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Thursday 24 November 2011

Master These 4 Basic Facial Expressions for a Photo Shoot With Character


Much of the attention in photo modelling is given to the way a model poses and dresses. Yet, little or no attention is giving to facial expressions. Expressions will make or break a photo shoot. Photos will be soulless and tell nothing. It is suggested that every model has a couple of expressions, which she is good at, up her sleeve. That way it gives character and meaning to her photos. I would like to advice some of the very basic facial expressions, which a model should practice in front a mirror and master.

In order to improve the overall facial expressions when posing for a photo shoot, a model should use her hands, palms and fingers in a way to compliment and maximize her expressions.

Emily Didonato
Happiness

This should be a straight forward and easy emotion to get across in your photos. Think of enjoyable moments with your family and friends, or funny situations that keep bringing a smile on your face.
You can run your fingers through your hair or hands can be held over the tummy when laughing out loud.

Loneliness and sadness

Here you should let your mind drift and detach yourself from your surroundings. You should look deep within you and come face to face with your worst fears and heart aches. In order to bring out the best emotions you should feel them rather than act them. Your facial expressions should be tense and stressed.
Palm of the hand can be held over the mouth or touching your temple.

Day dreaming and fantasizing

This is a pensive mood in which you dream about your aspirations, nostalgic moments and sentimental places. Your facial expressions should be calm and relaxed.

Chin can be cupped in both palms of the hands or head leaned over palm of the hand. Head can be rested on both hands too.

Sensual and seductive

For many models it comes naturally while others have to put more work in it. Most of the expressions should be transmitted through the eyes and the tilting of the head. Your facial expression should hint lustfulness and seductiveness.

Kelly Brook
Fingers can touch softly the lips with mouth parted. Your fingers can touch delicately other parts of the face like the cheek or the neck.

If you still find the above emotions difficult to master, I recommend you visit the nearest drama centre in your locality and apply for a short drama course. You will definitely find it very helpful. From my experience, I can say that models with a background in acting and dancing, usually find it very easy to express a wide range of emotions through their face and body.

To complement facial expressions it is vital that you know how to pose a model. Do you feel uneasy and most of the time stuck behind a camera? You do not have too feel this way, take action and start brushing your posing techniques.

If you are still a novice and you do not know from where to start, I strongly suggest that you have a look at this incredible product - DigiCamCash A step by step guide on how to turn photos into cash!

Author: Michael Abela
Source: http://michaelabela.weebly.com/
Photo Source: http://www.listal.com/

Wednesday 23 November 2011

3 Things You Need To Know About White Balance


White balance (WB) is really important for accurate re-production of colors in a photo. If WB settings are not properly tuned in your digital camera, you may find your final shot to be colored slightly in hues of blue, orange or yellow. Not a good thing.

Kim Cloutier
In this article, we'll look at 3 important aspects of white balance you need to understand in order to make better use of it in your photography.

1. What is White Balance?

Let's start with the definition of white balance. If you've taken photos on your camera, you'll notice that sometimes the pictures come out with a hue of colors - usually blue, or yellow. This is particularly the case when photographing things indoors. For human beings, our eyes are able to adjust to this effect. However, cameras don't have that eye and can't recognize and adjust accordingly.

Hence, many digital cameras come with WB settings - tungsten, fluorescent and so forth - to offset the color hues and make the photo colors look correct. These usually come in preset modes. You can also manually adjust WB settings if you wish.

2. Preset WB Settings

Let's look at some of the standard WB settings used in digital cameras. The default WB setting used is the Auto mode. In this mode, the camera will auto adjust for any color hue that is introduced into the photo. It may not always work but it's a good "fire-and-forget" mode which does everything for you.

Another common setting is that of a "Sunset mode". If you're bathed in the light of dusk, when taking a photo, the colors may look too yellowish. The "Sunset mode" WB setting offsets this so that the color is re-produced accurately in the final shot.

Marisa Miller
The " Tungsten mode" is also used when you're under tungsten light bulbs. If your subject looks like he or she is too illuminated by light bulbs, switch on the "Tungsten mode" in your WB settings to calibrate the camera.
Other modes include the "Flash mode" which corrects for the harshness of flash indoors, as well as "Cloudy mode" - which compensate for dark, cloudy sky colors which are cast over your subject(s).

3. Manual WB Adjustment

If you're a more advanced user, you should consider doing the WB calibration manually. These kind of settings are usually available on higher end cameras like digital SLRs. Here's what I typically do. I hold up a piece of thick white paper and point the camera at it. This allows the camera to know what "white" really is, then I base the WB settings against that. Whenever I do this, I find I hardly run into any coloration issues in my final pictures. Try it and see how it works for you.

Conclusion

In summary, white balance is an important but often ignored aspect of photography. All photographers, novice or expert, should apply WB concepts in their photography so as to snap better photos. Now that you understand what WB is, make sure you adjust those settings before you run out and take photos. With practice, you'll be able to calibrate your camera to the right level and offset any coloration issues in your photos. Good luck!

Author: Gary Hendricks
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Hendricks
Source: http://www.listal.com/

Do you want to create fantastic and spectacular photos? If yes, I recommend taking a look at Trick Photography and Special Effects by Evan Sharboneau in order to boost and enhance you photos with outstanding special effects!

Tuesday 22 November 2011

4 Reasons Why You Need a Reflector for a Photo Shoot - There Is More to It Than Just a Reflector


I have to admit it. I rejoice working with reflectors during my outdoor photo shoots. This is for the simple reason that it can be used in a number of different ways. It purely makes your photographic life much easier. Do you possess a reflector or maybe you are planning to buy one? Hereunder I have listed for you the basic advantages of working with a reflector when doing outdoor photo shoots.

Rhian Sugden
Diffuser

If you buy a 5 in 1 type of reflector you can use your reflector as a diffuser. Holding the reflector above your model you can diffuse direct sunlight into softer light. In doing so, the model's features will turn out to be more graceful and smoother. This is a vital accessory particularly when you find yourself in situations where excessive harsh light is unavoidable.

In situations where you are forced to use artificial light, a diffuser is very helpful in minimizing the ugly shadows associated with flashes.

Artificial Light

I find it annoying having to use artificial light when actually I am working outdoors. It is pointless having ample natural light all around you and you succumb to artificial light. I understand that in certain circumstances, you need that little extra light to lighten dark areas, such as below the chin,  nose and eyes.

A small reflector is all that is needed. You can take advantage of natural light by simply redirecting light to the desired areas.

Another important aspect is that you do not need to worry any more about getting extra batteries for your flash light! Power source is unlimited.

Wind Breaker

Photo shoots during windy days can be problematic. Models are most of the time drying their watery eyes and makeup has to be retouch constantly. The situation gets even worse when working on sandy beaches or dusty areas.

By strategically using a medium size reflector you can easily shield the model's face from these extreme conditions. This is very effective if you are doing portraits.

Backdrop

An effective way of using a reflector is by using it as a backdrop. Depending on the size of your reflector, it can block unwanted noise in the background. Again, this is very effective when doing portraiture. Referring back to the 5 in 1 reflector, the choice of background usually is gold, silver, black or white.

A reflector can be the best accessory you can carry with you during your photo shoots. Its uses are endless. To a certain extent I would prefer leaving an extra lens behind rather than a reflector. If like me, you like working with ambient light, I strongly suggest that next time you venture for your outdoor photo shoot you grab that reflector along.

Practice makes perfect but knowledge can speed up your learning process. Read and expand your knowledge about reflectors in order to ameliorate and improve your photo shoots.

Author: Michael Abela
Photo Source: http://www.listal.com/

An easy to follow, step by step course in mastering the art of digital photography is Learn Digital Photography Now If you would like to further your knowledge in digital photography, I strongly recommend that you aquire this product.

Friday 18 November 2011

Photography Tips - Using Camera Flash At Night


A night-time photo shoot often presents a problem or two, especially when including an element of interest in the background such as architecture. In most cases a tripod or some other method of stabilizing the camera will be necessary due to the slow shutter speeds used with low-light photography. But even with a tripod, our subject needs to remain somewhat statuesque to prevent blurring. If you've ever tried portraits at night, you'll know that getting clean sharp shots is almost impossible when there's any kind of movement.

We often end up turning on our flash to get around this issue. But this leads us into another problem. Using frontal flash at night will certainly capture your subject, but everything that's outside of your flash range, everything in the background will disappear into blackness. The resulting shot will be simply your bright subject, in a sea of blackness.

So in low light, how do we include the subject AND the background?

The answer is slow-sync flash.

It's a pretty simple concept that combines long exposure with flash photography. There are two types of slow-sync flash available to us, and they will each produce their own unique results. The two types are "front curtain" or "rear curtain". Either method can be used in an environment where everything is still with little difference in the outcome, not forgetting that a tripod would still be necessary in most cases. However, if you're trying to capture any kind of movement within the scene, it's important to choose the technique that will provide you with the desired result.

Front-curtain: The flash is fired at the start of the shot - right when the shutter opens. The flash will illuminate the subject and foreground, and the shutter will remain open for the remainder of the shot - long enough to capture everything else in the background.

Rear-curtain: Basically the opposite of the above. The shutter is opened for as long as necessary - long enough to capture the background, and then at the very last minute, the flash will fire to illuminate the subject and foreground.

As an example, try to imagine a scene where there is a little bit of frontal lighting. There's a building or a large sculpture in the background that has been up-lit, and we want to capture both our subject, who is close-by AND the background architecture. We decide to use the rear-curtain technique and an exposure of around 10 seconds. As we press the shutter button our subject begins to walk through the frame from the left-hand side - and we time it so that the flash fires just as they are about to exit to the right. The resulting shot will show our subject about to exit the frame, but with light trails behind them - perhaps giving the feeling of a speedy exit.

What results do you think the front curtain method would produce? If you were to have the flash fire as the subject enters the scene, then leave the shutter open as they walk through the frame. What effect do you think that would have on the resulting photo?

Author: Shannon Yates
Posted by: http://michaelabela.weebly.com

An easy to follow, step by step course in mastering the art of digital photography is Learn Digital Photography Now.  If you would like to further your knowledge in digital photography, I strongly recommend that you aquire this product.

Thursday 17 November 2011

Top 3 Ways to Direct a Model to Pose for a Photo Shoot


A common situation that a photographer is confronted with quite often is the proper way a model should be directed, in order to follow your directions. There is a fine line between guiding the model politely and being too intrusive to get your message through. As a general rule you should never touch a model without asking permission to do so.

Antoinette Nikprelaj
Working with a number of different models, I have found various effective ways in order to get the models follow my directions with ease. Below I have outlined three different ways, that I am sure you will find them beneficial.

Planning

I cannot stress enough the fact, that for a successful photo shoot planning should be done well in advance. Upon discussing with your model issues such as clothing and location, you should advice your model to do some homework. Tell your model to buy some fashion magazines and pick any poses that she likes. Before meeting for the actual photo shoot, inform her to bring along some of the picture cuttings, in order for you to understand what style and type of poses she is eager to do.

Assistant

Another way that has proven to be very effective is to ask the model to bring along a female friend. This can turn out to be very helpful when you simply cannot get the right pose from your model. You can politely ask her friend to move your model around in the way you want. This way, through her friend, you would have a pair of 'virtual' manipulative hands. You can have a female assistant to support you instead of a friend, but needless to say, this would incur more costs for the model. Also, there is no guarantee that the model would feel comfortable with this set up.

Body Language

When the spoken word has no effect, resolve in using your body language. This is very effective. Through your body, you can direct the model by showing her how much to tilt forward, turn, bend or move. Due to various reasons, this is not always practical. This is due to the size and flexibility of the photographer and the complexity of the pose. In such circumstances some pre set hand signs can work wonders. Agree on what signs mean what before you start the session. You will be amazed on how much work can be done without uttering a single word at times!

A word of advice

Most of the time, a model would find no objection in letting the photographer guide her physically, by prudently touching and directing her. Obviously this is to the model's discretion. On your part as a photographer you should respect your model and work in a professional way. As you go along, your reputation as a photographer will precede you. Having a sound and trustworthy reputation would make your interactions with future models less of a head ache both for you and the models.

Also, one must keep in mind that It is imperative that you built up your expertise and know how in directing models to pose. A photo shoot can run smoother and be more productive if you possess the right skills to pose models successfully.

Posing Secrets - The Photographer's Essential Guide Vol.1  by Malcolm Boone is a unique and practical tool which will guide you step by step, in mastering the art of posing a model.  I strongly suggest that you give it a thorough look.  It is definitely worth the money!

Author: Michael Abela
Source: http://michaelabela.weebly.com

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Top 7 Free Photo Editing Software Programs For Windows


Many of these free photo editing programs aren't lousy or lacking in features. Some of them are industrial grade (e.g. GIMP) and some are geared towards simple, online photo edits (e.g. Fatpaint). In this article, I'll introduce you to seven of the best photo editing software programs for Windows.

Kelly Brook
1. The GIMP

The GIMP is a great free, open-source image editor that brings high-end photo editing to users for free. The interface is a bit complex to pick up, but it is very powerful. If you've used Adobe Photoshop before, you'll find many of its functions available in the GIMP. For a free piece of software, it has an amazing repertoire of functions.

2. Fotoflexer

Fotoflexer is a web-based photo editing application that has casual and prosumer appeal. If you're a novice, you'll be able to go in, do some simple edits and be done. If you're a more advanced user - you'll be spoilt for choice in terms of what this tool can do. We're talking about blurring, comic, retro, animatinos, distortions and even layer support - all done online with your photo.

3. Paint.Net

Paint.Net has been around for some time and boasts an easy-to-use interface and a huge array of effects. If you don't need to use the full power of Photoshop and simply want a quick and dirty tool, Paint.Net is a good bet.

4. Picasa 3.5

Owned by Google, Picasa is a very pretty and top notch photo editing program. You need to install a desktop client in order to use it. However, it's interface is very clean and has cool tools like geo-tagging, great sharing support, web albums and name tags. Picasa gets my vote as one of the best in this list - it's a terrific, easy, and free way to edit and organize your images.

5. Picnik

Picnick is another photo editing tool that is web-based and has been around for some time. It's quite powerful in the photo editing options it offers - although it's not as full-featured as Fotoflexer, in my opinion.

Kim Smith

6. Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011


Microsoft has jumped on the photo editing bandwagon too - with Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011. It gives you face recognition and retouching capabilities and is in fact a very good alternative to Google Picasa or Apple iPhoto.

7. Fatpaint

Fatpaint is an online and free, graphic design software and photo editor. It's one of the newer tools in this list - you can create page layouts, paint and draw vector images, logos and illustrations very easily.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many choices available when you're picking a good photo editing software program for your Windows machine. What I've shown you are 7 of the best and free tools available out there. Be sure to check them out. For more serious work, you'd of course want to use a commercial package like Adobe Photoshop Elements or Corel PaintShop Pro X4.

Until next time, happy photo editing!

Author: Gary Hendricks
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Hendricks
Source: http://www.listal.com/

Do you want to create fantastic and spectacular photos? If yes, I recommend taking a look at Trick Photography and Special Effects by Evan Sharboneau in order to boost and enhance you photos with outstanding special effects!

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Tips for Maximizing Online Photo Sales


Candice Boucher
For photographers who rely on sales through online photo proofing - whether you're a destination photographer, want to reach beyond your closest client, or just prefer online photo sales - making the online photo sale is key. You have to give your clients a reason to connect with your images, remind them they are there, and help push the sale. This doesn't mean being pushy, it just means being present, straightforward, and assertive.

1. Set a short window for photo viewing and purchasing

Give your clients ample time to check out their photos and make a decision, but not so long that they get busy and push it off. Creating a sense of urgency helps make the sale happen. Does this mean making a bride spend her honeymoon rushing to place photo orders? Of course not. Create a window of time that's right for your clients, be it a week, a month, or more. Let them know clearly that their photos are available for this timeframe, and not afterwards. Most online photo proofing galleries provide the ability to "expire" a gallery. Some photographers even include an extra fee to reinstate a photo gallery - if you do this, make sure your clients are aware of this fee up front. Remind your clients when the expiration date is close - you can set an email for a future date "last chance to view your photos online" - give them a day or two notice so they have time to place the order.

2. Create a time-limited promotion

Create a deal that is only good for a limited time; "order by Friday for 10 free gift prints". Make sure to place a clear expiration date on your promotion and stick to it. If a client orders late, politely tell them "sorry, that was a limited time offer". Don't be pushover if you've clearly stated the conditions of your promotions.

3. Make your prices simple and clear

Many photographers create confusing multi-faceted discount systems, packages, and conditional sales. Choose one method of creating a sale, and one alone. Feel free to experiment with different sales for different clients and see how they affect your sales, but stick to one at a time so you don't confuse - and ultimately lose - your client. Stay away from packages that leave a client purchasing items they don't really want. Some great sale suggestions:

Tier based discounts, such as orders over $200 get 10% off, over $400 get 20% off.
Buy something, get something discounts - buy two 8x10's, get one free (great if you show an example of a triptych wall display).

Order by a certain date for upgrades in paper quality.

A straight up sale of an item you'd like to encourage - $10 off all canvases.

Ultimately, your client will be happiest if they have great images, and soon enough that they feel connected with the event or photography session. These simple selling tips can help encourage a timely purchase and give your clients the products that they want.

Sam enjoys helping professional photographers succeed by utilizing online photo sales tools, social media, and emerging technology.

Author: Sam Breece
Photo Source: http://www.listal.com/
Posted by: http://michaelabela.weebly.com

If you are still a novice and you do not know from where to start, I strongly suggest that you have a look at this incredible product - DigiCamCash A step by step guide on how to turn photos into cash!

Monday 14 November 2011

Understanding Light - The Properties of Light and How to Apply Them to Your Outdoor Photo Shoots


Unfortunately, when it comes to light in photography it is though only in terms of exposure. If there is enough light for the correct exposure, than it is just fine for most photographers. But there is much more to light then just exposure.

Light has various properties that ultimately produce different effects. It is imperative that a photographer understands light in a way that he can take advantage and control light. In order to comprehend light one must be familiar with its properties.

Emily Didonato
Light has three main properties that are of particular interest to a photographer.

Quantity

This is also referred to as the intensity of light. The amount of light available will determine the exposure and vibe of the photo.

Quality

This refers to the type of light that will produce a definite level of contrast and depth. This is of extreme importance when doing portraiture.

Direction

Depending from which direction the light is hitting your model, will determine the overall appearance of the model being photographed.

It is important to note that these properties are present both in natural and artificial types of light.

Outdoor Photo shoots Using Natural Light

When doing an outdoor photo shoot as a photographer you should keep a few points in mind in order to archive the desired effects. A photo shoot can be done at sunrise, midday, dawn or even during the night. Remember that moon light is another source of natural light.

It must be pointed out that there is no correct type of light for each and every subject, but in terms of texture, shape and depth a type of light is preferred over another.

The following are some effects produced by natural light. By understanding these attributes, light can be used to your advantage.


Direct Sunlight

Textures are prominent and details are sharp. It creates strong shadows and in turn high contrast. Colour is very saturated though it degrades highlights easily.

Diffused Sunlight

Shadows are softer and contrast is low. Strongly diffused light reduces colour saturation and can create an unhappy feeling. On the other hand moderately diffused light gives better colour saturation from most directions.

Fog

Greatly reduces details and shadows and creates an enveloping type of light. It produces weaker colours. Particular care must be taken since this type of light tends to produce flare.

Understanding the various properties of light is vital to create the specific moods and effects needed for each and every particular outdoor photo shoot. By learning to handle light properly the opportunities in creating better and more creative work are endless.

Next time you are directing and posing your models, make sure that you have analysed the type of natural light you are working with. This way you are sure to ameliorate your results.

An easy to follow, step by step course in mastering the art of digital photography is Learn Digital Photography Now If you would like to further your knowledge in digital photography, I strongly recommend that you aquire this product.

Author: Michael Abela
Source:
http://michaelabela.weebly.com

Source: http://www.listal.com/

Friday 11 November 2011

How to Turn an Average Model Into a Hot Glamour Model - Master These 3 Easy Posing Styles

posted by http://michaelabela.blogspot.com

Have you ever been stuck behind a camera trying to make up your mind what your next move should be, in order to pose and direct your model? Have you ever had a challenging model that no matter how hard you try to direct her posing, it just seems you cannot get it right? Rest assured that you are not the only photographer to be faced with such a situation. These three posing styles that I am going to share with you, will kick start your photographic abilities in those uncomfortable moments, when you are lost for poses.

Laying the Model Belly-Down on the Ground

This is one of the safest and most effective ways when directing a model to pose. I like this particular style of posing, for the simple reason that no matter what size or how awkward the model is with posing, the results more often than not, turn out to be brilliant. The way, by which the body is posed naturally on the ground, it brings out beautiful curves through out the whole body, from head to toes. I suggest you shoot the model from the same perspective the model is lying down i.e. shooting on your knees or flat on your chest. From experience, this is the best efficient approach for this type of shooting.

Shooting From a Higher Angle

Leanna Decker
When your model is a big sized model it is suggested that you shoot a couple of photos from a higher angle. Guiding the model to sit or getting down on her knees, on any relatively comfortable ground, would be enough to get this perspective. You can always use a foot step, a ladder, a tree trunk or anything that would add those little extra couple of feet in height. This angle is of particular use if the ground, that in this case would be your background, is of interest, such as, sand on a beach or grass at a park.

Leaning Against a Wall

In this straight forward type of posing, your model should lean against a wall. Either with her back or face against the wall. The model can improvise a lot of different poses by using her hands on her hips, against the wall or behind her head. A wall can be very helpful, for those novice models that are still finding it difficult to find their balance when performing certain poses, such as, squatting or other off-balance poses. This way you do not limit your choice of posing styles.

In managing to guide your model to pose in a way that is both attractive and sensual, it is vital to bring out those curves together with expressive eyes. In order to achieve the best from your models it is crucial that you are capable to pose a model properly.

Posing Secrets - The Photographer's Essential Guide Vol.1  by Malcolm Boone is a unique and practical tool which will guide you step by step, in mastering the art of posing a model.  I strongly suggest that you give it a thorough look.  It is definitely worth the money!

Author: Michael Abela
Source: http://michaelabela.weebly.com

Thursday 10 November 2011

Adobe Photoshop - How You Can Earn Money With Adope Photoshop


If you are familiar with computers or photography I am sure you have heard of Adobe Photoshop. You may already know that Photoshop is an image editing software program where you can take existing photos and manipulate or edit them to give them a professional appearance; you can even create some incredible special effects. look more professional and even edit photos to produce cool effects for it. What you may not know is that you can actually earn money using Adobe Photoshop.

If you have a tutorial for Adobe Photoshop, then you probably know that the tutorials will tell you how to edit your images or pictures. It will also tell you how to add framing and other attractive objects in the picture as well as how to work with masks and layers that will be able to give your images and photos that professional look. However, what these tutorials don?t tell you is that you can actually use the skills to make some money and be able to generate some personal income. It may not be much but it will definitely be on demand and very cheap as you don?t need to have a photo studio with all the expensive photography devices.

If you’ve never heard about becoming a Photoshop freelancer, then today is the day that you should find out more about it as there are already quite a lot of people who earns extra cash with this kind of job.
Even if you are only comfortable with the basics of Photoshop you will still be able to find jobs doing freelance work. Photo restoration jobs are some of the easiest, not only to find but to complete as well. Photographs are one thing that doesn’t stand the test of time very well and many people are looking to have their cherished heirlooms restored. Some of the main problems you will run into with these types of jobs are water damage, tears, fading due to sun damage, etc. These problems can all be fixed using a few basic Photoshop tools.

Finding photo restoration jobs are easy and the tools required are few. All you need to accomplish this task is a scanner to create digital versions of the photographs. Once you have scanned the photo you only need to use a few of the tools in Photoshop including the smudge tool. The smudge mixes the colors from the background of the picture and fills out the tears and other imperfections in the old photograph.

Natalia Siwiec
Also, you will need a printer as you will need to print out the edited or restored photograph on photo paper. Always use high quality printer and high quality photo paper in order to satisfy your customers.

Graphic design is another great trend due to the popularity of the internet and the income generation possibilities are endless. Once you have perfected the basics you should be able to create unique, original, and stylized logos and graphics using Adobe Photoshop. Many corporations and companies are looking for stylized logos for print and web work. If you have add a bit of creativity to your Photoshop knowledge you might find that you will soon have more work than you can handle.

Adobe Photoshop has all the necessary tools for you to create and edit images and photos. With this software, you will be able to become a Photoshop freelancer and make some extra cash out of it.

Author: David Peters
Posted by: http://michaelabela.weebly.com/

Do you want to create fantastic and spectacular photos? If yes, I recommend taking a look at Trick Photography and Special Effects by Evan Sharboneau in order to boost and enhance you photos with outstanding special effects!

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Choosing a Digital Camera for Your Hobby


Marisa Miller
Are you looking for a digital camera? Choosing a new camera for the first time may sound scary especially when there are so many options out there to look at. So, how can you get over the nervousness when it comes to choosing a digital camera for yourself? Well, here are some quick tips that you might want to keep in mind when looking for the best digital camera to purchase.

The first thing to think about is your budget. As much as you would like to get your hands on the top high-tech professional camera, if you don't have a budget then, the bottom line, is that you can't have it. Having a budget means you need to control yourself when it comes to choosing a camera because you must stay within the boundaries of the amount of money you have set aside for the purchase. This will help you keep from spending more than you can actually afford.

Second, you should decide on the level of photography you wish to practice. When it comes to choosing a new camera you need to remember that there are two types of cameras today. One is the point-and-shoot and the other is the D-SLR. Most cameras that you find in the market today fall on the first category because they are designed for the convenience of casual photographers. D-SLR, on the other hand, is more expensive compared to the point-and-shoot and usually comes with separate lenses. The upside to this is the fact that you can actually get better quality photos. You need to keep these things in mind when choosing a digital camera so you can plan better on which one to purchase.

Third, get more information on the level of resolution that you will need. Since you are already looking for cameras in the current market, you will come across those with resolutions ranging from 3 megapixels all the way up to 22 megapixels. You need to determine the best resolution you need when it comes to choosing a camera, especially if you are planning on enlarging the photos or altering it as well.

Fourth, when it comes to choosing a digital camera it is best that you look into the type of camera lens it has. Keep in mind that optical zoom lens allows you to take different types of photos such as portrait, telephoto, landscape and the like. If you are going to choose a camera that has a fixed focal length then your options are limited.

And finally, when choosing a camera, you need to hold it in your hands. There is always something about the way you hold the camera that can help you decide whether it is the perfect one for you. Feel free to try as many digital cameras as you like while keeping the first four tips in mind. For sure, when it comes to choosing a digital camera, it won't take you too long to find the right one for your needs.

Author: Shannon Yates
Posted by: http://michaelabela.weebly.com

An easy to follow, step by step course in mastering the art of digital photography is Learn Digital Photography Now If you would like to further your knowledge in digital photography, I strongly recommend that you aquire this product.

Tuesday 8 November 2011

How to Increase Your Microstock Photo Sales With These 3 Original Methods

posted by http://michaelabela.blogspot.com

Originality is the keyword for being successful in the microstock business. In order to stand out from the crowd and be noticed, it is important to differentiate yourself from the rest. The only way to do so is to think outside the box and see things from a different perspective. I would like to share with you three ways by which you can fire your thinking skills and come up with more original ideas and inspirations.

Astronomy Photos

Have you ever looked up at the vast sky above us for more than just a couple of seconds? I bet that if you are like the majority, you do not bother much what is up there in the sky. If you are interested, either you are a weather man or have a particular interest in airplanes and the like.

As for me, I am not into astronomer, but lately a friend of mine, who specialises in astronomy photos, changed the way I look at the sky above us. The colours, textures, light and shapes that one can up with are amazing. In all fairness, this particular photographer is a keen astronomer and well equipped too, but, there is nothing holding you back from buying a decent telescope. It would open up a whole new photographic world, and more importantly, change your way of thinking. Seeing things through a different angle and magnification will motivate you to incorporate different styles and ideas in your photographic work.

Infra red and Ultra Violet

Most of us work within the visible light spectrum. How about extending that light spectrum? Two easy ways to start experimenting with different light spectrums are Infra Red (IR) and Ultra Violet (UV).


Did you ever consider working with a model under ultra violet light? The number of styles and patterns you can create by having your model wearing different white attires is endless. Same thing goes for infra red light. Your limitation is your imagination.

Abstracts and backgrounds are always popular with designers, and a sure way to produce creative work is by literally seeing things through a different light.

Looking for Patterns at Microscopic Level

Being a photographer, you should be aware that there are times where you have to get down and get dirty. Plainly, you should look at things more closely. Have you ever looked attentively to a dewdrop sliding on a blade of grass, dung beetle rolling manure to its nest or a fish nibbling on moss? There is a different world at ground level that most of the time we just pass by it and choose to ignore. Pay more attention to details.

If you want to take it a step even further, you can buy a stereotype or light microscope and get even closer to a cellular level. The amount of patterns found naturally in living things around us is pure fascination. Just try it and you will be surprised.

I hope that I have managed to stimulate your minds in seeing your surroundings in a diverse way. Try to train yourself in thinking outside the normal parameters. Do not be afraid to experiment photographically.

If you are still a novice and you do not know from where to start, I strongly suggest that you have a look at this incredible product - DigiCamCash A step by step guide on how to turn photos into cash!

Author: Michael Abela