit in scenes with semi-transparent objects is quite favourable in many situations. Just take a look at the wings of the bird or the flower below. The shiny effect here provides a pretty interesting contrast to the "solid" body. Further objects that fit very well for this kind of composition are e.g. hairs (portraits!), ice or shells.
This light situation REQUIRES! a lens hood - otherwise your pictures will suffer from extreme flare problems and a significant loss of contrast!

The bird on the following picture receives some midday sunlight so the feathers glow quite beautifully.


MONOCHROMATIC LIGHT
The following pictures don't show any significant color differences - they're quite "monochromatic". The effect on us is often a bit weird because we don't have any anchors in the image where we could start to analyse it. However, just this "confusion" make monochromatic pictures so interesting because we need a 2nd thought to make sense of the situation.




MOODS
This section is actually no description of a photographic technique but the key issue of a great nature photo is often just "being there". Many photos cannot be planned. So feel the moods and exploit unusual light situations. One main problem here is that these light moods disappear as fast as they come. Overall it's a good idea to shoot first and ask later - waiting for the perfect moment often results in missing the moment. A few pictures for the trash bin surely doesn't hurt as much as no picture at all so experiment and SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT!



COLORS, COLORS, COLORS!
Image composition is about light and light is about contrast/brightness and colors. It is either a good idea to surpress as many different colors as possible (resulting in monochromatic pictures when going to the extremes) or to make use of color contrasts by looking for complimentary colors - red, green & blue. The more pure the base color the more extreme is the difference (color contrast) making an image interesting. There're various possibilties to increase color saturation and therefore contrast. Polarizers are the most popular option. These filters work pretty good to enhance the blue sky or shiny objects like the sea or other non-metallic object. The effect is maximized at a position 90 degrees of the sun. Often it is a good idea not to go for the max here. Graduated color filters can help as well here and there. There're also various sorts of direct color enhancers like "Redhancer" filter etc. pp. Just make sure that you know what you're doing ...

Anyway, the following picture is a quite typical example for contrasting colors - here red vs blue.

Journey – From Photographic Prints to Films

Photography has come a long way since the invention of the Daguerréotypes and the Calotypes. Photographic prints are as important to photography as is the camera. You can have the camera, the technology but if you can’t take a photographic print, you can’t see how the picture has come out. Though, with the advent of digital cameras, the use of photographic prints has been taken to the point of becoming obsolete. The Daguerréotype process involved the use of metal sheets and a positive silver image was fixed on top of the metal sheet. William Henry Fox Talbot was the man responsible for moving a step ahead by using a negative through which multiple prints could be made.
Around 1856, Hamilton Smith patented a process termed as Tintypes. The process used a thin sheet of iron as the base to yield a positive image. In 1889, it was made simpler by George Eastman, who realized the true potential of the photography market. He released a film that had a flexible base for easy rolling. The emulsion coated cellulose nitrate film base made the process of shooting images easier. Now photographers could carry their boxed cameras without worrying about the large and cumbersome plates. Eastman’s first camera was launched in 1888 and came with a preloaded film. Once the pictures were taken, the camera with the films had to be sent to the Kodak factory where these films were translated into photo prints.
Even though the camera was well on its way to popularity, the film rolls were available only in Black and White. So Photography of that period was devoid of colors. B&W films were made of cellulose nitrate that is a chemical compound that is similar to guncotton. A film with a nitrate base will deteriorate with time and in the process would release acidic gasses and oxidants. The nitrate base film was also highly flammable. Nitrate films actually built the foundation for the first flexible roll films. It also created the base for development of the 35-mm roll film in the mid 1920’s. By the end of 1920, the medium type roll film came into existence. This film roll was 6cms wide and was covered with a paper sheet to make it easy for anyone to carry it along in broad daylight. Nine years later, the TLR or the twin reflex camera was developed.
By the beginning of the 1940’s, the film roll market had gained momentum and color films were born. Though by 1935, Kodak had already developed their color film called Kodachrome. The new color films used the dye-coupled colors technology. This technology used a chemical process, which connected the 3 layers of dye together to create a color image. This system is still in use. The next discovery and development was that of a Triacetate film that was fireproof and more flexible. Most of the photographic films till the 1970’s were using this technology. The films used now come with T-grain emulsions. These are basically light sensitive silver halides in the shape of a T to render a fine grain pattern.
In the age of the digital cameras, it is hard to really imagine what next will come out of the Pandoras Box.

Retouching And Improving Your Photographs - Photoshop Makes It Possible By David Peters

Digital imaging and more specifically Adobe Photoshop as well as other image editing software have revolutionized photography. The advances in digital image manipulation now allow for unlimited possibilities in the area of improving photographs through retouching and restoration.

What types of improvements are possible by retouching photographs with Photoshop?

Blemishes

Embarrassing skin blemishes like acne or scars can easily be removed using the retouching tools available in Adobe Photoshop. You can learn these Photoshop techniques in minutes.

Damage to Prints

The benefits of digital imaging for restoring old damaged or worn out photographs are one of the best reasons to learn Photoshop. Once an old photograph is scanned it can be retouched to remove tears in the paper or water marks. You can also restore colors that have faded over time. Once you have retouched your image and it is like new again it will last forward because digital images do not deteriorate over time like prints.

Closed Eyes

This is one of the most common problems with group photographs. You finally got the entire family together for a family photograph including Aunt Martha only to find that she closed her eyes. Closed eyes are not a problem for a skilled user of Photoshop. You can easily open her eyes and no one will ever know.

Removing unwanted Subjects

Not only can you remove blemishes in Adobe Photoshop but another common use of Photoshop’s retouching capabilities involves removing unwanted people or objects. Old boyfriends can be forever removed from photographs quickly and easily if you know what you are doing.

Retouching photographs has never been easier than it is today. Photoshop and other photographic editing software applications have made it a breeze to open closes eyes, remove blemishes and scars, change colors, restore old damaged photographs and remove unwanted objects.

Master The Basics Of Adobe Photoshop In Under 2 Hours With Easy To Follow Online Photoshop Video Tutorials. Full Details Here: http://www.learnphotoshopnow.com

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

Editor's Letter: A Look Behind the Scenes

When we launched the photographic spread we call Behind the Scenes, we hoped to accomplish two things: illuminate the often-overlooked small companies whose products and services are essential to American life, and provide our readers (and ourselves) the opportunity to experience the work of some of the country's best art photographers. Rather than use a different photographer each issue, we decided to give one artist a year's worth of assignments, so that together we could create a portfolio of work. This past year was Andrew Moore's.

Andrew's first piece for Inc. set a very high standard. It was a landscape of Las Vegas, washed in a pastel light that gives the city an almost unreal serenity. Like much of Andrew's work, this picture has a painterly quality that elevates and transforms the common into something beautiful.

Andrew traveled all over America for us (most recently to the Delaware River; see "The Business of the Bridge"). His own work has taken him to Bosnia, Russia, Vietnam, and, for much of 2008 and 2009, Detroit. When I asked him recently if Detroit reminded him of Bosnia, he said, "No, it's more like Pompeii -- much of the place is intact, but from one day to the next people simply left." Andrew's remarkable photographs of this iconic American city are being collected into a book, Detroit Disassembled, to be published in the spring.

Now, on an altogether different note, I'd like to give a shout-out to Zoomdoggle, a New York City company that sent Inc. a few samples of a product called Buckyballs and turned us into addicts. Buckyballs are sets of small, powerful magnetic globes (a bit bigger than those silver balls that are sometimes sprinkled onto cupcakes) that can be configured into all kinds of intricate designs or just played with as modern worry beads. We love them. If Inc. had a seal for approved fun, Buckyballs would get one.

Basic Skills in Digital Photography By Low Jeremy

Basically, there is not much difference between using a digital camera and a manual camera. In fact, most experts believe that using a digital camera actually spoils the photographer, making everything so easy for him. Still, there are many who remain daunted by the prospects of using a digital camera especially when their training comes mainly from manual photography.

There are a number of skills that one needs to learn before switching to the digital format. Read through and find out some of the things that you need to develop.

Computer skills

Digital photography involves dealing with computers. In fact, operating the digital camera is like operating a small computer. There are functions that are actually similar to the computer like formatting and delete and a whole lot of other things. You need to be familiar with the functions in order to be able to maximize the digital camera.

In addition, you also need to be really familiar with computer when storing your picture files and adjusting your photos. With this, you need to be able to perform computer tasks such as cutting, pasting, copying, renaming and opening and closing of files and folders.

There are a number of good books that provide tutorials that will enhance computer skills as well as teach you some of the basics in using the computer with regards to photography. Some books in photography, digital photography will for sure contain sections that deal with computers.

Knowledge in graphic programs

One can actually adjust photos and create a whole lot of effects with the use of graphic programs such as Photoshop. One can actually change the size of the photo, alter the pixels and even change the format into different file types. One good thing with digital cameras is the fact that one can actually alter the pictures taken before printing it.

With the use of these programs, one can erase flaws, sharpen some features of the photo, blur the background and even transfer one photo with another. If one is really good, you can even create one new photo by cutting different elements in various photos and put them all together.

Working knowledge with the various functions of the camera

As mentioned before, working with a digital camera is similar to working with a small computer. In order to maximize the digital camera, you need to master the functions including adjusting the various levels such as the shutter speed, the brightness, the contrast. There are even digital cameras that you can actually use as a manual camera; you just need to learn to adjust the functions.

This content is provided by Low Jeremy and may be used only in its entirety with all links included. For more info on Photography, please visit http://photography.articlekeep.com

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

How to Get Started in Digital Photography By Robert Provencher

Whether you are a seasoned photographer or a novice, or just someone who want to do photography as a hobby, the first thing you need to be clear on is, what exactly is digital photography?

Digital photography is the use of a digital camera to capture / take an image that can be viewed on a computer screen. The main benefits of digital photography are:

You can see the result of your work right away

You can delete unwanted photographs instantly

You can easily and cheaply edit your photographs by improving the tone, retouching some areas, adding background etc.

Digital photographs can be send instantly via email

Except for batteries you do not need to constantly buy items to use in digital photography such as films.

Next you will need to decide on the type of digital camera to buy. This will of course depend on the following factors:

How much money you can spend

What is your goal, that is, why do you need to take digital pictures: business, hobby, personal What functionality do you want with your camera

There are two basic types of digital camera, the DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) and automatic. If you are really serious about digital photography you will want to get yourself a DSLR since this type of camera gives you more control.

In making a decision on type of digital camera also explore the types of storage media available and see which one may be best for you. The two most popular storage media for digital camera are flashcards (digital film) and microdrives. The storage media in a digital camera is really important; it is what holds the pictures. It is important to read reviews and talk to other users of digital cameras to determine the type of memory, and the capacity of the memory (how much images can it hold) you will need. I recommend flash cards since they have no moving parts and are more reliable.

After you have decided on the type of digital camera to purchase, you must now look at the other types of equipment you need to make a success of digital photography. A good personal computer and printer is needed, especially if you do not wish to pay to have your pictures printed elsewhere.

Your computer is important because this is where you will download, store, edit, review and any number of other things to your photographs. If you are using an older computer, make sure your operating system is compatible with the camera and software you will be using.

If you plan to do this professionally, you will also need to invest in software to help you get the most out of your digital photographs. Software used by professional digital photographers include Adobe Photoshop and ImageReady.

How to take great digital photographs

There are seven main steps to ensuing that you take professional looking digital photographs. These are:

Subject: Pose your subject with care. Even with the best software some faults cannot be totally corrected.

Lighting: Right light is important in digital photography as the appearance of your subject will be affected if lighting is wrong. Too harsh a light will show up wrinkles

ISO calibration: To ensure that your pictures don’t come out looking like they were done by a total novice, check to ensure that your camera is properly calibrated. Getting the right camera setting can be the difference between brilliant pictures and blah.

Composition: Good photography is an art form, so your background is as important as your subject. Too much clutter in your picture will make the result look unprofessional.

White balance: If you want to ensure that your photograph has natural looking colors, then make sure to manually set the white balance.

Don’t be afraid to experiment: Do creative crazy things with your camera, the results may just surprise you. Remember, with a digital camera you can always delete the images if you do not want to keep them.

Zoom and flash: Practice using these features until you find what works best in different situations.

One point to remember about digital photography is that it cannot turn a lousy photography into a professional overnight, but with practice and learning you can become good at photography using a digital camera. And, with enough talent, business savvy, luck, downright determination and love of the craft you might even be able to turn it into a business venture.

Robert Provencher has been a professional portrait and wedding photographer for over 25 years. He has trained hundreds of professional photographers throughout North America in live workshops and through his online forum. Robert has authored several manuals on digital photography and photogaphy marketing. http://www.nobsphotosuccess.com

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

How To Take Better Travel Photographs by Karen Joslin

Most travelers like to bring home pictures to remember their trip. If you're looking for a way to turn so-so snapshots to fabulous photos, take a moment to review these tips.

Before You Leave

Make sure you're familiar with how your camera works. If you haven't read the manual, do it. You may find that your camera has capabilities you didn't know about, or you may find answers to questions that have been bothering you.

If you have enough gear to warrant a camera bag, try to find one that doesn't scream, "I'm a camera bag. Steal me!" You may want to consider a backpack-like style because they're easy to carry around all day, leave your hands free, and appear relatively inconspicuous.

When you pack for your trip, bring your manual, extra camera batteries or a battery charger, and digital storage cards or film for your camera. If you plan on taking lots of digital photos and you have a laptop, it may be a wise idea to bring it so you can download your images and reuse your cards.

For air travel, pack your camera in a carry-on bag, especially if you're fortunate enough to own sophisticated equipment. Even locked, checked luggage can be broken into, and if your equipment is stolen, most airlines will not reimburse you. Avoid putting your camera in a jacket pocket, too, since it's easy to leave a jacket on the plane or in the airport. Before you exit the plane, double-check to make sure you have all your things.

Camera Settings

Your camera's automatic settings control the f-stop and shutter speed for you. The f-stop determines how blurry the background looks. The smaller the number (like 5.6), the more the background blurs. The larger the number (like 16), the sharper everything in the picture is. Neither one is inherently better than the other; it all depends on what you're photographing and what effect you want.

Shutter speed refers to how quickly the camera's shutter opens and closes. The higher the shutter speed, the faster it takes the picture. To freeze action, you need to shoot at a minimum of 125. Below 60, you need a tripod to keep the image sharp because your hand will move enough to affect the picture.

Point-and-shoot cameras may not allow you to adjust both settings yourself. However, understanding your camera's automatic settings can help you control how your photos look. For instance, portrait settings are designed to keep the main subject sharp and blur the background, while landscape settings keep everything sharp. Shoot a variety of subjects on each of your camera's settings to see what they do and what you like.

Some cameras have semi-automatic settings which allow you to set either the f-stop or the shutter speed yourself, while the camera sets the other one. These are often ideal: you still have a good amount of control over how your image looks, but you don't have to worry about meter-reading or quickly changing light conditions.

If you can change your camera's settings, you should know about ISO speeds. They control how much light your camera or film needs to take an image. Low numbers like 100 work in bright daylight, while higher numbers like 400 are for cloudy days or possibly indoors. The lower the ISO number, the more detail your photos will have, so set it at the lowest number you can.

Composition and Subject Matter

The number one thing you can do to improve your photography is good composition. Camera manuals used to say that you should place your subject in the middle. This was because viewfinders showed more than would end up in your picture, but it usually looks boring.

Instead, imagine three equally-spaced lines running across your image both horizontally and vertically. The places where the lines meet are the strongest areas to place your subject. You don't need to draw lines on your viewfinder to do this, however, just practice putting your subjects off-center. Try taking a few shots from different angles. After a while you'll get the hang of it.

It's a good idea to shoot slightly more than you want in the picture, because when you get prints, your images may end up getting cropped to fit the print sizes. If you have photo editing software, you can crop it yourself to the right size so that it looks best. Don't go over board with the extra space, though, because printing a small portion of a larger image will result in poor quality.

Landscapes help capture the feeling of a place, but too often they fall flat. Having something in the foreground will jazz up your landscapes. A lone fisherman on the lake in front of majestic mountains not only adds interest to the shot, it shows just how huge the mountains actually are. Leading lines are good in any image, and even more so in landscapes. What are they? Things like roads, fences, or a line of trees which begin in the foreground and lead the viewer's eye to the background.

Of course, when you're traveling you also want to see people in the locations. There's nothing wrong with photographing your companions by a famous landmark, but remember to use creative composition. Another great way to break out of the "people standing in a line in front of a monument" snapshot is by taking candid pictures. You'll also get more genuine expressions that way.

Generally, the more your subject fills the frame, the better. That's especially true for people and animals. You probably don't care about your companion's vacation wardrobe; what's important is their face. If your camera doesn't have a zoom lens, you'll be more limited in how tight a shot you can get. Pay attention to what's going on in the background. You don't want a stop sign sticking out of someone's head.

Photographing local people can help tell a story about the place you're visiting, especially if you're in an exotic destination. However, many people find it rude to be photographed without permission. If you know that's the case or if someone looks upset about you pointing your camera at them, ask if it's okay to take their picture. A little flattery may be helpful, and some may even ask for money. Don't push it if they say no.

Remember, interesting photo opportunities are everywhere. A bustling market, a cityscape, details of an object or building, a roadside food shack, or a lizard sunning himself can all make great shots. And while everyone prefers to remember their travels as pleasant experiences, few places are completely idyllic. You may encounter poverty, industrial areas, or locations damaged by natural disasters, war, or terrorism on your trip. Although such subjects aren't the cheeriest, they can yield powerful images that make a statement.

With a little practice, your own photos may look just as good as the postcards.

About the Author
Karen Joslin writes for Anguilla-Guide.info, Bermuda-Guide.info, and other Segisys travel Web sites.
© 2006, Interactive Internet Websites, Inc.
Article may only be reprinted if it is not modified in any way, and if all links remain live.

photoghraphy composition

n our modern world of automatic cameras, which focus for us and adjust the exposure in an ever more perfect way (most of the time), the biggest difference between a good photograph and a mediocre one is the compositon.

In every photograph we take, we can decide where the boundaries of that photo will be, called the cropping. We can also choose the viewpoint. If we are taking pictures of people or movable objects then, often, we also have the opportunity to arrange them into the shapes we want.


If you are shooting landscapes or other immovable objects then you must compose the picture by moving yourself and deciding where to place the point(s) of interest in your picture.

There are various compositional rules (I prefer to think of them as guidelines) to help you. These rules will help you to compose pleasing pictures, however, you will often find that a really striking picture will show a blatant disregard for the rules. Once you are aware of the rules then break them as often as you want but, at least, know you are breaking them and why.

Rule of Thirds
Landscape photographers are particularly fond of this one, but it works well for many types of subjects. The rule of thirds simply says that, instead of placing the main focus of interest in the centre of the frame, which gets a little boring, that you look to position it on an intersection of the thirds. That is to say one third up and one third in or two thirds up and one third in etc.

Here's a 'thirdsy' sort of picture, hold your mouse over the picture to see the grid. Placing the boat near the top of the picture tells the viewer that what they are supposed to be looking at is the reflection.

We could take the boat out altogether, of course, this would focus our attention even more on the reflection but the picture might then be a little too minimalist.

Also the mast is almost exactly on the 'third' line. There is a little space to the right of the bow of the boat which helps to give the impression that, although the boat is not moving, it has somewhere to go.

Although a nice illustration of composing 'on the thirds' this picture falls foul of another 'rule' in that it has very light corners, escpecially at the top right and, coupled with the yellow stripe, the effect is to lead the viewer's eye out of the picture. We'll talk about this more later.


Cropping
What to leave out, what to put in and where to put it.

Tip - One of the easiest ways to improve your photography is with careful attention to framing. Look into the corners of the viewfinder to see what is there. Do you need all that background? Can you get closer to your subject or zoom in? Would the picture look better as an upright or landscape?


The most common mistake people make when taking pictures is not filling the frame with the subject. If it's a photo of granny waving from the doorstep, let's just see granny and the door, not half the houses in the street with a small granny shaped blob in the middle. I think the culprit for this phenomenon is the focusing aid in the centre of the viewfinder. Most cameras have some sort of circle or rectagle etched onto the glass and we are inclined to think, in our less thoughtful moments, that this is the whole picture area. Take a moment to glance around the viewfinder to see what you have got at the edges and especially in the corners. Watch out for clutter in the background, that lampost growing out of granny's head. Make sure that everything in the viewfinder is there because you want it to be.

Landscape or Portrait?
A lot of people never, ever turn their camera on it's side and shoot an upright picture. Yes, it can be a little awkward to hold until you get used to it but, what a difference it can make to the picture. If you are taking a picture of one person then it is essential to shoot upright, you waste so much of the picture area at the sides if you don't.

The picture on the left is a typical snapshot, two miles of coastline with a pink blob in the middle. Turning the camera on its side and moving in a little closer, as in the picture on the right, gives us a much better picture of the girl and we can still see enough background to get the message that we are on the beach.

For the sake of good layout on the page, I have made these two pictures the same height. In fact they are the same size, if you can imagine them in their original dimensions the girl is ten times bigger in the photo on the right.

Even when you are shooting landscapes, you will find that, sometimes, the picture will look more dynamic with an upright frame.

Always think, with every picture you take, should this be an upright or a horizontal view? Usually the answer is obvious and dictated by the shape of the composition but sometimes, for instance when the composition is square, the best choice is not obvious. In this case take two pictures, one of each.

Can't I leave the cropping 'til later?

If you are printing your own pictures then you get a second chance to get the cropping right but, don't rely on this to make up for sloppy camera technique. If you crop your pictures afterwards in the computer or in the darkroom, you are throwing away quality. You are wasting some of those precious pixels that you paid so much for. What's the point in having a camera with five million pixels if you are only going to use three million of them?

Cropping Example
Here are three photos of a rusty old boat winch on Brighton beach. Having decided to photograph it, I have to decide what I want to say. Basically I want to say 'here's an intersting old bit of metal and it's rusty'. In the top photo I have filled the frame with winch edge to edge but does it really show the decay? We cannot reallysee the rust in sufficient detail.

In the second photo we can see much more decay and really see the texture, which I think is the thing which attracted me to the object in the first place. When we look with our eyes we tend to see details like this and our brain filters out what is on the edge of our vision. When composing we must be aware of the edges so we can tidy them up.

Too close? Well that's up to you though it does have a certain impact. There are no hard and fast rules, only suggestions. A walk around the subject to look at it from different angles will always pay dividends. Use the zoom to compose the tightest possible crop that still shows everything you want. If you don't have a zoom lens then just get a little closer

Viewpoint
Selecting your viewpoint, the position from which you photograph the subject, is a very important part of composition and one that some people pay very little attention to. When taking a photo of a group of friends, how often do you move around the group looking for the best angle?

The first, most obvious difference between one viewpoint and another is the background. If you are photgraphing a subject that cannot easily be moved, the only way to change what is in the background is to choose a different viewpoint.

The subject itself can look quite different viewed from different angles. Photos can be made to take on a whole new dynamic by selecting an extreme angle of view. I shoot a lot of pictures, especially sports shots, laying down, getting the camera as close to the ground as possible.

Also the perspective can change quite drastically, especially with wider angled lenses. If you photograph a person full length with a wide angle lens from a standing position, their head will be too big in proportion to the rest of their body. If, on the other hand, you kneel down and shoot the same picture from waist height, you will see that the whole picture is better proportioned.

When shooting outdoors, the viewpoint you choose also affects how the light from the sun falls on your subject. This is a whole new can of worms which is fully discussed under lighting.

Here are a couple of examples exploring the effects of high and low angle viewpoints.


Two full length shots from fairly extreme angles. A moderately wide angle lens gives a certain amount of perspective distortion, the first shot in particular makes her feet look very big in proportion to her head. This distortion enhances the effect of the flared jeans and the big shoes, whereas in the second shot the distortion of the shooting angle is working against the effect of the big shoes and flares balancing the picture. If we use a wider angled lens and shot from even closer, the distorted effect would be even more pronounced.

In both cases you can see that the choice of angle has given us a nice plain background as a bonus.



These two shots were taken from more or less the same position as the first shot but, as we zoom in, the effect of the low angle is lessened. Less distortion but a pleasing angle giving us a slightly 'larger than life' feel to the picture.

When shooting against a bright sky like this you need to pay careful attention to the exposure, the automatic metering system will render the face too dark so you need to compensate for this. Take a few shots with the exposure compensation at different settings or, better still, meter manually taking a reading from close in to the face. The shot on the right metered correctly because the face fills the frame more and is lit by the sun.


These two shots were taken from the same postition as the top right and show the same lessening of distortion as we zoom in. What I didn't bargain for until I saw these two pictures side by side was that the apparent height of the camera changes with the angle of the head. I think you'll agree that the picture on the left appears to have been taken from a greater height than the one on the right. Weird!

Beginner's Guide To Nature Photography: Composition

This is an excerpt from the book "Beginner's Guide To Nature Photography" by Cub Kahn.
Thanks to Amherst Media for allowing to present it in our library. To read the rest of the book, you are welcome to buy it directly from Amherst Media or from Amazon.com.

CLARIFY YOUR MESSAGE
Photos communicate. Good nature photos communicate well! Photographic Composition refers to the arrangement of visual elements in a photo. As a photographer, you use lines, shapes, colors, tones, patterns, textures, balance, symmetry, depth, perspective, scale, and lighting to bring your images to life. But to consider the interplay of all of these visual elements in every photo is daunting. A more practical approach to nature photo composition is to look through your viewfinder and ask yourself two questions. (You probably shouldn't ask these questions out loud, or else nearby people and animals will wonder why you are talking to yourself.

1. What is the message of this photo?
2. What is the best way to communicate that message?

Nature photos are successful when the message is clear. When the photographer's message is garbled, ambiguous, weak or obscured by distracting visual elements in the composition, the photo is not a keeper. Nature photos that convey a powerful message compel the viewer to take a second look in order to soak in the beauty and meaning of the image.

KEEP IT SIMPLE
The single best watchword to keep in mind as you compose photos is simplicity. Instead of trying to squeeze lots of subjects into a photo-a flock of geese, a wildflower meadow, a spectacular sunset and dear Aunt Thelma standing on her head-aiming for simplicity is often the best strategy. Interestingly, some professional nature photographers actually take a "subtractive" approach to composition rather than an "additive" approach; instead of dwelling on what they can add to the composition, they focus on what can be removed in order to strengthen the composition.

In many cases, a poor composition can be turned into a good composition by fine-tuning through the viewfinder; that is, by moving the camera slightly left, right, up or down with simplicity as a goal. Compositions suffer when your message is diluted by unwanted visual distractions. Avoid visual clutter and your compositions will sing!

BE PATIENT
Good photo composition takes time; great photo composition cakes even more time. Nature photos composed in ten seconds or less usually bear little resemblance to those composed in ten minutes or more. There arc occasions in wildlife photography when you must rapidly point and shoot or else you will miss the opportunity altogether, but many nature photo subjects change very slowly. When you slow down to meticulously compose photos, the rewards may include a wonderful meditative experience along with vast improvement in your photos. How much better would your nature photos be if you spent at least ten minutes composing each one?!?

FILL THE FRAME
Just as a landscape painter would not leave a portion of the canvas totally blank, you should not ignore any portion of the scene that you frame in your viewfinder. Make the best use of the entire "canvas" of each photo. When you look through the viewfinder, think of it as a rectangular picture frame; as you compose, make use of all the available space. Fill the frame!

You can significantly strengthen many compositions by zooming in as much as your lenses allow or, if possible, getting closer to your subject. Photographic compositions are weakened when important subject matter is too small to see.
CONSIDER VERTICALS
The length of a frame of 35mm film is 50% greater than its width, so every photo is markedly rectangular, not square. Most people have a pronounced tendency to take far more horizontal photos than verticals. But many landscapes have strong vertical elements such as trees, mountains and water talk. Also, depending on your perspective even horizontal landscape features can appear vertical. If you arc standing high on a bridge and looking up a river, the river will appear as a vertical element in your photo. And in close-up photography, the stem of a wildflower or a blade of grass can be a strong vertical element.

Consider whether a vertical or a horizontal composition will be most attractive in each situation. You can enliven your nature photography if you consciously take more verticals!
FIND LINES
You see lines almost anywhere you point your camera. How can you use these lines to enhance your photos? Three elements to look to in your photo compositions are diagonal lines, leading lines and curved lines. Judicious placement of these lines can create memorable images. Horizontal and vertical lines in photos often frame the scene or create visual boundaries within the image. Horizontal and vertical lines characteristically have a static appearance in nature photos, whereas diagonal lines frequently arc where the action is. Diagonals are dynamic!

One type or diagonal line is known as a "leading line," A leading line may extend from the proximity of any of the four corners of a photo toward the middle of the image or toward a significant feature in the image. You can find many leading lines in the landscape such as riverbanks, borders between field and forest, and fallen trees. A leading line often enhances a photo because it leads the viewer's eve into the picture; it visually links the foreground and background, creating continuity and an added element of depth.

Curved lines add aesthetic appeal to nature photos. In particular, S-curves frequently appear beautiful to the eye. S-curves in nature include winding rivers, curled tree branches, sinuous vines, swirling clouds, and slithering snakes

PLACE SUBJECTS OFF-CENTER
Many people routinely compose photos with the main subject in the middle of the image. This approach produces a lot of photos that look rather static as if they were studio portraits. You can often produce a more interesting image by placing the main subject somewhere other than the center of the image. All easy way to keep this in mind is to use "the rule of thirds." Imagine the scene in your viewfinder is divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically. To visualize this, pretend that a tic-tac-toe grid has been superimposed on the scene. Now compose the image so that the main subject of the photo is located approximately at one of the intersections of these imaginary "thirds" lines.

For instance, if a deer is the main subject of your photo, you might compose the image so that the deer is one-third of the way up from the bottom of the image and one-third of the way across from the left side of the image. You may also want to place prominent horizontal or vertical lines-such as the horizon or a large tree trunk - approximately one-third of the way from one of the four edges of the image. The objective of this rule is to diversity your compositions by consciously positioning your photo subjects away from the center.