How to Shoot Professional Images in Low Light

By Lee Stewart

Low light...it can be a photographer's nightmare. But here are some basic techniques that I use daily to overcome this obstacle. Some of this may sound mundane, but I am surprised constantly by how many photographers do not understand these basic principles.

First, let's talk about lenses.

For those of you who do not already know this, we refer to lenses in terms of how "fast" they are. This is kind of a misnomer, but what it really means is his: how big is the aperture? The larger the aperture, the more speed you can get out of the camera...hence...how fast it is. The absolute minimum aperture for exposing images in low light should be f2.8. If you have a lens that has a smaller aperture opening than this, your ability to capture sharp images will be drastically reduced. Most "kit lenses" are f3.5 to f5.6, and most of them lose aperture as you zoom in (the closer you zoom, the smaller the aperture becomes). This can spell certain doom in low light. So the first, and most important tip is to invest in quality lenses. Invest in lenses that are f2.8 or faster...f1.8 or 1.4 is even more preferred.

Second, let's talk about film speed (ASA) or CCD speed (ISO).

In a nutshell, the larger the ASA or ISO 3, the "faster" that medium is at exposure. This becomes very important in low light situations. The downside is that the higher the speed, the more "noise" one can expect. As a rule of thumb, I typically use ASA/ISO 200 for sunny days outside, ASA/ISO 400 for indoors with good lighting, ASA/ISO 640 for indoors with medium light, and ASA/ISO 800 for indoors with low light conditions. I have found that anything higher than a speed of 800 produces too much noise for what I do.

Third, let's talk about Shutter Speed.

In low light conditions, even with a professional flash mounted, I have found that anything slower than 1/30 produces blurry images. Human movement in that time frame (both the camera operator and the subject) is just enough that the image will be blurry at 1/20, so I try to never step below 1/30. The only exceptions are when I mount the camera on a tripod and I am shooting a stationary object, not humans, unless you are trying deliberately to capture their movement, but that's another discussion.

Fourth, let;s talk about Flash.

Rules of thumb for flash photography in low light conditions. If the ceiling of the room is low and light in color, I set the flash to TTL (through the lens), point the flash head at the ceiling and I use the diffuser. This "bounces" the light around the room and produces a really nice effect for evenly distributed lighting. In rooms where the ceiling is low, and a darker color, I do the same thing, but remove the diffuser. In high ceiling, lightly colored rooms, I set the flash to it's full power manual setting, point the flash head at the ceiling, and use the diffuser. The down side of this is that it will take longer to recharge the flash unit, but the payoff exceeds that I think. In the same room with darker colors, I use the manual flash, point the flash at the subject, and if the subject is close, I use the diffuser...if the subject is more than about 10 feet away, I remove it.

Now let's put that all together.

In low light situations, we want our lens open to it's "fastest" aperture...preferably f2.8 or faster. The reason for this may surprise you, but, the main reason is that so you can expose the background correctly. Did you hear that? It's right...the background. Why do we want to do that you ask? I'll tell you why. Anyone can get a picture of a person in a dark environment with the background completely black. That takes no skill at all. But show me the photographer that can light up the background in a dark room, and expose the subject correctly, and that is the professional. Next, we want to make sure that we are using the right film speed (ASA 800) or CCD speed (ISO 800). Lastly, we want to make sure that our shutter is set to the right speed (1/30). Anything slower will blur. Use the flash as described above, and you will be on your way to taking better images in low light conditions. Of course these tips are not set in stone, but they do offer us a starting point that should help the user make progress. And as always, practice makes perfect!

About the author: Lee Randall Stewart is a professional wedding photographer with offices in Newport Beach, CA and Honolulu, HI. His work has been seen all over the world in numerous wedding photography editorials and magazines, and he remains one of the industry's leading professionals. To see his Newport Beach based website, please visit http://LeeRandallStewart.com and to see his Honolulu based website, please go to http://HawaiiPhotoStudio.com

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Digital Video Cameras - Optical Vs Digital Zoom

By Abner Allarey

A digital cameras zoom lens is effectively a cropping tool that lets you zero in on an important subject area to make it fill as much of the frame as you want. The lens does this optically by narrowing its view to exclude some subject area while magnifying those that are left within the frame.

When zooming optically with a digital camera, the picture area contains the full number of pixels for the selected resolution setting, but more of them are now devoted to the area you want, making its details clearer. Most digicams (and some camera-phones) include a digital zoom facility that works by selecting out a rectangular area in the centre of the field of view and enlarging it to fill the frame. All unwanted pixels in the surrounding area are discarded.

The cropped image then undergoes an interpolation process that adds new pixels on the basis of existing pixels in the image, these new interpolated pixels are created from existing image data, so you don't gain anything beyond a slightly tighter composition.

The actual picture quality will depend on how many pixels your camera used to make the image and how much of that image you crop away. It will also be influenced by the quality of the cameras interpolation algorithms. High levels of digital zoom require a lot of extra pixels to be added and this usually results in a loss of both image sharpness and contrast so digital zoom shots often look much flatter and fuzzier than shots taken with the cameras optical zoom lens.

Digital SLR cameras never include a digital zoom function but photographers who use these cameras can achieve a similar objective by enlarging and cropping shots when they edit them on a computer. The higher the cameras sensor resolution, the more enlargement is possible before the image starts to degrade and the greater potential for selective cropping.

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Edit Digital Photography - Digital Photos Touch Up Guide

By David M Peters

The advances and conveniences in digital photography make it possible for anyone to take a perfect picture, but how exactly is this possible is we all are not the world's greatest photographer? By touching up your raw images through digital editing you can take what was once an average picture and make it a great photograph. Maybe you needed to lighten your image, crop or rotate a bit and even clean up some dirty spots; this is all quick and simple to do once you know how. Most pictures need some type of adjusting to produce the final image. Take a look at this short guide to help you with the most common touch ups for your photos.

Step 1: Start Up Your Image Editor The first step, of course, is to fire up your favorite image editing program. For beginners, it's best to get a program like Ulead PhotoImpact. It's a great tool that allows you to achieve professional photo effects using simple, easy-to-follow steps.

Step 2: Remove Red-Eye Almost everyone has experienced the red-eye effect when taking pictures of people. This is an easy corrected problem with image editing software. A Red-Eye Removal tool can be found in the menu of Paint Shop Pro that does all of the work for you. Ulead Photo Impact offers the same feature with its Remove Red Eye option in the Tool Panel.

Step 3: Rotate and Crop If you've taken a photo in a wrong orientation, it's easily corrected with little loss in quality by using a rotate tool. You'll also want to do some cropping of your photo to remove cluttered surroundings that draw attention away from your subject. For example, I find cropping very useful if my subject is occupying only the middle portion of the photograph. Cut away the two sides of the picture and you have a much more professional look.

Step 4: Play with Color Don't be afraid to experiment with colors. Image editing programs put a lot of power in your hands. You can make the leaves purple, change the entire photo to black and white, add a sepia effect - almost anything you want. A good photo editing program will have automatic color balance options to adjust color defects in your pictures.

Step 5: Blurring Effects Sometimes I like to add a blurring effect to my photos. What you can do here is to select areas of the photo which are unimportant and blur them out. This will bring more attention to the main subject of your photo. For example, if I had a picture of a flower and I wanted to play down the details in the leaves in background, I might add a blurring effect to the background.

Step 6: Sharpen Up Sharpening the image is the next step in the photo touch up process. You cannot sharpen an out of focus image into clarity contrary to popular belief. The best way to utilize the sharpen tool is to selectively sharpen just a portion of an image such as a person's eyes. Leave the unimportant areas unsharpened to give the focus to your selected area.

Step 7: Resize You may need to resize your photo to suit your need. To e-mail your photo, resize to a smaller dimension. To print on a greeting card, you will want to resize your image to a 4x6 size.

Step 8: Save Your Work You're almost there. Now just remember to save your work in the proper image format. Use the larger TIFF image format to preserve all details for further image editing. If you just want to e-mail your pictures or upload them to your website, the JPEG image format would work best.

Conclusion Alrighty then! Now you know the secret to touching up and preparing your raw digital photos for output. I'd say that not all the above steps are truly necessary in a given situation. Remember to use your discretion to see which is necessary. Don't be afraid to experiment and learn - practice makes perfect when it comes to touching up your photos.

Would like to find out more about editing digital photography? Don't trust anybody's advice until you read this free report.

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What Are the Main Features of a Digital Camera and How Can You Use Them?

By Alex Don

Digital cameras have revolutionized the photographic industry and will continue to do so. With more and more advanced features, these devices have also significantly brought down photographic costs. No wonder digital stores are always crowded. The advantages of digital cameras include easy storage, the possibility of editing photos on the computer, the elimination of film costs which have been replaced by memory cards and great features such as video and sound recording.

It is important to learn about these features in advance so that when you shop for a digital camera the salesperson doesn't manipulate you with all the marketing talk. You should have a clear picture on what is it that you need. The first and most important thing is the charged couple device (CCD). The pixel count in plays an important part in determining the quality of your photos. First you have to determine how many pixels you actually ned. If you want to take large prints (8''x10''), you need a camera with at least 3 megapixels. The more, the better. But if all you want is to publish photos on the web, one ore two megapixels are enough.

Another important feature is the zoom, especially optical zoom. This determines the camera's capacity to magnify the objects in the picture. The zooming in and out happens right within the lens and you can see it moving inwards or outwards just like with traditional cameras. The greater zoom power you have, the more you will be able to magnify, which gives you the possibility to shoot photos from the distance.

There are many other features you should consider apart from zoom and number of megapixels. Power consumption is also important and there are cameras which use a lot of power, which means you will spend a lot on batteries. Pick a camera that works with rechargeable batteries. If you could also get a recharger as a bonus, the it's great.

Another good thing is to have plenty of space on your memory card, especially if you are the sort of person who travels a lot. A CompactFlash card is a popular choice and it comes in sizes ranging from 16 MB to 1 GB. It is also compatible with a lot of camera models.

Also take a close look to the camera's LCD screen, as there is a wide variety of resolutions and sizes. There are also screens that you can move and bend over. The best choice depends on what you want to do with your digital camera. If you plan to take a lot of architectural pictures and shoot around angles, then an LCD screen that you can move is a good option.

These are the main things you need to look for before making a purchase and if they prove to be wrong they can really ruin your chances of getting good photos. Of course, there are plenty of other features. For example, if you always have problems with red eyes and want to get rid of them, consider getting an external flash. Red eyes will be much more seldom with this kind of equipment compared to a built-in flash. Think about other things that might interest you and look for a camera that responds to your needs.

Alex D. specializes in writing on the theme of image resizing for reshade.com. Reshade is specialized in online picture resizing and makes available an online image resizer application. Also it provides a picture enlargement windows application.

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Digital Camera Tips For Choosing the Best Camera

By Fabian Toulouse

Digital cameras have been around a long time now, but there are still some diehard 35mm fans out there who have resisted the switch. While 35mm is still perfectly acceptable, it is hard to argue with some of the advantages of digital. Digital cameras allow you to immediately review the pictures you capture, and with the software programs available on most computers, the possibilities for correction and digital manipulation of photographs is practically limitless. There is a lot of confounding information, however, about which digitals are best.

When thinking about a digital camera, you have to be up front with yourself about how you will be using the camera. If you are a professional or a keen photographer, you definitely want to go with Digital Single Lens Reflexes (DSLR). If you currently own a 35mm SLR you will be able to make the switch quite smoothly, and you will probably even be able to use your current lenses with a digital camera body.

The advantages of DSLR include lens interchangeability, high speed facility to photograph sports and other fast action, and a viewfinder that is through the lens. If, however, none of these things matter very much to you, and you just want a simple camera to carry around in your pocket on vacation or at family get-togethers, then what is normally called a "point-and-shoot" will probably satisfy your needs. Be warned. though, that a point and shoot camera with an electronic viewfinder is your best bet. Those with optical viewfinders are frustrating at times in that it is hard to tell exactly what you are photographing, and if you are in bright light the glare will make it hard to see the viewfinder at all!

No matter which kind you choose, going digital is smart. You can take all the pictures you want, dumping any rejects to make room for more, and you can see that same instant what kind of shots you are getting!

Of course, you also have some digital fans who are ready to invest in a newer or more sophisticated digital, but are having a hard time choosing the perfect model for their needs. When it comes to obtaining a new camera, then, it seems most everybody could use a few digital camera tips.

F. Toulouse

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Digital SLR Camera - Enhance Photographic Skills

By Alden Jerry

Modern day world is full of technologies, which are helpful to users in various contexts. With rapid technological enhancement, many modern sophisticated devices have evolved, which are enriched with latest technologies. One of such modern and extremely advance device is Digital SLR camera, which are compact cameras of high picture quality. Now people are more modern and want better quality camera which can offer them excellent photographs.

The digital single lens reflex camera is comes with more improved and advance technology and provide the image of superior class. With these superb cameras one can capture interesting pictures without missing out any important shot. These are well equipped with excellent quality flash options to enhance the image quality. There comes no problem of light factor with these amazing digital cameras as they are compact highly advance camera of latest techniques. This is the only camera which is able to click images of wonderful quality even without any use of flash facility.

SLR camera is best for those people who want to enhance their photographic skills and love to capture images from different lenses. These effective cameras are able to let users to provide a properly focused image with a dimmed background to get a different look of the picture. This fantastic camera also allows users with a super fast and effective shot to shot time in which a user can capture an excellent multi shots at a same time.

The ability to change lens to a telescoping lens means the user can zoom in on objects that are further away without disturbing the subject by moving closer. This camera consists of different types of lenses which make easy to photographer to see tiny objects through macro lenses of high quality. The Digital SLR Cameras are regarded best for people who want to do digital photography. However, its size is large than other cameras but they are easy handling devices with simple functioning. Their bulkiness has no bad effect on users and picture quality. The SLR cameras are the best available photography equipment which can capture images in the best way. These high qualities of SLR camera have made them extremely popular and superior devices for better photography experience.

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Digital Camera Ratings Guide

By Chris Campbell

The digital camera ratings guide is available in print and online. This guide will help you see which camera is rated the best and the worst, plus all the ones in between. Although the ratings guide is very useful, you still have to decide what you need the camera for and how you will use it. The ratings are useful if you want a camera that you will use for professional photos or if you need high quality pictures. Rating each camera is done to help the consumer choose a camera that meets their particular needs. Keep in mind that the ratings are just one persons opinion.

You will find that the digital camera ratings guide will help you select a camera for yourself as well as the kids. The guide will help you select an easy to use camera. The guide will list attractive features that the camera has, which is nice when you are comparing cameras. For instance, the new Nikon Coolpix P80 with eighteen times optical zoom that should come out in April of 2008 sounds like a great digital camera with a fairly decent price, but you would want to see some ratings on the camera before buying it.

The digital camera ratings guide will be a big help for anyone thinking about this innovation from Nikon. The camera offers a high-resolution image. Nevertheless, what are the other features? How easy is it to use? These are going to be some of the questions you might want to know answers to before looking at one. The more information one has about a camera, the more you can understand the ratings. It will be wise to wait for some ratings to see just what people think about this new digital camera from Nikon and how easy it is to use.

While Nikon is one of the best when it comes to a digital camera ratings guide, they're certainly not the only game in town. There are equal and better cameras around, you just need to know where to look.

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Taking Close Up Photos of People - Digital Photography Tips

By Al Sanez

Taking close up photos of people in digital photography can yield some great results. Close up photos make the person being photographed look more appealing. This article will provide you some simple tips for taking close up photos of people.

First off, unlike what you may think, close up photos taken of people are actually far from the subject. What I mean by this is that the camera is far from the subject. What is done, however, is the camera is zoomed in or a telephoto lens is used to get the photo very close to the subject.

What this does is make the person look more appealing. If you took a close up photo of a person and positioned the camera right in front of them, they would end up looking distorted and unflattering.

They have specific lenses for portrait photos of people, however, all you need to do to take better people close ups is to zoom in. You can do this with your optical zoom. A telephoto lens would work great, however, is not needed to yield great results.

When you use a longer lens what will happen is the background will get out of focus. What will also happen is less light will be let into the camera. This is because the lens is farther from the camera and more light is needed to travel to expose the shot. Because of this, you ought to use a tripod when taking close up shots. This will make sure that the person is fully focused and not blurred at all.

Al Sanez has a Free Photo 101 E-course that teaches digital photography. He also has another free program on how to Sell Your Pictures Online

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Under Water Photography Tips and Techniques

By Charlotte Plante

The general purpose of under water photography is to bring sea life to the surface. Most people are curious about what lives underwater and what actually goes on beneath the ocean surface. Underwater photographers make it their mission to capture this hidden world on camera and bring to those people who will never get a chance to see it firsthand. The under water world requires a specific skills and techniques that are different from general photography skills.

The underwater world needs to be captured up close unlike wildlife photography for example. Since the water refracts and distorts images, the closer you are to your photography subject, the less distortion you will have. A great deal of patience is required for under water photography. You may be trying to take a photo a fish or dolphin, but than they suddenly swim away before you get a chance to. Also, water contains many particles like plankton that can cause the image to lose contrast and sharpness.

Using an underwater flash, or strobe, will help provide the proper lighting necessary for taking a great picture. Therefore, it is essential to use an underwater camera with a flash. This will help to bring in other colors and contrast them with the colors of the subject. A medium sized strobe is all that is necessary as a large strobe can end up getting in the way.

Composition is extremely important. The same basic rules apply as in regular photography, but you should shoot at an upward angle towards the subject. Because of the camouflage technique of most sea life, they tend to blend into their habitats. Since they do not stand out like this, they do not make good photographs. The key is to always try to get a clear shot whenever the subject blends into the ocean background.

If you are looking to improve your under water photography skills, you will first need to work on your photography on land. When you get to the point where you are taking great photos on land, than you can move into the more advanced world of underwater photography, where taking great pictures takes more patience and skill. Photography under water brings sea life to the surface which gives us more information about the mysterious marine world. If you are just beginning to have an interest in under water photography you should consider taking an underwater photography course to learn proper technique.

Charlotte Plante is an avid photographer and runs a photography website dedicated to underwater photography, wildlife photography, and more. For great digital photography tips, discount offers, and more, visit Charlotte's website at http://digitalphotographyarticles.com

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Waterproof Digital Cameras and Cases - Underwater Digital Photography

By Otto Swerps

Underwater photography has become very popular in the past decade. As new and innovative technology allows for the development and manufacturing of more affordable underwater cameras and equipment, novice and seasoned photographers alike are diving in and exploring a whole new world with underwater photography.

Not too long ago, taking pictures underwater required photographers to use large and bulky waterproof cases that were very heavy and expensive to make. Technology in plastics has made it possible to manufacture products for the general public that were once considered specialty products. This is also the case with photography equipment, specifically with digital cameras for underwater use, that are now available in many sizes and price ranges. There is a waterproof digital camera available to meet any budget. Already have a great camera you would like to use underwater, but it isn't waterproof? More than likely, there is a waterproof case available for your digital camera. In either case, don't delay! Underwater photography is very exciting and offers you the opportunity to get to know more about the world around you, and also take some fantastic pictures.

When starting out, keep these tips in mind:

1. Get familiar with your camera and equipment before venturing out. Read the manual and understand the settings and features it has. Also, take note of the depth and pressure your camera and equipment was designed to handle.

2. Make sure to fully charge your camera's battery the night before. Download any pictures that are on your camera and memory stick to your computer so you have the maximum amount of memory to take lots of pictures.

3. Before going into the water, inspect your camera and make sure there isn't any grime or dust on or around the seals and lids for the battery chamber and memory stick slots. This breach could allow for water to seep in. If you are using an underwater case, check all the seals of the case, latches, buttons, etc. Then, make sure everything is closed and sealed properly on your equipment.

4. Make sure to secure your camera and equipment to your body before jumping in, like with a wrist strap. It is very easy to drop your camera when going into the water and depending on where you are, it may be quite difficult to find your camera at the bottom.

5. When you return home, make sure to clean your camera equipment thoroughly. Set your camera or camera case in clean water and rub off any sediment that has accumulated. Let your equipment sit and dry completely.

6. Most importantly, have fun exploring your new found world of underwater photography!

I have found the best prices online for waterproof digital cameras and cases, and list them on my blog. For more information about waterproof digital cameras and cases, including waterproof digital cameras for under $40, visit my blog at http://digitalwaterproofcameras.blogspot.com

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How To Sell Photos Online

By Al Sanez

Have you ever wondered how to sell photos online? Think that it is hard and requires an experience and skill level of a professional photographer? Think again.

Many people are earning money selling their photos and are shooting photos that are amateur and with digital cameras that the average person can afford. If you want to get into the business of selling your photos online you only need two basic things. These two things are very obvious and if you already take pictures you probably have both:

1. A digital camera

2. Internet access to upload your photos

That's all you need to get started at selling your photos online. Of course, there's more information that you need to know but photo wise and equipment wise that's all you need.

You will be submitting your photos to stock photo websites. These websites are very popular and receive thousands of visitors a day. People come to these websites to get stock photos that they can use for artistic projects, advertisements, videos, company logos, etc. These sites are where you will be selling your photos to the people that need the photos. There are many stock photo websites that are very hungry for photographers to sign up for.

Two of the most popular stock photo websites are Shuttestock and Fotolia. These sites are very popular and receive many visitors a day. The way they work is you sign up for free and then can upload your photos.

The amount of money that you are paid can range from twenty five cents to a few dollars. This is not a lot of money at all but stay with me. There are photographers that are making thousands of dollars on these websites. How is that? They have many pictures available and these pictures are high quality and desired by many people.

When you take stock photos you can take pictures of nearly anything but not everything. You can't take pictures of:

1. Trademarks, watermarks, or brands

2. Buildings that are copyrighted

3. Certain areas of national parks

4. People that don't want to be photographed

When you visit the stock photo sites take a look at the categories available. There are many different things you can take photographs of. You can take photos of dogs, cats, rats, snakes, food, people, televisions, etc.

Hopefully you've learned some good intro knowledge for how to sell photos online. You have no excuses and should start trying to sell photos online. Some quality pictures that are desirable can be uploaded once and download repeatedly for years earning you money on work for one photo.

Al Sanez has a website that teaches how to sell pictures online. Sign up for a free video e-course and learn how to sell your photos online at http://www.photoprofitz.com/ecoursecopy.html

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Tips for Portrait Photography

By Michael Russell

Photographing a portrait is both very easy and very difficult. Anybody can shoot a portrait. The photographs we take of our children, friends, parents, teachers are all portraits. But, we are also aware that some are better than the others. Let us analyze the factors that make a portrait better than the others.

A successful portrait has always the quality of making an impression on the viewer. The impression left may be because of some physical aspect of the photograph’s subject, or it may be of some subtle characteristic getting underscored. The portrait makes a dramatic statement about the subject. It is very individual. A simple photograph of a person that does not leave any imprint on our mind cannot be called a portrait. The portrait always reveals something about the person. It may be some mood, some attitude or some mannerism which constitutes the personality of the person.

A photographer who is able to bring out these features in his portraits is a successful photographer. Now, how does one do that? It depends mostly on the personality of the photographer, but it can also be learned.

The photographer should always be in command of the situation. He is the 'boss' of the moment. He should be able to strike a rapport with his subjects. This can be achieved by starting a small conversation with the person. It can be small talk about the currently popular topics, or the photographer can try and find a subject which strikes a chord in the person being photographed. This will put the subject at ease; make him animated and more alive, bringing out some interesting aspects of the personality of the person.

But this is not a rule. Many great photographers used to remain very serious and focused on their work, but still took great portraits. It is all in the personality of the photographer. Something in the photographer must evoke respect in the subject, so that he or she cooperates and does what the photographer wants. A good portrait photographer should have a real interest in people. He should be a keen observer of the human nature. He should be quickly able to make out the outstanding traits or habits of the person and make them appear in the portraits.

The photographer can take his photograph in the natural surroundings of the subject. This definitely is advantageous, since it puts the other person at ease. However, this is not always possible, in which case the photographer can make use of his studio. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. In natural surroundings of the subject the lighting may not be proper and even, or surroundings not so appealing for a good photograph. In studio, everything can be controlled, while the natural ease of the other setting will be missing.

The natural light is always better but in many cases this light is uneven and is not good for photography. In that case, one has to think of taking pictures indoors. The surroundings can be used to emphasize certain aspects of the personality of the subject. The background can be made to reflect or enhance certain attitude or mannerism of the person. For this, certain props can be used. It can be a hat, a cigar, a fan or a toy in the case of toddlers. Sometimes, photographer also uses a completely black or white background. In these cases, the focus is entirely on the subject of the photograph. Some very beautiful portraits can be seen with such stark backgrounds.

In the end, it is mainly the personality and maturity of the photographer that plays a major role in bringing out a good portrait. No rules can be defined for taking a great shot. One has to experiment and use one's own imagination and sensitivity to find one's unique individual style.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Photography

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-for-Portrait-Photography&id=233694

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Wedding Photography - Tips For Taking Digital Photographs During A Wedding

By Ray Lam

For anyone that is or has been married, the events of the day can be captured in images, forever; digital wedding photography has changed how wedding photographers can carry out their work ensuring the day is captured on disk. There is no reason why a DVD can't be made of the occasion to complement to photos!

Most wedding photographers have assistants so they can create a wedding album that will be memorable but if you want to take pictures of a friend's wedding, who will help you? So, if you need some help for a wedding you are to attend and you are going to use a digital camera, then you may find some useful information in this article.

Unless you know how to compensate or have taken the shot purposely for effect; remember the background is very important. Often the couple is in the thick of a crowd and at this point it may be easier to try and capture just their head and shoulders.

Try to get guests that have spectacles on to either remove them or hold their head at an angle so that there isn't a reflection obscuring their eyes. If there's a couple or a group that you wish to include in the picture, you should use the zoom function in to get the ideal image but do not shoot against the light so that dark images appear.

Candid shots are also dramatic and these portraits often reveal more than the quality of the picture itself; in fact, many professionals use the zoom to capture intimate and memorable moments. You should be alert at all times when shooting digital wedding photography since you can seldom ask people to keep posing for you and the day is also about spontaneity.

The last thing you want to happen is for your digital camera to have half charged batteries and a memory card that is already half full as it will restrict how many shots you can take. As a general rule, if your camera is a 6 mega pixel resolution then you will need a large storage capacity card that will hold a few hundred shots at high resolution so a 1 gigabyte card should be sufficient.

The reason you need to set the cameras resolution to the maximum is because the colors will be richer and if you want to enlarge the photos, it won't be a problem. This is achieved by saving the images to your computer where you can print them out at your leisure on special photographic paper.

If you are used to regular film photography you may find the change to digital wedding photography a little strange at first but persist and you may find you enjoy it more.

Learn more tips regarding Digital Wedding Photography by visiting http://fairytale-weddings.info, a popular website that provides free Wedding Tips, advice and information for a perfect wedding ceremony.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ray_Lam
http://EzineArticles.com/?Wedding-Photography---Tips-For-Taking-Digital-Photographs-During-A-Wedding&id=1080363

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Resize an Image Using Photoshop

By Halstatt Pires

Photoshop is a wonderful tool for graphic design, web development and any other form of digital media creation. In this article, we discuss resizing an image using the program.

Photoshop has many uses and is a very powerful program with many different capabilities and functions. Photoshop can have a high learning curve and may be a little overwhelming at first because of all the different tools and options available to use, but I am sure you thought the same thing about learning to read. Now look at you, you are a pro.

As with any thing in life practice is the key to becoming better at things you don’t know or think are too difficult. Try not to become intimidated and don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment. Someone famous once said that learning from failure is the key to success.

While Photoshop may be a lot more program than you need to resize an image, it is an important function to learn because it is a common technique in digital media development. Why would you want to resize an image in the first place? There are numerous reasons, but the most common is to make photos fit on web pages or print material.

Ok, as for the actual steps involved in resizing an image here they are:

1. Open Adobe Photoshop and the photo you wish to resize.

2. Once you have your photo open navigate your mouse to the tool bar that runs along the top of the screen and click on “Image”.

3. Once you click on “Image” from the tool bar, a drop down menu will appear. Select “Image Size” from the drop down menu. A window should popup with the images properties.

4. Initially, for our intents and purposes we only want to pay attention to “Pixel Dimensions” in the popup window. You will see that you can control the width and height values of the image in the popup window. You should also see a drop down menu for selecting “pixels” or “percent”. Make sure pixels is the unit selected in both the width and height fields. Pixels are tiny dots of color that make up the photo. If you ever look at printed material under a magnifying glass you will notice that the image is made up of tiny dots of color. These tiny dots of color are analogous to what pixels are in a digital image.

5. Okay. Let’s pretend that the image you opened up at the start of this tutorial is very large, something like 2000 pixels wide by 1500 pixels in height and we want to resize the image to fit on a web page. Most web pages are somewhere around 800 pixels wide by some arbitrary height. The reason height is arbitrary is because it is determined by how much content appears on the page. Let’s say that we want the image to take up about half the width of the web page. To accomplish this we would change the pixel width value from 2000 to 400 pixels (which is half of 800 pixels, the width of the web page). Make sure that the “Constrain Proportions” option is checked so that the ratio between width and height is preserved and the image does not become distorted.

6. Click “OK” and save the newly resized version of your image. YOU’RE DONE!

You just resized your first photo using Photoshop and are now 100 times more advanced. Congratulations you are on your way to becoming a Photoshop master.

Tip: Evaluate an SEO company by looking for testimonials from their clients.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Halstatt_Pires
http://EzineArticles.com/?Resize-an-Image-Using-Photoshop&id=556903

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Learning Basic HTML Code

By Lonnie Niver

I know I have already posted information about Learning Basic HTML, but I need to add some detail information Malcolm missed in his posting below. I am not saying he did anything wrong he just left out some minor detail I would like to add. I am also going to touch on a little of the XHTML Malcolm mentioned.

As you notice in Malcolm’s code on his webpage each code are in brackets like

 <html>

. These tags are called open tags. If you open a tag you must also close the tag. If the tag is not closed the code will more than likely not work. The correct way to close a tag is to add a / which is shown like this

</html>

.

Not all tags have to be closed but the majority does. One example of a tag that does not have to be closed is

<br>

. This tag allows the webmaster to go to the next line when writing code. This is similar to hitting enter when writing a paper in word and you want to go to the next line. Now, if you want to make a new paragraph then you would use the

<p>

tag and close it with

</p>

.

The XHTML that Malcolm mentioned is the newest way of writing code. Each code has to be closed so no mistakes are made in writing code. In fact, XHTML is a much cleaner code and if it is well written it will allow more web pages accessible to large audience than pages written in HTML. Not only is it cleaner, it has also shown a significant growth in search engine placement for web page written in XHTML.

Well that is about all I have to say! If you like the information provided please leave a quick comment. Thank you!

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Basic HTML Code For Your Blog

By Malcolm Lambe

Hyper Text Markup Language - that's what it stands for. Its a way for Web browsers to present text and graphics. A code if you like. To get a better idea of what it is, click on your View menu and then Source or View Source and that will show you how a page of text is formatted in HTML (It'll also show you the keywords used in the Meta tags which can be helpful in getting your page ranked higher on Search Engines - but more on this later).

Basic Knowledge of HTML

Before we go any further let me tell you that I'm rather new to all this. I've only been into computers for the last couple of years. Oh sure I'd used computers in my work before that but only as far as word processing. I was using AppleIIs back in the early Eighties to write magazine stories but apart from knowing how to boot the machine up and format a word processing document I didn't have a clue about computers. And I still don't have much of a clue. I probably couldn't explain the difference between ROM and RAM to save my life. But I know enough to get me by - I have a Basic Knowledge of HTML codes and commands. I don't have a head for programming or writing code or any of that stuff. In fact you're talking to a guy that didn't even finish high-school. I went straight from school into the Advertising business at the tender age of sixteen. So I'm a dummy. And I'm a real dummy when it comes to complicated computer language coding and algorithms - all that egghead stuff. So if I can have a Working Knowledge of Basic HTML code and links - trust me, you can too.

So here we go. From the top...in a logical progression. It might help to open another browser window and pull up the View Source of my Welcome to Wallyworld page (you'll find a link at the bottom of this article) and follow what I'm looking at.

The HTML Code starts with "DOCTYPE" (meaning document type) html "PUBLIC" and then some other stuff including "XHTML". This is just the new improved version of HTML code. Don't worry about it for now. I haven't written the code for this page - it's done automatically by my host and they are formatting in HTML, XHTML, Javascript and some other stuff like Textile and Markdown which I don't even begin to understand. All I want from knowing a bit of basic HTML code is how to do simple stuff like Bold, underline, Hyperlinks and h2Headings in Basic HTML.

Coming down the page a bit you'll see the document begins with html enclosed in less than and greater than arrowheads and then if you scroll to the bottom of the page you'll see the very last bit of code is html but this time closed off with a forward slash. That's the way HTML works - you enclose the command within the arrowheads, write your text and then close it off with a forward slash.

After the html commands we have the head which contains everything in your title. You'll see the term "Robots" which is a command to the Search Engine spiders to start reading the information coming up next. And that information is the Meta Tags - both to describe what your site is all about and to give the keywords. You'll notice I only have a Meta Description here - HOW TO: Increase Your Traffic, Boost Your Google Ranking, Optimize Adsense to Make More Money, Keyword Optimization Tips, Work Online as a ProBlogger" etc. This is because my host is convinced that the major search engines no longer rely on keywords in the Meta Tags. Apparently that's true for Google but Yahoo and the others take them into consideration. So I've just added some keywords at the bottom of that section under Meta keywords.

So the head section contains the title and information on style sheets and scripts. After that we have the body which contains the markup with your content - your article/story/table - whatever you're putting in there.

That's about it. Not hard is it? All you have to do now is learn some of the HTML Tags.

The first ones you need to know are the heading tags and they're easy to remember. h stands for heading. h1 puts your words in the biggest size through to the smallest h6.

The underline tag is written with a u. Paragraph with a p. Line break with a br. Italics with an i.

Probably the most useful piece of code is the Hyperlink - that's a fundamental of blogging - the sharing of information. Clicking on this one will take you to a site with lots of Useful HTML Code including how to write hyperlinks.

You can also turn an image into a hypertext link so that when you click on the image it takes you to a page or site.

Use HTML to Wrap Text Around Adsense

One of my favourites uses for Html is getting the text to wrap around the Adsense - the Adsense Gurus reckon people are more likely to click on the Ads if they are buried in the text. Whatever. But I reckon they look neater than having them displayed in block form.

You Wanna Make a Hit List?

You can easily format lists with HTML. Like this bulleted list using the ul and l tags.

• The Number One Villain
• Number Two Villain
• Number Three Villain
  

Voila - like I said before, if this dummy can do it, you can too - Basic HTML

Malcolm Lambe is an Australian blogger/vlogger based in Paris. His main site is http://www.welcometowallyworld.com where he pontificates on a diverse range of subjects.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Malcolm_Lambe
http://EzineArticles.com/?Basic-HTML-Code-For-Your-Blog&id=747473

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