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Take Pictures at Night, Too

A year ago, I was afraid to shoot pictures at night. I thought it was a horribly complicated undertaking that would leave me frustrated and confused. Then I heard a fifteen minute talk on night shooting and saw a group of pictures taken one night by both inexperienced and experienced photographers. I was hooked.

Fine ArtsFirst, I loved the images that this group presented. Some were gaudy, while others were surreal, but even the greenest photographer was able to capture something interesting. Second, the process sounded relatively simple. The main requirements were a tripod and a willingness to play.

A few nights later, I went to a nearby town and took dozens of pictures. Some were disasters, but others were delights. Now I do night shoots frequently.

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Anatomy of a photo edit: Our love is all of God’s money

Our love is all of God's moneyI think that post-processing is an integral part of photography whether you are processing your own black and white prints in a smelly darkroom or using Photoshop. As my abilities as a photographer have improved over the years, I’ve found it more and more likely that I will shoot a photo with a particular final look in mind. That was the case when I shot this photo recently so I thought I’d share my editing process with you. If you like this article, you may also like my previous Anatomy of a photo edit: Ready in 3 minutes.

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Patches for Pictures

Recently I read an article about two new tools that are being developed to help digital photographers remove items from their images. Suppose you had taken picture of a great small town main street, but when saw the image you realized that three parked cars obscured the view and just looked messy. If only you could remove them! However, if you did, you would be left with a void.

Apparently, you are not alone. At least two teams are trying to solve this problem. One is developing a scene-completion algorithm that searches for a patch for your picture. It quickly scans thought a database of millions of images on Flickr, looking for images of the same subject, taken from the same position, with the light falling from the same direction. The algorithm narrows down all the choices first to 200 and finally to 20 or so. Ultimately, user are given a choice and select the one that looks best to them.

Another team is trying to create a library of clip art, taken from the Label Me library of images. This library could supply patches for missing picture parts.

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8 Online Lens Rental Stores Compared

While big chain stores have a great selection of gear  including lenses, lighting, bodies, and accessories, they don’t deliver and their rates are high.

Rentglass package

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you just want to try a lens out before you buy a copy, if you are looking for a bargain rental and don’t mind waiting a little while to get it, or if you just can’t rent anywhere locally, then one of these online lens rental shops could be the perfect fit.

Read on to find out more.

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Using Overexposure

Most times when photographers shoot pictures, they work hard to get the exposure correct so that their images reflects what they saw in real life. At times, though, I deliberately over or underexpose for effect. In an earlier post, Creating Blackgrounds, I discussed how to use underexposure to create dramatic black backgrounds. Similarly, you can use overexposure to create other specific effects.

tulips

For example, overexposure can create a light, dreamy, impressionistic atmosphere. Edges blur, colors soften, and a light background fades to white. The subject is enveloped by light.

The tulips here look soft and delicate, even though their petals and leaves are firm. The pastel colors suggest spring, new growth, and freshness. A different exposure might have captured the shapes more clearly, but the effect would have been totally different.

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Super quick (and easy!) tip for more flattering portraits

One of my goals when I take portraits is to make sure the resulting photograph is flattering to the subject. There are a ton of techniques one can use to improve a portrait from lighting to digital alteration but one of the very best and quickest ways also happens to be one of the easiest. Here are three photos of the same subject taken from three different perspectives (uh, please forgive the model). In the first, the camera was slightly below the subject shooting up, then at eye-level in the second, and finally a few inches above the subject:

BelowEye-levelAbove

It’s clear to me that the last photo is the most flattering. Not only does this perspective make me look thinner, notice that it also opens up the eyes and hides wrinkle-revealing shadows. A few inches of elevation above the subject’s eye-level is all you need.

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The Things I Carry: Tips for the Traveling Photographer

It’s that time of the year again. When nature and landscape photographers all over get the itch to hit the trail and gear-up for the spring shooting season. So much to photograph, so little time. Not to say that winter can’t be a good season for outdoor photography. It can be as long as you’ve got some good, clean white snow to work with. But late winter in the Midwest has a tendency to be a bit dreary and challenging for the creative eye that seeks color, contrast and lively subjects. It seems that the first signs of spring always brings a sense of excitement and renewal for those of us who pursue our passion for image-making.

As I’m writing this entry I’m preparing for my first field outing of the spring season – a weekend of nature, landscape and Civil War battlefield photography down in dear old Virginia, specifically the scenic Shenandoah National Park and at least four major battlefields with the historic town of Culpeper serving as my base of operations.

Perhaps it’s my background from serving in the military, or maybe it just comes from experience, but I like to do as much as I can to prepare for an outing or trip of photography in the field.

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Exposure Blending Tutorial

After posting Getting the Exposure Right, I received a quite a few questions about how I achieved the HDR (High Dynamic Range) version of the mailbox photo (last photo in that article). This tutorial will walk you through the basics of creating the same look by hand. All you need is camera and photo editing software that supports layer masking (you can follow these steps in Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and The GIMP, among others).

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Getting the exposure right

One of the most common problems people have when taking photos is that part of the photo (usually the part that they want to see) is too dark or too bright. For example, when taking a photograph of a friend in front of the sunset, the sunset will show perfectly but the friend is a dark, unrecognizable blob. The problem is that the range of brightness in the scene is too much for your camera to record. So it has to “decide” which parts of the photo it wants to keep (the sunset, in this case) and which parts aren’t as important. And it often gets it wrong.

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Is it Time for a New Camera? How to Decide

Rationally, I know my camera is excellent. It takes wonderful photographs, it still works great after 50,000 shots, and has all the resolution I can use right now. And yet… how nice it would be to upgrade.

New camera with lens

Buying a new camera can be exciting, but it’s important to be sure that you actually need one before taking the plunge. In this guide, we’ll help you decide if it’s time for an upgrade and provide tips on how to select the right camera for your needs.

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