Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Steel Wool Photography Tutorial

Steel Wool Photography Videos

source http://photographicblog.com/steel-wool-photography-tutorial/

Tuesday, 18 September 2018

How to Photograph Dramatic Skys

Forms and textures

Skys, particularly dramatic ones, can make some awe- inspiring photographs with the clouds playing the biggest part, their different forms and textures continually evolve into some truly spectacular colours and shapes. A sky that looks mundane and uninteresting one moment can look colourful and dramatic the next.

When you see a sky worth photographing you’ll want to capture it exactly how you saw it, so to help you, try these tips:

Image by Colmarino

Perspective

To help make your skys truly dramatic, shoot them with something in the foreground such as buildings, trees, mountains or people, this gives your photos a sense of perspective and adds interest.

Image by dsearls

Dawn and dusk

The time of day is an important factor when photographing dramatic skys; in the early morning around dawn and late evening around dusk you can take advantage of the low sun with its strong colours to help create a truly atmospheric shot, but you need to be quick as the lighting will change rapidly at these times of the day.

Image by Linda Cronin

But don’t just rely on the dawn and dusk to get a good shot, even at other times of the day you can still capture a good dramatic sky; just before or after a thunderstorm when the sun’s poking through the clouds for example.

© A Webber

Weather

Although the time of the day is important, so is the time of the year, and also the weather. In the summer you’ll see the typical high Cirrus cloud at dawn and dusk that gives us those colourful rippling skys and during the day there’s nothing like a summer storm for capturing a good dramatic sky.

© A Webber

Which lens?

First, if you want to capture as much of the sky as possible then using a wide angle lens will be the usual choice to get those wide vistas, but if you want to isolate a part of the scene don’t neglect your telephoto/zoom lens; the image above was taken on a Canon 70-200mm zoom lens @ 70mm.

© A Webber

Be patient

It’s not always easy getting a good photo of a dramatic sky, so be patient, the sky is changing all the time, so is the light shadows and colours, so by waiting a little longer you may be rewarded.

© A Webber

Keep it sharp

When possible use a tripod to avoid camera shake to get a really sharp picture, and don’t forget the white balance. Most digital cameras have white balance presets, so experiment with these to see which one produces the best results.

© A Webber

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………….

…………………….

…

* Thanks to Colmarino, dsearls and Linda Cronin from Flickr’s ‘creative commons’ for allowing their photos to be shared.

….

The post How to Photograph Dramatic Skys appeared first on Photographic Blog.

source http://photographicblog.com/photographing-dramatic-skys/

Monday, 17 September 2018

25 Exciting Photos taken at Theme Parks around the World

Theme parks are exciting places with so much going on visually that you should be able to capture some great shots. From photos of the rides and buildings to vendors, street performers, children enjoying themselves – In this post we will take a look at some exciting and more unusual photos taken at them.

The Magic of Disney

The Magic of Disney by Stuck in Customs

El ataque del infame octopus

El ataque del infame octopus by ‘J’

Ram

Ram by Mr Magoo ICU

Matterhorn Sleds

Matterhorn Sleds by Justin in SD

Men in Blue

Men in Blue by Peter E. Lee

Sentosa IR to open Jan 20. Are they ready I wonder?

Sentosa IR to open Jan 20. Are they ready I wonder? by williamcho

Disney – 8 ’til 8

Disney – 8 ’til 8 by Express Monorail

It’s a Big Dome After All

It’s a Big Dome After All by Peter E. Lee

A Mickey Snack in Fantasyland

A Mickey Snack in Fantasyland by Samantha Decker

Disney – Epcot

Disney – Epcot by Express Monorail

Not a Planet Either

Not a Planet Either by Peter E. Lee

FastPass to Midway Mania!

FastPass to Midway Mania! by Samantha Decker

Abandoned

Abandoned by Keoni Cabral

almost a full circle

almost a full circle by Shenghung Lin

Haunted Mansion lighted in Blue and Green

Haunted Mansion lighted in Blue and Green by Mastery of Maps

Nagashima Resort

Nagashima Resort by /\ltus

Indiana Jones Adventure, Disneyland Park

Indiana Jones Adventure, Disneyland Park by Mastery of Maps

NYC – Brooklyn – Coney Island – The Cyclone

NYC – Brooklyn – Coney Island – The Cyclone by wallyg

Big Thunder Night

Big Thunder Night by Justin in SD

Maverick Lagoon

Maverick Lagoon by Intamin10

Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth by IceNineJon

Bucky Greenhorn at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (And a Friend!)

Bucky Greenhorn at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (And a Friend!) by Samantha Decker

Two Kids Acting Normal (Explore)

Two Kids Acting Normal (Explore) by Scott Barlow

The Angry Gods of the Tiki Room

The Angry Gods of the Tiki Room by Samantha Decker

Disney’s California Adventure

Disney’s California Adventure by peasap

The post 25 Exciting Photos taken at Theme Parks around the World appeared first on Photographic Blog.

source http://photographicblog.com/25-exciting-photos-taken-at-theme-parks-around-the-world/

Sunday, 16 September 2018

Most Common Photographic Mistakes (Beginners Guide)

Common mistakes

So, you’ve bought your new digital camera and now you can’t wait to get out there and start taking some photos. But just before you start snapping away, you might want to take a look at some of the most common mistakes made in photography so you can avoid making them.

Holding the camera incorrectly.

A simple tip such as holding your camera properly (as in the featured image above) will make a big difference to how your photos will turn out and will help to avoid camera shake. Of course the best way to avoid camera shake is to use a tripod, but if you don’t have one then you’ll need to know how best to hold your camera.

Holding your camera correctly will depend on the type of camera you have, but assuming you’re using a dslr hold the right hand side of the camera using the camera grip, with your forefinger poised over the shutter release, support the camera with your left hand by curling your hand around the base of the lens, keep your elbows tucked into your sides for better support, compose your shot, then take the picture, you can get better support if you lean against something solid such as a wall or a tree, or you could even try crouching down.

Cluttered scenes

Keep an eye on what’s going on through your viewfinder before you take the picture; is there anything there that could be distracting to the viewers eye? such as power-lines, ugly buildings or even people in the background. By simply moving to a different position or shooting from a different angle you can eliminate some or all the clutter for a better looking shot.

Under/over exposing

Another very common mistake is to produce images that are under-exposed (too dark with not much detail) or over-exposed (too light with a washed out appearance), many factors can course this; shutter speed, the iso setting or the cameras f/stop.

Even with your camera set to auto mode your photos can still look under/over-exposed. This can happen when, for example you’re taking a picture of someone on a sunny beach or in the snow, the cameras light sensor will meter for the brightest areas making the subject look dark and under-exposed, conversely, you may have the subject correctly metered and the sky looks washed-out and over-exposed.

However, there are ways to prevent this happening. The most simple method could be by simply getting closer to your subject (or zoom in closer if you’re using a long focal length zoom lens), or you could use the exposure compensation button; this allows you to increase (brighter) or decrease (darker) the standard exposure set by the camera.

A more involved method would be to use bracketing; in this mode the camera will take three (or more) shots at different exposure levels and can then be edited on the editing software that came with your camera or other software such as photoshop.

Above is a typical over-exposed image.

Above is a typically under-exposed image.

Subject too far away

Too many times have we seen photographs where the main subject looks small and insignificant. Don’t be afraid to get in close to your subject, it will be more detailed and have a greater emotional impact, and as mentioned earlier, the image will look less cluttered and more pleasing to the eye.

Poor focusing

You can’t recover a badly out of focus shot after the event so it’s a good idea to take a little more time to get it right. Dslr’s have focus points (some more than others), if all these focus points are activated the camera will always focus on the closest subject even if you don’t want it to. If this happens to you, then try using manual focus to get your subject sharp in your viewfinder. Alternatively, just activate the centre focus point only, to get more control on exactly where you want to focus.

Not knowing your camera

By of using your dslr in auto mode like a point and shoot compact, you’re missing out on your cameras true capabilities. If all the knobs and dials look a little awesome to use then try using the pre-sets (program, av, etc) to start with. But most important of all; read the manual and then, hopefully you’ll begin to understand exactly what some of those knobs and dials are for.

Composition

To know more about composition check out our other post ”Beginners guide to good composition in photography”

……………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………….

…………………………..

…..

Many thanks to Biscarotte and pradeep kumbhashi who allowed their images to be shared and also to Michael McDade @ William Antony Photography for our featured image.

The post Most Common Photographic Mistakes (Beginners Guide) appeared first on Photographic Blog.

source http://photographicblog.com/most-common-photographic-mistakes-beginners-guide/

Saturday, 15 September 2018

25 Interesting and Unusual Photos of Street Vendors

In today’s post I am returning to one of my favourite phorographic subjects and that is street photography, I previously covered black and white street photography and candid street photography and also Street Performers.

Today is a different spin and I will be rounding up some great examples of street photography again, but this time looking at street vendors – that is people selling food, drink and other items around the world. Working this sort of job and dealing with the public all day tends to produce great characters so there’s some good opportunities for interesting photos, make sure you get permission and buy something from them if this sort of photography interests you!

So here we go, 25 Interesting and Unusual Photos of Street Vendors …