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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

The Master Guide for Wildlife Photographers: Wildlife compositions

This is an excerpt from the book "The Master Guide for Wildlife Photographers" by Bill Silliker. 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.

* Is it wrong to put the animal in the middle of the frame?
* What are the points of power in a composition?

Artists who draw or paint follow - or at least know when they have chosen to break - the rules of composition. The best photographers do too.

But most wildlife photographers have little classical art training. And so their exposure - pun intended - to the rules of composition conies from looking at their photographs and wondering why they sometimes don't have the impact that the original scene did. Was it the exposure? The light? The pose? The angle? How about the composition?

While "the eye of the beholder" determines what might be called art, some photographs work better than others. They please us in some way.



Some people have "an eye," and can make such photographs naturally. Since many don't, it helps to find ways to improve on our "vision." To do that, we need to learn what classically trained artists have known for centuries: how the human eye looks at a painting - or a photograph.

COMPOSITIONAL ELEMENTS
To attract and hold attention of the eye, a composition should have:

* an entry point
* an exit point
* elements that attract the eye
* balance between the elements.

The eye needs a place to enter a photograph that doesn't stop it cold. Sometimes it's the primary subject; sometimes it's something that leads the eye to the primary subject. Painters add other elements besides the primary subject to attract the eye further into a picture. Artistically inclined photographers do too by selecting to include them, as they frame a photograph.


The out of focus branch distracts from the portrait of this anhinga.
What are those elements? They could be any of many things that add interest to a composition. Some elements found in nature might include: a line made by the horizon or water's edge; a cloud in one corner of the sky; a colorful tree that balances the other side of the frame; or perhaps another animal that draws the eye toward the main subject.

The photographer needs to take care where such elements fall in the composition to avoid drawing the viewer away from the main subject too quickly, or worse, totally. For instance, a significantly brighter object that immediately pulls your eye away from the animal subject might do that.

Compositional lines - perhaps a row of trees, a shoreline, or a rocky hillside in the background-draw the eye into, across, up, down, and out of a photograph. While all can help the composition, we need to think about how distracting any such lines might be. A background horizon that cuts the subject in half while leading the eye off the photograph may hurt the composition.


We do need to provide the eye a way out of the photograph. If the viewer's eye locks on to a single spot it feels trapped and probably loses interest quickly. We should offer a pathway out of a picture. Perhaps we can use a fainter distant element, converging lines that recede, or simply a perspective that draws the eye into the distance. With a portrait of an animal that fills the frame, it might be a curve on its face or body that points us to the edge and out.


Balance comes from placement of an element in a composition against something of equal attraction to the eye. To better understand how this works, first consider that each element in a picture has a given value, or weight. That weight depends on a number of things, including the following:

* an element near the edge has more weight than one in the center
* an element by itself has more weight than one mixed in a group
* an element in the foreground has less weight than when in the background (assuming it is the same size)
* elements with higher contrast to their surroundings have greater attraction
* colors have more or less weight depending on their hue.

The idea is to keep the viewer's eye involved with a composition by providing an interesting design. That can be done any number of ways, perhaps by offering the eye a circular route, a long graceful curve, or perhaps a back and forth attraction of two or more well balanced elements.

Right now you're probably thinking: all this sounds great. But a major difference exists between painting and phorography. The photographer has to make do with what the scene has to offer. And the wildlife photographer has an even more difficult job. We work with wild animals that we have to capture on film, not draw into our compositions. While the landscape photographer can maybe tweak his or her compositions, the wildlife photographer often simply doesn't have the time.

All true.

The secret for the wildlife photographer? Train yourself to "see" better. Learn to evaluate a scene in a hurry. Note as many of the following as you can:

* the effect of the direction of the light
* colors you might be able to use
* textures in the scene that might make the photograph more interesting
* possible natural elements to include
* the animal's direction in the frame
* distractions to exclude.

If a good color background or foreground element is available to include in a photograph, do it. If another animal can be included without distracting from the primary subject, do it. If a pattern in the natural scene that repeats itself or has vivid texture can be included in the composition do that. Especially if your picture is a scenic wildlife image.


Select your framing so that your primary animal faces into the picture, not out of it-especially if the animal is in motion. An exception to that might be when you're trying to show motion by panning at a slow shutter speed on a moving animal. In that case, you might need more space behind the animal than in front of it to capture the best effect.

Remember that all of these rules are made to be broken. Photographers who only follow the rules of composition blindly fail to see the creative possibilities in other ways to compose an image.

Train yourself to look for those distractions to exclude from your photographs. While the painter adds to a canvas to improve a composition, the photographer usually needs to subtract to make a photograph better. Too much clutter, especially near the main subject, usually hurts a photograph.

THE RULE OF THIRDS
One of the easiest composition rules for the wildlife photographer to remember is called the Rule of Thirds. By the Rule of Thirds, we divide a picture into three equal parts horizontally and three equal parts vertically. To easily grasp this, mentally draw the game tic-tac-toe. Now think about where you might place an animal in your photograph. The center square? This makes for a rather boring composition, doesn't it? How about the lower left square? That works, if it's not too close to the edge of the frame or looking to the left.

Now think about placing the deer where the left-most vertical line and lowest horizontal line intersects. That's better, isn't it? The intersections of the dividing lines arc considered points of power. An element placed at one of these points has more eye attraction.

HORIZONTAL OR VERTICAL?
Many photographers overlook the chance to make vertical photographs. Perhaps that's because we see the world horizontally. Train yourself to think about flipping the camera into a vertical position.

How do you know when to shot a vertical? While that might be in the eye of the beholder, with some subjects it's easy to decide. If shooting a horizontal would include distracting elements on either side of an animal that you can't get close enough to crop out, shoot a vertical. If shooting a vertical would cut off an important part of the subject such that it diminishes a photograph, shoot a horizontal. If you want to sell photographs for magazine covers-shoot some verticals. Covers pay well. So do two-page spreads, but those are horizontals.

A few last thoughts on composi-tion. Forget all the stuff about where the subject appears and what else is in the frame for a moment, and keep your eye on the target. Think about what you're really trying to do: capture the real essence of a wild animal on film. How can you best do that? Shoot pictures that tell a story. Make an effort to shoot every wildlife image so that it offers a story to the viewer and their eye won't get bored.

Look at some photographs that you like, and see if you can figure out if the photographer used any of these concepts to help do that. Better yet, look at your own photographs and see if you have. Sometimes we do it without knowing.