What to look for in a Tripod
Ian, a moderator of ClubSnap forums, has provided some great tips on how to choose the best Tripod for your self. This is a very valuble post for anyone interested in buying a new tripod.
The nine points Ian mentions are:
Click here to view Ians post. It goes into much more detail that the quote given above.
1) Stability (critical)
2) Anti-vibration qualities (critical)
3) Load carrying capacity (critical)
4) height range (lowest to highest)
5) Leg lock and operational issues
6) Construction quality / durability
7) Spare parts availablity
Weight
9) Cost
[ Thanks to weblogs inc for finding this post. ]
Digital Camera Gift Tips
You own a digital camera, right? You like to take pictures and you probably would love to give them away as gifts. As a recepient of a couple of photograph prints I can assure you that they make great gifts with a personal touch!
Seattle Time has posted an article for tips on how to give away great Photo Prints as Christmas or regular gifts. Plus, if you want to become a professional photographer then giving away Photographs as gifts is a great way to get started.
Seattle Times Photo Gift Tips:
Match the photo to the gift. A landscape photo works well blown up for a calendar but not so well on a small mug, which calls for a closely cropped photo with one or two people. Horizontal photos fit calendars best, while verticals are ideal for mugs and T-shirts. Some online services allow shoppers to preview products with chosen photos.
Use a good photo. “The better the original photo, the better the final product,” noted Marcia Rhines, co-owner of Competitive Recognition in Sumner. “Although we have software to enhance and improve photographs, it is still difficult (sometimes impossible) to make a bad photo look great.” Close-ups and images with bright colors translate well.
Count those pixels. Be cautious enlarging a 4-by-6-inch photo into an 8-by-10-inch calendar. “You have to have the resolution to pull it off or else it will really look bad,” warns David Simmerman, past president of the Olympia Camera Club. Wal-Mart recommends a resolution of 300 dpi or higher for its photo gifts. “If your image is below the minimum resolution/size requirements, do not simply increase the size in your editing software,” Wal-Mart’s Web site notes. “You must either rescan the image or use a higher-quality image.”
Think beyond photos. Scan children’s artwork to use as decorations.
Consider the recipient. Sure, Grandma and Grandpa will probably love anything with a grandbaby. But rather than a whole calendar of just your family, consider one with photos of all their grandkids, suggests Simmerman. “They want to see everybody,” he notes.
Consideration, Part II. Don’t assume all friends and family are as charmed with your darlings as you are. Extended relatives — especially ones with their own kids might prefer a photo for the fridge.
Do it yourself. Print pictures or artwork on iron-on transfer paper to decorate cloth accessories such as an apron or canvas bag. Transfer paper is sold at craft stores.
Plan ahead. If you know you want to put together a calendar, for example, take seasonal pictures throughout the year to illustrate different months.
Check out the whole article here.
Digital Camera Vocabulary and Jargon
Here is a recent article going over all the jargon that newbie digital photographers have to deal with.
Digital zoom: A feature in many digital cameras that enlarges a portion of the image. Often, when using the digital zoom feature, you will sacrifice some image quality.
DPI: A measurement that describes the image resolution in dots per inch. The DPI is what creates the image; the higher the DPI, the higher the resolution and the better the quality of your image.
Megapixel: The standard of measurement that digital cameras use to measure the quality of the images. One megapixel is 1 million pixels. The higher the megapixel, the better the quality. With better quality comes higher prices.
Megabits: This is used to measure the amount of data you can transfer between your digital media and your computer.
Optical zoom: Magnifying an image with an adjustment of the lens on your camera without reducing the quality. Digital zoom does sacrifice quality.
RGB (red, green, blue): The primary colors of light. Digital cameras use these to create the colors in digital images.
Learn about more digital camera terms by clicking here
How To: Street Photography in China
Luminous Landscape has posted an article about taking photographs in China!
These tips should easily apply to any one who is an aspiring photographer.
The tips include:
- Dress appropriately. If you’re going to be walking around taking photographs, dress the way that most of the people you’ll be shooting dress. In other words, if you’re at a wedding, wear formal clothes. If it’s a street market, jeans are appropriate, and if it’s the beach, wear shorts. Don’t wear a Hawaiian shirt to a funeral.
- Don’t carry a lot of gear. Ideally, just one body and a couple of lenses. No camera bag, or if you must, a small canvas sack with an extra lens and a couple of memory cards and batteries. This will allow you to walk further, work longer, and not be singled out as a target for theft.
- Keep it small and simple. A large camera body (1Ds or D2x style) along with a large white lens makes you stand out like a sore thumb. A small camera body and a single medium zoom (or a couple of fast primes) is all that’s needed. Long lenses have no place when doing this sort of photography. Keep it short, keep it simple. Keep it fast.
- Use Auto-everything. I know this is going to get me kicked out of the fraternity, but set your camera on a high ISO (400) and set it in Program mode. The reason for this is that documentary photographs often happen in a split second. You don’t want to be thinking about whether or not you have a fast enough shutter speed selected, or enough depth of field. Buy yourself some time by setting the camera so that you can swing from the sunny side of the street to a shadowed doorway in a split second, and still get the shot.
Read all the tips by clicking here
Holiday Photography Tips for Busiest Photo Season
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 24 /PRNewswire/ - Billions of digital photographs will be taken this holiday season yet only a fraction will ever see the light of day - trapped and isolated in the growing number of stored image files in digital cameras and computers. It is estimated only one in five digital images actually gets printed and Memento Press, the Bay Area’s first photo book store, is offering tips to help digital photographers liberate their holiday photographs this season to share with family and friends and assemble to enjoy for years to come.
“Digital cameras have provided people more flexibility in taking and managing photographs than film ever could, yet we find that most people rarely organize, print or share the images after they are downloaded,” said Josh Litwin, president and chief executive officer of Memento Press. “As time goes on, trying to organize hundreds of stored images can be so overwhelming that it continues to be put off. That’s why we are encouraging people to think ahead this holiday season and apply a few simple tips to develop a download routine that can simplify the photo organization and printing process, and eliminate the daunting digital photo abyss that has begun to plague so many of us.”
Memento Press (http://www.mementopress.com) offers the following helpful tips to Pick, Fix, Save and Print digital images taken during the holiday season,
which is also the busiest photography season:
Pick your Favorites
After the event, as you transfer images, take time to pick your favorites so you are organized when ready to print.
- Create a “Favorite Photos” folder on your computer and add sub folders with clear titles by event or month (i.e. Thanksgiving)
- Transfer the images from your camera to your computer in a “temporary” folder and open the folder.
- Be picky! Select the photos that mean the most and drag and drop these favorites into the corresponding event/month’s “Favorites” folder
- Delete the non-favorites or save elsewhere to avoid computer clutter.
Fix your Favorites
One big advantages of digital over film is the ability to “fix” your photos after the fact. After you pick your favorites, use the easy-to-use tools on computers to adjust color, red eye and zoom. If you’re short on time, design experts, such as those at Memento Press, can perform these tasks for you:
- Cropping
By cutting out the boring stuff from your photo, you further accent your subject. - Color and Exposure Fix
Many programs have a “one touch” fix, and controls for brightness and color. If the new image looks better than the old one, save it. (NOTE: It’s best to perform this step after you’ve done the “cropping” step above.) - Red Eye Reduction
Use your photo software to remove redeye during this “cleanup” stage, so you don’t have to worry about it again.
Save in Two Places
Since photos can be vulnerable to the whims of technology and nature, it is important to protect your memories by saving them in two places. Use your computer’s CD burner, or a plug-in hard drive to save a copy. If you only have limited time, we suggest saving your favorite images after the two biggest photo-taking seasons: the holidays and summer.
If you follow the steps for saving your “Favorites” by the month, it’s easy to copy the new images that have been taken since the last time you backed up. The most important things to remember are:
- Once you have your “Favorites” folders created, back up files created since your last backup.
- Label your backup CD’s by date.
- Store in a safe and accessible place to easily grab in case of an emergency.
Print your Favorites
Whether you do-it-yourself, order online or go through personal service providers like Memento Press, take time to print your images. These can be traditional print format or other products like Memento Press’ flagship hardcover book, soft cover books, photo canvases, calendars, journals, notebooks, and greeting cards.
Share Your Favorites
Once you’ve organized, archived, and printed your favorite images for yourself, it’s time to share the memories with family and loved ones. Unlike catalogue shopping, photo gifts are one-of-a-kind gifts for family, friends, teammates, and coworkers that will be treasured for years and generations to come. Memento Press offers numerous resources to help people organize and print images. For more information, visit http://www.mementopress.com or stop by the Memento Press flagship store in the Crocker Galleria, or one of its retail partner outlets in the East Bay or Marin.
Understanding Aperture and Depth of Field
Here is a quick tutorial about Aperture and Depth of Field and how to use them for specific effects.
The aperture itself is the opening in the diaphragm that controls the amount of light passing through the lens and onto the film or sensor. The size of the aperture is referred to as the f-stop and it relates directly to the depth of field, which is the distance between the nearest and farthest parts of a scene that appear in focus, or the focal length divided by the diameter of the aperture.
Click here to view the tutorial
Controlling Your Digital Camera from Afar–ExtremeTech Feature
Controlling Your Digital Camera from Afar–ExtremeTech Feature
Here is a nice tutorial that teaches you how to control your digital camera with a universal remote!
If you are bored or are worried about loosing your cameras teeny weeny remote control or a remote comes as an accessory then this tutorial is for you!
