Digital Photography The New Way To Taking Photographs

Photography is a unique art form.  It takes practice, skill, and an eye for the unexpected.  Not all photographers will take the time to observe a scenic, animals, architectual structures, or other subject to find the hidden depth within, but when they do often they will find great meaning in the photo they take.  Photographers spend their lives looking for new and different ways to shoot a subject.  Digital photography is just one new way of taking a picture.  There are many great ways to work with a digital photography camera.

Digital photography can encompass the professional cameras with the interchanging lenses, manual setting or it can be a simple point and shoot camera.  Whether you are searching for a professionally made portrait or something your friends will laugh over digital photography has made taking photos easier.  As I said before we can see the picture before we ever print, and also a lot of digital cameras will allow you to crop and save the photo before printing. 

Digital cameras can be all sizes from a key chain camera to the professional.  We have all had a little fun with digital on our phones.  If you are more interested in the professional side of photography the first digital camera you choose should have Nikon lenses with a high resolution.  It can be automatic if you feel more comfortable with light settings, however most have ISO settings, aperture, and shutter speed choices as well.

Like any seasoned photographer setting up your shot is half the fun.  Decising on camera settings you need to use for good lighting is another factor.  Setting up your shot still requires you to have an eye for the unusual or for making the unusual out of a common scene.  Walk around the subject and look for every possible angle, you may even decide to take several photos to choose the best angle.  This is where digital photography surpasses film cameras every time.  Once you have looked at all angles and taken photos you get to see if the effect you wanted is there.  It is much quicker to learn the camera settings and other functions on a shot and use lighting because you see the results while you still looking at the scene.

Digital photography may not seem like it would still use all those skills you learned on your old camera, but this is definitely not true.  Instead digital photography enhances your learning.  Instead of many hours in the dark room or waiting in line you can get the picture you want right then.  It certainly gives more towards vacation photos when you can see if your thumb is over the lens or the camera strap was in the way or worse someone just walked in front of you.  Digital photography like all things has evolved to help us experience a new way in photography.

 San Antonio Photography by Richard’s Photography – 2010 Senior Portraits

Unique ways of taking a still life object

There are many mediums to choose from in photography.  Often a person will begin with still life photography and work their way towards portraits, wildlife, or landscapes depending upon their interests.  Still life photography shows a photographer to use light and shadows to find the emotion of the object.  Here I will discuss many different aspects of still life pictures.

Still life shows off the photographers abilities while using in animate objects such as pottery, flowers, candles, leaves, and fruit.  The first step in still life photography is the lighting.  You will want the object to have light from a single direction, so that you can cast shadows as well as light on the object.  This will give it a depth of field, and dimension.  Photographers must have the ability to choose whether they want a softer or harsher lighting.  The more harsh the light the more shadow you will have.  Often in still life reflectors are used to tone the light down.  The best type of lighting for still life photography is side- lighting because you will attain more contrast between the object. 

With still life photography, you have color control.  You can choose the colors of the objects you use.  When choosing the colors say with leaves and fruits you will want a contrast in colors, but retain a natural look.  Harmony is the best word to use when attaining color control.  The color will attract the viewer’s eye, so if it is displeasing to you the chances are your viewers will find it just as displeasing.

With still life, you can choose an fractilized technique.  You may choose to put two objects together that do not make sense, but create a moving picture.  You might have an unique slice of apple, such as a melon to reveal the inside core.  The angle of the cut and the meaning of the picture will require thought from the viewer. Some viewers see different from what another viewer might see. This happens in the art world daily. One photographer may not agree with another on what is art. Don’t let this stop you from chasing your dreams to becoming a good photographer. 

You can also have control of variations.  You’re able use the same subject matter over and over with different backgrounds, arrangements, and other objects.  The key is to avoid clutter while creating contrast.  The rule of thirds of composition is a great way to utilize still life objects.  You can create a pattern based on the rule of thirds.  Setting up the subject matter and experimenting with many images will guide you through to the harmonic path between the two different subjects. 

You may think still life photography lacks the depth of other mediums; however, it can be used as a stepping-stone to greater photography.  Still life can include an arranged garden to please the eye or a natural look.  You can try using available lighting to offset the shadows and find the contrast.  Still life inside or outside creating the arrangements is just one way to find pictures you will wish to display or give to friends.  Remember lighting, color, and variations on arrangements will provide you will tons of subjects. 

Applications for still life photography can include taking photographs for magazines.  Many times publications have stationary style pictures to show flower arrangements or decorating ideas for the home.  With the many choices in photography, still life takes a special eye for arranging objects and understanding lighting techniques.  With all of photography being art you need to pick the subjects that will speak most to you and make them speak to others. These types of pictures go well when deciding to sell your photos or display them for the public. Most photographs whether you realize it or not could be just what someone wants to show off and may offer to purchase it. This helps you start a real goldmine of a business if you feel confident with your work. 

 

By Richard’s Photography San Antonio Texas Photographers Urban Senior Portraits

 

Fundamentals of Basic Photography

If you like watching sporting events, you know what it means when a team goes into a “rebuilding year”.  It is just when the owners or coaches decide its time to train new members and correct bad habits in others.  And invariably, what team leadership says when they go into such a time is that they are going “back to basics.”

Most times it’s best for you and I as professional photographers to go back to basics.  And, of course, if you are just getting started in the world of photography and want to learn “the ropes”, the basics are a natural start.  But you want the basics of what the professionals know about the craft of photography.

Anybody can take a photograph.  I attended a wedding reception where the wedding party left a disposable digital camera on each table at the reception for guests to snap photos.  Before all was said and done, it was all those youngsters that were walking about taking pictures from the dirty dishes to their own underwear. These were not photographers and while those pictures will no doubt get a few chuckles, these are not the kind of photography images potential photography clients want for their long-term memories.

Now don’t get nervous about fancy terms.  Aperture is just a term for how wide your camera lens is open to let in light.  And shutter speed is just how long you let the light come in to affect the picture.  For getting a shot of a fast moving event, let the lens opening real wide but a short shutter speed so you capture the event quickly and close the window so the picture is caught before more light hurts the quality.

Photography is really all about light.  You can and will get learn a lot about lenses and flash photography and other ways to turn the control over the lighting of a shot to you.  So add to your core skills of photography a willingness to never stop learning.  The better and more sophisticated you get in your ability to work with the equipment, the more you will learn and the more you will want to learn. 

You can get a greater control over these basic controls of the camera such as aperture and shutter speed by learning how to switch from automatic settings to manual settings.  The program mode setting on any digital camera is there for any novice photographer who  doesn’t care about really learning the basics of photography.  So they give you some basic settings like landscape, portrait and sports settings.  By switching to manual, you can learn what settings work best in different situations.

And that takes us to the most important basic about becoming a great photographer and that is practice.  Take a few minutes with your photography equipment and study it.  Take it to situations and take photos with different aperture and shutter speed settings, in outdoor and indoor settings and different orientations to light.  Don’t be alarmed when some of your images don’t come out correctly.  That’s part of the learning curve.

By learning by doing, you will build your confidence in your work and eventually become a great photographer.  Please don’t get a big head, there is always more to learn.  And that is one of the great facts about photography, isn’t it?

Photography in San Antonio by Richard’s Photography- 2010 Senior Portraits

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