So you’ve just seen the most wonderful photo opportunity jump right out in front of you and scream to have it’s picture taken. The baby is just so cute, and it’s got this HUGE smile, and even has a little grin on it’s face.
You grab your trusty camera, flip it on and start to snap away happily, getting in nice and close. You hear a sudden CLICK from your camera’s flash, and look to the back of the camera only to see a bleached and almost white outline of what looks like a head.
If you’ve been taking pictures for any length of time, you’ve probably run in to a situation like this. Or perhaps you’ve used flash at a time when it seems like you would need it, only to find that it produced oily-looking highlights on people’s skin, and made them into red-eyed demons from the underworld.
The thing about using a flash is you have to know when and how to use it! For any photograph you have a few options to choose between when it comes to light. Mind you, there are a large variety of options within these, but these are the main place to start from when choosing a type of lighting. Read the rest of this entry »



would just LOVE to make it turn into a slick, shiny new camera that would make you the envy of all who know you. But the question still remains do you want small and convenient, or high quality with bulk?
Do-It-Yourself, or DIY, is usually a term reserved for people who want to improve their home or avoid calling the plumber to fix the leaky faucet. But more and more, the term is used to refer to avid enthusiasts in a variety of fields who want to play with the big boys (or the professionals) without spending big bucks. This is just as true in photography as in the home improvement field, and with a little surfing you’d be surprised how many do-it-yourself tutorials are out there just begging you to try them out.
present. Here in the states a few months ago there was a major bridge collapse in the state of Minnesota that happened right in the middle of the evening rush hour. In a matter of minutes after the collapse people were already sending in on-the-scene photos of the disaster from their cars and the surrounding apartments. The abundance of photographic tools is so great that the major news organizations of the day like CNN, and MSNBC routinely ask their viewers to send in any photos they might have of newsworthy events to their websites. This makes a lot of sense, especially from a news company standpoint, because they not only get more up-to-date photos but they also don’t have to pay anyone to do it, it’s all on a volunteer basis. And people love the idea of having their blurry little camera phone photo flashing around on CNN all hours of the day!
Ever seen those eerie looking photographs that look like regular black and white shots, but something just isn’t quite right? Or have you looked at Ansel Adams’ work before and wondered how he managed to capture such surreal and super contrasted photos? Welcome to the strange world