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May 19th, 2008

The Art of Copying

Posted by admin in Online Photography Resources

Your grandma just left you an oil painting and you need a few copies; one for appraisal purposes and two for your siblings who would love to have a copy, too. A trip to the professional photographer involves a set up fee, print cost, and a negative that is unavailable for sale. The painting is too big for a flat bed scanner so digital copies are not feasible. One solution is to copy it yourself.

A good 35mm SLR camera with a normal lens will probably focus to two and one half feet. Even better is a six or eight megapixel DSLR or EVF camera. Use an ISO setting of 100 or slower. Critical is the correct use of lighting. Allowing the surface texture to show in your copies prevents displaying the true color and values of the picture. Ideally, two identical incandescent lamps in reflectors angled at forty-five degrees will minimize surface reflections. Place the painting vertically and line up the camera on a tripod exactly perpendicular to the painting. An alternative is to use the sun at a forty to fifty degree angle. Any other unbalanced source (single) is to be avoided.

Fill the view finder to about 80% of the viewfinder and check to see that all edges are parallel. The circle of light cast by the lamps determines the distance from the lights to the picture. Make sure all of the painting surface is evenly lit. Use an 80B filter with outdoor film or set your digital white balance at incandescent. A filter is not needed if electronic flash is the source of light. Electronic flash must be metered with a flash meter or calculated using the guide on the back of the flash. Equalize the distance from each flash to the center of the painting and aim the center of the cone of light at the furthest edge of the painting. Bracket your exposure one stop over and under the recommended F stop. F8 or F11 are the sharpest F stops.

The resulting proofs are NOT a good guide to choosing the negative with the best quality. If a digital camera was used then print a small test picture before making the enlargement. When viewed over a well lit white surface, it is not too difficult to choose the negative with the best color and contrast. A slight increase in contrast is generally considered a plus. When done properly, it is difficult for the average person to tell the difference between the copy and the original when viewed from a normal distance.

The digital world changed only the tools.

April 18th, 2008

A Guide To Buying A Digital Camera Equipment

Posted by admin in Online Photography Resources

How to Buy Digital Camera Equipment

There are so many digital cameras that it can be confusing trying to buy digital camera equipment. Here are some tips to help you decide which the best choice is for you and buy digital camera equipment that you will get the best results with:

• The first step before you buy digital camera equipment is to set a basic budget on how much money you want to spend. You do need to be realistic about the fact you won’t be able to get the best of every feature, as you may have to make tradeoffs when you actually buy digital camera equipment.

• Your experience level has to have a big influence in your decision to buy digital camera equipment. There is no point in buying too much buy digital camera equipment than you can actually use. For a novice you should buy digital camera equipment that is point and shoot so that you don’t have to worry about manually changing any settings. Digital zoom is not as important a part in the process of choosing to buy digital camera equipment as you may first think. Basically it just means that the camera crops the picture and gives you the center piece of it. You do not need to buy digital camera equipment that does this as you can do it better yourself after you take the picture. You can usually move closer to the subject anyway and to buy digital camera equipment that includes an optical zoom can add a lot of unnecessary cost and weight to the camera. Of course, expert photographers will want to buy digital camera equipment that gives them more manual control over the exposure process.

• Next you need to consider what you will use your camera to capture before you set out to buy digital camera equipment. A fast shutter speed is necessary for moving subjects. You can also buy digital camera equipment that has special features to enable you to take multiple pictures in quick succession for high-action pictures.

• There are a number of helpful websites that give reviews on photographic products to help you decide on the best camera for your needs before you buy digital camera equipment. Of course, you can also ask friends and family about their digital camera choices. Price comparison websites are also essential to help you to buy digital camera equipment at the best possible prices. Remember that when you buy digital camera equipment there are often a list of extras that you may want to purchase, including batteries and memory cards.

Don’t be tempted to go for a trendy-looking, colorful camera if you really want to buy a less cool looking one that does more of what you want. Make sure that you have got as many of the features that you wanted to have in the first place and haven’t compromised too much on them for the sake of a few extra dollars. It is important to ensure that you buy digital camera equipment that you are happy with and enables you to take the photographs that you want.

Steve Gargin is the administrator of digital-camera-reviews.helper-guru.com/camera-card-digital-memory-review/index.html which is a great website dedicated to giving free advice on Digital Cameras.

April 8th, 2008

Photography - The Bride’s Elegance

Posted by admin in Online Photography Resources

The elegance and style of bridal portraits should evoke the natural beauty of the woman in the bridal gown, rather than have the look of a replaceable head pasted onto a wedding dress. Capturing detail in the gown is important, but it shouldn’t override the person wearing it. With this in mind, approach the bridal formals by doing a number of poses, including a full-length shot, a medium shot with and without bouquet, and a head and shoulders shot with the veil.

When doing a full-length shot, pick up the train of the gown slightly and let it fall naturally. Don’t cut the gown off at the bottom of the image - let it be a curving design element. Also, don’t fuss with the gown other than giving it a delicate flow; too many times gowns are made to look like elaborate braids that twist and snarl around a bride’s feet.

The bouquet is an excellent prop for bridal formals. It should be held slightly above the waist in a natural, graceful way. Remember to have flowing lines in both the body and the dress and to have the arms bent in such a way that no hard angles or horizontal lines intrude on the grace of the picture. If the hands are showing, “break” the wrist for a flowing look. Also, don’t have the bride standing flat-footed, facing the camera squarely. Instead have her bend her body naturally, shifting her weight to one or the other leg.

Avoid the “passport” look and watch for a diamond design created by head, body and arms. If you use the bouquet in a medium distance or close-up shot, put it in focus if the bride is looking at it. Let it go slightly soft if it’s just being used as a design element or splash of color in the lower part of the frame.

One of the chief sources for an unacceptable bridal portrait is the burnt-out look created by the gown reflecting too much light in comparison with the rest of the tones in the picture. This may cause under-lighting on the subject’s face, but in order to get good skin tones in printing, the detail in the dress is lost. Be very careful with your lighting ratios.

One way to avoid the problem is to keep the main source of light away from the bride’s gown. Have the woman turn to the side and have her head turn in toward the light source.

If you’re using artificial light, feather the light across the subject rather than have it blast directly on to the gown.

Most bridal formals benefit from the use of a light vignetter or diffuser on the lens. The veil at the top of the frame and the gown or bouquet at the bottom serve as beautiful borders. Slight diffusion might also be desirable, depending on the light source and the subject. Natural light through diffusing curtains can create an excellent light in which to shoot bridals, although you should be careful of too strong a light source.

If the scene seems to have too much contrast, move the bride further away from the window, thus decreasing the intensity of light striking the gown.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Photography
Michael Russell - EzineArticles Expert Author
April 3rd, 2008

The Life of Paparazzi

Posted by admin in Online Photography Resources

I admire the paparazzi. They do a difficult job in difficult conditions. Whatever you overall view of them, there are things to be admired.

I know that the right picture will net them enough money to retire twice over. But, in reality, the majority of images will just about bring in enough cash to feed the kids and perhaps go out to the theatre once in a while.

For every one paparazzi stealing a quick candid, there are twenty others and you can be sure that the most sought after images will be also sought after by your peers and rivals.

Then there’s the waiting. Standing in the baking sun or howling gale, being soaked to the skin or burnt to the core, that picture has to come otherwise the kids don’t get their nourishment.

Images of celebrities sell, of course. But images that are out of the ordinary sell faster and for more cash. For the right image you have to wait. You must know your subject, study them, follow them, be with them and be at the ready to snap the shutter when the time is just right.

You may have to miss a few meals or bathroom breaks to be sure that the images you take will adorn the pages of widely sold glossy magazines or newspapers the next day.

It would help if your subject would obligingly show a part of their anatomy that would otherwise be hidden. Or perhaps snort a few drugs, be sick, stumble, fumble or kiss. It would also help if they could do these things in open spaces and not in crowded nightclubs, concerts or bars.

And it would help if either they or their minders would refrain from verbal and physical abuse.

As I said, the life of a paparazzi is not an easy one.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com