Photography Tips Guide

Posts Tagged ‘Digital Photo’

Until this came along photography used to be a hassle to even the most dedicated in the trade. But now, it has breathed new life into photography showing the power of one moment captured in time.

Digital photography utilizes digital technology to make images of subjects and does not need chemical based processing. The images can be captured, displayed, stored, transmitted, manipulated and recorded with the aid of a computer.

Since the first commercially available digital camera in 1990 and the first consumer camera with liquid crystal display on the back in 1995 this camera has brought speed, accuracy, enhanced imaging and many moments of happiness for both professional photographers as well as amateurs alike.

From the linear array type of cameras at the highest end to the simple web cams at the lowest end, these devices offer many advantages to a photographer. Immediate image review, deletion, lighting and composition management are among the main plus points. Conservation of storage space and manipulation of the end product are additional advantages.

There are a few disadvantages to overcome when using digital photography. The cameras are entirely dependent on an electrical supply. Color print film possesses a bigger dynamic range than digital sensors in general. Salvaging burnt out highlights are difficult with digital cameras and image noise manifests as multicolored speckles.

In today’s fast moving world digital photography has become a necessity for professional news photographers wanting the acceptable image quality. This has also given the amateur snapshot takers the ability to send images by e-mail from anywhere in the world. It is possible to view images of world events as they happen as was amply demonstrated at the presidential inauguration and the long drawn out hotel siege in Mumbai recently. Astronomers and other technicians use digital photography on a daily basis.

After the initial cost in acquiring a digital camera the operating cost of photographing through this method is cheap in the long run. This is a major factor for users of digital photography to keep using it and embrace all innovations in the field that is bound to follow with time. I for one, am keeping my digital camera close to me at all times as it may very well bag that elusive shot that I have been hankering after for many years.

It does not matter if your camera is the best model of the list. If you do not use the right strategies you are not going to get nice pictures. You need to combine a good camera, lighting and colors in order to succeed.

Digital photography lighting is one of the important things you need to know to take perfect pictures. How many times have you taken pictures and then when you checked the pictures have came out blurry? In some cases you try to fix with some editing software, but that doesn’t always help.

 That is because you did not have the proper lighting. You can setup your camera to do all that for you, but in some cases, the image is still not going to be perfect.

 So if you try to pay attention in how the lighting is, when you are taking the picture, it will help in getting good results.

 So here are some tips of natural lighting that will help make your pictures look its best:

Take pictures before sunset and after sunrise. This will make your photos look fantastic because the sky has that orange hint that will work perfect with your camera. The orange color will provide brightness to the picture and it is much easier to edit if you want.

When taking pictures in sunlight, make sure that you try different angles or move the subject to a different place. Sunlight is a very powerful light for your pictures, since it helps with brightness and shadows. But you need to always try the best place and position to make perfect photos using the sun. 

Having the best cameras does not always mean best pictures. Always try to look for good light, colors and the best angles. Consider those digital photo tips and you will notice a huge difference.

It sounds easy doesn’t it? Well it is when you have practiced. But when you are starting out learning how to get better shots with more depth and clarity you can start focusing on the technical but perhaps start forgetting about the artistic side and visa versa.

Its common problem when we first start learning digital photography. We realise that we must drill the technical stuff into our heads so we can improve, and what tends to happen is that we get caught up for a bit. We can forget that photography is artistic. And the artistic side of your digital photo needs perfect composition. So here’s a handy technique that I discovered for myself to getting that perfect structure in my composition that I now want to share with you.

A great way, no a fabulous way to get perfect composition in your digital photos is to practice with your zoom. Start by picking your subject and focusing on it.

Let’s say it’s an apple on a bench. Usually what happens is that people take the angle too far away, getting the distracting background objects in the picture. This takes away the beautiful and freshness of the subject leaving us rather cold as far as an emotional response for the photo.

There are a couple of things you can do. You can remove the annoying background clutter and take the apple as a singular subject against a look of “nothingness”. This can be quite an effective shot. Or you can zoom in a little bit at a time and see what composition works well. This is what I can zooming in increments.

Zooming in on a subject in increments can be a very effective way to practice getting your composition just perfect. You can take several pictures of your apple using different “zoom lengths” to get the right angle.

Be aware that this may impact the light in your photo. Generally how it works is that the closer you zoom in the less light you have to work with because you’re closing in on your subject and reducing the physical space that light falls on an area. This really applies if the subject has no luminance of its own.

In order to compensate for this decrease in light you can change your aperture. This means altering the F stop on your camera if possible. You may start out from 1 meter away from your apple at F 16 for example. Then, the closer you get the more light loss you experience and you might just find that changing your F stop to F8 works well when you reduce the distance between you and the apple, ie instead of taking the photo from 1 meter away, you take it from 10 cm away.

Try this out and see what I mean. Playing around with the zoom can really help you kick start your mind into feeling where the best composition is. And soon enough, you won’t even have to think about it consciously because you’ll just know what works.

Happy shooting!

Amy Renfrey

Photography has definitely taken its leap together with the uprising developments that have been embarked by technology.  In the purest sense, it has changed the art that was once only developed in film and is only open to those willing to invest in a camera. Now, pictures may be taken digitally through Digital Cameras, Digital SLRs, and even camera phones. Camera phones have really been taking it off, as you can actually expect them to reach image resolution as high as 5 megapixels; and as early as now, they are starting to develop the 7MP model. It is no surprise that the largest camera produce is actually Nokia, a cell phone company! But with the effect technological revolution, has the art of photography deteriorated?

Since before it was done with the use of film, photographers would literarily take their time to study and get their shot right. They would make sure their settings were correct and their composition would be as perfect as they would picture it in their heads. But with the capability of digital photography, people would just have the tendency to click away.   If the photographer does not like the shot, he can simply erase and take another one. This is not a bad thing as it is very convenient and cost beneficial. But as many purists would say, this actually killed the discipline in most photographers. What then should aspiring photographers do to harness that   same amount of discipline to develop great skills in photography, while still taking advantage of the technology available?

There are two basic steps which any photographer may choose to opt for to build both discipline and skill in photography. The first is through the use of memory cards that are very small in memory. This would mean the photographer would have limited exposures only. Yes, that would mean no cheating. What this does is that since you would only have maybe 12 exposures instead of 250, you would be most likely to try and think about the shot you will be taking. There would be no room for settling for the best shot of the same picture; but rather, taking the single shot that would rank as best for each picture.

The second principle would be by using tripods. How could this help in one’s disciple building? Tripods would make you set up and look around in order to take a target shot. This would somehow slow you down in terms clicking away. That is the exact idea! You see, you shouldn’t just click away like some shutter happy person. When the camera is secured on top of a tripod, you would have no choice but to set up and carefully view the surroundings prior to looking through the view finder.

These are but two simple ideas. As said, the idea is to slow you down and make you think about your shots before you take them. Yes, you would still be taking advantage of technology as you can view your shots right away and know if you did well or no. This would also mean that you would easily know what you did wrong and enable you to discover what would work for you. Technology is not a bad thing. In fact, it helps photographers a lot! Just make sure you still keep that same discipline that has led to the capturing of great photos!  

For more digital photo tips, reviews and much more visit The World of Digital Photography!