Pony Of Prey Blog

Photography is a vast world. There are many different types of photography and many different kinds of people that enjoy it. It’s a hobby that be relatively inexpensive or one that you can invest a lot of money on. Photos are so special because they give us memories of times and places and events in our lives. We can hold onto these memories forever with a photograph.

As much as people love photos, many people love taking them even more. Whether it’s a mother who takes photos at every of her children’s moments in life (first smile, first step, first spaghetti meal) or maybe it’s the father who never forgets his camera for a football or basketball game, or maybe it’s the young girl who loves nature hikes with her camera; these people are not exceptions. They all have an eye for those special moments and they all appreciate the camera’s ability to capture that moment and freeze it in time forever.

- What is Freelance Photography?

What if you love photography so much you wish you could do it for a living? I mean, you actually get paid for your photographs! But you work solely for yourself, selling each photo or series of photos individually. You don’t have a boss. You work sometimes on assignment and you may sell to magazines. That is freelance photography.

Freelance photography may be your entire career or it may start out as something you do in your spare time but begin making money from it. It’s just like freelance writing in this sense that many people turn it into a career and enjoy the freedom of working essentially for themselves on their own time and making money doing something they love doing anyway.

- How to Build a Portfolio

To start getting jobs as a freelance photographer, you need a portfolio. A portfolio will show samples of your work. Even if you have never had photographs published or publicly displayed, you can start a portfolio of your best work and then add onto it if you win photography contests or start receiving paid work.

- How to Get Jobs

As we mentioned, building a portfolio is the first step in submitting your work for pay but when it comes right down to it, it’s the quality of the photo that will determine if you get paid for it. Some people have more of a natural talent for taking great pictures than others but it is a skill that anyone can learn. There are schools dedicated to the art of photography and you can even get a degree in it. If you are just getting started, you can look into classes provided by your local community center or community college. Some cities have photography groups that meet to share photos and tips. There are also many groups online dedicated to photography and freelance photography.

You need to view as many famous photographs as possible. Take a look at what is getting published and compare it to your own photos. This allows you to compare and learn from other’s work. It takes more than just point and shoot to get a great photo. You need to learn about focus, lighting, colors and backgrounds and much more.

Once you start learning about photography and creating a portfolio, you can start submitting your photos to contests and magazines. Get a list of photography markets and start submitting to ones that accept your type of photos. Don’t expect to make it to the big times right away. Few people actually achieve this but you can start small and eventually make your way into a nice living from freelance photography.

Looking for information about Photography?
Go to: http://www.asaphotography.com
‘ASA Photography’ is published by Colin Hartness -
An excellent resource for Photography!
Check out more Photography articles at: http://www.asaphotography.com/archive

More people are able to afford digital cameras because their prices are falling but the number of characteristics is rising so it is important to be able to compare digital camera features.

The first step in being able to compare digital camera features is to decide what you want to get out of your camera. If you compare digital camera prices you will see that for shooting family snapshots you can get a good basic digital camera for under $400, while a professional model is over $2,000. When you compare digital camera features you need to know the extent of the use you are going to get out of it.

It is essential when you compare digital camera options to understand the issues of image resolution, which is measured in megapixels. Basically, the more megapixels, the higher the resolutions of the final image but you definitely need to compare digital camera images with your actual requirements. This is best done if you compare digital camera resolution with the size of the images that you want to print and you will find that a 1-mg camera can create a 3-by-5-inch (7.5 by 13 cm) photo-quality print; a 2-mg camera will make a 5-by-7-inch (13 by 18 cm) print; a 3-mg camera will make an 8-by-10-inch (20 by 25 cm) print, and a 6-mg camera will make a 9-by-13-inch (23 by 33 cm) print.

One of the other points to consider when you compare digital camera prices is to look at the complete package that is offered. Some included extras to look for when you compare digital camera packages are if the camera includes a cable for your computer and if it comes with image-editing software that works with your computer. If these are not included it is still possible for you to buy them separately but you need to allow for this when you compare digital camera prices. Another important point to consider when you compare digital camera options is to choose a camera with removable memory in addition to built-in memory.

All of the cameras that you are considering when you compare digital camera features should have an LCD screen for viewing pictures, a built-in flash, a timer, and a time/date stamp on even the most basic camera. You should also look to compare digital camera packages that have optical zoom, not digital, if you need a zoom capability and most midrange cameras should have high-quality optical zoom lenses but it is still worth checking to make sure.

Steve Gargin is the administrator of digital-camera-reviews.helper-guru.com/casio-slim-digital-camera/index.html which is a great website dedicated to giving free advice on Digital Cameras.

One of the major problems of the larger cities of the word these days is crime. It appears that the larger the city the more-acceptable serious crime seems to be. If not because to the proliferation of serious crime then because the mindset of its citizens have been conditioned to accept the serious behaviour of a minority of its inhabitants.

So, how does this statement relate to infrared digital photography and the hobbyist or professional camera operator?

Not much escapes the all-seeing eye of the infrared camera of the police helicopter as it chases a carload of thieves down the freeway in the middle of the night. They will almost invariably be caught by the police when they exit their vehicle thanks to the thermal heat imaging of the helicopter’s infrared camera.

Likewise, your own infrared daytime photography should let no entity go unnoticed. After all - you’ve spent a lot of time setting up the shot and composing the image with just the right light, shutter speed and aperture. Your mindset should not be to simply accept inaccuracies and faults with your photograph, but to go that extra step to eliminate them altogether.

Just like the officers in the police chopper, why would you go to great lengths to capture that final important infrared image only to decide at the last second to give up the chase?

Digital infrared photography does have a few things that should be taken into account to ensure your image is as best as could be. The following combination of items will affect your image:

Light, Dust on the infrared filter, Type of infrared filter, Exposure setting, Aperture and Movement of the subject

The digital infrared images at Photo Shop Australia http://www.PhotoShopAustralia.com/ have varying amounts of light, shutter speeds and apertures.

Low light may require longer exposure times if you can’t get the aperture down low enough. This could have a dramatic effect on the final image - especially if you are shooting a subject that may move even slightly.

Dust on the infrared filter will affect the image by producing “blind spots” in the final image. A close inspection of your infrared image in your photo editing software will reveal these. The blind spots can be smudged out of the image easily, but if you have hundreds then it may be more worthwhile to recompose the image than to edit the digital photo.

The type of infrared filter will also determine the outcome of the print. The Hoya R70 filter seems to be the best-priced for digital infrared photography.

Exposure and aperture settings can be played with until you find the best combination for your camera. But keep in mind that usually the higher the F-stop the longer the shutter speed required. So shooting a moving subject at a long shutter speed can result in unwanted effects.

Long shutter speeds (of up to 15 seconds or more) of trees on a windy day can actually produce the most spectacular effects.

We’ve all seen those long exposure night photographs of cars moving along a freeway. Long exposure daytime digital infrared imaging can produce amazing results too. You just have to get creative with your camera and subjects. Think of the possibilities!

Be aware that adding an infrared filter may have serious effects on your camera’s electronics or lens. Consult your camera’s operations manual or manufacturer before fitting any infrared filter to your camera, and never look through an infrared or any other type of filter with your own eyes.

Phill Petrovic is the owner of Photo Shop Australia at: http://www.PhotoShopAustralia.com/
Photo Shop Australia provides unique and amazing Australian nature photography including macro, infrared and landscape images of Australia. Photo Shop Australia also has a page of totally royalty free images available for free download for businesses and personal users.

Did you know that in many cases digital photos are cropped by the time they reach paper? If you have never “cropped” your photos manually, you may not be aware that it is happening.

What is cropping?

Cropping is the process of trimming portions of the digital image so it fits in the shape of the paper. Let’s say we have a 5″ x 7″ photo. The problem is, the frame we want to display is 4″ x 6″. One of our choices is to take scissors and carefully trim away the least important edges of the photo until it fits into the 4″ x 6″ frame. What we have accomplished is “cropping”.

In the world of digital photography, cropping is performed with software. When the photo is comprised of bits of data, there is no need to crop for size alonethe software and printing process can stretch the image to fit. We do, however, have to crop digital images to fit the paper’s shape.

A more detailed look

Let’s look at an example. My Canon camera has a sensor size of 1536 x 2048 pixels. Dividing these numbers by the highest common denominator of 512, we get an image shape of 3 x 4.

How many print sizes do you think fit this shape? Not many. If we want 4″ x 6″ prints, the shape of the 3 x 4 digital image will not fit. It is possible to stretch the image into the 4 x 6 shape using software, but this will distort the image, which we don’t want.

Our only option is to crop the 3 x 4 image into the 4 x 6 shape. If you are thinking, “I never had to crop my images and they always looked fine,” then chances are the cropping was done for you automatically. Who would do such a thing behind your back?

Don’t be alarmed, cropping was always done on our behalf, even with film photos. When we drop off our digital photos at a lab to have them developed, or insert them into our printer, the images are loaded into the computer system and are automatically cropped. How does the computer know which sections are OK to crop and which ones are not? It doesn’t. When the decision is left to the machine, it will trim an equal amount from two edges.

Have you ever received a photo from the lab and something important near the edge was cut off, but when you saw it on the computer screen it was there? That is a result of automated cropping.

Do your own cropping for maximum control

Under most circumstances automatic cropping produces good results with our snapshots. In cases where we want to control precisely where the image is trimmed, we need to take the cropping under our own control.

Cropping can be accomplished in several places such as your photo editing or printing software, online developing services, or the kiosk machine available at many local labs. I find that the best place to crop your photos is on your own computer using the software you are most familiar with. If you have never used this feature of your photo editing software, I urge you to learn how to use it. The other two cropping methods are typically more time consuming. You may also be rushed during the delicate cropping procedure if a line forms behind you at a kiosk machine.

Charles Kerekes is an amateur photographer and maintains the Flying Sam Digital Photo Guide (FlyingSamPhoto.com) web site to help others find fun and unique digital photo finishing products and services.

Digital macro photography may be the way to go if you are planning to get your products on your website.

Digital close-ups will be the quickest and cheapest route to go, but which camera is your best choice for such digital macro photography?

Do you need to look at digital SLR cameras, or will you get good enough results with an appropriate digital macro photography compact or “prosumer” (professional consumer) model?

For close up digital macro photography work, many of the compact or prosumer cameras are considered good enough. For instance, if it is for getting those rings and other jewelry items up there on the web, a 3 Mega Pixel camera will produce adequate images that will still need to be reduced in size.

Because of their small sensor size, the compacts often have better depth of field which could be very good for this task.

For big close-ups, rather than true digital macro photography, you can couple a good prosumer camera with a 2 dioptre Close Up lens.

For example, you can use the KonicaMinolta Z1 with its 10x zoom, which would get you in very close. Or you could use the Nikon 5700 in a similar manner - without having to spend a lot more on a comparable Digital SLR plus lens.

On the other hand, if you want to go the DSLR route, a good example - and if money is a concern! - is the Canon 300D Rebel, which produces excellent close up digital macro photography images.

As your web products are unlikely to be scared off by getting too close, a 50mm macro lens such as the Sigma 50mm f2.8 EX DG MACRO should do the trick!

If you are on a tight budget, and you need to get those products out there on the web without risking too much scarce capital, careful consideration of all the options available for digital macro photography is necessary.

You may decide on the seemingly less expensive DSLR’s, only to find that you have to purchase an additional lens at considerable cost, in order to equal the image quality of the better prosumer cameras.

A few general digital macro photography hints to get you started:

1. Jewelry is often tricky because of the reflective surfaces. Use reflectors to create a soft surrounding light.

2. When using window lighting, you can use a paper reflector on the far side to fill in the dark areas.

3. It is easy to make your own reflectors, using cooking foil or white paper.

4. If your camera has a hot-shoe, you can make use of a ring light (eg. the HVLRLA from Sony) for extreme close ups in digital macro photography.

For more information visit Best-Digital-Photography.com

Rika Susan of Article-Alert.com researches, writes, and publishes full-time on the Web. Copyright of this article: 2006 Rika Susan. This article may be reprinted if the resource box and hyperlinks are left intact.