2007年12月17日星期一

Tips to Successful Amateur Photography

To get the very best quality we need to know which lenses to use and the best time to use they. There are several lenses on the market today that should become part of our every day tool.

The photograph business is one of the most interesting of all businesses, and one of the businesses that has undergone one of the most enormous changes in recent years.

Landscape photography is a great field of photography, especially if you love nature and if you love to travel. You can travel the world taking pictures of beautiful scenes across many countries.

The backbone of photography is the camera, the instrument or device that works on the principle of optics. The camera and photographic techniques have undergone phenomenal changes since the time the first camera was made.

You can become a photographer in a special field such as wedding or family photographer. You can choose to make money taking pictures of things you love such as animals, nature or ships.

Tips to Successful Amateur Photography

Whether you just have a simple point-and-shoot camera or the more expensive digital SLRs, you can definitely take quality pictures like the pros do. Its not the type of camera that takes great shots, its the photographer. If you don't know how to correctly take a shot, you can take a really bad picture from an SLR camera.

As long as you know how to correctly take pictures and are willing to make some adjustments, taking great photos will be easy for you. Here are some tips to help you shoot like professionals even with your simple digital camera.

1. Would you like your shots to have a warmer feel? Most shots taken from a digital camera without any adjustments look cool and clammy. This is because the white balance setting is set to auto as default which is fine for snapshots.

If you want a warmer effect, though, with sharp colors, you may want to set the white balance to cloudy setting instead of auto. This is like adding a mild warming filter to the lens of your camera. Cloudy setting increases the yellow and red colors adding a richer and warmer effect to your shots.

2. Polarizing filters can be one of the most important investments you can add to your digital camera. These filters reduce the glare and unwanted reflections on your shots. This is great when you frequently take landscape and outdoor shots. Pictures taken with a polarizer have richer and more saturated colors.

If your camera won't allow filters, like a simple point-and-shoot camera, dont fret! You can still have a polarizing effect on your shots by placing a good quality pair of sunglasses in front of the lens. It gives an effect similar to a polarizer. Just make sure that you place it to the lens as close as possible and the rims are not seen.

3. For an outdoor shot with shine, use your cameras flash on or fill flash feature. This lets you control when you want the flash to go off, instead of it deciding when it wants to. This mode exposes first the background then adding enough flash to illuminate your subject.

There are contests in almost every category you can think of; wildlife, underwater, boats, boat docks, people, children, self portraits, birds, tress, flowers, and much more. Some contests are not category-specific but leave you freedom to use your creativity.

In reality, you do not need a studio or the equipment and technical resources to take an outstanding portrait photograph.

There are some excellent photography contests out there, some even offer large cash prizes, scholarships to photography schools and really nice cameras and camera supplies.

With the tremendous technological advances in the art of photography, it is no more just fun and frolic but has acquired the dimensions of a full-fledged profession.

Obviously, there is professional photography but even in that choice there are many other smaller options that you have as well.

For great results, place your subject where the sun illuminates the hair from the side or back. Alternatively, to let your subject be comfortable and not be annoyed by the suns heat, place your model in the shade then use the flash to illuminate the subject.

However, built-in flashes only have a maximum range of 10 feet. Thus, it would be better not to go too far from your subject.

4. Taking detailed shots of objects like flowers or small insects is easy with your digital camera. Most digital cameras have a feature called close up or macro mode usually indicated by a flower sign. With this mode turned on, you can take shots of objects as close as possible. However, you only get a shallow field-depth when taking close up pictures so it is better to focus on the most important part of the subject then allow the other parts of the image go soft.

5. Leveling the image may be difficult for amateurs as well as some pros. One way to get a level or an even shot, especially of a nature shot, is to look for some horizontal lines as guide. If you have a view of the horizon, where the sky meets the ocean, you can use that as your leveling guide.

If it still is difficult for you, you can try to take several shots at different angles so youll know which one would give you the best shot. After some time it will become natural for you to take even shots.

These are just some of the tricks you can do to take wonderful shots on your digital camera, be it a simple point-and shoot kind or the more professional SLR type. Photography is really an enjoyable and fulfilling hobby, especially when a lot of people also appreciate your shots. And it is not that difficult to have shots that most people will like. Just explore, read different books, and take advice from pros and youll surely be one of them in a matter of time.

Show friends and family samples of your work and ask them to spread the word. You may even want to participate in a charitable or non-profit event to boost your portfolio.

The world of photography is an amazing one. Its been with us for quite a while now but it is constantly changing. Cameras are changing and improving. Methods of developing are changing and improving as well.

You will want to be original and if possible, catch a scene that has not been done before. You really want to impress the judges with something you do not normally see.

More on Wedding Photographer Malaysia.

Practice makes perfect! If you believe this AT ALL, you can better understand why digital photography can help you learn to do great photography. Watch someone taking photographs with a medium format camera. At $$ per pop, notice how careful they are as to what they shoot, and how often.

Another consideration in selecting a professional photographer for your wedding is what you get for your money. Most professional wedding photographers offer package deals that include a set number of prints of different shapes and sizes for one price.