Photography Tips And Tutorials

The role of a wedding photographer–helping to document one of the most important days of a person’s life– is very important. So it goes without saying that the job must be done well. Many of the opportunities to snap the perfect picture are fleeting and will be lost forever if missed. It’s normal to be nervous, considering the situation. I remember how I felt before my first wedding. But if you are confident that you are fully prepared for the big day, you can focus more of your attention on being ready when those precious moments arise. “Bridal Portrait” captured by Frikkie Kapp. (Click image to see more from Frikkie Kapp.) The methods you employ before the day of the wedding and the equipment you need may be quite different from those of other forms of photography, so the following checklist may prove invaluable. Preparing for the Wedding Day Interviewing the Clients Having a questionnaire prepared beforehand is a necessary aid in interviewing the bride and groom. It both ensures that you don’t forget any major details and adds a nice professional touch. The questionnaire should ask for information regarding: the wedding and reception venue(s) and any related restrictions the location where the bride will be preparing important times as complete a schedule as possible, such as the wedding ceremony start time and duration, the reception, when the bride will begin preparing, etc. any religious affiliations and resulting restrictions that may apply It’s also important to find out the types of specific shots that they will require. Do they want group shots? If so, who will these include? Will it be the bride and groom with the wedding party, with their separate families, or other special combinations? Always take the time to ask the couple if they have any specific needs or desires that they wish to communicate. They must feel that you understand that this day is all about them, and that you are flexible and adaptable based on their unique situation. This interview is absolutely essential to the process, as it allows you to be fully prepared when the moment of truth arrives. Scouting Locations Scouting the venues is useful on many levels. It allows you to ascertain travel times between locations, it gives you the opportunity to check out the available lighting, which will permit you ample time to find solutions to any lighting challenges that will arise, and it allows you to find the best spots to position yourself and any second or third shooter(s) you may have. Take the time to speak to the staff at these locations to find out if there are any limitations or requirements of which the bride and groom were not aware. This can save some serious frustration. “Bridal Shoot” captured by Jennifer Bradford. (Click image to see more from Jennifer Bradford.) Creating a Schedule Prepare a schedule for yourself so you know exactly when you have to be at each location and exactly what you should be doing at these locations. Leave yourself some breathing room by arriving early, and be ready for any unexpected changes that may arise. Although the ideal wedding would go off without a hitch, plan for it to be anything but ideal so that any surprises don’t completely render your schedule obsolete. Have a shot list on hand (preferably memorized) that lists all of the necessary shots at each location and within a given time frame. The last thing you want is to get home, start processing, and realize that you forgot to shoot something that was specifically requested. Preparing Equipment This short checklist will give you an idea of the essential gear that you should have on hand at every wedding. Note that there is definitely other useful equipment to have. This list is what I take to be the bare minimum: a camera and spare camera body–you never know what will happen an assortment of lenses is another must have. My top three are: 70-200mm f2.8 – I find this lens to yi

It’s a book lover’s dream, or maybe a librarian’s nightmare. Look closely: it’s not a deep well made of bricks, but rather a bottomless pit  . . . of books. But before you get a headache trying to figure out how somebody built that thing, rest assured it is actually the result of a clever bit of visual illusion. Housed in a library in Prague, the tunnel of books has mirrors at the top and bottom to give it the impression of extending endlessly into space. Infinite Tunnel of Books in Prague library (Click to See Full Size, Imgur) The photo above presents a pretty seamless perspective — you can’t really tell where the mirror is; there’s so many books that it’s hard to detect where the visual repetition starts. To see how this installation actually works, check out the video below to take a look inside the tunnel for yourself: Go to full article: Interesting Photo of the Day: Infinite Tunnel of Books What are your thoughts on this article? Join the discussion on Facebook or Google+ Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Commercial photographers are regularly faced with challenging lighting conditions and rigid deadlines. Meticulous planning and flexibility are required to capture just the look the client is after within the given time frame. When Nick Fancher was asked to create nightclub style images in the middle of the day, he made a seemingly impossible task look easy. Watch as he provides a behind-the-scenes look into a campaign shoot for Neon Nancy: This type of shoot is technically difficult because of the time of day and the small amount of light given off by LEDs. Fancher had to black out the daylight streaming in from the nightclub’s windows. For some of the shots, he needed to use his flashes at their lowest power (1/64) and control the light by gridding the flashes and shooting them through umbrellas to recreate the feel of a club at night. The photographer also faced the challenge of mixing his studio lighting equipment with the nightclub strobes. During the shoot, he made use of four Speedlites gelled with green, cyan, blue, and orange. His creative use of colored light, the house lights, and fog resulted in final images that look like they were taken in a lively nightclub after dark. Take a look at some of Fancher’s finished photographs along with his lighting setup diagrams: Nick Fancher demonstrates what it takes to succeed in the world of commercial photography. Photographers must work quickly and systematically with unpredictable lighting scenarios and short turnarounds to give their clients exactly what they need. Go to full article: Mastering Challenging Lighting Conditions for Nightclub Style Photography What are your thoughts on this article? Join the discussion on Facebook or Google+ Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Here are more outstanding images uploaded by our readers to our Flickr group. Click on any one of the images to view larger. If you are going to upload images, be sure to put your name (and your website URL) on them, it will make it easier for folks to find you (and see more of your work). If you are not already part of our Flickr group we would love for you to join us, you can get all the details on how to join right here.

Lapp or Light Art Performance Photography is a style in which you literally paint your pictures with light. If you own a digital SLR camera or even a Lomo camera, this could easily be you’re new favorite hobby! The crazy part is, Lapp is created with only one picture. There isn’t any photoshop skills needed, by simply grabbing a flashlight you will create spectacular works of art: “Light Painting!” captured by Priscilla Reichard (Click Image to See More From Priscilla Reichard) Tools you will need: DSLR camera (or any camera with shutter speeds slower than 5 seconds) Tripod Shutter release cable (or the camera’s self timer can be used) Flashlights of any color Now here’s how to create simple photo paintings. Start by getting all the camera settings correct for the scene you are going to paint. It could be real tricky to get the lighting correct the first couple tries, but will become easier after your first successful photo painting! First start planning on what you want to create whether it be a light globe, a sentence or name and so on. Having the shutter open for extended periods of time means you will have to pay close attention on how much light you are feeding the sensor. Big objects like globes spanning from head to toe will produce huge amounts of light even if you are able to finish the picture in under 60 seconds. For beginners we recommend starting with a completely dark room (even small lights like computers, or your phone charging light will end up ruining your photo) Once you learned all the variables with of painting with the light, then try different outside scenes with surrounding light. Setting the Aperture - with such extremely long shutter speeds, means you will need to dial up the aperture setting very high, you want the least amount of light hitting the sensor to counter the long shutter. Usually any aperture above f/8 will work. I know it feels weird using such a high aperture in the middle of a dark room but don’t forget you can always post edit the image to increase or decrease exposure. ISO – as iso settings go for all circumstances the lower is always the better, same goes with light painting photography. Experiment by taking a couple sample shots and try lowering the iso as much as you could. Shutter speed- For the first couple LAPP shots try shutter speeds of a couple seconds and try just scribbling with your flashlight. Then you can quickly adjust the ISO, and Aperture according to what you plan to paint. Once the photos are looking better and you want more time to draw your photograph move to the bulb setting on your DSLR. “Blue Steel” captured by Sonja Yearsley (Click Image to See More From Sonja Yearsley) There are a couple more tips that will help tremendously Always keep the light dead strait towards the lens, if you curve your hand and point it sideways (trying to add depth) the camera wont pick it up. Make sure to have the light in front of you and not step in front of it, if you do end up stepping in front of your light it will make a silhouette of yourself! ALWAYS spell everything backwards like if you were writing in a mirror, that’s the trickiest part is learning to write every letter backwards. That’s about all it takes to create mind blowing Lapp paintings that will expand you’re creativity, and your portfolio! About the Author: James Bern writes for Lomo Photography Everything a photo blog dedicated to film photography and lomography. Its packed full of tutorials. For Further Training, Deal Ending in 1 Day: Author Troy Paiva has been creating light painted night photography in abandoned locations and junkyards since 1989. Over the last twelve years his photo projects have gone viral repeatedly, spawning millions of viewers. He has finally written this light painting “how to” book. It explains in full detail his easy to learn techniques for creating elaborate studio-style lighting effects with

There is currently a great amount of unrest in Brazil. Police officers barricade the streets as protesters riot with flags and shouts of discontent, cans of tear gas are thrown into the crowds to keep them at bay, and more and more of the stories are coming out as photographers take to the streets and record the violent actions taking place. One photographer, Michel de Souza, has filmed himself taking photos in the middle of all the conflict: It appears he is using a Canon 5D Mark III armed with the Canon 16-35 f/2.8 and Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS lenses. Amidst the fire, flags, and fearful citizens, a number of photographers also run rampant through the city capturing videos and stills of the panic that surrounds them. You can see that they are none too shy to get up close and personal with the protesters and police alike, but a certain amount of precaution must be taken in situations like these. If you ever find yourself in a serious situation such as this one, remember these things: Don’t Interfere With Law Enforcement or Medical Officials - Stay out of their way. They are there to do a job and interfering could seriously affect your life or the life of others. Photographing the scene may be your job or duty, but just be aware of other people’s jobs as well. Be Conscious of Your Surroundings - Things can happen quickly in panic situations. Look around you and be aware of the people and events taking place. Don’t keep your camera up to your face the whole time or you might find yourself a little closer to the action than you want. Do What You Think is Right - There is a moral grey area that surrounds photographing events where people have been injured or killed or are at risk for either. Some people believe that it’s morally irresponsible to photograph a situation in which you could be helping others instead. Then there are those that argue that these situations need to be photographed and shown to the rest of the world so that we may take more precautionary measures in the future. Both make valid points, but at the end of the day, you are the one who has to live with the decision between the two. So whether you decide to help the present or the future or end up panicking and do neither, don’t let others try to tell you that you made the wrong decision because they’re not you and they weren’t in your situation. Protesters holding hands in front of a line of police officers Though the people outnumber the police, the police outgun the people Protesters offering flowers to the officers Thanks for showing us what photojournalism is all about. Stay safe out there Go to full article: Chaos in Brazil: Hit the Streets with this Talented & Brave Photojournalist What are your thoughts on this article? Join the discussion on Facebook or Google+ Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Beautiful, Clean, Simple, and Bold: These are a few of the words that describe Karl Taylor’s photographic work. For over 15 years, Taylor has been doing photography work, the most popular and successful of which has been his commercial images. His work is minimalistic, yet engaging. The camera shown is a Hasselblad H4D-50 used in combination with high-speed strobes: Beyond Taylor’s commercial and advertising photography, he has also begun giving live demonstrations at photography exhibitions. At the recent Focus on Imaging Show, Taylor gave a demonstration of high-speed flash photography with his Hasselblad and a Broncolor Scorro pack. The demo involved smashing two wine glasses together. As you can see in the video, the show was very popular, and for good reason. Too many vendors at shows focus on displaying their products and giving out information rather than showing what you can do with the product and teaching the show goers something new that they can use. A staple in Taylor’s photography is high-speed images with colorful paints A large group of people gather to watch Taylor’s high-speed photography demo of smashing two wine glasses together Taylor’s demonstration is practical and, even if may be a bit beyond the means of most photographers gearwise, it inspires. Go to full article: Commercial High-Speed Photography Demonstrations What are your thoughts on this article? Join the discussion on Facebook or Google+ Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

For whatever reason I have not done a very good job documenting the area I live in "photographically" and have decided that this summer I am going to change that. So this past weekend I picked my first victim and headed off to photograph the town next door, Old Orchard Beach (Maine). The population explodes between May and September as Old Orchard Beach is most definitely a tourist town, it has a kinda "carny" town feel to it with all the rides, games, and pier, it also has some of the nicest beaches in Maine. Here are some images that represent a typical Saturday night in OOB. Click on any image to view larger, especially the one of Elvis! Lots of rides... And you can't throw a rock six feet in any direction without hitting a pizza place.... The best part of Saturday night is that I can now say, "I SAW ELVIS!" Yes, despite those occasional potholes and bumps in the road, life is very good. Now your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to go someplace close to you, that you may have been to a bazillion times but never really photographed and do just that, capture it like you wanted to tell a story. Then (please) upload an image of two to our Flickr group. If you are not already part of our Flickr group we would love for you to join us, you can get all the details on how to join right here.

Not long ago, I saw an article by Nicholas Day on Slate.com about babies and pointing. The article discussed how babies point at things to help them create meaning in their world and to share their experiences with someone else. It immediately made me think of what photographers do. We use our cameras to point; to carefully and systematically say to the rest of the world “look at that!” In this podcast, I discuss the importance of pointing and what it means when we point in a sophisticated way at something. Here’s the article on Slate And here’s the podcast: Aletta di Pesci, Venezia, 2012 – photograph by Jeff Curto

Here’s a riddle! Or the toughest photo assignment ever. How do you shoot a portrait without any people in it? Or a landscape without any land? While thinking about how Ansel Adams might shoot that second one is fun, we’re totally enamored with Camilla Catrambone’s response to the first. She shoots portraits of people not by having them sit for her but by laying out a person’s belongings and photographing that instead! Camilla shows us her grandfather with an old rotary phone, a watch, a well-worn leather briefcase. Her grandmother — a red comb, a collection of silver spoons, a pearl necklace. It’s the things we choose to surround ourselves with that tell the story of who we are. Photographing a person’s possessions is a way of bringing that person to life. What a way to solve a riddle. Also, see: Scanography — self portraits via scanner and What’s in your bag? Portraits of My Family by Camilla Catrambone Related posts: How to Shoot Impromptu Street Portraits This weekend, spend some time outdoors, explore a new neighborhood,... How to Shoot Dreamy Double Exposure Portraits + 5 Awesomely Inspirational Photographers Haunting, dreamy, and gorgeous all at once, double exposures of... Did Simon Hogsberg Shoot the Widest Photo Ever Taken? The trouble with photographers like Simon Hoegsberg is that it’s...