Digital Photography

A great portrait has the tendency to captivate and amaze the viewer. Photos, especially portraits, project emotions and the art to taking a quality portrait photo is not easily mastered. The following guide will allow you the ability to take quality portraits without the need of being a professional and you will be able to do it without spending a lot of time.

What’s a portrait?

A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer.

Source Wikipedia.org

Step 1: The Shooting Session

For a good quality portrait follow these steps:

A. Choose the appropriate backdrop:

In a portrait you want all attention pointing to the face of the subject. Choosing the proper backdrop can allow the focus to be set on the face. Avoid objects in the background or a busy background, choosing a background is an important step.

B. Don’t allow the background to stand out:

Going with a neutral color is the right choice and blurring it slightly will allow the subject to stand out even further. This is done by using a shallow depth to take the photo. You can do this by shooting the subject up close with a wider aperture setting on your camera or by the use of a zoom lens. If you do not know how to do this, it can be done later using you favorite photo editing software.

C. Keep the focus on the subjects eyes:

Keep the eyes at the center of the portrait and decide what type of mood you want the viewer to feel, you can use a semi profiled picture or a straight on pose, that is up to you and the mood you want your viewer to feel, the simple addition of a smirk or grin can accomplish this very well. The subject’s features if changed in the slightest can allow you to capture any given effect that you as the photographer wish to capture. For example, you can turn a woman into a monster, by touching nothing but the eyes!

D. Keep the lighting natural:

You will want to do this if at all possible to keep the skins natural warmth and color. A good way to shoot a portrait would be to do it outdoors with the sun at the subject profile. Too much sun in the background of the photo will result in shading and distortion of the features as well as the colors of the face. If you are shooting your photo indoors, be sure to use an indirect form of lighting this will brighten the room without the effects of flushing the face of its natural colors. This can be done by placing lighting around the subject without actually aiming directly on the subject because the result can be the same as an over lit outdoor photo, creating a flushed out look in the subject and losing the vibrancy of natural colors.

E. Practice makes perfect:

This is done by simply taking several photos, in the digital camera age there is no added cost to take extra photos, this way you can choose the photo that has come out best for you. This is no time to be shy, the professionals do it and you can too just simply pose your subject in different poses, with different lighting and practice with all of your colors. Experiment with lighting, background colors that are darker or lighter and depth and keep on shooting. Shooting too many photos is better than not having enough when you’re trying to find the one you like most, it is easier to find the perfect picture among 500 than it is to find in 5.

Step 2:  Portrait exposure Values

Exposure is defined as how much light actually gets to the cameras sensor. The exposure Value, otherwise known as EV is representative of the camera settings, this goes along with the shutter speed. The meaning of the number will be explained along with exposure compensation.

Two factors in Exposure:

How much light is getting to the camera sensor and the length of time the sensor is exposed. The length of time it is exposed depends on the shutter speed; the determination of how much light gets through depends on the aperture value. The EV represents how much light can reach the sensor, or in a sense how exposed it allows the sensor to be. The EV is dependent of how well the scene is lit. An example of this is the shutter speed and the aperture value allows the same amount of exposure in the dark or in the sunlight.

example of full artificial lighting

Each EV number is representative of aperture and shutter settings that ultimately have the same amount of exposure. Even though the EV number is the same for all aperture value combination and the shutter speed, the result of each photo can be different.

If you want to be a professional photographer you must know how to use the settings that are on your camera and how to use them. As you learn more about photography you will learn that setting you camera at f/4 aperture priority and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec. will give you the same amount of exposure as an f/2.8 with 1/500 shutter speed and the f/4 setting with 1/125 sec.

As you become more adapt at photography you will learn more about shutter speeds you need. The shutter speed is important because it is what decides how you capture each second of a photo. The light that comes into the camera works along with the shutter speed and this is why you will realize that aperture is involved when you determine the speed you want when capturing a photo. You can capture every second of motion without missing a thing. If you want to capture the winning moment of a football game, you can off course the aperture and set shutter speed to catch every moment of the play.

6 Photoshop Actions including Cinema Effect, Burn Effect, Cold Effect, Special Effect, Black & White (3 different variations), Gloom Effect (2 different variations)

It is better to know this before you try to become serious with photography and your camera. You will want to learn the shutter speed, aperture values and settings of your camera. Practice makes perfect and asking other skilled photographers does not hurt, they have the know how to give you great ideas so you can start right away.

Exposure: 30, Aperture: f/22.0, Focal Length: 20 mm, ISO Speed: 1000. Photo by Vikram Vetrivel

Photographers have been using the same settings as your DSLR camera for many years; the difference is if you know how to properly use them to change your photos. If you’re used to using the old aim and shoot cameras of the past and you are new to the DSLR camera, don’t just use the automatic features. The only way to learn and grow in your photography is to use the manual settings and learn how they can improve your photos.

The shutter setting is one of the settings on your new camera. You can have fun playing with the settings and see how they change your photos. You can easily capture movement by using a slow shutter speed and to add effect to your photo.

You can adjust just the shutter speed or both the aperture and shutter speed on your camera but remember to balance the exposure so change the aperture and shutter speed in a corresponding manner. If you are using a slow shutter speed it is always best to use a tripod.

Here are a few ideas to capture motion effects; if you slow the shutter speed you will find exciting and fun results while capturing the motion of your subject.

You should learn all about shutter speeds because this controls the speed that the light is exposed to the digital sensor. The shutter speed is something you should become familiar with if you want to take better photographs.

For you to get a better understanding, the shutter speed controls the exposure of light. Just imagine it as a door that is opening and closing; it is either fast or slow. This is what determines how much might is exposed to the sensor. The shutter speed can give you a darker or a lighter picture; it can also determine the clarity of the subject’s movement.  A fast shutter speed can give the effect of an object being suspended in air.  A shutter speed of about 1/2000 will accomplish this.

This shutter speed of 1/2000 is so fast you can not even describe the speed. This means the shutter opens and closes at a rate of 2000^th of a second. This shutter speed is used quite often in sports photography; fast movements are captured ideally when you use a fast shutter speed.

For photos of children it is usually better to use a fast shutter speed because they are always so active. You can never find a greater challenge than trying to capture a moment in the life of a child, you have to be quick to the draw and you really need to keep your eye out for those great shots, you can lose a moment forever if you’re not fast on your feet and quick to the draw.

If you manipulate your shutter speeds you can get a blurred image so using your hand at looking for an artistic touch is a good choice for you in the instance of children. Say for instance you choose a shutter speed of 1/250 or less, you can get a great “smudge effect” that will give your picture a real artistic flair, it will not look like an accidental blur, it will look like an intentional effect and that can change the whole feel of your photo. Adjusting the shutter and toying with the different speeds can help you learn to manipulate the photos and give them a more professional style.

When understanding aperture it is described and the F stop. With a high number, the smaller the opening of the lens, and with the smaller opening, there is less light on the image. A good example of this is trying to catch the color of the sunset at dusk. You can manually set the F stop and change it to an F4 where as the camera may have a default setting of F8, the setting of F8 may leave your photo looking too dark, but when you change the F stop to F4 you allow a little more light in so you capture the lighting as you wanted to. So just remember a small F stop number lets in more light, a small F stop will let in more light.

The best way to learn how to adjust your camera manually is to play with the settings and look at all of the different effects you get. This is a great way to learn about your camera settings and finding the right blend in effects that you’re looking for, don’t be afraid, and it will not break, just play with the controls and see what you can come up with.

What are the different cameras you can choose to have control over the aperture and shutter speed?

The digital SLR’s are the best for controlling the light that gets to the sensor. With the typical aim and shoot cameras it’s harder because you can not manipulate the controls independently. With a pro-summer camera there is a small more amount of control but you can still not adjust the shutter speed independently. Out of the three the preferred choice is the SLR.

If you do have a pro-sumer there is an e/v control or exposure value control this control is actually the combo of the shutter speed and aperture. You can still play around with this and see the different effects you can get in your photos and it is at least one step above the old aim and shoot cameras and there is no reason to dump the camera and move on, this is a good camera for you to use to learn different settings until it is time for the next upgrade. This is why the SLRD is the best choice in a digital camera; you can use the control of the shutter speed independently without worrying about the aperture adjustment.

So to sum it all up, you can take great artistic pictures and get a feel of what works best, this along with the technical knowledge you have of photography you will be ready to go! Try the shutter speeds and then move on to the aperture, when you’re feeling confident, try them both. It is your camera and only you know how good you want to be, so the more practice you get in, the better your photos will look and if your trying to become a better photographer there is no better time than the present.

Slow shutter speeds

• The first subject we will discuss is a waterfall. To get the silky feel of the water in a photo, set your shutter speed to a second or a second and a half, each waterfall will talk to you so you should try various speeds to see the different effects you can catch. You can give a misty feel that is soft and dreamy or a harder feel with the same waterfall so don’t be afraid to experiment.
  

  This is what happens when you try to take a photo of them with a very slow shutter while waving your camera. Photo by Aplysia_06

• Now we can move on to the photo of traffic at night. With the shutter speed of one, two, ten or even longer speeds you will catch streams of light from the car lights and the more traffic there is you will get some great results, play with the speeds and check out what kind of amazing photos you can catch of the traffic at night. There are so many images that come to mind and we have all seen them in commercials on television, if you were ever wondering how it was done, well the secret is now exposed.
  

  Exposure: 20, Aperture: f/20.0, ISO Speed: 200. Photo by Zach Heller Photography

• Lightning is the next subject some people think you need superhuman abilities to take photos of lightning but it is just not true, if you leave the shutter setting at B it will allow you to keep the shutter open for any amount of time you choose. When there is a flash of lightning you take the picture, you can catch the lighting and even several flashes of lightning just by keeping the shutter open for a longer period of time. This is a great way to learn about your shutter speed so the next time there is a lightning storm, don’t hide indoors, run out on the porch and try to capture the moment.
• Waves are a great subject to test your shutter speeds on. Sometimes a slow shutter speed of the waves rolling in can give you a great effect and this is a good place to train your eye and play with the speeds. The capture of fast moving waves or the way the waves crash around rocks are a great time to manipulate the shutter speeds. There is a misty and almost magical feeling when you capture the movement of the waves just right and this can not be caught on a fast shutter speed.
  

  Exposure: 1, Aperture: f/36.0, Focal Length: 50 mm, ISO Speed: 100, Photo by by spjwebster

• The last subject we will talk about here is people in crowds. This is a terrific place to play with your shutter speeds; many people moving in all different directions can give an awesome effect of motion in your photographs. You can choose all different shutter speeds and check out the different effects you get, the results may actually surprise you and the photo will take on a whole new life with each different shutter speed.

For an awesome picture have a friend stand in a crowded marketplace and set you shutter speed to slow, it will give the effect of him or her being frozen in time, this is an awesome effect. There are so many choices when it comes to taking pictures in crowds so this is another good time to learn about your shutter speeds. There are a few of the subjects you can try as your learning how to adjust your shutter speeds the results are guaranteed to amaze you and you will quickly learn the effects and the settings of your camera, this is the best way to learn because practice makes perfect.

6 Photoshop Actions

Aperture and/or other technological photography fundamentals can cause yawns in most of the keen growing shutterbugs, however, once if these essentials or the basics are understood by them, the remaining photography can be easily focused on. All the terms, Aperture, ISO and shutter speed can be followed, if you have cameras of point and shoot or a professional one. This article will be a great help and will explain aperture and will definitely provide tips for using this type of camera for a better photography creation.

For a better understanding of aperture, you should fist think about the bigger and smaller growth of the irises of eyes when more/less light enters the pupil. Likewise, the lens of the camera diaphragm narrows and broadens for letting in light more or less. Therefore, it is aperture that determines the picture exposure and that results in clear or dark photographs. Apart from this aperture also has other vital function which will be explained further in the article.

“Aperture” means the size of opening and is usually F stops measured. If the F stop is smaller, the aperture will be wider. This may be quite confusing. Therefore, ratios are regarded as F stop numbers and that is why if the F stop number is big, the aperture size will be small.

Coloured aperture values. Photo by Steven Wong

Depth of the field is also controlled by the aperture along with the light control. This theory can be better understood by holding a fist in front of the eye and when u open your hand slowly, you can see the changing focus. And if the fist is opened larger, more you can see. Thus, you can notice that initially when the fist was small, things which you could see were equally focused. If you try again, you can notice that when the fist is opened, the closest object is focused sharply whereas, the far away objects are out of focus. Same thing is explained in the field depth of aperture and it determines the focused photographs.

Pictures taken in Auto Focus (AF), the camera attempts to focus the main subject, but actual it may not when you really want it. For this main reason, most of the cameras are set with Aperture Priority setting to eradicate this difficulty. By doing this setting, the speed of shutter gets adjusted to balance aperture that is larger/smaller aperture. For instance, if a landscape aperture is set, the shutter narrows and less brightness gets in. Therefore, the camera lengthens automatically and the shutter continues to be open so that the photo does not get underexposed. Though the priority of aperture is not perfect, normally it do work.

If you own a SLR and pictures are taken while in manual mode, shutter speed and the aperture can be adjusted separately. Many people have cameras which are in the present modes, like, sports, landscape, portrait etc. And if the mode is set in the landscape mode, automatically aperture narrows so that everything is focused. Simultaneously, the speed of shutter is automatically adjusted or slows down and leaves the shutter open for a longer time and is offset for small amount of light that is coming all through the diaphragm of lens.

Dramatic Effect with False HDR - Photoshop Action

And if you go in portrait mode and try to focus on a person or thing that is in your front with landscape background, the camera brings the subject in focus and makes the standing person come out more clearly against landscape. Therefore, shutter speeds up so as that the picture is not overexposed by more light that is allowed in the aperture that is large.

Ricoh 55 mm prime lens. Nice pentagonal aperture and colored reflections from the glass.

You should always remember that if the aperture is small, the F stop number is great (as a single ratio is represented and not the number in whole) and the field dept is also great. Usually photo shooting modes are supported by digital cameras that are automatic and you have manually just point and shoot where the cameras do not do anything. Aperture Priority is one of those modes. It is useful in various situations and is worthy of an explanation of its use and type.

When you set the camera in an Aperture priority mode by using the menus that are on the camera LCD, you have to look through and choose from the menus which Aperture priority you want by just rotating dial modes and choose the aperture priority according to its symbol, which in most of the cases are “A” (capital A).

In this mode you have set the aperture value manually and for the rest of the thing, camera takes care. For instance, the optimal speed of the shutter is set according to your choice of aperture. Though certain physical limitations are there and all the chosen aperture value cannot be matched with other settings that can result in a better photo. The camera itself will tell you by flashing a LED that is green in color or in other cases; you can just check them manually.

The trend to add glowing lines and stars seized the web design scene already a few years ago, but not as much as it is popular now. Now we can recognize the “glow” effect in many ways — digital art, HDR photography,  and many other ways, including, of course, web design graphics. During our life, we take hundreds of shots, most of which are rather dull and unappealing, we are used to the fact that photos, by default, never turn to be truly amazing, if they are taken spontaneously with non-professional camera and even those of us who are equipped with a pro-camera, are not always able to capture a breathless moment. Therefore, each time we see an image with beautiful glow effects, juicy and vibrant colors, great contrast and incredible use of proportion, what do we say? “WOW!”. Today I gathered a few photos for your inspiration, which will make you say “wow” and inspire you to aspire for taking better, vivid photos yourself! Here are a few examples of wise, neat and beautiful use of Glow effects..

Mild Glow Practice In Photography

Waianapanapa Sands – Maui photography

Purple Euphoria photography

If at first you don’t succeed…

August 18th 2008 – Inspiration pt2 photography

Summer Night City… At Home

Exaggerated Glow Practice in (HDR) Photography

T

There is a lot of trail and error ahead of you and since I also learnt the hard way how to make proper macro images with digital camera, I am happy to share with you 10 tips that will hopefully make your macro shots much, much better!

1. Go Steady
Camera shake can be a real problem at high magnifications due to longer exposures and shallow depth of field. Use a tripod or assume a sturdy position. Have the mirror lockup mode activated and preferably use a cable release.

2. Windy Conditions
Shooting macros of delicate subjects is impossible on a windy day so go equipped with a makeshift windbreak. A small clamp and stand may be enough to steady flowers and plants.

3. Props
Add impact to the shot and create an early morning feel with a water spray to imitate dew or rain. You can use a droplet and simply lay a few drops on the leaf or flower, or simply spray with water. If you then take photos at sun light, it will sparkle and give your photo a nice unique touch.

4. Sharp as Possible
Maximize the depth of field by using an aperture of f/11 – f/22 and keeping your camera parallel to the subject. Use your depth of field preview button to see the result and if the preview is too dark, take a test shot and check the shot on your LCD.

5. Get Close
Ordinary lenses won’t let you get close to a subject. There is no substitute for a macro lens that can reproduce 1:1 or life-size reproduction. A focal length of 100 or 200mm will give a good distance to work from.

6. Manual Focus
Auto focus is a wonderful time saving addition to

P

Prajneet Singh.

The amount of detail that can be found in nature, no human creation can ever match. The beauty, the freshness, the colors of nature, it is all just so amazing; no wonder so many people take up nature photography as a hobby or maybe even a profession.

But with the kind of flora and fauna out there, you are left with a wide variety of subjects to choose from: beautiful landscapes and seascapes, to little flowers and insects, to big cats, to creatures of the air – birds. Bird watching has always been a popular hobby with nature lovers, and with the advent of digital photography, bird photography has turned into a sort of extension of birding. But the fact remains that like other wildlife, birds are a very difficult subject to photograph because: they are hard to spot, harder to get close to, and you have virtually no control over them. In this tutorial I will provide some basic tips for people getting into bird photography and hopefully try and make their birding experience more enjoyable.

Know your subject; Observe; Plan

I personally prefer to emphasize the bird aspect before the photography one because my experience tells me that the better you know your subject, the better your pictures, even if your equipment isn’t as fancy. Whatever birds you wish to shoot, spend some time reading about them, and studying them in the field if possible. This gives you a fairly good idea of where you can find them, how they react to human presence, and the like. Also, if you have a nature park or a zoo, go there for a walk. That will refresh your mind as well as give you an opportunity to know the birds around you. This done, you should plan your shoot according to the time of the day (and the year) when you’ll get a chance to capture the majestic creatures in all their glory.

The Equipment

Lets face it, getting within arm’s reach of ANY bird is close to impossible unless the bird belongs to a very friendly species or is a pet. So to get good pictures of birds, you need a lens that offers you a good zoom range. A 300mm or better would be ideal, but try and get at least a 200mm lens. Also, if you wish to capture birds in flight/taking off/landing, a fast lens with a wide aperture (f/4 or lower) would really help. A tripod is very essential here because you’ll be zooming in towards your subject which highly amplifies camera shake. If you have a camera/lens with Image Stabilization, that’s even better.

Approach Your Subject

Once you have the equipment in hand, and the subject in sight, you need to get close. As a rule of thumb, for any kind of photography, try and get as close to your subject as possible. Problem: You move towards a bird, it flies away. Solution: Be very slow, very cautious, and very patient. If you see the slightest hint of the bird moving away because of your presence, stop right there and let it get used to you. Make absolutely no sudden movements when near a bird. There have been times when after a lot of effort, I got pretty close to a bird and the bird flew off, not because of my being so close but because of the sudden movement of my camera strap falling down from my arm! So make sure that nothing is hanging loose. If the bird still seems uncomfortable, leave. Come back later. Always remember: the bird is more important than the photograph. The same goes for its habitat as well. Disturbing the creature or its environment to take a picture defeats the whole purpose of bird photography. The challenge lies in capturing the bird in its natural environment, and its own character.