Photography Blog

Richard Walker asked:

After taking hours of photography classes, you grew tired of your frustrations of dealing with your manual camera. At that point, you seem to be getting ready to give up your hopes of becoming a good photographer. Then you went to your computer, went online, and read a feature on how auto focus works on Nikon D5000DX. Then you said to yourself, why did I think about going digital?

Generally, the prescribed instructions on photography classes always started with learning the ways of a manual SLR, as classic driving classes use cars with manual transmission. With that, students who grew used to the convenience of digital cameras may go through the frustrating ride of traveling back in time when pictures still depended on films and graduated focus and zoom settings. The more frustrating part of these classes is achieving clarity with manual focus settings. This is what the all-new Nikon D5000DX is trying to solve.

The auto focus features of Nikon D5000DX are a great time saver for those who so badly wanted to take high-quality pictures. Together with its automatic film advance, automatic flash and automatic exposure capabilities, taking quality digital image in every shot has been made easier.

The 12-megapixel Nikon D5000DX features 19 preset scene modes that are extremely helpful for newbie’s who wanted to take good photos. At any setting, its variable-angle LCD enables the shooter to see digital images at different angles, giving them a live option for capturing images. As the latest addition to the digital Nikon SLR lineup, D5000DX is adorned with expanded scene modes that spell F-U-N. In simple words, the advanced yet easy-to-use auto focus works on Nikon D5000DX to give everyone the chance to be gone with the frustrations they experience with manual or inferior models of cameras.

In general, the auto focus capabilities of digital Nikon cameras use a combination of active and passive systems. For its more advanced SLR models, interchangeable lenses are used to give passive auto focus features. For added convenience, they are given the lock focus capability, which enables the camera to keep a moving subject at the center to the frame. With that, the camera detects a moving subject in millisecond speed.

To activate the auto lock focus features, the user is instructed to apply pressure on the shutter button. This describes an auto focus feature in action. With active preview seen on the camera’s LCD, the user is aided in taking images when composition is best. This way, everyone can say good-bye to blurred and fuzzy pictures. Depending on the camera mode setting, the user can enjoy the other more useful auto focus tricks that digital Nikon cameras offer.

The auto focus features of Nikon D5000DX hits the fine line between the auto focus features that are seen with the Nikon D400 and D700X models. With a slight increase in megapixel found on D400 and a little, less of refinement found on D700X and D800, this high-grade digital camera possesses everything that a novice photographer would need to cover special occasions with quality pictures.

Thanks to its competitive auto focus capabilities, it is predicted to dominate its competition mid-range models. Hence, as long as the user-friendly auto focus works on Nikon D5000DX, everyone can easily shoot professional-grade pictures even without going through the pains of taking photography classes.

Paul Ingersole asked:




A dark room kit provides you with all the items you need to get started developing your own projects. The kit consists of an enlarger, lenses, a cylinder, thermometer, stirring paddle, developing tank, developing trays, film clips, a squeegee, a timer, developing paper, and chemistry film developer. Together, these items will allow you to complete projects in your own dark room.

The enlarger allows you to take your negatives and make them into the size of prints you want. The lenses allow you to magnify the negatives. All of the other items are for ease in processing.

The cost of a dark room print varies from seventy five dollars to thousands of dollars. It really depends on what quality you are wanting. If you are doing this as a hobby, most average priced kits will meet your needs as well as provide you will good quality photos. If you are doing professional jobs, then likely you will want some advanced kit with the top of the line products.

You can find great deals on used dark room kits at some photography shops or online. Ebay has pages of photography equipment for sale. Regardless of the kit you choose, it should provide you with all the basic items you will need to get started.

I was only today looking at some fantastic photos taken by a talanted photographer from Australia.She runs a business called Zoliphotography.biz and the photos of children and familys were wonderful.

Clearly the hobbie of photography continues to grow each year around the world.

Cindy Heller asked:




The 11th century is considered as the beginning of the history of photography as this was the period when an Iraqi scientist invented the camera obscura. In the 17th century, a portable camera obscura was created. The first permanent photograph was captured in 1826. This marked the birth of photography because previously, a way to preserve images produced by cameras has not been discovered.

The first daguerreotype prints were produced on a copper plate and it was common for royal portraits to use this method. In 1840, the first intermediate negatives were produced so people could print a positive image. At last, the first color images were produced in 1861. There was an issue to produce green and blue, but as the technique improved, it was easily solved using three glass negatives, one for each primary color.

Photography became popular to public in 1888 because one man, named George Eastman, marketed his camera that was easily used with only one push of a button. This was the same person who developed roll film and the famous brand Kodak. K was a strong letter according to Eastman and thus he created a word that started and ended with it. Even today, we can see his creation everywhere as the red letter Kodak with its yellow background becomes popular around the world.

Digital photography marked its history in 1973 when a charge-couple device (CCD) was invented. It contained an image of 100 rows and columns, which became the basic of existing digital photography. Kodak developed the megapixel sensor in 1986 and afterwards the technology has developed rapidly into today’s photographic era. In fact, photography has become one of the most popular hobbies in the world.

Even today, photography is still developing continuously. Cameras are getting smaller and we can even hide them in a shirt button. Motion picture also came from photography and right now there are many people who become moviemakers so we can enjoy a life-like look at our daily lives.

Photography as a tool to create history

Our generations are facing great difficulties to uncover many events that have happened in the early history. What we have is only rough drawings on the walls of caves and there are very limited records of any event. Today, we have photography as a tool to create history for our future generations. With photography, we can maintain visual records so our future generations will know what is going on right now.

If you want to find out more comprehensive information on photography, you should visit your local bookstore. You will find out about types of photography, the history of photography, and techniques to produce great photographs. The internet is also an easy and excellent source of information on photography.

Easy2usesites KZN asked:




Marketing Your Business

Product photography is the key to most advertising campaigns, magazine articles and advertisements, and even websites that are designed to market an item. Photographing the item and displaying it in an appealing format is the goal of product photography.

The Equipment

One of the most important aspects of product photography is good quality equipment. At the very least, most product photographers have professional equipment, such as a quality film camera, or a digital SLR, and lighting equipment, lighting tents or domes and backgrounds. Most product photography is now done with DSLR systems simply because photo design software allows for manipulation, such as editing the background out of the final image and can be used to create very unique looking advertisements.

Qualification

For those thinking of doing the job yourself, it can be done, but remember you need to not only develop your skills with the camera but also get information on staging the image, enhancing lighting, and even manipulating the final photograph.

Speciality

Many product photographers specialize in a specific type of photography. There are product photographers that work specifically with fashion items such as clothing, jewellery, shoes and even handbags. Other product photographers may specialize in engines, automotives, computers or other electronic devices. Food items are a very specific field, and are best done with a food stylist.

At the end of the day, the key to being a successful product photographer is to be able to get crystal clear images, and with that, there are endless possibilities.

After the popularity and growth of photography and the invention of the camera, it was no surprise that dissemination and mass production of photo prints followed. Due to the art of photography, public as well as personal history, time and perception has immortalized mankind. The concept of privacy altered as the number of public figures increased and the action of man began being recorded. Photographs became proof of any event, experience or state of being.

The art of photography

During the early stages of photography, many hardships had to be faced before it could be certified as an art form. Artists and critics alike challenged this art form on both its mechanical and chemical front. Photography, for a long time, was only considered a craft.

Removing restrictions

When art schools and museums finally accepted photography as a recognizable art form, the trend continued till present. Many photographers moved away from the traditional and conventional norms that dictated documentary and straight aesthetic modes as an expression of individuality. Photography became the major form of visual art by the 1960′s. Today, photography has been combined with a number of other forms of expression like mixed media and computer imaging.

Practical applications

There are many practical applications when it comes to photography. Photography has evolved to such an extent that it has become an instrument of expression in fields such as medicine, military activities, education and commerce. The greatest benefit of photography has been felt by science. Other fields that depend on photography are geology, aerial mapping, surveying, meteorology, archeology, and anthropology to list a few.

Digital photography

After the 21′st century, images could now be altered and manipulated in a number of ways with the aid of computer techniques and imaging. Photographic nature and technique was forever changed through digital photography. Conventionally photography involved a lens through which light had to be passed and lead to an emulsifying agent. In digital photography color filters and sensors are utilized for creating the image. Digital photography adopts two kinds of techniques. One involves using three layers of filters where each filter will allow only one color to pass through, green, blue or red.

These are just a few facts about modern photography. The art of photography has been around for almost hundred years and the innovations do not stop happening. There are still many more creative innovations yet to be invented, as the advancement of photography can never stop and it will never cease to amaze us.



By: Abhishek Agarwal

About the Author:

Greg Patterson asked:




You might find it helpful to apply a masking on your photo to choose which areas you want to change and leave untouched before you apply any of these special effects. You can create a soft fade between the areas with effects added and those without.

This is called masking and can be done in a variety of ways. One method is called the ‘quick mask mode’. This is quick and easy to do and results are typically acceptable.

Quick masking:

Locate the button called ‘edit in quick mask mode’ in Adobe Photoshop. It is located near the bottom of the main tool bar and appears as a circle in a rectangle. There’s also a short-cut key: Q. Once in quick mask mode, you can select and deselect areas by painting them with white and black respectively, using the standard brush tool.

Zoom to 100 or 200 % for best precision. A soft-edged brush can be used to avoid hard edges. When done, exit the masking mode and go to ‘Select > Feather’ and set the feather radius somewhere in the range of 5-10 pixels. A nice feature is that you can set the opacity to anywhere between 0 and 100%, allowing you to apply the effect stronger or weaker in one part of the image than another.

Layer masking:

Somewhat more complicated, you can add a layer mask. This permits you to apply any effect gradually from any point in your photo. Follow these steps in Photoshop:

1. Select ‘Windows > Layers’.

2. Right click on your layer and choose ‘Duplicate layer’.

3. Click on the little icon in the bottom of the layer box called ‘Add layer mask’.

4. Choose the ‘Gradient tool’ on the main tool box.

5. Select a gradient style from the top ‘Options’ bar (linear, radial etc.).

6. Click on your image on the point you don’t want to change, and drag the mouse away to the point where you want the full effect to take place. The effect will be applied gradually more and more along this line you’ve now created.

7. Last, return to your original background layer and apply any effect you want. This will apply the effect in a soft, gradual way. Use opacity to turn the effect down to less than full strength if you want.

Lens-like effects:

Using the same layer masking explained from above, you can apply ‘Gaussian blur’ which will make the selected areas appear soft-focused, a bit like if you had used a large-aperture lens. With ‘Curves’ you can make your corners darker than the center, replicating the lens effect called vignetting.

In principle, vignetting is considered a lens dysfunction, but subjectively it can add an extra feeling to your photo. It will create a kind of frame that will have a ‘sucking’ effect, drawing more focus to the center of your photo. You can also just lower the contrast and/or color-saturation around your main subject, helping to divide it from the background clutter. Be creative with the many options you have available.

John Wood asked:




An unabridged version of this article and others can be found at:  John’s Blog on ‘One Light’

Portrait photography? No problem! Just find a pretty girl, buy a flashgun, take her picture and hey presto you have a portrait. But is it any good?

So what makes the difference. Well, a number of things do; the model, the background, the pose, the camera, the space, the camera, the lens and the light. But take away light and you have NOTHING!

So what is it about light?

There is: hard and soft, bright and dim, small and big, white and white (yes white and white) as well as white and coloured, direct and reflected, fast and slow, front and side and back and high key and low key and last but not least, invisible!

One Light?: The truth is that there is usually more than one light because where there is light there usually is reflected light.

You can use this reflected light if it helps or insert gobo’s (black go between boards or flags) to stop this. You can increase the reflected light by using reflectors, expensive ones or shirts and white boards.

Hard and Soft: Simply the difference between the light on a sunny day and a cloudy day. Hard light gives dark well-defined shadows. Soft light comes from many different places.

Bright and Dim: A dim light to us can be made to look like daylight, simply by leaving the shutter open for longer. So in this respect there is no such thing as bright or dim light. That is defined by the camera settings. The camera can make the brightest of scenes look like it was taken during an eclipse!

Small and Big: The sun is the biggest light that we can use, however it is called a small light because it is so far away. But put the clouds in between us and the sun and it becomes the biggest light we can use.

Soft boxes turn small lights into big lights and are often 2-3ft across. Alternatives are to shoot through a white sheet or bounce off a wall. An umbrella can achieve a similar effect because it spreads the light all over the place and reflected light can soften the shadows.

White and White: To the human eye, white is clearly white; that is because the eyes is constantly adjusting and interpreting what it sees. Cameras are not able to do that to the same extent. Collect different sheets of white paper and take a close look at them – you will probably find quite a range of whites. The same variations apply to light. We would call them all white (non coloured) but in reality they are coloured or tinted in some small way.

Different lights produce different tints – fluorescent give a greenish light, incandescent give a orange tint, flash guns and strobes will tend not to have a tint; so whites look white to our eyes but some appear coloured to a camera.

White and Coloured: Taking a photograph indoors with flash and incandescent bulbs will give a mixture of white and orange tints.

I was taking an outdoor photo during the day with a deeply overcast day. I place two flashguns with orange gels and the photograph turned from a dull picture to one that looked as though it had been taken late in the evening with a lovely warm glow.

Placing coloured gels over a flashgun colours the light and will produce different effects. Quality street sweets are famous for providing different colour wrappers that can be used for different effects.

Direct and Reflected: Direct light comes from your source light and usually has an obvious effect. Reflected light will come from any other surface that is not totally black. A coloured wall will give the light a colour tint. A shiny surface will give a hard strong light. A textured surface will give a soft weak light.

The distance from the source to the reflecting surface and then to the subject, compared to the distance from the source light to the subject, will greatly affect the strength of the reflected light.

Fast and Slow: What I am really referring to is the duration of the light, ie how long the light is shining while the photograph is being taken.

Daylight shines 100% of the time the shutter is open and a flashgun can shine for 1% of the time. In most cases though, you will get a combination of two lights; one shining 100% and the other a fraction of the time.

Front, Side and Rear: Choose the position of the main light. Each position will create a very different effect, from fully lit to silhouette. Reflected light can be used to fill in shadows.

Low and High Key: This is were the tones of the photograph are primarily dark or bright. The details of the subject are either blown out or in deepest shadow. Often the form comes from the outline of the subject. This is achieved by under or over exposing the subject.

Invisible: Infra Red is not visible to the naked eye, but filters can be attached to a camera which allows that light to be picked up on the sensor or film. This can produce a surreal effect. Different surfaces reflect different amounts of infra-red.

So there we have it, a lightening, fast pass over variations with just one light. 

All this with just one light; just think of the variations with two or more lights.

Explore my website to see some of these effects in practice in the Galleries. Explore making your own photographs with just one light. Explore, discover and understand.

Chris Marshall asked:




Digital photos are stored as files on memory cards and computer hard disks. They can be stored in different file formats (each format has a unique file extension). Digital photo files can be compressed to save storage space and can use a standard or a proprietary format.

Digital photos are saved as digital files on electronic media. These digital photo files are a collection of bytes. JPEG is a standard file format for storing such digital photos. The JPEG format supports compression and allows very efficient high quality storage of digital photos. When using the JPEG format any software from different vendors that adheres to the standard can create and process JPEG files.

JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group

The JPEG file format was designed by a special industry group for the purpose of storing and compressing high quality digital photos. Later on JPEG became an ISO standard and it is probably one of the most popular formats for storing digital photos today. JPEG files are also known simple as JPG files (named after their common file extension .JPG).

The design goal of the group was the efficient storage of digital photographic files while maintaining their original high quality (or quality which is as close as possible to the original one). JPEG files can support lossless compression but since lossless compression is inefficient when compressing digital photos it is hardly used. In most cases JPEG files use lossy compression to efficiently represent digital photos.

It is easy to understand the motivation for such efficient compression by using an example: Digital photos files are built of pixels each one has a value representing its color and intensity. Each pixel occupies 3 bytes (one for Red, one for Green and one for Blue – representing the color and intensity of the pixel). If you shoot a photo using an 8 mega pixels digital camera the photo will have 8000000 pixels each one occupying 3 bytes. The total file size would be 8000000*3=24000000 or 24Mbytes. This is a very big file. Big files are hard to manipulate they take a long time to send by email, they occupy large storage space and they take longer to load. If that same file was compressed into a JPEG digital photo file its size would reduce to about 3Mbytes a much more manageable file size.

JPEG files are extremely efficient in compressing digital photos. They are using compression methods that were specifically designed for digital photos and take advantage of digital photos attributes that allow a more efficient representation of pixels. The JPEG format standardized the way a digital photo is represented and suggested ways to compress digital photos. Using this standard software from one vendor can compress and create a JPEG digital photo file while software from a different vendor can read and process it. There are many different compressors implementations that differ in the quality of the compressed photo. Also the digital photo compressor can be set to different levels of compression. When using a very aggressive compression setting the digital photo file can be very small the side effect however is degradation in quality most noticeable is the appearance of large square areas with the same color and pattern.

JPEG files are the most commonly used ones by digital cameras to store compressed digital photos on memory cards and computer hard disks as they result in small file sizes and hardly any noticeable photo quality degradation. Most cameras also let the user set the level of compression applied to the digital photos usually three level are provided: low, medium and high where low results in minimal file size reduction but superior quality and high results in the smallest files but the highest degradation in quality – in most cases however that degradation is hardly noticeable by the amateur photographer.

Randy Rushmore asked:




Many people who are off on a vacation are now opting to purchase a disposable waterproof camera. There is an abundance of models and brands to opt for and they are different in terms of color, shape and design. Specifically they can take a lot of hard knocks and are able to undergo the most brutal of treatments throughout the trip.

As opposed to regular cameras you can buy, a disposable waterproof camera is a wonderful choice for any children in your group. They may seem to be heavy and awkward to use but in fact many models are lightweight and simple to work with. Several cameras of this type have been created particularly with children in mind. The controls are easy to master and so there is no complication in taking a photograph. Many have grips on them which are great for small hands, especially when wet.

Another advantage of the disposable waterproof camera is that it can take pictures on dry land just as well as it can in the sea. Many kinds of waterproof camera struggle when it comes to capturing life outside of the water. The pictures end up blurry and out of focus. The disposable option will give great results whether in the sea or on the shore.

Disposable waterproof cameras are easy to get a hold of; you can search online and find many sellers who have these types of cameras. Quite often you will receive money off for ordering online or for buying in bulk. His could be a sensible option if you decide that everyone on the trip should have their own camera so that they have their own memories to take home with them. Shipping and delivery costs may not apply and you can expect the package to be at your door within a few days.

It is also possible to purchase a disposable waterproof camera or a waterproof camera in local stores and large shopping malls. Many railway stations, bus depots and airports also have stockists of these popular products.

After your trip, you need to remove the film and send it off to be processed; the rest of the camera can just be placed in the trash. There is no need to fiddle with complicated wires and buttons to retrieve pictures or obligation to clean the equipment, as you have to do with many a waterproof camera.

Purchasing a disposable waterproof camera is a great way f saving both time and some of your hard earned cash. This may explain why it is a fashionable choice with many people going off on a relaxing trip. It takes the hassle out of getting stressed about higher priced equipment being damaged, lost or broken along the way.

That small amount of cash that you have to pay out is well worth it when you see the ease of use and the stunning photos you get with a disposable waterproof camera. It is essentially just like having a regular waterproof camera, only cheaper!

Mark Davis asked:


Get your Disney PhotoPass CD before price goes up

If you’re considering buying a Disney World PhotoPass CD for an upcoming Disney World Vacation, you’ll save if you pre-order it before Tuesday. The price goes up $20 to $149.95 on June 16.

Also, you can save an additional 20 percent if you order the CD here or at PhotoPass centers on Disney World property. Disney World has stationed its photographers throughout the parks — and even the water parks — and it’s free to have your photo taken. Just ask the photographer. Afterward, he will give you plastic card; the numbers on the card are what you will use at either a PhotoPass station on Disney World property or online to view your photos.

I have seen many families that have purchased many professional photos from thier Disney World outings through the years and by far the best deal if you plan to purchase more than 10 photos is a PhotoPass CD. The price of the CD is for an unlimited number of photos from your vacation — even if the photos won’t actually fit on one CD. So, if you plan to buy the CD, take photos everywhere and anywhere! You can duplicate photos by doing a “save as copy” in the edit mode on disneyphotopass.com.

This will allow you to save versions of the same image with different borders, signatures and crops because the images cannot be manipulated with Disney tools once they are burned on the CD.

If you haven’t got your Disney World Vacation yet, then check out our website at www.orlandodiscountticketsusa.com for all your Disney Vacation needs!

Remember — the CD price is for as many photos as you have in your account.