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 

Self Portraits- A way to Grow.

One of the best ways to improve as a portrait photographer is to practice. The problem is that there is not always someone to practice on. So... practice on yourself.  Self portraits can be one of the best learning tools for a photographer.  The can give you insight about yourself and help you grow as a photographer.  

Here is the deal.  This week make it a goal to shoot a self portrait of yourself.   At the end of the week send me the photo and I will post it on this blog with your name and info( what you want others to know about you). This should be fun.  If you have any questions let me know. Thanks

Send your portrait to ayresphotography@yahoo.com .  

Deadline- 7/18/2010

Just getting out.....A recipe against stress!

Have you ever been really stressed?  The days are just beating you down and you can't seem to get your worries off your mind?  Well, I get that way.  I have a lot of big changes happening soon and I'm really stressed about them.
When my wife asked me if I wanted to go camping the other day I was not excited about it. Camping is something I usually really enjoy but this time I just really wanted to stay home.  I wasn't motivated.
 Well, we went camping.  While camping we slept in a tent while it thundered and rained all night. We were bit by mosquitos and we took the kids on a 3 mile hike to a waterfall.  My little boy fell and cut his hand open and we swam in a really cold lake. We all had a wonderful time!  I had my camera of course and got some good photos.  The whole trip was a de-stresser( is that a word?)!
Here's the thing.  When life is getting you down, go have an adventure and take your camera with you! You don't need to even go camping. Just go for a walk, or head to a park,or photograph your family and friends. I promise it will help!

Here are a few of the photos I took!