Photoscout

• Deeper Colors In Your Pictures

  Everybody would like to get richer and deeper colors in their photographs. It is one of the trademarks of a good photographer to be able to get vivid colors in their photographs. So here are some techniques for you to apply so the next time you take a color photograph, you’ll be able to get more out of the colors that are available to you.

  Use a narrow tonal range
  You might have a bit of a problem when you try to photograph things which have a wide tonal range. This means you trying to photograph the sunlight that is reflected in the water of a peaceful lake and the shadows that are in the trees. You will probably end up losing all of the intricate detail and then you’ll get overexposed whites and totally underexposed blacks. To solve this problem, you should simply opt for subjects which have mid-tones and have little difference between the brightest and darkest highlights. One example regarding this rule is to photograph flowers and trees on overcast or drizzly days. The human eye might be able to handle a dynamic range of about 2,000:1 or 11 camera ‘stops’ but some digital cameras are only able to hand just 3 stops. Because of this, you should try to capture mid-tones that will make your subject perfectly exposed.

  Take different angles
  The difference in angles will more than likely make up for your bad lighting plus, the more you work the subject, the more you’ll be able to hit an angle that will probably expose very favorably than when you first envisioned it. So make sure that you take pictures of the subject from all angles and give a subject ten shots and then edit the nine bad shots out. You might want to use several viewpoints and different distances. Try shooting from a low and high position so you’ll eventually end up getting a wonderful picture. It is often said that the only difference between a professional photographer and an amateur photographer is the amount of shots taken. Professionals take way much more photos than amateurs. National Geographic magazine uses only 1 out of 1,000 shots taken.

  The art of bracketing
  Bracketing is simply exposing a picture for more highlights. If you are not that sure about the correct exposure of a photograph, you might want to try to bracket your shots. You can essentially do that by taking a normal shot without any stops, then take a shot which is slightly darker (-1 stop) and a final one which is slightly lighter (+1 stop). This feature is found mostly in SLR (single lens reflex) cameras and in the end you will have the shot that most likely applies as the correct exposure.

  Try out these suggestions to get the rich and vivid colors that your photos deserve. You will eventually find your way around exposures, bracketing, angles, natural and ambient light. Eventually, you’ll be able to get all elements correct, leaving you with a photograph that has rich and vivid details.

  Posted in Photography Techniques

  July 25th, 2007 / No Comments

• Stock-quality Photographs

  If you happen to notice your favorite photographs, you will be able to see that there are several common factors that they share. If you look at the photographs that get printed in a travel magazine, you will be able to conclude that there are simple but consistent elements that those photographs contain.
  People
  Most of the great photographs are all about people. Whatever they are doing and however they are expressing themselves. Most of the good shots are all about people. There are some attributes that the excellent people photographs have. If you look at your favorite magazine photographs about people, they already have a single element that binds them and those are mostly the emotions and empathy that come along with the person’s face. A good photograph should evoke emotion from the person viewing it. Try to avoid crowds and make the photograph simple enough so that it will be narrowed down to one person. The more popular subjects for photographs of people are old people as well as children. They have innocent and pensive expressions so these emotions will come out as provocative shots which contain so much emotion.
  Clear layout
  This is all about composition. If you notice, the good shots do not have any distracting background behind your subject. You will always find a good shot that just zooms in on one particular subject and holds your attention to that subject the whole time. You should be able to make things look easy on the eye. If you have to, zoom in or get close to your subject or go to eye level or find a simple backdrop that will aid you in composing your photograph and your subject’s orientation. Find the balance in your picture by giving it enough sparse background and positioning your subject accordingly.
  Solid colors
  One of the most underused factors that most photographers do not emphasize or take pictures enough of are bold colors. Whenever you see images which are ‘stock-quality’ images, your attention will always be drawn to those images which have bold, strong and vibrant colors. Whether you are looking at a typical red sports car or an emerald sash across a brunette’s ponytail, you will notice that colors have a way of drawing your attention to the subject. So make sure that you will always have something colorful to photograph. Sooner or later, you yourself will be naturally attracted to colors which attract the eye. Shooting colors will become second nature to you.
  These are just some of the suggestions that you may incorporate in your next photo shoot or photo session. You might want to give yourself an assignment of shooting colorful subjects or a theme that comprises all of the hues of a single color. You may also want to try photographing several subjects without having any distractions. This could be your assignment on composition. Whatever your challenge to yourself is, make sure that you will be able to practice these techniques for they may help improve your photography very much.

  Posted in Photography Tips

  July 18th, 2007 / No Comments

• Photos You Can’t Sell

  There are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who would want to be able to sell their photographs to agencies as stock photographs. However, before you go out there and submit whatever photograph you have on file, make sure that you’ve read through this guide so that you won’t have to embarrass yourself in front of your contact person when you finally do submit that picture.

  Legality
  First thing to consider is if the photograph that you’re submitting is really yours. You must own the copyright to your photo and because of that, you must have taken it yourself. The photograph also should not be a result of “work-for-hire” because they might claim that the agreement transferred the copyright to them since it was them who hired you to do that shoot in the first place. Photographs that you want to submit must be entirely yours. No one else should have taken the photo but you.

  Artwork
  Companies rarely take on photographs which have a recognizable artistic thing as its subject or on the background. Murals, paintings, sculptures, cartoon characters and logos will do just fine if the stock agency is specifically looking for those types of photographs but unless they expressly say it, they will not be comfortable in taking in photos with copyright artwork in them. Besides, the companies which have those artworks, such as logos, will probably restrict the use of their copyrighted logos.

  People
  For any other recognizable person such as a model, you will need a signed model release form and there are agencies which only accept digital releases, not faxed or hard copies. For children, you will need a model release form signed by that minor’s parent or legal guardian. This includes for photographs that are portraits or snapshots.

  Nudity
  There are some stock photo agencies which do not really like any photographs which have anything to do with nudity. They reject photos that are “sexy” or “nude” in nature. Should they accept a model that has posed nude in a photograph, they will be needing a photo ID of the model, must look 25 years of age and above and have consent to the shoot.

  There are other miscellaneous categories of photographs. If there are any offensive content to your photograph, a stock agency would not take that in. If there are any subjects or depictions which are defamatory, hateful, illegal, slanderous or vulgar content, that you have to kiss that photo’s chances goodbye. Another thing is that should there be any professional sports team in your photograph, they have the “Right of Publicity” and they normally refuse unauthorized commercial use of pictures of their facilities as well as players.

  So there you have it, some guidelines on what not to sell when trying out your feet in the freelance world of stock photography. Keep shooting and remember these tips so you won’t worry about going back for another shoot simply because you break one of the commandments listed here in this guide.

  Posted in Photography Tips

  July 12th, 2007 / No Comments

• Tips For Adventure Shots

  If you are an adventure photographer and you’re looking to improve your photography by leaps and bounds, you might want to read on about the different tips that professionals give inexperienced photographers. There are a lot of simple techniques that, as an amateur, you will be learning from other people. We compiled for you a collection of some vital tips that you can use to dramatically increase the impact of your photos the next time you go on an adventure trip.
  One of the things that great photographers do well is that they are able to capture a moment. Whenever something important or amusing is happening at a particular time, the photographer is able to freeze that moment and share it to his or her audience. It’s very important that you are able to get a hold of a certain expression or gesture that distinctly makes your photograph stand out. So the next time that you’re photographing someone who’s participating in something, try to freeze that action that defines what they are doing. If the person is jumping across a brook or maybe climbing up a tree, always try to catch them at a specific pose so that you’ll be able to freeze that moment as it happens.

   If You See It, Shoot It
  One of the important things that you should remember is that you should take as many pictures as you can. Whenever you see something that is worthy to record, don’t spend too much time and energy into getting that perfect shot. Just experiment and take as many pictures as you can. One of the few things that you will find is that your spontaneous shots are the ones which attract much more attention that those shots you have composed carefully. If you’re out backpacking, you might want to always have your camera ready because you might not be able to see that particular picture again.

  Show the Terrain
  It’s important that not every picture that you take have your friends in it. Some of the most breathtaking photos only have the terrain and the background of the place that you’re in. It’s important that you don’t get caught up with group pictures as much because as a photographer, your job is to show those people who will be seeing your photographs, what you were able to see when you were in that place.

  Get Closer
  Most novice photographers make the mistake of not being able to frame their subjects properly because they are not close enough. If you are able to take your pictures and draw a circle in the middle of the picture, chances are most of the time, that is where your subject is. Try to get closer, either through zooming via the lens or by walking closer, and see for yourself the difference that it makes.
  These are just some of the suggestions that will transform your pictures from “Ho-hum” to “How’d you get that?” Hopefully, you come out of your next adventure trip with more vibrant pictures and better-looking subjects. Until then, keep shooting!

  Posted in Outdoor Photography

  July 5th, 2007 / No Comments