A little help with understanding camera exposure.
One way to think of exposure is like a seesaw. As one child rises a given distance on the seesaw, the other falls by the same amount. Their average distance from the ground is always the same. With your camera set to autoexposure, as you change the aperture or shutter speed to let in more or less light, the other setting changes in the opposite direction to keep the exposure constant.
casio for uTube
Flower scans look exactly like photographs and are normally printed by the same process by photo labs, although there are some intriguing variations.
You frame them for hanging on a wall as usual. The only difference is in the process of obtaining the image - the pictures are not photographed with a camera, but scanned, using high resolution scanner.
Visually, the major difference comes from non-centered focus. In normal photography, the focus is always sharpest in the center of the image and more blurred at the edges. Even manipulated artistically, the relation of center and edges is sustained.
On a scanner, objects become more/less focused in several places, depending upon their proximity to the glass. Additionally, there is no visual distance between the viewer and the subject. Images look as if you could touch the flowers.
wine & cheese art print 29 & 30
Needing to make some changes - there’s some Tips for taking pictures.
When you find yourself bored with photography, it’s often not because you’re really tired of photography. It’s because you’re really tired of your photographs
. There are some things you can do to change this.
1. Recognize that photographs which lack a message, or theme or story will often be boring. Stop taking snapshots and start MAKING photographs by thinking about the story you want to tell with your camera. Pretend words don’t exist. Only images. What images can you make that will let you and others who see your work realize that there is a story in everything.
2. Make a pledge. Pledge to devote more time to SEEING. Spend time honing your vision. Look at lots of photographs. Look at lots of photographically attractive places or subjects. SEE what’s in front of you. Then pledge further to approach those subjects with passion. Pledge to stop taking empty photographs. Pledge to start seeing the beauty around you and capturing it in a meaningful and moving way.
3. Change your perspective. Change your camera’s perspective. Take on the perspective of a stranger. Use simple techniques like shooting every subject with your shortest and then your longest lens. Shoot every subject wide open and stopped down. Shoot every subject with a slow and a fast shutter speed. Shoot every subject from both a high and a low angle. Shoot every subject horizontally and vertically. While these are just tools and technique. when inspiration is lacking, technique can help fill the void. Maybe switching lenses or angles or shutter speeds, will deliver something new and fresh for you that sparks your imagination and restarts your creativity engine.
Bonus tip – get off the couch and keep shooting whether or not you “feel” like it. Push through the wall – there’s plenty of cool stuff on the other side!
Tips for protecting photographs & prints:
One important tip for preserving printed digital photos is to store them in an album.Storing them in such a way helps to preserve them and make them less susceptible to fading. Avoid those albums with plastic covers to hold each photo though.
If you display your printed photos, its good to display them in frames under glass. Try to go for anti-UV glass and also, don’t expose the photos to open air. This helps to preserve the photos for a long time.
Printed digital photos, if kept exposed to sunlight and humid air, will necessarily fade out due to chemical reactions. Keep those photos away from the attic and heater areas and you’ll be safe.
Mary - Vintage art print - water color
Springtime brings change. Check your art prints, your room decor.
Let in the light! This is a great time to begin opening your shades and window coverings, cleaning your windows, using sheer curtains and finding other ways of letting that great spring sunshine into your home.
Check your accessories! Look around your home at your wall décor and other accessories. This is a great time to revamp the decor look in your home by changing some simple accessories to more spring-like designs, colors and patterns.
Create a window box! Another great craft/decor idea is to create a lovely springtime window box for display. It’s fun to do and it looks great.
Purple crocus - photo art print #26
Wanting to store photographic art prints.
The preservation of photographs, and all documents and artworks, depends on the storage environment and the storage enclosures. Many institutions have climate controlled storage rooms with purified air, kept at constant moderate or cool temperatures (e.g., 65-70F) and moderate relative humidity (e.g., 35-50%). Some institutions even have cold vaults for certain types of photographs that are very prone to deterioration, such as color photographs and older films. Unfortunately, these conditions are not easily found or maintained in homes! However, there are things you can do to improve the storage climate for your valuable photographs in your home: store your photographs in the coolest and driest spot in your home that stays that way year round. Finished basements frequently are cool, but they are usually too damp for photo storage unless they are dehumidified. Dampness should be avoided as it causes photos to stick together, and promotes mold growth. Above ground interior closets maintain fairly constant temperatures throughout the year, and should be considered for storage.
Dark pink peony - photo art print #25
Want sharper images at lower shutter speeds? Famous photographer Joe McNally shows us a tip on how to hold your camera to achieve this.
Most people are a“right eye” shooter normally, but I’m going to try this technique using my left eye instead and see what happens. He says that you’ll be able to shoot at shutter speeds (while hand-holding your camera) that you never thought possible. Give it a try and see what happens! Check out the video at the end of this post.
The digital camera - Blown highlights -canon digital cameras - a view. An article on understanding what Blown highlights are.
The histogram function on digital cameras is a picture lifesaver. Before digital there was no way of seeing blown highlights or dramatically underexposed areas, but today you can quickly assess the image and its histogram and correct the exposure to get it close to perfect.
One of the important uses of the histogram on the camera is ensuring that there are no blown or burned out highlights in pictures.
Loss of details in the highlights is the biggest problem with digital images. In most cases there will be details left to salvage in the dark areas, but once the light areas go pure white (or pure any color - you can also blow one color channel at the time), there is nothing left to save.
Blown-out highlights is the enemy number one of the digital photographer, and they should be avoided using all means. Unless it’s a goal in itself to overexpose, like in high key pictures, you should try your best to avoid loosing details in the light areas of the picture. Details can often be found in the dark areas, but once they are gone in the highlights, that’s it. They’re gone.
This can be avoided by looking at the histograms.
Canon PowerShot A470 - 7.1 MP
I’ve had to do a lot of sorting. I was figuring-out what images to use as art prints. A photo image that has noise/grain may be quite suitable for a smaller photo art print (not too large) of your own.
As I was sorting, I had questions on my mind. Sometimes I could just not figure-out the basis on what stock sites want. I have my own experience … but it is good to hear about other photographers experiences. I find some of that info. in the Forums. Just now I have found an interesting Site. I could identify with the different information about the various microstock sites.
http://www.freewebs.com/mygardenofeden/allaboutmicrostock.htm
I will put the Link over on the Left side column here, recommended sites.
Photo art prints can be a beautiful scenic or wilder Abstracts. Unfortunately there are more than buyers out there in cyberspace! Photographers should be aware of how large they upload their images to certain sites.
Most sites like the stock sites are pretty good. They use their own water mark; you are required to upload in a certain size. But there are some Galleries in which you mark your own images. I would suggest not going too large on your images size. There are photo stealers out there. They will get rid-of your water mark, and download (copy) your image. One has to protect themselves the best they can.
I am into large water marks or 2 watermakrs, and a size no bigger than 300.
Wild rose bush - photo art print #18
