Photoscout

• Picture Pefect Fireworks

  So it’s already the Fourth of July and you’re getting ready to take lots of photographs with your camera. You’ve already booked a nice view in a tall building or maybe even your office has let you go up the penthouse floor to get a good view of the light show while you put in some overtime work. However, when you attempted to take pictures of the fireworks last year, they all turned out blurry and of poor quality. Ever shot seemed to be blurry and they weren’t really fireworks as much as they were firestorms that did not resemble any beautiful sphere that one would like to look at.

  So what does one need to have in order to take spectacular photos of fireworks? There are a few essentials that you need to remember to bring, and for others, it might discourage you. But the trade off for lugging around such pricey and heavy equipment is quite worth it.

  What you’ll need: an SLR camera, a tripod, for setting the camera in place, a cable release, a telephoto lens and last but not the least, a lot of patience. One of the finer points in taking pictures of fireworks is that you really don’t know exactly when they will actually explode. The best hint that you have is seeing the trail of the rockets going up just right before they hit their apex. So, in order to capture fireworks, you need to have your camera’s shutter open for an estimated time of about 2-30 seconds. This type of feature is not readily available for most point-and-shoot cameras so it will be very important that you will have a camera that will allow you to do this whenever you want. The SLR cameras have a “Bulb” exposure mode which allows you to manually adjust the length by which the shutter of the camera is open. In doing this, you will eventually capture the trails of the fireworks, even if you were not able to capture them seconds before they exploded. Since the shutter of your camera is open the whole time it is extending its trails, it will be able to record that in full sharpness and detail as long as you are able to keep your camera still.

  Now, about keeping your camera perfectly still…it’s time you take a look at your tripod. You absolutely need that if you are even serious about taking a blur-free picture of the fireworks. It is important that you are able to keep your camera steady for the entire exposure because you need to remember that the slightest movement while it is open will eventually blur your picture. Even if you think you’re holding the camera very steady, it will eventually show signs of blur when you zoom in on the pictures that you’ve taken. So, your best bet to getting high quality, sharp pictures is to restrict motion in your camera and set it on a tripod for optimum steadiness. The cable release allows you to not touch your camera’s shutter and thus jiggling the body, the telephoto lens gets you as close as possible to the fireworks and finally your patience will give birth to a lot of good pictures in the long run.

  Posted in Outdoor Photography

  June 29th, 2007 / No Comments

• Picking The Time of Day

  One of the most important things that a photographer needs to get a good, solid grasp on is lighting. A photographer should always be mindful of his surrounding and the lighting that it provides towards a particular subject. For example, a photographer must be concerned with the warmth, depth, form, contrast, color and texture of the subject that he wants to capture. However, all of these things will be unavailable if there is no proper lighting provided. One has to be able to master shooting at the optimum time in order to differentiate between an amateur’s picture and a professional’s.

  There are a lot of times that one will go through when they will be shooting something that would be best shot at a different time of day. A fishing dock would probably look great during the middle of the day, when the sun is up, casting great warmth over the whole place but it would equally be an impressive shot if you were to wait until dusk when the sun would be setting over the horizon. It would make for a more poignant setting as well as more established shadows and colors since the setting of the sun will cast an orange hue over the rest of the sky in your shot as opposed to white, overexposed sky in the middle of a cloudless mid-afternoon. It would also be equally advantageous for you if you shot that picture in the early morning. You should remember that when the sun is low over the horizon, the light is leaning more towards gold and orange which will enable you to get a shot that is warm and reminiscent of a log fire. The professional photographers call these times, “magic hours”. These are the times that most magazines and movie shots are made or shot. It is within this very brief window of opportunity that the best shots are captured because of the orange hues that are emanated from the sun, the horizon and the sky. Being able to plan your shots during these magical hours will save you time and will definitely provide you the best lighting that could ever be provided outdoors. If you save your photography for one hour after sunrise and two hours before sunset, you will be able to add spectacular warmth to your shots.

  Here is just a rough layout of a day’s plan. This is assuming a sunrise at 6am and sunset at 7pm, and that your spouse/kids/friends suddenly give you the reverence and servility you so obviously deserve, a good day might be:

  5am: Pre-dawn: A pink, ethereal light and dreamy mist for lakes, rivers and landscapes.
  6-7am: Dawn: Crisp, golden light for east-facing subjects.

  10-2pm: Midday: The sun might be too harsh for landscapes and people, but perfect for monuments, buildings and streets with tall buildings.

  2pm-4pm: Afternoon: Capture blue skies with a polarizer.

  4pm-6:45pm: Late Afternoon: Awesome warm, golden light on subjects facing west. This is the best time for landscapes as well as people, particularly one hour before sunset.

  6:45 - 7:30pm: Sunset: Great skies 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after sunset.

  Posted in Photography Tips

  June 20th, 2007 / No Comments

• Taking A Great Picture

  The art of photography is a little too overwhelming for some people. Others are able to discover different areas and places through photography while some find a new perspective regarding things. Whatever the person behind the lens sees, it will be something new. Therefore, the photographer is driven by that single desire to take that one photograph that will leave people utterly breathless.

  So what is it that you need in order to take the perfect photograph? What should you remember so that you’ll be able to take a snapshot of the perfect picture? The first thing you should remember is that good photographs do not necessarily mean that you need to own extremely expensive equipment. The secret in taking the perfect picture is in seeing. Simply ask yourself, what do I look at and how do I see it? One of the skills that a person needs to have when involved in photography is the ability to see things differently. You should always ask yourself, how can I see something so typical in a very different way.
  You should remember that a photograph is, in essence, a message that you’re trying to get across your viewers. You are communicating to them what you saw. In effect, when a person looks at a photograph, they say, “Here is what happened when I was in…” or something to that effect.

  

  What you should remember is that taking photographs, you should try to deliver a message. You need to know what to include whenever you are taking a photograph. The subject of your photograph is of great importance and following suit is the background of your photograph. Your subject can range from your friends, a building an abstract form and the like. The subject is typically defined as the central point of interest in the photo. It is also placed in the foreground. The second element of any photograph is the background. The background is as important as the foreground because it is the one that sometimes gives the context where the photograph was shot. This part of the picture tells us the location and relevance of the foreground. So when you’re taking a picture, make sure that you’re able to capture the foreground and background in a proper way. Very importantly, you should be able to capture the picture without any distractions. Anything that is not part of the subject will only mess up the entire picture. You should remember to always eliminate distractions because that will always take up some attention whenever a viewer is looking at it.

  So there you have it—some quick tips on how to take a great snapshot for all of your eager fans to see. It’s better if you practice using these techniques and build your confidence from there. You’ll find that the more you practice, the better you’ll become in framing different subjects and backgrounds altogether. In time, you’ll be able to pull it off and your portfolio of excellent shots will eventually grow.

  Posted in Photography Tips

  June 14th, 2007 / No Comments

• Shoot People From Different Angles

  Photography is one of the many things that you can call “diverse”. From the framing alone to composition of certain people, you are able to keep yourself busy for quite a long time. Some people might dabble in still life photography and others might simply be content with shooting landscapes and sceneries. But for the photographer who likes a challenge, nothing could be more challenging that photographing people.
  For the ignorant photographer, the perfect shot would be the subject or the group of people in the middle of the frame while showing a lot of headroom and space around the group. You can basically characterize it as a tourist photo, if you can call it that. But there is certainly more to shooting photos of people other than centering them in the middle of photographs. You might actually benefit from photographing people from different angles and that is what we’re here to discuss.

  Because people come in all sorts of sizes and shapes, they would definitely benefit from having their photographs taken in all sorts of angles and perspectives as well. Some people are just too tall or maybe a bit on the heavy side so they will all need a different angle if their figure and features are to be emphasized. People shouldn’t be photographed by stock sizes and angles. You should try to experiment and see what works for your subjects. Try to get down as low or as high as you can and see if you are able to photograph your subject in a very interesting way. Try to see if you can climb above your normal point of view and see if you are able to take interesting angles of them. You would be surprised to see the difference that changing your position will do.

  The good thing about changing your viewpoint is your subjects will then be able to express themselves in a different way as opposed to a normal frontal smile. Sometimes, a change of orientation can bring so much change and life to an otherwise normal-looking subject. It all depends on how you are able to shift and tilt your angles before you click the shutter. Just remember to change the orientation of your subject or maybe simply go lower or maybe even higher. In going down low, you might want to crouch down and shoot using a wide-angle lens so that you’ll be able to get a unique perspective of the subject in the surrounding background. It would benefit you as a photographer to not just have normal-looking shots. Not only will you be trained to look at things in a different way but it will also challenge and enhance the way you compose things. One of the most important things that a photographer must have is creativity and ingenuity. Nothing can hamper a photographer more than having his shots so ordinary that anyone can practically shoot the same shot. Changing angles will definitely help you become a creative and savvy photographer. Try it for now and you might just start to love it in the long run.

  Posted in Photography Techniques

  June 6th, 2007 / No Comments