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If you are a sports fan, you know what it means when a team goes into a “rebuilding year”.  It is just when the owners or coaches decide its time to train new members and correct bad habits in others.  And invariably, what team leadership says when they go into such a time is that they are going “back to basics.”

Sometimes it’s good for us as photographers to go back to basics.  And, of course, if you are just getting started in the world of photography and want to learn “the ropes”, the basics are a natural start.  But you want the basics of what the professionals know about the craft of photography.

Anybody can take a picture.  I attended a wedding reception where the wedding party left a disposable digital camera on each table at the reception for guests to snap photos.  Before the evening was over, it was the children who were running around taking pictures of everything from the dirty dishes to their own underwear.  These were not photographers and while those pictures will no doubt get a few chuckles, these are not the kind of professional pictures people want for their long-term memories.

Obviously, the cornerstone of the basics of photography is the camera.  When you see a camera geek walking around with enough equipment on his neck to launch a space shuttle, you get the impression that cameras are phenomenally complex, more than mere mortals can grasp.  But look at the professionals and you see them working with portable, relatively easy to operate cameras.  That is because the basics of running a camera come down to aperture and shutter speed.

Now don’t get nervous about fancy terms.  Aperture is just a term for how wide your camera lens is open to let in light.  And shutter speed is just how long you let the light come in to affect the picture.  For getting a shot of a fast moving event, you want a wide aperture to let in a lot of light but a short shutter speed so you capture the event quickly and close the window so the picture is caught before more light hurts the quality.

Photography is really all about light.  You can and will get learn a lot about lenses and flash photography and other ways to turn the control over the lighting of a shot to you.  So add to your core skills of photography a willingness to never stop learning.  The better and more sophisticated you get in your ability to work with the equipment, the more you will learn and the more you will want to learn.

You can get a greater control over these basic controls of the camera such as aperture and shutter speed by learning how to switch from automatic settings to manual settings.  The automatic settings of any camera are just there for the general public who are not interested in learning the basics.  So they give you some basic settings like landscape, portrait and sports settings.  By switching to manual, you can learn what settings work best in different situations.

And that takes us to the most important basic about becoming a great photographer and that is practice.  Take some time with your equipment and play with it.  Take it to situations and take photos with different aperture and shutter speed settings, in outdoor and indoor settings and different orientations to light.  Don’t get upset when some shots don’t work.  That’s part of the learning curve.

By learning by doing, you will build your confidence in your work and eventually become a great photographer.  But don’t get cocky, there is always more to learn.  And that is one of the fun things about photography, isn’t it?

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Photography requires a few skills to make your prints look professional.  One part of making a print professional is lighting.  Lighting in photography takes a little planning and understanding of a few techniques.  You best subject or object might not turn out that way if the proper light does not help to laminate the area. Below are a few tips on using light for photography.

First you must decide if you will use artificial or sunlight.  If you are using sunlight you will rely on the Kelvin scale to determine the temperature of light and therefore the color of light.  The color of light is important to maintaining the colors you see around you.  For instance the warmer the light the redder the light will be, thus you may need to pick the time you will go out and shoot photographs. Outdoor lighting offers so many different times to take pictures depending on your need.

Next a photographer needs to understand the sun’s color scale.  Pictures tend to lead the viewer towards certain feelings; often softer colors evoke more emotion.  So understanding the suns impact on the colors will help you find the correct time of day.  The sun evokes blue hues in the morning hours, while closer to noon you will find more neutral colors.  The neutral colors can take away some of the definition you want in your print.  Knowing how you want to shot the picture will also help you determine when you wish to take the shot.

When using natural light you will need to work with the angle and direction of the sunlight.  If the sunlight is broad and diffused you will have softer shadows while the more narrow the light is focused the more shadow you can create.  Often at noon when the sun is in mid arc you lose definition of the subject.  The subject could look grainy.  This is why shadow is used; the shadows can give you more quality to the print if used correctly. This adds to the beauty of your pictures.

You can also modify sunlight through certain techniques.  Modifying sunlight when taking portraits outdoors requires the use of a background.  You may wish for a breath taking landscape that will provide more composition to the photo.  You may need to block the sun if it interferes with you or your subject’s sight.  You might also bring in a white surface to fill the shadows.  Landscape photography requires less work than usually natural light for portraits.  In fact using natural sunlight for landscape photography without modifications can yield you a better photograph.

Landscape photography uses nature to provide the light and shadows.  This is why you need to understand the light scale and temperature.  Time is the most important aspect of using sunlight.  To understand natural lighting you need to understand the affects the sun will have at certain times of the day.  For instance if you are in a thickly vegetative forest the sunlight will have difficulty streaming in unless it is over head.  You will have natural shadows in the forest and remember you can move around your subject to find the best angle with the sun.

Photography is an art that requires techniques and practice.  Lighting is a major part of photography, especially when you are using natural light.  Sunlight can bring plenty of shadows or take them away depending on the time of day.  Knowing the best time to take a photograph depends on the sun’s angle.  Photography is an interesting hobby and profession when practiced properly will give you plenty of prints for your home and others.

Whether you are a professional or a novice photographer, you want to produce some exquisite pictures with the proper lighting. With this in mind, choose your lighting according to your needs and the needs of your subject or object. Your pictures will be delightful with brightness when you use the best lighting situation.

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Just bought your first camera? Recently upgraded to a new system? Matt from Wex Photographic takes you through all the basics to help you get the most out of your camera, here focusing on setting it up for the first time.

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    There are many mediums to choose from in photography.  Often a person will begin with still life photography and work their way towards portraits, wildlife, or landscapes depending upon their interests.  Still life photography teaches a person to use light and shadows to find the emotion of the object.  Here I will discuss many different aspects of still life pictures.

    Still life expresses the photographers self while using in animate objects such as pottery, flowers, candles, leaves, and fruit.  The first step in still life photography is the lighting.  You will want the object to have light from a single direction, so that you can cast shadows as well as light on the object.  This will give it a depth of field, and dimension.  You will need to choose whether you want a soft or harsh light.  The more harsh the light the more shadow you will have.  Often in still life reflectors are used to tone the light down.  The best type of lighting for still life photography is side- lighting because you will attain more contrast between the object.

    With still life photography, you have color control.  You can choose the colors of the objects you use.  When choosing the colors say with leaves and fruits you will want a contrast in colors, but retain a natural look.  Harmony is the best word to use when attaining color control.  The color will attract the viewer’s eye, so if it is displeasing to you the chances are your viewers will find it just as displeasing.

    With still life, you can choose an abstract motif.  You may choose to put two objects together that do not make sense, but create a moving picture.  You might have an interesting cut on fruit, such as a melon to reveal the inside core.  The angle of the cut and the meaning of the picture will require thought from the viewer. Some viewers see different from what another viewer might see. This happens in the art world daily. What one thinks represents art another finds unappealing. Never let these influence your dreams and stop you from becoming even better in your work as a photographer.

    You can also have control of variations.  You can use the same subject repeatedly with different backgrounds, arrangements, and other objects.  The key is to avoid clutter while creating contrast.  The rule of thirds of composition is a great way to utilize still life objects.  You can create a pattern based on the rule of thirds.  Setting up the arrangements and trying several shots will lead you to finding the harmony between the objects.

    You may think still life photography lacks the depth of other mediums; however, it can be used as a stepping-stone to greater photography.  Still life can include an arranged garden to please the eye or a natural look.  You can use natural light to offset the shadows and find the contrast.  Still life inside or outside creating the arrangements is just one way to find pictures you will wish to display or give to friends.  Remember lighting, color, and variations on arrangements will provide you will tons of subjects.

    Applications for still life photography can include taking photographs for magazines.  Often magazines have still life photos to show flower arrangements or decorating ideas for the home.  With the many choices in photography, still life takes a special eye for arranging objects and understanding lighting techniques.  With all of photography being art you need to pick the subjects that will speak most to you and make them speak to others. These types of pictures go well when deciding to sell your photos or display them for the public. All pictures whether you think it or not may be just what someone wants to display and may offer to buy it. This helps you start a real goldmine of a business if you feel confident with your work.

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    Filters have two different meanings depending on how long you have had photography as a hobby.  Most of us today think as filters as an option with Photoshop.  This is not the case.  Before the invention of computers and things like Photoshop we had small glass discs to create the filtered affect.  There are many options with filters you can blur a picture, sharpen the picture, and even block out the UV rays.  Filters are often used to correct a problem or make a picture look a little different.

    Lets talk about filters that blur a photograph.  When you are taking a picture of a waterfall at the bottom where the water rises in a cloud you can add a filter to create the cloud in the picture.  Cameras don’t always see what the eye sees.  In some cases it can have a high resolution to depict the actual water drops rather than the cloud, so adding a filter to your lens can help create the effect your eye sees.

    Other filters such as the UV protector guard against the harsh rays.  Along with the UV filter you should have a polarizer.  The polarizer is used in photography when you are taking a shot into direct sunlight or other light.  It will help balance out the photograph so that you don’t get the washed out look.  Other filters can give you the washed out effect if you feel your photography would speak more.  The filters in Photoshop are not as wide as the filters you can actually buy for your camera, but they can have some of the same effects that you are after.

    Have you ever wanted to create a star effect when taking pictures of light filtering through the trees?  You can create a star effect with any photograph by using a star effect filter.  This filter allows light to pass through a series of thin lines etched into the filter letting the light streak outward in a star shape.

    Some filters actually help you create a depth of field or focal point.  The fog/ mist filter is one of these.  The fog/ mist filter allows for a glow or flare of light in the photograph.  Photography is filled with much skill and equipment.  Having filters to help create the perfect professional photograph will enhance your fun with your hobby.  Lets look at a few more filters.

    There are color correcting lenses.  If the sky is too blue for the photograph you can choose a filter that will tamp down the blue to a less bright state.  If you are into underwater photography you might have filters that allow for the underwater colors.  The color spectrum does not have a great range under water.  A lot of things will look red even though they are not.  It is easy to bring about the original color of underwater life when you use special filters for color correction.

    The use of filters in photography not only allows you to have special effects in a photograph to create something new and different, but it can help enhance the shot by adding color or dampening the natural effects of light.  Photography has many types of equipment that require skill and knowledge making it a wonderful hobby or profession. If you need a hobby, photography allows you to be creative.

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