Tips Archives - Photography Blog

Photography in The Digital Age

Many professional and amateur photographers alike exclusively use digital as their main source of photography medium. For years’ film was the only option for photographers. But now DLSR cameras and even the newer mirror less cameras are to go to for the industry.

Since the digital revolution many camera makers have made the art of photography easer than ever before. This is what may be the reason so many new photographers have entered the market. You may have noticed many local photographers have capitalized on the ease of use of these newer cameras, and started charging for their services. [Read more…]

Why Photography Blogging is Good for You

By Kate

First thing’s first. What is photography? No need to grab the nearest dictionary you can find. We’re here to talk about photography more than just its technicalities. So, I’ll ask the question one more time. What is photography? Why it’s a service of course. But not just any service, it’s also a personal service. Why? As a photographer, your job is to enter the lives of your clients and capture as many memories as you can. You aren’t just recording memories, you’re also shooting emotions.

Being a photographer is pretty big. Clients trust you enough to let you get into some of their biggest moments. The more they are comfortable with you, the more they are likely to hire you.

You didn’t need to hear that. You’re already a good photographer as it is. Tons of people are all queuing for your services, and they’re willing to pay the amount you see fit. You know that you have no need to put up a photography blog. You’re already quite popular as it is. There’s no need for advertisements. Besides, it’ll only be a waste of your time. Why should you waste your time blogging, when there are countless people all dying for you to shoot their events, right?

Alexas Fotos
https://pixabay.com/en/photographer-frog-funny-green-868106/

But have you ever thought about making it on the big screen, or maybe just achieve the peak of your photography potential? It’s not always about how good your photos are. It’s not always about how many time you shoot each week. Rather it’s more about a number of people getting to see your work. Read on to see the perks of owning a photography blog.

It gives you the opportunity to show the world who you are

Sure, people are probably commending you for your awesome photography skills. They may even consider you to be a photography guru because of your shooting greatness. But all these flatteries and mushy comments aren’t a reason to stop. Rather, it should give you more power to keep on going.

Okay, so you’re a pretty active photographer, always seen with a camera on one hand, and a tripod on the other, but that’s not the point here. What we’re trying to score is that you should go on sharing your art to the world. Don’t be contented with all your fans sitting in one city or town. Aim for worldwide. I’m not saying you should pack your bags tonight and travel the world. No, what I’m saying is there is no boundary in your art, especially now when blogs are already prevalent. Through the use of blogs, you have the freedom to advertise yourself to the world. You’re free to tell the world why photography is important to you, and why your art matters. [Read more…]

4 top tips for Photography Beginners

By Kate

Photography is not an easy skill to master, however, it is a very rewarding skill which can provide some life long memories in a great photo. Learning photography starts with researching cameras and reading all about them; then you can begin your photo capturing. To learn more about how to begin photography, read these four tips to know how to get started.

1. Choose the right camera

As a beginner photographer, you will not need a very extravagant and extremely high-tech camera – you will need a simple and not too expensive, quality camera that will allow you to take pictures and learn with. Some great cameras for beginners include the Canon PowerShot SX160 and the Samsung WB250F Smart Camera. Both cameras are affordable, they have plenty of photo options for you to choose from, they both have a great zoom and best of all, they both produce great pictures! In order for you to get the most out of your camera, read all about it so you know about all features; also, before you even purchase a camera, make sure you read reviews.

2. Study camera settings

As a beginner photographer, one of the first things you should be doing is exploring the settings and the shooting modes on your camera; this will teach you how to get the best shot in various lighting. Before going out there and taking pictures, you will need to know how the flash works and whether you should be using flash, auto flash or no flash. You should know how far your camera can zoom. You should know how to preview photos and how to delete them. You should know how to change the shooting mode. There are so many things to learn about your camera – once you know about your camera, you can start taking pictures and experimenting; this will teach you how to produce great photos every time.

3. Start practicing

Practice makes perfect – now you understand your camera and know how it works, you can start taking pictures. Take pictures of anything and everything; it doesn’t matter whether this is a bowl or fruit or your kitchen – start experimenting with the lighting and try to get the best possible photo. Read up on how to take photos and try various techniques in a number of places; there are so many places to take photos, so take your camera everywhere with you; you don’t want to miss out on a great photo-opp.

4. Try something different

Maybe taking pictures of fruit is not your cup of tea, so why not try something different? If you’re going on holiday anytime soon, then make sure you have your camera on hand all the time; maybe even invest in a little tripod to take with you. This will allow you to take pictures of the whole family – you can also experiment with the timer settings. While you’re away, try a photography trip; this can be a solo trip or with your friends or family. You will be given the chance to use your camera and take some stunning photos of the sites around. ImagesInTheSun.com has more information about photography holidays and tours.
Becoming a photographer can take a lot of work and reading, however, the effort can have great rewards. There are places all around the world that provide great photo opportunities, such as Morocco or Italy – even in your own home. Start practicing and you will soon get the hang of all the settings, the lighting and the angles.

A Walk Through Time – The Intersection of Photography, Art, Science

By Kate

Photography is not just art, but a true and permanent recollection of history. As you refine your skill with the camera, you also must use your mind to connect on a deeper level with the history of the world. For example, have you ever studied the beautiful intersection between art and science? Photography definitely counts, but check out this infographic below. It was compiled by Clifton Cameras and the Royal Photographic Society, a true leader in not just taking stunning photos, but crafting powerful imagery that captured the current events of the day. It starts with 1839, a year that most shutterbugs will recall as the true birth of photography, and ends with the world of photography today and what the Royal Photographic Society truly does for its members, and the greater global community.

Sell Your Photography Offline/Locally

By Kate

It is a lot of fun to have photography as a part of your life especially, with the latest cameras, which are high in technology, which offer high quality pictures. Let us look at how to sell photography offline.

Have Your Portfolio Ready

Before looking for answers for how to sell photography offline, you have to have a portfolio of all your pictures taken. You can have theme-based photographs grouped into different portfolios to target the different type of customers, who look for photographs various fields. Have all your photographs printed by a professional local printing service. A professional portfolio is the first step on how to sell photography offline, as this is the one that creates an impact on the viewer.

What to Do After Creating Your Portfolio?

Creating your portfolio is the easy part because it’s your passion and joy to gather together your best photos. You enjoy making that portfolio but the gritty part is finding the avenue to get your photos sold. In the case of selling your photos locally you have no option but to be in the right places with your portfolio at hand.

Here are some ideas of where you should be in order to get the right audience.

Visit Galleries

The next step on selling photos locally involves visiting galleries and approaching dealers of art. Here is where your portfolio is important as it would help create an impression. An impression that could convince the dealer to display your photographs. Once your photographs are displayed in the gallery, it is understood that a part of the sale price would be offered to you. You and the dealer would choose the cost of your photographs and what the price cut could be.

Your Own Photos On Show

Another method involved in how to sell photography offline is to have organized your own show with all your best pictures displayed. Depending on the money you are able to spend, you may either hire a popular hall or have it in your own home.

You may also hire a huge place, have the expenses shared with other known artists and share the display space with their photographs. But your sale value absolutely depends on how you project your pictures and how different your photographs are from others.

Photography Competitions

This is a real challenge to your potential and would earn you popularity and how to sell photography offline would become just easy over a few days, once you win any of the top ranks in the competition. Depending on your position of winning, your name and probably photographs could be published in the newspapers and magazines, which would create more opportunities for selling your pictures.

Create Calendars And Desktops

This is one of the best and simple ways on how to sell your photographs offline. You can have your best pictures printed along with the months and dates of the perspective year and approach the local shops to have them displayed in their shops. You can also gift one or two of your close business friends and have them display your calendars in their business meeting rooms, reception, and conference halls where customers and other visitors would see them more often.

Other options could be to approach local business people of your medium and local stores and have your framed photographs displayed for sale.

Network With Other Photographers In Your Area

We all know how important it is to network in normal non business life and business life. It seems lots of us end up networking socially instead of when it comes to business. The power of networking in business is that it opens you up to new contacts, and especially new ideas.

These new contacts you befriend when networking will help you learn more about getting your photos sold. Networking will open up many opportunities. You’ll have your own personal network of people constantly sharing ideas and opportunities for you. Probably the most powerful way to get your photos and skills recognized, especially if only starting out because you can get lots of hands-on advice.

Tips on Selling Your Photos Locally

To help you along the way here are some general tips on getting your photos sold.

Create picture collections after researching what people are looking for and capitalize on popularity.
Make your collections have a unique approach or view to common subjects on which the photos are clicked.
When someone interested in your pictures calls you, develops a relationship with the potential clients as they may become repeat buyers.
Have a calling card that stands out and showcases your talent.
Have a professional website and blog made to showcase your work.
Reach out to as many industry contacts as you possibly can.
Diversify your photo collection and portfolios to target different audiences.

10 Blogging Tips for Photographers

By Kate

Some photographers love blogging. Others hate it. Personally, I enjoy crafting blog posts, but there is definitely an element of “we are photographers, not writers” at play and so I’ve drafted my favourite Blogging tips for Photographers for you here today.

These tips are relevant now, and form part of my blogging strategy as we start to think about 2014. These Blogging Tips for Photographers are written with Panda and Penguin in mind.

#1 Content is “always” king

A dilemma we all face as photographers is whether we build our websites to gloriously display our images, or build them to be useful for search engines. Sadly, Google don’t make a very good job of indexing images and this is one of the primary reasons that Flash based websites are on the decline. Google, really, wants to gobble up your textual content. Yes, there are mitigating circumstances, and your off-site SEO will always play a major part in how you rank, but ultimately you need to put text into your website. And a reasonable amount too.

#2 Keep it fresh

Having a blog that is rarely updated is almost as bad as having no blog at all. If you go to the effort of having a designer build an SEO friendly blog for you, then you really need to put the effort into feeding the blog.

Just like I’m a firm believer in these blogging tips for photographers, I’m also a firm believer that 95% of the photography business, is business and only 5% is taking photographs. Blogging, and in fact all your marketing, is part of that 95% which should be so important.

The more you blog, and keep the content fresh on your website, the more Google will be interested in it. Keep feeding the Google monster.

An analogy I heard once was that Google is like the postman. In the UK we learn not to check for the post on Sunday’s. Google learns to check your website in the same manner. Keep the content coming and Google will keep its interest in your photography blog.

#3 Keep it original

Assuming you are blogging often, then the content must be original. This is absolutely essential. If you are wedding or social photographers then the images, presumably, your images will be at least. Make sure you are keeping Google happy by giving it fresh, original content (see how points 1,2 and 3 all come together there).

#4 Keep it substantial

Simply blogging a single picture, or a set of pictures isn’t going to be enough from an SEO point of view. Yes, with a decent off-site SEO strategy that single image blog post may blow the rankings apart, but by and large, it won’t and you will need to give Google enough substantial fresh, original content (see the pattern here?). [Read more…]

Macro Photography

By Kate

Macro Photography is defined as taking pictures of objects with ratio of 1:1 or larger. Meaning an object will appear life size or larger on the frame of the camera. In simpler words, you can take close up pictures at actual size. Macro Photography is very rewarding in terms of the unusual exciting images you get.

This is an applied part of photography. Macro Photography has many applications in many fields like dental photography, jewellery photography, forensic work, biology and zoology requirements etc.

Macro Photography has some special characteristics from normal photography. The lightning requirement in macro photography is somewhat different from normal photography. As the lens is very close to the subject the subject would be in dark. Artificial lighting is also an area which is must to master in almost every macro image. Other areas like composition, shutter speed, aperture etc all are relevant issues in macro photography.

The lenses and flashes are somewhat different from other routine photography equipment. There are special tripods, bellows and tubes for capturing macro images. I will talk in detail about these methodology, equipment, techniques and tips related to macro photography on this site.

Macro Photography can take you into the unnoticed and unseen world to capture beautiful images. With the advent of digital photography, macro photography has become more advanced. New lenses, digital flashes and immediate preview has made it easier for beginners to step in this area.

Basic Photography Lesson

By Kate

This post will give you a basics photography lesson and prepare you for macro photography. Let’s begin with overview of cameras in our lesson:

Camera: Cameras come in all types and sizes ranging from old film point and shoot to new digital medium format cameras. Chances are you would be using a digital SLR or digital point and shoot camera. Whatever camera you have, make sure to read the manual from start till end at least 2 times, since every camera has different controls and you would not want to carry the manual with you all the time.

Digital SLR Camera

The digital cameras have a CCD or CMOS sensor inside which captures the images and then the camera records it on the storage card. The size of the sensor is important as a large image can be edited and also printed out on large size. Nowadays, anything above 10 mega pixels is fine and is easily available.

Compact Digital Camera

Lens: If you have a point and shoot the lens would be fixed in the camera, while in the digital SLR you have the option of changing the lens as per your requirement. It is here that the digital SLR gives you great versatility over the point and shoot. The focal length of the lens shows you the angle of the lens i.e what is the coverage of the lens. The lens coverage ranges from wide angle (very wide view) to telephoto (very narrow view).

Telephoto Zoom
Wide Angle Zoom Lens
Macro Lens

Lenses are made for a variety of applications ranging from macro to sports photography. The aperture and focal length of the lens is made according to the purpose it is made for.

Aperture: Aperture is the opening of the lens. Inside the lens are shutter blades which control the light passing through the lens. A smaller number like 1.0 means a bigger shutter opening as compared to a bigger number like 32.

WaterProof Compact Camera

Depth of field: The depth of field is determined by the aperture of the lens. Depth of field means how much area of the picture is in focus from the point where you focus. A small aperture will give a shallow depth of field, while a high aperture like 32 would give you a high depth of field.

Shutter Speed: The shutter speed is controlled in the camera body. It depends upon the light entering the camera through the lens. A higher shutter speed is very essential for macro shots if you are holding the camera in your hand. Generally, a shutter speed reciprocal to the focal length of the lens is enough to hand held the camera. i.e a shutter speed of 1/100sec on a 100mm lens is ok. Any shutter speed less than that would require a tripod.

Exposure: The exposure in layman terms is the amount of light falling on the sensor and it is responsible for the photograph taken. The exposure can be adjusted via mainly shutter speed and aperture. There are also other variables like ISO (sensor sensitivity) which can affect the exposure.

Tripod: For slow shutters speeds where you cannot hold the camera in your hand a tripod is essential to get sharp pictures. The heavier a tripod is the more stable it is. A tripod is an essential item in macro photography involving static objects.

Storage Media: The last lesson is about the storage media. The camera captures images on the sensor and then stores it on a storage media. Different cameras have different media slots like compact flash (CF), secure digital (SD), microdrive, smart media, memory stick, xd picture card etc. As a basic rule, estimate the number of photographs you intend to take in a single trip away from home. I would recommend at least 2 GB to hold images.

This was a basic photography lesson from my side. Hope it is enough to get you going on your macro photography.

Take Pro-Quality photos with your DSLR camera

By Kate

After our son was born I started noticing the amazing photos others were taking with semi-professional and professional digital SLR cameras and I knew I had to take the leap from “point-and-shoot”. Opening the box to my spanky new DSLR, I was overwhelmed with settings, options and buzzwords. I wanted to take awesome photos right away — not get an engineering degree in optics!

Once I finally sorted out all the jargon I was relieved to understand how simple DSLR photography really is. This is the quick-start guide I wish I had back then…

The goal is to get a shot that is sharp, bright and clean. In outdoor sunlight this is easy. (You could just use the camera’s “auto-mode”.) It’s really for low-light indoor shots that you have to know what you’re doing.

It turns out that the qualities of sharpness, brightness and graininess are trade-offs among each other. So the trick is to adjust the camera in low-light to get the right balance of each.

ENEMIES OF SHARPNESS:

1) Poor “original” focus.

Auto-focus doesn’t always get it exactly right. You might have to use the manual focus to get the subject as sharp as possible.

2) Camera shake

If you got the original focus exactly right, the subject will still come out blurry if the camera shakes even a little while the shutter is open. If the shutter is open for a long time, then you are more likely to see blur from camera shake.

To minimize camera shake on hand-held shots, you should use a “fast-enough” shutter speed. As a rule of thumb, “fast-enough” is 1/30th of a second for a 30mm zoom length, 1/60th of a second for a 60mm zoom length, and so on. Note how the numbers sort of match. (When the camera doesn’t have settings for these exact speeds, use the closest faster speed. e.g. 1/60th of a second for a 50mm zoom.)

3) Subject movement

Even if your original focus is exact and you don’t shake the camera at all, the subject must be in the same place while the shutter is open, or you will get some amount of blur from subject movement. The longer the shutter is open, the more potential there is for motion blur. The faster the subject is moving, the faster the shutter speed must be.

4) Large aperture

The aperture is the size of the hole in the lens that the light comes through. It turns out that a large aperture will produce blurriness for objects behind (and in front of) the original focal point. This can be an acceptable, even desired, type of blur since you can use it to make a sharp subject stand out from an otherwise blurry background. Using this effect for shots of people in particular will give your photos a professional quality that a typical point-and-shoot camera can’t achieve. [Read more…]