photos by richard

Photography is an art, and when you are dealing with any art form, it is not uncommon to get discouraged with your work at some time or another. Just as a writer gets writer's block, as a photographer, you may get stuck by lacking inspiration for new and exciting pieces. When every photograph begins looking like the last, it is time to stop wasting film on mediocre prints and time to start motivating yourself for better work. Continue Reading »

Night photography is some of the most stunning work done by professionals. If you are just beginning to learn about photography, you too can try your hand at night photography and may be very pleased with the results. Learning to take pictures at night is a little more challenging than learning about daytime photography, but with a little dedication to the art, you can get some beautiful shots at night. Continue Reading »

Many professional photographers choose to shoot not only in color, but also in black and white. Black and white photographs have a classic look about them, and the techniques used for shooting a roll of film in black and white are not drastically different than when shooting a roll of film in color. Black and white photography is sometimes even easier for beginners to learn their technique, because you are focused more on light and composition than color. Continue Reading »

I have modified the comment system on this blog to allow anyone to comment, even if you have not registered. The comments will, however, be held for me to approve before they appear.

So ... no need to register, just click on the "Comment" (or "No Comment" in many cases) link on any article and leave a comment for me. If I feel that it is useful to my readers, I will approve it, usually within 24 hours.

Photography in itself is a wonderful pastime, and the end result of this hobby is a set of beautiful prints to share with family and friends. How, though, can you display these pictures in the best way? Unless you have unlimited wall space, you most likely cannot hang every single picture in a frame. Luckily, there are many other good options for storing and displaying prints so that you can look at them for years to come. Continue Reading »

I know that some of you still have and use older versions of Paint Shop Pro, like version 7. In fact, although I have version 10 on my computer, I still have version 7 loaded as well. Why? It is a smaller program and thus loads much much faster than newer versions and uses less computer resources. If I want to do a quick crop of an image, or some other simple task, I'll use version 7.

However, version 7 is not as easy to use on some tasks. One example is cropping. Newer versions have simpler ways of doing these tasks.

Today's Paint Shop Pro video tutorial will show you how to crop in version 7 and next weekend I'll try to post the same video using a newer version, so you can see the difference.

While you watch the video, take special note of the circled area as indicated in the screen shot below. Each common print size has a different ratio. By knowing, and using, these ratios, you can have your photos properly cropped before printing.

print size    horizontal ratio    vertical ratio
--------------------------------------------------
4 x 6             1.500                0.667

5 x 7             1.400                0.714

8 x 10            1.250                0.800

Click on the kitten and rabbit screen shot below to view the video. After the video finishes, it will return you to our main (Home) page. The video is about 1.8 MB in size and runs for 1:40.

A quick tutorial describing the process of removing a solid background from an image. This tutorial is based on a standard Chroma Key green background. The tutorial is 5 minutes long.

I can also recommend a book that goes into more detail on this technique, and explains how to do this without a chromakey backdrop. More book info at the Back Drops Book webpage.

Collage is an art form that uses multiple photos, drawn and painted images, and other objects to make a piece of art. Photo editing software, like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, can be used to give a new twist to the old art form of collage. Creating a collage using software is fun and simple, because all you need to make the digital collage are photos and the desire to experiment. Creating a collage digitally is simple, but all users can use a few tips to create an eye-catching piece of art. Continue Reading »

If you are uploading images to the internet, especially for use as part of a website, make sure that you resize your images in a graphics editor so that their file sizes get smaller. If you just resize images by specifying a width and height in HTML or CSS, then they still take just as long to download as they would have, without the extra time serving any useful purpose.

As an example, my camera makes 6.3 mp images, about 3,000 pixels by 2,000 pixels. If I want to use that image to illustrate a fact in an article, a size of 600 by 400 is usually enough, and as stated above, it will download to the viewer's computer much faster.

Here is a quick (1:16 long) tutorial on how to resize an image in PhotoShop. (you may have to click on the image twice before the tutorial will begin)

Today’s digital cameras make taking photos a lot easier than cameras of yesterday. This does not distract from some basic composition tips. One great idea is to keep your own journal of tips. Read the journal frequently, and add additional notes about each tip as you get better at implementing the tip. Over time you will apply these tips without thinking. Then you will truly be not only a picture taker, but a photographer.

• Always be aware of the background. You don't want to find trees growing out of people’s heads, or a passing vehicle drawing attention from your subject. Sometimes moving your subject just a couple of steps to either side can make all the difference.
• Use available light. If your digital camera has an option to turn the flash off, and it’s light enough outside to read a book, then use the available light and turn the flash off. In general, camera flashes are too harsh for human skin and make all of us look pale. Indoors, where there isn't enough daylight, place your subject by a window and use your fill flash feature.
• Aim your camera slightly down at the person’s face. Also, don't shoot just face on to the person, try a little to the side, a three quarter view, so that you see more of their face. Remember, camera higher looking down, and a three quarter view, it will slim your subject.
• Remember your focus. We are not talking about focusing your lens. Get closer to your subject. Fill the frame with your subject, and there will be no doubt as to what the picture is saying.
• Never put your subject dead center. Put it/them just slightly off center; not a lot just a little. When you're shooting groups of people, find the imaginary center line of your group and put that line just a bit off center in your view through your lens or screen.

Following these tips won't turn you into an award-winning photographer today, but you will be on your way to better, more powerful photographs that others will comment on for years to come.