benfromsac

Hi Humphrey, Landscape and nature photography is my first passion. I remember when i got my first decent camera, you couldn't keep me indoors, even at night! I also consider myself quite a perfectionist, so I went out and gathered as much information as I could about the subject so I could produce the best possible photos. Here are a few suggestions... First, keep in mind what the best times and worst times to shoot are. For the most dramatic effects, the sunlight should come from an angle and not from straight above. This gives interesting shadow play in your scenes. I have taken some decent photos in the midday, but I think the photos taken in the morning and evening are the best. Doing close-ups on flowers or insects are done best on overcast days. Partially cloudy days give the best color saturation. Another important factor when shooting outdoors is filters. There are thousands of filters to choose from and can be purchased from 10 dollars to 1000 dollars. The choices can be overwhelming. But the basics are still true. Every photographer shooting outdoors should always carry a UV filter and a Polarizing filter. Just using these two pieces of equipment will produce a drastic effect. I'll explain why... UV filters do exactly that, they filter out the ultra violet light that causes a bluish wash in your scenes. This particular form (bandwidth) of light isn't easily detected by the human eye, but since it resides the area of the spectrum where the blues are most dominant, the blue filter in your camera absorbs it and causes your blues to get washed out. Did you ever notice those times when you were taking a photo of a distant object like a mountain range. To your eyes it looks amazing, it was a clear day, the sky was a clean rich blue and the snowcaps looked so pristine and white. But when you took that photo and looked at it, there was a grayish hue cast all over it and you lost all that contrast. Well, that my friend was caused by UV light. It doesn't mean the camera is faulty or substandard quality. The same results can come from even the best cameras. Use a UV filter and you'll notice a better contrast in those blues and whites. Another little hint... UV is much lower at sea level than at higher altitudes. UV light will get dispersed more at sea level because there is more atmosphere for it to travel through. I do most of my photography in higher altitudes so a UV filter is a must. Since UV filters look clear and neutral to the naked eye, some people also use them as a protective filter which they leave on their lens at all times. Some people think this is a good idea, other question the wisdom placing a $20 filter in front of a $1000 lens and potentially affecting image quality. Both schools of thought have some valid points. It's your choice. All my photos are shot using a UV filter simply because i know that lenses get touched and scratched from time to time and Its more economical for me to replace the UV filter which is the cheapest filter. A polarizing filter is an amazing tool, but when used correctly, you will get maximum performance, and improvement in your photographs. First of all, you achieve maximum polarization when the sun is low in the sky. As I stated earlier, mornings and evenings are better times to shoot landscapes with a polarizer, than say at high noon. Most dramatic landscapes are not shot during daytime, they are typically captured early or late; in either case, the sun is low. A polarizer will basically do two things; enhance color saturation and reduce reflections from glass surfaces and water particles in the sky. Remember, the atmosphere contains tons of water in the form of little droplets suspended in the air. Light coming from a reflected surface is all the same wavelength. This allows the filter to eliminate reflected light on that specific wavelength, making the reflections fainter. This is useful if youâre taking a photo of someone wearing sunglasses or landscape photos of the ocean. You can also apply that same effect to the sky, but it works a bit differently. Since the light is reflecting off all the moisture in the stratosphere, you make the sky appear a deeper blue. Itâll also increase your contrast between the clouds and the sky. One factor to consider with polarizing filters is that they change the exposure needed for a shot. When you see a polarizing filter youâll notice that it looks quite a lot like a sunglasses lens. The filter is dark and works by cutting our some of the aspects of light (similarly to sunglasses). As a result less light gets through to your image sensor and youâll need to either use longer shutter speeds, a larger aperture or to beef up your ISO setting to account for this. The difference that youâll need to account for is 1-2 stops. Itâs for this reason that you wonât want to use a polarizing filter at night. Now there are a lot of other filters you can play with, but these two are crucial in getting that wow factor in your shots. The next thing I feel is very important is modes. I think way too many people head down the wrong path by using the 'presets' that come installed on their digital cameras. If you take a look at your parents or grandparents film cameras, you'll notice they didn't have 'modes'. The reason why is that (this is my personal opinion) photography is the art of manipulating light at the lens, not in some processor. One of the best pieces of advice someone gave me when I got serious about photography was to get a camera with full manual control and stay away from the presets! So i did. After a lot of practice through trial and error, i learned all about aperture and Fstops and exposure and white balance etc. But as a result, not only do I have a more intimate connection with my camera, (lets face it, the camera should be an extension of you, right?) but I also have more control of the camera in making it take the exact photo I want. I think using modes creates laziness. True photography was never meant to be "easy." After a day's worth of shooting, I feel exhausted! But thats where the satisfaction comes in when I'm looking at or showing the finished product. There is a big difference between real photography and casual snapshots. The worst thing you can say to a professional photographer is.... "C'mon, you're not working, you're just pressing a button all day!" HAHA Anyways, trust me, you'll thank yourself later for taking the time to master all the manual controls and not rely on the preset modes that came on your camera. The last thing I think is important when dealing with the basics is stability. Get yourself a decent sturdy tripod. Make sure you shop around as there are a lot of models to choose from which vary greatly in materials used, weight, stability, and sturdiness. The most important factor is to make sure the tripod is rated for the weight of your camera. My camera is not lightweight at all and when I went out to get my first tripod, I went the economical route and got a lightweight aluminum model. I learned the hard way after taking a lot of blurry photos and actually having my camera fall over that the tripod needs to be rated for the weight of your camera. Also keep in mind that certain lenses like telephoto lenses will add a considerable amount of weight to your camera and in fact cause balance issues. Last but not least, and I can't stress enough.... You get what you pay for. If you're really serious about taking great photos or learning the art, let that be taken into consideration when buying your accessories. Cheap and substandard equipment can really limit or hamper your efforts. I hope this helps in any way and I hope you really get the most out of your adventures in photography! You can see my work at http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Photographing fireworks presents some technical challenges, it needs quite a different approach to most other subjects but follow these few steps carefully and you will be successful. What are we photographing? Basically we are photographing streaks of light that develop over a period of time against a black background. The great thing about a black background is that it makes no impression on the film, or sensor in the case of a digital camera. So we can leave the shutter open as long as we like, the black will still be black.So, in short, the way to photography fireworks is to set the camera to manual exposure, set the aperture to a suitablef-stop and the shutter to b or bulb. Open the shutter just before the firework bursts and close it after it's finished. Easy!TripodThe first thing we need is a sturdy tripod. Here we are talking about seriously long shutter times of several seconds so nothing but a good sturdy tripod will do. The second piece of kit that would be very useful is a remote shutter release so you don't have to touch the camera at all. In the old days this was a cheap piece of kit called a cable release but nowadays it is more likely to be an electronic gizmo with a higher price tag. I, personally, don't use one but that's because I'm a cheapskate.FocusI'm afraid all the modes and settings that you paid all that money for are all useless when photographing fireworks and auto focus is one of them. If you leave your camera set to auto focus the lens will whirr backwards and forwards in a demented fashion trying to find something to focus on in the black sky.Set the focus to manual and then focus on something in the far distance. Don't just wind the focus ring around to the end of its run, check it against a distant object if you can.Aperture & Shutter Speed - The Technical StuffThe exposure is going to be determined by the intensity of light from the firework which, as it bursts will spread across the sky. So we can only be guided by people who have been successful in the past as there is not way to measure the light at the time. There is TTL metering which can measure the light during an exposure, as it does with a flash exposure but, in the case of fireworks, there is far too much contrast to give a useful reading.The aperture you set depends on the ISO rating (basically the sensitivity to light) for the film or the ISO rating set on your digital camera. At ISO 100 you will need to set the aperture to between f8 and f16. So a good start would be f11 at 100 ISO but be prepared to vary this a little for very bright fireworks. As I mentioned above, the shutter speed needs to be set to b or bulb (bulb refers to the old fashioned type of remote shutter release, on which you literally squeezed and rubber bulb and triggered the shutter with a burst of compressed air). At this setting there is no set time for the exposure, when you press the button the shutter opens and when you release it the shutter closes. So the shutter may be open for several seconds. There is no significant build up of light on the film or sensor as the sky is black and the firework is only lit for a short time at any one spot before it spreads out.FramingFraming a picture you can't yet see is always going to be a challenge. What are you going to aim for? I think there are basically three shots to consider, there is a wide shot that includes a bit of foreground - a building or monument, especially if they are floodlit, or just silhouettes of the crowd. This can be really great when it all comes together but there are quite a few problems. Will the fireworks go off in the right place in the frame? Will everything be properly exposed? Will any movement on the ground be too blurred?Another way to work is to shoot all the elements separately then combine them in Photoshop. Shoot the whole scene without any fireworks then shoot the fireworks separately and drop them into your main picture in exactly the position you want them. Because the sky is black this is really easy to do. If you're planning to do this it's important to make sure you get the whole firework in the frame.Most importantly, have fun and experiment with your own ideas and techniques! Remember, when photographing, be as creative as you can, there are no rules when it comes to creativity. Notice from BuffaloHELP: Copied from another source. Please give a proper credit when pasting. Review our forum rules regarding usage of proper bbcodes.

Oh my God, I can't believe Smugmug.com hasn't been listed here!!! I have used all the free versions of previously mentioned websites and none of them left me feeling compelled to fork up the cash to upgrade to a basic package. Smugmug.com was designed by professional photographers who kept in mind that photography should be presented, not just displayed. Its totally customizable and flexible as well as affordable. Plus they've partnered up with a lot of real professionals who give great advice and suggestions for improving your photography... something you have to pay for elsewhere. Plus you get great discounts on equipment and accessories. Not only that, but all your work can be indexed by google, which is good because anyone visiting your smugmug page can BUY any of your photos. It has large active communities with wide ranging focuses. You can keep track of your stats to see which photos are popular and which ones aren't. You don't even have to be a pro!

My girlfriend owns one of these. She has a fashion photography studio in California where she either shoots models wearing high fashion or new products for magazine layouts. Having a $25,000 (with digital back) 39MP camera does have its advantages over other high-end medium format cameras. I see many people here saying that most midrange dslr cameras (8MP - 11MP) provide a 'good enough' image for industry standards. This is NOT true. Yes, many professional photographers do use the top of the line Nikons and Canons for their work, BUT the industry's standard has been raising slowly over the last 5 or 6 years and will continue to do so. I also noticed that many people commenting here have never used a camera that will shoot images at a higher resolution than 12MP. In my opinion, any camera with 10MP or less is just a "Prosumer" camera. I have used 2 different Hasselblad cameras. Note that I didn't say OWN haha. But, when I saw the quality and richness of detail, color, and focus from those cameras, I knew the difference. Granted, you won't be able to see much difference on your typical monitor, but there is a very noticeable difference in large layouts such as billboards and such. Once you see the difference, you just can't deny that 39MP isn't twice if not three times better than 10MP. There is also another factor here that hasn't been discussed much. Quality. In my past experience there has only been one camera manufacturer that could provide a high-end dslr that would stand up to the rigors of professional grade photo shoots. I mean a camera that can withstand 3000 shots every couple hours, day after day, month after month without a single glitch - and that's Canon. Particularly the EOS line-up. They have led the industry for so many years for building dependable systems. Trust me, when your entire business, income, and lifestyle depends on a camera, you don't want that camera to break down. Hasselblad basically surpasses Canon leaps and bounds when it comes to quality craftsmanship and dependability. The engineering is untouchable. Consider it the Rolls Royce of cameras. Its not for the typical "professional photographer." But there are a few photographers out there who need to squeeze every last sharp detail possible out of their camera. I can safely say most people will never get to see one of these cameras up close much less hold one, but I'll let you in on a little secret... The majority of people who use Hasselblads rent them. You can rent them for about $1500 a day or less per hour. Anyways, I just wanted to add my input about it since I have had the distinct pleasure of using one of these cameras. There's nothing like it.