Digital Camera will be a big thing when travel. Before you hit the road, here are some tips to make sure you can capture all or almost all your exciting moment.
#1 The first and the very-very-very important tip, Don’t Forget Your Camera,(I know, it sounds silly). Pack all the equipments, lenses, memory card, batteries and all other stuff and put them in your car. Many has bad experienced when forget to bring their smart, expensive, great camera when travelling, and end up with photos from disposable camera.
#2 Storage! Extra Storage! Extra extra storage. Clear your memory cards, upload all the photos in your memory card to your computer before go. If it is your first time travelling with your digital camera, never think 500 photos will be enough. You will need more than that, thus extra memory will do. Other tips: Bring your laptop, external hardisk, or get accounts at virtual space, i suggest http://www.flickr.com.
#3 Energy, battery. Get your battery fully charged. if can, get extra battery. Make sure you bring charger. Travel charger is the best because it will charge your battery faster and it is can use universal volt range it is useful when travelling across country. Buy universal electric adapter because you will see different plug in different country.
#4 Candid. Not all the pictures have to be posed. Candid shots of people in action make much better photos. You are capturing whot they are at that moment, their real personality. Years from now you can look back at the photos and see how they’ve changed.
#5 Practice how to take panorama. When you travel, you will see many great panorama such as sunset and sunrise. You will find useful technique here http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-photograph-sunrises-and-sunsets/.
It is better to have tripod, small tripod will do for travel when shooting panorama.
- a great technique to take a big picture http://hacks.oreilly.com/pub/h/1807.
#6 Detail. Shoot thing in detail or closer shot. Some things need closer shot such as craft stone, small insect, flowers. It will make your photo look more interesting. But be carefull when try to capture dangerous creature such as snake and scorpion.
#7 Take a lot of pictures! One of the great things about digital cameras is that you can see the photos you take and delete them if you don’t like them. People often set up an entire shot of the family, and then shoot one picture. How many times have you later realized someone’s eyes were closed or someone’s face was turned to the side? Don’t be stingy. Shoot several pictures and you have a better chance of getting a good image.
http://www.camera2photo.com/2006/08/02/7-top-tips-when-travel-with-your-digital-camera/
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Still digital camera image stabilizers - keep your images sharp
Taking stable and sharp photos is hard in some situations. For example when taking a photo using high zoom lenses even the tiniest camera movement will result in a blurry photo. The reason for that blurriness is that while the shutter is open and the photo is being captured the camera moves and the image on the sensor also moves losing its sharpness. Image stabilizers help in solving the problem, here is how.The best solution for camera movements is of course to eliminate the movements. Sometimes this can be accomplished by using a tripod or placing the camera on a stable surface when taking the photo. However in many situation it is impossible to completely stabilize the camera - for example when taking photos of fast objects in high zoom.
When movement elimination is not possible other solutions can be used that instead of preventing the movement compensate for it and prevent its symptom: blurry photos. Such solutions are also known as Image Stabilizers.
There are many different implementations of image stabilizers and many manufacturers keep their implementation details secret to prevent competitors from copying it. An image stabilizer implementation can be divided to two: detecting the movement and compensating for it. Detection is the mechanism that detects that the camera moved while shooting a photo. Compensation is the mechanism that for detected movements compensates to prevent the movement symptoms.
There are two common ways to implement image stabilizers (sometimes known as mechanical image stabilizers for the implementation mechanical feature): a floating lens element or a moving sensor.
Floating lens element: An element is added in the lenses usually in the form of a compensating lens. This element is “floating” in the lenses and can move left, right, up and down. Gyroscopes are placed in the lenses - or micro gyroscopes or equivalent sensors. When the camera moves the gyroscopes detect the movement and send a signal to the floating lens to move in the right direction in order to compensate for the movement. Moving the lens corrects the angle in which the light hits the image sensor compensating for the movement.
Moving sensor: The sensor is a chip behind the lenses that converts the light reflected on it to digital pixels. When a movement is detected the sensor is slightly moved in the opposite direction to compensate for it. Gyroscopes or equivalent sensors could be used to detect movements though many stabilizers use a DSP processor that analyzes the image on the sensor in real time to detect movements eliminating the need of another mechanical part
The advantages of such stabilizers are: getting sharper photos while practically eliminating blurriness in most common scenarios. Sensor based detectors work very well in low light scenarios since they detect actual physical movement while DSP processors based detection is less effective in low light scenarios and more prone to errors. The disadvantages are: added cost, weight and size to the camera as a result of the mechanical mechanism.
http://www.camera2photo.com/2006/09/03/still-digital-camera-image-stabilizers-keep-your-images-sharp/
When movement elimination is not possible other solutions can be used that instead of preventing the movement compensate for it and prevent its symptom: blurry photos. Such solutions are also known as Image Stabilizers.
There are many different implementations of image stabilizers and many manufacturers keep their implementation details secret to prevent competitors from copying it. An image stabilizer implementation can be divided to two: detecting the movement and compensating for it. Detection is the mechanism that detects that the camera moved while shooting a photo. Compensation is the mechanism that for detected movements compensates to prevent the movement symptoms.
There are two common ways to implement image stabilizers (sometimes known as mechanical image stabilizers for the implementation mechanical feature): a floating lens element or a moving sensor.
Floating lens element: An element is added in the lenses usually in the form of a compensating lens. This element is “floating” in the lenses and can move left, right, up and down. Gyroscopes are placed in the lenses - or micro gyroscopes or equivalent sensors. When the camera moves the gyroscopes detect the movement and send a signal to the floating lens to move in the right direction in order to compensate for the movement. Moving the lens corrects the angle in which the light hits the image sensor compensating for the movement.
Moving sensor: The sensor is a chip behind the lenses that converts the light reflected on it to digital pixels. When a movement is detected the sensor is slightly moved in the opposite direction to compensate for it. Gyroscopes or equivalent sensors could be used to detect movements though many stabilizers use a DSP processor that analyzes the image on the sensor in real time to detect movements eliminating the need of another mechanical part
The advantages of such stabilizers are: getting sharper photos while practically eliminating blurriness in most common scenarios. Sensor based detectors work very well in low light scenarios since they detect actual physical movement while DSP processors based detection is less effective in low light scenarios and more prone to errors. The disadvantages are: added cost, weight and size to the camera as a result of the mechanical mechanism.
http://www.camera2photo.com/2006/09/03/still-digital-camera-image-stabilizers-keep-your-images-sharp/
10 Ways to Make Your Digital Photos Last Forever
Photographs taken with film fade with age, and even negatives yellow and become brittle. Digital photos, on the other hand, retain the same brilliant color and clarity every time you pull them up on the computer screen—until your hard disk crashes and you instantly lose every photo you’ve ever taken.Yes, digital photography has its share of disasters, and that leads some people to distrust it, or even to claim that film lasts longer than digital. But the good news is that your digital pictures can last forever if you take good care of them. Here are 10 rules to follow to make sure you don’t lose pictures to a digital catastrophe:
1. Use a quality memory card.
Start with the “film” your pictures are stored on: the memory card. While the cheap memory cards offer a huge capacity for a small price, it’s best to pay a bit more and get a quality card. A card from a good manufacturer will have less risk of data corruption or other failures. Sandisk, Lexar, and Kingston are good choices.
* Tip: Buy two smaller cards instead of one larger one: for example, two 1GB cards instead of one 2GB card. This will often save you money, and you’ll also have a hedge against data loss—one corrupt card will only affect half of your photos.
2. Get those photos off that memory card.
You might have a huge memory card in your camera that can store thousands of photos, but you should still consider the memory card temporary storage—a memory card can fail, or can be lost or stolen with the camera. Whenever you finish taking a batch of pictures or return from a trip, use a card reader or USB cable to transfer the pictures to the computer.
3. Don’t delete photos in the camera.
Your camera probably has a convenient “Delete” or “Trash” button. I suggest you never use it. There are three reasons for this:
* You avoid accidentally deleting the wrong picture, or accidentally using the “delete all” option.
* I find it helpful to keep all of my photos, since even the “mistakes” could turn out to be the only photo of something important, or a “happy accident” that is good in its own way.
* Can you really determine which photos are good or bad by looking at your camera’s tiny screen? It’s much better to transfer them all to the computer, then decide what to keep.
4. Don’t delete photos at all.
For that matter, why delete photos at all? I keep every photo I take with my digital cameras: the great shots, the out-of-focus shots, the mistakes, the duplicates, everything. Even the bad ones are useful years later for documenting my vacations and remembering what I saw, for seeing how my photographic technique has improved, or for seeing whether a camera is working as well as it used to. This also ensures that I never delete the wrong photo. If there’s a gap in the numbering on my original photo files, I know something’s missing.
If you don’t have room for all of your photos on your hard drive, remember that hard drives are cheap. You can also archive the old ones to CD or DVD media.
5. Keep a Backup. Or two.
Did I mention that hard drives are cheap? I recommend keeping two copies of all of your original photos at all times. I have a daily backup script that copies the new files to an external drive. Be sure to use a separate drive or another computer as your backup, to avoid losing photos in a drive crash.
If you want to guarantee you won’t lose photos, you should also have an off-site backup—use an online backup service, upload them to a server, or just drop off a few DVD-ROMs at a friend’s house. That way your photos are protected even if you have a house fire or other disaster.
6. Use generic photo formats.
Most cameras store images in the standard JPEG format, which should be easily readable for many years. However, higher-end cameras usually have a RAW format option. While raw images are great for post-processing and often beat JPEG in quality, keep in mind that all raw formats are proprietary, and you may have trouble opening these files 10 years from now. It’s best to save a standard JPEG or TIFF version of each photo, even if you use RAW. Some cameras can save a JPEG file along with the RAW file, giving you the best of both worlds.
* Tip: If you are serious about your photography and insist on using RAW format, keep a backup copy of the software you use to process the files. You might need to install it on an antique PC 10 years from now to access an old photo.
7. Don’t edit original photos.
If you use a photo, you’ll often resize, crop, or otherwise process it. This is fine, but the first thing you should do when editing a photo is save it to a new file. Keep the original, unprocessed, full-resolution file along with your edited version. This will make it easier to use the photo for a different purpose later, and it also avoids the costly mistake of overwriting a photo with a messed-up version. Back up the edited version too.
* Tip: Unless you’re very careful and use special software, overwriting a photo will erase the EXIF data that the camera stored with the photo. This is your record of the date and time the picture was taken and the camera settings used.
8. Don’t trust someone else with your photos.
Online photo sharing sites like Flickr are great for sharing photos, but avoid the temptation to use them for storing photos. Don’t trust an online service with the only copy of your photos, or even the backup copy.
Online services might go out of business, and they don’t guarantee that your data will be safe—especially if you forget to pay the bill. They also almost always process the photo (resizing, etc.) when you upload it. Use these services to share pictures, but don’t expect them to last forever there.
9. Test and maintain your backup files.
A backup copy is no good if it doesn’t work, or if you lose access to it. Here are a few tips for making sure your backups will back you up:
* Take a look at your backup files regularly, and make sure you can load a few photos.
* If you back up to a hard disk, check the disk for errors regularly.
* If you back up to CD-R or DVD-R, use quality backup media.
* Test CD or DVD backups every month or two.
* Once every year or two, copy CD or DVD backups to brand new discs. Media has a lifespan potentially as low as 5 years.
* If you get a new computer, be sure to move the photos from your old computer, and make sure you still have two copies.
* If CD or DVD formats are going away in favor of some kind of new Super Blue-HD discs, copy your files to the new media as soon as it’s practical.
10. Label, organize, and sort your photos.
If you follow the above rules for 20 years, you’ll end up with thousands of great photos—and now you have a different problem. Finding a few pictures of “that one time we went to Yellowstone” could be virtually impossible when you have thousands of photos stored in a disorganized mess of folders.
At the very least, do what I do: store each batch of photos in a separate folder with a descriptive name beginning with the date. Here are some examples:
* 2006-05-10 Yellowstone Park
* 2006-08-22 Testing new Camera
* 2006-09-01 Elvis sighting at Caesar’s Palace
* 2006-12-26 Opening Christmas presents
I avoid renaming the photo files, since I consider them my “negatives” and want a complete record of the pictures I’ve taken. Instead, I store them in folders like the above, then group those into larger folders for each year. This makes it easy to find particular photos, and the pictures are in convenient groups for archiving to DVD-ROMs every few months.
You may even want to move the best photos (or the ones you’ve chosen to print) into a separate folder within each folder, especially if you’re like me and you have more “misses” than “hits”.
If you want to go one step further, you can catalog your photos with a program like ACDSee, which lets you store a title, description, keywords, and rating for every photo. That would make it even easier to find what you’re looking for, if you can find the time to label and rate each picture.
http://www.camera2photo.com/2006/08/17/10-ways-to-make-your-digital-photos-last-forever/
1. Use a quality memory card.
Start with the “film” your pictures are stored on: the memory card. While the cheap memory cards offer a huge capacity for a small price, it’s best to pay a bit more and get a quality card. A card from a good manufacturer will have less risk of data corruption or other failures. Sandisk, Lexar, and Kingston are good choices.
* Tip: Buy two smaller cards instead of one larger one: for example, two 1GB cards instead of one 2GB card. This will often save you money, and you’ll also have a hedge against data loss—one corrupt card will only affect half of your photos.
2. Get those photos off that memory card.
You might have a huge memory card in your camera that can store thousands of photos, but you should still consider the memory card temporary storage—a memory card can fail, or can be lost or stolen with the camera. Whenever you finish taking a batch of pictures or return from a trip, use a card reader or USB cable to transfer the pictures to the computer.
3. Don’t delete photos in the camera.
Your camera probably has a convenient “Delete” or “Trash” button. I suggest you never use it. There are three reasons for this:
* You avoid accidentally deleting the wrong picture, or accidentally using the “delete all” option.
* I find it helpful to keep all of my photos, since even the “mistakes” could turn out to be the only photo of something important, or a “happy accident” that is good in its own way.
* Can you really determine which photos are good or bad by looking at your camera’s tiny screen? It’s much better to transfer them all to the computer, then decide what to keep.
4. Don’t delete photos at all.
For that matter, why delete photos at all? I keep every photo I take with my digital cameras: the great shots, the out-of-focus shots, the mistakes, the duplicates, everything. Even the bad ones are useful years later for documenting my vacations and remembering what I saw, for seeing how my photographic technique has improved, or for seeing whether a camera is working as well as it used to. This also ensures that I never delete the wrong photo. If there’s a gap in the numbering on my original photo files, I know something’s missing.
If you don’t have room for all of your photos on your hard drive, remember that hard drives are cheap. You can also archive the old ones to CD or DVD media.
5. Keep a Backup. Or two.
Did I mention that hard drives are cheap? I recommend keeping two copies of all of your original photos at all times. I have a daily backup script that copies the new files to an external drive. Be sure to use a separate drive or another computer as your backup, to avoid losing photos in a drive crash.
If you want to guarantee you won’t lose photos, you should also have an off-site backup—use an online backup service, upload them to a server, or just drop off a few DVD-ROMs at a friend’s house. That way your photos are protected even if you have a house fire or other disaster.
6. Use generic photo formats.
Most cameras store images in the standard JPEG format, which should be easily readable for many years. However, higher-end cameras usually have a RAW format option. While raw images are great for post-processing and often beat JPEG in quality, keep in mind that all raw formats are proprietary, and you may have trouble opening these files 10 years from now. It’s best to save a standard JPEG or TIFF version of each photo, even if you use RAW. Some cameras can save a JPEG file along with the RAW file, giving you the best of both worlds.
* Tip: If you are serious about your photography and insist on using RAW format, keep a backup copy of the software you use to process the files. You might need to install it on an antique PC 10 years from now to access an old photo.
7. Don’t edit original photos.
If you use a photo, you’ll often resize, crop, or otherwise process it. This is fine, but the first thing you should do when editing a photo is save it to a new file. Keep the original, unprocessed, full-resolution file along with your edited version. This will make it easier to use the photo for a different purpose later, and it also avoids the costly mistake of overwriting a photo with a messed-up version. Back up the edited version too.
* Tip: Unless you’re very careful and use special software, overwriting a photo will erase the EXIF data that the camera stored with the photo. This is your record of the date and time the picture was taken and the camera settings used.
8. Don’t trust someone else with your photos.
Online photo sharing sites like Flickr are great for sharing photos, but avoid the temptation to use them for storing photos. Don’t trust an online service with the only copy of your photos, or even the backup copy.
Online services might go out of business, and they don’t guarantee that your data will be safe—especially if you forget to pay the bill. They also almost always process the photo (resizing, etc.) when you upload it. Use these services to share pictures, but don’t expect them to last forever there.
9. Test and maintain your backup files.
A backup copy is no good if it doesn’t work, or if you lose access to it. Here are a few tips for making sure your backups will back you up:
* Take a look at your backup files regularly, and make sure you can load a few photos.
* If you back up to a hard disk, check the disk for errors regularly.
* If you back up to CD-R or DVD-R, use quality backup media.
* Test CD or DVD backups every month or two.
* Once every year or two, copy CD or DVD backups to brand new discs. Media has a lifespan potentially as low as 5 years.
* If you get a new computer, be sure to move the photos from your old computer, and make sure you still have two copies.
* If CD or DVD formats are going away in favor of some kind of new Super Blue-HD discs, copy your files to the new media as soon as it’s practical.
10. Label, organize, and sort your photos.
If you follow the above rules for 20 years, you’ll end up with thousands of great photos—and now you have a different problem. Finding a few pictures of “that one time we went to Yellowstone” could be virtually impossible when you have thousands of photos stored in a disorganized mess of folders.
At the very least, do what I do: store each batch of photos in a separate folder with a descriptive name beginning with the date. Here are some examples:
* 2006-05-10 Yellowstone Park
* 2006-08-22 Testing new Camera
* 2006-09-01 Elvis sighting at Caesar’s Palace
* 2006-12-26 Opening Christmas presents
I avoid renaming the photo files, since I consider them my “negatives” and want a complete record of the pictures I’ve taken. Instead, I store them in folders like the above, then group those into larger folders for each year. This makes it easy to find particular photos, and the pictures are in convenient groups for archiving to DVD-ROMs every few months.
You may even want to move the best photos (or the ones you’ve chosen to print) into a separate folder within each folder, especially if you’re like me and you have more “misses” than “hits”.
If you want to go one step further, you can catalog your photos with a program like ACDSee, which lets you store a title, description, keywords, and rating for every photo. That would make it even easier to find what you’re looking for, if you can find the time to label and rate each picture.
http://www.camera2photo.com/2006/08/17/10-ways-to-make-your-digital-photos-last-forever/
Expert Advice About Choosing Digital Camera
Do all digital cameras suffer from shutter lag?
It is true that digital cameras do suffer from shutter lag. Shutter lag is the time in between clicking the shutter button and the picture actually being taken. Once the button is pressed digital cameras get to work setting the focus, white balance and exposure time. They also need to charge up the CCD. The end result, a brief pause before the picture is taken can be very annoying and can prove to be the difference between a great picture and a missed opportunity. As with most things in the world of digital cameras shutter lag times are decreasing as the technology evolves. In fact in higher spec digital cameras shutter lag has almost been eliminated. It won’t be a problem with the majority of pictures that you take, but it is something to be aware of.
How can I tell which digital cameras allow playback through my television?
Not all digital cameras allow playback through your television. When you are reading specifications for digital cameras look out for ones that have “video out” under interfaces.
What is the best image manipulation software for images taken with digital cameras?
The market leader is Adobe Photoshop. This remarkable piece of software will let you do almost anything with an image. Before you rush off and buy Adobe Photoshop there are two things that you need to consider. First it is aimed at digital photographers who are looking for serious image manipulation. This gives Adobe Photoshop a fairly big learning curve and there are plenty of books and courses dedicated to helping you get the most from the package. Secondly it doesn’t come cheap. A guide price is £500-550.
There are a couple of very good alternatives to Adobe Photoshop for those of you who are looking for more general image manipulation. One is Adobe Photoshop’s little brother Adobe Photoshop Elements, priced at around £65-70. The other is Paint Shop Pro which you can pick up for under £40. I have used this package myself and it does everything that I’ve ever wanted to do with an image.
Cheaper still are products like Kai’s Photo Factory. You shouldn’t have to pay more than £15 and it gives you some useful image manipulation tools.
Digital cameras seem to have lots of features that I’ll never understand. They must be difficult to use.
It’s true that digital cameras, particularly at the higher end of the market do have some pretty amazing features. It is also true that these will really only be of use to serious photographers who want to experiment with their digital cameras and want to learn and use all that their camera has to offer. Even then digital cameras come with a fully automatic mode that will allow you to use it in a similar way to a traditional point and shoot camera. The important point to remember here is that feature rich digital cameras also cost a lot of money. If you are not planning to make use of all the available features then I would suggest that you buy a model with a smaller feature set and save yourself a loot of money. You will find that digital cameras that are more basic in the functionality that they offer are also more easy to use.
How much is a good printer to print photographs taken with digital cameras?
The most common type of printer for home use is the Inkjet. You can buy an inkjet that gives an acceptable level of print quality for under £100. In my view though, you have to pay around £300 if you are serious about printing at home.
Even then to get the best results you need to use coated photographic paper. This can prove to me quite expensive. Ink cartridges do not last long, especially if you are printing up to 8×11″. You need to factor additional cartridges and paper into your budget, because together they can increase the costs substantially. If you are not planning to print that many pictures then I would advise you to consider having your photographs printed by a professional printing services company. Otherwise it begins to get hard to justify paying out for the printer and consumables.
If you are more dedicated to your photography and are looking for a higher standard print than is available from the inkjet range, then you can buy a dye sublimation printer. These are a clear step up in terms of print quality, but there is also a clear step up to pay as well. A good quality dye sublimation printers could cost you around £300.
Printing has become a major growth area in digital photography and there are now plenty of professional services that you can select from at a very reasonable price. You can either drop into shops such as Boots or take advantage of online printing services. I have been very impressed by how easy it is to use the service and how little it costs.
I find all the different memory cards confusing. What’s the difference?
It is a fact that there are many different types of memory card around. Normally a digital camera is compatible with just one type of card. Sometimes a digital camera can use a variety of different types of cards. The important point is to make sure that the card you buy is the right type for your camera. If you are not sure make sure it is probably best to buy from your local camera shop where the staff should be able to help you.
The most common type of card is the SD (Secure Digital) card. Fuji and Olympus tend to use xD cards, while Sony use their own Memory Sticks. More advanced cameras still tend to use CompactFlash because of the high storage capacities available on a single card.
What size memory card should I buy?
It depends on the number of megapixels your digital camera has. If you have a digital camera less than five megapixels then you can get away with 64mb. Ideally you would go for a card with a higher capacity, but if your budget is restricted then a 64mb card will allow you to record around between 30 and 35 images. For a camera with five megapixels or more then I would suggest a minimum size of 128mb. This will allow you to save around 50 photos.
How many pixels do digital cameras need to produce good quality 6×4 prints?
It depends on just how pin sharp you want the image. Two megapixel digital cameras will produce very good 6×4 prints, but if you are looking for exceptional quality then you will be better off looking at 3 megapixel digital cameras. Likewise with 8×11 prints. Three megapixel digital cameras will produce very good prints, but if you are looking for exceptional quality then you need to step up to 4 megapixel digital cameras.
What are compression modes?
Digital cameras use different compression modes to store images. If you use high or fine or super fine etc. compression modes then the image produced will be much sharper. Pictures taken at a high resolution will also take up more room on the storage card. Therefore if you are using digital cameras with relatively small storage cards then they will soon become full if you are shooting at a high resolution.
Are digital cameras under £200 worth the money?
It all depends on what you are looking to get out of using digital cameras. Digital cameras have really come down in price and some of those available for under £200 are very good cameras indeed. In fact there are digital cameras on the market for under £100 that will do a very good job if you are looking for a camera that will take good quality snap shots and is easy to use.
Why are some memory cards cheaper than others?
Higher priced memory cards have a higher speed rating. This means that the picture is written to the card faster and the digital camera becomes ready to take the next shot quicker. This is really only an issue for anyone using digital cameras and wanting to shoot a number of pictures very quickly. It is also felt that the faster memory cards are of a little higher quality.
I have seen effective pixels referred to on specifications for digital cameras. What does this mean?
Not all the pixels that are on a digital camera’s CCD can be used when the photograph is taken. Some fall outside the range of the lens and some are painted black to help with colour balance. Therefore it is the number of effective pixels that people need to look out for when buying digital cameras.
I have a 35mm SLR camera. There seems far less choice with SLR digital cameras.
It’s true that SLR digital cameras are few and far between all though this too is changing. They are also expensive, but recent additions to the range have caused a real price breakthrough. There is no need to despair though as the group of digital cameras known as “Prosumer” carry the same advanced features as most 35mm SLR cameras. Check out this range of digital cameras before you buy.
What is Digital Zoom?
Digital zoom causes digital cameras to zoom in on the centre section of an image. The centre area will then look bigger, but the same number of pixels are used. This means that the quality of the image is reduced. If a zoom lens is important to you then make sure that you look out for digital cameras that come with an optical zoom. Digital cameras with optical zooms will produce images of a far higher quality.
Do all digital cameras offer a movie mode?
The vast majority of digital cameras come with a movie mode. It is normally only those at the very low end or very high end that may not. The reason why those at the high end do not have a movie mode is that they are aimed at professional or very serious amateur photographers and the view is that they will not be spending time shooting movies. Almost all cameras shoot colour movies with sound now.
As it stands more and more cameras are offering a movie mode with a resolution of 640×480 and a speed of 30 frames per second. These figures may not mean much to you, but this resolution and speed provide TV quality movies. An increasing number of cameras can also shoot movies that are only limited in duration by the capacity of the memory card and batteries. One more feature worth mentioning is cameras that let you zoom in on the action while you are shooting the movie.
Do you need a card reader to upload images from digital cameras?
You don’t necessarily need a card ready to upload images taken by digital cameras. Digital cameras come with a lead that will connect them to the PC and you can upload your pictures through that cable. Some people do experience difficulties from time to time uploading their images using this method. A card reader simplifies the process by creating another drive on your computer and from there it is relatively straight forward to transfer your images from the card to the PC.
Do all digital cameras use batteries very quickly?
It is certainly true that all digital cameras use batteries quickly. There is some good news though in that the latest digital cameras are a lot more efficient in the way that they use power and this means that batteries last a lot longer.
There are also one or two things that you can do to conserve the life of your batteries and get more out of them. The simplest way is to turn off the camera when it is not in use. I know that this sound obvious, but it can be tempting to leave digital cameras running so that you are always ready to take your next shot. Another tip is to turn the LCD screen off when it’s not in use. The LCD screen is a big power user and therefore can run your batteries down very quickly. From my own personal experience I am also well aware that overuse of movie mode on digital cameras can drain the life out of a battery quicker than anything.
More and more digital cameras will also take rechargeable batteries. Some come with rechargeable lithium ion batters and a charger. For those that take AA batteries you can pick up a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger to help keep down running costs.
Are there any cameras that save pictures on a floppy disk or CD?
Yes. Sony produce a range of digital cameras called Mavica. The Mavica digital cameras are divided into two sections, FD Mavicas and CD Mavicas. The FDs take floppy disks and not surprisingly the CD range uses CDs as storage.
What do digital cameras use a LCD screen for?
The LCD screen that is found on the back of digital cameras comes in very handy indeed. It has two functions. First it displays menu options. For example it controls the deletion of images that you don’t want to keep. It’s main function is that it allows you to see the picture that you are about to take before you take it and how it turned out afterwards. For me this is one of the biggest advantages digital cameras offer an inexperienced photographer. The ability to see exactly how you picture turned out immediately after taking it allows you to identify areas that you can improve on. It can also allow you a second chance with a photograph. If you take it and don’t like the look of it you can always delete the image and take the picture again.
Where is the best place to buy digital cameras?
You are certainly spoilt for choice when it comes to buying digital cameras. Just about every shop on the High Street or the Internet, plus just about every mail order company sells digital cameras. If you know very little about digital cameras then I would strongly advise you to research thoroughly. The Internet is obviously a great place to cover the research, but it may also be worth your while to buy a magazine or two. Shopping around on the Internet usually leads to the best deals on digital cameras and I would certainly advise anyone to take advantage of our digital cameras price comparison service to make sure that you save that bit more money when you buy.
I have heard that digital cameras use a CCD. What is it?
The CCD is the Charge Coupled Device. It is a light sensor that sits behind the lens in digital cameras. It records the image when you take a photograph. It is a grid made up of millions of tiny light sensors. The capacity of the CCD is measured in megapixels. The higher the number of megapixels the higher the resolution of the picture.
There are so many digital cameras. Which one is right for me?
This is the number one question that I receive about digital cameras and I am afraid that it is one that I cannot answer for you. I can try and help all I can. All the knowledge that I have about digital cameras is already on the site. The reason that I cannot answer the question for you is that whichever one of the wide range of digital cameras that you choose it ultimately has to be your decision. You will find a section of recommended digital cameras on the site and you will also find specifications, consumer reviews and price comparisons. Please use all of these facilities to help you sort through the wide range of digital cameras and find the one that is right for you.
Must I buy a digital camera if I want to have digital images.
No you could buy a digital scanner or when you have your photographs developed you can have them put on to a CD. This is certainly worth considering if you are happy with your equipment and have already invested heavily in it. Only you have either a scanned image on your computer or on a CD you have the same freedom to edit your images, use them on websites or send them by email that you would if you had taken them with a digital camera.
I have seen that some digital cameras have a burst mode. What is it?
Digital cameras with burst mode have the ability to take a number of pictures in quick succession. The number of frames that can be shot is denoted by frames per second and the number of seconds that the camera is able to operate for in this manner.
http://www.camera2photo.com/2006/09/27/expert-advice-about-choosing-digital-camera/
5 Ways to Get Cheaper Camera
1. Coupons and Discounts
There are numerous websites out there that are committed to keeping track of special coupons. On any given day you should be able to find at least one coupon or discount that can be used to purchase a digital camera. Observe the sites for a week or so to get an idea of the kind of deals and coupons that come about. When you notice one that applies to the digital camera you want (or a similar model), grab it !!!
2. Employee Discounts
You may be able to get the same discount that your company does if you work for a company that buys computers or electronic appliances on a regular basis. Talk or be friend to the person in charge of purchasing the company’s computers (usually purchasing officer) and ask if he or she can get some discount from the vendor.
3. Buy Online
“Buy Online Get 5% Discount”, we often see that message when visit some online store. But, very carefull, they do give you 5% off on other hand the handling and shipping fee is expensive. So, try find an online store with free shipping and give some discount for buying online. Many new online store give discount. (An attractive way to promote their site).
4. Close-out Sales, Liquidation
Keep your eyes peeled for close-out, fire, and liquidation sales. Camera technology is changing at a fast pace, many lines are discontinued to make room for newer inventory with the latest technology. Many of these close-out sales will offer great laptops at reduced prices.
5.Don’t Forget To Haggle
If you’re buying a camera from your local dealer, don’t always take the sticker price as gospel. Ask for a special deal, you may be pleasantly surprised at the savings. This works best with independent dealers who can offer you a special deal. If you’re a regular customer, the better the deal you should demand!
http://www.camera2photo.com/2006/09/23/5-ways-to-get-cheaper-camera/
25 things you must know before buying digital camera
As we all know, digital cameras have already replaced the old film-type cameras. After all, you can take as many shots as you want with a digicam and not worry about wasting film, you can print your own photos at home, and - more often than not - a digicam also doubles as a video camera and a portable USB flash drive, all in one package. Plus, digicams are very pretty.
However, with all the features that we want and all the convenience and hipness they promise, digicams are not cheap either. So if you're about to go out and pick yourself your own cam, you might first want to stop for a minute or two since there are certain things that you might want to know about before forking over your hard-earned cash.
Over at Camera2Photo.com, a guide of 25 essential tips have been compiled to help the casual (and maybe even the pro) photographer pick out the perfect digital camera. Tips that have been included range from how to gauge the price of your selection as compared to its features, warnings to not get wowed by the megapixels that a model supposedly sports, as well as why one should consider optical zoom over a camera's digital zoom capability.
This is one set of rules to follow since it may possibly save you or someone you know either lots of money or from the heartache that is caused by buyer's guilt. Check out the rules by checking out the link below.
Buying a digital camera to get started in the world of digital photography or to replace your old camera? Read tips on getting the best digital camera for your money.
#1: Set a Budget Before Buying
Budget yourself when purchasing a digital camera.
#2: Ignore Digital Zoom
When buying digital cameras, concentrate on optical zoom, not digital zoom.
#3: Two Considerations when Buying a New Camera
Consider these two items before buying a new digital camera.
#4: Small Doesn’t Mean Underpowered
Small digital cameras may be exactly what you need.
#5: Be Careful When Buying Package Deals
Digital camera package deals may be too good to be true - or a real bargain!
#6: Check What the Zoom Really Means
Advertised digital camera zoom levels may not just be optical zoom.
#7: Get a Camera with Magnified Photo Previews
Magnified photo previews can help determine the sharpness of a digital photo.
#8: Is There a Built-In Microphone?
A digital camera microphone can provide added benefits to your photo taking.
#9: Effective Pixels and Foveon X3
Sometimes advertised digital camera pixel counts can be deceiving.
#10: Don’t Expect a Camera to Come with Enough Media
Buying a digital camera? Be prepared to buy some extra media.
#11: What to Look for to Take Night Photography
Helpful features some digital cameras provide to take better night photos.
#12: Don’t Get Caught Up in Megapixels
Megapixels are not everything when it comes to buying a digital camera.
#13: Consider the Total Cost of Ownership
You won’t just be purchasing a digital camera - you may need to buy accessories.
#14: Be Careful with Very Cheap Prices
Beware of the digital camera ‘package deal’ sales technique.
#15: Pre-Programmed Scene Modes May Help
Scene modes make it easier to take digital camera photos in tough lighting conditions.
#16: Does Flash Come with an SLR?
Consider the total cost of ownership when purchasing a digital SLR.
#17: Uses for your Old Digital Camera
Don’t throw away your old digital camera - here are some ways to get some use out of it.
#18: How Much Optical Zoom is Needed?
Do you require a digital camera with 6x optical zoom, or is 2x or 3x enough?
#19: Where is the Tripod Socket?
Make sure when purchasing a digital camera that it fits well on a tripod.
#20: Use Comparative Shopping Search Engines
Looking for the absolute best prices for digital cameras or digital camera accessories? Search many online vendors at once.
#21: Digital Camera Reviews
Links to websites offering reviews of specific digital cameras
#22: More Megapixels Means Greater Cropping Ability
Higher-megapixel digital cameras let you crop more.
#23: More Control May Cost You
To set manual exposure, you might need a more-expensive camera.
#24: Consider a Weatherproof Camera
Some digital cameras are made to withstand moisture.
#25: Look for ISO 50 Support
Look for digital cameras with ISO 50 support for crisper, cleaner images.
http://camera2photo.com/2006/08/25/25-things-you-must-know-before-buying-digital-camera
However, with all the features that we want and all the convenience and hipness they promise, digicams are not cheap either. So if you're about to go out and pick yourself your own cam, you might first want to stop for a minute or two since there are certain things that you might want to know about before forking over your hard-earned cash.
Over at Camera2Photo.com, a guide of 25 essential tips have been compiled to help the casual (and maybe even the pro) photographer pick out the perfect digital camera. Tips that have been included range from how to gauge the price of your selection as compared to its features, warnings to not get wowed by the megapixels that a model supposedly sports, as well as why one should consider optical zoom over a camera's digital zoom capability.
This is one set of rules to follow since it may possibly save you or someone you know either lots of money or from the heartache that is caused by buyer's guilt. Check out the rules by checking out the link below.
Buying a digital camera to get started in the world of digital photography or to replace your old camera? Read tips on getting the best digital camera for your money.
#1: Set a Budget Before Buying
Budget yourself when purchasing a digital camera.
#2: Ignore Digital Zoom
When buying digital cameras, concentrate on optical zoom, not digital zoom.
#3: Two Considerations when Buying a New Camera
Consider these two items before buying a new digital camera.
#4: Small Doesn’t Mean Underpowered
Small digital cameras may be exactly what you need.
#5: Be Careful When Buying Package Deals
Digital camera package deals may be too good to be true - or a real bargain!
#6: Check What the Zoom Really Means
Advertised digital camera zoom levels may not just be optical zoom.
#7: Get a Camera with Magnified Photo Previews
Magnified photo previews can help determine the sharpness of a digital photo.
#8: Is There a Built-In Microphone?
A digital camera microphone can provide added benefits to your photo taking.
#9: Effective Pixels and Foveon X3
Sometimes advertised digital camera pixel counts can be deceiving.
#10: Don’t Expect a Camera to Come with Enough Media
Buying a digital camera? Be prepared to buy some extra media.
#11: What to Look for to Take Night Photography
Helpful features some digital cameras provide to take better night photos.
#12: Don’t Get Caught Up in Megapixels
Megapixels are not everything when it comes to buying a digital camera.
#13: Consider the Total Cost of Ownership
You won’t just be purchasing a digital camera - you may need to buy accessories.
#14: Be Careful with Very Cheap Prices
Beware of the digital camera ‘package deal’ sales technique.
#15: Pre-Programmed Scene Modes May Help
Scene modes make it easier to take digital camera photos in tough lighting conditions.
#16: Does Flash Come with an SLR?
Consider the total cost of ownership when purchasing a digital SLR.
#17: Uses for your Old Digital Camera
Don’t throw away your old digital camera - here are some ways to get some use out of it.
#18: How Much Optical Zoom is Needed?
Do you require a digital camera with 6x optical zoom, or is 2x or 3x enough?
#19: Where is the Tripod Socket?
Make sure when purchasing a digital camera that it fits well on a tripod.
#20: Use Comparative Shopping Search Engines
Looking for the absolute best prices for digital cameras or digital camera accessories? Search many online vendors at once.
#21: Digital Camera Reviews
Links to websites offering reviews of specific digital cameras
#22: More Megapixels Means Greater Cropping Ability
Higher-megapixel digital cameras let you crop more.
#23: More Control May Cost You
To set manual exposure, you might need a more-expensive camera.
#24: Consider a Weatherproof Camera
Some digital cameras are made to withstand moisture.
#25: Look for ISO 50 Support
Look for digital cameras with ISO 50 support for crisper, cleaner images.
http://camera2photo.com/2006/08/25/25-things-you-must-know-before-buying-digital-camera
Shopping Online For Digital Photography and Electronic Equipment
First: There are two ways these items enter the United States: (1) Each Manufacturer designates an official importer of their goods who then distributes them to the various merchants throughout the country. These goods carry the manufacture’s USA warranty. The company then has factory trained technicians located throughout the US who can repair your purchases if needed. (2) Goods are purchased in a country outside the US and then imported. These are called "Grey Market" goods. You save a little money by purchasing them, but not much. They do not carry the manufacture’s USA warranty. This is perfectly legal. However, in case repairs are needed, the manufacturer may refuse to repair the item or will charge more for the repairs, more than you saved by buying Grey Market. The item may need to be returned to Japan for repairs. The documentation may be in Japanese.
Buyer Beware: You have heard the saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". When shopping online, if you find a price much lower than all of the others, Beware!!!!!
An example: I typed "Canon EOS 30D" in www.ask.com. "Ask.com" is like "Google" only better. Up came several options. One was at "Express Cameras", www.expresscameras.com. Their price for this camera was $599 when the next lowest price I could find was a little over $1000. This price raised a red flag for me. I watched the price for a couple of weeks and suddenly it was lowered to $549. Next I "asked" (googled) "Express Cameras". You can't believe the information I found there, ALL OF IT BAD, REALLY BAD. One site I found there was www.resellerratings.com. There were letters after letters telling of really awful experiences buyers had there. The following themes evolved as I read the letters:
(1)Bait and Switch. You order online. The next day you receive a call from them informing you that the item you ordered was Grey Market and out of stock. They don't expect to receive more for 3 or 4 months. However; here is the switch, they can let you have the item with manufactures USA warrantor for $900 ($200 less than they usually charge) with the Deluxe Accessory Package for $400, for a package price of $1300. They go on to list the items in the package, most of which are junk, and try to convince you that you really need them. They are really convincing so you relent. You must have really wanted the item because you ordered it online. Sucker. You should not have done it. You could have obtained the item from a reputable dealer for less money.
(2)An order is placed online. The next day they call you and try to sell you additional items which you don't want and don't need. Being savvy, you stand firm and the end result is that they agree to ship the item the next day for the advertised price. A week later it has not arrived. You call only to be informed that your order has been cancelled. Great news. They can't sell an item for less than they paid for it.
(3)They take your order and ship a different, much less expensive item. You call. They are, to say the least, not very cooperative. You are stuck with an item you would never have ordered.
The men, never women, manning the phones are very good at what they do. They will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge if you are not careful. You must be firm. Sometimes they will hang up on you. Most of the shady sites are located in NYC or in nearby New Jersey.
If you ever get caught in one of these scams, call and cancel your order and immediately call you credit card company and inform them not to accept any charges from this company.
Not to Worry: There are reputable dealers out there. Before you order for the first time from any merchant go to the site, www.resellerratings.com, click on "Store Ratings" and type in the name of the company. At this site you will probably only get negative comments. However, if there are many and they are really bad, you are probably better off not to order from them.
Another approach would be to go to the following sites and look for good prices. Then click on the ratings at the right to get information on the merchant. Only order from those with ratings of 4+. Check on shipping charges. Some charge much more than others. Some have free shipping.
Sites to check for best prices:
There are others.
Sites that I have ordered from and can recommend:
Buyer Beware: You have heard the saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". When shopping online, if you find a price much lower than all of the others, Beware!!!!!
An example: I typed "Canon EOS 30D" in www.ask.com. "Ask.com" is like "Google" only better. Up came several options. One was at "Express Cameras", www.expresscameras.com. Their price for this camera was $599 when the next lowest price I could find was a little over $1000. This price raised a red flag for me. I watched the price for a couple of weeks and suddenly it was lowered to $549. Next I "asked" (googled) "Express Cameras". You can't believe the information I found there, ALL OF IT BAD, REALLY BAD. One site I found there was www.resellerratings.com. There were letters after letters telling of really awful experiences buyers had there. The following themes evolved as I read the letters:
(1)Bait and Switch. You order online. The next day you receive a call from them informing you that the item you ordered was Grey Market and out of stock. They don't expect to receive more for 3 or 4 months. However; here is the switch, they can let you have the item with manufactures USA warrantor for $900 ($200 less than they usually charge) with the Deluxe Accessory Package for $400, for a package price of $1300. They go on to list the items in the package, most of which are junk, and try to convince you that you really need them. They are really convincing so you relent. You must have really wanted the item because you ordered it online. Sucker. You should not have done it. You could have obtained the item from a reputable dealer for less money.
(2)An order is placed online. The next day they call you and try to sell you additional items which you don't want and don't need. Being savvy, you stand firm and the end result is that they agree to ship the item the next day for the advertised price. A week later it has not arrived. You call only to be informed that your order has been cancelled. Great news. They can't sell an item for less than they paid for it.
(3)They take your order and ship a different, much less expensive item. You call. They are, to say the least, not very cooperative. You are stuck with an item you would never have ordered.
The men, never women, manning the phones are very good at what they do. They will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge if you are not careful. You must be firm. Sometimes they will hang up on you. Most of the shady sites are located in NYC or in nearby New Jersey.
If you ever get caught in one of these scams, call and cancel your order and immediately call you credit card company and inform them not to accept any charges from this company.
Not to Worry: There are reputable dealers out there. Before you order for the first time from any merchant go to the site, www.resellerratings.com, click on "Store Ratings" and type in the name of the company. At this site you will probably only get negative comments. However, if there are many and they are really bad, you are probably better off not to order from them.
Another approach would be to go to the following sites and look for good prices. Then click on the ratings at the right to get information on the merchant. Only order from those with ratings of 4+. Check on shipping charges. Some charge much more than others. Some have free shipping.
Sites to check for best prices:
- shopper.cnet.com
- www.pricegrabber.com
- www.bizrate.com
There are others.
Sites that I have ordered from and can recommend:
- www.adorama.com
- www.bhphoto.com
- www.newegg.com
- www.itsupplies.com
Monday, February 19, 2007
Pentax will unveil new lenses at Photokina
Pentax will be exhibiting three new interchangeable digital SLR camera lenses, as well and a new medium-format camera, at this year's Photokina in Cologne.
Press Release:
Still in pre-production, Photokina will represent the first opportunity for anyone outside of Pentax's engineering team to view these exciting new products.
Also on demonstration at the show will be the recently launched K10D - Pentax's flagship digital SLR camera, featuring 10 megapixels, Pentax's proprietary shake reduction system and a host of other innovative features. These in turn will be supported by Pentax's current digital compact line-up, which includes marketing leading cameras such as the Optio A20, Optio W20 and Optio T20.
Photokina is one of the world's largest photo and imaging merchandise fairs and runs from 26th September to 1st October in Cologne, Germany. It provides the perfect platform for Pentax to showcase its flagship models to Europe's photographic industry.
Three interchangeable lenses designed for exclusive use with PENTAX digital SLR cameras
* Wide-angle zoom lens; model name (tentative): smc PENTAX-DA* 16-50mm F2.8ED AL[IF]
* Telephoto zoom lens; model name (tentative): smc PENTAX-DA* 50-135mm F2.8ED [IF]
* Super-telephoto zoom lens; Model name (tentative): smc PENTAX-DA* 60-250mm F4ED [IF]
Other product information:
These products are designed for use with PENTAX K- and *istD series of digital SLR cameras. They are being developed as premium, high-end 'star' (*) lenses, which will deliver exceptional performance and optimal image quality. They will feature the PENTAX KAF2 mount, which incorporates additional electrical contacts to drive a built-in supersonic motor used in auto focusing. All three lenses will be available in March 2007.
Lens-interchangeable medium-format SLR camera
Model name (tentative): PENTAX 645 Digital
Product information:
* 18 effective megapixels
* PENTAX 645AF mount
* Compatibility with existing smc PENTAX 645-series lenses
Other information:
This product will be continuously upgraded by incorporating newly developed image sensors, with its final effective megapixels expected to reach 30-megapixels.
Press Release:
Still in pre-production, Photokina will represent the first opportunity for anyone outside of Pentax's engineering team to view these exciting new products.
Also on demonstration at the show will be the recently launched K10D - Pentax's flagship digital SLR camera, featuring 10 megapixels, Pentax's proprietary shake reduction system and a host of other innovative features. These in turn will be supported by Pentax's current digital compact line-up, which includes marketing leading cameras such as the Optio A20, Optio W20 and Optio T20.
Photokina is one of the world's largest photo and imaging merchandise fairs and runs from 26th September to 1st October in Cologne, Germany. It provides the perfect platform for Pentax to showcase its flagship models to Europe's photographic industry.
Three interchangeable lenses designed for exclusive use with PENTAX digital SLR cameras
* Wide-angle zoom lens; model name (tentative): smc PENTAX-DA* 16-50mm F2.8ED AL[IF]
* Telephoto zoom lens; model name (tentative): smc PENTAX-DA* 50-135mm F2.8ED [IF]
* Super-telephoto zoom lens; Model name (tentative): smc PENTAX-DA* 60-250mm F4ED [IF]
Other product information:
These products are designed for use with PENTAX K- and *istD series of digital SLR cameras. They are being developed as premium, high-end 'star' (*) lenses, which will deliver exceptional performance and optimal image quality. They will feature the PENTAX KAF2 mount, which incorporates additional electrical contacts to drive a built-in supersonic motor used in auto focusing. All three lenses will be available in March 2007.
Lens-interchangeable medium-format SLR camera
Model name (tentative): PENTAX 645 Digital
Product information:
* 18 effective megapixels
* PENTAX 645AF mount
* Compatibility with existing smc PENTAX 645-series lenses
Other information:
This product will be continuously upgraded by incorporating newly developed image sensors, with its final effective megapixels expected to reach 30-megapixels.
Have Camera Phone? Yahoo and Reuters Want You to Work for Their News Service
Hoping to turn the millions of people with digital cameras and camera phones into photojournalists, Yahoo and Reuters are introducing a new effort to showcase photographs and video of news events submitted by the public.
Starting tomorrow, the photos and videos submitted will be placed throughout Reuters.com and Yahoo News, the most popular news Web site in the United States, according to comScore MediaMetrix. Reuters said that it would also start to distribute some of the submissions next year to the thousands of print, online and broadcast media outlets that subscribe to its news service. Reuters said it hoped to develop a service devoted entirely to user-submitted photographs and video.
“There is an ongoing demand for interesting and iconic images,” said Chris Ahearn, the president of the Reuters media group. He said the agency had always bought newsworthy pictures from individuals and part-time contributors known as stringers.
“This is looking out and saying, ‘What if everybody in the world were my stringers?’ ” Mr. Ahearn said.
The project is among the most ambitious efforts in what has become known as citizen journalism, attempts by bloggers, start-up local news sites and by global news organizations like CNN and the BBC to see if readers can also become reporters.
Many news organizations turned to photographs taken by amateurs to supplement coverage of events like the London subway bombing and the Asian tsunami. Yahoo’s news division has already used images that were originally posted on Flickr, the company’s photo-sharing site. For example, it created a slide show of images from Thailand after the coup there in September.
Camera phone videos are increasingly making news themselves. Michael Richards, the actor who played Kramer on “Seinfeld,” was recorded last month responding to hecklers in a nightclub with racially charged epithets. The video was posted on TMZ, the celebrity news site.
The Yahoo-Reuters project will create a systematic way to incorporate images covering a wider range of topics into news coverage.
Starting tomorrow, users will be able to upload photos and videos to a section of Yahoo called You Witness News (news.yahoo.com/page/youwitnessnews). All of the submissions will appear on Flickr or a similar site for video. Editors at both Reuters and Yahoo will review the submissions and select some to place on pages with relevant news articles, just as professional photographs and video clips are woven into their news sites today.
“People don’t say, ‘I want to see user-generated content,’ ” said Lloyd Braun, who runs Yahoo’s media group. “They want to see Michael Richards in the club. If that happens to be from a cellphone, they are happy with a cellphone. If it’s from a professional photographer, they are happy for that, too.”
Users will not be paid for images displayed on the Yahoo and Reuters sites. But people whose photos or videos are selected for distribution to Reuters clients will receive a payment. Mr. Ahearn said the company had not yet figured out how to structure those payments. The basic payment may be relatively small, but he said Reuters was likely to pay more to people offering exclusive rights to images of major events. For now, no money is changing hands between Yahoo and Reuters, but if Reuters is able to create a separate news service with the user-created material, it will split the revenue with Yahoo.
Before photographs or videos are used on the Yahoo site or distributed by Reuters, photo editors at Reuters will try to vet them to weed out fraudulent or retouched images.
This is an imperfect process. Last summer, a blogger discovered that photos of the conflict in Lebanon by a freelance photographer working for Reuters had been digitally altered. Reuters stopped using the photographer and withdrew his work from its archive. The company is now trying to develop software that will help detect altered photographs.
The arrangement with Yahoo is one of several initiatives by Reuters to use the Internet to bring new sources to its news report. It has invested $7 million in Pluck, a company that distributes content from blogs to newspapers and other traditional media outlets. It has also backed two more experimental ventures: NewAssignment.net, an effort to foster reporting that combines the work of professional journalists with input from online readers, and Global Voices, a collection of blogs from less-developed countries.
Yahoo has its own ambitious plans for the You Witness News service. The images received will be used on its sports and entertainment sites. Over time, it wants to expand to local news and high school sports. And it will consider allowing users to contribute articles as well as images. For now, both Yahoo and Reuters are concerned that they do not have the resources to edit and verify such articles.
“News has special constraints on content quality,” said Elizabeth Osder, a senior director for product development at Yahoo. “If we publish text, we want to review it.”
CNN, which is owned by Time Warner and introduced its I-Reports section for user-submitted material on its site in August (www.cnn.com/exchange/), accepts text, images and video. Some submissions are included in its news broadcasts.
“Even the best reporters in most cases are approaching the story from the outside in,” said Mitch Gelman, the executive producer of CNN.com. “What a participant observer can offer is the perspective on that story from the inside out. We feel as a news organization we need to provide both to offer full coverage to our audience.”
Yahoo and Reuters will have other competitors besides mainstream news organizations when it comes to attracting submissions. People with compelling video, for example, may want the instant gratification of putting it on YouTube, the giant video site owned by Google, or some other site.
“The average person witnesses something that is considered news once every 10 years,” said Steve Rosenbaum, who created MTV Unfiltered, one of the first viewer-contributed video programs on television. “When it’s time to put something on the Internet, they will put it in the place they have used before. The numbers tell us that is YouTube.”
Indeed, Yahoo has had some trouble attracting submissions for another high-profile initiative, an effort to solicit videos for a site created jointly with Current, the cable network started by former Vice President Al Gore. As of Friday, that site is no longer accepting new videos.
Moreover, said Mr. Rosenbaum, who now runs Magnify Media, which helps Web sites post video contributions, it might be difficult to get the right sort of submissions.
“If you are asking your audience to know what is a national news story of interest to the world, it seems to me there are only two results: whether you get flooded with lots of car fires, or you get nothing. Neither is a particularly good effect.”
Starting tomorrow, the photos and videos submitted will be placed throughout Reuters.com and Yahoo News, the most popular news Web site in the United States, according to comScore MediaMetrix. Reuters said that it would also start to distribute some of the submissions next year to the thousands of print, online and broadcast media outlets that subscribe to its news service. Reuters said it hoped to develop a service devoted entirely to user-submitted photographs and video.
“There is an ongoing demand for interesting and iconic images,” said Chris Ahearn, the president of the Reuters media group. He said the agency had always bought newsworthy pictures from individuals and part-time contributors known as stringers.
“This is looking out and saying, ‘What if everybody in the world were my stringers?’ ” Mr. Ahearn said.
The project is among the most ambitious efforts in what has become known as citizen journalism, attempts by bloggers, start-up local news sites and by global news organizations like CNN and the BBC to see if readers can also become reporters.
Many news organizations turned to photographs taken by amateurs to supplement coverage of events like the London subway bombing and the Asian tsunami. Yahoo’s news division has already used images that were originally posted on Flickr, the company’s photo-sharing site. For example, it created a slide show of images from Thailand after the coup there in September.
Camera phone videos are increasingly making news themselves. Michael Richards, the actor who played Kramer on “Seinfeld,” was recorded last month responding to hecklers in a nightclub with racially charged epithets. The video was posted on TMZ, the celebrity news site.
The Yahoo-Reuters project will create a systematic way to incorporate images covering a wider range of topics into news coverage.
Starting tomorrow, users will be able to upload photos and videos to a section of Yahoo called You Witness News (news.yahoo.com/page/youwitnessnews). All of the submissions will appear on Flickr or a similar site for video. Editors at both Reuters and Yahoo will review the submissions and select some to place on pages with relevant news articles, just as professional photographs and video clips are woven into their news sites today.
“People don’t say, ‘I want to see user-generated content,’ ” said Lloyd Braun, who runs Yahoo’s media group. “They want to see Michael Richards in the club. If that happens to be from a cellphone, they are happy with a cellphone. If it’s from a professional photographer, they are happy for that, too.”
Users will not be paid for images displayed on the Yahoo and Reuters sites. But people whose photos or videos are selected for distribution to Reuters clients will receive a payment. Mr. Ahearn said the company had not yet figured out how to structure those payments. The basic payment may be relatively small, but he said Reuters was likely to pay more to people offering exclusive rights to images of major events. For now, no money is changing hands between Yahoo and Reuters, but if Reuters is able to create a separate news service with the user-created material, it will split the revenue with Yahoo.
Before photographs or videos are used on the Yahoo site or distributed by Reuters, photo editors at Reuters will try to vet them to weed out fraudulent or retouched images.
This is an imperfect process. Last summer, a blogger discovered that photos of the conflict in Lebanon by a freelance photographer working for Reuters had been digitally altered. Reuters stopped using the photographer and withdrew his work from its archive. The company is now trying to develop software that will help detect altered photographs.
The arrangement with Yahoo is one of several initiatives by Reuters to use the Internet to bring new sources to its news report. It has invested $7 million in Pluck, a company that distributes content from blogs to newspapers and other traditional media outlets. It has also backed two more experimental ventures: NewAssignment.net, an effort to foster reporting that combines the work of professional journalists with input from online readers, and Global Voices, a collection of blogs from less-developed countries.
Yahoo has its own ambitious plans for the You Witness News service. The images received will be used on its sports and entertainment sites. Over time, it wants to expand to local news and high school sports. And it will consider allowing users to contribute articles as well as images. For now, both Yahoo and Reuters are concerned that they do not have the resources to edit and verify such articles.
“News has special constraints on content quality,” said Elizabeth Osder, a senior director for product development at Yahoo. “If we publish text, we want to review it.”
CNN, which is owned by Time Warner and introduced its I-Reports section for user-submitted material on its site in August (www.cnn.com/exchange/), accepts text, images and video. Some submissions are included in its news broadcasts.
“Even the best reporters in most cases are approaching the story from the outside in,” said Mitch Gelman, the executive producer of CNN.com. “What a participant observer can offer is the perspective on that story from the inside out. We feel as a news organization we need to provide both to offer full coverage to our audience.”
Yahoo and Reuters will have other competitors besides mainstream news organizations when it comes to attracting submissions. People with compelling video, for example, may want the instant gratification of putting it on YouTube, the giant video site owned by Google, or some other site.
“The average person witnesses something that is considered news once every 10 years,” said Steve Rosenbaum, who created MTV Unfiltered, one of the first viewer-contributed video programs on television. “When it’s time to put something on the Internet, they will put it in the place they have used before. The numbers tell us that is YouTube.”
Indeed, Yahoo has had some trouble attracting submissions for another high-profile initiative, an effort to solicit videos for a site created jointly with Current, the cable network started by former Vice President Al Gore. As of Friday, that site is no longer accepting new videos.
Moreover, said Mr. Rosenbaum, who now runs Magnify Media, which helps Web sites post video contributions, it might be difficult to get the right sort of submissions.
“If you are asking your audience to know what is a national news story of interest to the world, it seems to me there are only two results: whether you get flooded with lots of car fires, or you get nothing. Neither is a particularly good effect.”
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Lightning bolt throws photographer in the air
When the sky darkened and lightning began to flash, Kane Quinnell grabbed his new digital camera, hoping to snap some pictures of the approaching storm.
Not having a tripod, he balanced the camera on his car, parked under the carport of his then Old Toongabbie home, and aimed the lens southward.
• A spot in the sun
It never occurred to Mr Quinnell that his new hobby - photographing storms - could be dangerous.
"In the north you could see a few stars and it wasn't raining," he recalled.
"The storm looked like it was five to 10 kilometres to the south. I thought it was perfectly safe to be outdoors, taking photos."
After setting the camera for a four-second exposure he began shooting pictures, suspecting there was little chance of lightning flashing while the shutter was open.
"I hit the button … and there was nothing. I hit the button again … and nothing. On about the fourth attempt I hit the button again and I saw this lightning and heard the thunder.
"It was like a crack. The next thing I was about two metres in the air - it scared the hell out of me."
Mr Quinnell estimated the lightning struck about 20 metres away. "I think it hit the house behind me."
Unhurt, but buzzing with adrenaline, he rushed inside to check the photo on his computer.
"I was amazed. It was the first storm picture I had really taken."
He emailed the picture to friends and suspects one of them forwarded it to the Bureau of Meteorology, because it called to ask if the shot could be published with 11 other spectacular photographs in its 2006 weather calendar.
"Kane," said the bureau's Melissa Lyne, "risked his life to take the [calendar's] August photo of a lightning strike."
Mr Quinnell, an IT technician, said that as a small boy he was frightened by thunderstorms.
"I grew up and got over the fear factor and started to really enjoy the light shows," he said.
Now armed with a tripod, he hopes to continue with his new hobby.
"I am just waiting for some rain. There haven't been may storms lately."
Phil Gordon, a truck driver, farmer and visual artist from Newcastle, said the storm he photographed at Treachery Beach, near Seal Rocks, "was like a living thing".
Although it was sunset, the eastern sky glowed so brightly "it looked like the sun was rising".
He recalled taking 60 to 80 photographs before he and his son Ryan were forced to run for cover from the 40 knot winds and the rain that flooded their camping ground. Then, 10 to 15 minutes after the storm arrived, "it was gone".
The calendar, a not-for-profit bureau project, costs goes on sale today. See www.bom.gov.au/calendar for more details.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=407650&in_page_id=1770
Not having a tripod, he balanced the camera on his car, parked under the carport of his then Old Toongabbie home, and aimed the lens southward.
• A spot in the sun
It never occurred to Mr Quinnell that his new hobby - photographing storms - could be dangerous.
"In the north you could see a few stars and it wasn't raining," he recalled.
"The storm looked like it was five to 10 kilometres to the south. I thought it was perfectly safe to be outdoors, taking photos."
After setting the camera for a four-second exposure he began shooting pictures, suspecting there was little chance of lightning flashing while the shutter was open.
"I hit the button … and there was nothing. I hit the button again … and nothing. On about the fourth attempt I hit the button again and I saw this lightning and heard the thunder.
"It was like a crack. The next thing I was about two metres in the air - it scared the hell out of me."
Mr Quinnell estimated the lightning struck about 20 metres away. "I think it hit the house behind me."
Unhurt, but buzzing with adrenaline, he rushed inside to check the photo on his computer.
"I was amazed. It was the first storm picture I had really taken."
He emailed the picture to friends and suspects one of them forwarded it to the Bureau of Meteorology, because it called to ask if the shot could be published with 11 other spectacular photographs in its 2006 weather calendar.
"Kane," said the bureau's Melissa Lyne, "risked his life to take the [calendar's] August photo of a lightning strike."
Mr Quinnell, an IT technician, said that as a small boy he was frightened by thunderstorms.
"I grew up and got over the fear factor and started to really enjoy the light shows," he said.
Now armed with a tripod, he hopes to continue with his new hobby.
"I am just waiting for some rain. There haven't been may storms lately."
Phil Gordon, a truck driver, farmer and visual artist from Newcastle, said the storm he photographed at Treachery Beach, near Seal Rocks, "was like a living thing".
Although it was sunset, the eastern sky glowed so brightly "it looked like the sun was rising".
He recalled taking 60 to 80 photographs before he and his son Ryan were forced to run for cover from the 40 knot winds and the rain that flooded their camping ground. Then, 10 to 15 minutes after the storm arrived, "it was gone".
The calendar, a not-for-profit bureau project, costs goes on sale today. See www.bom.gov.au/calendar for more details.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=407650&in_page_id=1770
Friday, February 9, 2007
East Africa Photos-How Do They Depict These Countries?
East Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent which is variably defined by geography or geopolitics. "East Africa" usually refers to the countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and sometimes Rwanda and Burundi. However "Eastern Africa", a scheme of geographic regions as designed by the United Nations, refers to nineteen territories throughout the eastern part of Africa. These include the following:
- Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda – also members of the East African Communities.
- Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia – commonly referred to as the Horn of Africa
- Mozambique and Madagascar – considered sometimes as part of Southern Africa
- Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – sometimes included in Southern Africa and formerly of the Central African Federation
- Burundi and Rwanda – often considered part of Central Africa
- Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles – small island nations in the Indian Ocean
- R̩union and Mayotte РFrench overseas territories also in the Indian Ocean
Several countries which are variously considered to be part of East Africa or Eastern Africa' are also member states of the Southern African Development Community. These countries are Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Zambia. Geographically, Egypt and Sudan are sometimes included in this region.
Most of East Africa’s photography revolves around Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Within Africa there are seven distinct geographic regions. Kenya's regions make up two larger divisions of these. One of these regions consists of elevated lands forming the southwestern third of the country, the remaining two-thirds forming an arc of low plateaus and plains. Photographs illustrate the magnificent beauty of the land rising gradually westward from a narrow coastal plain in a series of plateaus, culminating in a highland area, bisected by the Great Rift Valley and including the country's highest point, Mount Kenya.
Images highlight the northern and northeastern regions of Tanzania to consist mainly of arid plains and are peopled by semi-nomadic pastoralists. The mainland of Tanzania boasts of distinct geographical divisions: the Coastal Plains, whose width varies from 16 to 64km and whose vegetation is luxuriant and tropical. For the most part photographers have continued to focus on the vast savannas that cover almost 50% of Tanzania's land.
Whilst on the other hand they prefer to present their international audience with pictures of Uganda’s health or lack thereof. Uganda's population is plagued by a large number of infectious diseases, including measles, pertussis, respiratory tract infections, anemia, tetanus, malaria, and tuberculosis. Photographers revel in presenting images of the victims of these diseases.
- Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda – also members of the East African Communities.
- Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia – commonly referred to as the Horn of Africa
- Mozambique and Madagascar – considered sometimes as part of Southern Africa
- Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – sometimes included in Southern Africa and formerly of the Central African Federation
- Burundi and Rwanda – often considered part of Central Africa
- Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles – small island nations in the Indian Ocean
- R̩union and Mayotte РFrench overseas territories also in the Indian Ocean
Several countries which are variously considered to be part of East Africa or Eastern Africa' are also member states of the Southern African Development Community. These countries are Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Zambia. Geographically, Egypt and Sudan are sometimes included in this region.
Most of East Africa’s photography revolves around Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Within Africa there are seven distinct geographic regions. Kenya's regions make up two larger divisions of these. One of these regions consists of elevated lands forming the southwestern third of the country, the remaining two-thirds forming an arc of low plateaus and plains. Photographs illustrate the magnificent beauty of the land rising gradually westward from a narrow coastal plain in a series of plateaus, culminating in a highland area, bisected by the Great Rift Valley and including the country's highest point, Mount Kenya.
Images highlight the northern and northeastern regions of Tanzania to consist mainly of arid plains and are peopled by semi-nomadic pastoralists. The mainland of Tanzania boasts of distinct geographical divisions: the Coastal Plains, whose width varies from 16 to 64km and whose vegetation is luxuriant and tropical. For the most part photographers have continued to focus on the vast savannas that cover almost 50% of Tanzania's land.
Whilst on the other hand they prefer to present their international audience with pictures of Uganda’s health or lack thereof. Uganda's population is plagued by a large number of infectious diseases, including measles, pertussis, respiratory tract infections, anemia, tetanus, malaria, and tuberculosis. Photographers revel in presenting images of the victims of these diseases.
Digital Sports Photography - Top-Scoring Shots With Expert Coaching
A digital sports photography article would have been fairly brief as recently as a couple of years ago. In essence, it would have stated that digital cameras have unacceptable shutter lag, and cannot yet achieve the frame rates of their film cousins. End of story.
Well, that particular story has in fact ended. These days the focus is on digital cameras finally reaching the level of film cameras, and being widely used with great effect in digital sports photography. The aim nowadays is to point out the clear benefits offered by the digital route.
In fact, a number of excellent books have appeared on digital sports photography, confirming that this type of photography has finally become an acceptable mainstream digital activity.
In 'Digital Sports Photography', G. Newman Lowrance offers a wealth of information on the techniques and equipment you will need for successful digital sports photography - either as an aspiring professional, or taking shots at the local basketball game.
Lowrance has many years' experience of digital sports photography, and his pictures have been widely published in Official Super Bowl and Pro Bowl game magazines, NFL videos and calendars, NFL Insider Magazine, and elsewhere.
He doesn't hold back, and gives you a lot of information from some excellent sports photographers and editors. Issues such as color management, camera setup, and equipment options are covered. You will discover all the ins and outs of the unique techniques applied to shooting for baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer, and tennis.
Lowrance also uses his own experiences in digital sports photography, and gives true, autobiographical examples of how to get started and how to succeed as a professional.
His book features many eye-catching sports action photographs that will generate excitement and inspiration. The informative content will motivate you to become familiar with new aspects of the technology, stimulating a keen interest and involvement in this aspect of photography.
In short, 'Digital Sports Photography' will give you the help and guidance you need to make your photos stand out from the crowd!
Another book that illustrates how far digital sports photography has come, is 'Digital Sports Photography: Take Winning Shots Every Time', by Serge Timacheff and David Karlins.
This book helps you to take great shots by overcoming obstacles like rain and crowds, bad lighting, fast-moving athletes, flash limitations, and other challenges.
The authors give advice on how to shoot a wide range of sports: extreme, outdoor, indoor, competitive, recreational, and more. The book provides many full-color examples illustrating professional tips and techniques, and shows how to tackle skilled digital sports photography with any kind of digital camera, from point-and-shoot to SLR.
And the bottom line for many aspiring digital sports photographers is that this book will also teach you how to actually sell your images!
One of the advantages of digital sports photography highlighted, is that once you have the equipment, including enough batteries and memory cards, it doesn't cost anything to snap away at that baseball game...
Well, that particular story has in fact ended. These days the focus is on digital cameras finally reaching the level of film cameras, and being widely used with great effect in digital sports photography. The aim nowadays is to point out the clear benefits offered by the digital route.
In fact, a number of excellent books have appeared on digital sports photography, confirming that this type of photography has finally become an acceptable mainstream digital activity.
In 'Digital Sports Photography', G. Newman Lowrance offers a wealth of information on the techniques and equipment you will need for successful digital sports photography - either as an aspiring professional, or taking shots at the local basketball game.
Lowrance has many years' experience of digital sports photography, and his pictures have been widely published in Official Super Bowl and Pro Bowl game magazines, NFL videos and calendars, NFL Insider Magazine, and elsewhere.
He doesn't hold back, and gives you a lot of information from some excellent sports photographers and editors. Issues such as color management, camera setup, and equipment options are covered. You will discover all the ins and outs of the unique techniques applied to shooting for baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer, and tennis.
Lowrance also uses his own experiences in digital sports photography, and gives true, autobiographical examples of how to get started and how to succeed as a professional.
His book features many eye-catching sports action photographs that will generate excitement and inspiration. The informative content will motivate you to become familiar with new aspects of the technology, stimulating a keen interest and involvement in this aspect of photography.
In short, 'Digital Sports Photography' will give you the help and guidance you need to make your photos stand out from the crowd!
Another book that illustrates how far digital sports photography has come, is 'Digital Sports Photography: Take Winning Shots Every Time', by Serge Timacheff and David Karlins.
This book helps you to take great shots by overcoming obstacles like rain and crowds, bad lighting, fast-moving athletes, flash limitations, and other challenges.
The authors give advice on how to shoot a wide range of sports: extreme, outdoor, indoor, competitive, recreational, and more. The book provides many full-color examples illustrating professional tips and techniques, and shows how to tackle skilled digital sports photography with any kind of digital camera, from point-and-shoot to SLR.
And the bottom line for many aspiring digital sports photographers is that this book will also teach you how to actually sell your images!
One of the advantages of digital sports photography highlighted, is that once you have the equipment, including enough batteries and memory cards, it doesn't cost anything to snap away at that baseball game...
Before and After Photos in Fitness Magazines
Some supplement companies will go to any lengths to prove their products’ effectiveness. But sometimes the evidence isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be. Before and after photos are the most compelling means by which to convince a person of steroid-like gains.
Often the before photos show the bodybuilder in off-season condition; fat, bloated, with pale skin. Hardly inspirational, but true to life. And photos are sometimes reversed. In one instance a supplement company presented a photo of a fitness model in top condition, declaring it the ‘after’ photo. Beside it, the apparent ‘before’ photo showed the model in her last trimester of pregnancy. Anyone who is familiar with the model’s history is aware that the before photo was, in fact, the after photo.
The same trick was used by an ex-professional bodybuilder from the 1960s. Interestingly, his jowls sagged more and his face looked older in the before photo. Apparently his supplement line not only increases muscle, it may be the proverbial fountain of youth!
Before and after photos from every day individuals sell a product best. They represent people like you and me... average weight trainees hoping to make dramatic changes in short order. But these photos are also highly dubious. In order to look as bad and as good as possible, the models employ several tricks.
The before photos nearly always have the subject slouching, frowning, pale skin, dull lighting, gut extended, and with no muscle pump. The after photos use harsh lighting with good shadow contrast, tanned skin, upright posture with lats and shoulders spread wide, muscles tensed, smiling with well-groomed facial and head hair, and a muscle pump. It also is known that duct tape has been used to pull back obliques/love handles in order to make waists appear even smaller and shoulders even wider. The same trick works under their arm pits, to make the pec line more pronounced and sharp.
And so, are you truly seeing what the person has accomplished and while on supplement ‘x’? Hardly; what you are witnessing is an illusion of posing and photography skills of the model.
One winning competitor in the EAS Physique Transformation contest in 1999 did look good if contrasting his before and after photos, losing twelve pounds of fat. He also, however, lost six pounds of lean tissue! Ignoring the fact that he won, it could be said that his program was a failure and that he did the opposite of what exercise was originally intended to do, e.g., increase lean tissue/function.
But it is to these unhealthy extremes that one sometimes experiences in order to make a dramatic difference in a contest that allows only 12 weeks. After all, 12 weeks is not a long time, particularly for advanced trainees more so than novices. For the advanced, there is not much muscle to gain and to produce good before and after photos requires extreme loss of fat - besides slouching, frowning, and no pump or tan in the before photos.
Unfortunately, many people (particularly novices) who are unaware of the benefits and application of long-term planning will burn out on such an endeavor, perhaps quitting exercise all together. After a 12-week stint of near overtraining (if they haven’t done so by the contest’s end and if not understanding how to train), they conclude they cannot tolerate another 12-weeks of further self-inflicted torture, let alone another three years.
Not everyone entering these contests understand that it is a short-term solution... to see how far the body can be pushed as quickly as possible. After that point, training must take on a more cyclic structure. This means maintaining most of what was accomplished during the physique transformation followed by ‘easier’ off-season training and peaking infrequently thereafter. Fat loss may continue after the contest, or prior to another peak, but 100% mental effort and extreme demands may only account for 8-12 weeks total throughout the year once reaching an advanced stage. Training throughout the remainder of the year can still be tough, yet tolerable and never as demanding.
I don’t believe most beginner trainees realize the importance of cycling or what needs to be done after a physique transformation challenge. Most magazines don’t talk about it, nor do bodybuilding books. They present general ideas and expect you to lift happily ever after. It is for this reason that physique transformation contests and magazines as a whole produce greater failure than success in. The thoughts of maintaining or bettering one’s physique after 12-weeks of grueling effort is enough to shatter anyone’s motivation. Believing that you must continue training in a similar manner (something to which we have all fallen victim) is the best guarantee to exercise termination.
Interestingly, can you imagine the loss in profits that supplement manufacturers (magazine owners) are encountering due to frustration of their readers and the thousands dropping out of exercise - or perhaps no longer purchasing that magazine and the supplements it endorses. If sound training information were provided, particularly long-term application, there would be more successes and supplement purchases from advanced trainees. Rather, supplement companies are hoping and expecting a new generation of customers to make up for those recently lost – short-term solutions for a quick buck.
You may publish this article in your newsletter, on your web site, or other publications, so long as the article’s content is not altered and the resource box is included. Add byline and active link. Notification of the use of this article is appreciated, but not required.
Often the before photos show the bodybuilder in off-season condition; fat, bloated, with pale skin. Hardly inspirational, but true to life. And photos are sometimes reversed. In one instance a supplement company presented a photo of a fitness model in top condition, declaring it the ‘after’ photo. Beside it, the apparent ‘before’ photo showed the model in her last trimester of pregnancy. Anyone who is familiar with the model’s history is aware that the before photo was, in fact, the after photo.
The same trick was used by an ex-professional bodybuilder from the 1960s. Interestingly, his jowls sagged more and his face looked older in the before photo. Apparently his supplement line not only increases muscle, it may be the proverbial fountain of youth!
Before and after photos from every day individuals sell a product best. They represent people like you and me... average weight trainees hoping to make dramatic changes in short order. But these photos are also highly dubious. In order to look as bad and as good as possible, the models employ several tricks.
The before photos nearly always have the subject slouching, frowning, pale skin, dull lighting, gut extended, and with no muscle pump. The after photos use harsh lighting with good shadow contrast, tanned skin, upright posture with lats and shoulders spread wide, muscles tensed, smiling with well-groomed facial and head hair, and a muscle pump. It also is known that duct tape has been used to pull back obliques/love handles in order to make waists appear even smaller and shoulders even wider. The same trick works under their arm pits, to make the pec line more pronounced and sharp.
And so, are you truly seeing what the person has accomplished and while on supplement ‘x’? Hardly; what you are witnessing is an illusion of posing and photography skills of the model.
One winning competitor in the EAS Physique Transformation contest in 1999 did look good if contrasting his before and after photos, losing twelve pounds of fat. He also, however, lost six pounds of lean tissue! Ignoring the fact that he won, it could be said that his program was a failure and that he did the opposite of what exercise was originally intended to do, e.g., increase lean tissue/function.
But it is to these unhealthy extremes that one sometimes experiences in order to make a dramatic difference in a contest that allows only 12 weeks. After all, 12 weeks is not a long time, particularly for advanced trainees more so than novices. For the advanced, there is not much muscle to gain and to produce good before and after photos requires extreme loss of fat - besides slouching, frowning, and no pump or tan in the before photos.
Unfortunately, many people (particularly novices) who are unaware of the benefits and application of long-term planning will burn out on such an endeavor, perhaps quitting exercise all together. After a 12-week stint of near overtraining (if they haven’t done so by the contest’s end and if not understanding how to train), they conclude they cannot tolerate another 12-weeks of further self-inflicted torture, let alone another three years.
Not everyone entering these contests understand that it is a short-term solution... to see how far the body can be pushed as quickly as possible. After that point, training must take on a more cyclic structure. This means maintaining most of what was accomplished during the physique transformation followed by ‘easier’ off-season training and peaking infrequently thereafter. Fat loss may continue after the contest, or prior to another peak, but 100% mental effort and extreme demands may only account for 8-12 weeks total throughout the year once reaching an advanced stage. Training throughout the remainder of the year can still be tough, yet tolerable and never as demanding.
I don’t believe most beginner trainees realize the importance of cycling or what needs to be done after a physique transformation challenge. Most magazines don’t talk about it, nor do bodybuilding books. They present general ideas and expect you to lift happily ever after. It is for this reason that physique transformation contests and magazines as a whole produce greater failure than success in. The thoughts of maintaining or bettering one’s physique after 12-weeks of grueling effort is enough to shatter anyone’s motivation. Believing that you must continue training in a similar manner (something to which we have all fallen victim) is the best guarantee to exercise termination.
Interestingly, can you imagine the loss in profits that supplement manufacturers (magazine owners) are encountering due to frustration of their readers and the thousands dropping out of exercise - or perhaps no longer purchasing that magazine and the supplements it endorses. If sound training information were provided, particularly long-term application, there would be more successes and supplement purchases from advanced trainees. Rather, supplement companies are hoping and expecting a new generation of customers to make up for those recently lost – short-term solutions for a quick buck.
You may publish this article in your newsletter, on your web site, or other publications, so long as the article’s content is not altered and the resource box is included. Add byline and active link. Notification of the use of this article is appreciated, but not required.
Wedding Photography-Tips on Capturing the Essential Moments of Your Wedding
It is true that you get what you pay for! When it comes to capturing the most essential and memorable moments of your Wedding, it does not come cheap.
Long after the last wedding guest has left and the wedding has become a distant memory in the humdrum of every day life you will open those beautiful Albums that you prepared so painstakingly and relive the precious moments.
The radiant Bride in her glorious bridal gown, the proud parents, the nervous bashful groom, it will all come back in memory as if it was only yesterday. That’s what the Wedding Photography is all about to capture those beautiful and not so beautiful moments of your Big Day.
When it comes to planning your wedding photography, the most important aspect is to have an idea of the wedding moments you want to capture and immortalize.
Then comes the task of finding the right photographer with the right kind of personality to immortalize your wedding moments and capture those essential details of the wedding you worked so hard to attain.
This will require more than scanning the phone book or Internet to find the least expensive package deal, If you are only willing to pay the minimum amount, you might just end up with minimum wedding photography service too.
Realize that wedding photography services will consume a significant portion of your wedding budget from the start so you can allocate enough resources for this category of your budget. Also keep in mind that it is an absolute essential to book this kind of talent early on in the wedding planning stages, at least 6 months to a full year before the wedding date. If the wedding is taking place during the summer or holidays this becomes even more imperative. Although that offer from your Uncle Joe to take photographs at your wedding (for free!) as his gift to you sounds tempting, you should politely refuse the offer. This is no time for skimping on unprofessional shots.
To choose your photographer
1. Check Background, References, Samples or Portfolio.
2. View multiple images of their work from the same wedding not just the best work.
3. Check any complaints against the service, person or company before hiring them.
4. How long they have been in business to give you an idea of their experience.
5. Ask about backup equipment in case of some technical failure.
When selecting the wedding ceremony and reception location keep in mind the following points:
1. Make sure the Photographer has access to the Shots you want to get.
2. Reserve an Area for the Wedding Photographer for best shots and for the equipment setup and storage.
After the selection of Person in charge of the wedding Shots discuss What pictures should be taken and then give creative license to the photographer to do his job.
The following should be essential shots.
1. Wedding Pictures before the Ceremony
2. Wedding Shots at the Ceremony
3. Posed Wedding Photography Before the Reception
4. Shots at the reception
5. Shots before leaving and at the end of Reception
Your Wedding Day is for you to enjoy yourself, secure in the knowledge that some one capable, trustworthy and responsible is in charge of capturing your most important moments that will last forever. For that purpose advance planning will pay ten folds.
Long after the last wedding guest has left and the wedding has become a distant memory in the humdrum of every day life you will open those beautiful Albums that you prepared so painstakingly and relive the precious moments.
The radiant Bride in her glorious bridal gown, the proud parents, the nervous bashful groom, it will all come back in memory as if it was only yesterday. That’s what the Wedding Photography is all about to capture those beautiful and not so beautiful moments of your Big Day.
When it comes to planning your wedding photography, the most important aspect is to have an idea of the wedding moments you want to capture and immortalize.
Then comes the task of finding the right photographer with the right kind of personality to immortalize your wedding moments and capture those essential details of the wedding you worked so hard to attain.
This will require more than scanning the phone book or Internet to find the least expensive package deal, If you are only willing to pay the minimum amount, you might just end up with minimum wedding photography service too.
Realize that wedding photography services will consume a significant portion of your wedding budget from the start so you can allocate enough resources for this category of your budget. Also keep in mind that it is an absolute essential to book this kind of talent early on in the wedding planning stages, at least 6 months to a full year before the wedding date. If the wedding is taking place during the summer or holidays this becomes even more imperative. Although that offer from your Uncle Joe to take photographs at your wedding (for free!) as his gift to you sounds tempting, you should politely refuse the offer. This is no time for skimping on unprofessional shots.
To choose your photographer
1. Check Background, References, Samples or Portfolio.
2. View multiple images of their work from the same wedding not just the best work.
3. Check any complaints against the service, person or company before hiring them.
4. How long they have been in business to give you an idea of their experience.
5. Ask about backup equipment in case of some technical failure.
When selecting the wedding ceremony and reception location keep in mind the following points:
1. Make sure the Photographer has access to the Shots you want to get.
2. Reserve an Area for the Wedding Photographer for best shots and for the equipment setup and storage.
After the selection of Person in charge of the wedding Shots discuss What pictures should be taken and then give creative license to the photographer to do his job.
The following should be essential shots.
1. Wedding Pictures before the Ceremony
2. Wedding Shots at the Ceremony
3. Posed Wedding Photography Before the Reception
4. Shots at the reception
5. Shots before leaving and at the end of Reception
Your Wedding Day is for you to enjoy yourself, secure in the knowledge that some one capable, trustworthy and responsible is in charge of capturing your most important moments that will last forever. For that purpose advance planning will pay ten folds.
5 Remarkably Successful Ways for Making Money In Photography
If you enjoy taking pictures, you've probably wondered if there is some way you can profit financially pursuing what you love. After all, you see photos everywhere, right? In publications, on billboards, on product packages and more. And if you've ever remarked to yourself "people must get paid for those somehow", you're correct. It is possible to be making money in photography, and there are several ways to accomplish it. Keep reading for a summary of five of them.
Portrait Photography
The easiest way to start making money in photography is to set up your own portrait studio. Individuals, families, friends, and even people with their pets visit your studio either by appointment or as a walk-in, and you take photos of them. This can be a very successful plan for making money in photography, but it does take time and effort to become established. It also takes some cash. If you want to start a portrait studio, you'll need to buy or rent the space, pay the utilities for that space, and buy or rent lots of studio equipment such as photo backdrops, props, and specialty lighting.
Real Estate Photography
Another promising way of making money in photography is to take photographs of real estate. These types of photos are often used by real estate agents, brokers and home owners when they're attempting to sell their property. Sometimes you can even sell your services to insurance agencies and they will task you to take pictures of homes and property that are being covered by a new or upgraded insurance policy.
Magazine Photography
This is another common type of photography, but many people don't give it a second thought. Magazines are looking for photographers and great photographs just like they are looking for writers and great articles... and they're willing to pay for them. Some magazines negotiate small amounts for pictures while others pay $100 or more for each one.
News Photography
This way of making money in photography is a perfect option for someone living in a busy urban area, particularly if you love getting out and seeing what's going on. With this type of photography, you sell your pictures to newspapers, so the photographs must be newsworthy in some way. You can take photographs of a car accident for example, a fire or other emergency situation, or of public officials and famous people.
Product Photography
Product photography is also referred to as catalog photography, because you're usually taking photographs of products and those are most often used for sales catalogs. Sometimes businesses will hire photographers to take product photos for packaging or other marketing materials too, such as the company brochure.
As you can see, there are a variety of ways of making money in photography. Unfortunately, they are not usually as quick, simple or easy as they might first seem. In most cases you need to develop the talent and skills first, then you need to build up a reputation. You'll also need a portfolio of your photography work. Once you have these basic things, you will also have gained a good idea of what types of photography you like best, and this will help you figure out the most successful way to start making money in photography.
Portrait Photography
The easiest way to start making money in photography is to set up your own portrait studio. Individuals, families, friends, and even people with their pets visit your studio either by appointment or as a walk-in, and you take photos of them. This can be a very successful plan for making money in photography, but it does take time and effort to become established. It also takes some cash. If you want to start a portrait studio, you'll need to buy or rent the space, pay the utilities for that space, and buy or rent lots of studio equipment such as photo backdrops, props, and specialty lighting.
Real Estate Photography
Another promising way of making money in photography is to take photographs of real estate. These types of photos are often used by real estate agents, brokers and home owners when they're attempting to sell their property. Sometimes you can even sell your services to insurance agencies and they will task you to take pictures of homes and property that are being covered by a new or upgraded insurance policy.
Magazine Photography
This is another common type of photography, but many people don't give it a second thought. Magazines are looking for photographers and great photographs just like they are looking for writers and great articles... and they're willing to pay for them. Some magazines negotiate small amounts for pictures while others pay $100 or more for each one.
News Photography
This way of making money in photography is a perfect option for someone living in a busy urban area, particularly if you love getting out and seeing what's going on. With this type of photography, you sell your pictures to newspapers, so the photographs must be newsworthy in some way. You can take photographs of a car accident for example, a fire or other emergency situation, or of public officials and famous people.
Product Photography
Product photography is also referred to as catalog photography, because you're usually taking photographs of products and those are most often used for sales catalogs. Sometimes businesses will hire photographers to take product photos for packaging or other marketing materials too, such as the company brochure.
As you can see, there are a variety of ways of making money in photography. Unfortunately, they are not usually as quick, simple or easy as they might first seem. In most cases you need to develop the talent and skills first, then you need to build up a reputation. You'll also need a portfolio of your photography work. Once you have these basic things, you will also have gained a good idea of what types of photography you like best, and this will help you figure out the most successful way to start making money in photography.
Flash Digital Photography-Using Flash With Digital Cameras
Fortunately, we no longer have to deal with buying flashes for our cameras anymore. Flash digital photography is now a real term used both in words and in the photography industry. The flash (instead of being put on top of the camera like it used to) is now built right into the flash digital cameras themselves.
Today, our digital cameras come with a built in automatic flash and, even better, is the feature that allows you to change the setting, depending on how much light is available. Some digital cameras even come with a setting that will let you know when the lighting isn't right for the setting you have it set on. Then you will need to change the setting yourself.
The best way to use flash with your digital camera is to first read the instruction manual on how the settings are set up and how you should use them. You should also learn how to use the settings by then taking that knowledge and working with your camera hands-on. Try it outside at different times of the day, in different areas, in your studio (if you have one), in your home and anywhere else you might be taking pictures. By doing this, you can see first-hand what settings work best for what type of lighting.
Unfortunately, some digital cameras have the flash too close to the lens and that can lead to red eyes in your pictures. Fortunately, you can get a digital camera that has a setting to help reduce red eye or you can fix the problem with your photography software.
You should also play with the settings with different areas where shadows could show up. This will help you determine how far away from your subject you can be before the shadows disappear. This happens because the flash didn't reach those areas. The camera manufacturer will usually list the maximum flash strength and how far away you can be when taking a good shot. You certainly don't want to lose any perspective and/or depth in your pictures.
You can reduce both of these problems of red eye and poor depth by getting a flash device that is separate from your camera. You will just need a detachable flash component that is simply powered by a bracket on the camera along with a cable that all work together to help the flash inside the camera to work with the external flash unit. This will help your flash digital camera by providing an extra source of flash and reduce the amount of red eye and poor depth coming out in your pictures.
Your flash digital camera can provide you with a wealth of creative photography opportunities. You just have to know how to use it and this is easy to learn. By using the steps outlined in this article and by playing around with your flash settings, you can get a great number of beautiful pictures using flash digital photography.
Today, our digital cameras come with a built in automatic flash and, even better, is the feature that allows you to change the setting, depending on how much light is available. Some digital cameras even come with a setting that will let you know when the lighting isn't right for the setting you have it set on. Then you will need to change the setting yourself.
The best way to use flash with your digital camera is to first read the instruction manual on how the settings are set up and how you should use them. You should also learn how to use the settings by then taking that knowledge and working with your camera hands-on. Try it outside at different times of the day, in different areas, in your studio (if you have one), in your home and anywhere else you might be taking pictures. By doing this, you can see first-hand what settings work best for what type of lighting.
Unfortunately, some digital cameras have the flash too close to the lens and that can lead to red eyes in your pictures. Fortunately, you can get a digital camera that has a setting to help reduce red eye or you can fix the problem with your photography software.
You should also play with the settings with different areas where shadows could show up. This will help you determine how far away from your subject you can be before the shadows disappear. This happens because the flash didn't reach those areas. The camera manufacturer will usually list the maximum flash strength and how far away you can be when taking a good shot. You certainly don't want to lose any perspective and/or depth in your pictures.
You can reduce both of these problems of red eye and poor depth by getting a flash device that is separate from your camera. You will just need a detachable flash component that is simply powered by a bracket on the camera along with a cable that all work together to help the flash inside the camera to work with the external flash unit. This will help your flash digital camera by providing an extra source of flash and reduce the amount of red eye and poor depth coming out in your pictures.
Your flash digital camera can provide you with a wealth of creative photography opportunities. You just have to know how to use it and this is easy to learn. By using the steps outlined in this article and by playing around with your flash settings, you can get a great number of beautiful pictures using flash digital photography.
Taking Better Digital Photos in 2007
I’ve decided as a new year’s resolution to start taking better pictures. Having gone through three digital cameras (one was stolen) I am down to two I use on a regular basis. A Canon SD300 and a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5. Rather than spend money this year on buying another camera I’ve decided to do the best with what I’ve got and learn to take better photos instead.
Doing some after new year’s shopping online, I came across an ad for an ebook offering digital photo secrets.
I’m usually pretty apprehensive about buying ebooks online. You never get to see much inside the book and there is no book flipping before purchase.
But it was midnight the day after new years and I wanted info now! Where was I going to go? I took a chance and am glad I did.
The purchase went through petty painlessly. I paid with Paypal and downloaded the books (there are actually several bonuses with the order).
I found the book easy to read and the tips were concise and well presented. There is usually a before and after photo demonstrating the result which I found very useful. Nothing like seeing the tip in action to really “get” it. I will give a brief review of the book in sequential order.
The book is broken up into 14 chapters and gets right to the point on how to improve your digital photos. There is very little on the history of photography, how to interpret famous photos or things of that nature. There’s nothing wrong with those topics and I took evening courses covering them myself but this book is primarily about helping you take better pictures immediately.
The 14 chapters are:
* Introduction
* Top 21 Tips To Using a Digital Camera
* Digital versus Film Cameras
* Better Looking Pictures
* Composition
* Special Occasions
* Zoom
* Using Manual Modes
* Image File Formats
* Coverting from Film to Digital
* Which Digital Camera Should I Buy?
* Caring for your Camera
* Printing Your Images
* Miscellaneous Questions and Answers
The Top 21 tips gets you taking great pictures right away. Solving the most common photography problems. There areplenty of useful nuggets I will try to incorporate into my future photography, but the biggest tip of all is the last one, try to incorporate ALL the other tips every time you shoot and you should get some amazing results.
Digital photo secrets covers some of the other major problems hobbyists like me have. That is white balance, is with white balance, use of filters, focusing and metering. All that is explained better than whatever tiny manual that comes with most cameras.
The digital photo secrets book covers film cameras in the “Digital versus Film” section and while I was expecting the author to bash film cameras, he actually gives a very balanced view and covers the pros and cons of each. That’s a pleasant surprise because I still occasionally like to take a few shots with an old Pentax purchased in a garage sale a few years back just for the thrill of getting them back from the drug store.
I have purchased printed books that were not as useful and that’s even after I had a chance to flip through them. I don’t regret finding the digital secrets book site for one instance. It is well worth the money and the bonuses are just as valuable.
Doing some after new year’s shopping online, I came across an ad for an ebook offering digital photo secrets.
I’m usually pretty apprehensive about buying ebooks online. You never get to see much inside the book and there is no book flipping before purchase.
But it was midnight the day after new years and I wanted info now! Where was I going to go? I took a chance and am glad I did.
The purchase went through petty painlessly. I paid with Paypal and downloaded the books (there are actually several bonuses with the order).
I found the book easy to read and the tips were concise and well presented. There is usually a before and after photo demonstrating the result which I found very useful. Nothing like seeing the tip in action to really “get” it. I will give a brief review of the book in sequential order.
The book is broken up into 14 chapters and gets right to the point on how to improve your digital photos. There is very little on the history of photography, how to interpret famous photos or things of that nature. There’s nothing wrong with those topics and I took evening courses covering them myself but this book is primarily about helping you take better pictures immediately.
The 14 chapters are:
* Introduction
* Top 21 Tips To Using a Digital Camera
* Digital versus Film Cameras
* Better Looking Pictures
* Composition
* Special Occasions
* Zoom
* Using Manual Modes
* Image File Formats
* Coverting from Film to Digital
* Which Digital Camera Should I Buy?
* Caring for your Camera
* Printing Your Images
* Miscellaneous Questions and Answers
The Top 21 tips gets you taking great pictures right away. Solving the most common photography problems. There areplenty of useful nuggets I will try to incorporate into my future photography, but the biggest tip of all is the last one, try to incorporate ALL the other tips every time you shoot and you should get some amazing results.
Digital photo secrets covers some of the other major problems hobbyists like me have. That is white balance, is with white balance, use of filters, focusing and metering. All that is explained better than whatever tiny manual that comes with most cameras.
The digital photo secrets book covers film cameras in the “Digital versus Film” section and while I was expecting the author to bash film cameras, he actually gives a very balanced view and covers the pros and cons of each. That’s a pleasant surprise because I still occasionally like to take a few shots with an old Pentax purchased in a garage sale a few years back just for the thrill of getting them back from the drug store.
I have purchased printed books that were not as useful and that’s even after I had a chance to flip through them. I don’t regret finding the digital secrets book site for one instance. It is well worth the money and the bonuses are just as valuable.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Stock photography tips
Selling Your Photography To Agencies.
Have you ever tried to sell your images to an agency.
Anyone with the ability to use a camera correctly has the potential to sell their images. Picture agencies handle images of every subject and are always looking for emerging talent.
Pictures libraries and stock agencies are in the business of selling images. The don’t give you advice on how to take better images. Their purpose is business - they sell images to magazines, book publishers, the travel industry and many other industries that use images.
Many photographers look upon agencies as a last resort to sell their work; if you have been unable to sell any of your images, the chances are that most agencies won’t accept them.
If you are interested in an agency selling your images, you must be able to produce high quality images which are suited to the agencies market. Check out their website to view samples that are currently in use. If you feel your work meets their standards and suits their customers - then approach them by e-mail or by standard mail.
But, before placing your work at an agency make a short-list of the agencies that seem to suit your work. Contact each agency outlining your work and which magazines have already published your images. If an agency is then interested they will ask you to send them samples.
If an agency accepts your work, don’t take this as a guarantee that your images will sell.
Don’t approach an agency until you have a large collection of images. Minimum first submissions can consist of anything from 50 images to 500 and regular submissions are normally required thereafter. Most agencies work on a commission basis - 50 % being the standard rate. If an image sells for two hundred euro - the photographer receives a one hundred euro fee.
When an agency takes on a photographer’s work, they normally require a four or five year retention period. Agencies normally sell the reproduction rights of a pictures - the image being licensed to a buyer for a specified purpose.
It may take as long as six months before an agency sells a picture belonging to you. First they need to scan your images if they are submitted by film; then they need to contact their clients and let them know that there is new material available - all of this takes time, so you must look at supplying a picture agency as a long term investment. It is only when you have several hundred images placed in a library that you’ll start to see regular sales.
Remember: agencies can’t sell images if there isn’t a market for them and placing images at an agency does not guarantee you sales.
Have you ever tried to sell your images to an agency.
Anyone with the ability to use a camera correctly has the potential to sell their images. Picture agencies handle images of every subject and are always looking for emerging talent.
Pictures libraries and stock agencies are in the business of selling images. The don’t give you advice on how to take better images. Their purpose is business - they sell images to magazines, book publishers, the travel industry and many other industries that use images.
Many photographers look upon agencies as a last resort to sell their work; if you have been unable to sell any of your images, the chances are that most agencies won’t accept them.
If you are interested in an agency selling your images, you must be able to produce high quality images which are suited to the agencies market. Check out their website to view samples that are currently in use. If you feel your work meets their standards and suits their customers - then approach them by e-mail or by standard mail.
But, before placing your work at an agency make a short-list of the agencies that seem to suit your work. Contact each agency outlining your work and which magazines have already published your images. If an agency is then interested they will ask you to send them samples.
If an agency accepts your work, don’t take this as a guarantee that your images will sell.
Don’t approach an agency until you have a large collection of images. Minimum first submissions can consist of anything from 50 images to 500 and regular submissions are normally required thereafter. Most agencies work on a commission basis - 50 % being the standard rate. If an image sells for two hundred euro - the photographer receives a one hundred euro fee.
When an agency takes on a photographer’s work, they normally require a four or five year retention period. Agencies normally sell the reproduction rights of a pictures - the image being licensed to a buyer for a specified purpose.
It may take as long as six months before an agency sells a picture belonging to you. First they need to scan your images if they are submitted by film; then they need to contact their clients and let them know that there is new material available - all of this takes time, so you must look at supplying a picture agency as a long term investment. It is only when you have several hundred images placed in a library that you’ll start to see regular sales.
Remember: agencies can’t sell images if there isn’t a market for them and placing images at an agency does not guarantee you sales.
IS WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALISM A FAD?
We’ve all flipped through well-worn wedding albums of parents, aunts and uncles, and even grandparents, chuckling at dated hairstyles, handlebar mustaches, peach taffeta bridesmaids dresses, and powder blue tuxes. Wedding photojournalists might contend that these photos wouldn’t seem so out of style (hideous wedding gowns and bad male perms aside) if more emphasis had been placed on the un-styled, un-planned moments of the wedding day, rather than the prescribed agenda of highly organized groups of people staring at the camera.
On the contrary, naysayers insist wedding photojournalism is merely a trendy, passing fad that disrespects the venerable traditions of the classic posed shot. They point out that tradition, and true photographic quality, is often sacrificed for grainy, natural-light candids that claim to be "art."
photo by peggy bair
Others scoff at the idea that tears and laughter recorded forever will soon be going out of style. “When real life goes out of style, we’re all in trouble,” says WPJA award winner Peggy Bair. “When is that ever going to go out of style? Real moments – you can’t fake them.”
Bair argues that when people look back at their wedding photographs, they’d like to remember what they felt at the time, not just what they looked like, which is surely to be out of date 20 years later. What really matters, she says, is the actual experience the photographer is documenting.
“I think people want to experience real life as it happens. They want to remember their wedding day, without someone asking them constantly to move or stand a certain way,” she says. “They don’t want to remember the photographer making him dip her back like that. They want to remember the spontaneous moment — the real moment.
“Then they can say, ‘That’s what I look like when I’m really living my life. That’s who I really am,” she says.
STAYING AWAY FROM TRENDY
Bair adds that there are trendy photos out there posing as wedding photojournalism.
Today’s “trendy” wedding photojournalism happens when a photographer takes photos that have become expected in the genre. “Someone decided that it was photojournalistic to take a photo of the dress hanging on a hanger. Now every photographer takes a photo of the dress, and it’s not [wedding] photojournalism anymore,” muses Bair.
PERSONALITY
Other, au currant photo poses to be wary of: dipping the bride; the jumping bridal party; tilted horizons (“tilting photos does not make you a photojournalist,” she says); and close-up detail shots. “Don’t just take a picture of the shoes, and then say, ‘OK, I got that.’”
“We can look back at the 70s and 80s and say, ‘Oh that’s so passé,’ but we’re doing it again, just with a different set of pictures,” Bair notes.
TREND VS. STYLE
Brides and grooms need to understand the difference between real wedding photojournalism and the trends some photographers are buying into, according to our experts. If you are adamant about documenting your wedding in a photojournalistic style, make sure you communicate your wishes to your photographer, so he or she doesn’t feel pressured to get those canned shots, and can instead focus on the real moments, happening organically, without direction or interruption.
photo by joe milton
WPJA award winner Joe Milton says since none of the popular styles — traditional, portrait photography or wedding photojournalism — is going anywhere; that it’s more about understanding the differences so you don’t get caught up in the fads.
“Usually my clients have looked at several photographers, and they’ve looked at websites – and they’ve picked me, specifically saying they don’t want those posed shots that they’ve seen in everyone else’s album,” he says. “They don’t want those cliché photos — the groom dipping the bride in front of a mountain, the brides veil thrown over the groom’s head. They already know that they don’t want the experience of the photographer being in charge and directing the whole day; they want someone to record it.”
Advice to brides and grooms: do your research, and then ask yourself some questions — and be honest. Do you want your wedding photographer to have control of how you look? Do you want him or her to be directing you during the day? Or are you the type of people who would rather not worry about the photographer, but instead have someone who is there to document the day as it happens, free from interference? Are you confident enough to let the moments speak for themselves, or do you already know how you want the photographs to look, and you simply need a photographer to help you set them up and capture them?
Another WPJA award-winner, Marc Climie, maintains that there’s more to picking a photographer than simply picking a style; that each photographer brings characteristics to the job that will influence the photos. “The traditional photographer is more apt to mingle with the crowd, talk to people, and interact. It's his or her personality,” he charges. “The documentary photographer is more of an observer, watching people react and interact.”
photo by daniel sheehan
Marc Climie
It’s that observing eye that captures the reality of a wedding — the real moments that you’ll remember years later when flipping through your photos. Does he think that’s a trend? “I believe there is beauty and art in reality,” he says simply.
“It is a fad no more than a mother standing back in awe of her daughter's beauty is a fad, no more than a tearful father walking his daughter down the aisle is a fad, no more than life is a fad.”
On the contrary, naysayers insist wedding photojournalism is merely a trendy, passing fad that disrespects the venerable traditions of the classic posed shot. They point out that tradition, and true photographic quality, is often sacrificed for grainy, natural-light candids that claim to be "art."
photo by peggy bair
Others scoff at the idea that tears and laughter recorded forever will soon be going out of style. “When real life goes out of style, we’re all in trouble,” says WPJA award winner Peggy Bair. “When is that ever going to go out of style? Real moments – you can’t fake them.”
Bair argues that when people look back at their wedding photographs, they’d like to remember what they felt at the time, not just what they looked like, which is surely to be out of date 20 years later. What really matters, she says, is the actual experience the photographer is documenting.
“I think people want to experience real life as it happens. They want to remember their wedding day, without someone asking them constantly to move or stand a certain way,” she says. “They don’t want to remember the photographer making him dip her back like that. They want to remember the spontaneous moment — the real moment.
“Then they can say, ‘That’s what I look like when I’m really living my life. That’s who I really am,” she says.
STAYING AWAY FROM TRENDY
Bair adds that there are trendy photos out there posing as wedding photojournalism.
Today’s “trendy” wedding photojournalism happens when a photographer takes photos that have become expected in the genre. “Someone decided that it was photojournalistic to take a photo of the dress hanging on a hanger. Now every photographer takes a photo of the dress, and it’s not [wedding] photojournalism anymore,” muses Bair.
PERSONALITY
Other, au currant photo poses to be wary of: dipping the bride; the jumping bridal party; tilted horizons (“tilting photos does not make you a photojournalist,” she says); and close-up detail shots. “Don’t just take a picture of the shoes, and then say, ‘OK, I got that.’”
“We can look back at the 70s and 80s and say, ‘Oh that’s so passé,’ but we’re doing it again, just with a different set of pictures,” Bair notes.
TREND VS. STYLE
Brides and grooms need to understand the difference between real wedding photojournalism and the trends some photographers are buying into, according to our experts. If you are adamant about documenting your wedding in a photojournalistic style, make sure you communicate your wishes to your photographer, so he or she doesn’t feel pressured to get those canned shots, and can instead focus on the real moments, happening organically, without direction or interruption.
photo by joe milton
WPJA award winner Joe Milton says since none of the popular styles — traditional, portrait photography or wedding photojournalism — is going anywhere; that it’s more about understanding the differences so you don’t get caught up in the fads.
“Usually my clients have looked at several photographers, and they’ve looked at websites – and they’ve picked me, specifically saying they don’t want those posed shots that they’ve seen in everyone else’s album,” he says. “They don’t want those cliché photos — the groom dipping the bride in front of a mountain, the brides veil thrown over the groom’s head. They already know that they don’t want the experience of the photographer being in charge and directing the whole day; they want someone to record it.”
Advice to brides and grooms: do your research, and then ask yourself some questions — and be honest. Do you want your wedding photographer to have control of how you look? Do you want him or her to be directing you during the day? Or are you the type of people who would rather not worry about the photographer, but instead have someone who is there to document the day as it happens, free from interference? Are you confident enough to let the moments speak for themselves, or do you already know how you want the photographs to look, and you simply need a photographer to help you set them up and capture them?
Another WPJA award-winner, Marc Climie, maintains that there’s more to picking a photographer than simply picking a style; that each photographer brings characteristics to the job that will influence the photos. “The traditional photographer is more apt to mingle with the crowd, talk to people, and interact. It's his or her personality,” he charges. “The documentary photographer is more of an observer, watching people react and interact.”
photo by daniel sheehan
Marc Climie
It’s that observing eye that captures the reality of a wedding — the real moments that you’ll remember years later when flipping through your photos. Does he think that’s a trend? “I believe there is beauty and art in reality,” he says simply.
“It is a fad no more than a mother standing back in awe of her daughter's beauty is a fad, no more than a tearful father walking his daughter down the aisle is a fad, no more than life is a fad.”
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