Steps to Better Landscape Photography

How many times have you been driving and wanted to stop and take a shot of that breathtaking landscape.  You then stop, look around and the shot even looks better.  Your heart even skips a beat.  You go for it and return to the car with a huge smile.

When you get back home you download your pictures, process them and then you find out that what you shot was not what you placed your eyes on.  What went wrong?  Well its simple your lens and the sensor of your camera do not work like your eyes and your brain does.  You select different parts of the scene and produce beauty out of them, your sensor doesn’t.

So what do you now?  For landscape photography you need time and a couple of tips, follow them, practice and your shots will improve.

1.     The general rule for landscape photography is to keep as much of the scene in focus as possible.  This means that you have to maximize the Depth of Field or DOF.  In other words you have to choose a small aperture setting (remember small in this case means a large number) to obtain a greater Depth of Field.  The greater the DOF is the more focus you will achieve.  This also means that your shutter will stay open more than it would normally be.

2.      Since you are now using a longer shutter speed to maximize your Depth of Field you need to ensure that your camera is stable and not shaking.  The best thing to do is to use a tripod and a cable or wireless shutter release mechanism.  Doing so your camera will not shake and your photo will be not blur.

3.     Decide what your central point will be, what is your subject, where is it, what size is it, does it have enough contrast with the rest of the picture and how does its shape compare to the rest of the composition.  Your central point, know as Focal Point, is what will make your shot stand out and not allow the eyes of the viewer to wonder.  The Focal Point in landscape photography can take the shape of many different things, a building, a tree, a rock, a person, etc.  The placement of your subject is very important, use the rules of composition for this purpose.

4.     Your horizon is the next step to consider and an important one.  Make sure your horizon is straight and in the lower third or the top third of the photo.  The rule of thirds applies very well to landscape photography.

5.     Now look for lines in your shot.  Lines are a way to guide the eye.  It gives your image a sense of direction.  Lines should direct the viewer towards your subject.  A line can be road, a river, shoreline, mountain edges, etc.

6.     Another element of your landscape composition that can create an amazing landscape shot is a foreground object, this creates depth in your shot and prevents it from being flat.  The foreground will help you balance your image.

7.     When possible convey and transmit the movement that you see, wind, water, moving clouds, a bird.  A static image is less dramatic than one that showcases movement, it ads drama, mood and creates a point of interest.

8.     Shoot landscapes either early morning or at dusk, light is the best at this point and colors, textures, patterns will pop out and impact your image. 

9.     Take your time before taking the final shot.  Try different points of view.  The same image will look completely different if you go lower or if you go higher.  So walk around, climb a little, get on your knees or in a ditch.  You will be surprise at what you see.

10 Tips to Help You Improve Your Photography

Reading books, attending workshops and browsing the Internet are all good things that can help you take better photos.  Read the following tips, they will improve the way you create amazing photos and how you see photography.

Know your camera – Your camera has lots of features that most photographers including yourself never use, maybe not even know they exist or what they are for.  Aperture, shutter speed and focus are fundamental and very important, but they many more that can help you be a better photographer and spend less time retouching and fixing your average photos.  There are functions like multiple exposure, time lapse, mirror lock-up, metering and many others.  Take your time to learn about them and get creative.  Creativity will change your photography.  Do you know where your camera’s manual is?  Time to take it out, go through it, experiment with each function and learn what you can create.  You’ll be amazed.

Take your camera into your room and turn off the light – Literally follow this instruction go into any room in your house and turn off the light, grab your camera and lets see how much your actually learn about it.  Sit down and change the shutter speed, the mode, aperture, ISO, focus mode, etc.  If you can actually do this is because you really followed the first tip and you know your camera well enough.

Enter photography contests – This is a fun activity and a great way to learn.  Look for contests that will actually provide critique and feedback.  There are many contests out there that decide on the winner by how many friends you convinced to vote for your photo.  But there are also some great photo contests, just spend some time looking and finding them.

Choose your best 25 images and have friends rate them – Print your 25 best images and place them on a flat surface.  Ask each of your friends to order them from their favorite to the one he or her likes the least.  When they are finished ask them why they placed them in that order.  You will be shocked at some of the comments and how people that are not into photography view things.  Their comments will help you understand some concepts that will help you improve.

Choose a couple of pictures that you like from sites like flickr and 500pix – When you are done, compare them, analyze them and critique them.  See what you like the most and why?  Look closely and see what they have in common, look at the metadata and find out how they were shot and the settings used.  Think about why they used those settings and what would have happened if the settings were different. 

Join a photo club and go out with your photo buddies – Photography is lots of fun when you can share the experience with others.  Look for local photographers, or a local photo club and plan outings.  Going out with several photographers allows you to experiment with other cameras, with new lenses, learn new techniques and practice new tips.  It’s fun and a great way to learn.

Learn a new photo technique at least every week – There are many different techniques out there and nowadays it is very simple to find them and to learn from them.  Google “Photography Technique Tutorial” and you will find thousands of them.  If you are very visual use the ones in Youtube, they will guide you step by step.  Another great resource is Google+, the amount of photographers participating is growing every day and the tips are awesome.  After you see them or read about them go out and take a couple of shots using the technique you just learn.  Practice makes perfect!

Shoot night photography – Shooting night photography is probably the best way to learn photography.  Automatic does not work.  You have to learn how to balance ISO, aperture and shutter speed.  You are forced to use a tripod and by doing so you learn how to use it properly and reinforces proper shooting techniques.  You will also learn how to focus on the light.  At the end you will be rewarded with amazing images.

Learn as much as you can – Research, ask, practice and most important cover a wide range of topics and learn about different styles of photography.  After you’ve done that you will probably know by then which style you prefer the most.  When you do, dig deeper, learn and specialize yourself, there is a lot to learn.  When you become real good at one style, sit down, relax and decide what’s next.  Start learning a different style, it will be a completely different experience and you will love it.

Show-off your work – There is no better feeling than someone commenting on your image and liking it.  There are many ways in which you can show-off your work.  Post it online, for example in smugmug, here you can have your own mini-website and share your work.  Enlarge, print a couple of your images and hang them at home or at the office.  Build a photo page of your work in Facebook.  There are many options and at the end you will feel proud of your work and motivated to do better.

Enjoy shooting and creating GREAT images!!

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Ways to Improve the Way You Do Photography

There are many resources out there to learn and improve the way you do photography.  Websites, books, courses, guidelines, rules, tips, tutorials, your name it, there out there and they are a good source of information.  All this information is useless if you do not apply it and know what to do with it.  In this article I want to share with you what has helped me improve and become a better photographer.

First of all get to know your camera.  Your camera is your most important photography tool and if you do not know how and where to find the different settings that all those resources talk about then you will not learn how to use it.  Learn where everything is, how to change the settings, and what the numbers in your camera mean, what to press and when to press it.  The camera will not do the job for you if you do not manage it.  So make the camera work for you, become its best friend, treat it right and take care of it.  When you know your camera you will be on your way to improving the way you do photography.

You cannot take shot after shot in auto mode and expect great results.  Learn new things.  Try new things.  Experiment with new settings and new guidelines that you read about in all the resources mentioned above.  As you progress and try new things you will be learning and improving the way you do photography.  In photography there is always something new to learn, when you do – try it out.  Trying new things will take you to the next step and will also make you curious about learning more photography techniques.

One other step in your learning process is to shoot, shoot and shoot more.  The more you shoot the more proficient you get at it.  The more you shoot the more you learn about your camera, its settings and different techniques.  Reading a book will make you learn something new, but if you do not practice it and experiment with it, soon you will forget it.  Spend time capturing images of the same object over and over again from different angles and with different settings.  After every photo shoot, go over your photos, see what you like, what causes an impression on you or others.  Review what you did to get to those results and then practice even more with those same settings.

In any activity you do in life, before getting better at it your need to work hard on it.  Why would photography be different?  Figure out what you need to improve at, do some research and work on it.  It is very good if you write a list of things that you do not feel confident about.  When you have your list, concentrate on one item at a time.  Spend time practicing, go over your results, doing research and learning from it so that you can improve your photography.  When you think you have reach the results you wanted, scratch it out and go to the next item on your list.  Practice makes perfect.

In the digital age of photography it is very easy to take many pictures of the same subject, review them and delete the ones you do not like.  Hold on and do not do that immediately.  Take a good look at the images that you do not like, analyze them and figure out what it is that you do not like about them.  If you find things that repeat themselves over and over again then it is time to add them to your list.

Another great way to improve your photography is to give yourself homework.  Challenge yourself, set deadlines and go out and make sure you practice more and work only on the topic that you assigned yourself.  Define what you need to work on, set a topic and work only on it.

Another important point is to learn to receive feedback and positive criticism of your work.  Let other photographers tell you what they think about your art.  Either find photographers that are willing to tell you what they like or dislike about your images or simply post your images on the Internet and let people tell you what they think.  There are some specialized websites that will criticize your photography and will give you tips to improve the work you are showcasing.  Photographers are also doing the same thing as you so do not get feedback only from them, ask around, friends, family, co-workers, and others, ask what they think you will be surprise about their answers, but it will certainly help you improve.

Photography takes time and dedication.  If you really want to improve, and not necessarily to become a professional photographer, do not give up, practice and learn.  You will improve the way to capture images.

Photography Fascination about Doors & Windows

There is something about doors and windows.  Doors and windows tell us so much about the streets, about history, about culture and they are everywhere.  Doors and windows are big, small, plain, colorful, old, new, modern, antique, they come in all shapes and forms.  Sometimes you will find open doors and windows, sometimes closed, with or without people, and even some times the door or the window are gone, but you know where they were suppose to be. 

Doors and windows beg us to be opened.  You are supposed to open doors and walk through them.  You are supposed to open windows and let the breeze come through.  Doors and windows are intriguing and fascinating.

Doors and Windows are there and they are full of patterns, textures and designs.  They call us to be photographed.  They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and materials.  Some are huge and some are intimidating, some are small and just there.  Some doors and windows are famous and some are also art forms.  These and more certainly bring the fascination of capturing images of doors and windows.

Capturing an image of a door or a window might seem like an easy task.  What can be so difficult about it, they are flat, so nothing to worry about ‘Depth of Field’.  They do not move, so nothing to worry about ‘Shutter Speed’.  But wait, doors and windows too have their challenges.

Most of the times doors and windows try to avoid the sun, they are patiently waiting under awnings, doorways, trees… oh, shadows.  Sun might be hitting them, so there is reflection, that you might not like or that you might want to take advantage of.  Doors and windows in the shade tend to have a cool, low, blue tone light, so sometimes the use of warming filters come into place.

As with most photographs, early morning and late afternoon is the best time to shoot doors and windows, not only due to the warmth of the light but also because porches, awnings, doorways, are out of the light path and no shadows are present.  Side lighting is also interesting it will enhance the texture of the door or the window as well as its details.

The use of the tripod is usually required to capture the details of doors and windows, since you will be shooting in medium to slow shutter speed.  Usually natural light is adequate but if you are not using a tripod then you might need a flash to fill in.

When you find a door or a window that you want to capture.  First thing is to remember your first impression, think about it and review it.  What was it that caught your attention?  The color of the door or window, the overall scene, the wall surrounding it, to door or window itself, the doorknob, the texture, or the window drapes.  What ever it was, make sure you capture that detail, without it the image might loose its magic.

Another important point to focus on is to move in close enough to remove all distractions and isolate your main focal point, the one that caught your attention.  Watch the light and keep the back of your camera parallel to the door or window to keep everything sharp and in focus, maximizing the depth of field as well. 

If what caught your attention was the texture, rusting, peeling paint, the carvings, then move in closer and consider using a macro lens, you really want to capture as much detail as possible.  Side lighting can accentuate those details, use the shadows to add depth to the texture, capture an image in two dimensions.

Doorknobs are interesting details to capture.  Depth of Field plays an important part in your image composition.  If you want to capture the whole knob then use a smaller aperture so that everything is in focus, if you want to capture only the end of the knob and blur the back of it, then use a larger aperture.  Think about other distracting elements involved in doorknobs, like keyholes and other highlights, make sure you know what you want your image to look like.

After capturing what caught your attention, move back and study the rest of the door or the window.  Change your position, your angles, get down, get high and look around.  You might find that there is more, capture different perspectives your choices are fascinating.

When capturing images of doors and windows take your time, remember the door and the window are going nowhere.  

Color in Travel Photography

One of the best things to look out for, while you are traveling and shooting photos, is the vivid and crisp colors of the city.  You will invariably find brilliant colors in buildings, doors, shops, signs, cars, walls, specially contrasting colored windows and doors on a crisp color wall.

Keep your eyes open, the amount of color combinations and color contrasts that you will find, while exploring your travel destination, will help you build memories of the place and great images.  Do not forget to combine those colors with local people doing just everyday things, like waiting for a bus, working on a roof, or simply a parked bicycle.

Remember one important rule about colors, they will look richer, early morning or late afternoon or if your tour is right smack in the middle of the day then use open shade while shooting.

Color will do many things to your images.  Color will set a mood, draw attention to your subject or even give support to your story.  When you are shooting think how color can help you produce better photos.

Good luck!!