It’s now almost July, and just because the weather outside is frightfully bright (for those in the Northern Hemisphere) doesn’t mean that you have to cancel all of your portrait photography. But taking advantage of the clear skies doesn’t mean that you have to shoot in broad daylight either.
I met Pro Photographer George Tippet (no website… yet) at a function recently where he was the official photographer. I sidled up to him in a quiet moment, introduced myself and after chatting with him for a few minutes asked if he’d mind giving me a few ‘quick tips’ for portrait photography (his expertise). Here’s what he said (and what I managed to jot down quickly on a napkin).
Today food photographer Jonathan Pollack shares some wonderful food photography tips (and some positively mouth watering photos).
In this post 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.
I’m a mover and a shaker in general, and this is particularly true when I’m on a shoot. I’m twistin’ and turnin’, climbin’ and jumpin’ and to top it all off, I DO NOT have a steady hand, plain.and.simple.
As often as possible I opt for lenses with VR (Vibration Reduction) or IS (Image Stabilization). You pay a pretty penny for this feature. For me, it’s worth the extra cost, and for the point I’m at in my photography it’s a reasonable expense. But that wasn’t always the case, and what about uber slow shutter speeds with no tripod. No IS or VR can hold up under pressure like that. . .no matter how magical they may be. . . and magical they are, trust you me.
Note: File this one under ‘bizarre’, ’silly’ or ‘things to do on a boring rainy day’…
Looking to take a portraits with a quirky twist? Try ‘jowling‘.
I’m learning that portrait photography can be tough in more than one way thanks to my participation in the December Challenge. I’m already getting bored with taking the standard cookie-cutter portrait, so I started digging around Flickr for some inspiration. Here’s what I turned up:
Self-portrait shooters usually rely on the trial-and-error method of focusing. Shoot, shoot, and shoot again until the perfect combination of pose, exposure, and focus are achieved. But there is a better way (several, in fact)! All of these methods are quick and easy and will give you accurate focusing without a lot of frustrating trial and error.
One of the simpler tips that I would suggest for those wanting to add a little variety to their landscape photography is to shoot with longer focal lengths.
While the majority of landscape photography is done with wide angle lenses (and rightly so – it’s a great way to capture to dramatic wide vistas) it can be very effective to take a lens with a longer focal length with you next time you set out to capture a scene.
Where should I focus when taking a Landscape Shot?
When shooting a normal landscape image it is normal to attempt to keep as much of the image in focus as possible.
This means selecting a small Aperture (remember the larger the number the smaller the actual Aperture) to ensure that you end up with a large depth of field. This will ensure that parts of the image that are both close and far away from you have a good chance of being somewhat in focus.
But at what point in the shot should you actually focus the image?
I suspect that many digital camera owners would set the focal point as the middle of the shot – or even at the horizon – however it might not actually be
the ideal place to focus your camera.
I chatted this week with a landscape photographer who shared this tip:
‘Focus in the lower half of the image – at around the ‘thirdway’ point.’
