Thursday 24 May 2012

Yahoo Axis: Will This Get People Searching With Yahoo Again? | WebProNews


Yahoo Axis: Will This Get People Searching With Yahoo Again?
Earlier this week, we asked, Can search save Yahoo?” Little did we know, the company was just about to launch its most significant search offering in quite some time. That product would be Yahoo Axis, which is one part standalone mobile browser and one part desktop browser add-on.
Do you think Axis can help Yahoo turn around its search business? Let us know what you think.

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Yahoo Axis: Will This Get People Searching With Yahoo Again? 

Tuesday 22 May 2012

White Balance: how to use a colour chart to get tones perfect | Digital Camera World

Set your white balance for spot-on colors
When you photograph most subjects, getting the colours 100% accurate isn’t usually critical, and if you shoot on Auto White Balance, nine times out 10 your digital will do a pretty good job of getting the white balance roughly right, so that whites actually look white, blacks look black, and all the colours in between look how you’d expect.

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White Balance: how to use a colour chart to get tones perfect | Digital Camera World

Pentax launches outdoor DSLR the K-30

Pentax launches outdoor DSLR the K-30

K-30 white Pentax has launched its latest mid-level digital SLR camera – the K-30 – with weather-resistant features for 'worry free' photography.
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Pentax launches outdoor DSLR the K-30

Knight photography | Digital Camera World

Photographer and digital artist Benjamin Von Wong is known for his dramatic images. Recently he had his hands full at a medieval photo shoot for medieval store Les Artisans D’azure, which he rightly describes as ‘epic’.
Von Wong’s photoshoot included fire, horses, a smoke machine, and of course no medieval scene is complete without a horde of evil minions.

Setting up a mass photoshoot is never an easy task, especially when it involves fire and horses,
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Knight photography | Digital Camera World

26 landscape photography tips every pro still uses | Digital Camera World

26 landscape photography tips every pro still uses
Whether you’re a novice landscape photographer or have sold thousands of your photos through stock agencies, there are some fundamental rules of landscape photography that stay with you as a photographer, even once you’ve honed your craft and learned how to break the rules to develop your own style (to learn how to break the rules, see our guide to The 10 Commandments of Landscape Photography – and how to break them). Below we’ve pulled 26 landscape photography tips which working pros have told us they still use on a daily basis.
Incorporate these lessons into your own landscape photography and you’re soon to be taking better pictures in no time.

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26 landscape photography tips every pro still uses | Digital Camera World

Saturday 19 May 2012

Tips From a Pro: Harold Davis on Getting Better Flower Photos


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Tips From a Pro: Harold Davis on Getting Better Flower Photos | Popular Photography

12 Things You Didn't Know Your DSLR Could Do | Popular Photography

Your digital SLR (even if it’s a budget “entry-level” model) is a picture-making powerhouse. And sure, you know all about the still and video capture, burst shooting, tracking autofocus, and smart metering.

But your camera likely has additional capabilities you may not know about—features that can improve your photos and make for a more enjoyable shooting experience. You may be surprised at the clever elves lurking in your camera body.

Now for our standard weasel words: Not every camera will have all of these tricks onboard, and older models will have fewer of them than newer models. The best way to find out the deep capabilities of your camera is to read the instruction manual—backwards. Some of the most interesting stuff gets buried in appendixes or custom-function tables in the back of the book. Also read the manuals for any software included with your DSLR: Some features end up there instead of the camera manual. Happy hunting!


1. Keep the horizon horizontal with an in-camera leveling guide.

When a perfectly level horizon line is crucial to the success of your landscape, or you don't want to take your eye off the viewfinder, or you handhold your camera, a built-in electronic level rules. The leveling guide on the Nikon D3s, shown here, can be super-imposed in live view.

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12 Things You Didn't Know Your DSLR Could Do | Popular Photography

73 photo locations to shoot before you die

White Sands, New Mexico
This stunning area of desert looks like no other place on Earth. In fact, it looks so much like the moon it’s rumoured to be the location where Stanley Kubrick filmed a faux moon landing for the US government… if you believe that sort of stuff.

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73 photo locations to shoot before you die 

Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition comes to Liverpool

Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition comes to Liverpool

 Cyril Ruoso (France) Tiny warm-up
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Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition comes to Liverpool

Pinterest, Flickr join forces to improve photo credits

Flickr, Pinterest join forces to improve photo creditsA new joint effort between Flickr and social networking site Pinterest aims to improve the attribution of photographers’ images.
Read more: Pinterest, Flickr join forces to improve photo credits | Digital Camera World

Friday 18 May 2012

Manual focus: what you need to know to get sharp images

How to use manual focus: a complete guide
Your DSLR has comes with a highly advanced autofocus system, so why on earth would you want to use manual focus? Actually there are some very good reasons – various subjects and environmental conditions either fool the camera, or make it considerably harder to get a good shot in autofocus mode.

Read more:  Manual focus: what you need to know to get sharp images 

Canon adds new functionality to the EOS C300 and EOS C300 PL

 


18.05.12

Canon adds new functionality to the EOS C300 and EOS C300 PL

EOS C300
Canon has today announced the availability of a new firmware update for the professional cine camera the EOS C300 and the EOS C300 PL
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Canon adds new functionality to the EOS C300 and EOS C300 PL

How to Color Calibrate Your Monitor for Photo Editing

Computer monitors do their best to reproduce colors and brightnesses correctly, but each one is slightly different.  In fact, a screen even reproduces photos differently when it starts up compared to the way colors and brightnesses look after the monitor has been running for a while.
This is a serious problem for photographers.  We are careful to set the white balance properly in Photoshop or Lightroom, but what good does it do if your screen is not properly calibrated?  Answer–none!  The same is true for adjusting color saturation, brightness, and just about everything else.
calibrating monitor for photo editing
Here's a photo I edited before and after color calibrating. See the difference? Which side do you think is the color calibrated one? If your screen isn't calibrated, it can be hard to tell!

Read more: How to Color Calibrate Your Monitor for Photo Editing

Amazing photographs of mountain lake reflections | Digital Camera

 | Inspire | 17/05/2012 07:00am
One Comment
This week’s photography gallery is all about reflection and symmetry. Mountains and lakes often go together and never fail to make fantastic subjects for landscape photographers. One of the most appealing things about photographing mountains beside lakes is that they can cast fantastic reflections. When shooting, try using a ND graduated filter of about 2 stops to enhance the reflections in the lake. For more on using ND grad filters, read ND grad filters: What every photographer should know.
The examples below all make the most of the symmetry of the reflections and often abstract the mountain range into shapes and flowing lines against the sky and water.
Tranquility © Marc Adamus
The Twin © Cheung Law

Read more: Amazing photographs of mountain lake reflections | Digital Camera:

112-megapixel camera captures starry skies during the day

Spectral Instruments 1110 series camera is capable of capturing starry skies during the day
An Arizona company has launched a super high-resolution digital camera that is capable of photographing a starry sky in the middle of the day.
The 1110 series from Spectral Instruments boasts a 112-megapixel CCD sensor measuring 95 x 95mm, which are extremely light sensitive and can take exposures lasting hours without recording any noise.

Read more: 112-megapixel camera captures starry skies during the day | Digital Camera World

Thursday 17 May 2012

New Sony a37 delivers Full-time Continuous AF 7fps and Full HD video

New Sony ?37 delivers Full-time Continuous AF 7fps and Full HD video
Sony has launched the SLT-A37 camera with Translucent Mirror Technology and interchangeable lenses. Light and easy to use, the α37 is pitched as a next step up for people wanting to advance from their point-and-shoot compact camera

Sony unveils NEX-F3, Alpha 37 entry-level cameras

Sony Alpha 37 announced
Sony has added two new entry-level cameras to its range, officially announcing the Sony NEX-F3 compact system camera and the Sony Alpha 37 DSLT camera.
Both new Sony cameras feature a 16.1-megapixel APS-C HD CMOS sensor, as well as the Alpha 77′s third-generation Bionz processor, which enables the NEX-F3 to deliver a sensitivity range between ISO 200 and 16,000 and the A37 a range of ISO 100 to ISO 16,000.
Sony NEX-F3
Both cameras also offer HD video recording.
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Sony unveils NEX-F3, Alpha 37 entry-level cameras | Digital Camera World

Tuesday 15 May 2012

How to add colour to a black and white photo

How to add colour to a black and white photo: final image
Hand-colouring of photographs first became popular in the 20th century, as a means of adding realism to black-and-white photos. Different types of paint were applied using fingers, brushes and swabs.
However, we can now achieve a similar effect in Photoshop and add colour to a black and white photo using the Brush tool. Whereas the traditional hand-painters only got one attempt, we can use layers to keep each colour separate and delete any hues we don’t like (to learn more about black and white photography, see our guide to what every photographer should know about monochrome)
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How to add colour to a black and white photo | Digital Camera World

Olympus OM-D Review

Olympus OM-D revealedThree years after making its first entrance into the compact system camera arena with the PEN E-P1, Olympus has gone back to its roots again to produce the OM-D, with its retro styling owed to its analogue predecessor.
Inside the camera are an all new 16 million pixel Live MOS Four Thirds sensor and TruePic VI image processor, which Olympus says is designed to give better low light performance and higher dynamic range than previous Micro Four Thirds cameras in its line-up (for more on Micro Four Thirds, see CSC vs DSLR: their differences defined).
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Olympus OM-D Review | Digital Camera World

Monday 14 May 2012

Ripple effect: shoot abstract photography in the bath

Abstract Photography Tutorial: how to shoot ripple effects
Believe it or not the bathroom can be a great place for creative photography. Here we’ve captured the magical quality of water ripples, and combined them into a contemporary grid.
We created the ripples by simply dripping water from a soaked cloth onto the surface of (clean) bath water (for a different take on this, see our quick tutorial on photographing water splashes for dramatic effect). There’s plenty of other ways to make great ripples too, so it’s worth experimenting with different methods and heights.
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Ripple effect: shoot abstract photography in the bath | Digital Camera World

Photographic Tips Digest: Be Inspired

Roads and highways often make irresistible subject matter for photographers. Whether they are long, straight and bleak or winding and tree-lined, images of roads can be among the most evocative of images.
Good composition is key to making or breaking great photos of roads; the image should convey depth and guide the viewer’s eye from one area of the frame to another. If the road is long and straight, try to ensure that it tapers to a tip toward the centre of the image. If you are photographing a winding road, it’s a good idea to compose the shot so that the road goes from one corner to either the middle of the image or to the other corner. But of course breaking the rules can also yield equally great results…
The below demonstrate some fantastic examples of highway and road photography.

Long Desert Highway © Glenn Nagel

For more inspirational photography
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Photographic Tips Digest: Be Inspired

3 stupidly simple lighting techniques that will transform your family portraits

Lighting techniques for shooting family portraits
Portrait lighting is an area that even the most confident photographers struggle with, but using it to get professional-looking family portraits is much simpler than it may first appear. Like most areas of photography, it’s simply a case of taking it one step at a time.
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3 stupidly simple lighting techniques that will transform your family portraits | Digital Camera World

Leica unveils M Monochrom black and white camera | Digital Camera World

Leica M Monochrom black and white camera
Leica has ended weeks of speculation and confirmed the launch of its new black and white camera, the Leica M Monochrom
The new Leica camera features a monochrome CCD sensor with a native resolution of 18 million pixels, as well as programmable tones.
Sample image taken with the Leica M Monochrom black and white camera
Sample image taken with the Leica M Monochrom black and white camera
“As its sensor does not ‘see’ colours, every pixel records true luminance values – as a result, it delivers a ‘true’ black-and-white image,” the company says.
Leica also claims the M Monochrom’s images are ’100% sharper’ thanks to direct processing of raw data with no interpolation or colour filter array.
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Leica unveils M Monochrom black and white camera | Digital Camera World

Canon Picture Styles: how to use in-camera effects on your EOS DSLR | Digital Camera World

Using Canon Picture Styles
In-camera effects may be seen as a bit of a marketing gimmick by some, but the ones offered by your EOS DSLR form a powerful and creative set of tools that has the potential to save you time and improve your photography.
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Canon Picture Styles: how to use in-camera effects on your EOS DSLR | Digital Camera World

Camera School: Master Aperture Technique


Lesson two: Depth of field & Aperture

Lens aperture controls something referred to in photography as ‘depth of field’. Depth of field is a phenomenon caused by the limitations of the human eye. When a lens is focused, light is formed into a sharp point. However, light reflecting from other parts of the scene, closer to or further from the point of focus (ie, areas that are out of focus) instead forms blurry circles. The further from the point of focus, the blurrier these circles – and the relative part of the scene – become.
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Camera School: Master Aperture Technique

Wednesday 9 May 2012

How to reduce noise at high ISO settings | Digital Camera World

How to reduce noise at high ISO settings
Image copyright Ben Birchall
Shooting indoor sports action using a fast shutter speed, old, gloomy churches without flash or bright landscapes where you want to slow down the shutter speed to capture movement are just some of the many situations where you will need an extreme ISO to get better results.
ISO denotes how sensitive an image sensor is. Any change from the manufacturer’s native ISO (the lowest default, which produces the optimum image quality) will have some form of electrical signal modification that results in noise.
Most DSLRs have a native ISO of around 100 or 200; beyond that, at the extreme low end of the range, quality isn’t improved. However, some manufacturers offer lower ISO values in the menu, such as ISO 50. Others use a decimalised f-stop value to indicate when it falls below the native ISO.

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How to reduce noise at high ISO settings | Digital Camera World

In this video Practical Photography editor Andrew James shows you how to keep your natural macro shots clutter free. The catch? As the name suggests, he has just one minute to do it. Watch below...

How to eliminate harsh shadows when using flash

 | Photography Tutorials | Tutorials | 09/05/2012 07:00am
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Using flash: remove harsh shadows - final image
One of the biggest problems photographers encounter when using flash are harsh shadows in the background. In particular, flash shadows are the bane of anyone who shoots portrait photography (for more on problems like this, see 99 common photography problems – and how to solve them).
In the tutorial below we show you how you can eliminate shadows from your pictures so you can start taking flawless portraits.
Using flash: remove harsh shadows - before image
An example of harsh shadows

How to eliminate harsh shadows when using flash

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How to eliminate harsh shadows when using flash | Digital Camera World

100 free Photoshop textures to download

Free Photoshop Textures: Pack 1
Free Photoshop Texture Pack 2 – Rusted metal and roasting tins
Free Photoshop Textures: Pack 2

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100 free Photoshop textures to download | Digital Camera World

What is the Lytro Camera?

What is the Lytro Camera?

Lytro Camera description, Lytro Camera Technical information, Lytro Camera inventors explanation, Lytro Camera, Lytro Camera Videos reviews.
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What is the Lytro Camera? 

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Top tip for Shooting Fashion and Beauty | Latest Industry News | Digital Photographer

Top tip for Shooting Fashion and Beauty
by
Hayley Paterek

Check out this weeks top tip for shooting professional fashion and beauty shots




girl with moving hair
Beauty shot

Give good direction

Fashion photography deals with people, so if you cannot communicate effective directions to your model then you will have no chance of getting a decent shot. Be organised and know your objectives before you start. Make sure you explain them clearly to the model. You should put together a mood board of images that you like in order to give them a good idea of what you are looking for in terms of posing and final outcome.

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Top tip for Shooting Fashion and Beauty | Latest Industry News | Digital Photographer
Ping your blog

How to set your autofocus for macro photography | Digital Camera World

How to set your autofocus for macro photography
Macro photography is a genre where focus is fundamental to a successful image. Macro photography is also the one genre where perfect focus is perhaps hardest to achieve.
This quick photography tutorial will show you how to set your camera’s autofocus in 3 simple steps so you can start taking consistently sharp macro photos.
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How to set your autofocus for macro photography | Digital Camera World

Auto-exposure bracketing: how to conquer high contrast

Auto-exposure bracketing: how to conquer high contrast scenes
Image copyright Mark Hamblin
Auto-exposure bracketing enables you to automatically take a series of shots at different exposure settings. By changing the shutter speed (or aperture), the camera brackets the original exposure in preset increments (usually between 1/3 to two stops) to capture three or more successive shots. Bracketing ensures a correct exposure in situations when you need to shoot quickly and you don’t have time to check the histogram.
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Auto-exposure bracketing: how to conquer high contrast | Digital Camera World

7 Lessons from Famous Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the most famous photographers in history.  In fact, we’ve written about him as a famous photographer before.  Cartier-Bresson was the co-founder of Magnum (a photo agency of the day) who brilliantly captured the events and spirit of the 20th century. His life was packed with adventure and excitement, which he translated into the body of work that we all love.
But have you ever wondered what Cartier-Bresson could teach you, to help you reflect on your own work and become a better photographer? I was checking out a book of his images the other day and began wondering what some of these lessons might be. So I’ve put together a list of 7 things that I think we can all draw from Henri Cartier-Bresson’s life and work.
Cartier-Bresson is a famous photographer
And what if the action is in the middle of a war zone? What then, Bresson? Okay... fine. He would probably still go.

1.     Find out where the action is, and get there!

“The world is going to pieces and people like Adams and Weston are photographing rocks!”  -  Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of those people who just seem to find themselves in the thick of it. His life would make an awesome film, taking in, as it did, so many of the twists and turns of the 20th century.
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7 Lessons from Famous Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson

Still Life Photography: how to light your crafting photos | Digital Camera World

Still life photography: how to light your crafting photos

Can you use some help with your still life photography? Like many of us, your hobbies probably extend beyond photography. Craftworks, in particular, is one of the many favourite pastimes of those of us here at Digital Camera World, but taking pictures of your creations sometimes can be tricky. From lighting to composition, there are all sorts of factors to consider when taking still life photography. Our tutorial below will show you how to master all these elements without having to splash out on additional kit or expensive lights, so you can start taking better still life photography today.
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Still Life Photography: how to light your crafting photos | Digital Camera World

Make HDR images from 2 exposures | Digital Camera World

Make HDR images from 2 exposures

Exposure blending enables you to mix images to get perfectly exposed skies, not always from the same scene. It’s not only a simple way of making HDR images, but it’s also a way of making more realistic-looking HDR images.
The process when shooting is simple and most cameras have a built-in Bracketing feature to aid you further. It’s crucial that one image captures the detail of the sky and the other that of the foreground – then you use Layers and Masks to blend the two.
We’ll help you tackle alignment problems with Auto-Align and use Masks for the perfect blend.

HDR Tutorial: make HDR images from 2 exposures   HDR Tutorial: make HDR images from 2 exposures

HDR Tutorial: make HDR images from 2 exposures

HDR Tutorial: make HDR images from 2 exposures
Step 1: Prepare in rawRead more:
Make HDR images from 2 exposures | Digital Camera World

Still life photography: depth of field mastered in 8 steps | Digital Camera World

Still life photography: depth of field mastered in 8 steps
If you use a point-and-shoot camera or cameraphone, it’s often almost impossible not to get everything from your feet to the distant horizon in focus. But the large sensors built into DSLRs means it can be surprisingly difficult to get everything in the frame looking sharp.
That’s because the bigger sensors used on DSLR cameras mean less depth of field (DOF). While blurred backgrounds can be a real bonus for subjects such as portraits, the limited zone of sharpness can be a problem for other types of photography.
Outdoors, you need to set up your camera carefully if you’re going to get the boulder in the foreground and the mountain in the distance both appearing in focus in the shot. However, the same difficulties present themselves when shooting subjects that are close together, such as still life photography in your kitchen.
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Still life photography: depth of field mastered in 8 steps | Digital Camera World

Black and White Portraits: how to add drama in Photoshop | Digital Camera World

Black and White Portraits: how to add drama in Photoshop

 
Black and White Portraits: add grit and drama in 4 easy steps
Start image

Black and white portraits are one of the more popular genres for photographers to shoot, but many times any number of factors can leave your pictures feeling flat.
After you’ve converted your portrait to black and white, why not use Photoshop’s dodge and burn tools to give your image a rough and ready makeover.
This excellent, non-destructive technique will make your black and portraits really stand out. Here’s how to do it.
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Black and White Portraits: how to add drama in Photoshop | Digital Camera World

Photo Art: how to give your image a painting effect | Digital Camera World

Photo Art: use the Smudge tool to get a painting effect
Photo art using simple digital painting techniques can transform even the most ham-fisted artist into a budding Rembrandt. You can simply use a photo as a starting point, tracing over the original shapes and colours without having to worry about shape and form.
Here, we’ll show you how to make this style of photo art by giving an image a painting effect with the Smudge tool in Photoshop. As its name suggests, this Photoshop tool smudges colours when you drag it through different shades in an image. However, it’s also an excellent tool for giving your pictures a painting effect.
The painting effect can look like painted strokes, particularly when you use Photoshop’s range of artistic brushes.Here, we’ve worked with a classic still life – a bowl of fruit.
The real delight in Photoshop effects like this lies in watching the image take shape as you apply your strokes. It’s an extremely organic process, with skills and ideas developing as you practise, so open an image and start smudging!
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Photo Art: how to give your image a painting effect | Digital Camera World

Top tip for composing a Landscape | Latest Industry News | Digital Photographer

Top tip for composing a Landscape

by
Hayley Paterek

Check out this week’s top tip for composing a stunning landscape scene

Landscape with moody sky
©Bob Bittner

Foreground Interest

Increase the impact of a beautiful vista by including a contextual element nearer the lens. This foreground interest will offer the viewer more to absorb and yield a sense of scale and depth. To retain sharpness throughout, choose a small f-stop and opt for a wide-angle focal length.
Image courtesy of Bob Bittner
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Top tip for composing a Landscape | Latest Industry News | Digital Photographer

Bounce flash photography in 4 simple steps

Bounce flash photography in 4 simple steps

| Photography Tutorials | Tutorials | 20/02/2012 15:45pm
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Bounce flash photography techniques: 4 simple steps
Before

Bounce flash photography. It sounds like a complicated procedure, one of those mythical flash techniques we try desperately to avoid.
We’ve all been there. You’re at a party or gathering and want to take a picture that captures the atmosphere of the moment. When shooting in low light, your first instinct is probably to use a tripod with a long shutter speed, or increase the ISO to shoot handheld.
But if you’re taking pictures of people indoors at a party you can forget the first option; your subjects won’t keep still! A high ISO can often work because it preserves atmosphere. But you get grainy pictures and have to use the widest aperture and slowest shutter speeds possible.
Using a bounce flash technique is your most flexible option in this scenario, and it’s also remarkably easy to do. You can stay mobile, and you have a greater range of shutter speeds and apertures to choose from. You can also use a low ISO setting to retain image quality.
By bouncing flash off the ceiling or a wall, rather than firing it directly at your subject, your flash light becomes more diffuse and even. As such, pictures that employ bounced flash look much more natural. In fact, if this bounce flash technique is done well, people won’t be able to tell that flash has been used at all.
Most external flashguns have a bounce flash facility, though some have more flexibility to turn and tilt the head. All modern guns also have a TTL, or through-the-lens, mode. This ensures that the extra power needed from the flash is set automatically.
But be warned, as bounce flash techniques can sometimes look bland if the light is just too even! Portraits also lack sparkle, as eyes don’t have ‘catchlights’ (the small, bright reflections of flash in people’s eyes). To add these, use the pull-out ‘bounce card’ found on many hotshoe guns. This white plastic sheet directs some of the flash output straight at the subject, giving a smidge of direct light and adding mirror-like catchlights. So without further ado…
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Bounce flash photography in 4 simple steps | Digital Camera World