Art Photography

For the self portrait photography, you need a digital camera, suitable background, tripod if needed. If you want to earn from your photography then you must have a photography portfolio website so that you can showcase your creative side to the world. Let us see few tips that would help you to improve and enhance your photos which you can click by yourself by using any camera which you have.

Preparing for the self portrait

A bit of the preparation is required when you need the best shots. Even in the magazine also, the fabulous shots have been prepared well with all the perfection. So if you wish to appear like a model, then you should approach your shoot in the same manner.

Location of the shoot

For the official photo you must have a plain background, it might be gray, cream or white. The informal shot may give you the natural background, as this photo shot is simply about you so just avoid the distracting backgrounds. So you can just choose the plain wall. If you wish to take the pictures in the background, than keep the simple background.

Leaves and flowers are fine, but simply avoid too many colors otherwise people would not look at your picture only see the background. For the indoors you can use curtains as a background. Also bright colors would work lovely for the background. Although, best color of the background would be the one which goes perfect with the skin tone. For example, which color makes you look better, shades of blue, black etc.

The long arm

If you have long arms than you can just simply hold the camera as far it is possible from you, keep on smiling and keep pressing the shutter. You can also just place the camera above than you and you keep looking up, this also gives the nicer shot.

Click and move along

Most of the cameras have got the timers option nowadays, so you can use that option in your camera. So here you would not be holding the camera at the time of taking the picture so either you require a steady place like table or shelf and the better option here would be to use tripod.

It is true that one cannot learn Art or cannot induce in someone the eye for beauty. But obviously, if you have it in you, it can be honed to perfection; however small that is. As a self taught landscape photographer, who has learned everything from the hours of waiting for the perfect light to the mistakes committed, I feel both glad and proud to share the secrets and the insights of landscape photography that contributes to the making of a great photograph. This is for all those who breathe through their lenses like me!

But before telling you the few basic ingredients to perfect landscape photography, let me tell you one secret that holds true even for the universe. It’s called the harmony. The key to every great thing is to strike the harmony right and landscape photography is not an exception. Open your eyes to the harmony all around you!

Landscape Photography: The rule of three P – preparation, patience and perseverance

To capture the mystical and scintillating beauty of nature, you shall have to wait at her doorsteps, respecting her own tantrums, whims and fancies. After all, something that is so great or so beautiful is not readily available. And for all who thinks, landscape photography is easy, here’s where you’ll find out that it is not. Behind a photograph that is par excellence, there are days of research, hours of thoughts, weeks of getting to know the topography, angles, crowds etc., endless failures and months of sleepless eyes eager to catch the perfect moment.

To get something great, you need to have perseverance, patience and also a lot of preparation. As a landscape photographer, I can guarantee the fact that a great shot takes a lot of time and a whole lot of mental preparation. So, my first advice to you would be before looking through your lenses, look around the geography.

Scout your chosen area. Note its important features; note the unusual and interesting angles, and its changing crowd levels. Take time to prepare the shot and make sure you are ready with your tripod or mini-tripod, cleaned lenses and the cable release before the best time of the day. Try out different filters and wait for a good foreground. If you have people in your frame, talk it out with them and break the ice to make them feel comfortable.

Choose a simple and clear layout- too many subjects dilute the depth and focus of your photograph

Remember that what you call as a good shot is the one that focuses your attention on the subject by using a fairly sparse background and a simple and interesting composition to strike a clear harmony. Removing the clutter for your picture requires real skill. Achieve that. Landscape Photography comes out best when you focus on your subject.

Not just landscape photography, any picture

you click, requires that subtle judgment of de-clattering your picture. For example, if you are capturing a musician, try zooming in, getting close to your subjects eye level and find a simple backdrop for your subject which will highlight your subject. Look for that vivid balance.

Play with colors. Look for bold solid colors for that unforgettable photograph

For vivid and warm landscape photography, notice the ‘Stock-quality’ images. If you notice them, you would see that they make great use of color. So, while you are taking such a photograph, search for solid primary colors. Bright ‘red, emerald green, lightning yellow, and ocean blue- solid colors give a different dimension to your picture. Use a polarizer to bring out the vivid colors. While you are playing with colors try to avoid patterns as much as possible as they tend to distract your viewers from the subject.

Alternatively, for a calmer effect on your landscape photography,look for ‘color harmony’. Scenes restricted to similar tones and colors, or even a single color brings out a calm, restful image where the eye plays with the differing shades and intensities. Look for pastels, cream, or delicate shades, when it’s a serene effect you want to capture.

Create drama with lights

In my vertical, which is landscape photography, I’ve often seen that photographs that win competitions are often the ones that make fascinating use of light. Keep an eye out for that silver lining- the beams of light shining through clouds, sparkling light through the trees or windows, elaborate long shadows and the effect of side and backlighting. Try and use the beautiful warm golden hours of early morning and late afternoon. You will experience magic through your lenses at these hours. Maybe this is why they are called ‘magic hours’. Landscape Photography requires the skill of the use of light.

Of the people, for the people by the people

Include the power of people in your photographs. You must have noticed that magazines in particular always create a dramatic effect by including people in the shot. A human face or figure always gives the viewer a human connection. It instills in your viewer a sense of being there, a sense of scale.

If you want to portray emotions there is nothing better than capturing a face to say it all. Laughter, despair, hope, hopelessness, proud, age- a human face tells it all. Simplify the shot down to one person for that exclusive reaction.

Catch the promise of tomorrow with the young and the worldly and the weather worn. Young and old faces make wonderful subjects with their innocent expressions and aged with wisdom faces respectively. They make your shots warm, friendly, and someone you can relate to. Like a good old friend. Such photographs never grow old.

Take heed of the above ingredients and mix them in an equal proportion according to your subject, place and time and you’ll see that in no time you have a photograph that you can be proud of!

Learn more about Landscape Photography

Wedding Photographers are gaining popularity through out the whole of America, in fact, through out the whole world. This increase in popularity could be attributed to the fact that wedding photojournalism attracted the attention of people in a big way. Wedding photojournalism earlier concentrated on celebrities, their weddings, how they enjoyed the cake cutting ceremony and the kind of outfit they wore on their wedding day. It was only after vibrant pictures of celebrity weddings were published in magazines that people began to realize how it could benefit them to hire wedding photographers.

However, even today, there are several people all over America, who prefer letting their friends and family click photographs and try to capture memorable moments of their wedding day. However, there is obviously a stark difference in the quality of images that are captured.

Then again there are several wedding photographers out there who claim they are professionals but it is only after you see pictures that aren’t exactly like what you expected them to be, do you realize the kind of training that the photographer might have received.

Thus, to get wedding pictures that look brilliant and more over make you look spectacular, you should hire wedding photographers who not only claim that they are professionals, but also have authentic proof that they are. One of the best ways to judge the kind of work you can expect from any particular wedding photographer is by going through his previous work.

Hiring good professional wedding photographers would mean that you would have to spend a little more money for your wedding; but then again, once you see pictures of your weddings, where in the photographer has managed to capture the most precious moments in the most versatile way, then you would not care so much for the money that you paid to have them clicked.

However, on the other hand, if you do not hire a professional wedding photographer, then you might have to spend quite a lot of money in getting the photographs edited and look better than they did initially. Thus, its always better to not really worry so much about the $500 that you might have to pay extra to the professional photographer, as long as the wedding day pictures turn out to be great.

Hiring Professional Wedding Photographers

Whether you have a Seattle wedding or a wedding in any other place in the world, you could always hire professional wedding photographers online. Most of the wedding photojournalists are part of one or the other photographers association. Thus, you can easily find them online, through their personal websites or through the website of the association.

Other than this, in places like Seattle, you can hire wedding photographers in Seattle by meeting the photojournalists personally. Some of the wedding photographers in Seattle also emphasise on getting pictures pre and post the wedding ceremony along with capturing moments of the wedding day itself.

You can expect a good wedding photographer to not only be professional but also friendly and you could expect him to capture you when you least expect it.

Many of the worlds strongest documentary photos depicts children. Since 1955 there have been 50 winners of the prestigious World Press Photo award, and 40% of the winning photographs depicts children. Again and again we see documentary photos of children in magazines, news stories and as leading photographs in fundraising campaigns for aid, development work and catastrophe relief efforts. Why is that? Well, not only are children cute, but because of their innocence and vulnerability, they evoke strong feelings of sympathy in the viewer. We simply can’t help empathize with the child we see in the photo, even if it was taken on the other side of the planet. With children too young to be seriously mixed up in politics and religion, the photos of children have the ability to cross all borders and reach out to our hearts. If they are produced rightly, that is.

What makes a strong documentary photo of a child? There is some concepts that just seem to work again and again. The mother holding her child. The child alone and crying. Children playing in the middle of poverty and destruction. Children staring from down to up, into the camera. With eyes wide open and a desperate look on their face. These photos motifs have almost become clichés, so it is up to us, the photographers, to use our artistic talents to avoid overdoing the cliché. As a general rule though, if you can capture a child displaying a strong emotion in your photo, you have a good chance to make a powerful photo.

There is another couple of tips to make strong documentary photos of children. Generally speaking, try to go close to the child and avoid interfering in the child’s natural behavior. These rules can of course be contradictory. If the child starts to make unnatural poses and gestures at the camera, you don’t get that authentic feeling. But if the child is doing something, playing, overwhelmed with feelings or otherwise occupied in his or her thoughts, you can usually sneak in a couple of shots without the child noticing anything. Keep your camera ready and have the exposure set before you put the camera in front of your eyes. And while you are in the process, try to ‘distract’ the child’s attention away from the camera by asking him or her some questions if necessary. Being close to the child and using a wide-angle lens usually makes for a more ‘open’ photo, one that asks more questions than it answers. It also gives a feeling of intimacy between the child and the person looking at the photo, thus evoking a stronger emotional response.

And don’t forget, since you are probably higher than the child, also try and bend down or even lie down on the ground, holding the camera in the same height as the children’s eyes. Eye contact can be a strong element and as with being ‘up close and personal’, it can give a more direct connection between the subject and the audience.

Sometimes it is alright to have the child pose a bit for the camera. Generally though, it can be difficult to give direct instructions to a child as to how to pose. “Try to look sad / happy” doesn’t work very well with children or, in fact, other people who aren’t actors or professional models. Instead, just use their natural curiosity for the camera and wait for the right moment. And if you really want to give instructions, ask them to do something in stead of asking them to look in a certain way. “How high can you jump?” “Kick the ball over there!” Active instructions makes for more natural looks. The key words to remember here is natural behavior, emotions, innocence and vulnerability. With that in mind, you can get great and powerful documentary photos of children.

And finally, it is also important to remember that journalism is never 100% objective. And neither is photojournalism and documentary photography. A photo only shows one angle of “the complete picture”. As documentary photographers, we have the power to choose which side of the story we want to show. But we also have a duty not to distort the facts. This is where a photo series can be a good idea. A photo series can not only capture the strong emotions, but can show the variety and diversity of a certain topic, be it children or any other theme.