Posts Tagged ‘guide’
All the Tutorials/How-To’s You’ll *Ever* Need!
This single blog post should last a photographer 100 days. You see, with the ‘scooping’ of scoop.it and the kindness of abheygupta.com, we now have 100 Helpful Photography Tutorials for Beginners and Professionals all on one page!
This epic guide of guides features tutorials from the likes of Outdoor Photographer, DPMag, Shutterbug, DPSchool, ePhotozine, Digital Photographer, and Strobist. And the pickins are lush!
For example, you can find two tutorials on Low Key Portraits plus two more about Low Key lighting. Then there’s three on histograms which tell you what the ‘spread’ of tones is in a picture. These tutorials will show you how to ‘read’ a histogram and make use of it.
The number and breadth of tutorials here beats Baskin-Robbins’s flavours and even Heinz’s varieties. You’ll find a goodly number of ‘DIY’ guides from inexpensive reflectors to flash diffusers to ‘string tripods’. Then there’s one that provides advice on how to shoot architecture that has lots of lines and grids. And there’s one that brings you up to date – as of July 2010(!) – on the viability of shooting at high ISOs.
Ever wanted to master that recent fad: photographing exploding thingies in the last split-seconds of their lives? Dive into this Hot 100! How about something more gentle, like this bokeh / iris flare technique?
(It is not sterile, as the samples seem to suggest. You can use the contrivance the article outlines to shoot a portrait or any foreground against a dark background dotted with small points of light or a black sheet of cardboard pricked with holes and covered with transparent coloured paper and bright light behind the setup.)
Granted, there will be a few dud tutorials – after all, there are a hundred tutorials here! However, there will be more winners than losers, plus something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. (The age-old concept of depth-of-field, the new style of Post-HDR, the borrowed look of vintage old photos, and the blue of the ocean.)
When you get to the how-to on photographing live insects at home, you’ll know this Hot 100 is a keeper!
Schedule at least 90 minutes just to go through this list. You’ll probably end up spending a good bit of time with these how-tos and make good use of a few of them. You may even find one or two that serve up the answer to a long-lingering question you may be having!
Taking the Plunge for a DSLR? PhotographyTalk Shows How
This image shows a Canon EOS 350D digital single-lens reflex camera with a Tamron 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD lens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
PhotographyTalk has published an excellent, don’t-miss guide, especially for novices and hobbyists. It bears the rather inapt and misleading title, “The #1 Best Method To Know You’ve Picked The Right Digital Camera For You.” An apt title would be “The Best Method to Pick the Right Digital Camera for You,” because that’s just what this guide steps you through.
In brief, the trick is to rent a few DSLRs over a weekend and take them for a test drive before you make the big commitment and get hitched.
PhotgraphyTalk’s guide is loaded with sharp advice. For example, they explain that, as you’ll be using a DSLR with interchangeable lenses and other gear, you would be well-advised to rent these too lest you encounter an unpleasant surprise later. It also contains very sound advice: spending an hour or two with the instruction manual and acquainting yourself with the camera will pay off.
‘The Comfort Test’ may be the most critical point. “You don’t want to buy a camera that you couldn’t use and carry all day” is a key rule. The camera should feel like an extension of your arm; your hand should be able to ‘learn’ it quickly. If it feels alien an unwieldy to your hand then even if it’s the best-rated camera and even if you’ve been ‘sold’ by the reviews, it’s probably not for you.
The guide also keeps in mind all eventualities – it even draws your attention to whether or not you have insurance to cover theft or damage.
As good as this guide is, it can be fleshed out. Here are a few additional points for the checklist:—
• During your tryouts, do include ambient light, low light, and night shots, including long exposures.
• Though as a budding pro you’ll be shooting in RAW, shoot some JPG with each camera. If nothing else they may be a tie-breaker – or, if particularly poor, they may be a deal-breaker.
• For all the manufacturers you are considering, look into the geographical locations of the authorized service centres and also check out that vendor’s track record with customer support.
Advanced Guide to Flickr
As promised, here are more tips on how you can have more fun on Flickr. Now that you’ve signed up, uploaded your photos, added your favorite contacts and joined fantastic groups, let’s take a look at some of the advanced features you can explore.
(If you’re a Flickr newbie, you may want to first read Flicker 101: A Beginner’s Guide for basic tips when starting out.)
Citizens of Flickrville, let’s take a tour:
Browse most interesting photos
With a mechanism to track all uploaded photos, Flickr comes up with cream-of-the-crop shots every day based on favorite tags, comments, views and others—they’re the best of the lot, handpicked by the gods, the blessed ones.
These great photos should be useful if you are looking for inspiration and diverse perspectives. It’s every Flickr member’s dream to find his photo land a spot on the highly desired Flickr-loves-you list.
Click Explore from the Flickr top menu to see random interesting photos. Refresh the page to see the next one. You can also check out more awesome uploads in the last 7 days or see them in a calendar-view of the current month.
Blog your Flickr photos
Surely, most of you maintain a blog. Although blog platforms like WordPress and Blogger have their own photo-posting capabilities, Flickr takes photo blogging to a new level by allowing you to post your new sunset shot directly from your photostream. Flickr can talk to your blog.
Configure your Flickr account to allow posting photos to your blog. After you set it up, you can make a test post to see if everything’s working well. You should be able to post to your blog by clicking the Blog This button at the top of the photo. Presto! You’ve just blogged it.
Get a personalized URL
One, it’s easier to remember. Two, it creates personality. When you sign up, your Flickr address looks too generic, not to mention a little robotic:
By setting up a personal name, you change it to something like:
Be cautious though. Once you set your new URL, it’s locked. You cannot change it again.
Show off photos on your website
Add a strip of Flickr photos on your blog or website. Let your visitors see—the instant you upload them—your recent Paris trip or your last gastronomic adventure in Melbourne. You can also choose to display the photo pool of a Flickr group that suits the purpose of your website, or simply show random photos from the whole of Flickr.
To do so, create a Flickr badge, copy and paste the generated HTML into your website’s source code and start showing off those photos.
Explore and discover
Flickr continues to evolve both in functionality and playfulness. There’s just a lot that can be done. Discover more Flickr treasures yourself and share it with us here. Feel free to post your suggestions in the comment section. Be assured that we’ll continue to post interesting finds as we go along.
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