Do People Belong in Landscape Photography? Reader question: Is it true that a great landscape image will almost always be better if there’s a human presence in it? My answer: It depends on the intended use of the picture. In general I would say that landscape pictures meant for magazines usually benefit from the presence of human figures because they lend a sense of scale to the scene. On the other hand, landscape pictures used in calendars almost never include humans. Including the color red can also increase the visual impact of a figure in a landscape. In fact, the effect is so strong that it led to what some people call the “Red Shirt School of Photography.” This term was usually used in reference to photography in National Geographic Magazine. I must tell you that the Red Shirt School is now used as a deprecating label because those same colorful photos often had a cheesy, posed look. Your Own Macro Studio. Do you want to shoot great macro photos, but the results always look boring?
Well, keep on reading. Do not expect that I will show you how to build a real studio, but read on. To make it easy, I thought i would be great to have an “available-light-studio” with daylight only. Here is the list what you need for great macro shoots: a camera a macro ring, macro lens or a camera bellows, to make the macro shoots a tripod a big window a reflector coloured paper Please activate JavaScript to see this gallery The light falls through the window onto the motif and reflector, the reflector illuminates the motif to avoid hard shadows.
For better result you can use the coloured paper underneath your motif (all you can see in your viewfinder). You do not need to follow any rules, but try to shoot the essential of your motif. Photos by paulm99 The whole album can be found here. Travel Photo Tips from the Masters. Who doesn’t want to be a travel photographer and earn their keep by exploring the world and capturing its essence for the rest of us to see? I know I do. My colleague, Carolyn Fox, and I were lucky enough to sit in on one of Traveler‘s photo seminars earlier this month, led by award-winning photographer Jim Richardson and the magazine’s senior photo editor Dan Westergren. Even though the two of us are immersed in the wonderful world of travel every day as part of Traveler‘s digital team, we discovered we had a lot to learn when it came to taking magazine-worthy photographs.
Though Jim and Dan believe in the importance of technique, they stressed that ”the secret is in how you look at the world, not in how you turn the dials on the camera.” “Interesting content trumps interesting technique every time,” they said. Here are a few of Jim and Dan’s tips on how to get in the right frame of mind when you’re making pictures in the world: Dress appropriately: Fit in with the social scene. Photojournalism Behind the Scenes [ITA-ENG subs] GIMP Scripts by JFotography. Underwater Photography – Photo Tips – National Geographic. 100 Seriously Cool Self-Portraits (And Tips to Shoot Your Own!)
The self-portrait has been a popular form of expression ever since man first saw his own reflection. Much like Narcissus, it's often the case that we need not look beyond the tip of our own nose for a muse worth studying. Today we'll walk you through some simple steps for taking your first self-portrait, followed by a huge collection of inspiration from photographers who have gone before you. Let's get started! How To Take a Self-Portrait I recently ordered a product for my camera that I couldn't wait to try out. I wanted to take a portrait with a shallow depth of field and very little detail in the background, so I grabbed my tripod and stood in the very center of my yard, away from trees buildings or any other substantial object.
Below you'll find some helpful tips that I had to learn the hard way. Tip #1: Bring Something to Focus On The problem that I saw when I looked through my viewfinder was that I didn't have anything to focus on aside from the items in the far distance. Corie Howell. Best Underwater Pictures: Winners of 2012 Amateur Contest. Wonderful Photos: How to Photograph Refracted Water Drops. Focus stacking is a very useful technique for increasing your depth of field while still maintaining an appealing level of background blur.
The focus stacking tutorial creates a solid foundation for the technical aspect of stacking. Armed with this knowledge, we can explore a method to photograph flowers through refracted dew droplets. Chrysanthemum refracted through a dew droplet Required Items You will need the following items to create these photos: Camera Macro lens Flash (preferably off-camera) Dry mat (optional, but recommended!) Small daisy type flower about 2-3cm in diameter Nice heavy early morning dew on your grass :) Cameras set up with off-camera flashes and custom diffusers The photo above shows my typical macro flash setups. You're going to need to be shooting at around 2:1 to get close enough (68mm of extension tubes on a 100mm macro lens is fine), although I'm normally shooting at about 3:1 with my MP-E 65.
Technique Side droplet refractions in sharp focus © Brian Valentine. Tutorials by JFotography - Composition Rules. Composition Rules explained through example Golden Ratio (Golden Mean) Diagonal Rule The diagonal rule suggests that important elements of interest should be placed on or close to diagonal of the image. Leading Lines Rule A corollary of the diagonal rule, the leading lines rule suggests that the natural geometric elements such as the lines of an image should be composed to extend from the corners of the image in order to draw and lead the viewer's eyes through the image. Framing Within the Frame Framing within the frame suggests that an image may be enhanced by using natural elements such as doors, curtains, trees, etc to provide an additional border or enclosure. Other Composition Rules Composition rules are not limited to only those explained and demonstrated here. Keep in mind that composition rules serve merely as a guide to help you properly compose a photo.
Your Beach Photos. POINT OF SIMPLICITY ISSUE#5 PINHOLE. Learning about the world through photography | TrekEarth. Available Light - Photo Tips by Catherine Karnow. Doubling your Fun with Double Exposures: Master the Technique. Double exposures can create an alternate perception of reality and truly unique results. You can get amazing doubles simply by chance, but you might increase your chances of getting truly satisfying results if you plan a little bit in advance. I'll leave you with my tips for successfully creating double exposures, just after the jump! Playing around with double exposures is one of the most creative features of analogue photography – and my personal favorite! I love the way you get unexpected results and create something truly unique from the juxtaposition of two images. When you’re shooting doubles you have to take two things into consideration: 1) You should shoot with an ISO value above that of your film. 2) Shoot contrasting images.
Having these two tips in mind, you can go outside and explore the MX function of your camera. I’ll leave you with some of my favorite tricks/concepts to do doubles. Please activate JavaScript to see this gallery Photos by anafaro.