June Selection

10 Tips for Urban Photography
Being from New York, the hustle and bustle of inner city life (while not for everyone) does provide great areas that are so interesting to spend time in – both on a personal level but also photographically.

Photography: Little Known Ways to Avoid Problems in the Field
Photography is all about preparation. Instead of running into problems when you’re out shooting, understand some easy ways of tackling the more common problems you may run into!

Wedding Photography Agreement (Contract) Tips
You’ve seen it before. It’s not the photographer with the biggest camera or the most artistic eye that wins in the world of wedding photography. It’s the best-practiced business photographer.
Unconventional wedding photography

How to Reduce Camera Shake – 6 Techniques
In this article photographer Natalie Norton explores 6 ways you can hand hold lenses at low apertures and low shutter speeds and still avoid blurry images caused by camera shake.

Food Photography Techniques and Tips
Food photographer Jonathan Pollack shares some wonderful food photography tips (and some positively mouth watering photos.

Street Photography Revisited
“if you like street photography, take a walk down the street.”

Photography 101.4 – Exposure and Stops
In this series, we cover all the basics of camera design and use. We talk about the ‘exposure triangle’: shutter speed, aperture and ISO. We talk about focus, depth of field and sharpness, as well as how lenses work, what focal lengths mean and how they put light on the sensor. We also look at the camera itself, how it works, what all the options mean and how they affect your photos.

Infrared Photography
nfrared photography looks like nothing else. I’m sure you’ve seen some IR photos around the web, but maybe you don’t know how to achieve this special effect?

Bird Photography, Part I
It can be difficult to make a good photograph of a bird. There are practical and technical reasons for that. Birds are small, fast, and shy so it is hard to get close enough to a wild bird to take the picture.

3 articles on High Dynamic Range Photography:
http://www.point101.com/news/high-dynamic-range-photography-20.html
http://blog.23x.net/7/beginners-guide-to-hdr.html
http://techbutter.com/2008/06/02/high-dynamic-range-hdr-photography/

Step 1: Triple Check Your Equipment Before You Go Shooting

It always happened to me to forget something. The last “mini photo trip” had the impact on me to always check my equipment on every single and last detail.

We’ve taken with us two Nikon cameras, four lenses and one point and shoot digital camera (canon a640). We wanted to make a test. The most important test was to compare Nikon 70-300mm Vibrate Reduction lenses with Tamron AF-S 70-300mm lenses for Nikon. For this test we needed the tripod that we’ve taken with us. BUT I’ve forgot the head of the tripod. So there I was, with lot of equipment but with out that little piece I’ve need it. Mission Failed!

So check:
- batteries (back up batteries)
- tripod and the head of the tripod
- lenses
- filters
- settings of the camera (why would you shoot the first picture with the settings left from home?)
- camera and lens hoods

Step 2: Travel

Now you are prepared. The next step is to travel. Go to places where you never been before. It’s true that a good photographer can make from one scene thousands of good photos but a smart photographer will travel. Traveling will help discover the world and always have interesting and new pictures.

You can’t go to the same park and expect to always have killer photos. Change places!

Step 3: Try to Avoid the Mid of the Day

A definition of photography says: paint with the light. In photography it’s all about the light. In the mid of the day most of the time you’ll have a white sky and the objects will have no shades, these means: no story to tell (in most of the cases).

Step 4: Always Shoot a Scene from Different Angles

Don’t get satisfied with just one angle. Try more angles and different settings.

Step 5: For Snapshots on Moving Targets Try to Avoid Manual Settings

If you shoot birds, children, moving objects you should use the auto mode or pre-programmed modes. Try to avoid manual settings, because the object is moving so you will have different light, shutter speed and aperture.

Step 6: A Good Photographer Knows that Not All Photos Are Astonishing: Be Very Selective

If you want to be considered a good photographer be very selective, edit your photos and include in your portfolio only the killer photographs.

You could go in a trip and make 1000 photos where would you get only three astonishing photos and 50 OK photos. Include in your portfolio only the best ones.

The photos are from one of my trip around the country. 2 days – 600 photos.

I always recommend to buy a dslr.

Written by Tudor Mateescu.

If you want to write an unique guest post to my blog shoot me an e-mail at laurentia.fr [at] gmail.com

Fourth of July celebrations often end with a firework extravaganza that captivates us all with its awesome beauty. So be prepared to “ooh” and “ah” along with the crowd. And, if you’re like many of us, plan to have your camera ready to capture the “rockets red glare.”

What’s the best way to take “great” firework photos? According to Chuck DeLaney, Dean of the New York Institute of Photography (NYI), the world’s largest photography school, it’s easy if you do a couple of simple things. “Most of all you need a steady camera, a long exposure, and medium speed ISO setting,” DeLaney explains.

First, you’ll want to take a time-exposure. If you have an SLR camera, this should be no problem. Many point-and-shoot cameras have a special Fireworks setting, but if the camera you are using doesn’t, try to “fool” the camera into keeping the shutter open. Here’s how: When you see a rocket shoot skyward, press the shutter-button. The darkness of the sky should cause your camera to keep the shutter open for a time-exposure, and you can end up with a splendid picture.
What about using a single-use “cardboard” disposable camera? NYI says, forget it! These cameras usually have a fixed shutter speed, and you can’t “fool” them into doing the right thing no matter what you do.

Second, and equally important, since you are taking a time-exposure, your camera should be on a solid, unmoving base throughout the exposure. A tripod is best. If you don’t have a tripod, try bracing your camera against some solid structure – for example, a wall, a post, or a railing. They’re not as good as a tripod, but they’re better than hand-holding your camera. And hand-holding is the road to disaster – no one likes blurry fireworks photos.

Third, to add an extra-special touch to your picture, try to include something on the ground to give a sense of location to the firework display in the sky. For example, across the bottom of your frame you might show silhouettes of the crowd, or a statue (George Washington on horseback?), or the skyline of thecity. This one trick will do more to make your fireworks pictures stand out than any other single thing you can do. “There are some special do’s and don’ts that will help digital photographers get the best results,” notes DeLaney. “We
written a special article just to address those issues.”

For lots more advice on how to take “great” fireworks pictures, and some great fireworks photos, visit http://www.nyip.com/ezine/holidays/firewksintro.html or read the other photo tips on the New York Institute of Photography (NYI) Web site at http://www.nyip.com.

Reprinted with permission from the New York Institute of Photography
Photos by Lau