correctmyphotos

Digital Photography School!  Explore how to use your digital camera to its potential. DPS is a community of digital photographers of all experience levels who gather around a number of blogs and a forum to learn, share and grow in their understanding of photography.

Digital Photography School-A Resource for Digital Photographers

Digital Photography School is a website with simple tips to help digital photographers get the most out of their digital cameras. Darren Rowse, a digital photography enthusiast,  is the guy behind DPS.  DPS is not a formal school by any means. There are not classes,  no teachers, no exams-rather it’s a learning environment where Darren thinks out loud about what he knows and there is a forum for sharing what the participants are learning by showing photos and ask and answer each other questions. Also, unlike most schools the information is FREE.

I found DPS by accident earlier this week and was impressed by the information, format and professionalism of this website. Regardless of your experience level in digital photography you will find the tips, articles, and other digital photography information helpful. And, if you have tips to share Darren invites you to write an article.  To check it out for yourself go http://digital-photography-school.com .

Wayne  http://www.correctphoto.com 

In my last post I talked about the basics of taking pictures. This morning I ran across a clipping out of The Rotarian, the Rotary International publication, about taking better photos. The following tips came from Kodak.com and were written by AP photographer J. Walter Green who attributes good instincts to his ability to take great photos.  His tips focus on taking pictures of people and are applicable to all those family photos we take.

• Get down on their level: Hold the camera at eye level to capture the power of those magnetic gazes and mesmerizing smiles.
• Use a plain background: A cluttered background can be distracting, while a plain background will empasize you subject.
• Use flash outdoors: Even outdoors, use a fill flash to improve you pictures. It’s great for lighting dark shadows under the eyes and nose.
• Move in close: To create more impactful pictures, move in close and fill your picture with the object.
• Lock the focus: Lock the focus to ensure a sharp image when the object is off center. (Note: Look in your camera manual to see how to do this)
• Move it from the middle: Imagine a tic-tac-toe in your view finder. Now place the subject at one of the intersections of the lines.
• Know your flash’s range: Pictures taken beyond the maximum range will look too dark.  Read you manual.
• Watch the light: Great light makes great pictures. For people, avoid overhead sun that casts harsh shadows across faces.
• Be the director: Don’t just be a passive picture taker. Add some props, rearrange your subjects (your family might hate this, but do it anyway), or try a different view point.

These tips of course apply to film and digital cameras. With a digital camera you generally have another opportunity to make the picture into a great photo. First, you can take a number of shots (because they are free) and pick the best one. And, you have the opportunity to edit a photo. As you will hear many times from me, every digital picture needs two edits as a minimum: crop and color corrected.  We will cover editing photos in future post.

I have been taking pictures for more years than I care to admit to, with both film and digital cameras, and I found the above tips very helpful. We are never to old to learn from a pro.

Wayne  http://www.correctphoto.com