Capturing movement in images is something that many photographers only think to do when they are photographing sports or other fast moving subjects.
While there is an obvious opportunity in sports photography to emphasize the movement of participants – almost every type of photography can benefit from the emphasis of movement in a shot – even when the movement is very small, slow and/or subtle.
Should I use my camera’s Portrait mode when shooting Portraits or would I be better off manually setting my camera up?
Unless you have a high end DSLR, most digital cameras these days come with an array of shooting modes (including portrait mode) for a photographer to choose from when out using their camera. These shooting modes are designed to help camera owners to quickly tell their camera what type of shot they are taking to give the camera a hint at what type of effect you want.
Beautifully sharp and detailed images are something we all aspire for in the majority of our shots – I know I do.
However purposely leaving your main subject (or even your whole shot) out of focus can also create stunningly dreamy images also.
The idea is that if you are photographing a subject that is moving you should place more empty space in front of it than behind it. This gives the viewer of the image a sense of where the subject is moving and creates a sense of anticipation.
“Can you help me with a recurring problem I seem to be having in my portrait shots? I’ve noticed lately that I’m getting a lot of shots with some parts of my subject’s face in focus but other parts of their face out of focus. I’m using a Canon DSLR (Rebel) with a 50mm f/1.8 lens without a flash – mainly indoors. Can you help?”
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The good old ‘rule of thirds‘ makes a lot of sense in many types of photography (if you don’t know what the rule of thirds is see out tutorial on it).
Here’s a quick Video with 10 Travel Photography Tips. Most of them are just good basic tips for all types of photography – but for beginners they’ll be helpful. I’ve also included some of my own written Travel Photography Tips below the video:
A softbox is a studio thingy that professional photographers use on their studios. Why? for a couple of reasons.
For one thing, softboxes create a smoother light – less hotspots (yea – those are the bright, burnt our noses in your photos), anther is smoother shadows. Most professional models are shot with softboxes to get that glamorous, look. Softboxes are also great for macro shots – they produce even diffused light.
