Top Photography - Guide to Photography

• Photography Home
• Guide to Photography
• About
• Links
• FREE Photography Guide

Wedding Photography More Than Great Pictures

May 4th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Professional equipment, patience and understanding are the key things needed to work in wedding photography, but a keen eye for detail and an artful approach can mean lasting success. The field is highly competitive and as with many occupations, there are good and bad people working in the field, but wedding photography is meant to be a permanent record of a couple’s happiest day at the biggest event in their lives.

Hiring someone not experienced at wedding photography can cause a lot of memories to be lost and not represent the day, as the couple would hope. Additionally, some photographers lack the patience and understanding to deal with children in the wedding, doting parents and demanding relatives and should probably stick to landscape or still-life photography. In wedding photography, the photographer and usually a helper, plan to spend the entire day with the bride, from her getting ready for the wedding through to the couple leaving the reception at day’s end.

Ideally, a person working in wedding photography will not only have a good reputation as a photographer, but will also have the personality needed to provide fantastic customer service is a usually stressful situation. Remembering that the photographer was hired to create a photo record of the bride and groom’s special day and will do whatever it takes to make the day go smoothly, from the picture standpoint.

Speedy Service Helps Grow Customer Base

One of the biggest complaints about wedding photography is the past has been the time between the wedding and receipt of the pictures. With many photographers, it can take up to two or three weeks before the proofs of the wedding are available and as long as two months before the final picture package is delivered. In the past, many photographers performed their own darkroom duties in processing pictures, but as time passed, they began outsourcing their developing business, allowing more time in the field taking pictures.

With the latest technology of digital photography and the quality of the pictures being near film-quality, the wait time is quickly being diminished. In many cases, the wedding photography proofs can be delivered in electronic format, such as CD or DVD with prints ordered and delivered within a week or two.

Additionally, by using digital cameras in wedding photography, the photographer can review the pictures before they are printed, reducing the cost of processing tremendously. If the bride or groom has their eyes closed in one picture, it may never see the light of day and there is no cost for and unused print.

The Murky World Of Underwater Photography

May 3rd, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

When people begin to experiment with taking their own photos, underwater photography is not the first thing that springs to mind.

For one thing, it’s not always the most practical area of photography to enter. The fact that you might live near a large body of water doesn’t automatically make it suitable for photography purposes.

For most people, their first experience of underwater photography comes when they buy a waterproof disposable camera to use on holiday while scuba diving or snorkelling. While a disposable camera isn’t going to give you the best underwater photos possible, it can be enough to trigger an interest in this area of photography.

Waterproof Camera Or Waterproof Housing?

You might think you will need to shell out hundreds of dollars on a waterproof camera as soon as your casual interest in underwater photography becomes more serious.

Luckily though, there are waterproof housings which can be bought to fit many existing cameras. It’s worth shopping around to get the best deal, as there are many makes to choose from, most of which are designed to fit specific cameras.

If your interest in underwater photography develops, you’ll probably want to upgrade to an underwater camera. These look similar to standard cameras and are much easier to handle than having a normal camera inside a waterproof housing. Surprisingly they are not as expensive as you might think.

Find out what depth they are intended to be used in. You can buy a cheap camera for thirty dollars or so that is suitable for snorkelling, but expect to pay three hundred dollars or more for one that you can use while scuba diving.

Swimming With Cameras

Taking photos while underwater is a skill that takes time to master. At first you will want to experiment with your camera, and take as many photos as possible of the fish and other sights you will see.

Underwater photography allows you to bring home many more memories of your holiday, and if you become experienced at taking good photos, you may well find a market for them in magazines and on websites.

Not Just Fish…

There is more to the underwater world than fish. Try taking photos of coral and other underwater structures as well. Some scuba lessons take you down to see local shipwrecks, which can make excellent subjects for a series of photos.

Underwater photography is not the easiest avenue of photography to enter, but it can be among the most revealing. Your next holiday could start off a whole new hobby.

The Different Styles And Types Of Photography

May 2nd, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

It could be said that there are as many different types of photography as there are photographers. Even within a specific area of photography – portraiture for example – there are many different styles that each defines a certain photographer and their own unique way of seeing the world.

Traditional Types Of Photography

Portraits are perhaps one of the oldest types of photography in existence. We no longer have to hold a pose for half an hour or more while we wait for the film to develop, but portrait photography is still just as popular as it ever was.

It has the appeal of capturing the people of an age or moment in time – perhaps during an event or crisis – and sealing that moment for other people to view forever. Whether that photo is of a world leader or your daughter on her first day at school, the appeal of a portrait is clear for all to see.

Landscape photography has also been popular since cameras were first invented, and remains so today. As time moves on, we can compare landscape photos of a specific location taken today, to those taken some fifty years ago or more. Just as portraits capture a person in time, so landscape photography can capture a place at a certain point in history.

Newsworthy Types Of Photography

Some photos are taken to spread the word about a little known event or happening, in order to bring it to a wider audience. When a photographer specialises in covering news events, they are often known as photojournalists. This is because their photos tell the story of the event and need no words to describe what is going on.

There are many memorable photos which have captured a world event and frozen it in time for everyone to witness. A classic example is the photograph taken of the Hindenburg disaster, the massive airship that burst into flames and disintegrated within seconds in 1937.

Macro photography can also reach a wide audience because it takes us to places we cannot see with the naked eye. Powerful camera lenses are capable of taking us inside flowers and much closer to insects and bugs than we would normally like, for example.

Photography is capable of showing us things we can’t see in our everyday lives. Types of photography that can do this include aerial photography and underwater photography.

The power of photography lies in its ability to show us a different side to the world we live in. As cameras improve and advance, so will the pictures they can show us.

Stock Photography Can Provide Steady Income

May 1st, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Freelance photographers make their money much the same way as freelance writers, in that they take pictures of everyday items and scenes, build a portfolio of stock photography and sell the prints for others to use. Many companies, especially advertisers are always on the lookout for sources of stock photography when they are putting a print ad together and it is usually cheaper to buy a ready-made print than to hire someone to take a specific picture.

To get started in offering stock photography for sale, a person will spend a lot of time and effort using their craft to build a quality portfolio. With the advances of digital photography, the pictures can be altered in size and color and filed in an electronic file for easy recall and printing, if necessary. While some publishers still use color transparencies for pictures many more are requiring a digital version of the print. The photos can be file protected with a watermark to prevent unauthorized use and can be sold to more than one person, subject to the initial agreement.

While most companies will buy the picture outright from the stock photography file, other may only want to buy the right to print the picture one time. The purchased first print rights allows them to use the picture once, and if they or anyone else wants to use the print, they must buy subsequent reprint rights.

Selling Prints Requires Good Marketing Strategy

Once a person has built an extensive file of stock photography they can let their work be known. By getting their name into the view of those who buy stock photography, they can generally find an interest in their work. There are a few sources that allow people to list partial files, but one of the best methods of selling their work is through a quality, high-traffic website.

Like any other retail or wholesale site on the internet, marketing is going to be the key and despite the quality of the pictures in their stock photography files, if they cannot garner visitors to their site, their files will remain untouched. Old-style marketing required a lot of meetings and appearances at gatherings to talk face-to-face with decision-makers. Today’s internet marketing is not much different, in that buyers still want to meet the person with whom they are dealing.

However, a quality, search engine friendly website offering stock photography for sale can invite customers from a global buyer base and increase the sale of the pictures, regardless of the subject.

Defining Still Life Photography

April 30th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Some people regard still life photography as being dull, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, building a successful portfolio of still life photography work can be extremely challenging.

Still life subjects have both advantages and disadvantages. They are easy to work with in that they are very obliging; you don’t have the issues that are involved when you are photographing live subjects, whether they are human or animal in nature.

On the down side, even inanimate objects can have a shelf life. If you want to photograph a glass of sparkling wine at a picnic, for example, you will only have a certain length of time to take the photos you want before it’s not so sparkling any more and you have to replace it.

Learning To Experiment

There may be a particular area of still life photography that you would like to explore. Many photographers have a specific interest they base their hobby or career on. Examples of this include food photography, furniture, clothing, plants and flowers, toys and so on.

Finding A New Angle

There is a real art to making still life photography interesting – often fascinating – to look at.

You need to develop the habit of looking at things in a totally different way. Quite often all that is needed is to approach your subject from a different angle. Try using a different lighting scheme to change the look of things. How about colored lighting? Would one object work better than a whole group?

Careers In Still Life Photography

There are many photographers who have made a career out of photographing inanimate objects. Just think of all those mouth watering photos you see in cook books. This is arguably still life photography at its best.

Still life photography can be an excellent way to start exploring photography as a subject. You have no model releases to worry about, and you can develop your skills and talents by experimenting with different subjects and ideas.

If you’re struggling for a place to get started, why not start with your hobby? Even if your hobby is stamp collecting, you can experiment with lighting, angles, distance, composition and many more factors to make the subject look very different from what the viewer would normally expect.

Still life photography is far from dull. The results you can achieve are limited only by your imagination as a photographer.

And with practice, you might just make a name for yourself.

Scenic Photography Backdrops For Pros And Amateurs

April 29th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Having professional pictures taken can be fun and exciting in most cases and having scenic photography backdrops from which to choose can make them more special or more fun. Having the family picture taken in front of scenic photography backdrops of one of the wonders of the world, such as the Grand Canyon, probably will not convince anyone that you were really there, but it may make you want to go there to experience the real thing.

Pictures with a desert background can be a nice touch if the home is decorated in a western theme and scenic photography backdrops with an ocean view can add to the décor of a room with a nautical theme. Whether hand painted or computer painted, the canvas or muslin backdrops can add a new and different dimension to any image. There are also large photographic print backgrounds to choose from to get the best out of your picture-taking experience.

There are several resources from which to obtain scenic photography backdrops and many professional studio photographers will have a wide variety from which to choose when having your picture taken. Many companies that sell the background to the professionals will also sell to individuals for their home use. They are also good for the photographer just beginning a studio photo business.

Choose Backgrounds With Media In Mind

When using film photography there are a few restrictions on the type of background used in pictures as most film can pick up even the minor differences in color. Digital photography has a few more restrictions on scenic photography backdrops as in some cases the pixilated image will become blurred or seem out of focus when compared to a picture taken with film.

In many cases using digital photography, the picture is taken in front of a blank screen, or a color neutral screen and the digitized version of scenic photography backdrops is added in the computer. Having several choices to choose from the customer can see how they will look in a variety of scenic locations and choose the one they like the most. Another advantage is having several different scenic photography backdrops on one CD takes up less room than having several five by six-foot backdrops rolled up in the corner of the studio.

If the photographers is going to supply a complete set of pictures on CD for viewing on the television, they may also be able to create a CD label of the customer’s favorite picture so they will always remember what is on that CD.

Next Page »

Make Money Online | Top Guide to Photography | Get Fit in 14 Days