Soropa Blog

Want to know one of the secrets to successful shots of people? That’s easy. It’s them. What I mean by that is that the art to capturing a great shot of someone is simply finding a way to let their good self shine through.

You see, when someone feels good it shows in their eyes, their facial expression and their body language. And this means that the more relaxed someone is the better chance you have to capturing that great shot of them.

So how do we get someone relaxed enough to get a good shot of them?

Composition wise, medium to close creates good angle for people. There’s nothing worse than a picture being too far away. What’s the point of that if you want to really see who someone is in a photo? In good pictures you can see the person’s whole face clearly without any sense of trying to get a better look. The eyes are the thing that the composition falls around so make sure the persons eyes are the main feature, not the nose or mouth.

If you want to get creative then try taking shots of them from a front/side angle and in sepia or black and white. Changing the colour of the pic adds a new definition and depth to emotion of the person. Just remember that colour is just one thing you can do. If your camera has only one setting, then you can ask a photo lab that specialises in digital prints to do you two prints of the same picture; one in black and white and one in sepia. (My lab charges me 64c for a 6×4 print. Very good value.)

With lighting, you need a fairly good amount, such as a flash at a medium distance away, such as under 3 meters, good focus, and the colour of the digital image is important. Its ideal to get the lighting right around the whole person such as reflective, soft light coming from a window for example. Window light is actually a great place to start if your person is indoors.

For outdoor light and people photography with digital, try to take the picture when it’s not direct sunlight, as this hard light may cast unnecessary shadows. There’s nothing worse than a great shot of a person with a huge shadow of their nose that you can’t take your eyes off. It’s not very flattering.

Getting your person to feel comfortable around you is another issue too. If they want a good picture taken of them selves then make sure it’s not a posed pictures, as relaxed ones will bring out the fun, happy side of them.

And have fun. There is no reason you can’t enjoy yourself or be relaxed yourself when taking someone’s picture. Once you have all the components right and they feel comfortable then you will have a great picture.

To learn how to take excellent digital shots of people you don’t know everything is revealed in Digital Photography Success which can be found at: www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

With digital landscape photography, one of the most satisfying aspects is that you can evaluate your pictures right there in the field. With emotion playing such a big part of digital landscape photography, you can now get a good idea right there of how much of the moment you were able to capture…

However, making the transition from film to digital landscape photography it is important to get past the technological hurdles, in order to pursue your particular vision of the landscape around you.

The first step in digital landscape photography is to ensure that you have a good theoretical grip on the technology and functions of the camera you will be using. For that purpose you should take time - before packing your tent and setting of into the countryside! - to study all you can about your camera’s specifications, as well as visiting a couple of the many excellent online guides and tutorials on digital photography.

One of the best ideas would then be to go on a field workshop. Many expert and experienced digital landscape photographers offer such field tutorial trips where you will be able to learn the ropes right from the horse’s mouth. These digital landscape photography workshops are popular. To be sure that you can be accommodated, you have to plan ahead and make your booking in good time.

One such opportunity is presented by digital landscape photography pioneer Stephen Johnson. You can spend a week with him exploring the Maine coast, where you can take part in digital image capture, exposure, and composition. You will also get the benefit of critiques and lab work in image processing, printing, and presentation.

Another way to improve your skills in digital landscape photography, is to join a seminar or workshop by landscape photographers such as Michael Reichmann, Alain Briot, Craig Samuel, Daniel Bergmann, and others. These events are usually booked up far in advance!

With digital photography now being pursued in many speciality spheres, it is even possible to attend specialized workshops on, for instance, digital landscape photography in black and white.

These events will offer you a better opportunity to get to grips with what you want to achieve in digital landscape photography. To use Michael Reichmann’s distinction, you will learn how to shoot an image that is different from a mere snapshot or just another pretty postcard picture…

A few digital landscape photography tips:

1. Point your digital camera lens upwards, and capture more of the sky. This can signify openness, freedom, and wide expanses - the effect you are striving to achieve in digital landscape photography.

2. The best time to shoot landscape pictures is during the first 2 hours and last 2 hours of daylight.

3. For panoramas: Meter all scenes beforehand and use the one with the least exposure. Then take all scenes with that constant setting.

4. Shooting in below zero degrees? You should keep your batteries warm by alternating sets between the camera and your inner pocket. Below zero temperatures shorten battery life.

5. Setting White Balance: For nature photography set WB to daylight.

More tips and advice can be found in ‘Digital Landscape Photography Step By Step’, by Michelle Perkins. This book may be compact, but it is packed with good advice about composition, the technique behind photographing sunsets, night work, and creating black and white images. This book will give any beginner a good start.

Another renowned photographer, Tim Gartside, gives detailed information about this subject in his book, ‘Digital Landscape Photography’. This volume includes topics such as software manipulation of images, but also guides the novice through composition and the basic techniques of digital landscape photography.

For more information visit Best-Digital-Photography.com

Rika Susan of Article-Alert.com researches, writes, and publishes full-time on the Web. Copyright of this article: 2006 Rika Susan. This article may be reprinted if the resource box and hyperlinks are left intact.

Color is often overlooked in photography. The colors in a photo can greatly affect the impact or the emotional value of the user. Have you ever come across a photograph with funky color combination with loud backgrounds? Have you ever noticed that if the colors aren’t complimentary they can give you an eye twisting headache?

Different colors invoke different emotional values and each value depends in which
part of the world you are in. Some colors have a positive effect and some can convey
some negative emotions. Here are Colors and their perceived emotional value for
your reference.

Red:
Positive: Sense of power, strength, action, passion, sexuality
Negative: Anger, forcefulness, impulsiveness, impatience, intimidation, conquest,
violence and revenge

Yellow:
Positive: Caution, brightness, intelligence, joy, organization, Spring time
Negative: Criticism, laziness, or cynicism

Blue:
Positive: Tranquility, love, acceptance, patience, understanding, cooperation,
comfort, loyalty and security
Negative: Fear, coldness, passivity and depression

Orange:
Positive: Steadfastness, courage, confidence, friendliness, and cheerfulness,
warmth, excitement and energy
Negative: Ignorance, inferiority, sluggishness and superiority

Purple:
Positive: Royalty, sophistication, religion
Negative: Bruised or foreboding

Green:
Positive: Money, health, food, nature, hope, growth, freshness, soothing, sharing,
and responsiveness
Negative: Envy, greed, constriction, guilt, jealousy and disorder

Black:
Positive: Dramatic, classy, committed, serious
Negative: Evil, death, ignorance, coldness

White:
Positive: Pure, fresh, easy, cleanliness or goodness
Negative: Blind, winter, cold, distant

A Photo should tell us a story and they should communicate what the photographer
wants to tell us. Logic and emotion play a big role in our understanding of a
photograph but eventually emotion will win over the logic. Most of the time, we are
purposefully trying to invoke a specific emotional response that will increase the
enjoyment of our photos. So if given a chance… pick your colors carefully.

About the author: Anton Sheker is a photographer based
in Philippines. For more home and garden articles visit his site
online at http://www.photo.net.ph/blogalicious

Anton Sheker is founder and member of the World Photo Directory http://
http://www.worldphotodirectory.com