Successful Travel Photography

Travel photography is quite different from other photographic endeavors especially if you plan to make a living from it.

Most successful travel photographers are writers as well. Actually in the print world, you can't separate words from pictures. They complement each other.

What the picture can't show, the words explain in greater detail. So it's no surprise that some travel articles are sometimes from husband and wife teams.

That's the perfect job for couples. Think exotic locations, the love of your life with you and endless adventures together.

My biggest problem with travel photography is that a lot of the imagery you see have been so photographed that they're the equivalent of visual clichés. What comes to mind when you think of China? Great Wall of China, or the Forbidden City in Beijing? Egypt? The Great Pyramids. India... the Taj Mahal. Indonesia...Borobodur. Cambodia...Angkor Wat.

As in most printed media, the pictures tend to be more important than the words. A visually striking image will draw a casual browser of publication into reading an article even if the headline is not well-written.

A great selection of pictures of one destination can save a article with mediocre writing. But the same can't be said if the pictures are of poor quality.

No matter how good and compelling the writing, if the pictures are just mediocre, readers will not be drawn to the story.

Poorly composed images, especially ones with lots of technical flaws like low resolution, artifacting and digital noise cannot be rescued. As powerful as Photoshop is, it simply can't fix or add something that isn't in a picture.

Even if it can, there is the ethical question of are you allowed to? Most magazine have strict guidelines against such manipulation of images especially in their editorial content.

But poorly written articles can be "massaged" and fine-tuned by editors into some quite readable.

Tips for a successful trip:

1. Careful planning and research of your destination.

Obvious yet a lot of people don't consider this when making their plans. Festivities like Oktoberfest in Germany, Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, California takes place annually at the same time.

And by planning I don't just mean planning for the length of time you are going to be at your destination. If you're a digital photographer, you'll need power to charge your batteries and a way to download and clear off your memory cards or you will be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

If you're headed abroad where electrical power is different from home, you'll also a voltage converter. I recommend the Kensington 3317 International All-in-one Travel Plug Adapter.

2. Precise note-taking.

Whether you use a laptop or pen and paper, having good habits like keeping receipts and other bills incurred during the trip is important.

Even if you're not writing the article, precise notes on how to get from town A to town B, how much the fare was, the duration of the drive are all details which add value to your pitch to magazines or collaborative effort with a writer.

Remember your recall will not be so good once you're home. Foreign names have a way of sounding the same when you get home, so good note-taking is critical.

Your article will have more credibility if you provide details since a travel article is part "how-to" and part narrative. Another reason for those notes is documentation when you claim the trip as a business expense.

3. Digital SLR with wide and telephoto zoom lens

Think "light." If you're lugging around a lot of gear, you'll be too beat to use your camera. Traveling light doesn't mean you leave essentials like a healthy supply of extra memory cards, batteries and flash units at home.

If you're bringing along a laptop, then a supply of writable CDs or DVDs is important.

Even if you don't have a chance to edit your images after you download them to your computer, you should burn those images as a backup and mail them to yourself.

That way if all your gear is stolen, you'll still have images to show when you get home.

Prior to his arrival in the US, before attending college, Riverside portrait photographer Peter Phun traveled extensively, documenting his travels through photography.

He specializes in location portraits, weddings and editorial work. He writes about photography, Macs & the internet. He also designs websites and is a stay-at-home dad.

Previously, Peter worked as a staff photographer for 18 years at The Press-Enterprise, Southern California's 4th largest daily newspaper. He is the webmaster for the Mac user group in the Inland Empire.

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The Classic Rules of Photography

People often refer to "the classic rules of photography": "This photo follows the classic rules..." or "he/she broke all the classic rules..." etc. But what are those "classic rules" anyway? I gave it some thought and came up with the following five rules, all longstanding and time-honoured, like you would expect when something is called classic. But nothing is set in cement and rules such as these have been violated with superb results over and over again. But they are also there for a reason, since they probably represent something that most people mostly find pleasing most of the times. Not everybody all the time. So what are they, these classic rules of photography:

Rule #1: F/8 And Be There!

This is rule number one and it has little to do with your camera and technical proficiency, as is the case with the other four rules. Read this rule again, breath it and live it. As simple as it sounds, it is the most important of all rules in photography.

The part about f/8 refers to a camera setting, or rather a lens aperture setting. It's a technical detail and it's not really important. But at the same time it's what makes this rule so memorable.

It's not a bad advice using f/8, it's a pretty standard value and often safe to use if you want to be sure to get your subject in focus without giving it much thought.

But it's true value is that it boils all the complicated art and tech issues down to that simple 1-letter-1-number statement, f/8 (simply read f eight), the hidden message being: Forget the technical aspects, concentrate on the subject. Simple and brilliant.

In my experience it's mostly used in the context of spot news photography, where it's certainly important to be on the spot when something happens. But I wouldn't forget about it in the context of normal peoples lives, peaceful landscape photos and even photos for the family album. Whatever photo you want to capture, you have to be there first. You have to get up and go out, walk that extra mile, lose that hour of sleep, do whatever it takes for you to get there with your camera.

A talented, but lazy photographer is not necessarily as successful as a very active, less talented one. Because you have to be there.

Rule #2: The Decisive Moment

A term coined by photography legend Henri Cartier-Bresson. Sort of a time-version of rule number 1. Together we could call these two rules: "Being in the right place at the right time".

But there's more to this rule than just being there at the right time. You have to press the shutter button at exactly the decisive moment, when all the elements of the photo (perhaps including the photographer himself) suddenly come together in a fraction of a second. A blink of an eye and it's gone again. The man jumping over the puddle has touched down again, the guy in the background has turned his head away from the kissing couple and the dying soldier has fallen flat to the ground.

It happens so fast that it's hard for us to see and react to before it's over. But that is one of the big charms of photography. It can capture these fleeing moments and make them last forever -- on print. For Cartier-Bresson it was an intuitive thing. "Think before and after you take a photograph, not while you are doing it."

Sports photography arguably has a lot of decisive moments, but in my book they don't really count, since it's just a game and not truly a slice of reality. I know Cartier-Bresson in his book set off with quoting someone "there's nothing in the world that doesn't have a decisive moment", but I don't want to get into the discussion here. Many people who are more sports enthusiastic than me would probably disagree with me, but I do think that there's more real decisive moments to be had on the stadium seating than on the pitch.

Rule #3: Go Close

-- And when you've done that, go even closer! Coined by another photography legend, Robert Capa, who died following this rule, camera in his hand, as he stepped on a landmine in the French-Indochinese war. But not all situations of course are life-and-death situations. So use it whenever you reasonably can, and your photos will in many cases have a stronger appeal and give a more intimate connection between the subject and the viewer.

Again, it's not just for spot news photography. If you are portraying normal life, it is equally important to get close to people. Get into their homes and into their private lives where they are themselves. Do it in a way that isn't prying and offensive. It will give you an honest and intimate view of life.

This rule usually implies using a wide-angle lens, which tends to give a more "open" perspective. Much good can also be said about the long tele-photo lenses as well, and they have their place. Especially in fields like wildlife and sports photography, where it is often impossible to be up close to the action.

Rule #4: The Rule Of Thirds

This is one of these rules that are great to follow and equally great to break. But photography would be a lesser thing without it. Briefly stated, it tells you to place you main subject, not in the center of the frame, but a little to the left or right side, a third into the frame. And also to place any dominating horizontal lines in your photo, like for instance the horizon, a third into the frame from the top or bottom. Just not in the center.

This will arguably give your photo a more appealing look, pleasing to the eye by leaving a significant space on one side of the subject for the surroundings. The rule, also known as the divine proportion and the golden mean, have been used by painters for thousands of years. Having survived that long, there's got to be something about it!

Rule #5: Use The Light

The magic hours, the hour around sunrise and the hour around sunset have a particular pleasing, soft light that works particular well for landscape and outdoor photography. It's always the light that creates the photograph. For indoor and portrait photography, use a barn door or, if you don't live on a farm, a big window without direct sunlight will also do. Place your subject close to the window and you will get a nice, soft light from different angles falling onto your subject. You can get the whole studio lighting set-up as well if you prefer not to rely on the constantly changing natural light.

The author, Morten Svenningsen, is an international photographer in Nepal, Asia Visit his web site http://www.mortensvenningsen.com to see hundreds of documentary photos, travel photos and portraits. It's even possible to order a few posters.

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Event Photography - If You Enjoy Parties and Photography, Here's a Free Guide to Earning From It!

If you are considering becoming an Event Photographer this guide may be useful. I spent a long time researching all the kit needed to be a successful Event photographer, testing and costing carefully. It's all current gear available now so it's up to date unlike some of the guides I read.

I've been on training courses and I've done quite a few different Events now, so this is to help others avoid some of the common mistakes. This guide to Event photography is based on my personal experience and you are welcome to reproduce it as long as you credit this article with the website address

I do recommend anyone interested in Event photography going on the excellent training course supplied by Systems Insight, speak to Mike Orr, Stuart or Darren at systems insight. I've also found the Event Photographers Society really useful.

It is divided into sections as follows:

1, Camera Equipment needed for Event Photographers;
2. Lighting equipment for Event Photography;
3. Printers for Instant Event Photos;
4. Mitsubishi Click system for Event Photography;
5. Green Screen Event Photography;
6. Starting an Event Photography Business.

1. Camera Equipment for Event Photographers.

You don't NEED the latest high-end professional DSLR with pro glass lenses to shoot an event! It's nice to have good kit but that should be a given for any Pro Photographer. In reality the customer at a football tournament, school prom or black tie event doesn't care what kit you have as long as the results are good, and you don't want to be carrying a heavy camera with fragile glass in an environment that is often boisterous and busy!

You don't need to shoot huge resolution RAW files and won't have time to post process or mess about with hundreds of settings.You are aiming to get a sharp, vibrant and well lit photograph of enough resolution to print at your final output size. Concentrate on making the people look great!

I do recommend a wireless work flow which I cover later, and again you need the files to be small enough to send quickly. I use a Nikon D700 but that's only because I have one for Property photography as I need the full frame and low light capabilities.

I shoot jpg at just medium resolution for most events, and use a Sigma 24-70mm HSM lens so I can quickly zoom between individuals and groups. A Nikon D40 with a kit lens will do just as well. and I always carry one as a backup. It also takes my Nikon flashguns and is much lighter than a D700.

It is important to have a backup camera, I've even made do with a Nikon Coolpix P6000 when my D700 was being used pitch side at a Cricket Event. With proper lighting (see lighting section) I got almost identical results shooting people in front of a green screen. You must have at least one fully charged spare battery for each camera at an event, a couple of spare and preformatted memory cards, and spare batteries for your flashguns. I use the new Duracell rechargeables for the flashguns as they stay

So don't go mad on the camera kit, it will get bashed around at an event! As for settings, indoors I shoot at around f7.1 to f8 for groups so I get good depth of field, I use shutter speeds of around 125 to get sharp shots as I don't like a tripod, too restrictive, and I use ISO 400 to get enough sensitivity. White balance is easy on a Nikon, see lighting but the flash setting will do. For individuals and couples I open up to around f5 and shoot full length, head and shoulders and a close-up. Outdoors events are more dependent on the available light and the lens.

One tip, using a wireless transmitter to send the images straight to your PC, Mac or Click system avoids the pitfall of people (the ladies mainly) wanting to see each shot on the back of the camera as you take it! That gets them through quicker and lets your team at the workstation show the images properly at full size. I do actually keep the images stored in the camera as a backup though in case the wireless system stops working.

Another tip, if you are shooting groups at a School Prom or Corporate event, take a stepladder! If you get above them and shoot down it changes the angles and stops the people at the front looking much larger than those at the back! This lets you squeeze bigger groups in as well, especially useful if you are shooting in front of a green screen at an event.

Also, if you ever get a large group of girls at a School Prom or Sweet Sixteen event, take LOTS of shots! It is very hard to get a single photo where every girl is happy with how she looks, guys really are not as fussy. The girls will buy the photo that they look best in.

We tend to charge the standard rate £10 per shoot including a 6x9 mounted photograph, but do offer incentives for groups such as discounting copies of the same photograph, or offering 3 for the price of 2 if they are different shots that need processing.

2. Lighting Equipment for Event Photography

I don't use studio lighting for indoor events! Initially I used the standard large softbox above the camera and shot in front of a grey, back or white backdrop. But that's boring and old hat nowadays, the lighting is very flat and there is always the risk of people tripping over cables and the hassle of finding a nearby power socket.

At School proms, Bar-Mitzvahs and especially Sweet Sixteen parties it gets very busy and although we carry full insurance I don't want a heavy studio light falling on a guest. It's the same at Corporate events and Black Tie dinners, there's usually a huge rush after dinner for photos and even a taped down light can get pulled over by an inebriated partygoer!

So now I use a Nikon SB-900 on the camera with the wide-angle flap down and the soft diffuser fitted. This controls two other Nikon SB-600's also with the wide-angle flaps down using Nikon's excellent CLS lighting system. The two SB-600's are mounted on sturdy but portable stands and shoot through white umbrellas for lovely soft lighting.

At an Event you don't want to be messing around changing lighting when you have queues, but this setup is flexible and light enough to be safe to move quickly if you need to. The Nikon system lets me control the brightness of each flash directly from the camera without having to touch the lights.

As we use Green Screen backdrops at most events to add effects and digital backgrounds, I have to ensure the backdrop is evenly lit to avoid problems when chromakeying out the green. By mounting the umbrellas high up at either side and shooting through them, the green (or blue) backdrop gets evenly lit where it matters. The guests get a nice flattering lighting setup which I can easily adjust for large groups or closeups. I

I shoot on full manual with the on camera flash at about 1/32 power to give a little fill light, but mainly to trigger the two mounted lights. These are usually on about 1/8th power which is plenty! Recyling is very fast and I've never had to change batteries yet at an event, although I have charged spares on hand.

If I get a large group like a football or cricket team at a sporting event I can quickly move the two sidelights back and up the power.If it quietens down and we get a guest who wants some special shots, the lights can be moved so one acts as a keylight and one as a fill for classic Rembrandt lighting. We have professional makeover software running on the workstations so can enhance pictures quickly if someone wants portfolio shots.

The SB-900 on the camera can also be removed and used as a slave for hair lighting or other effects, triggered by the on canera flash. So we can do a three light setup easily! White balance is crucial, on Nikon cameras just stand where the subjects will be, set the white balance to "pre" then hold down the wb button for three seconds. When the display flashes, point the camera back between the lights and shoot. If it says "good" in the display, you are set to go. If not, try shooting again straight at one of the sb600, it will work!

The real beauty of this system is that it all fits in one calumet rolling case and is easily portable! It is very flexible for other types of photography. These flashguns are just as powerful as studio lights, and we even carry Fong diffusers and softboxes just in case we get a chance to do some glamour photography. (and yes, you can book us for private shoots!)

3. Printers for Instant Event Photos.

I used to to run a large independent company selling calibrated colour printers, scanners and displays into the corporate design market and previously worked with Canon, Xerox, Mitsubishi and Tektronix as a colour consultant. So choosing the best Event printers was an interesting exercise!

Inkjets and colour lasers were instantly dismissed as I needed portability, reliability and photographic quality. Plus I needed to know exactly what each print would cost. An inkjet will produce the quality with a bit of tweaking but will never match the quality, speed or durability of a dedicated dye-sublimation printer.

I don't believe in compatible inks as I've seen first hand the amount of R&D that goes into a manufacturers own ink. So ink-jet prints are going to be too expensive for event printing. Lasers are fast but lacking in colour quality, and extremely tricky to transport. After testing all the current offerings I decided on the Mitsubishi 9550 DW linked to the Mitsubishi Click system as our basic workhorse for producing large 9 x 6 inch photographs.

As I use a full frame camera this is exactly the size the camera shoots at, so no cropping needed! The photographs are fast and very accurate thanks to the dedicated colour profiling we use supplied by Systems Insight and fine-tuned by me!

The dye-sub process basically involves heating the ink on a ribbon until it turns into a gas and sublimates into the special paper. This is a true continuous tone process so the colour gamut is much wider than other processes, giving smooth and accurate skin tones with no dot patterns.

You can actually roll a photograph up and stand it in a pint of coke, leave it for hours and then wipe dry without any signs of running or fading, as demonstrated on the training course by Stuart! These photographs really won't fade and are fingerprint proof thanks to the special coating. They will last longer than any other photograph!

The fixed cost per photograph allows us to offer discounted pricing for pre-paid events like weddings or school proms as we know exactly what our costs will be per photo regardless of how much of each colour is used.

But we also offer a unique digital make-over service for events using a very special PC with professional retouching software so needed a printer we could connect directly. And we wanted to be able to offer instant 12" x 10" photos and other large sizes for Sporting Events like football and cricket events where team shots are popular.

So we decided on the larger format Mitsubishi as well as we have now found out it also works on the Click! Consumables for the Mitsubishi Event printers are readily available and therefore discounted prices help bring the costs down. Some of the more obscure brands like Shinko and Olmec are often tricky to source.

We are happy with the speed, quality and reliability of our printers, but more importantly, our customers love the results.

4. Mitsubishi Click System for Event Photographers.

My background is in colour technology as mentioned, but prior to that I was a DEC system manager, I have a HND in Computer Science and am a qualified programmer. Yes, I'm old enough to have done all that and spent 7 years in the Army controlling Artlillery fire by computers and by slide rules and log books when those systems were taken out.

So I'm probably more of a technical geek than most photographers. So why did I choose a dedicated turnkey solution for producing event photographs rather than use my expertise in PC and Mac solutions?

Laziness really, why re-invent the wheel! I quickly realised that to make any money at all in Event Photography you have to produce very good photographs to a very high standard very quickly! Work flow is very important. Initially I was either going to use a big 27" Mac with a studio display for quality to handle all the incoming pictures, or go down the Windows 7 route with a couple of fast Sony Vaio AW notebooks with their gorgeous Adobe RGB 18" monitors, with either system linked to a dye-sub or two.

But once I started looking at the workflow and software required I realised the Mitsubishi Click would cover all the bases. Yes, I could run either system quickly and use dedicated green screen software and professional retouching software to produce stunning results. But then who would take the photos? I needed a system that was streamlined and simple to use so I could train others to use it.

My first event was a corporate Xmas dinner and the only person available to do the green screen effects, printing, mounting and sales was my wife! The Click system is very straightforward, you set up a new event and pictures are sent wirelessly from the photographer. Selecting them by just touching the screen allows for full screen previews, once the customers have decided which photographs they want it is quite easy to drop in a green screen background and print, all by touch!

Camera cards and CD's can be easily read or burnt, multiple printers are supported and the whole system runs smoothly and look very professional. We've even had customers connect their own cameras or mobile phones by bluetooth and print their own photos! My wife managed well on our first event, and we had over thirty satisfied customers that evening, in a very short period of about 2 hours from when the meal ended to going home.

Many purchased multiple photos, with different backdrops and effects, but she handled it all while I took the shots. Now we have more trained assistants as it did wear her out a bit:) But I still wanted the flexibility and power to use more specialised green screen software to drop in overlays and fine tune some of the more tricky effects.

So with a bit of help from the techies at System Insight I worked out how to access the system directly, and underneath the smooth software front end is a powerful windows PC. So now if we get a really special request (like "put me in the Oval Office with President Obama") I can jump in and alt tab to Photokey or Portrait pro running in the background! And yes, you can print directy to the dedicated 9550DW by dropping jobs straight into the queue, email for details:)

You can also boost the processor speed, add more RAM, put in a HDMI graphics card to support external displays, even change out the motherboard if you are brave enough and don't mind voiding your warranty!

I'd recommend this system to anyone starting out, and would also recommend you buy it from Stuart or Darren at Systems Insight as they know the system well!

5. Green Screen Event Photography

To be successful in Event Photography as in any business you need a key differentiator, something to make you unique. We all provide basically the same service, photographing people having a good time and offering prints or downloads. Some specialise in niche markets like weddings or school photographs, or certain types of events like Equestrian or Motorcycling. I chose Green Screen Event Photography for a variety of reasons.

I like the portability of our lighting system and didn't want to spoil that by having to carry around various huge coloured backdrops for different occasions. I find it boring having dozens of people shot the same way, and I'm sure most people who go to events are getting fed up of the same bluey grey backdrop, or the "ultra modern" white or black high or low key shoot.

I want to have fun at an event and want the guests to experience something new. So we shoot everyone in front of a blue or more usually a green screen and then our special software can replace that colour with any of our 2500 digital backgrounds! This gives us the flexibility to add classy studio backdrops to Black Tie and Corporate Events, and lets us choose appropraite colours to enhance what the guests are wearing.

For School proms and Sweet Sixteens we can get the guests flying through space, on stage with their favourite rock bands or in the latest movies. Bar and Bat-Mitzvahs are great fun as we can transport the guests anywhere in the world, and for all events we offer free personalised overlays and designs so the event is memorable and unique.

The secret to Chromakey Event Photography is keeping the workflow fast! If you offer a guest 2500 choices, expect a huge queue or a lot of disapointed people. We tend to design 10 choices for each event and will print an example of each so they can decide before we shoot. That way if they are going to be posing alongside a Twilight Vampire or on the dance floor with John Travolta, they can strike an appropriate pose! It does slow things down having to add backdrops but we prefer the interaction and the guests enjoy the experience.

It's not all about getting them shot and printed to us, some event companies work like a slaughterhouse concentrating on quantity rather than quality, that's what the auto cameras at theme parks are for, we would rather spend a little time earning our money!

We prefer green screens to blue screens as less people wear the actual shade of green we use. Blue clothing, eyes and jewellery are more common and can cause probems unless you know how to mask out those areas. We use very special green screen material now, direct from the film studios. This is a special white backed material that absorbs light and glows evenly. Ordinary green muslin will reflect light and cause problems especially with very blonde hair. Contact me for details, it's twice the price but worth it!

Don't worry about evenly lighting the backdrop as many claim, that will just cause more spill and you need more lights power and cabling! You can't get your guests the recommended 10-12 feet away at an event, which you need to if you light the backdrop! Imagine if you were shooting a group and they all had to be 12 feet in front of the cloth!, how big would it need to be! Using pro software lets you quickly adjust for spill and reflected green light.

The trick is to light the people not the backdrop, that should only appear in the gaps anyway and if you have a light enough green it will work. Less is more, light from the sides and above so any shadows are still green and they will disappear.We use overlays and backgrounds to get realistic Magazine covers and special effects.

People don't notice that usually the models on magazines go in front of the title heading but behind the informative text! And watch out for copyrights, design your own magazine covers that are similar but not identical, you can buy these from the USA as overlays..PNG files are best but won't work on the Click, you need to do what we do and switch.

The President Obama shot is a good example, He is in the background, the guests are dropped in on top, then the desk is added as an overlay in front.

6. Starting an Event Photography Business.

Don't believe some of the salesmen out there who claim it's a licence to print money! That is their job and they do it well, but like any business you need to really work at it. Most pro photographers woudn't dream of doing a photoshoot AND supplying a framed large photograph for a tenner! And don't think just because you get a booking at a black tie event for example with 100 people that you are going to sell 100 photos!

30% of those people won't even want a photo taken! That's just the way it is. There won't be many single people wanting a photo on their own, and there's always a large group who want just one shot of all of them, but will buy additional copies at a discounted rate. That leaves the couples, so that brings you down to around five singles, a large group and twenty couples.

You will earn about £300 at an event of this size. Ok, that's a small event but just about possible for two people to cover so that's only one assistant to pay. Then there is the cost of the prints, mounts and bags, travelling costs, insurance costs not to mention an hour to setup and an hour to pack down plus sometimes many hours of waiting for a dinner speech to end.

Don't forget the website you need, the adverts to get bookings, the expense of all the gear, marketing your website, the admin and post production work to get the images online. The usual business costs of stationery, phone bills, promotional gear and all the insurance.

Also remember there are a lot of excellent photographers out there, and anyone can buy a good camera, lens, and a fast printer and go out and do this. The big companies will already have the big events sewn up, So you need to use your contacts, ask around, advertise and promote. Offer to do some small events free for the practice, but still charge the going rate. Even if you only sell 10 shoots in a night, the experience is invaluable before you tackle a busy event.

Once you get a booking, splash out on some pop up banners showing what you do, flyers and business cards. When you get there and setup, take a few test shots of the bar staff, waitresses and event organisers to test everything. Frame these up and give them out as gifts, asking them to show the guests! Great advertising! Get the DJ to tell guests where you are and what you are doing. Work the tables if it's quiet. Above all enjoy it and be polite and professional as you are representing us all!

That's enough secrets revealed for now, if anyone wants to ask any questions feel free. This is just my opinions and experience so far, I'll add more as I get time. If you find this at all useful, please tell others, I'm not charging to write all this, nor am I selling anything, but links to my site will really be appreciated, or a mention in any blogs etc. Cheers, Paul Harrison

I've been a keen photographer for many years, but at the age of 50 decided to go pro. Great excuse to buy the best gear! After a lot of research I brought a new Nikon D700, a Sigma 24-70 HSM lens, a Nikon SB-900 main flashgun with two SB-600 flashguns to use as slaves.

Then I went for the Mitsubishi Click system with 9550 dedicated photo printer churning out nine inch by six inch photographs really fast! I've since handled quite a few events, especially over Xmas, and have earned well from them. More importantly to me, the event organisers have loved what we do, and the guests have been amazed by our green screen effects and very happy to buy what we've produced.

I've now got a website http://www.fullframeevents.co.uk where you can see examples of what we do. It's great fun, hard work, but very rewarding and I love it!. It's all going well so i decided to share some of what I've learned. Hope it's helpful, Paul.

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Sports Photography - How Most Pros Work

In Sports photography, access is key. Without access, you won't succeed even if you have the most comprehensive array of lenses out there. So if you have access, you've already improved your chances of success by at least 40%. The other keys to success?

You have to be able to anticipate and concentrate for long periods. Being knowledgeable and following a variety of sports, not just the popular ones, is crucial. And finally a good ounce of luck doesn't hurt either. What exactly should you be looking for besides shooting great action?

Faces

Back of heads are not terribly engaging. I think we are so in tuned to seeing faces, we don't realize it. We do want to see faces of athletes whenever possible. Grimacing faces add to the drama and excitement. Unfortunately some athletes hardly show any emotions even when they win. Faces in sports can be the difference between a good picture and a great picture.

Timing

Peak action is probably what you're after. There may be some luck involved but a softball picture without a visible ball is not as exciting. The ball, be it a hockey puck or shuttlecock tells your viewer what sport it is. Without the ball, you don't get a sense of how close the play was, how bad the throw was et cetera. With baseball and softball, the play at a base has to be close. If the throw is early or too late, the ball is either in the glove or out of your picture. But that's not your fault. It's just how the game goes. So the element of luck is there for sure.

A Different Viewpoint

Strive for a different viewpoint to surprise your viewers and to give them a fresh look of a "tired-looking" sport. This may be something as simple as shooting when weather is not so good sometimes. Or even simply being creative with your photographic technique. It may mean working harder by bringing in more equipment but your efforts will be rewarded. If it it doesn't work, you'll at least learn something new.

Backgrounds

Related to viewpoint but just as important is backgrounds. Shooting with wide open apertures on long lenses can only do that much sometimes, so be on the lookout for what's behind the subject at all times. If you're serious about sports photography, you should try photographing different sports.

Golf

Just the same way most Americans don't get soccer, I don't get golf. I do know I would enjoy the sport if I play it. It's more interesting to play than to watch. That said, I don't particularly like covering golf. Here's why:

• expect to be hauling at least a 300 mm lens with a monopod and 2 bodies, maybe a flash, and a 70-200 mm zoom.


• you will be walking all 18 holes, more if it goes into playoffs.


• you don't get to hang out with just the same foursome


• if the leader boards are not kept current, you will be in a world of hurt trying to find a certain golfer when the lead changes suddenly.


• besides that, the light is usually extremely harsh. Faces are inevitably shielded by visors or baseball caps. You're never close enough to be able to fill flash or anything of that sort.


• Restrictions. You can't stand directly in the line-0f-sight of the golfers. You can't trip your shutter until they actually hit the ball if they're on the green during the short game. Don't forget you have to be absolutely quiet.


• if the game goes into playoffs, all those "great pictures" you took in the early rounds don't mean much anymore. It's like starting all over.

Soccer

My favorite sport soccer happens to be pretty tough to shoot because of the lens requirement. A 300 mm lens is probably the minimum and a 400 mm is more ideal. But that also depends on the sensor size of your camera body.

If you're shooting with a camera with full frame sensors,  you might even need something longer.

Most of the time, depending on the lens you have,  you park yourself on the field and just hope you're in the right place at the right time. So covering soccer is not as physically demanding as covering golf or football. You might move around when there's a chance for a set piece like a free-kick or corner kick. It helps if you understand terms like "in-swinger" on corner kicks. The rest of the time, because the action is non-stop and the ball moves around the pitch so quickly, it's difficult to physically move around.

Badminton

Anytime you step indoors to cover a sport, you are heading into low light and very limited options. The world's fastest racquet sport is also hardest to photograph because of the lighting conditions and how the indoor stadiums are lit. Understanding how a game like badminton or tennis is scored is crucial. How else would you know when it's the "critical match point' or the significance of a tie-break?

ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed & White Balance

Up till this point, I haven't mentioned these camera settings because these are variable depending on the lighting conditions and how well your camera handle digital noise. Generally speaking, the newer your camera, the better it handles low ISO and digital noise. Most sports photographers have at least a 300mm f2.8 lens at a minimum.

They will also carry a 70-200 f2.8 lens and most likely that has built-in image stabilization. And the majority of sports photographers take their pictures at f2.8 to blur out the background but also to get the highest possible shutter speed to freeze action.

Every now and then, they may need more depth-of-field but very rarely. That by the way, is why under the one of the Auto modes, you see the icon for Sports or someone running. It's also exposure mode that favors high shutter speed, Shutter Priority or Tv (Time value according to Canon)

So 2 camera bodies are pretty standard. One body is attached to the long telephoto which is mounted on a monopod for support. Depending on the camera body, the image sensor may be full frame or may have a 1.6x, so a 300mm will be 480 mm lens.

To successfully hand hold a lens like that with little camera shake would require you to make sure you have a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 sec.

But even professionals don't handhold long lenses, they use monopods. The one good thing about shooting in artificial lighting like a soccer stadium at night is this: once you have the exposure down, it doesn't change very much, unlike a daytime game.

In day games, you have to keep an eye on light levels especially if the game is in the evening. The other advantage is the crowd in the stands are not lit, so they aren't as distracting.

Since "Sports Photography" is a highly specialized field, there is just too much to cover in one article. These tips will hopefully get you on your way to getting better pictures.

Peter Phun teaches photography at Riverside City College. He does portraits, weddings and editorial work. Read an illustrated and more detailed article about sports photography on his blog. He writes about photography, Macs and the internet. He also designs websites and is a stay-at-home dad.

Previously, Peter worked as a staff photographer for 18 years at The Press-Enterprise, Southern California's 4th largest daily newspaper. He is the webmaster for the Mac user group in the Inland Empire. For more information about this Riverside based photographer, visit http://www.peterphun.com

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Digital Photography Online

The fight for original content on the internet is at it's height. Search engines are cracking down hard on sites who do not update their content in some way over a period of time.

Thats a hard reality for many online businesses. Text that has served them well in the past and is indeed still bringing in the punters is changed with great reluctance but the reality still remains that the search engines want a dynamic and varied content on the internet.

Search engines such as google and yahoo are constantly devising new ways to test content and to religate those who would rather spend time on new projects rather than investing in sites they created a year or more ago.

What a lot of site owners don't realize is that there is more than one definition of content. It can be very costly to have a copy writer write new articles or pitch content for web pages, sometimes running into hundreds, in some cases thousands of dollars.

What a lot of businesses and webmasters don't realize is that they can easily and cheaply add or change the content of web pages through the use of photographs.

For as little as $20 dollars per photo the difference between maintaining those high ranking positions and dropping to inconsequential places, can be determined.

Photographs play many roles in the advertising world. We tend to think of a picture as something that shows us what we may want to buy but that is only part of the usage of photos. Photos are used to illustrate in much more subtle ways.

Photographs are often set to create moods and general interest in a subject that is designed to associate the visitor to the particular theme. A bit like bait to a fish. Fashion companies often use this type of photograph to make statements that will draw sympathy and support from their target market.

For the search engine spiders that crawl through the internet content at regular intervals, a photograph is as much a piece of content as a piece of text. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Andrew Routledge MA . Hi, how would you like to know how you can put a unique article like this one onto the internet with a URL that you create in less than five minutes and for free. Wait, there's more. You also get tools to help you add interesting sections to your web page that are just so easy to use. Plus, you can advertise on the pages and interlink with your other websites or affiliate sites all at no cost to you. Follow this link to see how. http://www.squidoo.com/snake

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Learn Digital Photography - Which Digital Camera Is For You?

Before deciding on purchasing a digital camera, it is important that you set yourself a budget. This should happen before going online or visiting an electronics shop. It is just like purchasing any other large item else such as a computer. There are a lot of options, and you don't want to get stuck biting off more than you can chew, expense-wise. High-end cameras offer the great zoom, more extra features and more megapixels.

Having more megapixels doesn't mean you will have the great picture quality. Unfortunately these cameras can also take a huge bite out of your wallet if you are not careful. When you are starting out in the wide world of digital photography, it is easier to not spend a huge amount of money on the high-end SLR cameras. Look for cheaper, yet effective, compact digital cameras that are a lot easier to hold. The best thing to do is learn the basics with this digital camera and make sure you enjoy the hobby before spending the cash for higher-end digital cameras.

Some people don't really enjoy going on airplanes or helicopters, how do they take those spectacular aerial photos? Guess what you don't have to use planes or helicopters! Sometimes aerial shots on planes can sometimes get expensive unless you have a friend with a plane. Flying in a little plane around a city a couple of times can be quite frightening for some people. The little secret that few photographers know is: some "in-flight" photos are not actually taken from a plane. Quite the contrary, they are taken from a countryside or city vantage point. Being in the observation deck of a skyscraper will actually get you just about as high as a low flying plane would. Your photographs will look like aerial shots that were taken as you were flying around, but in fact you didn't even enter in any aircraft.

Fall is one of the most pleasurable times for photographers. It brings beautiful orange, brown, and red leaf colors. If you plan on traveling to take advantage of nature's yearly fireworks display, you need to ensure you get to your destination at the peak period to enjoy the best fall leaves. If you live in the US, the US Department of Agriculture has a website that displays fall foliage information by geographical area. Finding out the best times to visit areas is crucial.

A good place is New England. A well planned trip could be the best way to get some really extraordanary pictures. Information is updated as soon as conditions permit. If traveling is out of the question for you, check with your government agriculture website to see the best times. Good research results in spectacular pictures. Here is a good source for US photographers: The Foliage Network - http://www.foliagenetwork.com/

When you are taking fireworks photos a good location is always essential with your digital camera. As in any other type of digital photography, when shooting fireworks, composition is necessary. Before the show begins, find a good angle that will provide you with a clear picture of the upcoming fireworks. Having people in front of your camera is completely unacceptable, avoid it at all costs. Streetlights will fade out the fire works phenomenally; therefore it is best to avoid streetlamps. Basically finding the best possible shot, with few lights, few people and not against the law is difficult but doable. Sometimes have a view on a boat is helpful if the water is calm.

Sometimes taking photos at night is more difficult than it seems. Shooting photos at dusk may provide your camera with just enough light to take fantastic cityscape photos. The sky is decently dark at dusk, but not so dark to prevent some degree of sunlight entering your digital camera, making it easier to take hand-held photos that do not result all blurry due to 'camera-shake'. If you are looking for a superb nighttime photo, it would be better to consider taking your photos at dusk instead of in the pitch black of night. Dusk only lasts for an hour or so. Research your shot locations and time beforehand. Keep your eye on the weather in the location you selected and make sure its not raining the day you decide to go out.

When you are taking pictures of a parade it is best to not ruin time by trying to focus after every picture. It is best to shoot as many photos as possible during a parade, think about buying a focus lock. This keeps your shutter button held halfway down and don't completely release it after taking a photo. Or you might want to set your camera up for manual focus. This way, you can take several photos in succession, or use your camera's "drive" mode for multiple shots within a small range of time. This would enable you to take a bunch of photos without having to refocus for each shot and your digital camera should function much quicker. Though you may want to set up and refocus for certain special shots, other times you may have just as much fun continuously shooting as the action in a parade can happen very fast.

When you are taking digital pictures on sunny days, you must be careful. Sometimes the sun can completely damage your electronic camera. Taking pictures of sunsets and rises can be amusing and enjoyable, but pointing your lens directly at the sun may damage it. Try to keep your lens pointed a little bit away from the sun directly. There is a similarity between your eye and the camera lens, they both can see and both can be damaged by the sun. As a little kid your parents told you never to look at the sun or you will see spots. The same concept applies to your camera. When you are not capturing fantastic views, turn off your camera and store in someplace room temperature so you don't damage it. It is best and easiest to take photos in increments, and then allow your camera to relax by enclosing it somewhere cool.

Let me Dan Feildman, Author of "Your Guide to Digital Photography" answer your questions. Are you looking for answers about check out my digital photography basics

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Role of Light and Illumination in Photography

Light and illumination are the basics of photography. The very word "photography" comes from two Greek words, phos meaning light, and graphis meaning drawing. Hence, photography can be described as "drawing with light". As we start the lesson, I want to wish you a pleasant and illuminating session!

If you ask me to name the most important thing in photography, I would say light. Without light, there is no illumination. In a room without illumination, everything is pitch black. You can't see a thing. Taking a shot - assuming your camera allows you to - produces a solid black photograph. You switch on a lamp, and you send light across the room, and everything is illuminated. Now you can take a photograph and show something in the picture. You realize that your eye and the camera both need light and illumination to work.

Photography is about capturing light and recording it, whether on paper, or more frequently now, in a digital format. As a photographer, you control the amount, intensity and duration of light required to create the picture. The apparatus used to draw with light is called the camera, which comes from camera obscura, a box with a hole for light to pass through and strike the backwall of it. The name "camera obscura" actually means dark chamber, and indeed, the word "camera" is still used in some languages such as Italian to mean "room" or "chamber".

There is a saying that the camera never lies. Actually, the camera is rarely capable of telling the whole truth. Without even going to what the camera shows, it often cannot even get the brightness right. Have you ever taken a photograph, and the shot seems brighter or darker than what you remember the scene to be? With a digital camera, you can even see then and there how distant the difference between what you see in front of you and what the camera recorded. Why is that so?

The camera and our eyes work in pretty much the same way. The difference between the two is that our eyes are better able to handle wide differences in light intensity. For example, if you take a photograph from inside a room with an open window, you may get the room properly exposed but the window is too bright, or the window looks right but the room too dark. Yet our eyes don't have such a problem: they can see everything inside the room and outside the window properly exposed. The reason is, our eyes can compensate for the wide difference in light whereas the camera cannot.

Secondly, our eye is more sensitive to light than most of the amateur/prosumer cameras. In a dark environment, such as inside a movie theatre, our eyes can still adjust to the lack of light and allow us to see the rows of chairs and people. Most cameras would have difficulty focusing under such a demanding
condition.

So are we saying that the eye shows reality but the camera doesn't? Neither is capable of showing us reality all the time. What our eye and the camera do is that they provide their interpretation of reality. What we see with our eye and what we see with the camera are what they are capable of showing us. As an example:

Switch on a fan. You see the blades start to turn. Soon the blades become a blur. Now aim a camera at the fan, set it to the highest shutter speed and take a shot of the fan. The picture comes out showing the blades seemingly motionless. Why is it that our eyes show the blades blur while the camera shows them still?

On the other hand, have you seen photographs taken in crowded public places such as railway stations or airports, where the people seem to be blur? Your eyes never show you people as a motion blur, and yet that's how they look like in the photo. How is that possible?

Our eyes are capable of showing a moving object as sharp, up to a certain speed. Beyond that, it becomes a blur. The camera, on the other hand, will record the object as sharp or blur, depending on the shutter speed that we set. Our eyes and the camera both provide an interpretation of reality, but they interpret reality in their own way. Moreover, our eyes see things in continuous motion while the camera captures a moment.

Have you seen a photo where people appear as motion blur? Have you seen a photo where the subject is sharp but the background of off-focus? Or a photo of a stream where the water become a milky blur? Or an ocean where the rolling waves are frozen? These are all possible with a camera, even though reality
doesn't look like that at all. And yet, often such pictures are regarding as being very well taken.

That takes us back to the art of photography. It is after all, an art form. Art doesn't have to look like reality. Art can be very unreal as still look pleasing. As a photographer, your goal is to create photographs that are pleasing to the eye. The next time someone tells you, "Oh, your photo looks so real!" thank them, but be mindful that none of your photograph - not a single one - is 100% the real thing, but only an interpretation on it.

What we've learned in this article:

- Our eye and the camera need light and illumination to work.

- Our eye and the camera do not record reality, but provide an interpretation of reality.

- Our eye and the camera interpret reality differently.

- Our goal as photographer is to create images that are pleasing to the eye.

Timothy Tye is a travel writer and photographer with many websites on travel and photography. He provides tips to take better travel photographs at http://www.travelphotographyworkshop.com To read the latest on light and illumination in photography, go to: http://www.travelphotographyworkshop.com/light-and-illumination-in-photography.htm

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Home Run Baseball Photography Tips

Strike one! Strike two! Strike three!

Baseball! America's Pastime, and a sport growing in popularity throughout the world, where the Boys of Summer slug it out. A baseball game is the perfect way to spend a lazy summer afternoon, plus it provides opportunities to take photos that last a lifetime.

While many claim the sport of baseball is a slow-paced affair, when action does occur, it can happen very swiftly, almost too fast for an unskilled photographer to shoot the photos they desire. Baseballs fly quickly when hit or thrown, and timing the action for when to take a digital photograph requires split-second reflexes. Thus, before you plan on taking photos at a baseball game, you may wish to read the following advice:

1) First, make sure you are allowed to bring your digital camera to the baseball game. Some ballparks have no restrictions, others on the zoom length, some on using flash, and some may not allow you into the baseball game at all with your camera!

2) Change your camera settings to take the quickest photographs possible while still providing plenty of light for the photograph. You'll need to read your camera's manual on how to change these settings; for example, consider saving photos as JPG instead of RAW to take photos faster.

Just remember that the quicker the shutter speed, the less light enters the camera to take the picture. Thus, you'll need to compromise picture speed and the amount of light to take great photos. That is why baseball games work well with photography - many games are played on sunny days or in well-lit domes or stadiums that allow you to take crisp, high-action photos.

3) Before going to a big league ballpark, make sure you know the rules and nuances of the game. Practice taking photos at a minor-league, college, or high school baseball game. The stakes aren't quite as high if you miss a shot, and taking your camera to a game will give you more insight into when action occurs and when players just stand around.

4) Have extra batteries and digital camera memory handy and practice switching both out quickly before the game! A three and a half hour game can put a tremendous strain on even the most power-miserly camera, and more often than not you will have to switch out power or memory in the middle of an inning.

5) Don't worry if you miss a shot! Unless you have tons of digital camera memory, you may not be able to continuously shoot photograph after photograph. If you miss a key pitch, the swing of a bat, or a forced out, don't get angry! More often than not, new opportunities will arise for great photographs.

6) Study the lineup first. Know who are the key players and those who barely know how to swing a bat. Likewise, learn who has loose hands in the outfield and who is likely to win a Gold Glove. Focus your attention on the stars as they most likely will make the best photographs, but don't be so drawn to celebrity that you miss a role player making a crucial steal or diving catch that wins the game for their team!

7) When the opening lineup starts, look at the dugout. If you're rooting for the home team, the beginning of the game is a great time to get player photographs as they are running out onto the field. If not, take photographs during the middle of the inning. If you don't get the perfect photo, delete bad photographs during lull times and try later during the game.

8) To take a picture of a swinging batter that will last a lifetime, do the following:

*) Preparation is the key. First, before the game, know how to operate your digital camera. Practice focusing the camera and quickly deleting unused photos - sometimes you can delete an unwanted photo before it is completely saved to the camera's memory.

*) Before the pitch, focus your viewfinder on the batter's box and try not to cut out any of the batter's body. Zoom in as appropriate, but remember the more you zoom in, the slower the potential shutter speed needed to take a clear photo.

*) Anticipate shutter lag. Lock your focus before the pitch; this usually is done by pressing the shutter button down half-way.

*) Time it... time it... then as soon as the ball is about to hit the bat, press down fully on the shutter button.

*) If the pitch is a strike or the swing is not one to be remembered, cancel the save so your picture is not written to memory. This way, you can save room for other photos.

9) Look around for photo opportunities not directly related to the action. Take a photograph of the grounds crew cleaning the bases and raking the dirt between innings. Get a few shots of the crowd. Take a picture of the scoreboard. Look at the surrounding area. If you want to remember the full experience of a baseball game years from now, you should take advantage of one of the best features of a digital camera - the ability to take lots and lots of photographs - and shoot photographs showcasing the FULL baseball experience.

10) Take a break during the game! You came to the baseball game to enjoy the spectacle, not just to take pictures, right? Designate a few innings as photo-free time where you just sit back, munch on a hot dog, drink a soda, and soak in the environment.

Remember to study your digital camera manual first and practice, practice, practice! Follow these ten tips and you'll be on your way to taking "home run" baseball photographs in no time.

Copyright 2005 Andrew Malek.

Andrew Malek is the owner of the MalekTips computer and technology help site at http://malektips.com/. Want more great tips on buying and using digital cameras? Visit http://malektips.com/camera/ for more free digital photography advice.

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Digital Photography - How To Get Off On The Right Foot

If you are considering if you want a camera, you should set yourself a price agreement before going online or visiting an electronics shop. Purchasing a digital camera is just like getting any other large item like a house. There are thousands of options and often you can get puzzled. Before you go buying a gigantic high-end SLR camera, think about the smaller, yet more effective camera. High-end cameras offer the best zoom, the most added features and more megapixels. When you have more megapixels it doesn't mean you will have the best picture condition. As a beginner in the camera world it would be wise to not spend a huge about of money on a high on camera. It is better to look for less expensive, yet powerful, compact digital cameras that are a lot easier to hold and pack around. It is most recommended learn the basics with this digital camera and make sure you enjoy the hobby before spending extra money.

Are you having trouble catching aerial photos? Guess what you don't have to use planes or helicopters! Sometimes aerial shots on planes can sometimes get expensive unless you have a friend with a plane. Another problem would be the fear of heights rather than how expensive planes and helicopters are. Want a great secret? Most "aerial" photos are not actually taken from a plane. It is rather from a countryside vantage point. If you're on a mountain overlooking a vista, on top of a lighthouse, or in the observation deck of a tall skyscraper, and you shoot down, you're quite high up as it is. Your digital photos will look like they came from a helicopter or plane even though you're not in any flying vehicle at all!

Autumn is an exciting time for travel and nature photographers, as it brings beautiful orange, brown, and red leaf colors. Sometimes people enjoy traveling during this time to be able to get the best photographs of the colors. Research is quite easy; the US has provided websites that are as up to date as the seasons are. If you want to get some fantastic pictures then you need to plan your trip well. In order to do that you must select a location you want to go to. The Appalachians and the Rockies are good places to go for great pictures. If you dont want to travel as far as the US then you should check your own countries agriculture database.

A good location can make all the difference when taking fireworks photos with your digital camera. When capturing fireworks on film, composition is critical. Before the fireworks show begins, find a good vantage point that provides you with a clear shot of the upcoming show. Try to avoid streetlights that may compete with the brightness of the fireworks. Also important is to find a spot that will minimize the chances of people walking in front of your digital camera. Do not trespass on private property and be safe where you go at night, but look around for an area that can give you a clear shot of the brilliance that will light up your camera.

Shooting photos at dusk may provide your digital camera with just enough light to take great cityscape photos. If you are looking for a great nighttime cityscape picture, consider taking your photos at dusk instead of in the pitch black of night. The sky is dark at dusk, but not so dark to prevent some degree of sunlight entering your digital camera, making it easier to take hand-held photos that do not result all blurry due to 'camera-shake'. Dusk only lasts for a little while, so research your shot locations beforehand. Plus, check the local newspaper or visit a weather website for the sunset time, and be prepared to shoot photos around that timeframe.

Don't waste time refocusing between shots during a parade. In order to shoot as many photos as possible during a parade, consider getting a focus lock (keep your shutter button held halfway down and don't completely release it after taking a photo), or setting your camera up for manual focus. Then, you can take several photos in succession, or use your camera's "drive" mode for multiple shots within a small range of time. Without having to refocus for each shot, your digital camera should function much quicker. Though you may want to set up and refocus for certain special shots, other times you may have just as much fun continuously shooting as the action in a parade can happen very fast.

Like to read more about digital photographs? Or find out more about learning digital photography? Find some great tips on how to take digital photographs through Free Report

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