Photography Basic Tutorials and Tips

5 Out of 43 Great Macro Photographs

2009-05-10T02:23:00.000-07:00

In December 2008, smashinapps.com published a list of 43 creative macro photographs. They not only listed 43 great photographs, but encouraged photographers to post comment about other great pictures online.

Here is a list of 5 randomly chosen pictures from the entire batch.

All the images are copyright of their respective owners and creators. Visit smashinapps.com for the main source of the pics.

Your Photos in The Sunday Telegraph!

2009-05-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

The Sunday Telegraph has started monthly photography competition. You can submit your photographs each month – the theme of the month will be announced in advance.

The first round of photograph collecting ends on June 10, 2009 and the winner will be announced on June 14, 2009. The photograph submitted by the winner and 10 other commended photographs will published in The Sunday Telegraph.

Opening theme is: Wildlife – so get ready to participate. You can read the terms and conditions of the competition here.

Top 5 Macho Photographs on Flickr

2009-05-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

I searched Flickr.com for macro photography and top 5 listings were really interesting! No spiders, no flowers, no tiles – but color pencils and chocolate. I appreciate the photographers; view; they have indeed presented familiar things in an unfamiliar way.

Color pencils are chose and placed nicely so that they look great when photographed. And who doesn’t like chocolate? I am sure everybody is going to love these macros. Take a look.

Click to see this Photo on flickr.

Top 5 Portrait Photography Listings

2009-05-02T02:43:00.000-07:00

Top 5 Portrait Photography listings on Google image – 3 out of 5 are black and white. Do you love black and white photographs?

Image Courtesy: thecanvasgallery.com, majkens.co.uk, dilvie.com, portraitphotographersussex.co.uk & designerstalk.com

Macro Lens Ranges – Which One Is Right for You?

2009-05-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Macro lenses are available with different ranges; let’s see which one is to be used and when:

50 – 60mm: Suitable for small object and product photography
90 – 105mm: Used while photographing flowers, insects and similar small objects.
150 – 200mm: These lenses offer more working distance – hence can be used while photographing small animals or insects from which safe distance is to be maintained

Lens is of great importance in macro photography. One needs to use lenses specifically designed for macros. Long barrel helps in close focusing. Macro lenses are set to provide 1:1 magnification.

However, Canon MP-E 65 mm f/2.8 offers magnification up to 5:1 allowing photographers frame small objects such as eyes of the insects, snowflakes etc.

Digital Photography Tutorials – Video 1

2009-04-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

Look at the Clouds

2009-04-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

Who doesn’t love to watch clouds sailing in the sky? Cloud formation, rainbow and rain have always been popular subjects of photography.

Here are some great cloud pictures taken by an expert photographer during sunset in Tuscan, Arizona on a hot July evening.

Source: Fiery Clouds Hub

Portrait Photography – Common and Oldest Style of Photography

2009-04-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

A person or a small group of people is the subject of Portrait Photography. Face, mood and facial expressions are focused in this style of photography. Portrait photography is for general people, not for professional models. This style of photography is meant to capture special moments, moods, emotions and expressions.

Portrait photographs can be taken on wedding, graduation, birthday, anniversary or any other occasion. Here face and facial expressions are the main areas of focus, though entire body of the subject and backgrounds are also taken care of while taking the photographs.

Portrait photographs are for personal collection – photographs of eminent people and icons are often preserved in museums. Portrait photography became popular after the invention of camera. Members of royal families used to call photographers for group photo sessions. Such portraits are now valued collectibles.

Like all other photography styles, portrait photography should be learned properly. Online tutorials and portrait photography tips are available to help budding photographers learn the basics.

Samsung M100 - Find a Flaw If You Can

2009-04-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

Samsung M100 seems to be a flawless camera made in recent times. It has a stylish and compact look. Rectangular shape with clean lines and smooth edges assign it a classy and techie look. The body has got a silver color polishing.

On the front of the camera, the flash is placed on the upper left corner and the zoom lens is placed just below the flash. There is an LCD display on the back side of the camera – the LCD screen is large enough for comfortable viewing.

Samsung M100 is a high end digital camera with 8.2 MP resolution and 4X digital zoom. It can capture finest images using CCD sensor and built-in color filter.

Samsung M100 has a number of shooting mode and allows users to take snaps in multiple settings. The macro mode enables you to practice macro photography as well. It has some built-in functions as well - PictBridge helps you reduce red-eye effect whereas, Image Stabilizer enables you to get blur-free image even when you are shooting a moving object.

Finally, the price of this digital camera has been set within an affordable range. So what are you waiting for? Try your hand with Samsung M100 and shoot some incredibly good macros.

Macro Photography Flowers - Video

2009-04-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hope you would enjoy the Video!

How To Reduce Shaking

2009-04-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

It has nothing to do with your efficiency. A lot of people believe that when a newbie start shooting, her hand shakes during clicking the shutter; as a result the image gets blurred and appears to be shaken.

This can be a reason behind shaky image; but when the same happens with an expert photographer or while shooting with a tripod – what is your explanation? Here is mine:

It happens due to the to and fro movement of the mirror inside your camera. The mirror is heavy; it goes up when you click the shutter and then comes down to close the shutter. As a result, the camera shakes and the effect is observed on the image.

To avoid this, you should enable mirror lock-up while shooting. Just click the shutter and let the camera take care of everything else. Look at the images below: the first was shot without mirror lock-up and the second one was taken with mirror lock-up enabled.

Without mirror lock-up:

With mirror lock-up:

Image courtesy: aemenblack.com

Macro Photography Class

2009-04-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Lincoln Wildlife is going to host Macro Photography class. There will be classroom session followed by a field work. Basic macro photography techniques and equipments will be focused in the classroom session. Techniques such as use of natural light, diffusion techniques, reflectors etc. will be covered. At the same time, there will be sessions on equipments, lenses, use of color, background etc.

Attendees will be provided with hands-on experience in the field session. This is an instructor led session that will give the learners opportunity to apply and practice the techniques taught in the classroom session.

Photography basics will be taught be renowned photographer Joe Warfel. Though the classroom session is open to all, the field session has limited seats. Visit Lincoln Wildlife for more information.

How Art Is Created – An Overview

2009-04-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

Arts & Culture is the characteristic of nation. All countries have their own cultural background. It’s not that the nature and type of cultural traditions of one country is always unique and that it cannot be similar with another country or nation. Basically arts and culture are highly dependent on regional and geographical features. That is why neighboring countries and states are often found to share similar type of customs and traditions.

Human civilization was first built up around rivers. The importance of water was felt at that time and that was the reason ancient men started living near rivers. The same tradition is going on till date; all major cities are located beside rivers. And rivers have made their own place in human culture. People associated directly with rivers have their own songs, poems and customs. Fishermen and boatmen are known to be closely associated with rivers. People of this group in Asian countries have their own culture which is very unique, attractive and rich.

The songs fishermen or boatmen usually compose while working. The content of these songs often reflect their lifestyle, the happiness and sadness they face in their day to day activities, nature, landscape and scenic beauty and sometimes philosophy as well.

The same thing is true for farmers, cowboys, labors, and others associated with different types of works. However, the connection of art and culture with nature is always very important. Art is nothing but doing something, traditional or new, in a different and creative way so that it amazes people. Art is nothing spontaneous outcome of emotions from the heart of the artist and it touches the innermost chord in the heart of the viewers as well.

Art has no relation with formal education. University degrees and conventional education certainly specific qualities in man, however, an artist does not require formal training to create art.

In context of photography

Similarly, to be a photographer you don’t need to attend photography courses essentially. However, a formal education on photography covering techniques, use of light, color, background, flash and training on cameras and other equipment would definitely help you master the art of photography.

Online photography tutorials, magazines, websites, forums and blogs can help you learn a lot about photography and its technical aspects. If you have the hunger for more inside you, find a trainer or start surfing the web for more information.

Spiders – Macro Photography Examples

2009-03-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

Garden Orb Spider

Photography is an addiction. A person afraid of spiders can spend hours in garden to shoot a Garden Orb.

Jumping Spider

Jumping spider on green background – ready for action!

Spider catches Honeybee

The spider did his dinner with honeybee and preserved one for next day’s breakfast! LOL!!!

Wolf Spider

With 8 eyes and 8 legs wolf spider don’t use webs to catch their prey.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Photographers are artists. They not only enclose right moments within frames, they write great poems as well. LOL.

DSLR OR Digital Point and Shoot with Macro Mode

2009-03-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Darren Rawse of Digital Photography School considers the photographers with a DSLR lucky over those who do not have a DSLR. However, he suggests photographers to explore the macro mode of compact point and shoot cameras while practicing macro photography.

Though the quality of DSLR image is much more superior than the images shot with point and shoot cameras, the images can be made presentable by keeping the macro mode on.

However, majority of professional still photographers prefer DSLR cameras. The reasons are:

Options to select one of various interchangeable lenses
DSLR cameras enable photographers to view an accurate preview
Larger sensors (most compact point and shoot cameras have smaller sensors)
DSLR sensors are almost of same size as traditional film formats
Modern DSLRs provide live preview
Wide range of lens aperture – starting from f/1.0 to f/32

However, if you haven’t got your DSLR yet, don’t get disappointed. Go through Darren’s macro photography tips for point and shoot camera users.

25 beautiful macro photography shots

2009-03-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

The Monday Inspiration column of Smashing Magazine publishes attractive, revealing and inspiring pictures. The editorial team did a great job by selecting 25 macro photography shots and publishing the list along with photographers name and source of the image.

The photographs cover a wide range of subjects starting from the eye of a Tokay Gecko, water bubbles, flowers, to eyelids of a girl. The series describes true form of macro photography where minute details of objects are revealed.

Click to see all 25 photographs.

Macro Photography

2009-03-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

The term macro photography has been coined very recently. Macro photography is a stream of photography which can be compared with close-up photography. It is the art of taking close-up shots to enlarge a small area so that minute details become visible to naked eye.

According to wikipedia, the classical definition of macro photography is:

…” the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject.”

In reality the image projected on the film plane can be close, same size or larger as the subject. Using 1:2 macro lenses, one can shoot a photograph where the image is 1/2 of the subject and with 1:1 macro lenses image size becomes equal as the subject.

1:4 magnificent ratio is quite good to focus a subject and print it on 15x10 cm paper so that the image is equal to or larger than the object.

Image courtesy: shotaddict.com