Print Shops

Writen by Elizabeth Morgan

Digital photography has made the dissemination of pictures much easier. If you have a good inkjet printer you can run off prints on quality photographic paper and get remarkable results even at home. However many people still prefer to send out for prints from the corner print shop, especially if they’ve chosen to shoot pictures on film.

Fortunately for tourists across the world, the quick print industry continues to boom, allowing them to develop and print their photos in virtually any city they may find themselves in. Print shops offer quick results at affordable prices and are not likely to go out of fashion in the near future. How many people, especially tourists, shooting on digital cameras have convenient access to computers and printers anyway?

Originally called copy shops, print shops now offer a range of services including traditional and digital printing, color copying, making presentations, and even binding and collating facilities. Efficient customer service and up-to-date technology are what determine a print shop’s success, especially in increasingly competitive times. Chances are there’s a print shop at every street corner, and to attract customers, each will have to offer something extra.

An alternative to high street print shops are online or web-based print shops that offer a variety of services including printing and delivery. All a customer has to do is mail a file of pictures that need printing, specifying size and type of paper, and for a fee, the pictures will be delivered to his doorstep.

Some print shops specialize in making quality fine art prints on different types of paper. With more and more artists and photographers opting to make art prints of their work, this is a growing industry, requiring precision and skill. Technology-intensive, it requires substantial capital, but once established, can prove to be pretty lucrative.

Prints provides detailed information on Digital Photo Prints, Prints, Art Prints, Print Shops and more. Prints is affiliated with Digital Art Schools.

Help from a Digital Lab Photo Printing Professional

Writen by Mindi Haehl

If you’re like most people, you probably prefer to do as many things on your own as possible so that you don’t have to spend money paying for the services of someone else. This line of thinking works well for people who are capable of mowing their own lawn or for those who are good at fixing cars. But when it comes to the subject of digital photo printing, you’re probably not very likely to get a whole lot of quality pictures when editing and printing them by yourself. That is why it is best to seek digital lab photo printing professional help.

Stubborn people who refuse to dish out money for better quality pictures need only to think of this bit of information. While home printers are capable of turning digital photos into picture form, the cost of ink and paper will most likely exceed the costs of getting a professional to do them. So give yourself a break and let one of the many companies that specialize in digital photo printing do the work for you. These companies have digital photo lab professionals that can color correct balance and lighting on individual pictures as well as choose the best paper for your photos to be printed on that they will last for years to come. Finding them is easy too because many national chain stores have photo labs that handle digital printing needs and there are lots of websites offering these services as well.

Unlike paying a plumber to fix your toilet or hiring an interior decorator, digital photo printing professionals won’t leave you broke with their services. Most services, offer competitive rates usually in the range of 19

A Lesson on Buying a Digital Camera

Writen by Anne Clarke

Are you wondering how to buy a digital camera? When looking for a digital camera, you need to think of the features that are most important to you. This is the most important rule of how to buy a digital camera.

In other words, do not get fooled into buying a camera with tons of great features and a really high resolution if these are things that do not actually matter to you. If you are not going to use any features and you cannot tell the difference between different resolutions, do not pay more to get such things!

That being said, here are some more tips on how to buy a digital camera:

Underwater Photography: The Wonders Under the Sea

Writen by Colin Hartness

The world of photography is an amazing one. It’s been with us for quite a while now but it is constantly changing. Cameras are changing and improving. Methods of developing are changing and improving as well. We have digital cameras that allow people to take a view of their pictures immediately without traditional developing. Another change in the world of photography is underwater photography.

What do you think brings us those great shots of saltwater fish and movies that film in the ocean and under the sea? What about shots taken in swimming pools? You see those in the movies a lot but may not have thought about how they take those pictures and videos.

You probably never thought about it because for a long time underwater photography was not really an option for everyday people. But now it is not just an option, it’s really easy to achieve.

- What is Underwater Photography?

Underwater photography is as the name implies photos that are taken under water. This is pretty interesting since early cameras could not function if wet. But as people started discovering the wonders under the sea, they wanted to be able to share that with others or even just to prove what they actually saw. So we began creating cameras that could work under water.

It is no surprise that underwater photography is a favorite pastime for scuba divers. The idea could have come from those few people that were able to experience the joys and beauty of underwater life and a desire to share that beauty with others.

There are many different occasions where people use underwater photography. As we mentioned earlier, underwater photography is used in Hollywood for movies. You have probably also seen it used on documentaries and national geographic type programs about underwater life.

But it is still most commonly used by divers. There are many websites dedicated to all the ins and outs of underwater photography; which cameras and lenses are best, which film to use, and much more can be found on these sites.

- How to Take Underwater Photography

Equipment is an important factor in taking great underwater photography. Of course you will need an underwater camera but there is more than just that.

You can take some amazing pictures using underwater photography. There are now even disposable use underwater cameras and you can take them on vacation with you and get that great underwater look. Even an amateur can do it. Disposable underwater cameras can typically be developed at your local Wal-Mart or other film developing center. You can also purchase underwater cameras for more of a price but they last whenever you need one. Some people find this more economical than disposables, especially if they want to take these pictures often.

Just like other venues of photography, you will probably start off with a cheaper and less advanced camera and work your way up if you continue underwater photography for a long time. There are two basics kinds of cameras; the underwater or waterproof camera and the encased camera which is inside a housing that protects it.

When taking pictures, you are going to need to be familiar with:

- Your camera

- Your lens

- Your film

- Your flash

There are different things in your environment that will affect the quality of your underwater photography. Such as:

- Depth of water and transparency of water

- Light

- The angle of the sunlight on the top of the water

- The backscatter

- Water has a magnifying effect

These are some things to help you get started in the world of underwater photography. If you are lucky enough to be swimming in the sea, you should get some proof to share with others.

Looking for information about Photography? Go to: http://www.asaphotography.com ‘ASA Photography’ is published by Colin Hartness – An excellent resource for Photography! Check out more Photography articles at: http://www.asaphotography.com/archive

Three Steps to Overcome Photography Block

Writen by Chris Roberts

Photographers and writers share a lot in common.

Both practice to perfect their technique, both convey story and emotion through their craft and both benefit from deep wells of creativity.

Unfortunately, they also share something negative in common: block.

Just as a writer can feel stuck trying to find the right word or form a sentence, a photographer can’t find anything to photograph. The trained eye that can find fascinating subjects in mundane surroundings stops working.

Once photography becomes a constant in your life, at some point you’ll come up against a bad case of photographer’s block.

The good news is that there are three steps that you can take to get your creative juices flowing again.

Take Out Your Camera

This probably sounds like the dumbest advice of all time. Of course you have to take out your camera!

But let me take this advice a step further: make sure your camera is in your hand.

It’s not enough to have the camera in a bag on your shoulder, and it’s not enough to have it dangling from a strap around your neck. When you’re feeling blocked, you pass up photo opportunities due to a lame excuse: it’s too much effort to get the camera ready.

But when the camera’s in your hand, it’s always ready. You don’t have any excuse not to take the shot.

Once you take one, your right brain engages and you start seeing great photo subjects all around you.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

Many photographers usually settle on a subject they like: flowers, people, buildings, food, pets or children. Let’s say that flowers are your passion. Once you’ve taken 1,000 flower photos you feel pretty comfortable with your subject.

When you’re feeling blocked, spend an entire day photographing something totally different: children, for example. Unlike flowers, they never stay still and aren’t willing to wait for you to adjust you camera settings.

It’s almost guaranteed that a lot of the shots that you take won’t turn out. This is to be expected – you are out of your comfort zone, shooting something brand new.

The benefit of this exercise is that it takes your mind away from your favorite subject long enough to see it differently when you get back to it.

Start With Your Shoes

This technique has worked well for me in the past when I’m just not thinking (and seeing) creatively.

I take pictures of my shoes.

I point the camera straight down, and try to find something interesting about the pattern, texture or color of my shoes to bring out in a photo.

Once you spend about 5 minutes trying to make your shoe look interesting, look up. You’ll suddenly see a wide variety of subjects far more interesting than your shoe.

If you approach those subjects with the same eye that you applied to your simple shoe, you’re bound to take some engaging photographs.

Chris Roberts dispenses practical plain-English advice and information about digital SLR cameras at the Digital SLR Guide. His 5-week ecourse in digital SLR technique helps beginners get the most out of their digital SLR cameras.

Photography Medium: Film and Digital

Writen by Ali Maadelat

In order to take a good picture, you have to understand how the image is created. Just kidding, but it does help. The medium comes in either the form of film, or a digital chip.

Since most of you most likely have a digital camera, I will talk about the digital chip first. The digital chip in your camera is probably either a CCD chip or a CMOS chip. What they are exactly doesn’t matter, just know that they take the place of film.

We can’t talk about digital cameras without talking about megapixels. Remember “The Common Misconception”? It applies to this too. Many people believe that the more megapixels you have, the better. This is complete BS. More megapixels allow you to make larger prints. A 1 megapixel camera and a 8 megapixel camera show NO difference until you start making 20X22 prints.

Now then. Your pictures SUCK, so why the heck would ANYONE want 20×22 inch prints from you? Exactly, you do NOT need the 8 megapixels.

Even better is when I see beginners asking about what camera they should get, and then saying they want at least 10 megapixels. No, they will never succeed because they have been brainwashed already… too bad.

Aside from megapixels, there is something else we need to talk about: crop factor. Digital chips are smaller than film, and because of this, lenses “magnify” a picture more than they would on a film camera. Most cameras have a crop factor of 1.6X. This means that a lens “magnifies” a picture 1.6X on the camera (a 100mm lens would be a 160mm lens on a digital camera).

This has its ups and downs. One one hand, you save money on telephoto lenses. On the other hand, super wide angle lenses don’t exist anymore. Oh well…

Now, film…

First off, we will talk about ISO/ASA. ISO/ASA numbers are a universal way of identifying the “speed” of a film. Speed is basically how sensitive a film is to light. The higher the number, the less exposure it needs and visa versa. The faster the film, the more grain or “noise” (in digital).

Film comes in thousands of varieties.

Black and White Print: Makes BW prints. My Favorite is Neopan 400

Black and White Slide: I think only one company makes this, but it makes BW slides.

Color Print: Makes Color prints. Portra 400 is what I keep in stock

Color Slide: Makes Color slides. I use Fuji MS100/1000

Thats pretty much it. I will go into more detail in my secret weapon, so watch out.

To your success in photography,

The Snobby Photographer

Tips for Vacation Photos

Writen by Valerie Goettsch

Photos are a great way to share your travel experiences with family and friends. Here are a few suggestions to help you capture vacation memories you will treasure for years to come.

PLAN AHEAD

Make sure your digital camera is in good working order before you go, and keep it in a water- and shock-resistant case. Bring two sets of rechargeable batteries and don’t forget the charger and relevant cords. Make sure your camera has enough memory. Packing an extra memory card is wise, as there is nothing worse than running out of room for pictures halfway down the Grand Canyon. It may be tempting to lower the resolution so you can store more pictures, but you will regret this later as it may result in poorer quality prints, or you will be limited to smaller size prints. Set your camera at its highest quality JPEG setting and get more memory if you have to. You will appreciate this when you’re viewing and printing your photos after your trip.

TAKE LOTS AND LOTS OF PICTURES.

With a digital camera you can always erase the photos you don’t want. Take pictures of anything you find interesting and try to focus on some of the details such as an attractive doorway or a colorful market, not just panoramic scenes or major landmarks. Let your pictures tell a story by creating a visual diary of your trip. Include street scenes, interesting signs, people you see along the way. For variety take both vertical and horizontal pictures.

READY FOR YOUR CLOSE-UP?

When taking people shots, don’t make the mistake of standing too far away. You want to be able to recognize the people in your photos. Get close enough so you can see the expressions on your subjects faces. Zoom in on individuals or capture them from the waist up. Pictures are often more interesting when you can catch people at candid, un-posed moments. In posed photos, try to incorporate some of the background into your shot. Try snapping from interesting angles rather than simply head-on.

USE YOUR FLASH

When photographing in bright sunlight, setting your camera’s “fill” or “forced” flash is very helpful, particularly when photographing people. Brilliant sunlight often makes people’s faces look harsh, casting dark shadows under the eyes and accentuating wrinkles. The daytime fill-in flash will soften the lighting and make the images more flattering. Your family and friends in the photos will thank you!

EDIT AND ENHANCE YOUR FAVORITE SHOTS

When you get home you can edit, crop and enhance your favorites using photo editing software such as Foto Finish, Ulead or Photoshop Elements. Consider adding drama to your images by turning some of your color photos into black and white or sepia tones and then upload all your images to an online photo printing service like Ofoto or Shutterfly for fast and convenient prints. You can take your best snaps and use your photo editing software to create a photo calendar or make photo cards for personal notes, or to email your favorites to family and friends.

Most of all have fun with your camera!

About The Author

Valerie Goettsch publishes the digital photography website http://www.digitalphotos101.com featuring reviews of photo editing and album software and digital photo printing services.

Keeping it Low Key

Writen by Kenneth C. Hoffman

You have all heard of white on white and it certainly has its place. But black on black has its moods, too. A low key photograph evokes mystery, night and secrets. Silhouette and shape prevail over color and light.

In order to separate the subject from the background, an edge light is in order. Objects lit from behind, hiding the source from the lens approach the eye in a direct manner, flaunting their power while reveling in the dark.

Look for subjects dark in color, but having texture and reflective properties. A wine red satin, a bolt of navy and dark gold tapestry, crushed velvet in chocolate tones or a black ceramic cup edged in filigree lace are all candidates for a low key picture.

Face lighting can be from the side – a broad source well masked against spill light. Small but powerful spots can provide a key light for emphasis of important detail. An interesting fact is that extra light thrown on a black background will produce blacker blacks in the important areas. The reason is that the extra light raises the exposure curve to include the expanded range of tones near the top of the curve. Therefore, the blacks are expanded darker as well as placing more detail in the highlights. In order to ascertain the correct exposure, read the light from a 10 per cent gray card rather than from the subject. Bracket for safety.

Careful printing will place the darker skin tones (shadows) just above black in density, while assigning the true skin tone to a small key area near the eyes: a triangular area on the cheek or s diffused highlight on the forehead. All else in the photograph will be lit well enough to be seen and appreciated but relegated to the shadow areas. A favorite trick of the masters was to softly key light an object or secondary interest within the gaze of the main subject. For instance, a girl holding an apple ready for paring would be back lit from a narrow window but some of the light would fall on the apple and knife. Everything else would be placed in shadow.

A large black umbrella is a handy tool for producing a low key portrait in medium toned environments. Placed to the right of the camera just out of range of the lens, the umbrella will deepen the tones facing and close to the camera. Generally, a soft light from a broad source like a large window covered with Venetian blinds for control is ideal for a low key picture. You can make a safe back light with a large, slim cardboard box , with the top and bottom knocked out and painted black on the inside. Place the box over the light, creating a long narrow snoot. Position the snoot behind and slightly above the subject pointing at the lens. The same effect can be had with a window masked off except for a narrow slit near the middle.

Experiment with the composition, turning the subject and changing the subject’s activity for variety. If you succeed, the viewer’s eye will be riveted on the subject and there will be no mistaking the mood.

Many of my wedding portraits were taken with a short light and a dark background. Comments welcome.

Advantages Of Putting Your Photos Online

Writen by Anton Sheker

There are some disadvantages of putting your photos online but I believe the benefits out way the disadvantages.

1. Your photos can be used as an inspiration for others to learn and try out the technics that you have implemented or executed on a photo. You can serve as the online guru and the viewers your students. People always admire good photos and will go out of their way to let you know if you have done well and at times will ask for advice on how to capture and achieve the same effect.

2. You give people a opportunity to experience and see what you have shot even if there are miles or maybe continents away. The story you paint in your photo can tell a thousand words. The visual impact gives the viewer a first hand experience into your photo whether it be travel, food or even a wedding photo. Your photo tells them a story, how you tell the story is up to you.

3. Your online gallery can be used as your very own online a stock photo bank. There are always people or agencies looking for photos online and maybe you can use your gallery to show of your diverse collection of photos. Good Travel Photos are always in demand.

4. You can use your gallery to share your photos to friends and family and keep up to date about each others events. You can send photos of your birthday parties and other personal events to give others a chance to see your joyous moments even if your family or relatives are half a world away.

5. Lastly, you are given a venue to express your own creativity without limits. Not everyone is blessed with a chance to share their gift of photography with others so use your online gallery and share what you can and show the world and how you see it through your photos.

Anton Sheker is a professional photographer based in Philippines. Owns and operates Philippine Online Photo Gallery http://www.photo.net.ph and founder member of http://www.worldphotodirectory.com – a free professional photographer resource guide and directory

For more photography articles visit his site online at http://www.photo.net.ph/blogalicious

The Life of Paparazzi

Writen by Eric Hartwell

I admire the paparazzi. They do a difficult job in difficult conditions. Whatever you overall view of them, there are things to be admired.

I know that the right picture will net them enough money to retire twice over. But, in reality, the majority of images will just about bring in enough cash to feed the kids and perhaps go out to the theatre once in a while.

For every one paparazzi stealing a quick candid, there are twenty others and you can be sure that the most sought after images will be also sought after by your peers and rivals.

Then there’s the waiting. Standing in the baking sun or howling gale, being soaked to the skin or burnt to the core, that picture has to come otherwise the kids don’t get their nourishment.

Images of celebrities sell, of course. But images that are out of the ordinary sell faster and for more cash. For the right image you have to wait. You must know your subject, study them, follow them, be with them and be at the ready to snap the shutter when the time is just right.

You may have to miss a few meals or bathroom breaks to be sure that the images you take will adorn the pages of widely sold glossy magazines or newspapers the next day.

It would help if your subject would obligingly show a part of their anatomy that would otherwise be hidden. Or perhaps snort a few drugs, be sick, stumble, fumble or kiss. It would also help if they could do these things in open spaces and not in crowded nightclubs, concerts or bars.

And it would help if either they or their minders would refrain from verbal and physical abuse.

As I said, the life of a paparazzi is not an easy one.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com