May 26th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
There was a time when digital cameras first came out that die hard photographers would not even consider giving a digital camera a second look. Now more often than not even the most professional of photographers have come over to the digital age. So is this truly a better art form on top of the old film cameras or are we loosing an art form. With the many advances in technology it may be time for the old film style cameras to see their last days in even the amateur photographers camera bag. So check out the video on the some basic need to know digital camera features and share your comments after the article about the basics of digital cameras.
Digital Camera Basics
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyBKCwElpC4[/youtube]
Technorati Tags: Digital Cameras, Digital Camera, Buy Digital Camera, Digital Camera Reviews, Buy Digital Cameras, Digital Video Cameras, New Digital Camera
Digital Camera Basics
An electronics on-line discussion forum contains a story about an elderly woman who wanted a simple camera to take pictures of her grandchildren. When she received a digital camera for Christmas, she looked puzzled for a moment and then asked, “Where do you put in the film?” This humorous example demonstrates how the revolutionary technology of digital cameras may be mystifying for those who have difficulty grasping the concept of a “filmless” camera! For almost a century, photography enthusiasts sagely discussed such topics as 35mm film, light meters and F-stops; today, digital cameras have made such topics all but obsolete.
Howstuffworks.com contains an article by Gurevich, Karim, and Wilson that greatly simplifies an explanation of how digital cameras work. Very simply, they explain that CDs, mp3’s, and DVDs all share the same technology: they convert traditional analog “wave” data into digital data based upon “bits.” In so doing, this radical shift in technology has changed greatly – and forever – how we do things and what has become possible including digital “filmless” cameras. While film cameras depend upon chemical and mechanical processes, digital cameras contain a computer that records images electronically. Continue Reading »
April 17th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
This is for the photographer that has a great deal of patience. Butterfly photography can be a very rewarding experience as well as a frustrating one. The following article will hopefully give you a few tips on taking pictures of butterflies that you may not have thought of. Please by all means if after you are done reading the article you have opinions of your own that you would like to share. Leave a few comments at the end.
Technorati Tags: Photography, Nature, Wildlife, Flower, Butterfly, Butterflies, Patience, Camera
Photographing Butterflies
Photographing butterflies requires patience while waiting for that right opportunity to come along; have your camera ready to go, kick back and enjoy the beautiful flowers until it does. Having your own flower garden to attract butterflies is the best place, in my opinion, to capture your pictures. It’s convenient, away from crowds and, I believe, butterflies feel at ease with your presence after a short time when they know you mean no harm thus allowing you to stand just inches away from them. Nature parks are also places to get good shots of butterflies and so are butterfly gardens which usually have a large variety of species from around the world.
The only equipment I use is a digital camera. The two most important features of a camera for photographing a butterfly, your subject, is a high optical zoom (don’t confuse this with digital zoom - in my opinion, digital zoom produces a poor quality picture) and macro mode (with macro mode you can focus in clearly with your lens just inches away
from your subject). Both features allow you to close in on your subject sharply and will blur the background, eliminating distractions, thus drawing one’s attention to the butterfly’s eye-catching designs and colors.
When photographing butterflies, be creative and bring your pictures to life. Use different angles. Shoot from the front, sides and back of your subject. Shoot at eye level or try an upward shot. Catch the butterflies in different poses. Shoot when they are in flight or flapping their wings. Experiment. If your camera offers manual controls, use a slow shutter speed to blur the movement and a fast shutter speed to freeze it. If you can’t adjust your shutter speed, the more light in your picture the faster your speed will be. If the opportunity allows, look at your subject and background closely through the view finder before clicking. Sometimes just moving your lens a tad bit will make a big difference
in how your picture turns out.
Lighting is another way of bringing your pictures to life. The best time of the day to shoot is when the sun is not harsh, such as in the early morning and in the evening but don’t let this stop you from shooting on a sunny afternoon though. Try taking a picture with the sun behind your subject. This will give a wonderful silhouette look to your picture. Flashes can have a benefit or two, but I don’t use one. I feel nature’s light is the best!
Practice makes perfect. Take a lot of pictures. More than half of mine are deleted (great thing about digital cameras). When you spot a butterfly in the distance, I suggest taking a picture where you are, step a little closer (slowly and quietly), take another picture and so on until you get that perfect close-up or the butterfly flies away. A lot of times the first picture you take may be good enough to crop. It won’t be a large size but it will always be a memory to hold onto.
About the Author:
Diana Cooper specializes in nature and wildlife photography, flowers and butterflies as favorites. You can view her photos at http://www.dianasphotography.com or purchase framed prints and other gift items of her photos at her shophttp://www.cafepress.com/dianasphotos
March 14th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
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Once you are done reading the following article pertaining to selling your photos online and some of the best sites to utilize. Please share your thoughts as comments are appreciated.
How To Sell Photos Online - The 3 Must Know’s
The expansion of the Internet and the corresponding growth in Internet based
commerce has created an unprecedented demand for digital images. This in turn has
created a great opportunity for photographers (and not just professional
photographers) to sell their photos online.
As with any new field, it’s not
always easy to know where to start. This article will act as a guide in that
respect.
There are three basic things you need to look at when considering at
how to sell photos online:
1.Where should I sell my photos?
2.What are
the best sort of photos to take? and
3.How can I ensure that my photos prove
popular to buyers.
Let’s deal with each in turn.
1.In terms of where to
go to sell your photos online, the basic rule here is to find out where your
prospective clients go to buy their current photos and make yourself visible
there. Your choices are (a) to sell your photos yourself using software designed
specifically for the task or by creating your own custom site and html code to
protect your images; (b) to sell your photos on eBay or other auction sites or;
(c) sell them to online stock photography sites where you get paid a portion of
the sale each time your photo is downloaded. Shutterstock.com, PhotoStockPlus
and iStockPhoto.com are popular examples of such sites (though there are many,
many more). The fact that a photo taken once can then be downloaded by buyers
over and over again, makes this a very popular avenue for selling your photos
online.
2. “Think commerce” is the mindset you need to have when considering
what sort of photos you should take. Most of the people that are buying photos
online are doing so because they want their websites to produce more sales. The
old adage of “a picture is worth a thousand words” is as true in the digital age
as it ever was in the past.
Bearing that in mind, there are certain
categories on stock photo sites that are very popular with buyers; those being:
photos of electronics, photos of businessmen and women, photos of money and
other photos that may be beneficial to their website or business. You can add to
this well taken nature shots as a very popular online seller.
You’ll find
that any photo, regardless of category - with an element of real “uniqueness”
could also prove to be a popular online seller, particularly if it’s a shot of
someone in the public eye.
3.To ensure that your photos prove popular to
prospective buyers you will need to combine two of the elements that we’ve
already spoken about. You’ll need to take photos in categories that we know to
be popular with buyers, yet you’ll need to make your photo stand out from the
crowd. To do this you need to provide some sort of twist on an already
established theme. Go to the stock photography sites that I mentioned in the
first section and do some research in the popular categories: electronics,
pictures of money pictures of businessmen and
women. Look at what is there and make a decision on how you can come up with
something a little different. If you have any Photoshop skills, then you have a
powerful tool to add an element of real uniqueness to your photos.
When
answering the question of how to sell photos online, your best bet is to first
visit the marketplaces in question; auction sites such as eBay and online stock
photography sites and do some research. This will give you a feel for the photos
that are popular as well as start stimulating you with ideas on how you can
start to put your own unique spin on the photos that you take.
Scott is a successful
freelance photographer who makes the bulk of his income by selling his photos
online. To learn how you can successfully sell your photos online go to http://www.money-for-photos.com
Technorati Tags: Photos, Digital Images, Digital Photos, Sell Photos, Money for Pics
February 25th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Last December, my neighbor stopped by with her annual Christmas treat. After
my many thanks, we got to talking about scrapbooking. She had been dying to
get her photos out of boxes and into scrapbooks, or even albums, but the idea
was simply overwhelming. She had never kept her photos organized and she’s not
even sure when most of the photos were taken or where.
That’s when I took her
into my office and showed her the totes of photos I have waiting to be
scrapbooked and my table of “in progress” work. I said to her, “You don’t have
to scrap like the photos in the magazines you read. If you find that too
overwhelming and you simply want to get your photos into some kind of logical
order, do what I’m doing. You see, I love beautiful scrapbook pages and find
them fantastic works of art, but I have 12 years of photographs to scrapbook and
at 1-2 hours per page, I would get nowhere fast. So I’ve opted for a
shortcut.”
I pick the best photos and divide them among three scrapbooks: mine, my daughter’s and
my son’s. The rest of the photos go into envelopes with the names of relatives.
When the envelope gets full, I seal it, mail it, and start a new envelope. Then
I glue as many photos on a page as possible without looking too crowded. I leave
room for short sentences, dates, and names. I even leave room for fancy stickers
and simple doodles. Sure they won’t win me the coveted Scrapbook Designer’s
Award, but they showcase and safeguard precious memories.
And to keep from
getting behind on today’s photos, I use templates provided by photo book
companies like Photoworks.com or MyPublisher.com. I upload my favorite photos,
add dates, names, and captions, place my order for two copies, and happily await
the arrival of my completed photo book.
In two hours’ time I have a
completed scrapbook worthy of admiration. And the best part is that I can go
back later and order more copies for family gifts. Think grandparents, brothers
and sisters, and long distance friends who consider you family.
As far as the
organization goes, my advice to her was simple. Go through your photos and start
three piles: your husband’s family, your family, and your immediate family (you,
the husband, and your kids). Then get a huge manila envelope or archival safe
photo box and place all the photos from your husband’s family inside. Label it,
and put it aside. Do the same with your side of the family. Now all you have to
do is concentrate on your immediate family.
“That’s still too large a job,“
she said. “That’s years of photos. What do you suggest I do? Sort by year,
holiday, what? And what do I do with photos that I can’t remember when or where
they were taken?”
I looked her straight in the eye and said, “Just start
small. For photos you have no clue about, put them into a boxed marked ‘Go
through with hubby’. For the rest of the photos, break them down according to
how you plan to scrapbook: by year, by age, by theme. Since you have years of
photographs, you could always do a holiday scrapbook. Start with Valentine’s
Day, then Easter, then the 4th of July, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and
finally end with Christmas. Then move onto a vacation scrapbook, a friends of
the family scrapbook, my favorite photo scrapbook, and soon you’ll be
down to random photos that could easily end up as yearbook.”
That’s when she
got excited and said, “That would be so much more fun than going through a
year’s worth of photos and trying to scrap them. By doing the themed albums, I
get to see how much the kids have grown and we can talk about family history. I
like that.”
And so a scrapbooker was born.
About the Author:
Alyice Edrich is the award winning editor of The Dabbling Mum®. Stop by for
your chance to win free videos and books (http://thedabblingmum.com) or to download three
free e-books (http://thedabblingmumpress.com).
Technorati Tags: Scrapbook, Photos, Pictures, Family Photos, Scrapbooking,
