Digital Photography For Enthusiasts

How To Get Better Digital Photography Lighting- Introducing The Histogram

2007-02-22T17:02:00.000-08:00

Recently I was asked by a subscriber of mine in New York State as to how he could improve his daylight digital photos to create a more even light across his digital photos. I suggested that in digital photography there were many tools such as a polariser, a Neutral Density Filter and some other fancy tools.

He said “I mean after the pictures has been taken. I really want my digital photography to turn out a lot better than what I am getting.”

What he was talking about was a digital photography method called post-editing. Post means “after” and editing…well you know what that means. And in digital photography as opposed to photography you can edit your photos so much easily than traditional film photography.
What I advised Grant was that he had a few options. He could try editing his digital photography images by increasing or decreasing the light values via the Histogram. The Histogram is probably one of your best friends in digital photography that you could ask for as far as post editing goes. In a nutshell you simply open up your digital photos in Adobe Photoshop. Then once you have done that you click on “image” up the top menu bar. Once the menu box has come up you then click on “adjust” and then “levels” and up comes the Histogram.

The Histogram will display the light values from the brightest part of your digital photo to the darkest parts. It displays this light & dark information in the form of a graph. It looks something you’d see on the stock market to measure the trends of stock over a certain period of time. You might see thin lines or a block of black shadow with peaks and troughs.

The right side of the reading of the Histogram represents the brighter colours. The left side represents the darker colours. You can pull the brightness down to create a more even light over the picture if you have several overexposed parts of your digital photo. Or alternatively if there are too many underexposed parts of your digital photo you can increase the brightness.
You can increase the brightness significantly by pulling the slider to the left. And you can do the opposite with the sliders to the right. By pulling the far left or far right slider, you’ll be increasing the contrast. By pulling the middle slider either side, you will have increased brightness or darkness but not so much contrast. You’ll see that this is an incredibly simple yet powerful post editing digital photography technique.

If you have a digital photo that is underexposed with the handy Histogram you can simply change the ‘luminance output levels’. As a result you’ll create a more evenly lit digital photo.

Happy shooting!
Amy Renfrey

High Dynamic Range In Digital Photography

2007-02-11T04:33:00.000-08:00

If you have ever wanted to improve your digital photography then you may want to consider learning about High Dynamic Range. If you have heard of this term in digital photography, but are not sure what it is, then keep reading because it will serious change the way you look at your digital photography images. What High Dynamic range does in your digital photography is simultaneously lighten your underexposed areas and darken your overexposed areas. Working with your Dynamic Range will aim to create digital photography images as your own eye would see them; even light all over the scene.

In the digital photography world Dynamic Range simply refers to the range of light (luminance) vales from the darkest to brightest. In the real world is really the range of dark to bright sections of light that you can see with the naked eye. This is transferred to digital photography and it given the name Dynamic Range. Digital Photography Dynamic Range is the range of light on your digital camera sensor that can be captured without having the higher light or lower light values altered or edited. In digital photography speak High Dynamic Range simply means a higher range of light values.

You will notice that after understanding Dynamic Range that your digital photography can be improved dramatically and, very fast. Digital photography Dynamic range can improve aspects of your image such as adding a sense of drama to your cloudy landscapes, giving detail to lines of colour, toning down some overexposed parts of light sections of a digital image.

You may find that when photographing things outdoors in your digital photography such as landscapes, beach and snowscapes etc, you have a lot of contrasting highlights that slow your progress down. To overcome sections of high contrast you can use ND filters, a polariser, exposure bracketing, post editing in Photoshop etc, etc, the list goes on what you can do in digital photography but really, to get a more accurate exposure working with your Dynamic Range will be more effective.

You can get a good idea of digital photography Dynamic when you go outside and look at the light. For example High Dynamic Range is the bright sunlight on a typical outdoor, sunlit scene. In saying that, a Low Dynamic Range may correspond to darker areas such as a dimly lit room.

Let’s take my Sony digital camera to use as an example. It has 6 stops of Dynamic Range. The Dynamic range’s objectives are to capture more dynamic range. While it’s easy to capture daylight scenes with the Sony, in some instances like landscapes, more Dynamic Range might be needed. So in this case producing my High Dynamic Range requires that I take some separate exposures. Then I place all of the brightness levels that I want in my final image that my Sony’s sensor can record properly. What this means is putting the darkest values no lower than in the mid-range of the sensors light sensitivity range.

In the wonderful Adobe Photoshop I may decide to take a handful of exposures to cover the complete dynamic range. In each photo exposure I keep the aperture the same (changing aperture changes the depth of field). My aim here is to create different photos making sure that in each I cover the available brightness levels in the landscape.

I take a collection of photos of my landscape at about 1 stop changes in each photo. I don’t do this by altering the f stop I do this via my shutter speed. To check whether I’ve got variation in my exposures I can check the histogram to see whether I have adequately captured the scenes brightness.

Once I have all my exposures in the camera I go home and check it out in Adobe Photoshop. What I should be able to do then is edit them and create a picture as my own eye would see; good lighting on the foreground and good lighting on the background, without over exposure of the sky or underexposure of darker parts of the land.

Have fun and happy shooting!

Amy Renfrey

www.DigitalPhotographySuccess.com

Picture ©A. Syed

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Digital Photography Multiple Exposures

2007-02-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

Digital Photography is one of the most creative hobbies you can partake in. And sometimes we reach a stage of evolution in our digital photography whereby we want another challenge, or another way to express our creativity. And, undoubtedly, along your digital photography path, you'll come across a technique called "Multiple Exposures."

Multiple Exposures is a technique in digital photography whereby you can create a really ingenious effect. You can add colour, darken images, shade whiter areas, change shapes via light alterations etc. It’s really a fun digital photography technique and can give you much scope. For example in digital photography sometimes you will find that noise can interfere with picture quality and with this technique you can tone down the effect of noise.

An example of multiple exposures is taking two digital photography images and each of them to be exposed by one F stop. For example, let’s say that the first digital photos 'correct' exposure is F 16. You can take the first photo at F11 and the second one at F 8.

However not all digital cameras offer the ability to create multiple exposures. The digital cameras that can offer multiple exposures are dslr's such as Fujifilm FinePix S1 Pro and S2 Pro. Can you create multiple exposures without having more expense of a camera in your digital photography? Good news; the answer is yes.

This is where Photoshop comes in. By adjusting a few things in Photoshop, your digital photography images can become more and more interesting. In Photoshop you can actually create the most beautiful multiple exposures.

One of the first things to do to try this digital photography technique is to make sure you have the right exposure compensation. I won't go into complicated scientific jargon (light is pretty complicated at a base scientific technique) but what I will say is it’s a precision in digital photography metering that mastery is required. Instead of worrying about this in great detail, just know that in order to get the correct exposure value you may need to apply bracketing to your digital photography images. You can use your manual setting along with the meter to get some images that are a little darker than you would normally have, just for the purpose of this technique.

With multiple exposures it’s not necessary to keep every single photo you take. If you want to give an image more of a certain colour or brightness you can simply bracket accordingly. You can think of this as gaining momentum. You will find that after a while, you look at new eyes towards your digital photography.

Next week: How To Create Digital Photography Multiple Exposures In Photoshop

If you want to learn how to take sensational digital photography like the pro's do just go to www.DigitalPhotographySuccess.com

Winter Colour And Digital Photography

2007-01-23T22:51:00.000-08:00

Winter and colour in digital photography is one of the most beautiful aspects about digital photography. The light that winter offers us provides a great relief from the harsh, unforgiving sunlight causes hard shadows for our digital photography. We can loose detail and definition during the summer months whilst partaking in digital photography, and can be very disappointing.

One great thing about winter light and digital photography is that the scene you are working with often shows you colour that isn’t seen as easily in hard light. The way it works is that the filtered effect of winter light helps us see the other colours that otherwise get lost in the warmer summer months.

The soft pale greens and pastel yellows in a digital photography scene can become lost in the overexposed contract of the outdoor summer sun. With digital photography in winter, those pastel yellows and pale greens become soft shades of a bigger colour, providing a great opportunity to show themselves as a more true and real presence on your digital photo.

And don’t forget about black and white photography during winter. An already black and white scene can make tremendous black and white photos in digital photography. Black and whites of subjects that are already black and white prove to have more of a contrasting effect. If you take this effect with soft winter light you will often find that your black and white digital photos retain some dramatic qualities about them.

Just remember though, when you are metering for black and white during winter time on the auto setting, your camera will want to underexpose the black areas and overexpose the whites. Just find a medium shade of grey in your scene and meter off that, providing you with some mid ground for exposure. This will work from a focus point of view if you are shooting some distance away.

I hope you are thinking of winter now with a new perspective. It’s a beautiful time for light and the filtered effect can bring otherwise pale colours out into the open making them appear more colorful. Black and white photography during winter can also provide some dramatic images as well. Work with this beautiful light.

Amy Renfrey

www.DigitalPhotographySuccess.com

Digital Photography During Winter

2007-01-17T22:45:00.000-08:00

On many occasions during my time teaching digital photography I’ve had people say to me “oh, its winter, I can’t possibly take beautiful digital photos now.”

If you’ve said something like this about winter digital photography then just wait for this…

Did you know that digital photography during winter is one of the most fulfilling creative practices you can do? Digital photography is not just about summer; colour and bright sun shine….its much, much more than that. So here are some powerful digital photography tips for winter.

Firstly you can create some pretty sensational black and white digital photos during winter. If you live in a place that goes grey for the whole time winter is around, then consider this digital photography tip; maximise the absence of colour in your digital photography. You can create some very dramatic black and white digital photos of stormy skies, rain clouds; sheets of rain against darker objects making the rain look white in colour.

You can also try getting the most out of the blues, whites and blacks in your winter digital photography. Lets take for example a beautiful snow scene with a blue sky. You have all the softness of the gentle white snow blanketing your landscape or parkland. Along side this beautiful feeling you also have the stark black trunks of the trees, whether thick or thin. Then, to add to your digital photography experience, you may have the gentleness of an animal or the backdrop of a lake.

You see, what winter does for digital photography is feminise it. It takes away the masculine energy and replaces it with a quite, calm introverted feeling. Winter digital photography can offer you a soft light, which can provide beautifully filtered light in your daytime subjects.

When you partake in digital photography in the winter time the first thing you will notice is the light. Winter changes not only the physical temperature, but the temperature of light changes. There is less hard light and more bluish tones on your scene. It’s absolutely beautiful if, and only if, you maximise this to its full extent.

So just go and look. Look outside and notice how much beauty you see all around you. Look at the shades in your environment and see how much you can capture of this gentle bluish light.
It’s really divine.

The Awesome Power Of Lightening Combined With Digital Photography

2007-01-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed that in digital photography there always seems to be photos of fork lightening that some clever photography enthusiast has mastered? The fact is that digital photography is a challenge and as soon as we develop the interest in digital photography we are challenging ourselves from the start. And a real challenge in digital photography is fast moving subjects. And when it comes to either traditional or digital photography catching electrifying fork lightening just is too much of a enticement to see if we can “win” the challenge.

So how do we apply our digital photography to sharp, brilliant streaks of colour over our images?

Getting great shots of forked lightening is not as difficult as you would think, or have been led to believe.

As a digital photography teacher I can honestly say that the first thing people do it buy way to much equipment for this exercise. You really just need a few simple things. A camera and a tripod are the main things.

The main challenge in digital photography when taking lightening shots is where to position yourself. I’ve had many a frustrating time, in the early days of my photography, trying to get the best angle, the best position only to find I had the camera pointed at completely the wrong part of the sky. And some of my digital photography lightening exposures were all wrong. I was thinking it was as hard as trying to predict a horse race with a crystal ball until I worked out the logic of it all and it started to become a lot of fun.

The first thing to keep in mind is to make sure your shutter is open. Lightening is sharp, short and sweet. Its important to get the most out of the long, open shutter speed by leaving it open for a long time. You can do this with confidence on a really black night such as being in the country on a dark night without any city lights or too many clouds around for the light to bounce off. In the country you may have the freedom to leave the shutter open for as long as 60 seconds.

However in the city it’s a bit different. What tends to happen is that due to other light in the atmosphere, light from buildings, streets and cars you can see this scene turns out much brighter on a 60 second shutter speed.

A quick way to get great lightening shots is to find a good place to set up where you know lightening is either happening or is about to happen. Take your tripod, camera and shutter release cable. The great thing about a shutter release cable is that once the lightening has struck there is no need to keep the shutter open and you can simply press it the shutter will close.

Try setting your aperture to about an f 8 or so and leaving the shutter open from anywhere between 10 seconds to 60 seconds. (Setting B). Set your IS0 at 100, set the focus to infinity and wait.

Digital Photography Safety

It’s a good idea, any time in digital photography, not to jeopardize your safety. Digital photography is intensely fun and incredibly educational and creative, but it’s not worth risking your life for. As much as it’s a beautiful spectacle, its much more wise to stay well away from lightening. It’s carrying enough energy to give your house power for two months solid, so be careful!

By Amy Renfrey

Picture copyrighted by James Stratton.

Digital Photography Tip: How To Photograph Christmas Lights

2006-12-18T03:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas is coming and so is the urge for us who love digital photography to get out there in the burbs and photograph the beautiful Christmas lights. It’s a beautiful time of year and when you are as passionate about digital photography as I am, then this is the time you whip that digital camera out.

Taking photos of Christmas lights with your digital camera can be a very disappointing experience for digital photography enthusiasts. Pictures of Christmas lights in digital photography are aimed at being crystal clear with beautifully bold colours and hopefully we can capture the delicate glow that radiates from the lights themselves.

But…Christmas lights don’t always provide the ideal digital photography experience does it? J In fact, in digital photography, Christmas lights can turnout to be smudged dots of colour, like water over ink and way too dark. The first time I took a digital photography image of Christmas lights the flash went off accidentally causing a flattening out of my images not to mention the lovely colours disappearing and it ended up just being a digital photo of the neighbour’s front lawn. Not to mention how it set the dog off barking!

So just what is the digital photography secret to getting crystal clear shots of our suburban Christmas lights?

Okay now I’m going to share a secret with you. The best way to get suburb results of sharp, colourful Christmas lights is to choose the house you are going to photograph. Depending on where you live and how fast you can run, you may need to tee it up with your neighboughs first and offer them the photo. The same rules apply with your Christmas tree.

Take your tripod with you. Take your digital camera off “auto” and take it off “auto flash”.

Now try a method called bracketing. Set the aperture at a wide f stop, such as 2.8 or 3.5 for example. Then proceed to try some different settings. Set the shutter to 1/30 or higher. I’d recommend, if it’s really dark in the street something around the one second, two seconds or three seconds shutter speed.

There is a groovy little trick you can also do for helping you learning faster, about what works in digital photography and what doesn’t. That’s recording and documenting your digital photography experience. I usually take a note pad with me and write down the number photo and the f stop and shutter speed so when I look at the photos I know which digital photo has worked and what has not.

But in the dark it’s very hard to write down anything so you can do what I sued to do, and that is record on Mp3 what your settings you had on what photo. For example you can record yourself saying “picture one, f stop 2.8, shutter speed 2 seconds.” Then again as you have tried another setting “picture seven, f stop 22, shutter speed 1 minute.”

These are just examples but they really work. Don’t forget the basics with your night time photography such as wide aperture and slow shutter speed and the necessity of a tripod.

If you are in a moving vehicle for example and you are taking shots of Christmas lights from a bus or car, then you can always use the maximum aperture and a smaller shutter speed. For example f stop 1.4 and a shutter of 1/350 or higher.

And don’t forget if you do have the time to set up a tripod and try the bracketing technique (ideal) also remember if you have the shutter open for a while the light can bounce off other objects such as windows and roofs. If you get too much reflective light, simply reduce the time the shutter is open.

Good luck and may you have a beautiful Christmas!

Happy Shooting,

Amy Renfrey

Amy Renfrey is a digital photographer, teacher and author of “Digital Photography Success.” She’s sold tens of thousands of copies since the start of 2005 when she went online. Amy’s new book, soon to be released, titled “Advanced Digital Photography” to propel photography enthusiasts from amateur to semi professional level. Amy is known for her thorough and easy to read style, giving her readers challenges and expert advice to get their precious memories looking like picture perfect images. “Digital Photography Success” can be found at www.DigitalPhotographySuccess.com

Photograph by Benjamin Earwicker.

Understanding Digital Photography White Balance

2006-12-11T03:45:00.000-08:00

In digital photography terms, and traditional, you will most likely hear the term “white balance” quite a lot. It’s an important meaning because many digital photography enthusiasts concentrate on the lenses and digital camera without first learning about how light works.

In a nutshell, “white balance” in digital photography relates to the ‘temperature’ of light. If you notice when doing your digital photography indoors, the photo will have a bluish colour through out the digital photo. Then if you take your digital photography outside you will notice the photo then has a warmer tone to it. This is your white balance feature on your digital camera working to adjust the image.

To give you a direct example of how white balance works in your digital photography think of this; have you ever noticed how your colour pictures come out a more bluish tone in the shade? The problem is that because light has temperature, the camera has to analyze this change in its own limited way compared to the human eye.

You can help reduce the blue by altering the setting on the digtal camera, or, adding a warmer colur filter such as yellow. Some colour filters have different shades or hues of the same colour. Each warmer colour filter moves towards a warmer feel and increases in density.

Your white balance in digital photography also works when you walk into an office building. The fluorescent light might be different from that of the doctor’s or a drug store? Well, you’re not imagining things! The reason is there are over 40 different ranges of fluorescent lights and the problem for us digital photographers is that each one has its own colour temperature. It’s not to be avoided, please no! It just means you need to be aware that all florescent lighting is not the same and that you’ll have to consider this when shooting under this type of light.

You can work well with white balance by switching indoor shots to an “outdoor” setting to eliminate the bluish tone in indoor shots. And alternatively you can set the white balance mode to “indoor” when you are outside to reduce some golden/yellow saturation in your outside digital photography shots.

Best wishes,

Amy Renfrey

www.DigitalPhotographySuccess.com

Why Digital Photography Matters

2006-12-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

Being a passionate Prince fan since I was 13, I jumped at the chance to photograph his drummer, John Blackwell, at a drum clinic in Melbourne. I knew only too well Johns signature beats and ability to capture an audience with onew of this electrifying drum solos.

At the drum clinic John’s talent glowed from him like a beacon as he began to play. As I watched the keen drumming enthusiasts watching him in awe I saw something else. Emerging from the musician I saw the man. The man meditated into a deep state of concentration. I could see him connecting to a deep part of himself as the music entered his mind and soul. I took several photos of him so I could capture his meditation as his soul was swept away with this bliss.

So there I stood, feeling myself in awe of John. I felt in awe of his mediation and connection to something deep within him that resonated and manifested as a talented musician.

Amy Renfrey
www.DigitalPhotographySuccess.com

How To Sharpen Your Digital Photography Images

2006-11-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

One draw back that digital photography has is that the images don’t have the same sharpness as traditional photography has. But this needn’t be a problem because there is a very neat trick you can use in Photoshop to help sharpen your digital photography images.

Let’s start this digital photography lesson by looking at the digital camera. All digital cameras photograph images which have a normal pattern of pixels that make up this image. In some digital photography images a moiré effect is created. To avoid this, modern slr digital cameras come with an in built filter that givens a softer effect to the image.

When you are faced with having to sharpen a noisy digital photography image you’ll find that some photos are easier to sharpen than others. This might be caused from having a too higher ISO. The usual way of adding sharpness to a digital image has it problems too; it can actually increase the noise in your image quite a bit. To clarify this point, what is actually happening is the noise isn’t being increased as such, it’s being enhanced.

There is a way to sharpen noisy digital photo images without going into the noise itself.

To begin with its important to understand colour modes in Photoshop. The easiest way we remember colour modes is when we think of RGB mode. This is a “channel” of colours which are Red, Green and Blue. As I was taught by my good friend Lyndie Jeffry, there are more colour modes where your digital photo can be altered, adjusted and sharpened.

When I was first learning about digital photography Lyndie taught me that you can involve the CMYK mode which uses four colour channels. This stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. (Yes I know “Black doesn’t start with a “K”.)

Lyndie explained to me that the best one to use for this purpose is the L-A-B mode. LAB mode really just related to the 3 channels it uses. In a nutshell Lab stands for the individual channels. The “L” really means “luminance”, "A" the green-red aspect "B" the blue-yellow aspect. When working in LAB mode you can modify the brightness of your digital photo and keep the saturating and colours the same. The way this is possible is because practically no image information is depleted or lost when you convert to Lab mode. It also stays good when you convert back again, which is extremely handy. (Especially with highly valuable photos such as other peoples wedding photos.) Not everyone uses this, but it’s a neat trick with some digital images.

In some digital photography images you can simply choose to sharpen the L channel in LAB mode. By doing this much of the noise in the image is in the other channels that are usually not affected by this sharpening effect.

Now this may not work for every single noisy digital photography image you have. But in some situations it works very well. I suggest you try it to see the effect you give. I’ve used it a few times and it’s saved my ‘you-know-what’. So if you’re in a tight spot with a noisy image, give this a go, you might be surprised with the results!

By Amy Renfrey

How To Use Colour Effectively To Enhance Your Digital Photography

2006-11-23T04:12:00.000-08:00

Digital photography has a lot of fantastic opportunities. When I say “opportunities” I mean artistic opportunities. You see succeeding in digital photography goes way beyond just knowing how to take a digital photograph in the technical sense. You see need artistic ability and knowledge too. Digital Photography, if applied artistically, can open up the doors of creativity for many, many years to come.

The first thing I recommend to start with if you are a serious digital photography enthusiast is to understand how colour works. When you understand how colour works in digital photography you can then use different colours to create very different feelings and emotions in the photo itself.

Colours such as blues, greens, mauves, etc are introverted colours and can often give your photo different feel to reds and yellows. For example think of a field of green with a tree that has purple flowers. It tends to represent, and even induce, feelings of tranquillity and calm. These, in digital photography, are regarded as introverted colours.

Colour such as yellows, red, oranges and pinks can often instil an energetic feeling. For example think of fruit such as red berries, oranges or cantaloupe. These are simple examples, but think of the feelings that these colours create in your digital photography.

This is another reason why not all things look as good in black and white, and why some things in fact do look better in black and white. (More about that another time. For now lets focus on creating colour that enhances your digital photography. )

In a very simple sense if you want to create a sense of stillness and calm in your digital photography then aim for subjects that have these colours. And the same goes the other way too. If you want to have a bright energetic feeling, then go for colours that are warm.

Contrasting colours in digital photography work very well too. Primary colours together such as blue and yellow seem to look great side by side, or one as a back ground and the other as a main subject. For example I took a photo on a beach with a bright yellow sign against a blue sky and a blue ocean. It gave the feeling of energy as well as having the calmness of the blue. Being a contrasting primary colour the yellow was not absorbed by the blue, it was the opposite. The yellow sat nicely against the blue as the focal subject.

When doing digital photography, think about the colours you are creating in your photo. Try to aim for digital photos that have colours that look good together, and do not clash like hot pink and bright red next to each other for example. If you want extrovert bold colour in your digital photo, don’t overcrowd the viewer with too many bold colours. In digital photography it works best if you have the main subject having the bold colour, rather than multiple points of bold colour in the background for example.

Choose good digital photography subjects with simple composition that have colours that work well to compliment each other. And remember digital photography is all about creating a feeling. And working your colours together well will enhance your digital photography images ten fold.

If you want to learn more about working with colour effective in digital photography, just go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

Best wishes,

Amy Renfrey

How To Get Better Digital Photos In Low Light Conditions Without Using A Flash

2006-10-31T02:56:00.000-08:00

Digital photography is easy- when you have plenty of light and the conditions are ideal. But, as you may know, lighting conditions in digital photography aren’t always as we would like them. In digital photography its essential that we work with light as much as humanly possible otherwise disappointing results may occur.

One of my subscribers asked me how he could take digital photos at his friends wedding. He did not want to use the flash to distract the bride and groom during the time they were saying their vows. What he was asking me was how to get better digital photos in low light conditions without the necessity of using a flash. It’s a very good digital photography question. Good news it can be done. But like everything in photography there are advantages and disadvantages.

The flash is the biggest solution to low light digital photography. However the problem with this is that not all situations can benefit from using the flash. Not only does it interfere with your “moment” socially and artistically, but the flash can flatten out your digital images. This is especially true for a flash that is built-in on digital cameras. The built in flash (and a flash in general) has the effect of lighting your subject on the front only which compresses the depth in your digital photos. Compressed depth can really decrease the beauty of your subject in your digital photography.

This can be avoided to a certain degree, depending on your subject and by watching how your light falls. Learn how to see how the light falls on your surroundings and your mind will become adept at knowing what works and what doesn’t with the flash

Really, a good way to combat the problem in low light you can try using a higher ISO. Your ISO simply means the amount of sensitivity of light falling on your sensor. For example take traditional photography as a comparison to digital photography. Traditional photography ISO will be film sensitivity. (ISO in traditional terms works with film speed as well.)

The only set back in digital photography ISO is noise. If your ISO is perfect for the photo yet there is a significant increase in noise you can use software to sharpen up your digital photo. There are two good noise reduction software programs called“Noise Ninja” or “Neat Image”. If you don’t push the ISO higher you may find the problem with camera shake if a tripod is not in hand. By adjusting the ISO you will find that noise is better than camera shake. In digital photography noise will always be something to consider.

In digital photography, a higher ISO allows you to take photos in low light situations. In traditional photography you’d have to change your roll of film from. In digital photography ISO give you the opportunity to adjust a setting, rather than fiddle with changing film. This is advantageous if the subject is not going to stay around or you yourself are unable to stay for an extended length of time.

I’ll use another example. Let’s take for example you are taking dome digital shots indoors, like someone speaking, or playing an instrument. Perhaps the flash is not appropriate in this situation. In this case (which happens a lot in digital photography) you would simply adjust the ISO to a higher setting. If you set the camera on “ISO Auto” your digital camera will then detect that a higher ISO is necessary. Alternatively you can set the ISO yourself. This higher sensitivity can give you the opportunity of gaining the right exposure for the shot.

If you find that’s still not right, because your digital photo now has camera shake and you don’t have a tripod, you can in fact decide on the next top ISO which will then enable you to select a faster shutter speed.

Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

How To Sharpen Your Digital Photography Images

2006-10-30T18:53:00.000-08:00

Lets start this digital photography lesson by looking at the digital camera. All digital cameras photograph images which have a normal pattern of pixels that make up this image. In some digital photography images a moiré effect is created. To avoid this, modern slr digital cameras come with an in built filter that givens a softer effect to the image.

There is a way to sharpen noisy digital photo images without going into the noise itself.

When I was first learning about digital photography Lyndie taught me that you can involve the CMYK mode which uses four colour channels. This stands for Cian, Magenta, Yellow and Black. (Yes I know “Black doesn’t start with a “K”.)

Lyndie explained to me that the best one to use for this purpose is the L-A-B mode. LAB mode really just related to the 3 channels it uses. In a nutshell Lab stands for the individual channels. The “L” really means “luminance”, "A" the green-red aspect "B" the blue-yellow aspect. When working in LAB mode you can modify the brightness of your digital photo and keep the saturating and colours the same. The way this is possible is because practically no image information is depleted or lost when you convert to Lab mode. It also stays good when you convert back again, which is extremely handy. (Especially with highly valuable photos such as other peoples wedding photos.) Not everyone uses this, but it’s a neat trick with some digital images.

Now this may not work for every single noisy digital photography image you have. But in some situations it works very well. I suggest you try it to see the effect you give. I’ve used it a few times and it’s saved my you-know-what. So if you’re in a tight spot with a noisy image, give this a go, you might be surprised with the results!

By Amy Renfrey

How To Use Colour Effectively To Enhance Your Digital Photography

2006-10-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

In a very simple sense if you want to create a sense of stillness and calm in your digital photography then aim for subjects that have these colours that are more towards the blue and green end of the scale. And the same goes the other way too. If you want to have a bright energetic feeling, then go for colours that are warm and vibrant.

If you want to learn more about working with colour effective in digital photography, just go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

Best wishes,

Amy Renfrey

This photo is copyrighted by Amy Renfrey.

Love Digital Photography? Then Choose Your Camera Carefully

2006-09-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

If you love digital photography, then you will find that one of the first questions that pop into your head will be "which digital camera is right for me?"

No matter where you go and whom you ask in the digital photography world, you will not find a single answer. You see in digital photography choosing a camera is about as personal and individual as choosing a car, or a career. And just like a car or career, a digital camere should give you satisfaction and great results with mininimal headaches.

To get started on working out which digital camera is right for you here's a good start:

1. How much can you afford to spend?

Hey, we all want the latest canon Eos 5D, but lets face it not all of us have that money to spend our digital photography passion. Some of us have only $500, or $1000 or less. Cost is a huge factor in digital photography because you'llfind, like anything the higher up you go, the better lens and functionality of the digital camera. That doesn't mean to say the $500 is rubbish compared to the $1000 digital camera. It just means there will be less things it can do.

2. What do you want to do in digital photography?

Its great, in digital photography, to have the latest "whizz-bang" lens with all the bells and whistles, but if you just want to take family photos at home, you will probably find that the lens on most semi-pro digital cameras are pretty good for basic digital photography techniques. However, on the other hand if you want your digital photography to be complete with telephoto capabilities, macro functions and everything in between, the semi-pro digital camera's lens won;t be enough. Sure it'll have a basic optical zoom and a "close up" setting but to get professional digital photographs, you'll need attachable lenses. And you can only attach external lenses onto a digital slr, in other words a professional digital camera.

3. How durable do you need the digital camera to be?

If you want your digital photography experience to be complete with long life battery capabilites, a sturdy body and light weight for easy handling then this needs to be assessed accordingly. Its not good having a digital camera that's sensitive to a lot of handling if you want to use it at football games, for travelling and for anything else. Choose a body that's pretty sturdy and where you can easily and safely store it out of harms way.

4. Match and Challenge

Its no good in digital photography, if you buy a digital camera that has settings and buttons you have no idea what they mean. An associate of mine bought a Nikon D70 about 3 years ago and his photos were terrible. He only bought it because it had just come out at the time. But he spend top dollar just to have the image of a good camera. Digital cameras have many functions and settings, so make sure that if you are going to get a professional digital slr camera, that you know how to use it. Or else aim for something smaller and easier to understand. If you intend to "upgrade" your digital photography knowledge, then great, go for the complex camera, but if not, don't get something you really don't need; match your knoweldge to the digital camera.

5. Read Digital Camera reviws

The first thing I did when I decided to upgrade (I upgraded as my photographic skills and understanding increased) was head straight to reviews of digital cameras. In a nutshell I wanted to know others peoples experience with certain cameras. I made an assessment that I wanted the top lenses in a camera- that was very, very important to me. So I looked at the Canon D series. You see the people in the shop will never tell you anything else but how that camera is THE one that will solve all your photographic challenges. But don't fall for it; they're not photographers, they're retail people. They are still valuable but they are not an expert in what you are looking for.

Okay so that's a good start with your digital photography. Just remember to asses what your digital photography needs are and work from there. Don't be swayed by opinion, be condfident in your own abilities.

Best wishes,
Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

Digital Photography - People In Black & White

2006-09-26T00:02:00.000-07:00

People photographs in Black and white are often the best and most visually pleasing. If you’re using digital set the camera to black and white mode, which is the easiest, or you can add the black and white look in digital editing software via converting selected photos to grey scale mode. (Believe me, it’s a lot easier to simply change the settings on your camera if you can.)

Why is it so popular and appealing? What does it offer the viewer?

Black and white people photography offers you something that standard colour does not. A good black and white people photo can really create a positive and gentle feeling of that person. They become more appealing, and easier to look at that sometimes colour. We can see another side of someone’s personality with black and white photography. The enhancement of grayscale in a lures us into a natural focus on peoples good energy, and if two people, their relationship to one another.

People look fantastic in black and white and you don’t need colour to create a great photograph. The absence of colour gives the photo of your person more impact. Rather than purely noticing skin colour we tend to look at the shape and tone and depth of the face so much more. We tend to look at the detail. It’s like we are forced to notice another side of things, such as form. And when you notice form a lot more, it gives you a different feeling and impression about the subject. Black & white photographs have an enduring, timeless quality – and that's why the medium is so fascinating.

Inside every colour digital image there's a black & white masterpiece

With their timeless and classic look, black and white pictures of people work very well. Let's take a look at ways you can create your own black and white masterpieces. You will notice in many magazines it seems that all the classy photographs are in black and white. Black and White....In fact there is a magazine called exactly that, “Black And White” you can find information about it online at http://www.bandwmag.com.

It is exclusively black and white photography. If you are serious about black and white photography I suggest you buy a copy of this magazine and look at it from a technical and artistic point of view. Black and white often allows more scope for creativity than colour.

Strong visual impressions and emotional intensities can be enhanced by black and white photography. Sometimes no matter what you do to a subject, whether it is lighting alteration or composition, black and white just turns out better than colour.

Because black and white photography reduces everything to shades of grey, the attention of the viewer is drawn more to the underlying structure of tone, shape, texture, line and form, rather than the surface structure of the content. We tend to notice form in a stronger visual sense.

I recommend for every colour picture you take, quickly flip the settings to black-and-white and practice this way. It's a great way to get creative quickly and to look at an alternative light, a new black and white reality.

For a start, take some close-up shots in black and white of simple objects, such as the watch. But don't limit yourself - also try people. Black and white shots of people can be fabulous.

Try close-up shots of someone in your family, or even your self. At times when I needed a subject with which to practice and no one else was around, I simply pointed the camera at myself; although I don’t love taking photos of myself it was useful practice.

Best wishes,
Amy Renfrey

Click here to learn about how to get sensational photos with your digital camera.

How To Photograph Your Items To Sell On EBay

2006-09-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

Digital Photography and Ebay; there are a few things you must know. When selling items successfully on Ebay becoming good at digital photography is a must. And the first point of call starts with the photograph. The first thing to remember that digital photography done right can pave the way to more bids, higher bids and repeat purchases. It’s all in the digital photography.

Too many times you will see an item not getting many (if any) bids. If you look closely at the digital photograph, you will see the digital photo is very poor. When I say “poor” I mean often too dark, has a contradicting background, and too many distracting, irrelevant items around it.

Let’s take for example the lounge suite. I have seen two types of “lounge suite” photos, and they both get a small amount of bids. (A small amount of bids usually means not enough interested buyers to push the bid price up- hence not enough money is received by the seller. When all they had to do was get their digital photography right in the first place.)

The first type of digital photo I have seen is one of ‘irrelevant background’. The lounge suite is carted outside and placed on the lawn and photographed outside. One of the secrets to getting excellent digital photographs is your background. The number one rule in this instance is to create some relevancy and consistency between the main subject and the background. People don’t sit outside on the lawn in their lounge suites. Your digital photo of your lounge suite will create much more interest if its places in the background environment is relevant- ie the lounge room.

The second type of digital photo is too dark- only using the flash indoors. What’s wrong with turning the light on to get light onto the sides of the lounge suite? The flash will only light up the very front of the lounge, not cast a beautiful even light over the sides too. Its important in digital photography to be very conscious of light, and lighting up the WHOLE photo, not just the front of it.

The third type of digital photo is one where other things are in the photo. These “other things” have nothing to do with creating a better look and feel for the lounge suite. These items are distracting and irrelevant. One killer to a good digital photo is having something in the back ground, or foreground, that has absolutely nothing at all to do with the main subject, i.e. a painting hanging on the wall behind the lounge suite.

Digital photos like this will often attract questions from potential bidders “does that painting come with the lounge suite?” To which the seller gets annoyed and says “no, lounge suite only.” To which the potential bidder thinks “well why the heck is it in the photo?”

Good point. Why IS that painting in the photo?

So remember, keep your Ebay item well lit, keep your backgrounds relevant and keep your distraction to a bare minimum. Once you apply these few things you will be well on your way to creating sensational digital photography for Ebay.

Best wishes,

Amy Renfrey

If you want to learn how to take sensational digital photography go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

How To Get Beautiful Autumn Digital Photos

2006-09-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Digital Photography and autumn (Fall) sometimes feel as if they’re made for each other. Autumn is natures clever way of providing us with a festival of colour. It’s a digital photography dream to capture to magnificent colours of the trees at this time. The blood red, the warm, vibrant yellows and the bright greens create the most magnificent contrast and complimentary colour forms so very pleasing to the eye. It’s almost as though nature has come into its own beautiful confidence all of a sudden.

So how do you capture the magnificence?

Firstly you must remember that all good digital photography is based on light. Your light will fall differently on things after summer. The light of summer is great, but it can create hard contrasting shadows. Now, with autumn, the light seems to soften, and depending on which part of the world you live in, this softening light can offer you some amazing digital photography opportunities not to ever be missed.

The main thing to remember here is that the colours contrast well. To create the bold contrast you can pick a clear day with blue sky and have a red and yellow autumn tree against it. You can also go macro and get a digital photo of contrasting colour in leaves; that also makes a nice digital photo.

Autumn provides many warm shades of brown too. The brown tones complimented with darker shades of red and yellows can create a delicate and almost feminine feel to your digital photography.

Don’t forget to use the autumn colours against not only blue sky but dark pavements, and pathways too. The dark brown/black of a pathway with vibrant dotted colours of red and golden leaves can create some stunning effects pretty easily. Just get your composition right and leave the rest to nature.

Now get that camera and go outside!

Best wishes,

Amy Renfrey

If you want to get your digital photos looking like they’ve just been taken by a professional, then just go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

Picture copyrighted by Andrzej Pastuszak.

How To Photograph Babies & Toddlers - Indoors & Out

2006-09-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

Digital Photography is one of the best and most fun activities to do. And this especially applies to children. And the younger, the more your digital photography really means something. Your digital photography almost becomes a necessity when you have children and want to photograph them. But just how do you get the ‘ideal’ digital photos of toddlers and babies? And how do professional photographers do it? What’s their secret?

Firstly the number one secret is to create an environment whereby the young child is playing, or is feeling happy and relaxed. This can mean setting up lots of toys at home on the living room floor, or if you are in a social situation (Saturday afternoon bbq for example) then perhaps interacting with other children or their own activities are the base starters for getting beautiful digital photos of your children.

Secondly you need to address lighting issues in digital photography. This applies to digital photography with toddlers and babies especially because they move (in artistic photographic terms) so fast. Let’s talk about this, because this is a really important point.

At home, you will be faced with indoor lighting. Indoor lighting in digital photography and toddlers and babies is a little tricky, because the kids move fast your shutter may not give you good, clear pictures because of the low light. To compensate for the low light inside the flash might cause a problem- it might be too bright and distracting. And the point is not to distract them- you want as relaxed and natural as possible. A bright flash going off in their small eyes can be overwhelming.

Make sure you have as much light as possible. Turn the over-head light on, place them under a window with sunlight coming in, and even use a standing lamp if necessary. Then adjust the shutter to a setting that allows for fast movement. And use the flash only if you have to.

Digital photography outside is not so bad, but it does have its problems too due to hard light. In case you are unfamiliar with the term, hard light means harsh, sharp sunlight that creates dark shadows, leaving a stark contrast between light and shadow in the one digital photo. In this case it can feel like its impossible to get any even, balance light over the scene.

Here’s a pointer to combat this:

If your child is outside with the sun behind them playing on a rug, for example, you’ll find the camera makes them look too dark, or the light around them blaringly bright. In this case you can let the camera create the darker shadows and use the flash on a low setting so the flash can fill in the darker areas. This is commonly known as “flash-fill”. It’s just a word meaning the flash lights up the shadowed areas. In an outside situation the flash won’t be as bright or distracting because it won’t feel as intense to the child, but do try to not over do it.

Last, but most definitely not least, you’ll need to work out what type of picture you want to create. If you want a fairly emotional picture that shows how beautiful they are, then decide on a fairly close angle. This means filling the frame. “Filling the frame” is a word that simply means; “don’t have any irrelevant, things in the photo that distract the eye.”

So there are a few things to think about with your digital photography. If you want to know more how to get clear digital photos with lots of sharp detail just go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

This photo is copyright by AmyRenfrey.

How To Take Perfect “People Pictures” In Digital Photography

2006-08-19T05:05:00.000-07:00

One of the things people ask me most about digital photography is how to take perfect “people pictures.” Digital photography is great for people because you can simply delete the ones you don’t like, and show them, on the spot, what the digital photo looks like.
In any digital photography session, whether it be portrait photography or photography at a birthday party it takes prior knowledge to getting “perfect people” digital photos.
So here are the digital photography secrets to this type of photography.

People Photography Secret number 1:

Horizontal vs. vertical

Most people who do digital photography of people hold the digital camera horizontal. Not sure why this is; most likely because the digital camera is built that way, but really you can do well with holding the camera vertical as well. Horizontal digital photos of people are ok, but work best when taking a group photo rather than a single photo of someone. A vertical angle for your digital people photo can give you a great composition for close up and it tells you a lot more about that person that a horizontal will. Horizontal angles in digital photography of single people tends to increase the amount of potential clutter and irrelevant objects in the frame.

People Photography Secret Number 2

Where to put your people in the frame

In digital photography, pictures of people work best by creating some interesting composition. Don’t put your person in the center of the frame just because everyone else does their digital photography that way; be unique and creative and you’ll get a much be result. And good digital photography is all about capturing that special moment of someone to last and reflect something positive about that person, right?

People Photography Secret Number 3

Go Candid.

Personally, in my experience as someone who does digital photography for a living, I can tell you that candid digital photographs work so much better then staid photos. It’s so much better to capture someone just as they laugh at a funny joke, or see their friend for the first time in a while, or even talking quietly to others, it so much more interesting and creates a positive photo of someone than a shot of them looking into the camera with a posed shot; hey anyone can do that. But do take that digital photo with them laughing and not knowing they’re being photographed captures a side of them that not everyone sees. It’ll show them in good spirits and create a positive image for all those who see that digital photo from now on. Get creative with people photography; try black and white and sepia. And even try taking the digital photo of them doing something they love, like playing an instrument for example.

Good luck!
Amy Renfrey

If you are totally serious and really want to learn proper people photography just go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com right now for ways to bring your people pictures to life...

This photo is copyrighted to Amy Renfrey.

How To Photograph Landscapes With Your Digital Camera

2006-08-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

If you’ve ever wanted to do landscape digital photography then here is some good news. You don’t need powerful digital photography equipment, but what you do need is a good lens.

Sorry to say but a lot of (I didn’t say all) digital cameras can’t take clear and “big” landscape photos because they don’t have the lens that enables them to do it. Digital photography has come along way in recent years and is racing up to traditional camera quality. Due to this fact landscape digital photography still needs to be done with a good lense.

So what is a good lens for landscape digital photography? A wide angle is a good place to start. Like a lot of things in digital photography this rule is not set in stone like the ten commandments, but it will help you a lot if you have a lens that is able to take mountain and nature scenes with a good view.

Think of a lens as a pair of glasses. The digital camera has the eye and the eye needs glasses. Okay, bear with me here….

The eye needs special lenses to see things from certain angles. It needs a pair of binoculars to see far away distances up close (telephoto lens), a magnifying glass if it wants to see detail up very close (macro lens) and it needs to see a ‘wide’ if it wants to see a scene clearly (wide angle lens.)

Okay now I know you are not a silly person and you can understand more technical things that that! I am just meaning that if you want good, clear detail in your landscape digital photography then you need to assist your digital camera to do it. And a wide angle is exactly what it says; it gives you a wider angle to shoot mountain ranges, landscapes, seascapes and even astrophotography. (The stars in the night sky.)

It’s easy to get landscape digital photos, but without the right lens its not easy to get good, sharp and clear digital landscape photos. If you won’t have the right lens then your landscapes will be flat lines with no depth, and you’ll be frustrated. I know, because this happened to me. Until I understood that your digital camera acts like the human eye and sometimes needs a little help for it to “see” what you want it to see.

If you are not sure if your digital camera can even take good landscape photos, then try it out. Get yourself to a mountain range or even cityscape and take a few different angles. If you have a camera that has an adaptable lens then you will be thankful for ever! If not, don’t despair, you can always hire dlsr’s from camera stores for a pretty reasonable price. It will be entirely worth it for that brilliant, clear, sharp detailed landscape photo you can hang on your wall for the rest of your life.

Good luck!

Amy Renfrey

If you are serious about landscape photography and want to know how to take suberb, clear digital images of your beautiful landscape then just go to www.beautifuloutdoorphotography.com

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

Photo copyrighted by Lyndie Jeffrey. Landscape Photographer of the year winner 2006.

Digital Photography On Vacation

2006-08-09T01:43:00.000-07:00

Going on holidays or vacation to get away provides one of the best digital photography opportunities that must not be missed. Most people take the usual digital photography “snaps” without really looking an examining their environments first.

The normal holiday digital photographs are taken with hard light over exposing parts of the picture, and the digital image is always the same. One or two people standing near a monument with the usual holiday clothing on…it’s the same ting over and over again.

If you want to get interesting digital photography opportunities then firstly the thing to do is not do what everyone else does! So let’s looks at ways you can make you digital vacation photos interesting so that you can use them to hang on the wall or give away as postcards when you get back, or greeting cards. Ahh, what the wonderful world of digital photography can do for the soul!

Firstly the get your digital photography really interesting and stimulating when going on holiday is to research as much as you can about the area you are going to, and, the season you are going in, and what the temperature is likely to be. This is called digital photography preparation; not just holiday preparation.

Discover what things you will be likely to visit. Are you going to a fairly established area, such as old churches that have been around for centuries and you are aiming to get your digital photography experience reflecting the beauty and the art work in these old buildings?

Or perhaps you are having an action holiday with hot summer days, beaches, hotels, lying by the pool….in that case then your digital photography will be a completely different experience. Your digital photography needs will be very different and require different things.

If you perhaps want to do a bit of both; churches in Rome then Hawaii on the flight back then you have an even more interesting set of digital photography requirements. Most digital photography professionals may take two cameras, one digital camera for one scene or situation and a traditional camera with film for another situation. But being an enthusiast, you don’t have to go to that length; there are some things you can do.

The reason I say to investigate further about what it is you really want to see when you are on your vacation is to see what kind of light you will be working with. If you are going to see some beautiful European churches in winter time then the light will be very different from the light on a beach in summer time in Hawaii. Digital photography is the type of activity that requires you think about what you are doing first. Always think about your digital photography in this way because light can be very different in other places and especially if you are going to a different season.

Good luck!

Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

The Secret To Digital Photography Part 3

2006-07-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

Okay now I know you are wondering what the third secret to digital photography is....

I think I'll wait till next week to tell you....just kidding! I'll tell you now.

It’s technical ability. Is that all? You say. Well my friend, learning what things mean what on the camera feels like it can take a lifetime, so here are some simple ways to help you learn to refine your digital photography skills. Once you have the artistic side of digital photography covered, you can then fine tune the artist in you and work that camera.

Just before I explain the digital camera in more details, firstly I want to say this about digital photography; you need to learn the technical aspects of the digital camera so that you can become the master and controller, not the other way around. When you first start out in digital photography it feels like you are at the whim of the digital camera and it controls your digital photography. Once you start learning what does what on the camera, you'll find that you become the master and controller.

Lets look at the common terms in digital photography and simplify them into plain English. (God knows you will be forever looking at the camera manual thinking "what the heck does that mean?" So read this instead...)

Hey the only thing I knew when I started digital photography 6 years ago was what a lens cap was so if you don't know the basic stuff please don't feel bad. That's why I am here; to help you.

Firstly to be good at digital photography you must first understand how the camera works. Your digital camera is a brilliant device and is very much like the human eye. There is an "eye lid" and a "pupil". The eye lid blinks open and shut- this is how the shutter speed works. The pupil- how far the lens opens to let light in is the aperture. The flash works as a torch light. It is a direct source of light to provide more light where the camera needs it. You can use this anytime of day or night.

So with that basic analogy we can define some meanings. Don't get too stressed about trying to remember these things, just remember the basics of how the camera works to begin with, then eventually these things will become more and more attainable to you.

Exposure: This means, basically, the total amount of light falling onto the sensor in your digital camera. The way this is "measured" is by calling the level a "value." Or in shorter terms for digital photography its called an "E/V". The more E/V registered on your digital camera the more light is getting in. Think of it as a higher E/V means a higher concentration of light going in the camera.

On my Sony brick...sorry I mean my old Sony Cyber shot, if I take a sunset shot and need to have more light in the picture then I'll increase the E/V to +2.0. If it is a sunny day, like a bright summers day and I want to stop the picture from being overexposed and reduce the amount of light coming in to the digital camera, I'll reduce the E/V to -0.3 for example.

These numbers simply pertain to my camera, so don't worry too much about them, but just understand the principle. The lesser the E/V number the less light. In effect you are making the pupil smaller so less light comes in and vice versa.

Aperture: The aperture means the actual size of the opening of the lens. It's a lot like exposure but relates to size more than anything. Think of this as the opening itself and controls how much light gets into the cameras sensor.

Shutter speed: This is the eyelid, if you like. It’s the speed in which the eye lid blinks open and shut. A fast "blink" means you can freeze time and capture fast action shots such as a person running without blur, or cars racing without blur. So really it is the measurement of how long the shutter is open when the digital photo is taken.

You will see sometimes 1/125th or 125 for example. This means that the shutter is open for 125th of a second. The higher the amount of time, the longer the shutter stays open. So in digital photography picture-taking terms if you want a blurry effect then leave the shutter open for a second to ten seconds and see the difference in effect. The quicker the shutter is open, the more you will capture, such as race cars or peoples fast action suspended in time without blur.

Lag: I just know this as "pain in the butt". It’s the time delay between when you press the shutter button and when the camera actually takes the photo. It's been the problem with digital photography until recent years when the dlsr cameras have almost reduced this altogether. The higher priced cameras have very little lag.

Flash Fill: This is a saviour for day photos where there is over exposed and underexposed areas in a digital photo- in the same photo. Imagine a bright sunny day and you take a photo of someone on the beach with the sun behind them. The digital camera will actually "see" the bright sky and keep that in focus and reduce the light on the persons face. To combat this you can use the flash to compensate for the camera "forgetting" about the persons face. Its the best thing since sliced bread. This is how you get shots of people blowing out birthday candles and are able to see their faces clearly.

Rule Of Thirds: When I first started digital photography I thought ; "Gee I mustn't take that picture unless I abide by this principle." Well that didn't last long. Now I don't even think about it. But this principle in photography should be called a guideline, not a rule. However when you are just starting digital photography its great to learn- it really helps you.

This website describes it better than I can.
(www.digitalpostproduction.com/Htm/Features/
DigitalVideoGlossary.htm)

"This rule takes our rectangular shape and divides it into thirds. The key elements or objects in a composition should fall on one of these thirds lines. The one point on our photograph where the viewers' eye comes to rest should fall on one of these lines where both a horizontal and a vertical line come to rest."

Okay so that is about it for now. Just focus on those things in your digital photography and the rest will come with time and lots of practice. The best way to become good at digital photography is to let your heart take over, just relax and clear your mind and allow the artist within you to surface and then things will fall into place.

There is more in "Digital Photography Success" of course so if you want to have a look and learn more about how to become skilled in this highly addictive hobby then go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

My best to you,
Amy Renfrey

Next week I'll discuss the tricks and tips to getting clarity in your digital photography when you have a short depth of feild. :)

www.beautifuloutdoorphotography.com

2006-07-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

To discover all the professional digital photography landscape secrets, click here.

The Secret To Digital Photography Part 2

2006-07-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

Last week we discussed light as being the first secret to successful digital photography. This week we are going to examine the second secret to digital photography, and that my friend, is composition.

Composition in your digital photography, if you like, is really your shapes, lines and forms all working together in your digital photo. Its not just these working together, its really all your shapes working together, complimenting each other to create a visual balance. So what do I mean by this?

Example:

A seascape photo. The reason why this digital photo works is because the lines of the clouds work to compliment the horizon line of the ocean. The direction of the clouds creates lines and forms. These forms in this digital photo work together to create a balance of symmetrical shape with the line of the ocean. See how these things work to create symmetrical composition?

The key also is to keep your composition simple. Don't overcrowd your digital photo with unnecessary and irrelevant forms and images that have nothing to do with the story you are creating with your digital photography.

Its this simplicity of lines and forms that create good composition. You will notice that the best photos are simple. There is no clutter, no distraction, no irrelevance and everything works together. The outer parts of the digital photo all lead to a single point of focus- and this is GOOD photography.

So whenever you embark on digital photography just remember; make sure the light is evenly spread across your digital photo and make sure you keep the lines and forms really simple. The less clutter the better.

I took this digital photo to show you that you can create good photos using a basic digital camera if you apply the 3 secrets to digital photography. It’s just a simple one, but just because you don't ideally have the latest dlsr camera doesn't mean your shots can't turn out.

Now, on to secret number 3.....

Good luck.

Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com
www.beautifuloutdoorphotography.com

This picture is copyrighted to Amy Renfrey.

The Secret To Digital Photography Part 1

2006-07-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

It’s very exciting starting digital photography. You might even invest in your first digital camera; it’s really a world unknown until you learn some digital photography tips and perhaps even go on a few day outings and take several digital photos.

But really, what does it take to get your digital photography from frustrating "why-won't-it-turn-out" to "wow-it-looks-like-a-professional-digital-photo" standard?

That's easy; there are three secrets to digital photography that you must know or you might be frustrated for a long time. So here is the first secret:

Digital photography secret 1; Light

It sounds pretty simple doesn't it, almost too simple to be a 'secret'. But I tell you its not. If you understand that in digital photography your light is one of the top three elements to success then you will be on your way to creating digital photos to be proud of.

Always aim for even light over your digital photo image. If you have the whole scene and the whole subject well light so there are no hard shadows making it difficult to focus on then you are on your way to success.

You may have heard that cloudy days are a key element to a digital photography- my response to this is "most definitely but do you know why?" The whole issue of light in digital photography is getting even light over the scene as I just mentioned. You see sun light during the day can either work as your best friend or a complete enemy. It can create huge patches and lines of hard light that create and cast shadow over your scene or subject making it impossible to create a good digital photo.

You can have sensational digital photography images if you just know how to work with the strong sunlight. Have your light/sunlight cast over the front of the your subject so your digital image has evenly spread light on it, so no hard shadows or lines are created. This is precisely why digital photography can be enjoyable on cloudy days; because the light is evenly cast for us, making our jobs as digital photographers easier.

So make sure that when you are outside doing digital photography that the light is evenly spread over your subject and don’t be afraid of cloudy days. And don't worry about the sun; it’s all in the positioning of the light and avoiding hard light that is a fundamental key element to successful digital photography.

Cheers,
Amy

You can go to my website to learn more about digital photography. www.digitalphotographysuccess.com.

(Please copy and paste this url into your broswer. Blogger seems to be having trouble with links today.)

The picture in this article is copyrighted to Amy Renfrey. If you want to use it, you must ask me first.

Why Some Digital Photography Images Work Really Well And Why Others Don't

2006-07-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what secrets professionals know about digital photography to make their digital photos look so good?

I used to find it really frustrating why some people seemed to posses a "look, point , shoot" process with their digital photography. What did they know that I didn't? How did they create digital photos, beautiful digital photos mind you, and for me it seemed really hard. And they never wanted to share any tips with me.

I can tell you one thing that’s so incredibly important with digital photography. And that's simple composition. At first my digital photos were too busy- they had things in the background that were distracting, over exposed and under exposed. There were some aspects of my digital photography that now, I would not even show you- the early photos were too bad.

Now of course going "pro" it’s a whole different story. I have to get it right otherwise I don't eat! It sounds dramatic but really when you are put under pressure you have to make sure your digital photos are right- in all aspects…..especially your composition.

Let’s imagine a professional photo of a landscape. You have seem them before so think back to the last time you saw a professional landscape photo and think what it was about the photograph that appealed to you.

I can tell you it was a series of things like light, lens, angle etc, but one main, important thing about it was probably the simplicity of the composition. Not too much in the photograph, things are in perspective with each other, the angles and lines compliment each other.

That's exactly what you need to aim for when doing your own digital photography. Keep what you are taking free of clutter, use good lines and angles and if necessary turn to the rule of thirds. All these things will enhance your digital photography and all make up your composition.
Simple composition is the most under estimated artistic influence in digital photography. You will find that the professional landscape picture has painfully simple composition as its fundamental artistic make up. And you can do the same. Keep it simple with your digital photography and you start to see amazing results.

Keep up the good work,
Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

This picture copyrighted by Amy Renfrey.

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

A Digital Photography Tip- The Secret Of Clear Digital Images

2006-07-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

Recently I’ve been getting a lot of questions about clarity. This leads me to the answers about lenses. You know if you do not have a good lens you do not have a good photo- generally.

The reason I say that professional SLR is much better than a prosumer camera or a point and shoot is not because of my desire to look “pro” when I take photos its because of the amount of control you have over the photo. You can control the light so much more; you can control the exposure and the general aspects of the image. And with this freedom comes the choice of getting the clarity via the lens.

To gain the ultimate freedom in picture clarity first of all you need to know what lens does what.

Fixed focal length lenses

A fixed focal length lens is a lens that is on most point and shoot and prosumer cameras. They are normally an average wide angle lens. It’s kind of like a “mid range quality” lens. If you then take a zoom lens and compare the two, a fixed focal lens is smaller and often has a larger max aperture. This is good, because they work pretty well in low light situations. These lenses appear clearer than zoom lenses. The only problem here is that your person or subject can appear smaller than you would like unless you move in closer.

Zoom Lenses

And what of a zoom lens? Without going into overly technical details, zoom lenses often have more practical focal lengths for digital photography. They can give you a good angle perspective for filling the frame for example. These lenses are great if you need to take shots closer when it’s impossible to get closer to something.

Optical zooms lenses are the best. My advice to you would be to forget digital zoom altogether. Digital zoom is not a real zoom, in other words it’s not a true representation of what’s there. You’ll just get more noise on your image which can’t really be edited.

The problem with zooms is that they loose light the closer you get. They have lower apertures and this can be difficult in low light conditions. In some situations it’s possible to use the flash and have adequate lighting, but other times you use the zoom because you are far away from the subject and the flash is only effective a few meters away.

There is no general answer to “What lens should I get?” The answer is it depends on what your camera can do and what you want to do yourself. But the more you understand what lenses do what, the better off you are of making an informed decision and get the right lense for the job.

Best wishes,

Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

This photo is copyrighted to www.amazon.com

A Secret Way To Improve Your Digital Photography

2006-06-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

I want to share something with you about digital photography.

Digital photography is an art form....this you know. But did you know what one of the secrets I use in my photography? And use this if you are stumped for ideas on how to take that all-important photograph.

That is this: Forget about photography altogether. Sometimes this will be the best thing you can do in digital photography is to forget you are taking a photo and just absorb the scene.

Okay I know I am sounding obscure... I'll explain.

Its easy to get caught up with all aspects of digital photography. So caught up in fact that you can forget how the heck to take that picture. You can experience 'brain overload' and not end up getting any good photographs at all. You try too hard.

You know what I did when I first started learning digital photography? Instead of trying to perfect the scene I forgot about it and just sat and looked at it. I let the beauty of the scene inspire me and quite my mind. I stop thinking for a minute and became absorbed in the moment of the scene.

I would just look and look and breathe out saying "oh wow, isn't that beautiful?"

Only then would I take the photo, not before. I would get into that meditative frame of mind and let THAT dictate my digital photographs.

You see my good friend, your ability in digital photography is not only the technical, its about the heart. It’s about letting the heart and mind come together, applying some sound techniques and creating art with that camera of yours.

Artistic first, technical second.

Don't be too caught up in what camera to buy etc. Really all you need is a damn good lens and a camera that will give you as many different exposures as possible. To take good, professional standard digital photos you need the lens first, then the camera controls after. The lens is king.
No good lens, no good photos. Its simple.

Just relax, and look at why you were drawn to the scene or subject in the first place. Then free your mind of what you "should" do, and then take a few shots. See what you come up with.

It will be a better digital photo if you free your mind of clutter and relax and focus on the artistic side first.

Best of luck,

Amy Renfrey

All pictures are copyrighted to Amy Renfrey. If you want to use them commercially, do the right thing and just go to my website and email me.

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

To learn how to take beautiful digital landscape photos: www.beautifuloutdoorphotography.com

How To Take Sensational Photos Of Your Pets

2006-06-18T23:40:00.000-07:00

How boring and uninteresting would life be without an animal to love? There have been studies done in the US about how having a pet reduces blood pressure, stress levels, increases all the other good hormones in our body. Lets face it, pets rock!

So how on earth do we photograph them? I'm not talking about snapping Fido any old way. I mean a classy digital photo where Fido looks exactly the way YOU see him...cute, loveable and gorgeous. The only way to take really great photos of pets is a few things. And take heed, because these things really work.

1. Take them at their eye level.

The problem I see ALL THE TIME with bad pet photos is that they are taking from your perspective, not at Fidos perspective. You see Fido from a height, and thats okay, but the trouble is that taking a shot with this angle doesn't give him the charm or appeal he really has in real life. If you got down on your hands and knees and took the photo from his angle, rather then yours, you'd seriously add a whole other dimension to the photo. Why? Because you are capturing his personality. And this is so important to do because people can't see his personality any other way in the photo other than getting suberb composition.

2. Turn the light on!

Too many times people ask me what they can do to improve their photo of Fido. I look at the picture and so often the pet snaps are quick ones inside. These are too dark and as a result you loose the beautiful personality Fido has and because of this perpetual "indoor snapping" people suffer from, you loose definition too.

3. Spontenaity is the key

Try to wait and have rock solid patience when you are taking your photograph of Fido. Don't take the photo when he is lying down like he always does. People won't ever get to know him through your photography, like you do. So perhaps you can take him outside, or to the park when there is a good amount of light and throw a ball to him and take a picture of him catching it. Or perhaps when he is running around madly outside, or even if you can, get him in a still moment. Or perhaps, if you wait long enough, he migt just look straight into the lens with those big, beautiful eyes that you love so very much and give you that photo you have always wanted. You know "that" ideal photo I mean. The one where people say "awww, isn't he beautiful." And they will finally see the side of Fido that you see; the beautiful pet that he is.

Now get going! Where was the lead and the ball again....

Best wishes,
Amy Renfrey

P.S This is Paddy, my beautiful cat. He's not actually about to eat anything, or attack anything, this is him yawning. Same cat, two different photos.

This picture is copyrighted to Amy Renfrey.

http://www.digitalphotographysuccess.com/

Taking Black and White Landscapes

2006-06-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Taking photos of landscapes in black and white can look superb, especially deserted landscapes, or with clouds. Rain clouds in black and white over a mountain would look fabulous. You will see this when you examine closely how nature looks in black and white. A great way to do this is to start looking at the shade of the blue in the sky and switch the mode to black and white; take this shot then take another in color. Compare the two and see how that shade of blue looks in black and white. This will give you an idea of how natural colour turn into black and white, from nature. This may also give you a photo which captures more of the intensity of being there, than colour can.

I don't see many landscape pictures done in black and white and IÂm not sure why this is because black and white softens a picture , and can have the same effect on your landscape shots. Many people prefer colour when taking nature shots, and this is fine, but I do urge you to experiment with this medium too. It just gives you another creative edge and a way to break outside our comfort zones as photographers and become a "photographic artist".

A great way to get out of this comfort zone and embrace black and white landscapes is to find your preferences while taking the shots. Compare a colour landscape photo to a black and white landscape photo and just see what feelings are generated. You will notice that you donÂt always loose something as our minds would have us believe, we can actually gain a new insight into this scene.

To start, take two shots, one in colour and one in black and white. This is the only way you really truly learn about black and whites beauty and get away from colour all the time. Vivid colour is definitely incredibly stimulating and beautiful but so is black and white. Colour invokes energy which is why we like it. However black and white invokes a sense of calm, gentleness and can even surreal feeling depending on the scene.

My last tip I can give you is that sometimes when taking black and white subjects, like landscapes, you may have to increase the exposure to give you a little more light in the photo. Black and white can make things darker because your camera lessens the effect of color light reflection from normal color photos. So just remember that might be the case with some black and white landscapes you are taking.

Best wishes,
Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

If you want to know how to take powerful landscape photos just visit www.beautifuloutdoorphotography.com

Starting Black And White Photography

2006-06-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

Photo ©Amy Renfrey www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

Have you ever noticed how some black and white photos just stand out? And when you go to try and take the same kind of photo it just doesn’t do the same thing?

There are a couple of starting pointers that I want to share with you about black and white photography with a digital camera. The first thing I can tell you is that to make a good black and white photo you must have good texture. Texture, or what something is made of, seems to be enhanced with grey scale.

Certain textures, such as natural textures seem to respond well in black and white. Black and white is all about capturing a sense of the dramatic, so if your subject has texture that is naturally dramatic, then you have the first step to a good b&w photo. Textures such as wood grain, stark metal, repeated patterns in nature such as waves or spirals seem to work well in black and white.

With black and white, try to keep some symmetry in your texture. Its easier to create stunning black and white photos when you have symmetry in your texture because it can sometimes be lost in color. Symmetrical textures in black and white are consistently beautiful and offer something the eye cannot capture as well when working in color.

Grey scale is not just the absence of color, or everything taken in shades of grey. To understand and master black and white photography with your digital you must understand the concept of grey scale.

Grey scale is a spectrum of black, lots of grey and white, like the colours of a rainbow but in a series of black and white and grey tones. You see a black and white photo is not really only black and white; it is actually lots of different shades and different depths of grey. So when we talk about grey scale it just means the way we measure tones of grey. Included in the grey scale is of course black and white.

This sounds odd to say, but when finding what looks good in black and white you can start with high contrasting colors in your every day subjects at home. Stark colours such as red, deep purples and bright yellows can make a really good starting point. With bold colours such as these, your camera will interpret them differently. It’s almost as if the camera leaves out what the eye distinguishes as that particular color and keeps the intensity there. I won’t go into the technical jargon now, but for now, just try experimenting on those colors. If you can’t find these colors around your home, try going out into the garden and taking flowers that have these colors, or go to a nursery, plant store or public gardens.

You see black and white is not just ‘no colour’. Its so much more, so much deeper then that. The purpose of black and white nowadays (as opposed to when it was the standard and people had no choice) is that it creates a sense of stillness in time, and with the right perspective, a great story.

Best wishes,
Amy Renfrey
www.digitalphotographysuccess.com
www.beautifuloutdoorphotography.com

How To Photograph Interesting Little Creatures- Yes, You Will Get Dirty!

2006-02-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by animals. And not only the cute fluffy or furry ones that meow or bark, but ones on the ground that we don’t see very often. There’s nothing more fascinating than those little beings like grasshoppers, butterflies, baby birds, ants, beetles and bees.

This picture of this caterpillar coming out of its cocoon to become a butterfly was seen by accident. Call it sixth sense, call it just being obsessed by any photo opportunity, but I saw it.

I was doing ‘clean up’ on my computer a week ago. As I waited for the computer to do it’s ‘thing’, I looked outside and saw something moving slowly along the brick pavement. I could not see what it was so I wandered outside to get abetter look.

There he was. This little guy was struggling to come out of his cocoon that held him snugly for all those months and now he was emerging to greet the world. I couldn’t believe what fortune I had as far as a photographic opportunity had come my way. (That just seems to happen with me for some weird reason.)

I rushed back inside and grabbed my camera, my macro lenses and prayed to God I had a memory stick in the camera. I turned the camera on and it said I had memory available. Thank you God! I then leaned down and took a couple of shots, trying not to scare him away or back into his cocoon.

I got so close I accidentally breathed on him and that’s what he did. Pop! He was back in there faster than anything.

So I had to wait for about 5 minutes before he stuck his head out and continued his journey again. He dragged that thing around the back garden for about half an hour, not being able to free himself of it. The patience and persistence in this little guy was amazing.

Now, okay, he’s not going to win any awards for being the best looking creature in “Amy’s garden”, in fact he's really ugly, but he would win first prize for perseverance.

You will find that a lot of creatures like this, photographed up close look like something out of a horror movie, but really they’re not bad at all. (Except spiders, now they're downright evil and any one that likes to photographh them should see a shrink.) Caterpillers and other little creatures actually don’t care about us at all which gives us supreme photographic advantage. They don’t put their paws, wings, feelers over their faces saying “oh god, don’t take my picture, my hair isn't right!”

This amazing guy was taken at first with no macro lens and the photo did not offer me any detail close up. When I applied the marc lenses I used 3 of them which magnified him x7. But the only problem was that because he was moving, he was out of focus many times.

So there I was, laying flat on my stomach following this guy around the garden for 15 minutes determined to get the “right” shot of him. So I got these ones.

I felt I was really lucky because it was an overcast day. And as you know overcast days create filtered light which is perfect for photography.

When using macro lenses you do have to be careful of two main things. The first is that they have an incredibly short depth of field. This is why I had to be fast up close with this little guy or I’d he’d drag him and his cocoon out of the focal point.

The second is that the closer you get to something the more you loose light. You see when something is small, or has a very small area, there won’t be as much light on it as there would if this subject was large.

I took roughly 25 shots of him and came out with about 5 good ones. I wished he could have stayed still for me!

So remember if you see something like this, don’t miss it because it might not happen again.

Amy Renfrey
www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

How Much Is A Good Photo Worth To Your Safety?

2006-01-26T16:57:00.000-08:00

Boy, it’s been so darn hot where I live in the southern part of Australia (Victoria) , its so hard to concentrate on work! Forget the camera and taking photos, I can't even go outside its too hot. Just gimme air conditioning and ice cream! No actually, just let me lie in a bath of ice cubes....that might cool me down.

Am I exagerating? The other week is was 43.8 C which is the hottest day on record since the 1880's. (Thats around 106-110F.) And 43.8 C bouncing off city concrete roads, pavements, brick houses and tin sheds just isn't funny. Its too hot even if you're a "Summer person" like I am.

Fires, or "bushfires" as we call them in Australia, really freaks us Aussies out. The trouble with heat in Australia is that is causes these uncontrollable bushfires in so many country regions. (That’s what happens when you get a couple of 40 degree Celsius days on a row-that’s about 106 F with hot, dry winds). I don't mean just little fires, I mean raging monsters that burn peoples houses down, burn animals alive, ruin crops, whipe businesses out of existance and destroy everything in its path for miles and miles.

Its not just Victoria that gets nasty monsters like this. Its NSW (the state where Sydney is) and those poor guys suffer just as much as country Victoria does.

Right now, there are 600 heroic Fire-fighters trying to control a 300 km fire in Victoria. These amazing guys work day and night to the point of exhaustion. These guys sometimes loose their lives. Can you imagine how tough that would be for the families?

And the temp doesn't go back to a nice 28 degress (85 F), it stays up at 33C, 35C, etc. That means it goes from about 106F to about 95Fand doesn't give us any releif. Then more fires start. Sometimes by sick people who think its funny, and most by natural heat combustion and increases in the bushland areas.

Before things got out of control in a small region of my state, Mick Davson, a nice young chap from the country has sent me photos of his work. He actually managed to capture some images of a fire raging near our city. As it turns out he wasn't supposed to get that close, (he didn't know at the time) but the shots were amazing. You can't help but look at them with sadness and awe. (Sadness at the destruction, awe at the how powerful nature can be.)

(They are all his work, which means they are copyrighted, so if you want to use them you must ask him first. Contact me and I will email him your email to discuss any commercial ventures. Thank you for respecting his wishes.)

If you have the opportunity to photograph something like a fire, a storm or something that has potential safety issues then please, be wise. Do what Mick did and stand a safe distance a way, take your photo and leave. I know some photography nuts (like me) will do almost anything to get a good shot but don't be crazy about it. If your safety is at risk forget the photo. You can't take pictures if you are injured, or worse.

Do what Mick did and be sensible. With fire especially its not only the flames that hurt you, its radiant heat and falling embers. I should know, my mother lives near these fire stricken areas. She's okay, but does give me the "update" most days at the moment. Its me that worries about her!

I emailed Mick and asked him if I could add these pictures in the blog to share with you. The photos are such a good capture of what parts of our state look like from a non-media persons perspective. A big thanks to Mick, for letting me share his work.

And to answer the question; "How Much Is A Good Photo Worth To Your Safety?" The answer is "it isn't". Your safety is the most paramount thing. Good on you Mick for being smart AND getting some good pictures.

Mick took these pictures at Victoria's east. Anakie, near Geelong. If you want to see a picture from the media here in Victoria then have a look at the photo at the bottom. It was taken from http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk . And for the real story and more excellent photos go to;
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au . (It's our city papers website.)

Cheers,
Amy

Fast Actions Shots In Low Light

2006-01-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

You know recently I have been getting a few requests to please help with fast action shots indoors. I remember when I too was frustrated with not being able to get a response from professional photographers about this situation. They were always so elusive with how they conducted themselves out on the field and what they did to get a certain effect.

So now I'm going to tell you about how to master this. Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

Okay good news is that yes it is possible. Bad news is that you do need a good camera with manual controls to do it. Now since you have already bought the ebook I am assuming that you have either a point and shoot camera or an slr. Either way, its better than a cheap camera that does nothing.

Okay good, so we got that established.

The secret is this: the reason fast action shots look blurry is normally because they are taken in level of low light, such as an indoor basketball stadium for example. What happens is the camera, if left on auto, automatically adjusts itself to low light levels, which means a slower shutter speed. A slower shutter speed occurs the camera needs time to get in as much light as possible due to this low level of light. Its great from the cameras point of view, but really, its annoying and disappointing.

So what can be done about it?

Well firstly, increase that shutter speed. You may notice an increase in digital noise but it will only be slight so don't worry about it. After all its probably worth it for that 'golden' photo you are trying to get.

Its going to be hard getting more light into the camera, because usually you'll be too far away for the flash to work appropriately anyway. This is why your shutter is the first consideration.

Something that might help further is this: Shot 1- take the shutter at a certain speed, shot 2- increase the shutter speed one notch, shot 3 then increase it again, and so on and so forth. If you have the patience and inclination, write down on a note pad exactly what shutter speed shot 1 was at, what shot 2 was at, etc. Then when you view the images on your computer later that night you will have the settings writing down so you know what shutter speed worked the best. Then you can apply that to other situations too.

So relax and work with what you've got. Increase the shutter speed or increase the light.

Best,
Amy

Picture courtesy of vb.game-host.com

2006-01-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

A Tribute To New Orleans

No doubt no you've heard of the tradgic loss that New Orleans has suffered over the past week. Many people have lost homes, families, friends, and everything they own. To honour New Orleans as a wonderfully diverse city that it was- and will be again one day- I would like to share my photos of New Orleans taken a few years ago. Please post your pictures in here to, to honour the people of this wonderful city.

I have some black and white traditional shots (yes with film, remember film?) and I will get them transfered into digital images for posting up on this blog.

I think it is important to do this because we don't know whenNew Orleans will be the same fun loving city that it was- not for a while any way. So keep the people in your hearts and prayers and put your pictures up as a tribute to them and the place they call home.

Keep smiling,
Amy

Sunday, August 21, 2005

The Problem With Travel Photography

Hi lovely people,

I spoke not long ago about travel photography. I'd like to discuss a particulary problem with travel photography, and it's not with the camera, its with us.

One thing that you might notice whilst travelling is the lighting differences between the place you are visting and home. Your digital camera 'light settings' will still be set to where you came from, not where you are when you are travelling to.

Recently I went London and discovered something very important. I had my trusty Sony set to an E/V of 1.0+. This really means, in English, that I had the eye of the camera adjusted to reduce some light because light here in Australia is so bright. I realised what a bright environment we live in down under when I went overseas. In a nutshell I had my camera set to Australian 'light settings', not UK 'light settings.' Its not really called a 'light setting', but I'll use that term for the purpose of simplicity.

(You need sunglasses every time you go outside, where I live, even in the winter. Complaining? Not a chance! I do love the light in this country.)

When I got to London I looked at the veiwfinder and everything looked really dark. I was confused at first but had a theory. So I took a few test shots to try out my theory. I was right I had the camera on the wrong setting for London light. My first test shots I focused the camera at the brightest part of the object I was taking and took the shot. As a result my pictures came out either too bright or too dark.

"Excellent!" I said to myself at Trafalgar Square, "That's right then." In my Aussie accent- which I didn't think I had an accent by the way! (Just kidding.)

I then took the E/V up to 1.7+ and got the right shots. I got the right shots because I adjusted the amount of light that was coming into the camra. And to me, coming from such a bright place and going to London to me, seemed a darker place generally. Not bright, glary light like Melbourne. However this light is fanatstic for digital photography if you have filtered light like this. In Australia we are costantly ranting "the polariser! the polariser!" But in London, at times, I could get away with not having it on the camera at all.

So please remember the first thing you do with that digital when you are travelling is to look at what you have the camera set to to accept new lighting conditions . You may need to adjust the apeture if you are going from one continent and one season to another. Each season has a differnt light and varies from country to country.

Have a great day.

Amy Renfrey
www.digitalphotographysucess.com

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Denis, You must be Austalian, you're using my language! I'm very pleased you like the ebook. And thank you Marguerite for adding your lovely feedback too, I'm very glad you like it as well. I spend a few months writing the book and refused to release it until I was certain I had everything in it. But please, if there is something, anything at all, please leave a message here on the blog and I'll answer your question.

I'm always learning. I think its important to see your photography this way to retain a sense of excitment and stimulation about it. And really the best thing you can do in your photography is be as creative as you like. And this will give you confidence with it and a direction you can follow.

My cat here, who is now a celebrity (I'm positive she knows it) because of the eBook is another thing that maks photography worthwile. I swear out of the corner of my eye I see her roll her eyes when I whip out the camera again- then when I look she is looking so innocent.

Oh and one more thing, I'm investigation what the Nikon D50's are like. I'm doing a bit of research and nutting out somethings about it. So I will let you know what I find. Getting a great camera is worth while as long as you don't have to mortgage your house to do it!

I'm just putting the finishing touches on the black and white photography ebook. So if you are interested in B&W then 1) don't use my picture of the church as an example and 2) let me know and I'll put you on my special Black & White VIP list and you'll get it for a special price.

The website will be up soon for you to look at. It's not quite ready yet!

Amy

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Thanks Everyone

Thanks everyone for adding your pictures and contributing.

Since Gary has taken some good travel pics, over the next few weeks why don't we add our travel pictures? I know that everyone has been away at some stage and it would be good to share them and comment on them.

Okay here goes......

This was taken in Christchurch New Zealand on my recent travels in June 2005. This place is called "Cathedral Square." On my camera I set the E/V at 1.3 and shot in B&W. I've got a real thing for B&W, especailly Churches in B&W.

I am not sure if I need to crop the bottom slightly for composition, what do you think?

Amy

Monday, August 08, 2005

Adding Pictures

Okay I'm now seeing if adding this picture works....... I'll just grab anyone to try it.

tesing, fingers crossed.....

Hey it worked. Gary, you are a legend! I didn't say it'd be a GOOD photo! This ones' overexposed, but at least I know we can all add photos in here!

Cheers,

Amy :)

Monday, August 01, 2005

A Very Warm Welcome!

Hello Photographic Enthusiasts!

Thank you for stopping by. It's lovely to have you here.

I thought I would start a blog and put some great articles in for you to read for no charge, on how to improve your digital photography in easy ways.

I've got some great stuff I'm going to post in here such as:

Getting better indoor shots
Taking that perfect picture of your pet (good if you are as in love with your animals as I am!)
Handy ideas for digital printing
Editing digital photos

....and a lot more!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you want to know about, so please leave me a post and also get to know your fellow photographers. Also if you've got some cool tips you have found that work well, please share them. You are very welcome.

And yes, please, post your pictures for me to review, for others and myself to enjoy or for some positive improvement feedback. I'll also be putting some pictures in here of my recent travels to Hong Kong, London and New Zealand in the next few weeks.

I'll also be doing another eBook on Travel Photography in the next month or two, keep your eyes out for that one! Also I'll be bringing out an eBook on Flower Photography, Black and White Photography For Enthusiasts and People Photography. All on digital of course.

I've developed a series of digital images called "The World Up Close." It'll have abstract, black and white, colour, sepia shots and much more. (I could have titled it the "What The Hell IS that?" Series, but I thought I'd better be professional.......After all we're artists, don't let anyone tell you otherwise! :) And who says we can't have a sense of humour with our photography?)

And please post some pictures for everyone to see. So that you can share your photos with the world, or just other digital photography enthusiasts. By the way ALL photos posted in this blog are copied righted to the artist who took them. And be honest, if you see a picture you like, just email and ask to use it. Always get permission first.

Enjoy and be creative!

Have a great day,

Amy Renfrey :)

Welcome To 'No More Bad Photos'!

2005-11-24T17:29:00.000-08:00

If you've ever been dissapointed with your photos in the past, then this is the blog for you. Every week I'll be updating this blog with handy tips and tricks to get your photos looking great, and the way you want them.

I'll be honest with you, I'm a no non-sense kind of person. I tell it how it is and you can ask me anything.

In a couple of days I will start giving you some great tips to change those photos from crappy to brilliant....

Oh yes, I won't tell you that you have to buy hundreds of dollars of camera crap to get good shots. All you need is an elcheapo digital camera and a pair of sunglasses.

Cheers! :)