Beautiful Photography Video

I found this video on youtube.com and thought it was relaxing.  The Photos are by Micki Aston. Enjoy!

Quick Tip- Look for Reflections

When shooting photographs reflections can really add to a picture.  Reflections on water are usually best in the early morning and before sunset when there is no breeze.  Wind usually destroys reflections so plan ahead.  You can also find reflections on glass and metal.  Remember that Polarizers cut down on reflections so use it carefully( I used a polarizer on the photo below and it looks o.k. right?).

Going 75mph

Have you ever been on a trip and driving down the highway when you see a great photo.  So you take the picture and it doesn't look good.  Well, here are some tips to help you get better shots.

Tip #1  Don't be in the drivers seat, be the passenger.

Tip #2 Use a fast shutter speed to avoid blur in your shot.

Tip#3  Don't use a wide angle lens. Use a medium to long telephoto lens. This way you will be able to focus on objects in the distance and cut out the foreground.

Tip# 4 Watch for signs and objects that will take away from the pleasing look of your picture.


Here are a few examples of photos that I took on a recent journey.

Below are some photos that didn't turn out so well.

I didn't see the sign until it was too late.

I find the foreground in this photo distracting.

This is what happens when you use a shutter speed that is too low.  You should use as fast as a shutter speed as possible. On the photos that turned out good I used a shutter speed of 2000.

Next time you are on a road trip and not driving, look of interesting photos and use these tips so you can get some great shots.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Happy shooting!!!!

The "looking down" Shot.

Yes, I know. I just got done telling you to shoot children at eye level.  Well, rules are made to be broken.

Sometimes you can get great shots looking down so when shooting portraits do both.  Mix it up. Here are some shots I have taken using this idea.

Please leave comments and let me know what you think.

Thanks:)

 

Quick Tip

When photographing children get down to their level.  Trust me. It helps.

Quick Tip - Use a Polarizer Filter.

When taking photos during the day, you might want to consider using a polarizer filter. It will cut down on unwanted reflections and also make the sky look bluer.  If you have a auto-focus lens, make sure you buy a circular polarizer and not a linear polarizer.

An Intro to Wide Angle Lenses

I was thinking about what to write this week and remembered a friend of mine who takes these great shots.  His name is Mark Payton and he uses a Canon 15mm lens.


In photography a wide angle lens refers to a lens whose focal length is substantially shorter than the focal length of a normal lens for the image size produced by the camera,which is dictated by the dimensions of the photo sensor for digital cameras.  


One of the results is wider lenses tend to magnify distance between objects. Basically this allows for greater depth of field. 

Another result of using a wide-angle lens is a greater apparent perspective distortion when the camera is not aligned perpendicularly to the subject: parallel lines converge at the same rate as with a normal lens, but converge more due to the wider total field. Buildings tend to appear to be falling backwards much more severely when the camera is pointed upward from ground level than they would if photographed with a normal lens Basically this means your subjects appear to "bend" in your photo.

I know this is hard to understand so if you need more clarification post a comment and I will do my best to answer it. The best way to understand is to look at the results. 

The bottom Shot is a photo of his wide angle lens. The rest were taken with Mark's wide angle lens.  Enjoy :)

Click on his name to see more if Mark's Shots on Flickr.com