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Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Photography is art.  Individuals will spend hours in museums and galleries analyzing a person’s photographs for the meaning.  Like painting photographs have a message, sometimes it will evoke sadness, happiness, a carefree attitude, and thought.  There are many techniques a budding photographer will learn to evoke the emotions they desire.  One such technique is using artificial lighting.  Artificial lighting is not always as fun and easy as sunlight, but you can use it to create some wonderful photographs once you know how.

Indoor lighting is often fluorescent and tungsten bulbs.  Tungsten bulbs are used by professional photographers, as “hot lights” because of the high temperature they produce.  In photography it is important to understand the temperature scale in relation to the colors they will produce.  A hot light will produce more red and reduce the blue.  Firelight and candle light though not artificial can be used in doors to create shadows and depth.

When using indoor lights, specifically artificial light you will need to understand exposure.  When you have less light it will take longer to expose the film to capture a photograph.  Part of exposure is the angle.  Lets talk about taking pictures in a museum.  For instance I was in a museum with minerals behind glass and a woman made the statement if she took the picture nothing would come from it.  This is not true.  First in a darker room where you have direct light on the object you will not want to use the flash.  The flash will bounce the light back at the picture.  The next step is to get as close to the glass as possible.  The third consideration is the angle.  Taking the picture head on of the object will bounce the light and shadows about.  You will need to angle the camera to the side or up from the ground to attain the photograph.  If you do not have glass in the way the angle will still be important, especially when taking portraits.  Shooting any subject head on is likely to create shadows and take away from the print.  The best angle for shooting portraits is often up into the face.

When shooting faces or other objects you usually want a three dimensional contrast.  You will need to search for the planes and contours of the subject, especially in portrait photography.  The planes and contours will help you determine the angle you will shoot the subject from.  The shadows will often provide the three dimensional contrast if you find the correct planes and angle to shoot from. This helps with pictures that you want to stand-alone.

Artificial lighting needs to be moveable.  Just turning on your home lights will not give you the desired affect.  Instead it can wash out the subject, place the light at the wrong angle, or create too much shadow in one area.  You need to have lights set up on tripods to change the angle to suit your needs.  Rooms are small which is one reason over head lights can either be too powerful or not direct enough.  Following lighting tips will increase your photography skills.  Most amateur photographers find taking a class on lighting and having a few books on the subject will help them learn proper lighting techniques.  The reason for classes is to provide feedback.  You may be happy with the shot, but suggestions can help you make the shot perfect in the future.

Artificial lighting has advantages over outdoor or natural lighting, but sometimes the picture turns out better with natural light. It might be a matter of preference or the desire of a client or subject for that matter. You never have artificial lighting outside for the most part; you usually rely on your camera flash to help with the picture quality. When you choose your lighting, look for the best lighting situation to enhance your subject and make your picture as natural as possible.

Have you ever wondered where modern photography originated? While we are now moving into the digital age and away from film, the lighting techniques and other photography techniques began in the 1820’s. Niepce and Daguerre were the first inventors of modern photography. They used a chemical component from silver and chalk, which darkens when exposed to light. This type of technology used a glass negative to cement the picture.

From the early cameras seen in western films we have moved on to manual cameras with film. This film or negative captured the image on a roll to be developed in a dark room to prevent over exposure. The manual cameras used a theory of setting up shots. You had to understand aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and metering to obtain the best picture possible. This meant you spent a lot of time setting up the shot and had to be a professional to catch wildlife in their natural habits.

Aperture is measured by F-stops, or the amount of light the lens will let in. Focusing and depth of field are also important when setting the aperture on your camera. You have to know what numbers will allow more light to enter the lens and the converse to avoid over exposure and blurriness.  Shutter speed is the amount of time a lens is open for the picture. You may have found in a darkened room without flash your camera takes a while to imprint the picture on the negative. This is because the light is dim and the shutter must correct for the lack of light. The lack of light induces a need to expose the film longer to obtain the picture where as more light will have the shutter moving at a faster speed.

From the manual cameras we moved into the automatic. The camera became lighter. The shutter speed and aperture was programmed into the camera by the settings. ISO became important. ISO is the film speed. Instead of taking minutes to set up a shot you just had to pick the correct setting and hold the button down to focus. Many cameras came as automatic with manual options for those who still liked to treat photography as an artistic vocation.

Digital cameras are the new era in photography.  Now we can see the picture we take without the use of film and negatives. We can send the pictures to all of our friends and use our home printers to create prints. Photography has moved from the concentration of taking the perfect shot with a skill born to a few to everyone taking pictures.

This is not to say photography and photographers will not remain. There is still the need for quality in taking professional grade photographs. Light sensitivity is still important when dealing with a digital camera and unless you spend a lot, you will find quality of photographs is still missing. Photograph techniques lay within the lighting provided whether natural or artificial for the subject. You might wonder how to create a photograph in a dark room like a museum to share with your friends and family. Knowing the past photography techniques will help you in attaining that perfect photograph with your digital camera. Photography may have originated with few people, but we can see the advancements their inventions have led us to now.

Taking pictures is not the only way to litter our walls with photography.  There are those who are not interested in being behind the camera, but appreciate the art.  If you have wondered where you might find some wonderful prints with a professional touch, but do not want to go to the galleries you might want to take a tour of the online world. Many people who take pictures place the pictures online for all to see. This helps you gain reorganization and potential clients for photography work.

The online world is full of photographers waiting to be discovered.  Places like deviantart.com, eBay, and other online galleries exist for the convenience of finding new photographs for you home.  Simply by putting the words photography, photographs, or prints will not lead you to the more professional prints online.  When searching online you will need to use specific keywords. These keywords take you to picture of a specific nature.

If you are more interested in wildlife it is best to use those key words along with photography.  Another drawback to online searching is getting the product from a reputable source.  You want to make sure that your credit card information is safe, that the shipping will be affordable and appropriate.  How they ship the print is also important you want to make sure a shipping company will not damage it. The number one thing about shipping prints is they require some insurance to ensure your investment has protection against damage, potential lost and theft when delivered.

There are several tips you will want to follow when shopping online.  Perhaps the most important tip is remembering you are seeing the print scanned into the online store.  This means you are not in the gallery to check the print over and analyze it to the full extent.  You will want to be a little wary if the photographs are grainy or they appear to have flaws.  It is often best to shop online at art galleries with a reputation.  These companies generally have great reputations and offer different shipping methods and insurance.

In order to find appropriate sites you will want to understand page rank.  Google ranks the web pages in order to give you an idea of the pages with the information you want as well as letting you know the sites validity. The higher the page rank, the more traffic the website has seen. Big known websites might offer more pictures and quality picture from a reputable service or business.

It can be very difficult to find photography galleries online that will actually sell their prints.  It will take a little time and effort, but the results are most often worth it.  Just searching for keywords may net you photography techniques or schools rather than galleries to purchase from.  If you have a favorite artist or gallery chances are you can enter their name to find the prints you are looking for online.  If you are hoping for quality prints, but do not wish to pay for an artist’s name you may have to spend a few hours to find just the right photographs.

Online galleries are just another way technology has become convenient for all of us.  Finding photography online to purchase can be difficult if you are looking for an obscure artist or print topic.  You will need to search with specific keyword or topics to find prints.  If you are interested in Alaskan photographs of wildlife you should narrow your sure just by mentioning the state.  We all find photographs add to a homes décor.  Galleries are often the way most of us find photographs because we like to see the prints up close, however online is the new way for convenience.  So the next time you wish to change out your homes décor you might look online for ideas if not the product to satisfy you and your families needs.