Photography Blog

Affendy Ahmad asked:




With careful use of flash, you can make your photo looks natural as though no flash had been used, instate it will enhance the photo further reducing contrast and yet looking very natural.

It has been a dream of all photographers to look for the balance in lighting whenever they photograph a subject and most of the time the quality of available light isn’t always perfect. I will share my experience in making use of flash wisely I am able to enhance my photo rather than by just using the available ambient light.

Before we get started let me clarify a few things with regards to my flash photography techniques that I will be sharing with you.



Let me define the term flash in this article – it is what some people call “Speedlight” which is the add on flash mounted on the camera hot – shoe type and not either the studio strobe type of flash or the pop–up flash build in the camera..



 



The flash photography techniques I’m writing in this article are mostly applicable for “on the field” or “on the move” photography and not studio photography.



 



I’m a user of Nikon D-SLR and Speedlight, some example of my photography work shown here are not a standard recipe as each camera system may have a slide different reading hence require some slide adjustment.



 

Ambient Light plus Flash



I use flash most of the time but using flash does not mean you will spoil the ambient light thus making the photo looking unnatural. Why just use available light alone if your photograph turns out to be horrible. I will show you by understanding some essential techniques, mixing ambient light with flash you can make a better image.

By using the flash I will be able to highlight the shadow areas and avoid shadows under the subject’s eyebrows thus making it a better photo than it would have been without flash. But this does not mean that the image will turn up flat. Make sure you get your reading right.

Let’s try two examples:

1. A wedding couple on a beach and under a tent as the sun is going down:-



Shoot in manual mode because you need to be in control of your exposure metering for accuracy and consistency.



 



Meter for the ambient light, get your exposure right, turn off your flash and take a test shot. With the correct exposure you will get a perfect natural surroundings but the wedding couple will be little under exposed or with some shadows around their faces.

Now turn on your flash and adjust your flash to TTL-BL mode which balance flash automatically with ambient light (as I’m using Nikon). Adjust your flash compensation. Start from 0 EV compensation and slowly go up until plus 1.7 EV. How much is enough? There is no one correct answer to that as it depends how much flash you need to use as a fill in flash. In this example you surely need a stronger fill-flash to match the sunlit background.



 

Flash was turn off. I took the reading of the ambient light and took a test shoot. Satisfied with the overall exposure and then on my flash light and took the photograph below with my flash light firring direct and dial up the my flash up to +1.7 EV. See the photographt below for comparison.

2. Portrait of a couple against a wall



Again always shoot on manual mode.



 



Meter correctly for the available light.



 



Adjust your flash to TTL-BL mode. As for out door, I usually start from -1.3 EV because Nikon Speedlights on TTL-BL mode balance flash automatically with ambient light and I will always shoot with flash firing straight on. The real idea is to use the flash as a fill-light only and to lift the shadows.



 

- Notice with a fill flash I manage to eliminate shadows under the couple eyebrows without overexposing the wall and the couples’ clothing’s.

Photograph 2 – Shoot using flash

The above two examples clearly tells you by just adding flash with the correct exposure set by reading the ambient light together with the right amount of flash value to be fired you will have a perfect and balance natural looking image. Who says by using flash it will look unnatural and spoil the ambient light?

I will be following up with an article entitle Flash Photography Techniques – Bouncing the Flash next to share my photography experience with you. By bouncing the flash you are able to soften the light and reduce or eliminating flash shadow.

For more photography techniques and tips visit my photography blog: Langkawi Photographer Blog

To view my photography portfolio visit: AFFENDY.COM

Ajay Albertson asked:




A 1031 exchange is a tactic used by real estate investors to indefinitely defer tax liability on a property’s sale. This is achieved by giving the rights to a property one would like to sell to an intermediary, who holds on to the funds gained from the sale of the relinquished property and uses them to buy a replacement property that complies with the rules set out in Section 1031 .

While the present popularity of the 1031 could lead you to believe that it only recently came on the scene, this is untrue. Actually, the history of the 1031 extends all the way back to 1921, although at its conception, it was quite a bit different than what we today think of as an exchange. Section 1031 really came into its own in the 1970s, which saw a host of significant modifications in the manner that exchanges were regulated. These modifications paved the way to a farther-reaching conception of the process and also generated greater interest among property investors.

The indefinite capital gains deferral an exchange grants to the taxpayer may, at first, seem to be a sort of gift from the US government, however it is, in reality, closer to an interest-free loan, because there is an expectation that the investor will “repay” the extra funds gained from the deferral by paying capital gains taxes upon the eventual sale of a replacement property. In addition, this interest free loan may be kept indefinitely; an investor can choose to conduct any number of exchanges before ultimately deciding to sell outright, at which point capital gains taxes must be paid.

The 1031 exists as a mutually advantageous agreement between investors and the U.S. government, providing a benefit for the U.S. economy as well as the individual taxpayer. By viewing the transfer of value in an exchange as representing a continuation of a preexisting investment rather than as a separate transaction liable for taxation, taxpayers are given the opportunity to move their funds to the most profitable possible investments, which, in turn, boosts the economy by bolstering job growth.

Like anything else, the 1031 exchange has its detractors. Some advocates of change in Section 1031 will argue that the tax free profit gained by to the taxpayer in a 1031 lends them an unreasonable advantage. Another frequent concern is that the strict time limits attached to some aspects of the exchange procedure may engender a frantic rate of buying, resulting in an increase in the cost of replacement properties. These complaints, however, are only loosely based in reality, and the odds that the 1031 exchange procedure will see noteworthy changes in the near future are quite slim. In general, most will agree that Section 1031 is greatly helpful to all parties involved, allowing taxpayers increased profits on the sale of property while also encouraging job growth and consequently promoting the greater good of the country as a whole. There is little doubt that the 1031 will be a mainstay of the property investment business for years to come.

Alex W.K. asked:




Learn photography and become a successful photographer may require creativity and strive but not talent. Many photographers are not born talented. Anyone who has the love of photography can become a successful one. It does take time and effort to learn photography but the reward is significant. Not many are willing to spend their effort to learn photography, some may quit and other switch to other school for easy advancing. Let me tell you the truth there is no such thing as learn photography with no effort. In order to become successful it does require ‘strive’.

Many people are looking into the field of photography due to it significant potential and job opportunity. People who are born talented or have love of photography will find the learning enjoyable. Those who are expecting to get a job in this field will surely quit sooner since they are not really interested in the subject. To be a successful photographer is not difficult, the course is not too harsh for any amateur to get into. A real successful photographer does require creativity and effort without those you would not become very successful even though you have the talent.

‘Quality’ work is hard to produce compares to work in ‘quantity’. In fact that many misunderstand that ‘quantity’ could lead to successful and brand building but this is not entire true, quality is the winning term to success.

In order to become a successful photographer you would need to take your first step in learning photography if you are a beginner. As for experienced photographer, it would require creativity and innovation. Learning and improving your work are the real keys to success.

Shaun Pearce asked:




Most people don’t use Photoshop to its fullest capabilities. Here are just ten uses to which you could put this highly versatile software.

1. Restoring Old Photographs. Have a look through that old family photo album – the really old one from up in Grandma’s attic. Inside there are probably a few photos from way back when that haven’t stood the test of time so well. They’ve got cracks and tears that really spoil their appearance. Scan them into Photoshop, and then set to work with the Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, and Patch tools. The Healing Brush in particular is a great tool for this purpose as it samples data from one part of the picture and blends it in with what’s already there.

2. Correcting Mistakes. We’ve all done it: Had an attack of “finger over the lens syndrome,” or got too close with the flash, so our subjects suffer from “red eye” and look like extras from a horror movie. Use the crop tool to salvage something usable from your obscured photo, and the enlarge wizard to blow it up to a reasonable size. For “red eye” and “pet eye,” use the eyedropper tool to sample color from around the iris, and a brush to paint away the red.

3. Adding Graphics to Videos. It’s a little known fact, but many domestic and professional nonlinear editing systems (especially the Mac based ones like Avid or Final Cut) enable you to import Photoshop .psd files directly into the timeline.

4. Creating Text Effects for Print and Web. There’s an almost unlimited amount of things you can do with text in Photoshop. Use the Type Mask Tools to create picture filled text, then upload the results to your web page – or print them out for a one of a kind T-shirt.

5. Turning a Photo Into a Work of Art. Everyone likes to have nice things to look at. Most of us like to have pictures on the wall, and something that looks different from what other people have on their walls is a definite plus. Unless you’re blessed with artistic talent, though, this can be very expensive – until now. Use one of Photoshop’s many Artistic or Brush Stroke filters to turn your photos into “new masters,” then print them out on quality art paper.

6. Designing Web Banners and Buttons. Photoshop comes with a predefined web banner sized canvas. Photoshop’s sister application, Image Ready, comes with several – and lots of tools for animating text and pictures. You can also create interactive buttons that enhance a web browsing experience.

7. Adding Text to Photographs. Impress your boss by putting the company name on the side of an airliner, building, or racing car. Use the Move Tool to skew the text to fit the contours of the picture, adjust the opacity a little, and hey presto! The text will look like it’s always been part of the photo.

8. Combining Pictures, Text, and Graphics to Make Covers for Books, Reports and CDs. Photoshop contains many of the image manipulation capabilities of high-end DTP applications that cost thousands. Use the “Layer via Cut” command to make your title text go behind part of the picture – just like on the cover of “Rolling Stone.”

9. Designing Web Pages. Did you know that Photoshop and Image Ready can turn your photograph or artwork into a web page? Use the slice tool to cut your work into easily downloadable pieces, then the rollover function to embed website URLs.

10. Combining Pictures to Make the Impossible Possible. Come on! You didn’t seriously think that Michael Moore and President George W. Bush really stood hand in hand on the White House lawn for the Fahrenheit 9/11 poster, did you? I don’t know for certain that they used Photoshop to fake that picture, but they certainly could have done. With Photoshop you can remove the background from one picture, take some elements from another, and combine them with the background from a third to create a picture that could never have been taken for real. Who says the camera can’t lie!

 

Susan Slobac asked:




looking inline for Photo Mat Board? When it comes to framing and matting supplies for your artistic photographic images, quality is everything. Your images may be the finest taken since Ansel Adams turned his camera toward the spectacular mountain ranges of California and the Pacific Northwest, but without the proper photography frames, matboard and other framing and matting supplies, your prints will not only look cheap, they’ll deteriorate very quickly as well.

It Starts With Matboard

There are multiple techniques that can be used for mounting your photographic prints, and the one you choose will depend on various factors:

1. The storage or display environment; whether it is humid or dry, if there are wide temperature variations, and if pollutants are an issue.

2. The durability of the medium; are the photographic images reproduced on high-quality papers and with the best dyes? If not, it may be necessary to increase the amount of protection for the images.

3. Your budget: like many other aspects of photography, there is a wide range of costs depending on the quality and nature of the materials used. (Fortunately, framing is not the most expensive part of photography.)

4. The complexity of the method used; less experienced photographers may prefer to use simpler framing methods.

A Quick and Easy Way

Once you have chosen and obtained your framing and matting supplies, one of the simpler methods for mounting your print is to affix, or hinge the photo directly to the photo mat board. This is best accomplished with the use of adhesive hinging tissue, which is similar to double-sided adhesive tape designed especially for this purpose. This can create some problems in the future should you choose to change the picture mat at some future date, but it will definitely hold your print securely in place.

Other methods you may wish to consider:

• Hinge the matboard to the mount board, sandwiching the print between them

• Use Photography Frames affixed to the mount board. This has the advantage of allowing you to mount the print without having to apply adhesive to the photo paper, and the photo corners can be hidden with the use of photo mat board and/or proper sized photography frames.

• Glue or spray adhesive: this is probably the most economical method, but caution should be exercised, as such substances can damage the surface of the photograph.

Choose Your Mat

One question that is frequently asked is “What is the best picture mat to use?” Again, your choice of these particular framing and matting supplies depends on several factors. If you are inexperienced at cutting matboard , you may wish to use pre cut mat board, although this will limit your options as to how your photo will be displayed. If you are looking for archival quality, bainbridge mat board is the only real choice; made from special acid-free mounting materials this is one of the best framing and matting supplies available, and will preserve your prints in museum condition for many years.

Amy asked:


For sports enthusiasts, there’s nothing more exciting than sports people playing their favourite game. The sight of the field, rink or golf course initiates the thrill and anticipation. This, combined with digital photography, can provide some amazing photographic opportunities. However it’s not a matter of point the camera at the person diving for the ball or puck and snapping away. It’s a lot more complicated than that.

In digital photography sports can be quite challenging. The sports people do not present an easy task of being photographed because of the amount of high movement. However, you can indeed achieve great sports digital photography. Most excellent sports digital photography requires good planning and execution.

Here are some exclusive tips for gaining fantastic sports shots in your digital photography.

First things first; know your digital camera. I recommend taking note and practicing first all the settings that sports photography needed. You may find yourself going for the faster shutter speed, increased ISO and burst mode. Let’s take a look at all these things on your digital camera and see how they can be applied to give you sensational sports photos.

High shutter speeds:

As with all moving objects, in order to capture the “frozen in time” look in digital photography a fast shutter speed is required. The faster the movement the fast the shutter speed will need to be. In digital photography the general consensus is that the shutter speed needs to be faster than that of the subject. For example if you have a sliding puck across ice and there is a someone about to take a dive for it then its necessary to quickly mentally assess how fast that person might be traveling at. If they are traveling at approximately 50 kilometers (approx 32 miles) per hour then you may find a very fast shutter speed is needed for this digital photo.

A very fast shutter speed in digital photography may be anything from 500th of a second or higher. For high speed movement you may want to consider an even faster shutter speed of 1000th of a second or something in that range.

Keep in mind that in digital photography a fast shutter speed works to reduce some of the light which is why a higher ISO is often necessary. (I’ll talk about that in a minute.) Usually a if a ball, such as a baseball going at around 145 kilometers an hour (90.09 miles per hour) a shutter speed of around 1/4000 will get you that “suspended ball in mid air” type of photo. For physical movement, such as someone leaping to catch a football, a shutter speed of 1/500 or over is a good place to start.

Now this is all very well if your scene if well lit. But what if you are taking your digital photography shots indoors at night and the light is not quite enough to provide enough light? In most instances, an indoor stadium at night time will be well lit, but that doesn’t always ensure good digital photos. In sports photography we need to understand that we can only control the artistic value and input of our digital photo and the control of the camera. We can’t control the lighting on the scene being such a public event. In digital photography sports photos we must realize that it’s going to be a challenge to begin with. So here are something’s you can in your digital sports photography to increase the amount of light.

If you have a light tool on your digital camera such as a histogram you can get a good idea of what the light levels are like on your sensor. With this handy tool you can adjust the ISO at the time of your pictures taking.

Increase your ISO: A high ISO in digital photography simply means the sensitivity to light that your digital camera has. In a nutshell the more ISO you have increased the image to, the less light the sensor needs. In sports photography an ISO of 400 or higher can work really well. The downside to this is that it does increase noise. To combat this you can use noise reduction software in the post editing process such as Noise Ninja or increase the LAB mode in the post editing process. Don’t be afraid to try a few shots at 400, 800 and even as high as 1600.

Burst mode:

In most sports digital photography this will be one of the settings you will turn to. Burst mode is also known as ‘continuous shooting’. This ‘continuous’ shooting mode allows you to get a sequence of shoots in succession. You can increase your chances of getting that ideal “split second perfect shot” that you might not be able to get by pre-emption or in normal shooting. This also works so beautifully if your digital camera has a painfully long lag time. I’ve used this so many times to get around the high lag my Sony Cyber shot has got. Some cameras have 3 frames per second and some go up to 12 frames per second. You simply select this mode and hold your finger on the shutter button and it will fire off as many shots in 1 second as it can.

Okay so I’ve been talking about your digital camera and the setting’s used for ideal sports digital photography, so what about any external equipment? If you have been thinking about this you’re spot on. You can take as much time with your settings but there’s not much point if you can’t get close to the action. There’s no point having a picture with perfect lighting and perfect action if the players are like dots on a sheet of paper. You need a good telephoto lens if you can’t get close up. A telephoto lens brings you closer because of its long distance capability. It will get you closer to the action but will need a faster shutter speed.

Many fantastic sports digital photos are taken with an emphasis on a very fast shutter speed, an f stop of around the 2.8 mark to blur the background and focus in on the subject. You may find that if your sportsperson is visually separated from the background and you take the digital photograph with a telephoto lens you’ll have a more shallow depth of field which can give you a more powerful feeling in your digital photo. You can get away with a good optical zoom lens, but you’ll get far better digital sports shots with a proper telephoto.

So what about the artistic side of sports photography with your digital camera? Plenty!

Pre-emption and Emotion is the key to good art.

When taking sports photography you probably won’t find a more public display of human emotion. The emotions of a sports person range from intense anticipation to extreme disappointment or extreme exhilaration. Pre-empting when these emotions take place is they key to getting artistic and impressive sports photos. This comes with practicing your digital photography.

SO much pressure is placed on our athletes, expecting them to perform so we can enjoy the show and the investors can enjoy their returns. This is another reason why I say to get a telephoto lens so you can capture the emotions on their faces and their body language. It makes for superb photography. For ideas on ice hockey, have a look at some ice hockey images that are great study tools.

Don’t just look at these digital photos, you must study them. Take on the attitude that studying sports photography will improve your digital sports photos ten fold. You will have a style to emulate and copy to start with then eventually, when you become confident, you’ll start to adopt your own style.

Happy shooting,

Amy Renfrey

To study digital sports photography check these sites out: http://www.espn.com/ and http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ and http://cbs.sportsline.com/

Suwat Pongtepupathum asked:




During this celebration period as Christmas, New Year, there will be many firework shows in many places. Therefore, there are a lot of opportunities to photograph firework photos.

What do you need for taking firework photos?

Camera: the one that has “Bulb” shutter speed is preferable.

Wide and normal zoom lens: 10-22 mm, 16-35 mm, 18-55 mm, 24-70mm, etc. Zoom lenses have more flexibility to frame your photos. However, there are no solid rules which focal length should be used because it depends on how far of you and fireworks, how big of the fireworks are, etc.

Tripod: You really need it because of long shutter speed while taking firework photos. You must keep your camera still otherwise your photos will be blurred.

Remote switch: It helps you to keep your camera completely still while photographing firework shots. When you use “Bulb (B)” shutter, you should not press directly to a camera shutter button because it causes the camera to be unstable. Therefore, you can not get sharp and clear photos.

There are some optional things that you may be able to consider as listed below:

Black cap: It’s used for protecting lighting when you want to photograph many fireworks in one shot.

Food and drink: You may wait for awhile before fireworks will be commenced. Therefore, you may need food and drink.

Flashlight: It helps you to find anything in the dark.

Small chair: In case of wait for a long time

Umbrella: In case of raining

Where and when you should go for taking firework photos?

The best place to photograph fireworks should be any tall building around the fireworks area about 0.5-1.5 km from where the fireworks will be shown. You must be able to pan your camera without any obstructions in your viewfinder. Moreover, it should be upwind direction too.

You must go to your location as early as possible because there will be a lot of photographers and speculators. You must remember that the location is everything for taking fireworks photos. The better location you are, the better photos you will get.

How to photograph fireworks?

What you should prepare prior to taking firework photos as follows:

1. Be on location as early as possible and select the best location. The best location is the location where you can see the fireworks without any obstructions and there is interesting foreground or background as buildings, bridges, river, lake, etc.

2. Set your camera on Tripod firmly

3. Set the parameters in the camera as follows:

Mode: M, Manual

Auto focus: Off or Manual

ISO: 100

Shutter speed: Bulb, B

Aperture: vary from F5.6 to F11

Focal length: Infinity

File type: Raw file is preferred because you have more flexibility to process your photos after.

Memory Card: 2 GB at least so that you will not lose your opportunity to take photos due to memory full.

WB: Auto

4. Set good composition by including nice foreground or background as building(s), pool(s), lake(s), bridge(s), river(s), etc. Use rule of third to get the nice composition. There are 2 ways to frame your fireworks photo which are horizontal or vertical. It depends on how your fireworks look like. If your fireworks are one big and long shot, you may need to frame your photos vertically. In other words, if you want to capture wide angle of fireworks, you may need to flame your photos horizontally.

5. Set your remote switch with your camera and test its function.

Let’s photograph fireworks:

1. Once you hear explosion, you start to press and hold a remote switch button. Then you look at the fireworks showing their magic until it disappears and then release the button. Normally, it takes about 5-9 second depending on how long of each firework shot is.

If this is your first shot, please check a photo shown on your LCD and see how the composition and lighting look like. You may need to adjust the camera, the focal length and aperture in order to get the nice composition and lighting. Please do in quickly and continue taking fireworks photos.

2. If you would like to take many fireworks in one shot, please use the following tips:

2.1 When the first firework is shot, press and hold the remote switch button. Then when the first one fades out, put the black cap in front of your lens in order to prevent light coming to your photo while you are still pressing the remote switch button. You must not touch any part of your camera so that your photo will not blur due to camera being moved.

2.2 When the second firework is shot, take the black cap out and wait until the second firework fades out. After that you put the back cap in front of your lens again.

2.3 When you do not want to add any fireworks in your photo, you just release the remote switch button. You can repeatedly use these techniques in order to take many fireworks in one shot. However, you should be prudent with this tip because if you try to take too many fireworks in one shot, your photo will be too over exposure and your photo will be the flashy shot. Normally, I use this tip to get only 2 to 3 fireworks in one shot.

3. Check your photos periodically. You may have time to check your photos because the fireworks are shot periodically. You may change the composition and/or delete some bad photos in order to reserve the memory space.

These are guidelines to help you to photograph fireworks. Let’s try and have fun with fireworks.

Diana Cooper asked:




Ansel Adams, most widely known in the photography world for his immaculate and accurate view of nature, changed the way people looked at photography. Adams described himself in three ways: a photographer, lecturer, and writer. But in actuality, you can combine these three facets and call him a communicator.

Born in 1902, Adams photographic vision was born immediately as he spent his childhood growing up in the natural beauty of San Francisco, California. As a shy and lonesome boy, Adams typically took long walks in the still-wild reaches of the Golden Gate observing and enjoying the nature.

Ansel Adams’ true passion for nature photography came from the Yosemite Sierra, where he spent substantial time at from 1916 until his death in 1984. Starting with the Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie that his parents gave him, Adams hiked, climbed, and explored the beauty of nature.

In 1930 Adams met photographer Paul Strand, whose images had a huge impact on Adams. It was his images that helped move Adams from a pictorial style in the 1920′s to straight photography. Adams eventually would become straight photography’s most articulate and masterful photographer.

What characterizes Adams’ nature photography more than anything was his will to travel all around the country in pursuit of both the natural beauty he photographed and the audiences he required. People began to connect Ansel Adams’ work with any topic of nature or the environment itself.

While Ansel Adams is most known for his breathtaking nature photography, he also produced spectacular black and white photography. Adams made black and white photography what it is today through several pieces of work he created. His black and white images helped induce an emotion of timeliness and freeze a particular moment. While many believe color adds to a picture, Adams showed that a black and white image can say just as much, if not more, than that of a colored image.

One image that stands out that he created in 1938 was “Half Dome, Merced River, Winter”, one of Adams’ most beloved photographs of Yosemite Valley. He took the photograph with an 8″x10″ view camera from the Old Sentinel Bridge near the Yosemite Chapel. This picture sums up his style perfectly with the gorgeous mountains covered in snow, trees all in front of the mountains also covered in snow, and a river flowing in the middle of the picture.

There are few photographers that have been able to leave a lasting image on people like Ansel Adams. His love and desire for nature enable him to take breathtaking nature photographs. And his black and white photography has made it what it is today.

Anthony Smith asked:




 

Aspiring Actors often ask the question “How can I get discovered?” The answer is simple and logical, but on the other hand being discovered as an actor it is far from easy to make happen. At the same time, however, let’s not mislead anyone. Being discovered out of the blue without any preparation or without having done any work is about as likely as winning the multi million dollar lottery. Some people play all their lives and never win!

One way that many actors get discovered is… Are you ready? They POSITION themselves to be discovered! That’s right. Read on to see how.

 

By POSITIONING yourself to be discovered I mean:

 

1. Start training and don’t stop no matter how good you think you are or how good others tell you are, so that when you do put yourself up in front of the right people, you will be ready!

2. Study the industry. Find out how it works. Find out who casts what, what agents look for in an actor, what the unions do, what the current issues are in the industry, etc.

3. Figure out what your type is. This is a concept you need to be familiar with! It will help you funnel you marketing efforts.

4. Learn basic business, networking and self-promotional skills. So important! You need to make sure you stand out from everyone else. You need to be delicately tenacious as well!

5. Learn how to audition. Auditioning and acting on set are two different beasts. Auditioning is like the serve in tennis. It’s completely different from the rest of the game.

6. Surround yourself with people who are already doing what you want and not with people who are trying to get what you want. You are more likely to learn from people who are already doing what you want to do. So go find them and learn from them!

7. Talk to both working actors, who are making a living from acting as well as to aspiring actors who have been talking a lot over the past couple of years and really haven’t done very much. You can learn from both groups! From one you learn what to do. From the other, you will learn how NOT to be.

8. Stay curious and never ever think you know it all. Be humble. You can always get better, whether in your acting technique, auditioning, sharpening your monologue delivery, on-camera technique, learning about the industry or whatever. You never stop learning!

9. Once you start to achieve some success, help others who are in the same position you were once. You’ll see that it will pay off.

10. At some point during all this you should ask yourself (and be honest) if you really, honestly and truly have the passion for acting to DO WHAT IS NECESSARY to succeed. Without that passion much will be lost and it will be difficult for you to achieve the success you desire. And what’s more, you probably won’t be very happy.

 

Once you do those things regularly, you will start to intuitively know how to position yourself to be discovered.

 

 

Abhishek Agarwal asked:




Usually, on starting a photography business, people work on a freelance basis or part time until they are able to build up enough reputation to open a studio of their own. Usually people wait till they have done sufficiently well before opening up their own studio. You can always opt to set up a photography studio at your home, if you have the space, which will save you money, or you can rent a space for setting up the studio. It really depends on the budget you have assigned and also on your own personal preferences. If you livesomewhere in the boonies, you will probably want to rent a space nearer to the town so that people don’t have to drive too far to see your work and meet you. Your studio should reflect your own personal style and you should strive to make it look like that.

Regardless of the type of photography you do, there are three basic areas you need to include and look into while setting up your studio.

Your photography studio requires an office space, a work area and an equipment storage area. The office area will be used for storing paperwork relating to business, expenses, bills, invoices etc. Ensure your desk is of suitable size, as you will be signing contracts, doing your billing and performing many otherimportant activities here. You require a phone in order to be contacted by customers, a printer and fax machine along with your computer, and a storage filing cabinet for storing everything. You can also use this space to maintain and create your portfolio. You could store the photos that you will use for your portfolio or future projects, here.

In the storage area, all your photography equipment will be kept. For this you need to first install some shelving units that can hold heavy and fragile items. This means they need to be strong and durable. You need to be organized when it comes to storage, as you will need your things to be in easy access and conveniently placed so that you can quickly take it. It is extremely frustrating to misplace an item just because you are not organized. Very often you end up buying it again and this can cost you time and money. Also ensure that the shelves are nailed at appropriate heights as you do not want to exert all your energy in just removing an item from the shelf.

The work area is the most important part of the photography studio. This area should be allotted maximum space. The room’s lighting needs to be paid special attention as it impacts the quality of photos. You will need different types of lightings that you can move around for creating effects in your photographs. You also need to provide provisions for natural light. Skylights and plenty of windows would be suitable for this. Different photo backdrops will add to the atmosphere and you shouldn’t forget to allocate space for waiting parents and customers. Also include a space where the customers can change their clothing in. Often customers want photos in various dresses, so it is important to provide them a space to change in. Also they might want some privacy to make up and get ready for the photo shoot.