A New Camera? Get the Most Out of It

A feeling that many new camera owners frequently experience is that the pictures they take 'do not look as good as I had anticipated... '

The simple solution to this problem is to get to know your camera properly. Modern digital cameras are technological marvels - even the lowest priced 'point & shoot' and they can help you to take delightful images that you really enjoy. But...

Most people go straight to the "Quick Start" leaflet, make sure they know some of the crucial buttons to press, ignore the instruction manual and begin taking pictures. 'Real women and real men do not read instruction manuals!'

This is all well and good but you will never get to appreciate the technological wonder that you now possess and you will absolutely not get full value from your purchase. Your instruction manual is the most important accessory possible for your camera and it's free!

The key point is that your instruction manual is not a book to be read from cover to cover - that way lies confusion - 'there is just so much to learn!' It is a reference manual! For ease of reference download it as a PDF file - both to your desktop and to your smart phone. This gives you easy and fast access to both the menu and to whatever subject you need. You would normally use your desktop but the smart phone as a reference can be really useful in the field.

An old proverb:
'I hear and I forget'

'I see and I remember'

'I do and I understand!'

There are any number of courses that you can take to help you get to know your camera. The major brands offer them as a free service if you buy a camera above a certain level. The courses are given by people who really know the camera and they take you through everything it will do in a relatively short time. Many owners come out of the course slightly bewildered thinking 'what a complex camera - I will never understand or be able to do all of that!'

'I do and I understand!'

This is the key phrase. Anything that you teach yourself is far more likely to be remembered than anything you have been shown.

So, using your manual, you gradually build up your knowledge of your camera. Learning functions and techniques as you need to use them rather than trying to learn everything at once. Everything will gradually become second nature to you - remembering that practice does make perfect!

By using the PDF format everything is full screen and easy to read and follow. You also have two hands to hold your camera and experiment with the various buttons.

The various diagrams in the manual refer you to different sections for extra detail. Every lever and button on your camera is explained in clear, easy to follow language.

Use your manual and teach yourself all about your camera as you progress along your photographic journey and you will reap full benefit from your technological wonder.

This will cover all the practical aspects of using your camera - along the way you will have to develop your own approach to the challenging fun of composition etc!

Enjoy your Camera!

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How to Take Good Beach Photos

When you play at the beach, you must want to take some good pictures to keep the happy moments. When the sexy bikini is showing your charming figure, the wide beach hat is highlighting your elegant temperament and the sunglasses is featuring your mysterious smile, you are happy like a baby. But most importantly, you are having fun with your loved family or friends. So undoubtedly, you want to keep such beautiful memories in mind for a longer time. There is another easy way: taking wonderful pictures. However, not everyone is good at making all kinds of nice poses in front of the camera. Don't worry, this article will suggest some very simple but really nice poses to you.

 

Recommendation 1: You can ask your traveling companion who is holding the camera to capture your turning around moment with a big smile and looking straight at the camera. Capturing the exactly turning moment is the key to make this pose successful, which requires privity between you and the photographer.

Recommendation 2: Back facing the camera, you can fondle your hair with your left hand and take your large brim hat with the right hand. Your should face towards the direction of the wind at beach, so your hair and brim hat will sway like dancing along with the wind. What a beautiful moment that would be!

Recommendation 3: When the sunshine become soft at dusk, you can capture the scene when the sun is sitting in the horizon of the sea. Stand on your toes and ask your partner to squat, with the sunset ornament your body, you would become part of the beautiful sight.

Recommendation 4: You can make a good use of the sands. Sands can be the easiest tool for taking beach photos. Actually it can be very useful for many poses. Today I recommend you this simple one: just fiddle up the sands and shoot the exact moment when they are spreading down, PS with a nostalgic grounding color, your eyes won't want to leave such a picture in the photo albums.

Recommendation 5: You can also lie down at the beach to let your companion take the photo from your head side. With both of your hands at the wide brim beach hat and kneels stay higher than your head, you can make a lovely photo pose. The hat is better being white, the same color with the clouds, or blue, the same color with the sky and the sea.

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Is White Balance Important in Digital Photography?

Camera owners often ask about 'White Balance' and the part it plays in digital photography. Is it important and can they perhaps use it to improve their photography.

Well, the colour of the light reflected from an object varies with the colour of the light source. The brain adapts to all these changes so that white objects appear as white objects whether seen in the shade, direct sunlight or under incandescent lights. Unlike film cameras, digital cameras can mimic this adjustment by processing images according to the colour of the light source.

With 'automatic' white balance the camera identifies the brightest element in the picture, assumes this is white and then adjusts or balances all the colours in the picture based on this.

Most of us just leave the White Balance setting on 'automatic' and the camera does a pretty good job of estimating the correct setting and we are generally happy with the results.

However, if we really want to improve our photography and add our own individual touches to our images it is really well worth experimenting with the various white balance settings available on your camera - AWB (automatic) Cloudy, Daylight (Bright Sun) Shade, Tungsten etc - and seeing the difference they can make to your pictures. Remember, you know what the prevailing light is. Your camera can only guess!

If you experiment with these, you will soon be able to see how to make the best use of them to help your photography. For example, if you use the 'cloudy' setting, even when it is not cloudy, it will have the effect of 'warming up' the picture - great for sunsets! The automatic setting may well remove most of that wonderful glow you wanted to capture.

The wonder of Digital Photography is that you can experiment freely at no cost - play around and experiment with your camera to your heart's content - the more familiar you become the better you will get at taking pictures that actually reflect what you have seen and which are not just 'postcard clones' as it were!

Continual experimentation is one of the key secrets of digital photography. It can take people some time to get out of the habits of film photography where it cost money each time you pressed the shutter button! Once again - time spent reading the instruction manual for your camera will pay serious dividends in helping you to really enjoy your photography!

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What a Photographer Should Not Miss in a Wedding

A Wedding is the most important day for any couple. That is the day when two people become one and look forward to living their whole life together. Sometimes couples spend years and all their life savings planning for this big day so we can understand how critical it is to get everything right on this occasion.

An essential part of any wedding is photography. Some weddings also have videography but even though you might find a wedding with just a photographer, you will rarely find one with just a videographer. It is imperative that the photographer hired to document this holy union understands the responsibility of their job.

Marriage is not just a union of two people but also two families. Even though the stars of the wedding day are the couple, what makes a wedding memorable is the presence of friends and family. As a wedding photographer, you might think all your shots should be of the couple but you risk missing some great moments of other people.

Yes, by all means get a lot of shots of the couple. Do their portraits, candids, etc but if you have a second shooter, tell him/her to keep an eye out on the guests and take photos of them too. A second shooter might be duplicating the same shots that you are taking and there is a reason second shooters do that. They want to use these shots in their portfolio and the only money shots according to them are of the couple so it is up to you to tell them firmly what you want.

Few years down the line or even a few decades later, when the couple, their children or grand children look at the wedding photos, they will not be thrilled to see five hundred photos of just the bride and groom in five hundred different poses but what will bring lot of smiles and a lot more of happiness is to see photos of their friends and family who all came together for that day. Those kind of memories are priceless. Would a couple rather just show their children or grand children just those amazing shots of them or would they want to talk and show their friends and family who might not be around anymore and who were not part of the group family shots? I am not saying that beautiful portraits and moments of the couple are not important, they definitely are but at the same time, don't lose sight of other people in the wedding. When I am photographing a ceremony or a dance, I tell my second shooter to once in a while turn around towards the crowd and shoot the reactions, while I take care of the ceremony. You will be surprised with what you will get. Some priceless emotions.

Few years down the line or even a few decades later, when the couple, their children or grand children look at the wedding photos, they will not be thrilled to see five hundred photos of just the bride and groom in five hundred different poses but what will bring lot of smiles and a lot more of happiness is to see photos of their friends and family who all came together for that day.

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7 Wedding Photography Tips

Learning the art of wedding photography takes some time and practice. Given below are some tips that can help you take photos at a wedding. If followed properly, these tips will help you take your desired shots. This will also help you grow as a professional. Read on.

1. Create a list of places

Make sure the couple knows about the type of shots they want to be taken on the big day. Ideally, you may want to make a list. This is important as far as taking family photos is concerned. Don't forget to take the shots that you think are the most important to the couple.

2. Find the Location

You may want to check out the place where you are going to shoot the photos before the wedding day. This will give you a pretty good idea of some good positions for photos. These will be the positions where you will get enough light.

3. Preparation is important

Since many things can go wrong on the wedding day, we suggest that you stay prepared. You may have to create a backup plan and get the batteries fully charged. If possible, you may want to be present at the ceremony place. This is the place where you can get important information regarding some good position for the shots.

4. Set expectations

Let them know your style. What you need to do is find out the purpose they want to achieve. Moreover, you may want to find out the number of photos they want you to take. In addition, you should not forget to agree on the photography service charges.

5. Consider the details

You may want to take photos of the shoes, rings, dresses, table settings, flowers and menus, just to name a few. This will give an extra dimension to the album. Moreover, you may want to check out some wedding magazines in order to get inspiration.

6. Use Two Cameras

Having two cameras is important. If you don't have more than one camera, we suggest that you borrow or hire one. Make sure you have multiple lenses at your disposal. It's a good idea to use a longer lens and a wider lens. If you have the budget, make sure you buy another camera for better performance.

7. Shoot in RAW

Like most people, you may dislike shooting in RAW since this takes more time. However, keep in mind that on a wedding, shooting in raw can be very useful. Since you may have to shoot in poor light, we suggest that you shoot in raw. While editing, RAW images won't lose too much details.

So, if you have been struggling as a photographer, we suggest that you follow the tips given in this article, especially if you are going to shoot photographs at an upcoming wedding. Remember: you can't be a good photographer unless you spend a good deal of time, effort and money into the art. With practice, you will become a skilled photographer. Hope this helps.

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Tips For Editing Camera Raw Files In Adobe Lightroom

Using raw image files

Raw images carry unprocessed details that can be further developed into a great photograph. The regular jpeg images that you click using a camera is automatically enhanced depending on the maker of the camera. The raw images are untouched by the automated settings of a camera.

The camera raw file format changes with the brand and model number of the camera. The commonly used camera raw format is the Digital Negative or DNG format.

Lightroom supports import of different types of raw files. The iOS version of Lightroom also offers editing of certain raw images which can be opened in the desktop version for further enhancements.

12 Tips to develop your raw images beautifully

Import your raw image in the Lightroom workspace and follow these tips as per the required results:

1. Adding white balance

When you click on white balance option, there is a pop-up list of white balance options such as daylight, cloudy, tungsten and more. You can use one of the options to fix the white balance of your raw image or try better options from the list.

2. Color and Tone Correction

Adjust the color balance in photographs. Clarity, vibrance, hue, saturation, tone curve etc. are some of the Lightroom options to correct the color and tone of the images. The vibrance slider is used to control saturation but it does not oversaturate skin colors.

3. Correct the exposure

The raw image may be overexposed or underexposed. Use the exposure slider to increase or decrease the exposure values.

4. Enhance the details

Use the fill tool to bring back the missing detail in the image which is present in the raw file.

The amount of brightness captured by the raw image is much more than a regular jpeg image. Adjust the values in the highlights slider to recover the details from a raw image in Lightroom.

5. Vignette effect

Lightroom has a post crop vignetting feature which can be used to add effects to a cropped image.

If you have a lot of highlights in your image then choose the Highlight Priority effect. Choose the Color Priority effect to preserve color hues in your raw image. Select the Paint Overlay option to blend black and white colors with original colors of your raw image.

6. Grain effect

Add a film grain style to your raw images to create grain effect. For revealing a part of the image, add the grain effect to rest of the image area with a higher value as grain amount. You can control the size, amount, and roughness of the grain. For a blurred image, increase the size of the grain particle to more than 25%.

7. Dehaze effect

There are times when weather conditions can lead to a hazy image with smoke or fog. To fix the haziness or adjust it, use the dehaze effect. Once you have made the required changes to the photograph by adjusting the color, brightness etc., go and select the "Dehaze" options in the effects panel.

8. Radial Filter

To focus on people or objects in an image, you can use the radial filter. After you select the radial filter from the toolbar, you need to select an area of focus. The filter gives you the choice to apply the modification inside or outside the circle drawn by you.

While working on projects for photo retouching services, you can add more radial filters on the images to bring multiple objects into focus.

9. Paint with the Adjustment brush

Lightroom gives you the freedom to paint the local adjustments such as brightness, tint, saturation, clarity and more. This alternative lets you paint adjustments in parts of the images as per your choice.

Similar results can be achieved with the Graduated Filter tool.

10. Retouching

Professionals widely use the retouching features of Lightroom to deliver high-quality photo retouching. You can remove blemishes, adjust brightness and make a lot of adjustments to retouch photos.

Here is one quick tip; before starting to retouch portraits, tick "Profile corrections" and "Remove chromatic aberration" in the basic tab under the lens corrections tab to fix distortions captured by the camera lens.

11. Save presets

You can save the changes that you make using the Adjustment Brush tool or the Graduated Filter tool as a preset. Use the "New Local Correction Setting" to save the adjustment presets and use it again while working with raw images. These presets can be useful while working on color correction of similar images.

12. Add Camera Raw

You can use the Camera Raw plugin with Lightroom to correct distorted perspectives and do more. Camera Raw is another raw image processor from Adobe and has similar photo editing functions.

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Personalise Your Photographs - Enjoy Your Photography More

Modern Digital Cameras are remarkable in that they can help you to take photographs that are almost perfect in a technical sense. The camera manufacturer has included software in the camera's 'brain' which quickly analyses the picture you are taking, compares the result with it's built-in library and then gives you what the manufacturer thinks is the perfect result. No matter who is taking the picture with that camera the result will be the same.

Digital cameras all over the world are producing millions and millions of pictures of an 'acceptable' standard based on the average results of the calculations of the camera manufacturers.

But, what if you are not content to be 'average'? Perhaps you would like to capture images that are 'your' images alone. Unlike the images anyone else might take with the identical camera. You would like to be able to use your own creative instincts which would make your photography so much more rewarding than if you simply press the shutter button.

During my courses I have had many people say to me 'I would love to be able to do creative exposures but I have only got a very basic point and shoot camera.' There is no such thing! All digital cameras are just amazing in what they can do but most users just accept what they think are the limitations.

Exposure Value Compensation

I have yet to meet a camera, no matter how simple, that does not have this function built in to it. This is a fantastic, easy to use method of personalising your pictures and, judging by people I have had on my courses, I would estimate that over 90% of camera users have not even heard about it, let alone made use of it!

It allows you to adjust the automatic exposure setting of your camera to give you the type of creative exposure that you really want. Making your picture either darker or lighter than the automatic setting can make the world of difference - many times the difference between a snapshot and an excellent, creative image.

Being digital you can immediately see the result on your camera screen and re-adjust your exposure if necessary. This is all part of the fun!

There will either be a +/- button somewhere on the outside of the camera or else it will be easily accessible using the camera menu (read your instruction manual!)

It is really easy to use - if you want the picture to be darker move the pointer to the left and if you want it to be lighter move it to the right. Being digital you can see the effect immediately. It's that easy to add your input to your pictures!

- = underexpose (darker)

+ = overexpose (lighter)

With some cameras you will have to turn the small dial from 'A' for Automatic to 'P' for Programme to be able to use Exposure Compensation. Nothing else should change.

Do not forget to switch back to zero!

The EV setting does not self correct when you turn off the camera. Otherwise you may get a lot of images tomorrow which don't look as you expect them to look!

Don't hesitate. Take out your camera and experiment with Exposure Value Compensation today. You will be so happy!

The Author:

Roger Lee is a widely travelled, experienced photographer who has been through all the phases of photography over the years. His Face book page is at https://www.facebook.com/RogerPhotoArtx to see some of his images.

He runs a very popular one day course on Enjoying Your Camera with Creative Photography - over 800 people have enjoyed this course. He has used this experience to produce the course in E Book format - 'for people who don't want to drown in detail - they just want to know how to enjoy their cameras'.

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