Posts Tagged ‘Photography’

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Everything You Wanted To Know About Event Photography Software

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

The beauty of photography is the opportunity it provides to those who take photographs. There is a wide array of possibilities for the photographer who is looking to make money taking pictures. Some may opt to take pictures of the beautiful sunset or mountains, while others like to hire themselves out to people to take photographs for them. Event photography is a very popular type of employment within the photography industry. Event photography software serves to make this job a bit easier. Not sure what event photography is and why you might consider it? Read on to find out all the information on it.


What is Event Photography?


Have you ever been to a wedding? That’s a silly question because most likely, you’ve been to a lot of those. What about a sporting event or a concert? Chances are, if you’ve gone to any of these, you’ve noticed photographers there taking pictures of the event. This is, in a gist, what event photography is. It is photography taken at events such as a wedding, sports event, concert, awards show etc. Event photography software will help you with this job.


Do Event Photographers Make Good Money?


If you’re looking for a type of photography that is pretty much sure to earn you good money, event photography is it. While for most photographers it isn’t all about making money, they can’t deny that event photography is very lucrative. Some event photographers have reported making as much as thousands of dollars for taking pictures at one event. That’s certainly a lot of money.


It’s worth noting that not all event photographers make this type of money, although most do provided they’re very professional. Event photography software helps them to take and manage professional event photos.


What Equipment Do I Need?


People will pay to have quality event photos taken, so it’s important for you, as an event photographer, to have quality equipment. This means making a bit of an investment. You’ll need to spend money to get money you need to purchase some of the best photography equipment available, which includes the camera and event photography software.


Let’s start with the obvious: the camera. You’ll want to get a digital camera, but stay away from the very small cameras – those are for amateurs. There are some great digital cameras on the market which have the traditional camera look, but are digital. These have the big lens, great zoom features and excellent megapixel quality. Go for a digital that has at least 8 megapixels. This may cost you from $400 on up.


Grab a good event photography software program, too. A good event photography software program will allow you to manage your photos in the easiest way possible. If you’re not sure which event photography software program to buy, read some reviews online or ask around.


Next, you’ll want to invest in a big memory card. Think at least 2GB, because the photographs with the highest quality tend to take up the most space. Nothing is worse than being at a gig and running out of space, so buy a few 2GB cards and you’ll be set there.


Good batteries are also required. Make sure they are long lasting and hold a good charge (if they’re rechargeable). Get an extra set of batteries, too.


Finally, you’ll want to invest in a good stand and case. The stand will allow you to take great still shots, while the case will protect your investments. Definitely don’t skimp here.


Why Do Event Photography?


Still not sold on why event photography could be a great choice for you? That’s alright, as many people are skeptical of it. We’ll give you a couple reasons here.


-Flexibility. One of the great things about event photography is that it providers photographers with a great deal of flexibility. You are able to choose how many events you do and how many hours you work. Usually, you won’t have to work weekdays, or if you do, it may only be for a few hours. This is good for parents who want to work and still have time with their kids. Using event photography software can help to make things even more flexible and easy.

-Great Pay. Have you ever wanted to make hundreds or thousands of dollars for just a few hours work? You can do exactly this as an event photographer. Event photography pays very well, so it’s very easy to make a lot of money doing it.


Why Event Photography Software?


There are a lot of reasons why you should use event photography software, but we won’t get into all those now. Instead, we’ll just give you the biggest reason, which is that it makes your job a lot easier. Event photography software will automate the process of managing and naming photos, and will even help you when it comes time to edit the photos. That is why you should consider buying event photography software.

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Macro Photography – A Brief Discussion

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

Macro photography is one of the most attractive and popular forms of photography. According to some experts it is very easy to master the art and techniques of macro photography â?? and that is, perhaps, the secret behind its fame.

Definition of Macro Photography:

Strength of the lens or the range of the lens determines whether the style can be called macro photography or not. A camera with a lens that has a 1:1 range should be used in macro photography so that the image size on the negative or slide is equal to the actual size of the subject.

Hence, if you are using 35 mm photographic film, you should use a camera that can focus on 24×36 mm small area. Then only you can take picture of a subject where the image size on photographic film is equal to the real size of the subject.

Whatâ??s interesting in Macro Photography:

Macro photography opens up the doors of a new world. It captures minute details of the subjects â?? such details are not at all visible in the naked eye. Hence, the viewer can reveal a lot of new things in most familiar subjects while watching the photographs. And unfamiliar subjects become more attractive in macro photography. According to photo critics â?? macro photography is not only attractive, but seductive!

For example, when someone takes a picture of a rusted chain in 1:1 range, you get to see the exact texture of rust. How rusts look like, what is the exact color of rust and many other minute factors come into notice. Thatâ??s what makes macro photography attractive.

Ideas & Subjects of Macro Photography:

People with a knack for photography find the subjects their own. They are artists and they have the eye for the right thing. However, those who are new in this field and about to start their career might need help finding the subject.

Snowflakes, water drops, minerals, butterflies, plants, leaves, flowers and flower petals, baby feet and fingers, eyes, spiders and spider web, insects etc. are the common subjects. Get out in your backyard garden and you will find plenty of subjects worth taking a picture. Macro photography ideas are available online to help you develop the ability to find the right subject.

Nature has always been the main subject of photography and art. However, macro photography experts often take photographs of items such as stamps, coins, automobile parts, wrist watch, pen parts, and other small things and collectibles.

Macro Photography Tutorials:

Working in this field is a new experience even for those who have been involved with photography for long. Opportunities are unlimited here â?? new equipments and techniques are invented everyday. With the advent of digital photography, entire world has been revolutionized.

Digital photography tutorials for macro photography help photographers make full use of digital cameras and other equipments in the process. However, it is not mandatory to use digital cameras. Traditional film based cameras are still popular and will be in the market for next few decades if not centuries.

Experts prefer SLR digital cameras for macro shooting. However, compact point and shoot cameras can yield good result too. To know more about photography, take some lessons or tutorials online. Know about photography techniques and equipments; become an expert photographer.

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Mastering the Art of Sports Photography With your Digital Camera

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

For sports enthusiasts, thereâ??s nothing more exciting than sports people playing their favourite game. The sight of the field, rink or golf course initiates the thrill and anticipation. This, combined with digital photography, can provide some amazing photographic opportunities. However itâ??s not a matter of point the camera at the person diving for the ball or puck and snapping away. Itâ??s a lot more complicated than that.

In digital photography sports can be quite challenging. The sports people do not present an easy task of being photographed because of the amount of high movement. However, you can indeed achieve great sports digital photography. Most excellent sports digital photography requires good planning and execution.

Here are some exclusive tips for gaining fantastic sports shots in your digital photography.

First things first; know your digital camera. I recommend taking note and practicing first all the settings that sports photography needed. You may find yourself going for the faster shutter speed, increased ISO and burst mode. Letâ??s take a look at all these things on your digital camera and see how they can be applied to give you sensational sports photos.

High shutter speeds:

As with all moving objects, in order to capture the â??frozen in timeâ? look in digital photography a fast shutter speed is required. The faster the movement the fast the shutter speed will need to be. In digital photography the general consensus is that the shutter speed needs to be faster than that of the subject. For example if you have a sliding puck across ice and there is a someone about to take a dive for it then its necessary to quickly mentally assess how fast that person might be traveling at. If they are traveling at approximately 50 kilometers (approx 32 miles) per hour then you may find a very fast shutter speed is needed for this digital photo.

A very fast shutter speed in digital photography may be anything from 500th of a second or higher. For high speed movement you may want to consider an even faster shutter speed of 1000th of a second or something in that range.

Keep in mind that in digital photography a fast shutter speed works to reduce some of the light which is why a higher ISO is often necessary. (Iâ??ll talk about that in a minute.) Usually a if a ball, such as a baseball going at around 145 kilometers an hour (90.09 miles per hour) a shutter speed of around 1/4000 will get you that â??suspended ball in mid airâ? type of photo. For physical movement, such as someone leaping to catch a football, a shutter speed of 1/500 or over is a good place to start.

Now this is all very well if your scene if well lit. But what if you are taking your digital photography shots indoors at night and the light is not quite enough to provide enough light? In most instances, an indoor stadium at night time will be well lit, but that doesnâ??t always ensure good digital photos. In sports photography we need to understand that we can only control the artistic value and input of our digital photo and the control of the camera. We canâ??t control the lighting on the scene being such a public event. In digital photography sports photos we must realize that itâ??s going to be a challenge to begin with. So here are somethingâ??s you can in your digital sports photography to increase the amount of light.

If you have a light tool on your digital camera such as a histogram you can get a good idea of what the light levels are like on your sensor. With this handy tool you can adjust the ISO at the time of your pictures taking.

Increase your ISO: A high ISO in digital photography simply means the sensitivity to light that your digital camera has. In a nutshell the more ISO you have increased the image to, the less light the sensor needs. In sports photography an ISO of 400 or higher can work really well. The downside to this is that it does increase noise. To combat this you can use noise reduction software in the post editing process such as Noise Ninja or increase the LAB mode in the post editing process. Donâ??t be afraid to try a few shots at 400, 800 and even as high as 1600.

Burst mode:

In most sports digital photography this will be one of the settings you will turn to. Burst mode is also known as â??continuous shootingâ??. This â??continuousâ?? shooting mode allows you to get a sequence of shoots in succession. You can increase your chances of getting that ideal â??split second perfect shotâ? that you might not be able to get by pre-emption or in normal shooting. This also works so beautifully if your digital camera has a painfully long lag time. Iâ??ve used this so many times to get around the high lag my Sony Cyber shot has got. Some cameras have 3 frames per second and some go up to 12 frames per second. You simply select this mode and hold your finger on the shutter button and it will fire off as many shots in 1 second as it can.

Okay so Iâ??ve been talking about your digital camera and the settingâ??s used for ideal sports digital photography, so what about any external equipment? If you have been thinking about this youâ??re spot on. You can take as much time with your settings but thereâ??s not much point if you canâ??t get close to the action. Thereâ??s no point having a picture with perfect lighting and perfect action if the players are like dots on a sheet of paper. You need a good telephoto lens if you canâ??t get close up. A telephoto lens brings you closer because of its long distance capability. It will get you closer to the action but will need a faster shutter speed.

Many fantastic sports digital photos are taken with an emphasis on a very fast shutter speed, an f stop of around the 2.8 mark to blur the background and focus in on the subject. You may find that if your sportsperson is visually separated from the background and you take the digital photograph with a telephoto lens youâ??ll have a more shallow depth of field which can give you a more powerful feeling in your digital photo. You can get away with a good optical zoom lens, but youâ??ll get far better digital sports shots with a proper telephoto.

So what about the artistic side of sports photography with your digital camera? Plenty!

Pre-emption and Emotion is the key to good art.

When taking sports photography you probably wonâ??t find a more public display of human emotion. The emotions of a sports person range from intense anticipation to extreme disappointment or extreme exhilaration. Pre-empting when these emotions take place is they key to getting artistic and impressive sports photos. This comes with practicing your digital photography.

SO much pressure is placed on our athletes, expecting them to perform so we can enjoy the show and the investors can enjoy their returns. This is another reason why I say to get a telephoto lens so you can capture the emotions on their faces and their body language. It makes for superb photography. For ideas on ice hockey, have a look at some ice hockey images that are great study tools.

Donâ??t just look at these digital photos, you must study them. Take on the attitude that studying sports photography will improve your digital sports photos ten fold. You will have a style to emulate and copy to start with then eventually, when you become confident, youâ??ll start to adopt your own style.

Happy shooting,

Amy Renfrey

To study digital sports photography check these sites out: http://www.espn.com/ and http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ and http://cbs.sportsline.com/

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