How to Take Stunning Still Life Photos

Still Life photographs do not require photographers to travel to exotic places, not even to venture outside the comfort of their homes. In fact, not even a studio is required. This is one branch of photography that anybody can take part in.

No special equipment is needed. Attention to detail and preparation are, however, a must to get thew best images.

Below are some essential tips to make your still life photography a success:

1. Unlike traditional film, we can take as many shots as we want as it doesn't cost us any money. So it is best to take a lot of shots to find the best white balance and exposure settings.

2. Close cropping is beautiful and effective. Go close and fill the frame. There will be less to crop later and your shots retain maximum resolution and quality. Getting your framing right, will save you time later.

3. Your source of lighting should preferably be to one side. If light comes from the front, your images will look flat.

4. Keep your eyes open for any suitable subject. Some beautiful and unexpected photographs may be the result.

5. In order to avoid shadows falling on the background make sure that the subject is not too close to the backdrop. Sometimes if the backdrop is lit seperately, you will get a better effect.

6. Buy some coloured gels. The effect on your images is stunning.

7. There is one piece of equipment that is a must for still life photography - a tripod. This obviously costs money, but is the only way you can get razor-sharp results.You can also leave the camera unattended on the tripod while you arrange the subject being photographed and if you are taking photos with available light, the tripod help in steadying the camera.

8. Research and plan ahead, epecially if you intend to transform your images later in Photoshop, as this will effect framing and exposure.

9. If you are looking for subjects, try the garage, the garden, the kitchen and even the bathroom.When you are by the seaside or strolling through the countryside you may come across potential subjects. Be always on the look out.

10. Anyone can make a simple lightbox. It is inexpensive and easy to make. Lighting subjects from below is an excellent way to eliminate shadows.

Keep it in mind that it doesn't take much to transform an ordinary photo into a great image.Keep on taking photos. Do not stop. Experiment and tweak to your heart's delight and you will soon have a stunning still life on your hands.

If you have enjoyed this digital photography tutorial be sure to grab a copy of Photography Basics FREE Report Shoot Pictures Like The Pros

Will Camera Phones Destroy Photography?

In any "photo op" moment any more, it is impossible to miss the invasion of the camera phone.  Where it used to be easy to tell when a camera was around and if people had them handy, now anyone with a phone could be a clandestine photographer.  Even at occasions that used to be ruled by the professional photographer such as weddings and the like, we now see those dozens of hands going up snapping photos with camera phones that seem to dominate the scene.

Conventional photography is a highly developed art form and profession.  The precision of the equipment and the ability of photographers to deliver a high quality product to their customers is well known and the result of decades of evolution of the craft.  But today it is possible for anyone to become an amateur photographer using that tiny cell phone in their pocket or purse. 

The question needs serious consideration for three audiences.  For the professional photographer, is this the end of your profession?  Will digital phones wipe out your customer base and make you obsolete?  For the aspiring photographer, what about your future?  Should you even invest in learning to use the sophisticated equipment that makes professional photography so superior?  Why bother if camera phones are going to make it all obsolete?  And for you the consumer, can you get the same quality of photographs with using camera phones as you can by hiring a photographer?

These are valid questions.  It is very common when a new technology begins to make inroads into a profession for the old guard of that profession to feel threatened.  It happened when television came along and the media called it the death of radio.  It happened when talkies and then color was introduced to movies and television and at each technological improvement in the music world.  And with each dire prediction of the demise of an industry, the opposite took place and that industry adjusted, evolved, got better and prospered all the more.

So there are good reasons not to worry that camera phones is going to destroy photography as we know it including...

* Camera phones cannot achieve the same levels of quality.  There is a good reason that the professional photographer has invested in the highly sophisticated equipment that he has in his studio and that he or she takes to a shoot.  The many years and decades of research have surfaced the problems with quality that primitive equipment could not deal with.  Modern photography equipment has precise instrumentation to handle lighting issues to properly frame each photograph and to produce a professional quality outcome that people want from a wedding, a portrait or any kind of professional photography.  You can bet that forensic photography, fashion photography and photography for publication will ever be willing to accept the low standards of quality that are the outcome of camera phone pictures.

* It's an amateur game.  When you see kids holding up their camera phones at a concert to steal a picture, you know that device is not going to result in a professional quality shot.  This is especially true in a live setting like a concert where there are myriads of issues such as lighting, visual noise and other problems that have to be overcome with sophisticated instrumentation just not available on a camera phone.  Camera phones are an amateur photography device.  And they will always occupy that niche.

* Standards of the final product would be compromised.  And high standards of quality are what make professional photography a value to it's customers.

This is not to cast camera phones in a negative light.  They have their place and they are great fun.  But we in the professional photography world have nothing to fear from the growth of this technology.

75 Percent Of People Buy The Wrong Digital Camera

When I teach a new class learning digital photography, over 75% of the students turn up with the camera the salesman suggested.

Guess what? They soon find out that it's the wrong one for them. This can be a very expensive mistake. So the big questions are what is the right one for me and how do I know which is best for me.

One of the first things that you want to know about the camera that the salesman is trying to sell you is as follows :-

How long does the camera take to turn on and be ready to take the shot? In the consumer market this can range between 1 to 5 seconds most being towards the 3 seconds mark.

How long does the camera take to focus on the subject? (Not to take the picture) most cameras take between 1 to 3 seconds most at around the 1-second mark.

How long does the camera take to actually take the photo after you have pushed the shutter button completely? Again, most cameras take between 1to 3 seconds this is called shutter lag time. Now you can see to take a photo can take up to 5 seconds just to turn on and up to another 3 seconds to focus in and the up to another 3 seconds just to actually take the photo.

In a cheaper camera, but not necessarily cheaper it can be up to 9 seconds to take a photo from the camera turned off. You may say "yes but I will leave my camera on" ok that's fine, but you may still have a lag time of up to 3 seconds just to take a photo. Just imagine how annoying it will be now that you have purchased your new digital camera costing you around $400 - $500 to find that you just can't catch your child blowing out the candles because your new camera at the critical time of blowing the candles out took 1 second to focus and a further 2 seconds to take the photo. What was the result? A child sitting in front of a cake with black smoldering candles.

Can you set the white balance on your camera? Just what is the white balance? About 60% of digital cameras don't have this adjustment, you must buy one that can be set manually, not just one that has an "auto white balance" as they are not as good as they advertise.

Does your camera have different exposure modes? Exposure modes are simply where does the camera take a light reading? The cheaper cameras just do an all over reading which can be very limiting to say the least. A good camera will have a 'spot", "centre weighted" and 'matrix" metering system, which allows you to take great photos in any light situation.

When buying a digital camera, buy it for the fact that it's a camera not a video camera as well. One student showed me all the features her camera had and that's why it was more expensive – the only thing that it didn't do well was take still pictures!

You can get so much out of your new digital camera! you just have to put some time in for learning how to use it properly and how to take better pictures – remember no one will ever want to look at a poor quality photo twice!

If you want to take really great pictures that will be in your family for years put in a little effort with your new digital camera.

How Photoshop Training Can Help Improve Your Photos

If you want to learn how to get the most out of your photos, the right Photoshop training for you is Adobe Photoshop Elements 5. Photoshop Elements lets you easily correct flaws and adjust color and lighting in digital photos; arrange your photos in layouts that let you set up Internet photo galleries created with Flash technology; and view all your videos and stills in one place. Photoshop Elements is a great place to start if you're interested in mastering the art of digital editing and compositing.

If you enjoy playing around with video and photos on the Internet, Photoshop training can take your hobby to the level of professional excellence and quality. Online self-study courses with instructor-guided training are a tremendously effective and fun way to master Photoshop skills in a hurry. If you're just getting into photography or videography, Photoshop training is the most powerful path to career success and personal fulfillment.

What Photoshop Elements 5 Training can do for you

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 provides the tools you need to correct, enhance, organize, and share your photographs. Photoshop Elements 5 training will introduce you to the interface or welcome screen, the browser that acts as the pathway into the whole package; the organizer, or file-management tool; and the editor, used to correct lighting, resize images, and remove red eye. Photoshop Elements 5 also lets you put together professional-quality slide shows and build digital scrapbooks.

One of the biggest problems that novice photographers face is color correction. By using the Adjust Color Curves tool, it's easy to correct common color problems with Photoshop Elements 5. The amazing thing about Photoshop is how much it can do. I love to jump into a new program and feel my way around, experimenting to see what I can do. But without Photoshop training I quickly reach a barrier where my intuition and experience cannot help me from running up against the same problems over and over-I don't know what to do when the color is wrong, the photo looks drab compared to colors in the photographed scene, or an exposure problem makes the photo look too dark or too light.

Photoshop training teaches you everything you need to know to create professional images: how to create special effects, how to sharpen the contrast of your photos, and how to correct common problems like color halos and digital noise. Fix common errors with Photoshop Elements 5

* Use the Quick Fix tool to correct the most common problems-color, contrast, and lighting. * It's easy to correct skin tones for a more natural appearance, even in photos where the original lighting is poor. * Correct red eye automatically when you download photos from your camera. * Correct camera lens distortion and other effects that detract from the perspective of your photos. * Remove blurring caused by poor lighting. * Use the Quick Fix tool to chart changes in the appearance of your photos with "before and after" views.

Free Guide Ends Your Digital Photography Frustrations

You have a digital camera (or plan to get one) because you want to preserve the important moments in your life – but it can be incredibly frustrating when the results aren’t quite what you’d expected. Blurry pics, over-exposed and under-exposed images – we’ve ALL been there.

But digital photography doesn’t have to be that complicated. To get yourself started out on the right foot, I really encourage you to download a complimentary digital photography guide called:

“Shoot Digital Pics Like the Pros”

This 28-page guide gives you rock-solid advice on:

- Getting started as a digital photographer
- How to choose a digital camera, if you don’t have already or are thinking of upgrading
- Understanding the settings on your camera
- 4 important photography basics
- 6 strategies for GREAT photos

…and more.

You can sign up for your no-charge guide:

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…and start taking better photos you can be proud of right away.

Digital Photography Tips - Video

Better Pictures with Your Digital Camera

Photography is both about knowing how to use a camera and also knowing how to make decisions. Today's media projects images that can be difficult to understand, and learning photography can help you to understand what you're being showed every day on television, on the internet, and in movies. Photography is a good way to occupy your time, especially if you are a teenager, as it is fun and harmless. Besides that, it's a great way to bring a community together for a project, such as photographing activities and gatherings.

When you buy a digital camera, you have to know how to take care of it to keep it in its best condition. In order to have the clearest photos possible, you must make sure to regularly clean your optic lens and keep from leaving fingerprints on it. If this happens, parts of your pictures will be blurry, and dirt can build up over time. Not all cleaning products are suitable for a camera lens, so make sure that you don't use tissue paper, any household cleaning solutions, and definitely not saliva. Instead, you should buy the proper products at a camera store, in order to keep your camera at its best.

Understanding how your camera focuses will help you get better pictures. Just about all digital cameras these days have autofocus with two-step shutter release. In dark lighting, you will notice that when you press the button halfway down, a red light appears for a moment, but not in areas that are lighter. Then, when you press the button down fully, there is a flash. When you hold down the button halfway, that focuses the image, and when you depress it fully, the camera takes the focused image. If you want the subject of your photograph not to be in the center but still focused, first center them in the middle of the picture and focus the frame by pressing down halfway. Without removing your finger, reframe the picture with your subject in the right position, and take the picture. Your subject will still be focused.

One aspect of taking a pleasing photograph is depth of field. When you look at a picture, you will notice that all the area surrounding the focused subject is also focused. This area is called depth of field. In order to change the way the depth of field in a picture is seen, focused, and lit, you must change the width of your lens. The wider the lens is, the smaller the depth of field will be. To decrease the depth of field you can also move closer to your subject. To increase it, you can use a smaller lens or move further away from your subject.

A great technique that helps photographers create eye-catching pictures is the rule of thirds. This is a composition technique, create a pleasing balance between the different objects in a photograph. In order to use the rule, divide your screen into six different parts: three horizontal sections, and three vertical. The focal points, where the eye is attracted when it first looks at a picture, are where the lines intersect. Placing the subjects of your pictures at or near the focal points can help create a balanced and attractive picture.

Landscape photos are very popular and can be very nice-looking. The whole photograph will need to be in focus, unlike some pictures where only a certain part is in focus. In order to have the picture completely focused, you'll need to have a short focal length. This will create a larger depth of field, and everything will be focused. In order to creating a pleasing balance between land and sky, or water and sky, you can use the rule of thirds. Furthermore, if you want a sense of three dimensions, you can have a subject in the foreground.

A tripod is a good investment in photography, especially if you want to take panoramic pictures. You'll have to set your tripod in a place where you can swivel the camera smoothly from left to right, and not up and down. You will have to figure out where you want your pictures to overlap, so that you don't have huge gaps in your resulting picture. Once you figure that out, you can swivel your camera in one direction, clockwise or counterclockwise, to take the pictures you want. Once you're done, all you have to do is put them together with a simple graphics program or photo-editing software.

Getting to Know Your Digital Camera

Photography is a beautiful art... simple in all its complexities and breathtaking in the results it produces. From preserving those priceless moments with your loved ones to creating exquisite works of art, the applications of photography are many. Once confined to bulky, expensive cameras and yards of film, photography has seen a new dawn with the advent of digital cameras. Swifter, a lot easier to use, and growing ever more compact with every passing day, digital cameras have indeed opened several avenues to the casual photographer as well as the seasoned expert. And now that you've decided to take the plunge with the digital brigade, your very first concern is choosing the best camera to suit your needs.

The multitude of models and makes that swarm the marketplace definitely don't make your choice any easier so how do you decide which camera is the best for you? To start with, you first need to understand that every make of digital cameras is developed to cater to a certain set of needs. Hence, in order to determine which camera you need to buy, you first need to establish the purpose you're going to use it for. A high speed camera which is developed in keeping with the interests of sports photographers will certainly not be a viable option for you, if all you're going to use it for is the odd vacation photograph. Also, if you're looking for more minute detailing in your photographs as well as a higher resolution, then the sleeker options that you find may not completely cater to your needs. This is because a majority of these models have been developed to ensure portability, and many include little more than the basic features.

Your second step would be to understand the world of digital photography. This would include familiarizing yourself with the most commonly used photography terms. For instance, you would need to know that an LCD is a screen attached to most cameras in addition to the viewfinder. This screen allows you to view your image before and immediately after you capture it, allowing to fine tune your focus and even re-capture the image if need be. However, several cameras are equipped only with the viewfinder, thus compelling you to hold the camera at an arm's length while capturing the photograph. As one of the key requirements to a clear photograph is a steady and sure hand, without your face to rest the camera on, your image is at a higher risk of being distorted.

You must also learn to distinguish between an optical zoom and a digital zoom. An optical zoom functions like traditional cameras, magnifying the image you are shooting. A digital zoom enlarges the final image by doubling the size of the pixels, which may also lead to fuzzier images. Digital images are comprised of mega pixels which in turn determine the quality of the image. The higher the number of mega pixels, the clearer the image. You may also want to check if your camera comes along with a stand which is invaluable in ensuring a steady and clear picture.

Once you gather this basic information, you can then start looking around for models which catch your eye. Start making a shortlist, comparing and contrasting the different makes and strike those off that do not meet your budget or requirements or both! At this stage, you can also start referring to photography journals and magazines for expert reviews and advice, which will also enable you to learn about first hand experiences with some of the relatively unknown models, you may come across.

If you aren't too comfortable with the notion of parting with your reliable old bulky camera, expense of film notwithstanding, but would still like the clarity that digital images offer, you can scan digital versions of your existing photographs and have them retouched with editing software or opt for an online photo service which will convert your film into digital reality. You can even use photo services to edit your photographs for minor glitches like red eye removal and adjusting the brightness and color.

Digital photography is a great way to explore your creativity, without worrying about how much you're spending on developing the film you've shot and printing charges. You can easily transfer your images from the memory card or stick onto your laptop or computer and then email them to friends or even upload them onto online albums. The key to mastering your digital photography skills is to keep practicing whenever possible and soon, you'll develop a style which is intrinsic to you and the envy of others!