I just wanted to share this video from Photographer & Author Harold Davis on how he shoots and processes his beautiful translucent flower photos: Creative Floral Photography with Harold Davis .
Read the rest of this entry »Photography can be an expensive business. Never mind the cost of the cameras and lenses, even photography accessories are often expensive. Thankfully, for many photography accessories there are cheaper alternatives available.
They might not look so good, and might not even work as well. But if they can do 90% of the job for 10% of the price, they can be very handy if you can't afford to shell out for the 'proper' product. It can also be a good idea to try out a cheap version of an accessory, to see how useful it actually is for your photography, before you decide to splash out on the full price model.
So, in this post, we'll look at a few different cheap alternatives to popular photography equipment.
A photography challenge can be a great way to improve your photography skills. As well as this, it also keeps you motivated to keep photographing and improving your skills, so that you can complete the challenge. A specific challenge always works better as a motivator than a vague goal.
There are a wide variety of challenges you can set yourself to complete. Or if you're feeling brave, you might even let someone else set you a challenge. The challenge might just be a quick one, or you could decide on a longer term challenge. You might even decide for a long term challenge split into several shorter challenges to complete each week or day. It's completely up to you.
In this article we'll look at five different challenges you might want to set yourself. These are challenges that other photographers have tried, and found worked very well in broadening their horizons and improving their photography. So it's likely they will work well for you too.
Whether photography is a hobby for you, or a career, it's highly like that you take photos because you enjoy it. One of the enjoyable aspects of photography is trying out new techniques, and capturing images that show a different view of reality to that you see with your eyes.
In this article I'll share five techniques that are fun, creative, and can result in some great 'out of this world' photos.
In recent years camera manufacturers seem to have greatly shifted their focus towards 'full frame' cameras. (A full frame camera is one where the image sensor is the same size as a piece of 35mm film, whereas a 'crop frame' camera has a smaller image sensor - typically 1.5 - 2x smaller.) The reason for this is not that full frame cameras are inherently better, but simply that they have a higher profit margin on the full frame models.
I've read a lot of comments from other photographers, and also a few articles that seem to treat full frame cameras as the holy grail of photography. But I think many people are being led astray by the full frame marketing brigade. Yes, a full frame camera is the best choice for some photographers. But for others a crop sensor camera may be a better choice.
So, in this article I want to redress the balance, and look at some reasons why a crop sensor camera can be a better choice than a full frame camera.
When talking about getting the shots that others miss, I'm not talking about being prepared to capture once in a lifetime moments (though of course that's great if you can). Rather, I'm talking about seeing things in a different way to most people. Seeing the details that others miss, rather than just going for obvious clichéd shots.
In this article we'll look at a few techniques that can help you see and think in this way, helping you to produce great photos that stand out from the crowd.
As megapixel counts of cameras get ever higher, it's more and more important that you use good shooting technique if you want to make the most of those extra megapixels. The higher the resolution of your camera, the more likely it is you'll see blurring at the pixel level caused by camera shake.
If you have a high megapixel camera but use sloppy technique, you can end up with a photo that only contains a few megapixels worth of detail, but takes up a lot more space on your memory card and computer than an actual low megapixel image would. In this article we'll look at techniques when hand-holding a camera that can help ensure you capture as much detail as possible.
In this final article on choosing a speedlight flash, we'll look at two flash modes that aren't used a great deal, but can come in very useful when looking for creative shots. And we'll also cover a mode that isn't used a great deal, and is unlikely to come in useful, but can be fun to play with, and is worth knowing about.
Often when people compare products, they look at just the features and price. But it's important to also consider build quality and compatibility. There's no point saving money on a flash if it turns out to be unreliable, or breaks down after a couple of months. Similarly, a bargain flash is no bargain if it won't work with your camera properly.
In this article we'll look at the issues of build quality and compatibility, and why you should definitely consider these when deciding which flashgun to buy.
While speedlight flash is great for on-camera use, giving you a more powerful flash with bounce capability, speedlights open up even more lighting possibilities when used off-camera. In this article we'll look at some of the different trigger methods speedlights may include that allow you to use them off-camera.
