10 Expert Tips for Aspiring Landscape Photographers |  |
- 10 Expert Tips for Aspiring Landscape Photographers
- Understanding The Basics of SLR Photography
- Close-up Portrait Photo Tips
| 10 Expert Tips for Aspiring Landscape Photographers Posted: 02 Nov 2013 02:07 AM PDT Surrounded by the beauty of nature, many photographers experience a longing to capture those stunning vistas, towering mountains and waterfalls, decorated valleys, and quiet pools, alive with light and color. Unfortunately, after photographing landscapes, many photographers often experience a startling sense of defeat when the images turn out to be shapeless, emotionless and otherwise amateur in post-processing. In this video, award-winning landscape photographer Antony Spencer shares 10 tips for landscape photographers looking to hone their craft and produce high quality work—including some composition advice to help infuse photographs with shape and feeling (for those of you reading this by email, the video tutorial can be seen here): 1. Minimize camera shake. Using a tripod, a remote shutter release cable, and mirror lock mode will drastically improve the sharpness of long exposures. And if it’s windy during a shoot, remove that camera strap! 2. Create strong composition by finding natural S-shapes. Also remember to use the rule of thirds and keep as much of the image in sharp focus as possible—especially the foreground.
 Here, Spencer’s trained eye led him to check the water currents during low tide for S-curves. 3. Always carry essential camera accessories. Spencer never leaves home without a tripod, a polarizing filter, a neutral density filter, a small compact ball head, and a cable release. 4. Plan ahead. In as much detail as possible, scope out your location before you even arrive. Know where the sun will be at the time of your shoot and how long it will be there. 5. Don't try to fit everything you see into one photograph. Don't be afraid to zoom in and break the scene down into smaller sections.
 A horizontal orientation would have shown more of the beach, but it was only by breaking the photo down into a smaller section that Spencer was able to frame the S-curve so perfectly. 6. "Future-proof" your work. Buy the best gear you can afford. 7. Use different camera systems based on the needs of each image. You have to know your different systems quite well to be able to make this call, so study up on your cameras and lenses and take many practice shots. 8. Blend images sparingly. Don’t depend on blending, Spencer says, but do blend if a particular shot calls for it. Blending is great for keeping both the foreground and the background sharp, or for achieving sharp detail in one area of the photograph and capturing movement in another area.  This shot required blending in order to guarantee both sharp flowers and milky waves. 9. Shoot in the highest quality possible. Shoot in manual mode at the optimum ISO for your camera system. This will most likely require you to take some practice shots.
10. Seek out unique subjects and be willing to work hard to find them. Be willing to go anywhere and do anything within reason to take photographs that will set you apart in the field and get your work noticed.
Go to full article: 10 Expert Tips for Aspiring Landscape Photographers    |
| Understanding The Basics of SLR Photography Posted: 01 Nov 2013 06:20 PM PDT Knowing how to use your SLR is not as awkward as it would seem. Imagine that your camera is a box that lets in light. On top of that box is a sequence of controls. These controls allow you to let a light into the camera sensor so you can take a picture. The amount of light coming in determines how your shot will look.  “Discover” captured by Thomas Hawk (Click image to see more from Hawk.) Let’s start with the automatic setting. The automatic setting allows the camera to make the decisions for you. This lets you just focus on taking the photo instead of worrying about the technical settings. The automatic setting is simple however it is not what professional photographers use. You don’t have to use manual, but if you don’t you won’t have control over the images you create. Ideally, you have as much control over the camera and the lighting as possible. This is the key to creating beautiful portraits and stunning photos in general. The basics of digital SLR photography are easy to learn when you appreciate how the camera controls lighting. Cameras have control over the light in two main ways: aperture and shutter speed. Your aperture is the opening in which you allow light in. Your shutter speed is how you control the speed at which the light is coming in. You need both to be able to manipulate the light. Confused? Okay, try this: Think of the camera as the same as our human eye. Your aperture is the iris that opens up and closes down. The shutter speed is like the eyelid. It can blink quickly or slowly or even stay open for a while.  “Beauty” captured by Carrie Weeks (Click image to see more from Weeks.) Your aperture is commonly known as F-stop. F-stop is a number that tells you how much the iris is open. If the aperture is fairly wide then we say that it is a big aperture. A big aperture is a small number. For example, F2.8 is a very large aperture. It means the aperture is open very wide. It is comparable to how the iris operates in low light. The iris will open more to let additional light in so that we can see in the dark. Your camera is the same. Aperture not only has control over how wide the iris is, but it plays an important role in depth of field. Depth of field simply means what part of the photo is in focus. If every single article in the photo is in focus, then we call that a long depth of field. If there is only a small part of the photo that is in focus we call this a short depth of field.  “Pink Flower” captured by Ji Yeon So (Click image to see more from Ji Yeon So.) When you have a large aperture, F2.8 for example, your depth of field can be small. If you have a small aperture such as F22, then everything in image is in focus. (Lighting permitting of course.) I will explain this in a different tutorial. Shutter speed is very much linked to the timing of motion and movement. Shutter speed is calculated in fractions of a second, seconds, and then minutes. Some digital cameras have a setting called “Bulb”. This means the shutter stays wide open for as long as you keep it open. You can connect a cable to the camera and press it just the once. The shutter will open. It will close up only when you press the cable button again. This means you could have the shutter open for an hour if your camera allowed it. Let’s take for instance the evening sky. There is not much light that the human eye can detect. In this case, we may want to leave the shutter open for 10 seconds or more. However, if we want to take a shot of movement that is fast-paced and “freeze” the speed of motion, then we want to have a very fast shutter speed. This is where we get into fractions of a second. I have a Canon 5D Mark II, and the shutter speed can go as high as 1/8000 of a second. This is super fast! Use a quick shutter speed when you want to create the effect of water suspended or frozen in midair, for example. (This is a very fun way to learn shutter speed–throw things in the air and photograph them fast.)  “Water With Lemon, Please!!” captured by Juan Guevara (Click image to see more from Guevara.) You will see various shooting modes on your digital camera dial. Not only do you have the automatic mode but you have aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, and possibly more. Aperture priority means that you choose what f-stop to use and the camera selects the shutter speed. Shutter priority works the opposite. This means that you pick the shutter speed and the camera does the rest. These two shooting modes are okay, but you still will not get the loveliest result. The best setting to use is manual. When you employ the manual setting you have the most control over your camera. You can position the shutter speed and the aperture simultaneously. Once you become familiar with how manual works then you can begin to have more influence over lighting. Once you have most control over the lighting, your pictures begin to look lovely.  “Abudhabi Mosque at Dusk” captured by Supriya Mukherjee (Click image to see more from Mukherjee.) Learning how to use your SLR is not an extreme or hard course. It’s actually pretty uncomplicated when you get the hang of it. The basics of digital SLR photography purely depend on your camera’s capability to interpret light. This, of course, means that you have to read light, too! Once you understand how light works through your camera you can select the shutter speed and aperture that produces the pictures that you desire. Once you learn the basics of digital photography you can move on to shooting with tools to enhance your light. These methods have influence over the appearance of light in your pictures. Using the flash is one such example. But I will leave this to an additional article. Your internal light gauge is a vital part of knowing light. Your internal light meter is a small indicator that you observe when you look through the digital camera. When you adjust your exposure dial on manual, the indicator moves to the left or the right. When the indicator is sitting in the center of the scale it means the camera believes there is just the right amount of light, and you may safely take the photo. To master light effectively, simply begin shooting in automatic and write down the aperture and shutter speed that the camera has recommended. Then change your dial to manual and pick those same aperture and shutter speed settings. You will observe that those settings may not be the best ones. At times, those settings will make the photo under exposed. This is why it is significant to shoot using manual. Learning how to use your SLR takes a bit of preparation. And you can always delete the photos you don’t like. Do not be fearful of making errors. Errors are opportunities for discovering new things. Once you ascertain how your camera interprets light you will be free to become the photographer you’ve always wanted to be. About the Author: Go to full article: Understanding The Basics of SLR Photography  |
| Posted: 01 Nov 2013 11:20 AM PDT Martin Schoeller is famed for his stunning close-up portraits, but he says that's not because he possesses the innate ability to coach his subjects to pose like trained models and or possesses any special artistic talent. Instead, Schoeller's portraiture is successful because he conducts his photoshoots with three basic principles in mind:
In this interview, Schoeller sits down with National Geographic to discuss this three-tiered shooting process, as well as the rich philosophy behind his work (for those of you reading this by email, the video can be seen here): Schoeller's basic advice for portrait sessions is for photographers to do whatever they can to make photoshoots feel more like casual conversations. That's the only way to get away from those perfect, practiced smiles and into the realm of authenticity, where subjects actually look human.
Another defining feature of Schoeller's work is that he often throws the standard, torso-up portrait formula out of the window and instead takes very close-up headshots.
His thinking is two-fold. First, close-up portraits feel more intimate than portraits drawn farther away because they allow viewers to really examine subjects' physical features and expressions. Second, close-up portraits minimize dehumanizing distractions, such as clothing and social status, that can hinder viewers from relating to portrait subjects in that way.
Schoeller’s portraiture uniquely promotes equality by encouraging viewers to celebrate subjects as humans beyond the cultural noise—to actually see each subject, celebrating eyes and lips. Go to full article: Close-up Portrait Photo Tips  |
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