Have Fun with your digital photography

A few weeks back we had our granddaughter over for the week end, I was walking past the bathroom when I heard my granddaughter call me. She was in the bath and wanted me to pick up one of her bath toys she had dropped; as I leaned over to do this she splashed me with water. I told her that I would get her back for that and I got my camera and took a photo of her. I was walking past a building construction site over the weekend when I saw a set of workman’s toilets and that gave me an idea. As I had my camera with me I took a photograph.
When I got home I downloaded the two pictures I quickly removed the background of the bath shot using the lasso tool and carried it over to the site toilet photo.

I asked my granddaughter what she was doing bathing in the toilet. You should have seen her face!
Go have fun with your digital photography.
Len Hutton

For more great hints on digital photography visit :

ttp://www.photographyebooks.co.uk/
http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/book/cb.html?hop=rowner

Thinking of being a professional wedding photographer.

By Len Hutton.


Planning on being a wedding photographer?
Plan the photographs you would like to take before the wedding day, talk the wedding photography plans over with the main parties involved in the wedding i.e. The Bride, Groom, Parents etc.

Before the ceremony.
Make sure you get to the wedding venue at least half an hour before the ceremony is due to start.
· Make a point of having a word with the Minister; ask if it is OK for you to take photographs during the ceremony. (Be warned most will say “No.”) That’s OK be polite and ask him where and when will be the best time to take the signing of the register and may be a couple of other shots, like leaving the church. i.e. Walking down the Aisle. (I have never met the minister that has not wanted to help me after that.)
· Now get back to the photography get photos of the Groom and Best Man arriving, Mum’s and Dad’s, the Brides Mum usually arrives with the Bridesmaids and the Brides Dad usually comes with the Bride, get the Bridesmaid’s arriving and take as many photographs as possible without keeping them hanging about, now you are using digital photography this will not be a problem as it will not be costing you any extra.
· Now the arrival of the Bride and Dad, take photos in the car, the Bride getting out of the car and the Bride and Dad standing by the car. Once again get as many shots as possible. But make sure you work fast, if they get fed-up at this early stage you’ve lost the battle before you start. Keep everyone sweet. SMILE. Tell the Bride how pretty she looks, or tell her what a lovely dress she has on or how nice her flowers look.

During the ceremony.
This may well be dominated by the perimeters that the minister allows you to work in. Many Priests/Ministers/Registrars etc will not allow you to take photographs during the ceremony, but, even if they do allow you to take photographs during the ceremony be discreet try not to use the flash, if you do have to use the flash avoid using it more than once or twice (no sooner than you use your flash, so too will many of the other guests and soon you will have started a light show that will not be appreciated by the minister!)
If possible try to get the main photographs. i.e. get Dad giving away the Bride, the exchanging of the rings, the blessing and the first kiss.
Make sure you get the signing of the register and walking down the Aisle after the ceremony, leaving the church.

After the ceremony.
At this point make sure that it is you who control of the show or else it will run out of control and you will never get it back. Get photos of the Bride and Groom coming out of the venue. Get the Bride and Grooms family, the Bridal groups variations of family groups and as many different poses of the Bride and Groom as possible also involving Bridesmaids, Pageboys, Aunts, Uncles etc. also try to get variations of brothers sisters and so on. Don’t forget to get the Bridesmaids on their own as solo portraits.
And finally the confetti photograph, avoid taking this photo too early on as this may upset the couples clothing as some friends try to put confetti down the couples back etc. and now a few photographs at the front of the car, maybe have one with the car door open, one getting into the car and one in the car.

At the reception
At the reception make sure you get your photographs before the Bride and Groom get too settled in, Try to get a mock photo of cutting the cake, and a few of the couple toasting each other. A good idea is to try to get Dad pouring out a glass of bubbly, and maybe the Best Man reading out a few cards with the Bride and Groom at the side of him looking at him maybe smiling or even laughing.

Finally
A few points to be sure you don’t forget.

Check your camera and flash before the wedding.
Keep an extra set of batteries handy on you all the time.
Keep checking your settings
Try to use a flash grip rather than a hot shoe flash on the camera.
Make the wedding FUN. You’ll enjoy it and so will everyone else.
Keep looking out for that WOW! shot.
Be polite.

In time you will develop your own style, but I find this a good template to work on.

One thing more

Always! Always make sure you get a wedding contract signed before you attempt to cover any weddings.

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If you are interested in photography or have any interesting stories or tips you would like to pass on, visit my web site. Or you can learn more about digital photography at;

http://digitalweddingphotographyinfo.blogspot.com/
http://www.photographyebooks.co.uk/
http:// www.lenhuttonphotos.com

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Have you bought that new camera yet?

By Len Hutton

Well … by now you must have decided to make it a digital camera.
Why a digital camera?

Here are just a few of the advantages to consider.


· The first most obvious advantage must be, that you know right away if you have got what you are trying to photograph, and if not you just retake it straight away.
· You can do away with having to wait till the film has been developed and printed to see your results, and of course the cost is negligible.
· With digital photography it costs no more to take 50 photographs than to take one.
· So having got the shot you were after you find you have made that dreaded mistake! You have a lamppost growing out of grandma’s head.

Now what do you do? Once again with all the new software out there just download the image into your PC open a programme like Photoshop or Photo suite using a clone tool just eliminate the lamppost from the photo

and grandma will never know.
You also have many other tools you could use for various results.
You could crop your photo to any size you want
Eliminate red eye
Remove unwanted shadows
Zoom in to see if your image can be enlarged
Sharpen your image
Change colour to black and white or even sepia
Import other images into your photograph
And that’s just to mention a few of the things you can do with digital photography, you get the point.

Nowadays you can buy digital memory cards from one to eight GIG. That’s a lot of photographs. You can even get camera-to- printer if you want take your pictures plug your memory card straight into your printer and out come your photographs. So when you are on holiday, or even at a wedding you could just pop up to your room and while you are having your meal the wedding photographs could be printing and you will have your photographs even before the professional photographer.

You can also send your digital photographs instantly to your friends anywhere in the world on the Internet.
So if you were unsure as to whether you should buy a conventional camera or a digital camera I hope I have helped you a little toward making a decision

You can find a lot more information on digital photography, digital cameras, digital printing ETC at;

http://www.photographyebooks.co.uk
http://digitalweddingphotographyinfo.blogspot.com/

Freelance Photography: How to Begin Your Career

by Colin Hartness
Photography is a vast world. There are many different types of photography and many different kinds of people that enjoy it. It’s a hobby that be relatively inexpensive or one that you can invest a lot of money on. Photos are so special because they give us memories of times and places and events in our lives. We can hold onto these memories forever with a photograph.
As much as people love photos, many people love taking them even more. Whether it’s a mother who takes photos at every of her children’s moments in life (first smile, first step, first spaghetti meal) or maybe it’s the father who never forgets his camera for a football or basketball game, or maybe it’s the young girl who loves nature hikes with her camera; these people are not exceptions. They all have an eye for those special moments and they all appreciate the camera’s ability to capture that moment and freeze it in time forever.
What is Freelance Photography?
What if you love photography so much you wish you could do it for a living? I mean, you actually get paid for your photographs! But you work solely for yourself, selling each photo or series of photos individually. You don’t have a boss. You work sometimes on assignment and you may sell to magazines. That is freelance photography.
Freelance photography may be your entire career or it may start out as something you do in your spare time but begin making money from it. It’s just like freelance writing in this sense that many people turn it into a career and enjoy the freedom of working essentially for themselves on their own time and making money doing something they love doing anyway.
How to Build a Portfolio
To start getting jobs as a freelance photographer, you need a portfolio. A portfolio will show samples of your work. Even if you have never had photographs published or publicly displayed, you can start a portfolio of your best work and then add onto it if you win photography contests or start receiving paid work.
How to Get Jobs
As we mentioned, building a portfolio is the first step in submitting your work for pay but when it comes right down to it, it’s the quality of the photo that will determine if you get paid for it. Some people have more of a natural talent for taking great pictures than others but it is a skill that anyone can learn. There are schools dedicated to the art of photography and you can even get a degree in it. If you are just getting started, you can look into classes provided by your local community center or community college. Some cities have photography groups that meet to share photos and tips. There are also many groups online dedicated to photography and freelance photography.
You need to view as many famous photographs as possible. Take a look at what is getting published and compare it to your own photos. This allows you to compare and learn from other’s work. It takes more than just point and shoot to get a great photo. You need to learn about focus, lighting, colors and backgrounds and much more.
Once you start learning about photography and creating a portfolio, you can start submitting your photos to contests and magazines. Get a list of photography markets and start submitting to ones that accept your type of photos. Don’t expect to make it to the big times right away. Few people actually achieve this but you can start small and eventually make your way into a nice living from freelance photography. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Looking for information about Photography?Go to: http://www.asaphotography.com 'ASA Photography' is published by Colin Hartness - An excellent resource for Photography! Check out more Photography articles at: http://www.asaphotography.com/archive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Digital photography is art

Kevin Rockwell

Well we used to all go out and shoot images on our film cameras, run the film to the corner store or kiosk to get it developed and then once the prints were hand we tended to stick them away without much more than a few minutes notice. Those days are no more as digital photography has grabbed hold of the consumer marketplace. Now we have tons of images in our cameras, on our hard disks and the options of what to do with them are growing and growing every year.
Digital photography has now found its way into more than half of the homes in America. However most people still order out to get their images printed. Maybe it is not the corner film kiosk of the old days but there is still a very strong market for image printing. Nowadays you can take your images to Costco, the nearby photo store where they might have a digital printing kiosk in the store, or you can upload them to the various internet sites devoted to printing your images such as Shutterfly, Ofoto, and Snapfish to name a few.
Since the year 2000 the number of images converted into conventional prints has been steadily sliding down and could go 5% further this year. However due to the interesting rise of alternative ways to print your images the industry predicts that revenues will rise overall this year. Now why would that be?
Well it turns out that there are some very lucrative ways for companies to make money in the digital age including printing reproductions from digital photographs onto posters, stamps, postcards, T-shirts, chairs, wallpaper, and bronze plaques. Even ceramic tile is being used as a medium for digital printing as designers are using images to decorate them for spas, restaurants, and fireplace mantels.
We have now entered the era of functional art versus just decorative art. Now you can touch it and get a more personal feeling from your digital photography. In addition you can put these digital images on wood, stone, plastic, and metal as well as conventional paper of every type. Either through software on your own computer or through vendors consumers can print their images on birthday cards, calendars, and storytelling photo books that actually get used instead of being tucked away in a drawer like most of our albums of old.
The camera makers have done a fine job of selling digital cameras to the population, but now that they are so infused to the marketplace it will take some creativity to for them to make money off of these sales going forward beyond just getting us to upgrade our digital cameras every year or two.
That will require some new methods for organizing digital photos, new methods of displaying images (perhaps along the lines of the wireless digital display frames that have shown some promise of late) and the ability to print our own custom books using our own digital photographs. That is something that would stay out on display in my home!
Did you know that in the past ten years digital cameras have managed to be sold into over half the homes in the US? The prediction is that number could go as high as seventy per cent by the yearn 2009. Old line film companies like Kodak have had to scramble to move into the digital camera game, with a fair amount of success as they applied old film lessons to their line of digital cameras such as consumer simplicity first, but even they are still leaning on the sales of inks used to print images on computers to hold the profit line.
They have over 75,000 in store kiosks installed throughout the country and are planning for new ones that can handle 900 prints per hour! Retail is strong for getting your digital prints as the big stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco battle it out for your business and in the on line market the field has been whittled down to the strongest. That means that the price per print that was once in the high twenties has now dropped to around 17 cents per print on line and 21 cents per print in store.
So where do you go for these art versions of your digital images? Be prepared to spend more for the experience but get a nice artistic version of your digital photography. Some of the spots to check out are Zazzle.com, Photopetgifts.com, and Matthewsbronze.com. For custom digital photo books you should check out Shutterfly. Imagine the look on your kids face when you give them storybook and it features images of them in the story!
Kevin Rockwell worked in network TV for 20 years shooting news and sports. Now a devoted fan of digital photography he works to gather tips and news for digital camera users. http://www.great-digital-cameras.com/gdcj.html

Digital Photography: What Does It Mean?

Digital photography is very popular these days. If you have recently shifted from film cameras to digital photography, it is essential that you understand the various terms and abbreviations associated with it:
A PIXEL It is the smallest part of a digital image. Pixels are combined with millions of other pixels to form a photo image. The resolution of digital cameras is expressed in terms of pixels.
The total quantity of pixels in a photo image is the RESOLUTION. The quality of the picture becomes sharper and better with the increase in resolution; more pixels mean better the quality.
One million pixels make a MEGAPIXEL. A picture with three or four megapixels will have much better quality than a picture with just one.
DPI (dots per inch) is used to describe the quality of a printer or computer monitor. Laser printers have about 300 dpi resolution, while monitors only have 72. Photo quality inkjet printers have a dpi of at least 1200 dpi. Here again, more the dpi, better the quality.
MEGABYTE represents computer memory. One megabyte equals one million bytes of file storage capacity.
JPEG stands for joint photographic experts group. It represents a format for storing images in digital cameras. JPEG files can be displayed easily on the Internet and e-mailed.
The digital files of all digital cameras need to be stored on a MEMORY CARD. The sizes of these cards depend upon the amount of storage capacity required. For convenience, buy as big of a card as you can afford. This is one computer-related storage space youll use all of, routinely.
LCD is an acronym for liquid crystal display. Most digital cameras have this feature so that the photographer can check the scene before clicking, then review the picture after taking the photo.
Happy clicking!http://www.travel-outdoor-tips.com http://www.recreation-news-magazine.com

Photography Contest - a fun and rewarding experience

Colin Hartness
Do you like to take photos? Are you always standing by with your camera waiting for that moment that is meant to be captured on camera? You may even be taking photography classes or maybe you have already completed a photography course and you want to share your photos with others. You may want to get into photography as a career and winning a photography contest will help you get recognized. Maybe you are just an amateur that has a favorite photo that people keep telling you to enter.
Whatever your reasons, a photography contest can be a fun and rewarding experience for you. To find out all you need to know about entering a photography contest, read on.
How to Enter a Photography Contest
There are some excellent photography contests out there, some even offer large cash prizes, scholarships to photography schools and really nice cameras and camera supplies. Aside from the prizes, winning a contest may be your opportunity to showcase your photography skills in a national magazine. Its easy to see why someone would want to enter a contest.
First you are going to want to choose a contest. In fact, there are so many out there you should make a list of ones you are interested in competing in. There are contests in almost every category you can think of; wildlife, underwater, boats, boat docks, people, children, self portraits, birds, tress, flowers, and much more. Some contests are not category-specific but leave you freedom to use your creativity.
Next, you will double check the dates for entries to make sure you are not wasting your time sending to one that has already reached its deadline. You will also want to check any and all requirements to the contest and make sure you qualify. You will then want to check for any fine print and be sure you agree with the terms. For example, some contests have rules about copyright and you give up copyright by submitting, others ask for print to publish even if you dont win, and without notifying you. If you do not agree to the terms of the contest, you should not enter. By entering, you are agreeing to the terms. There may also be entry fees required for the contests.
Tips for Better Photos
You may be amateur but if you are entering a photography contest, you are competing with the best of the best. You are going to need your photos to be excellent if you expect to win. There are different things that make up a good photo. If your photography contest is based on a topic, then that topic is going to be counted as part of the score. You will want to be original and if possible, catch a scene that has not been done before. You really want to impress the judges with something you do not normally see.
Next to consider, are your technical aspects of your photograph. You are going to want to have excellent composition, lighting, focus, contrast, exposure, perspective and more. There are many factors involved in taking the picture that will win the photography contest. You may not win every time but you should learn something about photography and how to make yours better each time you enter.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Looking for information about Photography?Go to: http://www.asaphotography.com 'ASA Photography' is published by Colin Hartness - An excellent resource for Photography! Check out more cruise articles articles at: http://www.asaphotography.com/archive

What is Macro Photography?

Felix Zhucha

One of the most satisfying forms of photography, and one of the easiest to master is macro photography.
A practical way for defining macro photography is by the strength of the lens, or how nearby it can focus. For true macro photography, you'll want to have a lens that focuses down to a 1:1 range. For example,for 35mm film,your camera has to have the ability to focus on an area at least as small as 2436mm ,because this is the size of the image on the film.After having the film developed,the picture of the subject on the negative or slide will be exactly the same size as the subject photographed.
What makes macro photography seductive is the level of detail that you see, sometimes for the first time - familiar objects become unusual and abstract and unusual objects become even more interesting.
There are many applications for macro photography: flowers,plants,butterflies, minerals,snowflakes... Your own backyard, a local garden,beach or forest can provide you with hours of fun with macro photography.
Of course macro photography isn't always centred on the natural world. Collectors use macro photography to record coins,stamps and other collectibles that are very small.Some people use macro photography for documenting their possessions for insurance purposes or to illustrate their auction listings online.
Working with macro photography can be a whole new visual event for even the most advanced photographers.Every day can yield another subject and an endless supply of captivating images.The possibilities of macro photography are limited only by your imagination.
If you are interested in macro photography, then by all means consider purchasing a dedicated macro lens.SLR digital cameras with interchangeable lenses are ideal for macro photography.If you're primarily interested in outdoor photography, consider a 180mm or 200mm macro lens.
Alternatively you can use extension tubes,reversing rings, or close-up diopter lens.
An extension tube is placed between the camera body and the lens.There is no glass in the tube - its purpose is to move the lens farther from the film (or digital sensor) so that magnification can be bigger.
Reversing ring is attached on the front of a lens and makes it possible to attach the lens in reverse.
Close-up diopter lens are placed in front of the camera's main lens. These screw-in or slip-on attachments provide close focusing at very low cost.However,the quality of the pictures is variable.
About The Author:
Felix Zhucha owns http://www.postersphotosartwork.com . Come and find popular art photographs and posters.

Photography: From Hobby To Your Very Own Business

By: Michael Colucci

Thats right. Who could say that theres no chance that your hobby could also be the foundation of your first business venture? There are a lot of people out there who are in need of a good photographer to capture images of their sons wedding, their daughters graduation or their very own wedding. Why couldnt you be the one to supply your photography services to their needs?
For the transition of photography from hobby to your very own business, there are several tasks that you have to accomplish first.
Market Your Photography Skills Sell yourself, in other words! Let people know about what you can do in the field of photography, why they need your skills and why they should hire you. Make sure, however, that you charge them reasonable rates since youre still more or less an amateur in the field of photography.
To effectively market your photography skills, dont be afraid of spending a little money on posting ads in the classified sections. Dont stop there but post about your photography business in as many places as you can.
Join Interest Groups This could be the local photography club in your community or the association of young photographers in your school. It could also be a Yahoo Group that you could easily join.
Usually, these groups are able to hold regular or annual exhibits of their works and it wouldnt hurt to expose to the world the beauty of your works in photography.
Join Photo Competitions Two things that you could enjoy when joining photography competitions: fame and fortune. Both are equally important. Fame would do wonders to your career in photography because it would let the world know about your skills and winning a photography competition may also offer the prize of having an apprenticeship under a world famous photographer. And when it comes to wealth well, when did extra money ever hurt?
Offer Your Skills For Free to Government Projects The government is always on the lookout for professionals who are willing to work for free and you should take advantage of this. Offer your photography skills for free because this would give you the opportunity to show them what you got.
Offer Samples of Your Work to Newspapers and Magazines This is just like joining a photography competition. When you offer samples of your work to newspapers and magazines, youre improving the chances that youll get noticed by the people who matters.
Although we cant say that the road to victory is easy, never give up, never stop taking pictures and youre sure to go far!Michael Colucci is a technical writer for http://www.photography-tips.org and http://www.digitalcamera-reviews.net - Free sites that offer photography tips and camera reviews.