Photography articles

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Candid photography is by definition taking pictures of people when they are unaware.  Part of the fun in photography is catching your human subject’s off guard so that your pictures have more emotion.  Photographers who work for magazines, like Time Life, have been able to get candid shots of their subjects.  I think most of us can remember the black and white photographs of Africans and others giving rise to more emotion from the viewer.  Taking candid shots may appear easy although there are few techniques in the photography world that will make the candid shot worth more than just a snap shot of friends.

First and of course most important is to keep the subject in view while they are not paying attention.  The next step is training your eye to catch the moment.  You have to be able to move fast, but with design.  You need to have your camera set for the picture before you are even aware you will take the photograph.  The best way to do this if you have a digital or automatic camera is to keep it on the proper setting.  Manual cameras take moments to focus and can loose the candid shot if your subject becomes aware of you.

Candid photography relies on the light; however, you may not always get to choose the angle.  The angle could be where you are standing at the time.  As a photographer of candid photography, you know the importance of choosing the best angle at the right moment that is possible.

The entire point of candid photography is to gain the unguarded moments of a person’s emotions, whether it is tears, happiness, love, or other emotions.  While it is true, you need to have light, angle, and a good camera to catch the shot it is more important to observe.  Most photographers are trained observers.  Their eyes will wander over the crowds, landscape, or other setting searching for the perfect shot.  They will always have a camera ready.  It can be extremely hard when you are taking photographs of your friends because they tend to be more involved in the conversations or activity.

The key to taking candid photographs of your friends is to draw them away from the fact that you carry a camera.  If they forget you carry the tool, they are more likely going to act natural.  Some friends tend to pose in front of the camera while others will shy away turning their backs when you get ready to take a photograph.  Knowing your friends will help you find the best way to take candid shots without their knowledge. 

Observing, having the camera ready, and understanding the basics of photography will yield you better results when you try for a candid shot.  Posing or turning away from the camera will take away from the shot you hoped to attain so hanging to the side or a little ahead can get you the shot you may need.  Profiles make great candid shots because the person will not realize you are taking a photograph until you have already clicked the button.  Candid photography can be one of the most rewarding arts of photography, but also vexing when the subject is aware of the camera. Always remember the camera when going out with friends.

Digital Camera Review

The anticipation of buying some digital camera accessories is just about as exciting as buying the camera itself. With so many trimmings to go with it, the digital camera will turn a simple hobby into a pleasurable profession with just a snap of the finger. When we begin looking at the digital camera of choice, we need to look at some of the accessories that will go with it. Some accessories will go with most cameras but some may be brand specific, so stay with the brand of the camera if you can when looking at their extras.

Accessories such as rechargeable batteries, a battery charger/AC adapter, memory card, soft camera case, camera bag, lens cleaning kit, tripod, external flash and filters, will all make the digital camera run more smoothly and efficiently. They add value to your photo shoots, and also increase the life of your camera. The worst thing in the world is to be out on a shoot, and have the battery go out or the memory card malfunctions.

There are some accessories more important than others, and some simply sell better than others. Right now, at the top of the accessory list for digital cameras are: (1) camera bags – for LCD scratches, general marks on the camera, with the Lowepor Micro Trekker 200 and the Lowepro Mini Trekker Classic as the two top selling bags; (2) memory cards – it is best to have one large card or a couple medium card.

(3) camera tripod – only purchase one of you are serious about photography; (4) photo printer – some of the best ones are the Canon i70/i80/i90 Portable Photo Printer, HP Photosmart 375 Photo Inkjet Printer, Epson PictureMate Personal Photo Lab Inkjet Printer, Kodak EasyShare Dock Plus Dye Sublimation Printer, and the Sony DFF-FP50 Digital Photo Inkjet Printer; and (5) Portable Storage Device and Card Reader – holds 7 memory card types and stores up to 100 GB of images; (6) photo editing software – always upgrade to a more advanced program; and (7) Digital Picture Frame – displays slide shows and receives photos across country.

One of the most important accessories, which really is a necessity, should be a lens cleaning kit to go along with the digital camera. You should never clean any optics of your camera using your shirt, fingers, water or breath. The kit, which costs a few dollars, includes a small blower brush, a soft cloth, a small plastic bottle containing the lens cleaning solution, and a number of lens cleaning tissues. Little specks of dirt on a photograph or smudges will cost a person time when they editing them out.

Digital cameras and their built-in flashes have a limited range of approximately ten feet, which is considered normal for most point-and-shoot cameras. This distance can be increased 18 feet on up to 40 feet, depending on the flash used as a slave flash, which is ANY photographic flash that has a sensor built into the unit. Many of these are sensitive enough to be activated 100 feet away in full sunlight, but are not restricted to outdoor use only.

Some of the new digital cameras that have “red eye reduction”, also called pre-flash, require a special digital flash unit to act as a slave unit. But the older digital cameras without pre-flash will still work with slave units. But the first thing was to purchase a camera with at least 2X on up to an 8X optical zoom – not digital. Optical is the highest quality digital camera available, as the digital will take blurry photographs.

Another very important accessory is a tripod, for those of us who have the shakes and an unsteady hand. The tripod is needed to prevent camera shake, especially when the shutter speed drops below 1/60 second at a wide angle shot. Some digital cameras are equipped with an LCD monitor, which flashes a blinking light as a warning when the shutter speed is likely to cause a camera shake.

Also, a tripod is necessary when the photographer is too close to the object in macro photography. There are mini tripods and the regular tripods, with the minis pretty popular anymore as they are lightweight and can be stored easily.

Almost all digital cameras come with a small starter memory card, 16 or 32 MB. However, a professional photographer or a shutterbug may need a larger memory card – the more pictures on it, the faster it will disappear in room. A larger card will have more room so more pictures can be taken; we won’t need to rush to our computer to transfer them off the memory card before we run out of room. We also have the option of using several small memory cards, sorted out per subject or job.

And last but not least, a battery charger or an AC adapter is very much needed, unless we keep a case of batteries on us at all times. But the battery charger is the number one choice as it allows us to continue charging spare batteries without interrupting our shooting. In the case of an AC adapter, the shooting will come to a halt while the battery is being charged.

It is also advisable to buy a spare set of rechargeable batteries as it saves us the embarrassment of getting stuck with drained out batteries during the middle of a photo shoot. Rechargeable batteries last longer, and will save us the bother of hunting for battery stores in desolate places. The price may be high at first, but it is better than losing a photography job or driving all the way to a camera store to repurchase what was forgotten in the first place!