Here’s a photography story I made today.
I gave life to a book. First, the book tries to open. The book cannot get open to easy: it falls down. But then it tries again. After a long long, it finally gets opened and begins to tell the story written inside. The hands will give the impression of a story-telling book in most of the pictures. Then, the story ends, and the book closes. The last picture shows the book is asleep until another reader will bother it wishing to find out the story inside.
If you like the idea, you can try making such a story yourself and post it to your blog. Then, give me a link to your story.
Documentary Photos
If you have just purchased your Nikon D80, the controls on the outside of the camera coupled with all the menus and custom settings can be … all » downright overwhelming. We give you a structure for looking at the controls as well as a repeatable ritual for taking great photos with your new camera. You spent a bundle on this camera. Let it be an extension of your hands rather than a struggle. The Nikon D80 is a powerful piece of equipment. A solid understanding of its features and controls can really unleash its potential. Once you learn how the camera’s components work together, you’ll have all the tools you need to capture the best image under all conditions.
Understanding AF Area Selections Topics include:
• Be Prepared (To Get the Shot)
• Shutter Priority
• Aperture Priority/Depth of Field
• Focus Alternatives
• Metering and Bracketing
• White Balance/Color Temperature
• ISO
• Playback Options / Image Review
• Understanding Histograms
• Exposure Compensation
• Flash Overview
• Custom Settings
• Tripods and Telephoto Lenses
• Programmable Buttons
• RAW (NEF) Files
• Composition
• My Menus
• Bracketing versus Post Processing
• Shutter Priority to Achieve the Effect You Want
• Self Timer and Delay for Rock Solid Results
Take great pictures with your Nikon D80! All you need is this training DVD and about 93 minutes, and you’ll have the knowledge and the confidence to create the images you want. The topics are arranged in chapters, so you can move at your own pace, and return later to individual subjects.
Nikon Understanding Digital Photography DVD You are ready to take your digital SLR photography beyond the automatic settings on your … all » Nikon digital SLR camera, this 45 minute Nikon School© DVD is the perfect guide. Join Bob Krist, award-winning National Geographic Traveler Photographer, on a day of shooting and instruction. Along the way, Bob will offer valuable insights on choices you can make to begin composing and shooting breathtaking photographs.
While on a variety of locations, Bob will share his vast knowledge of photography and Nikon digital SLRs to educate you on:
· Camera settings for best quality in various situations
· Lens choice for creative and practical shooting
· Utilizing the Retouch Menu for in-camera editing
· Exposure fundamentals and shooting options
During the day’s shooting, Bob takes us to familiar situations around the home and demonstrates a variety of creative photographic opportunities. Understanding Digital Photography covers the use of the Nikon Creative Lighting System, using Nikon Speedlights for portraits and small groups. Bob continues removing the mystery of overcoming photographic challenges in a variety of environments including the difficulties encountered with twilight portraits and landscapes.
This DVD offers valuable instruction to anyone interested in digital SLR photography, particularly those who have some familiarity with a digital SLR’s basic functions. For those unfamiliar with basic digital SLR operation, I recommend beginning with the Nikon School© DVD, Fast, Fun& Easy: Great Digital Pictures.
Hello my dear reader!
I am kind of busy at work these days, but soon the “storm” will be over and I got new interesting tutorials waiting for you. Meanwhile, there are 2 things I want to tell you:
First, don’t forget about the photojournalism contest (write your story and win a book).
Second, I’ll leave you a gallery from my latest winter shooting session in the mountains near my town. There is a lake there and I had the chance to shoot during a snow fall. Enjoy!
A documentary about agriculture landscape shapes in China (and the big wall of course). It’s all about man-made huge structures that can only be observed it the full splendor from a big height. Enjoy.
Agriculture is the most important economic sector of China, employing over 300 million farmers- nearly half of its work force. China ranks first in worldwide farm output, primarily producing rice, wheat, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton, oilseed, pork, and fish. About 75% of China’s cultivated area is used for food crops. Rice is China’s most important crop, raised on about 25% of the cultivated area. The majority of rice is grown south of the Huai River, in the Yangtze valley, the Zhu Jiang delta, and in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces.
For agricultural purposes the Chinese had invented the hydraulic-powered trip hammer by the 1st century BC, during the ancient Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD). Although it found other purposes, its main function to pound, decorticate, and polish grain that otherwise would have been done manually. The Chinese also innovated the square-pallet chain pump by the 1st century AD, powered by a waterwheel or an oxen pulling a on a system of mechanical wheels. Although the chain pump found use in public works of providing water for urban and palatial pipe systems, it was used largely to lift water from a lower to higher elevation in filling irrigation canals and channels for farmland.
I made it today, Sunday November 4, 2007. I hope you like this documentary on autumn fall with music and lyrics.
This summer I had the chance to go on a trip at the seaside, the Black See Romanian Coast. I had all the needed gear with me: camera, extra memory cards, extra rechargeable batteries, tripod and a laptop. Every experienced photographer developed a certain shooting style of his own (for example photographers who shoot the sea only at long exposure times), but the below examples are kind of a mixture of what one can do in order to give you the chance to see that you like most.
-I- The Shooting
Tip 1:
Sunrise is at around 5:30 am. No matter of the weather, a sunrise shot is always impressive. Between 5 and 6 am I was up sad because the fog completely covered the sun, however, some lonely people were walking on the beach inside the fog and that made a great shot. Later on, the fog and the few clouds at the horizon rise and below you have my see-sunrise picture with the sun rays in the above side and the sun reflexion in the watter at the bottom side of the shot. Don’t forget to use a tripod or otherwise you risk having a blurred sunrise.
Tip 2:
During the day, it’s important to think “what is there interesting to shoot?” – finding a subject. Just shooting around where plenty of people lie down will result into busy images with no precise subject. A girl playing with a ball, a boy running under a natural umbrella, a surfer behind an umbrella, a lady trying to teach her dog how to swim, and so on. Now that you saw something you want to shoot, let’s see how to get the best out of it:
Tip 3:
Being somewhere in a nice place, most people tend to take pictures to distant subject in order to capture the so called environment. This is wrong. Fill your frame, don’t worry about the environment: landscape / seascape can make the subject of another picture, but now don’t miss your chance. As an example for this look at the picture with the lady and the dog: there is nothing else, no other people, no horizon line – your attention can only be at the given situation.
Tip 4:
Use a telephoto lens (like 200mm) if you want to better capture situations and people on the beach. In this situation, it’s like you are a photojournalist and the subject will pop out from the busy background as a result of the narrow DOF. As an example look again at the pictures of the girls with the ball. The are many people far from the girl but in the same area, and, if I didn’t have used the right lens, the group of people would have been disturbing the attention on her.
Tip 5:
In some other tutorials I once told you about perspective. There are several images here that I toked by standing at the see level: I wanted to capture the girl with the ball and the beauty of the waves. By combing the two elements in different parts of the picture in order to balance the composition, I managed to give the viewer the unique feeling about how great is to feel that ball moved by the waves, splashing and floating. Also, this is a way of avoiding to capture the horizon at the middle of the picture.
Tip 6:
Look down. You may see footprints, seashells, sea crabs, jellyfish… really, I did! Take a macro shot of these creatures if you can. And speaking of creatures and macro shots: you can order sea fruits at lunch 
Tip 7:
Like I said at the beginning, some photographers do the long exposure trick. At sunrise or sunset, put your camera on the tripod, get into Aperture Priority mode and set the aperture so that in the camera will enter only the lowest amount of light (the camera will automatically increase the exposure time). In the Shutter Priority mode, put a longer exposure setting, as longer as better, and don’t forget to adjust the exposure compensation to the lowest number (underexpose), otherwise your picture will be a white rectangle and nothing more.
Tip 8:
Night shots also requires long exposure time, but, besides from that, you also need to increase the ISO number (sensitivity). The picture will result grainy but at least you won’t be worrying about it being too dark. Even at night the beach can still be interesting in matter of objects enlighten by a soft back light like those umbrellas.
-II- The Post-Edit
Step 1:
Add contrast and saturate the colors by using curves on each channel (R – G – B) in different adjustment layers.
Step 2:
Sharpen the images that were taken with fast shutter speed: the watter droplets will pop out even more.
Step 3:
If there are objects in the frame that ruin the composition but at the shooting point you could not avoid them, you can still use clone tool and healing brush to remove them. I did so at the picture with the running boy: behind him, there were other people laying down on the beach.
Step 4:
Black&White or Duo-tone will make your images look even more expressive and artistic.
Step 5:
Is there a need for cropping? If yes, now it’s the moment. Maybe after you toked the shot, when you saw the image on the computer you realized that by cropping vertically you can obtain a better composition.
Step 6:
Resize the image for web and/or printing. Why not making a photo album of the great photo vacation and show them to others? Make a good selection from the hundred of pictures.
Step 7:
For a better presentation, before pressing the print button or submit picture button, add a simple border to each of them. This way your images will pop out from the plenty of other see images around the world.
In the end, I hope these tips will help you get better creative vacation pictures next summer… unless you live on the oceans shore and the sea is always at your feet.
Tags: seaside photos, seaside, photo tips, summer photography
Harmony of Nature Documentary made in ProShow Professional. The text is in Romanian, my own language, but even if you don’t understand it, the message is clear enough.
This type of photography involves knowing more than one skill: landscape, indoor, architecture.
The easiest but probably the most spectacular photography is the landscape view of a castle/palace. Most of them are located in mountain regions or near a lake/river. Think for example at the castles on the Rhin River in Germany. Considering the century when these were build, you may encounter a dig around them or a big fancy gate and colorful gardens. (Check for example Versailles in France, near Paris)
As for indoor, even if they have tall walls, usually they are very dark. The use of flash is required for capturing the furniture inside the royal rooms.
Architecture is represented by sculptures and statues. In the morning or evening the light suits better every shadow of the forms.
Shooting holy places from outside is similar with castles and palaces, only that I recommend a vertical composition. (The holy symbol on the top should fit in the picture)
As for the inside, the paintings, statues, painted glass and the above candelabra with curved upper wall are the usual subjects.
Of course flash is recommended (however not for more than 3m distance) but normally it is not allowed. A tripod and high ISO plus an increment or two for exposure compensation/bracketing will help. The latest in this domain are the indoor HDR images. (Works great for shooting against painted glass) Also, when focusing on the altar, try a vertical panorama to capture it with the above candelabra.
A specific lens type for architecture, a wide lens will capture more of the room in one shoot, however, with some distortion.
In the end I also give a tip on shooting the siluet of a representative part of the building: in my example, the bell over the city landscape framed by the bell’s room curved gate.
Tags: castle photo, church photo, palace photo, architecture photography, indoor photography
As I promised, here’s a second bite of inspiration from EarthShots.org.
Tags: 100 Days of Earth Shots, best nature pictures, earth beauty, earth shots
