In most instances to take professional quality pictures you need an expensive DSLR camera and photography equipment. That though doesn’t mean you cannot take excellent pictures using a point and click digital camera.

It is having the knowledge that is the key to taking good pictures for example if you give Tiger Woods a set of worn out clubs he would probably still be able to out drive most people. It is his skill and the practice that he has put in that makes him so good. It is the same with photography. A good place to start it perspective and composition.

The best composed pictures if you study them do not have the subject placed dead centre in the frame which is what most people naturally do. It is all to do about the “rule of thirds”. The best way to describe this is to imagine dividing the frame horizontally and vertically into thirds. To add emphasis to the subject matter of your picture you should place your subject on these lines and intersections. It will make you shot more interesting as will perspective.

Most people take the same kind of picture they are the ones like “ooh that is nice I will take a picture” then you move on. You need to think about the shot and framing. Try and be creative and think how the picture could be more interesting and what is the best angle. I would recommend getting up close and personnel with your subject matter and fill the frame. For example if you are taking a portrait picture you don’t always have to take a full body shot. If you still want some of the background move the person closer to you but take the picture form a higher angle.

The Color Spectrum
Both the natural light of the sun and artificial incandescent light appear white to the naked eye. However, if you shine light through a prism, it splits into a rainbow of colors. This effect shows how the “color” white contains every shade in the color spectrum.

When light hits an object, the object absorbs some of the color spectrum and reflects back the rest of the colors. The portion of the color that is not absorbed by the object but reflected back to eye is the color that the object appears to the human eye. For instance, a white wall reflects most of the color spectrum black. So our eyes (and the camera lens) see white. While a red rose reflects the red portion of the color spectrum and absorbs the rest, a black object absorbs the entire color spectrum.

Natural Light in Color Photography
Natural light in photography is not as consistent as you may think. At different times of the day, different shades of the color spectrum dominate natural light. For instance, at midday, the blue portion of the color spectrum is dominant, producing a “cool” light. Color photography taken at midday produces the clearest, sharpest pictures in bright light.

In contrast, natural light at sunrise and sunset emphasizes the red portion of the color spectrum. Known as warm light in photography, sunrise and sunset light produces warmer pictures with a softer contrast.

Artificial Light in Photography
When photographers use artificial light in photography, the effect of the lighting depends on the type of bulb used. The warm dispersed glow of incandescent light produces an effect that is dramatically different from that produced by the sharp, narrow, focused beam of a street light.

Photographs taken with incandescent light often have a yellow tinge. A photographer can combat this tint in two ways. One method is to use a blue filter to offset the excessive yellowing. If you’re using a film camera instead of a digital one, you can use tungsten film that is designed for professional studio lights. Although it wasn’t intentionally designed with incandescent light in mind, tungsten film reduces the yellow tones so often found in indoor color photography.

Florescent lights produce a diffuse light that often translates into greenish tinges in color photography. Using a fluorescent or daytime filter helps remove this unappealing color.

Street lamps, like florescent lights, may cause a greenish tint in the resulting pictures. However, a photographer can use this effect to his advantage: in the darkness, this greenish quality can produce mysterious or ghostly effects.

Diffuse and Direct Light in Photography
The direction of light in photography is important: different angles of light produce different shadows, changing the appearance of your subject.

Light in photography may be diffuse or direct. Direct light, such as light from the noon sun, hits the subject from one direction. If you’re looking for high contrast between light and shadows, direct light is a good choice.

On the other hand, diffuse light hits the subject from several directions. Florescent lighting is one example of diffuse light in photography. The loss of contrast that diffuse light produces mutes colors and softens the image.

Digital Cameras and Light in Photography
Digital cameras come with specialized light settings. Here are some of the common settings:

• auto: when you want the camera to adapt to changing light
• cloudy: for outdoor use in cloudy or overcast skies
• daylight or sunny: for outdoors and bright sunlight
• flash: for taking pictures with the flash
• fluorescent: for scenes lit by fluorescent lights
• incandescent or tungsten: for incandescent lighting
• manual: when you want to manage the lighting of each shot. This requires that the photographer aim the camera at white paper to change the lighting settings manually.

Color Photography or Black and White?
While lighting is important for color photography, it is even more important for black and white or sepia photography. While this fact seems counterintuitive, the lack of color means that the key feature of black and white photography is the contrast between light and shadow.

The basic rules of light in photography apply to black and white photos just as they do to color photography. For example, direct light creates a higher contrast than diffuse light. Because the contrast between light and shadow is much more obvious in black and white than in color photography, the photographer should opt for direct light when composing the shot.

The precious opportunities can occur anywhere, like in the bath, tasting new foods for the first time, or during cuddles before bed. Even when out and about, the expression they have while feeding the ducks down at your local park. Keep on the lookout and keep your camera near by.

Other fantastic photo opportunities in your child’s life happen every year, like their birthday parties, Christmas, Easter etc.

These opportunities in the past have not been well represented with amazing photos; the photos are kept because they are your family not because they are terrific photos. Have you ever had anyone exclaim, that the birthday photo you have of your child is amazing? Potentially yes though in most peoples realities the answer is unfortunately no!

Yet they happen every year so it can be mastered.

What are some ideas that can help to shoot great birthday shots; these can be applied for any party or event.

Preparation for the party is important, if you have planned the party you will already know the room layout or where the majority of time is going to be spent. Look around before the party starts and mentally note down some angles that the lighting would be great for shooting photos from and that there are no ornaments or obstacles in your line of shot.

Know your obstacles, as mentioned above. Though in reality are you going to a have the time to take the photos as well as organising everything else for the party? Maybe have someone else as the photographer? Or someone else brings the cake in? Can you manoeuvre into the perfect place or is it easy access for you? These are all things to think about prior to the party starting.

Where is the main table set up? Is it rectangular or not? If it is rectangular then take the photos from facing the long end of the table, this way all the children will be in focus.

To use flash or not! Try some with the flash and some without, if organised ahead, try different ISO settings on your camera to see how high it can go before the shots become grainy looking.

For the really key photographs take many shots, you can always erase them afterwards. For blowing out the candles on the cake, set your camera to continuous shooting, that way you will have a shot of the candles going out, not a just missed shot of prior to or after the fact.

Consider the background. What colour scheme is it? Neutral? Dark? If it is unfortunately ugly, minimise your depth of field so that it blurs the background. It is the smallest possible F-stop.

Don’t bother checking the LCD screen, other than to make sure you haven’t beheaded someone from the shot. Just wait to after the party to go through the pictures and look at contrast and image quality.

Equipment: Plan the day before and get the batteries all charged up, and the memory cards empty with enough room for the new photos. Other accessories if you have them like tripod, different lens attachments, external flash, chargers etc. Have them all ready just in case you choose to use them, then you know where they are, without having to remember where they are kept in a rush at the time.

It pays to have a list of photos you want to take: e.g. blowing the candles out, opening presents, etc

The candid moments are always to be looked out for during the birthday day. The looks of joy whilst playing a game, or the look of excitement at the bowl of lollies are truly special shots when they are caught.

If you are really organised and have some time before the guests arrive then use that time to take some “posed” pictures of your child, they will look clean and lovely in their “costume” or “party frock/clothes” they will never look better than this during the party. Pick a spot in front of the cake and get some big smiling photos, remember the younger the child the less likely the smiling is, so don’t push it.

Just have a fantastic time taking pictures of your children as they grow up, you never need an excuse to pull out the camera, so just have fun and snap away.

Film or Digital
This debate can get quite lengthy, and I use both film and digital. But I will make this easy for you: Unless you’re buying a camera for a professional photographer, go with digital. Digital is more convenient and there are no film costs. If your dad or grad falls in love with photography, he or she may eventually want a film camera as well. At that point, you can congratulate yourself for introducing someone into the wonderful world of photography. You can also be certain that from that point forward, your dad or grad will never be shy about letting you know exactly what he or she wants when it comes to photography equipment.

Digital Features
The first thing I advise you to do is to figure out what features your gift recipient will want. Here are some important features.

Resolution
In digital photography, this is determined by how many megapixels the camera has. Megapixels do not determine the quality of the image; rather they determine the quality of the print size. The more megapixels, the bigger the enlargement can be without losing clarity. A three-megapixel camera will provide good prints up to 8 x 10. That will probably be sufficient for most dads and grads. However, getting more won’t hurt.

If your gift recipient is likely to use the photos online, you can get by with fewer megapixels.

Size
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that small and sleek might be ideal for a recent grad. If you hope to see photos of their new life, make it convenient for them to take a camera with them. It’s a lot easier to stick a camera in a pocket or purse than it is to carry it over your shoulder or around your neck. Cameras that need camera bags tend to stay in closets or under beds unless someone has a real passion for photography.

On the other hand, if you’re getting a camera for a dad who loves taking photos of kids playing sports or family vacation photos, a larger model might work better. The features are larger and easy to find and manipulate, and larger models often offer more options. (There are only so many options you can pack into a little bundle.)

If this is the first digital camera your recipient has had and he or she hasn’t ever shown any strong interest in photography, I’d avoid buying a 35 mm digital camera with interchangeable lenses. That could be overwhelming. On the other hand, if your recipient has shown a strong interest in photography and is forever e-mailing photos to friends and family members, it could well be time to get the 35 mm/interchangeable lens camera. You’ll be a hero!

Ease of Use
You know your recipient. If he or she simply wants to point and shoot, make sure you get a camera that has all automatic settings and will make every decision all on its own. On the other hand, if your recipient likes to fiddle with things and is a techno freak, make sure you get something that give him or her the ability to make manual adjustments.

Options
Digital cameras have a variety of options. The ones I would make sure the camera has are:
• Optical zoom lens
• Ability to use rechargeable batteries
• Removable memory card (vs. strictly storing photos inside the camera)
• An ISO range of up to at least up to 400 (more if the person is likely to shoot in dim light) Note: ISO determines how light sensitive the camera is.
• A built-in flash (with a red-eye reduction feature)
• An LCD screen for viewing pictures
• A glass lens (rather than a plastic one)

Other features to consider include:
• Ability to set the camera to manual mode. This allows for much more creativity. Personally, I’d never give anyone a camera without this. It’s like giving someone a coloring book and insisting they “stay inside the lines,” vs. giving them a sketch book and inks, pastels, watercolors, etc.
• Video capability to make short movies. You aren’t going to get high quality here, but it can be fun.
• Close up mode. Nice feature that allows the user to take super close-ups of things like flower petals, stamps, bugs, etc.
• A timer. Nice to make sure the camera is steady if it’s on a tripod and useful it the photographer wants to jump into the picture.
• Ability to release shutter once and have it take a series of pictures within seconds. Great for someone who is going to be shooting sports or other action photos.

How to Choose
Do your research. Go online and do a search for Web sites that compare digital cameras. Ask someone you know with a digital camera whether or not they like theirs. Find out what they say they could live without and what they’d never give up. If they are knowledgeable, maybe they could help you decide. Go to a store and hold the cameras. What feels good?

Make a list of the most important features the person you are giving the gift to will want. Prioritize the features. Then search for cameras within your price range and match as many features as you can to a price you can afford.

Stick with brand names you trust. You can’t go wrong with a Nikon or Canon. (Personally, I have always used Nikons and wouldn’t trade them for anything.)

Look at the complete package. Some packages include memory cards, cables to hook the camera up to the computer, and rechargeable batteries. Some digital cameras have “ports” you set your camera in to recharge the batteries.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but for a grad who isn’t interested in learning all about photography, you’re well advised to consider appearance. Slick and sleek might be way more important that one with more features but that isn’t as cool looking.

Think of the ability to exchange the camera. If you buy a camera that doesn’t have a feature the recipient MUST have (and of course never mentioned to you), you will want to be able to exchange it for something the recipient will be able to use to capture the photographs he or she has in mind.

Price
Digital cameras with 3 megapixels can start as low as $100 and go to thousands for professional models. When comparing prices, make sure you take into account the entire package that comes with the camera.

Shop around. You can find some great deals on the Internet from highly reputable camera stores. Watch inserts in the Sunday paper as well. Visit some camera and electronic stores.

So here I am, 9.00am Monday morning at Studiographic Park Row Bristol. I climb the stairs to the first floor reception area and I am greeted by my new boss Paul Smith. Paul has a good reputation as a portrait and wedding photographer and the display pictures on the wall are impressive. I am excited, what will be my first assignment? an outdoor shoot or maybe a studio shoot. I have not seen the studio yet and I can’t wait.

Paul shows me into another room, quite large and well lit, with windows at one end overlooking Park Street. There are work benches, a large print dryer, I had never seen one that big before, and a print washer. “This is where you will be working John, I will show you the darkrooms”. Well I suppose a ‘Trainee Photographer’ has got to start somewhere, But I am sure my first assignment will be soon. There were two darkrooms, one for printing, with two enlargers and a large rectangular sink for the processing dishes, and one for film processing that had three ‘deep tanks’, for developer, wash and fixer. They held about five gallons each and you could process up to twelve films at a time loaded onto spirals on racks. It suddenly became clear that this was ‘Commercial Photography’ a lot different to my one film at a time in my little Paterson tank.

I was shown a large cupboard where the Kodak Bromide Paper was kept, my eyes nearly popped out! I had always bought my paper in a pack of 25 sheets and I made do with one surface type and one contrast grade, normal grade 2. Here every box was 100 sheets in Glossy and Silk surface, double weight and single weight, three different sizes and contrast grades 1 to 4, soft, normal, hard and very hard. I had never seen so much photographic paper in one place.

Paul knew I had experience of printing, albeit as an amateur, so it was in at the deep end. “Start on these orders John and see how you get on”. I picked the top order from the tray, it was for wedding re-prints, the negatives were attached (120 6×6cm), black and white of course as color photography for weddings at this time was prohibitively expensive for most people. I glanced down the list, all neatly written out with the negative numbers, the quantity of prints from each negative and the sizes. I looked at the first negative on the list, there were usually 24 for each wedding, 2 rolls of 120 film. ‘12 8×6, 1 10×8 and 7 half plate’. Twenty prints, and this was just the first negative! The most I had ever printed from one negative was two. “Oh John, just use small pieces for test strips, I don,t want to see any paper wastage” Paul said as he left the room.

So this is how it started, and continued for almost a year. I hardly ever came out of the dark. Friends were asking if I was OK because I looked so pale, “Are you anemic John?” I needed sunglasses even on a dull day!

I was so slow at first, I was used to processing one print at a time, which was no good in a ‘Commercial’ business. Paul taught me how to interleave prints and process them back to back. First expose all the prints and put them in a box. Then the first two prints back to back into the developer, then another two, then another two. Six prints at a time were developing and when the first two came out, another two went in, it was like working on a production line.

The only high point of the week was cleaning the sink. It had to be cleaned weekly because of chemical stains. Vim, Ajax, Brillo Pad? “No John, there is a bottle of Hydrochloric Acid on the shelf, the green bottle with the skull and crossbones, just spread that around” Wow! that used to work, Health & Safety, not on your life!

If there was one thing this job was teaching me, it was how to print and this would prove to be a definite bonus for my future career in photography, even if it would not make me rich, my current wage was ten shillings (50 pence) a week.

My initial excitement about my first assignment appeared just to be a pipe dream until one day Paul said “In a couple of weeks time you can come along with me to a wedding John, bring your own camera and you can take some candid shots”.

This indeed was an honor, it would be the nearest I had come to a camera in many months. I only caught an occasional glimpse of a camera if the studio door was open when I was passing.
The studio was out of bounds to me, I was not allowed to enter this hallowed ground!

At last! a chance to show off my camera skills, but wait…..I can’t turn up on a professional job with my Lubitel. Paul used a Rollieflex 2.8f, a camera I drooled over, when he would let me get close enough to have a look, yes look, not touch! At the time the ‘Rollei’ was the camera of choice for all professionals, only to fall out of favour when Hasselblads were launched, not that the results were better, but it was a single lens reflex with interchangeable lenses, more versatile.

I certainly could not afford anything in the Rollei range even it’s cheaper brother the Rolleicord , but at the time there was a much cheaper alternative, not a Rollei, but a camera that could produce comparable results for a lot less money.

I managed to scrape enough money together to buy a Yashica-Mat, a Japanese copy of the Rollei, and a jolly good camera, a camera that served me well for quite a few years.

I can’t remember much about my first assignment, probably because the results were unmemorable. At least I can remember that Paul never used any of them in the bride & grooms album!

I had only been working at Studiographic for just over a year, but it seemed like ten! The pressure of the work was affecting my health and it wasn’t helped when things went badly wrong.

I can recall one incident. I had finished processing a batch of wedding films and found one film had become detached from it’s processing spiral and had dropped to the bottom of the tank. The film when retrieved was quite badly damaged, Paul was livid and said I would have to retouch all the resulting prints from this film. The damage was such, that when prints were made there were black marks and scratches, which on a brides white dress were very obvious!

The only tools available for retouching prints then were a very fine brush and retouching dye for white marks and a very sharp scalpel for black marks. The technique for black marks was to gently scrape away at the surface of the print until the marks disappeared. A very time consuming and laborious task, which took me over a fortnight. Probably about ten minutes in Photoshop now – how times change!

It was certainly a time for me to change, I had only been a ‘Trainee Photographer’ for just over a year and although I did not want to abandon my photographic career, I was more than a little bit disillusioned. I wanted to do something connected with photography, but preferably in daylight!

Then it hit me. What about retail, a camera shop, a salesman maybe, or with my experience, even assistant manager… slow down… slow down! The wages were bound to be better, I would see the sun during the day, I might even get my color back – now there’s a thought!

In the 1980’s, the Holga appeared. There were many similarities between the Diana and the Holga. Both were made in Hong Kong, both were constructed of plastic, both used 120 format film, had light leaks, vignetting, blur, and miscellaneous other imperfections. The Holga is considered the successor to the Diana, though it wasn’t intended as a toy. T.M. Lee created the Holga with working-class China in mind. He hoped its mass-production and low cost would bring photography to the average person. Mainly he wanted the masses to be able to create photographic archives of family members and important events. The Holga was later distributed in many parts of the world. Many photographers started using them in more artistic ways, often using them to capture everyday life on the streets.

Now, 29 years later, we have a successor to the Holga — with some important differences. The Blackbird, Fly, created by Superheadz in Japan, is a Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera. This means is that there are two objective lenses. One is for taking the photograph, while the other is for the waist-level viewfinder. Behind the viewfinder lens is a mirror at a 45-degree angle (hence the term “reflex”), which reflects light upwards through a matte focusing screen surrounded by a hood/enclosure used to block some light to reduce reflection on the screen. This creates an image on the screen identical to what will be captured on film through the photographic lens. The Blackbird, Fly also takes 35mm film instead of 120 format film. That makes things a bit easier and more convenient. 120 film can be harder to find these days, and finding a place to have it developed can be even harder, and the development time can take longer. You can’t drop 120 film off at the nearest 1-hour photo like you can with 35mm.

The Blackbird, Fly can shoot in three formats (using provided masks); normal 35mm (24mm x 36mm), square format (24mm x 24mm), and large square format (36mm x 36mm).

Almost everyone these days has a mobile phone. Mobile phones with inbuilt cameras have really taken off in recent years. Some camera phones have quite amazing cameras with high specifications. Why not use your phone to take beautiful photos? I don’t suggest that you replace your camera with a camera phone but, phones are incredible handy and perfect for when you have left your camera at home and see that perfect photo opportunity.

I’m going to prove to you that you can take beautiful photos with your mobile phone in 5 simple steps.

1. Keep that lens clean.

The lens on your camera will be lucky enough to have a protective cover, the lens on your camera phone may not be so lucky! Your phone is often in your hand, in the bottom of a bag or left about where the lens is just collecting dust and grime. To get beautiful photographs from your camera phone you need to first look after the lens. Here are two ways in which to keep that lens squeaky clean: Get your camera phone a cover, its good if you can take it off when taking a photo. This will minimise dirt getting to the lens when your phone is in your bag or not in use. Clean the lens. The ideal solution is not to get it dirty in the first place, but lets face it, may be quite difficult. If you have a dirty lens take an ear bud and really gently clean the lens in a twisting motion.

2. Avoid digital Zoom.

Using digital zoom on your camera phone is a bad idea. Digital zoom works by cropping the image and then enlarging it, thus decreasing the quality of your photograph making the image much more pixelated. Some camera phones are now being sold that have optical zoom. Optical zoom works by enlarging the pixels meaning that the zoom will produce a crisper image to that of digital zoom.

Use ‘natural’ zoom, your feet and get close to what your photographing. Fill the frame. Camera phones tend to have low resolution making the subject seem very tiny and sometimes unrecognisable, so get close.

3. Hold still.

In low light the camera phone will set a slower shutter speed, this will increase camera shake so its really important to hold still. To help you hold the phone still, grip the phone tightly and lean your wrist or arm on something stable like a table or wall. This will help you keep the camera phone from moving when your taking a photograph.

Remember that when you take a photo using your camera phone there is usually a time delay from your pressing the shutter to the photograph actually being taken. This delay is called shutter lag. You will have to hold still for a few extra seconds until the photo has been taken.

4. Give your photos a chance!

Remember the screen on your phone is smaller and not as good as the screen on your computer. If your memory allows, keep all your photos and look at them more carefully when you look at them on the computer. Shoot hundreds of photographs!

5. Light your subject well.

Make the most of natural light as not all camera phones have a inbuilt flash. If possible shoot out side. When shooting inside turn lights on to add extra light.

If you do have a flash remember to use it when shooting in bright light too as this will act as a fill flash.

Yes, it’s true that many fancy new camera’s have built in image stabilization. But what if your’s doesn’t have it? Can you still take great photos without a tripod? Of course! I’m going to show you some simple insider tricks to improving your chances of taking great crisp photos.

Learn to Hold Your Camera Properly

This tip is targeted towards those people who have a traditional film camera or digital SLR. It’s surprising how just learning to hold your camera properly can massively cut down on the amount of blurry photos you take. It’s simple. When looking through the viewfinder make sure that the camera is firmly planted against your face! That’s right, you use your face as a stabilizer. Sure you may get nose prints on the back, but it’s a very small price to pay for great photos. Your other hand should be holding your lens from underneath. This creates a nice stable platform for your camera.

Tuck Those Elbows In

This applies to both SLR and small point and shoot cameras. Tucking your elbows in to your sides stabilizes your arms and reduces shake compared to having your arms floating in front of you.

Lean on Me

This may seem obvious, but leaning against something is another great way to reduce the chances of a blurry shot. Lamp posts, railings and walls are all great choices. This works extremely well in low light conditions where you can’t use a flash. Combined with the elbow tuck, you can get clean shots that would normally be impossible under these lighting conditions.

Improvise a Tripod

This is great for indoor shots or longer exposures when you don’t have a real tripod. Railings, books, tables, beer glasses and coasters are just a small number of everyday objects that you can use to prop up or rest your camera on. Make sure to use the self timer when doing this. It is essential in order to get non-blurry shots. Just pushing the shutter release with your finger will introduce enough vibration to make longer exposures a complete blurry mess.

There you have it. Some simple and easy tips to get great crisp shots. Give these a try and I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how effective these techniques are. Happy shooting!

Photography of nature is a very rewarding hobby or in some cases profession. There is something special about having the creative eye in capturing the mystery and beauty of nature.

Here are some tips that will help you improve your photography so you can take better photos.

1. To have the passion for nature photography one has to have love for nature, as without that passion you may not be able to see the real beauty that is hidden in front of you. Nature loving photographers are able to see beauty in the tiniest of plants and flowers; they can see beauty in the way water ripples in a fishpond.

The best tip I can give you here is feel what you can see, open your eyes and your mind see what is in front of you, see it through the frame of your camera. You will love what you get.

2. Always keep your subjects well being in mind. Avoid changing the environment leave things as they are.

3. When photographing wildlife, like birds or animals, remember that it may take some time to get the perfect shot, but you should not be disappointed if you don’t get the shot you won’t, ,some photographers spend years trying to get exactly what they are looking for. The message here is you need to have patience.

4. It is recommended that you use an SLR fast shutter speeds camera. This device is good for taking great bird and animal photos. Most wildlife is fast and can disappear quickly. This type of camera can capture sudden movements quickly and can take many repeated photos of you subject in action.

5. As a nature photographer, you should always try to blend in with your surroundings and become part of the environment, in this way everything around you will behave normal, and not be spooked abnormal reactions.