We sometimes accept Guest Posts from people we think about interesting information to share. Please contact us if you would like to make a contribution. 

If you are already an experienced photographer or simply hoping to enhance the quality of casual pictures that you take, there are a few techniques that you can use to your advantage in photography. This is your opportunity to enhance your craft and dramatically improve candid shots went out with friends and family!

• Give thought to your subject. If you have a model that you are shooting, it is important to understand his or her purpose, especially regarding the event. If it is for an ad campaign, you will want to capture what the advertiser is looking for, but if it is for a wedding portrait, you can focus on the personality of the bride to best bring it forth in pictures. Even if you are taking pictures of your children, this is your chance to use their favorite toys or activities to bring out their personalities within the pictures.

• Get experience with your equipment. If you just purchased a new camera, take it out for a test drive by taking pictures of friends and family members to make sure that you get comfortable before a photo shoot. Even if you simply purchased a new digital camera for your everyday life, it is ideal to take quite a few practice pictures to understand all of its features so that you can best use them to capture pictures when out and about.

• Consider lighting. This is something that the most experienced photographer takes to heart, and it is important to have the right sort of lighting for a photo shoot. If you are in the studio, you can use umbrellas, lights, and even mist machines to provide control, but if you are outside as a photographer, it involves skill and intuition. In the same manner, you can use light to your advantage for casual pictures that you take to make sure that your family members and friends look their best and aren’t overexposed in a shot.

These simple tips are just the beginning of perfecting your craft as a photographer and even enhancing your existing picture taking skills for your everyday life!

Bethany runs ‘The Coffee Bump‘. Check it out for a great selection of commercial coffee makers. 

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This is only a general guide for restoring images. The first thing to decide on is the image editing software to use. For this purpose, if the plan is to restore an old photograph that is torn, stained, and faded, an image editing software with the following features must be considered.

1. Layers – Software that is capable of creating layers for each of the editing elements will make restoring easier. This way going back to original photo is easy once a mistake is made.
2. Selection Tools – These are dependent on the image editing software being used. They may be called different names on different software. Some of the common tools are the pen tool, magic wand, and the lasso.
3. Clone Tool – This is a very important feature as this used to fill color and spaces that have been damaged by time. This tool is used to repair crease and folds, as well as filling parts that have been torn or discolored.
4. Filters – For restoring old photos, the best filters to be used are for blurring, sharpening, and noise reduction.
5. Color Adjustment – This feature is useful for tired old photographs. When used alongside the brightness/contrast feature, colored photos can become vibrant again.
6. Brightness/Contrast – By increasing and decreasing one or both of these, it can brighten an old photo and making it look new again.

The Process

 To demonstrate, here is a sample photograph to show the step by step process of photo restoration. This faded black and white photo shows creases and discoloration.

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On wedding events, capture the intimate moments of the bride and the groom and the solemnity of the event. Be sure to be aware of when you click your shutter to not be inappropriate during the ceremony. Be sure to take shots of the flower girls in their innocent march, the happy teary- eyed bride walking thru the aisle towards her groom, and the groom finally taking her to his arms. Make sure that during this moment you capture as well the emotions of the family and friends of the soon to be newly-weds after all this is a moment both the bride and groom wanted to share to the people important to them. Be ready to be on the look out for raw mixed emotions in weddings, the tears, the smiles, the hugs, and the laughter.

Take candid photographs as the beauty of such moment is on its unexpectedness. Do not just focus on the well or formally posed photographs. Most likely the snaps of the bride nervously straightening her gown, the groom straightening his tie sharing a thought with the best man, the mother of the ring bearer trying to make him stop squirming, the flower girl playing with the petals in her basket, old friends sharing old laughter would make the couple smile in delight as they look back at what has been captured when they proclaimed their vows of being husband and wife.

Here are some of the things to remember in order to capture the essential details.

1. Prepare a shot list. This way you can keep track of the photo must-haves.
2. Take advantage of the lighting. Don’t use your flash all of the time. Take a photo of the couple against a plain background. A dim lighting will create a romantic silhouette.
3. Adjust your camera settings according to the scene. Most digital cameras have built-in automatic scene modes. Take advantage of this feature in order to get the best shot possible.
4. Shoot the small details. Take photos of rings, the details of dresses, flowers, menus, and table settings. Look at wedding magazines and emulate some shots.
5. Carry a spare camera. Set it up with a different setting. This will give you a different output and will provide a variety to your photos.
6. Switch on the continuous shooting mode at certain points. Expect the unexpected; you just don’t know when you will be capturing a wonderful moment.
7. Do not delete “mistakes” just yet. Always remember digital images can always be post processed on an image editing software.

Celebrate weddings by having fun with your shots. The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed the people around you will be. They will be giving you the genuine feeling which hopefully transcends to your photographs.

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Professional and amateur photographers love going to the beach, not just to swim or relax in the sun, but enjoy the scenery and most of all take an infinite number of beautiful photos. Whether it is nature, people, or events, there will always be something going on and something to point a camera at. You can take photos of sand castles, sailboats, the romantic sunset, surfers, or even the sun (not directly though). The possibilities are endless. A photographer at a beach is like a kid in a candy store.

There are many websites available that teach a thing or two about beach photography. We at Brilliant Prints have narrowed down a few tips from all over the internet for your next trip to the beach.

Know the best time

Scheduling has often been discussed on most of the blogs featuring beach photography. It does makes sense, whether photography or not, people go to the beach for the sun and photographers want to maximize the time with the natural light source.

So, when is the best time to take photos? The best lighting is at the beginning and at the end of the day. The best photographers are often those who go very early and leave the beach late afternoon. If you do not have time to experiment with your camera, avoid shooting at noon. The shadows cast at noon are short; the result will be a loss of dimension of a shot. Also, when photographing portraits – the direct sunlight from above creates ugly shadows under the eyes. Try shooting during sunrise and sunset instead. You will produce dramatic colors and long shadows, adding depth to your photo. If you are planning to shoot a calm beach scene, then do not schedule your trip on a holiday. Pick a date when the beach is empty.

Composition

There is no other way of saying this as it is important to remember composition when we deal with any kind of photography. Lead your viewer into the scene by including some sort of foreground interest. This can be achieved by using leading lines, such as the curving shore line or footprints on the sand that will create a path for the photo. When taking beach photos always pay attention to the horizon line, it should be straight and exactly parallel to one of the sides of the frame. To get a more balanced natural look, the horizon line must be placed off center.

The Subject

Keep in mind to see the beach for what it is —a setting. What you thought were boring objects will suddenly get new life and make an interesting photograph. The first thing to do is to find something of interest and making it the main focal point. Then compose your beach photo around that object. Most of the dull beach photographs are those shot directly at the horizon with the usual trite elements. Try some of these ideas which can make for a great focal point.

Sand, rocks, and shells – Beach sand has interesting shapes and textures. Look for dunes or channels where water is flowing back to the sea. Sand castles and sculptures are interesting focal points as well. Find a way to compose the beach photo around these structures. Rocks and shells are always interesting with their array of shapes and sizes. Try taking a close-up photo of an intricate looking shell against the soft sand. 

Animals and plants - Starfishes, seaweed, crabs, dolphins, and birds, and the list goes on. The beach is teeming with flora and fauna. Building your photo around these creature focal points can be both exciting and interesting.

Water – The waves and the deep blue is quite difficult not to give notice to. Make it your focal point by playing with perspective and angles.

Boats, huts, and nautical flags – Don’t dismiss man-made structures and objects as they make interesting subjects as well. Especially those resort objects and structures that are weathered by time, they can give character to your beach setting.

Filters
Adding filters do come up often on beach photography websites. Although not a requirement or a feature in every camera, people use polarizing filters (whether it is ultraviolet, protective or skylight) to enhance colors and make the photos bright and vivid. They do not only enhance but serve as a protective layer as well to sand and salt water splashes. The sky and the water will look at its bluest with the right use of these filters.

Protect your camera
Do not get sand inside your camera. Do your best to protect it by always wearing the strap so you don’t drop it. When not in use, do not put your camera on the sand. Put your camera in a protective case and keep it away from sand and water.

These are only a few tips we have gathered from the internet. Surely, there are still a lot of other things to learn about beach photography but we will leave that up to you to discover. People go to the beach to have fun and relax, let that reflect in your photography.

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 Edit Photos Online for Free

You have just received a set of photos from your recent vacation. You know your friends are eager to see those pictures. You’re about to upload them to your Flickr photostream when, while browsing through the photos, a thought hit you: they need editing. But you’re in the office and your office computer does not have Adobe Photoshop installed. And even if there is, you know you’ll get lost simply trying to adjust contrast. So what will you do?

All you need is an online photo editor. With it, you would not need Photoshop to perform simple corrections or enhancements on your photos. These online photo editors allow you to perform the following basic functions:

·         Cropping

·         Adjusting brightness and contract

·         Sharpening

·         Blurring

·         Resizing

·         Creating effects like sepia and grayscale

·         Saving in multiple image formats

You have to take note though that since your photo editor is web-based, there may be limitations compared with standalone applications like Photoshop or Picasa Editor. But there are tools out there that give you almost everything you need. I’m going to present to you 3 of the most loved photo editors in the web today. And the best thing about them is that they are FREE.

If you use Flickr, you’re probably already familiar with Picnik. It’s Flickr’s completely integrated photo editing application. All you need to do is go to your Flickr photo, click the Edit Photo button to launch Picnik, and you’re set to play. Of course, if you don’t like to edit inside Flickr, it’s fine. Just sign up for free at the Picnik website. Then when you’re done editing, you can upload your photos to Flickr. Clever, eh?

Picnik is Flash-based. It is considered the fastest in the new breed of online photo editors and has the most intuitive user interface. It’s probably the best of the bunch. Thus, it is no surprise that its fan base grows with each day. For a handy set of Picnik Tutorials check out our previous blog posts.

While we love Picnik. It’s certainly not the only option available. 

Unlike Picnik, Phixr is developed using Ajax. As such, it has the potential of giving users complete editing satisfaction. The most attractive feature of Phixr is its ability to make artistic Polaroid snapshots and to insert comment bubbles and effects in your photographs. Also, you can directly upload your edited work to a lot of photo-sharing websites like Facebook, Flickr, and Picasaweb among others.

What are you waiting for? Explore these online photo editors and begin transforming your photos now.

Tags: free editing, free photo editing tools, phixr, picnik, splash up
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