Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Composite Cards - The Starter Kit for Photography Models

Bob Pardue


What are comp cards?

In a nutshell, comp cards (short for composite cards) are a form of advertisement and promotion for fashion, glamour and other types of models. They come in many different shapes, layout styles and sizes giving models the benefit of being creative when choosing how their promotional piece will look.

Benefits of comp cards

You'll find that there are many advantages of having composite cards made to promote yourself as a model. Here are just a few ...

Professionalism

There is an old saying in the modeling industry; If you want to be treated as a professional model, look like a professional model. This stands true for the images you show also.

When you present your composite cards with beautiful, well-chosen photos to an agency representative or a potential client, he or she knows that you are serious about your career and will treat you as such.

By no means does this insure that you will get a job with that client or agent but it sure puts you way ahead of many of the other models who are in competition with you.

You will not get a second chance to make a first impression!!!

Don't be so anxious to start your modeling career that you skip a step which could open (or close) a door for you. Your composite cards are that important. Be a professional and hand them a comp card instead of a snapshot.

Most people don't throw away pictures

By now you may be thinking; "What if I just have normal business cards made to leave with agents and clients?".

Yes, you could have business cards made for less trouble and expense and I encourage you to do just that. Business cards are another way of presenting yourself as a professional model.

But, agents and clients sometimes throw out business cards or they put them in their pockets and lose them.

Most people hesitate to throw away pictures which is what your comp cards look like. They are more likely to file your composites along with the other professional models in their files for future reference so you have at least a small chance that they will see your photo again. Which, by the way, leads to ...

What do you look like?

One more thought about business cards. Unless there is a photo on the card you leave the client still won't remember your look when she is ready to choose models to represent. Now it becomes your business card against the other 100 composite cards she has on file. Who will win out? You guessed it!!

In addition to your headshot on the front of the card, the agent can also see 4-5 pictures on the back along with your all-important stats. This is your contact information and other important aspects of what you have to offer as a model.

Give yourself a chance to model

Give yourself a chance to be seen and contacted by always leaving your composite card with all contacts. There is a certain safety in numbers, the comp cards are not that expensive, so don't be stingy with them.

Composite card layout and design

Below is an outline for basic comp card design to give you an idea of what your card will include. You can see examples of composites at CompCard.Com . Notice how professional these look as compared to just sending a photograph.

The layout is pretty simple for a two-sided card

Front - The front will generally include a photo covering the front of the card (I suggest a good, strong headshot here) along with your name in bold letters.

Back - On the back there is room for about four to six images showing different looks (indoor and outdoor) in a variety of outfits with at least one good full-body shot (swim wear or tight-fitting clothing).

Also, on the back of the composite will be statistical information such as ...

Contact information (Who to contact, phone, email, web address, etc.)

- Height
- Weight
- Bust size / Cup size
- Waist size
- Hip size
- Dress size
- Shoe size
- Hair color
- Hair length (short, shoulder length, long)
- Eye color
- Type(s) of modeling jobs preferred (i.e. commercial, fashion shows, runway, glamour, artistic, promotional, etc.)

How and where to get composite cards

It's really a simple process to have your comp cards designed and printed.

IMPORTANT: The first step is to have photos made by a professional model photographer who can give you usage and reprint rights. I can't stress enough the importance of starting with great pictures. If you send in a snapshot that your cousin Irma took, you're going to get a snapshot on a comp card -- A disaster!!

With that said, there is no need to feel overwhelmed with the details of getting your comp card ready. There are many companies online such as CompCard.Com who have design styles and templates online which will help you every step of the way.

Remember too that there are many different versions of comp cards so it's all up to you how your finished composite card will look.

Now you can start your modeling career off right by having professional composite cards you'll be proud to show. Just do it!!

Career Information about Photography; Is It Worth Persuing?

by : Roy Barker


Before we say anything too hastily, we should first understand what I actually mean by this statement. Often people simply pick up a camera and take a snap, see the result and think – hey that was easy and fun. I think I’d like to do this for a living. It might sound a little bazaar, but that often happens. Most come to a rude awakening fairly quickly, however, some of these people succeed as well. Let’s look a little closer at career information about photography.

Career information about photography is important to access and focus on initially because it is a competitive market where the work is often attractive to many people. The photographer must have “a good eye”, imagination, and some creativity to do well in this field. That's not all. Photographers love going into their own business. Accordingly, they must be able to maintain a business and to take advantage of opportunities provided by rapidly changing technologies. While seeking career information about photography you should first speak to one of your local photographers for information. You can ask questions about the job market in your area and how much training was involved before he/she considered themselves ready. You’ll find your local photographer will offer you insight that will be helpful in most cases.

What as a photographer do you plan on achieving? Most would agree, the photographer is an artist, historian, and news event person. Perhaps you had already planned on your career and how you wish to achieve it. Career information about photography will prepare you for specific jobs but you should be aware of other elements related to the work. A photographer produces and preserves images that paint a picture, tell a story, or record an event. The successful photographer is required to have the ability to present a subject to achieve a particular effect while also selecting the appropriate equipment. A good photographer may enhance the subject’s appearance with natural or artificial light, shoot the subject from an interesting angle, draw attention to a particular aspect of the subject by blurring the background, or perhaps using different lenses to produce desired levels of detail at various distances.

This is just an example of some of the requirements that a good photographer should possess. Career information about photography will vary according to what type of photography interests you. Underwater photography is becoming an exciting field of unexplored areas. Other photographers specialize in areas such as portrait, commercial and industrial, scientific, news, or fine arts photography.

Portrait Photographers: The one’s we see most often who usually come with those special family events. They normally take individual pictures, group pictures and often work in their own studios. A lot of photographers specialize in taking wedding pictures, religious ceremonies, or school pictures.

Commercial and Industrial: Career information about photography includes professionals who specialize in commercial and industrial photography. These photographers take pictures of various subjects, such as buildings, models, merchandise, artifacts, and landscapes. Why would a photographer go around taking these pictures? This is a specialized field wherein a lot of money can be made. The pictures are used in a variety of media, including books, reports, advertisements, and catalogs. The industrial photographer is usually hired in advance and knows what his assignment will be. He does not take pictures and try to find a buyer. The industrial photographer takes pictures of machinery, products, workers, and company officials. The pictures taken are usually for a specific purpose. In the future these pictures help engineer’s analysis projects, publicity, or records of equipment development or deployment, such as placement of an offshore oil rig.

Field of Science: Career information about photography is common in the field of science. The recording of scientific data and procedures is often done by a photographer. The field of unusual phenomena or sometimes called ghost hunting uses special type of equipment and is necessary to help prove the existence of perhaps a haunting. Many things evolve when you work in the scientific field that is why a photographer must have knowledge in one or more areas of engineering, medicine, biology, or chemistry.

Photojournalism: Photojournalists are people who take pictures of newsworthy people, places, and sporting events. They are news photographers who often cover political and community events for newspapers, journals, magazines, or television.

Career information about photography would not be complete unless I reminded you of working conditions. The working conditions vary considerably from one type of a job to another. For instance, photographers who work for the government and advertising studios usually work a 5-day, 40 hour week. News photographers often work long, irregular hours and must be available on short notice. Some photographers work part time or on variable schedules.

One last thing - Career information about photography should include the fact that a lot of photographers spend a small amount of time actually taking pictures because they spend a lot of time editing photographs on a computer and trying to find new business especially when they are self-employed.

How to Take Big Suns in Photography

by: Jan Linden


Sure, these pictures may border on cliches, but they are cliches that never fail to grab us. We're all suckers for that frame-filling drama of Ol' Sol looming large on the horizon.

And we all know how to get those shots of big suns - just shoot the horizon with that fabulously expensive, super-speed, extralow-dispersion glass, apochromatic tele, right?

Wrong. You need a long lens, sure, but it needn't be a budget buster. Some very good 500mm mirror lenses come in under $200, store price. There are all-glass 400mm, 500mm, and 600mm designs from major independents that sell for $300-500. And you can make an existing tele longer by using a teleconverter. That fine 300mm f/4 you bought for nature work, for example, can be converted to a 600mm f/8 with a 2X converter. That's a pretty good focal length for big suns. Using a 3X converter will make a 900mm f/12, and so on.

Besides a tele, you need a sturdy tripod - flimsy travel models need not apply. For one thing, focusing and framing through a long tele is far easier if the rig is well supported. For another thing, even a little shake can blur a long-tele shot.

A spot or limited-area meter helps, although it is not essential. An overall meter reading with an SLR will generally be far too high, resulting in a shot that's too dark - even if the desired effect is a silhouette. Most big-sun shooters use the strategy of spotmetering an area of the sky near but not immediately adjacent to the sun - an area in which some sky tone appears. This will give you a silhouette reading that will still maintain a little shadow detail.

And how do you focus and compose with that big burning disk staring you right in the eye? First, if everything in your frame is a long distance from the camera, setting the lens to infinity is the easiest way to focus without being dazzled. Otherwise, you may prefocuse the camera with the sun just out of the frame. You can often recompose the scene by holding your eye a little away from the finder to avoid being temporarily blinded by the sun.

The best big-sun shots are the ones that don't rely solely on the sun; the big sun, in fact, is best used as a background. The landscape, the harbor scene, the city skyline - each picture should stand on its own for it to work with a big sun behind it.

There is a pitfall here, though. Even with objects at a far distance, they can still be out of the plane of focus of the sun, due to the effective shallow depth of long lenses. Generally, the sun can stand to be a little soft, so try focusing on the nearest large object in the composition. Also, use small apertures and check the depth-of-field preview.

Big-sun shots can, on occasion, be surprisingly colorless; the sky around the sun can range from blank white to dull gray. A filter is called for here, from the standard warming (81A and similar) for a warm sky tone, to amber for richer color, to full orange for an exaggerated effect.

Forget Emailing Pictures - Use Free Online Photo Hosting Websites

by: J.O. Moen


There is a very good alternative to emailing photos; they are called free online photo hosting websites. People love to share photos. However, photos take up a tremendous amount of space and can really slow down your email, not to mention take up a tremendous amount of space in someone's inbox.

On a free online photo hosting website you open an account and load your photos directly to that site. You can then invite family and friends to visit your site, check out your photos and even comment on them!

The following photo hosting websites are some of the more popular sites on the net.

FaceBook

FaceBook is a social network of people who have photo pages. You can find new friends through the search or you can link to your own friends and family while uploading an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos.

Anyone with a valid email address can join FaceBook. If you register with your school or work email, you can connect to co workers or classmates. When you have registered you can find a regional network to join and then you can connect to people in your area.

WebShots

One of the largest photo and video sharing sites, WebShots has more than 400 million photos to check out and is a great hosting site for your own photos.

They have free and premium memberships that offer lots of storage, ensuring that you will never fun out of space. You can share videos, photos and slideshow on both WebShots and on your personal website. You can even order prints of your photos and create custom photo gifts.

PhotoBucket

The self proclaimed most popular creative hub on the web, PhotoBucket links billions of personal photos, graphics, slideshows and videos to many of the most popular websites and social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, Craigslist and Blogger.

However, the free online photo hosting website is not the only method that members can share their photos. They can also share their digital media via email, IM and even mobile devices.

Membership is free and it is a great place to share you latest shots of your new purple Mohawk or your adorable new baby.

Flickr

Flickr is a fun site where members can keep a blog of memories that they have captured on their cell phone camera, or maybe they just want to post their best photos so that they can show off their talents and perhaps earn the title web celebrity.

Of course, they can post their photos to share with family and friends. Flickr is a free online photo hosting website, but it also helps members get photos to the people who matter to them. Members can organize their photos, share and keep in touch with others.

The free membership on this site offers you a lot of options, particularly if you have a lot of photos to store and share.

Yahoo! Or AOL Photo Album

Yahoo! And AOL photo albums are free online photo hosting websites and are very effective for sharing your photos.

You can save, send and share your photos through these sites. There is no fee attached, the services are both free.

You can set your albums to private or you can make them public. Additionally, you can designate certain albums as private and others as public. If you want some simple photo sharing, storing and organizing, these are two great sites to use.

Advertising- Use Stock Nature Photography

by: John Crawley


Copywriting is the easy part of advertising; all you do is come up with the perfect expressions to express your message with concentration on the benefits to the reader. Aquiring the attention of the reader is the tricky part. A photograph is worth a thousand words when you're goal is inciting interest. Stock nature photography will make the advertisement both attractive and extremely successful.

Advertising is similar to journalism. Sure, your headlines are key. Nevertheless, even the greatest headline and the most outstanding content cant demand attention the way a photo does. For example, grab your local newspaper. When you look the paper, where do your eyes quickly go? They venture to the pictures first. Thats the type of value that stock nature photography brings to your advertisements.

Why would you squander your advertising dollars on an advertisement that may or may not grab attention? Adding a photo of a grand mountain range, a majestic waterfall, a comfortable path in a quiet wood, or any number of awe-inspiring images to gain attention is a great idea for improving the return on investment that you'll experience from your advertisements. It is easy to do, and well worth the effort.

You might unearth some stock nature photography that's related to your industry, like a picture of a horse could be used in an advertisement for tack or livestock feed. However, any type of nature photography will be able to achieve your advertising goals. You have the ability to select something that is interesting to everyone to complete your advertisement, like a butterfly on a bright purple orchid or scenic mountain snapshot. Most people are enthralled by attractive pictures of clouds or cute photographs of puppies or dolphins.

Creators of stock nature photography offer a large assortment of photos. They offer images of various sites including the ocean, mountain ranges and the desert. Photos taken in all four seasons contribute to the selection that reveals the marvels of nature are found in spring, summer, fall and winter. Because they're skilled photographers they make the effort to catch the greatest wonders of nature throughout the year.

The price of stock nature photography is very reasonable when compared to the great rewards it brings. It will attract the attention of the readers which greatly multiplies the worth of your advertisement.

Issuing an advertisement that isnt read is a devastating loss for your business. Take advantage of the assortment of astounding nature photos and enhance the worth of your advertising campaign.

NOTE: Use of this article requires links to be intact.

Choosing a Wedding Photography Package

by: Ellen Gentry


Finding an affordable wedding photography package isn't easy. Every bride wants the best for her wedding, but the reality is that not every bride can afford the best. Many couples have limited budgets with which to work and all too often, they find themselves having to cut corners to avoid over-spending. The first aspect of a wedding that is slashed for costs is the professional wedding photographer.

The reason for this is that wedding photography prices are anything but standardized. Depending on the photographer you select, the format and style of photography and the length of the celebration, the base rate can fluctuate wildly. Added to this is the fact that there are almost limitless options in the wedding photography package. The more extras you add, the higher the price.

Many who are seeking budget wedding photography decide to spend their money on hiring a better photographer to do less work. Rather than selecting a lower priced photographer and ordering a huge photo package, they go with the photographer that they most trust and order a smaller package. Some couples even forgo the traditional wedding photography package altogether and simply buy the negatives or original digital images from the photographer. These couples then use their own technological savvy to create personalized albums and reprints that are meaningful to them.

Some professional wedding photographers maintain a traditionalist view. They feel that as the expert, the wedding photographer is the only one truly suited to put together the wedding album. This argument does have some merit. The photographer is the only one who knows what he or she was trying to convey in each shot. Additionally, the photographer works closely with trusted contacts at the developing lab and is able to judge when photos return with imperfections. He or she is familiar with color balance and stylistic concerns and is therefore quite adept at placing the photos within the album to create a pleasing whole.

On the other hand, scrap booking and other DIY projects have become extremely common option to a traditional wedding photography package. Today's couples are generally quite adept at working with photos, doing retouches and fixing color problems on their home computers. For these couples, their wedding album is just another fun home project.

Many couples opt for the best of both worlds. These couples purchase a basic wedding photography package that includes a small album and a few reprints. They also purchase the original media and create a personalized album as well. They may do reprints and reorders themselves, or they may order these items from their photographer, depending on how much time and money they have. This way, the couple receives a classic wedding album to show their children and grandchildren, as well as the ability to personalize and scrapbook to their hearts' content.

Whatever your feelings on wedding photography packages, you are certain to find a photographer who will meet your needs. The wedding photography market is changing rapidly and photographers are adapting to the times. Perhaps you want a traditional large wedding photography package that includes an album full of traditional posed photos. Maybe you want to purchase nothing but the photographer's time and the raw media. Or perhaps you want something in between, a small photo package that also includes the original media. The choice is yours. It is your wedding and you deserve a photographer that will work with the choices that you make.

How to Photograph your Horse

by: Ron Petracek


A good photograph portrays your horse in his best possible light. A bad photograph, by contrast, draws attention to every fault, no matter how insignificant, and sometimes even exaggerates those faults!

Whether you are advertising your horse because he is for sale or advertising his recent show ring accomplishments, knowing how to photograph your horse correctly is a skill you must develop. If you derive income from your horses getting good photographs of them to put in front of the public is absolutely integral!

So, how do you take good photographs of your horse? Well, the first thing you should know is that it takes a little bit of practice. You shouldn't expect to load your camera, take a few rolls, and be Robert Vavra over night! However, if you follow the following tips you'll be shooting great pics of your horse in no time.

* Film matters! That's right, use good-quality film such as Kodak or Fuji, and you'll see it really does make a difference. If you are using a 35 mm format opt for 200 ASA. Going digital? The higher the pixels the better.

* Pick the right day. A bright day is good, but pick a day that isn't too sunny. Too much sun will create dark shadows, and can be particularly problematic if you are shooting a dark horse. If you have no choice but to shoot on a sunny day, use a flash to eliminate shadows. It sounds counterintuitive, but it really does work!

* Prepare your horse. Now I know you are not going to stand him up hairy and dirty, but in addition to good grooming you might want to take some extra steps to ensure your horse looks his best. If appropriate to the discipline in which he participates, braid his mane and oil his hooves. Make sure his coat and his tail are shiny and well-brushed.

* Pick a uncluttered background. A natural background such as a field, woodland, or pasture is a good choice. The barnyard or driveway, no matter how neat and clean, is not a great choice because of the stuff that is bound to be in the background. You want the viewer to be wowed by your horse, not your new Cadillac Escalade. Look at the details before you click! Sounds crazy, but how many amateur photographs have you seen that depict horses with pitchforks growing out of their heads? As improbably as it sounds, I bet at least one, right? It bears repeating—check the background!

* Make sure tack is clean. If you photograph your horse in his bridle or saddle, make sure that both have been recently scrubbed. For that matter, anything your horse wears in a photo should be squeaky clean. That goes for the rider and handler, too!

* Enlist the help of a knowledgeable horse person. You can't take pictures and position the horse too, so you'll need some help. It's best if the person who helps you knows how to pose a horse to his best advantage.

* The angle and position of the horse are key. For a full body shot, stand the horse with both front legs together and one hind leg slightly behind the other. To minimize parts looking too large or too small, focus on the middle of the horse, and do not shoot from too high or too low. Make sure the horse looks alert with bright eyes and both ears forward. Horse not cooperating? Have a friend make some noise (outside the frame, of course!) to get your horse's attention.

* Get the right action. If you are taking shots of your horse in action, you'll want to capture his power and impulsion. If your horse is trotting or cantering, try to capture him with his leading leg extended.

* Stay away from the front and rear. Photos from the side come out much nicer than photos taken head on or from the rear, which almost always accentuate unwanted things and make them look, well, HUGE!

* Keep clicking! While skill is most certainly involved, some of the best horse photographs are lucky. That's right. Don't wait for the perfect moment. Just keep clicking and you are sure to get a shot that shows your horse at his best!

Grab That Photoshop CS Tutorial

by: Mario Churchill


Photographs have a way of fascinating people. The vibrant colors and the ideas conveyed can surely mean a lot to those who get to appreciate it. Technology has even given people the opportunity to improve on their pictures. You will see magazines all over the place with very fabulous images. Professional photographers are responsible for such. However, with the Adobe Photoshop program, you can do the same magic yourself.

The Adobe Photoshop CS

Many people are aware that there are computer programs responsible for making fabulous pictures. However, they do not know everything there is to know to get around such technology. As such, it is best to be familiar with the Adobe Photoshop CS.

The Photoshop CS is the better version of the Adobe Photoshop program. This has more advanced features that you cannot find in other versions. This is the best way to organize your pictures and make those precious albums. With this software and your computer, you can make as many projects with your images.

The Adobe Photoshop CS Tutorial

Of course, it is not enough that you have the Photoshop CS program installed in your computer. It is equally important that you get to know how to use it and maximize the benefits it brings. There is no need to worry if you feel like you do not know much about Photoshop CS. Just get the proper tutorial and you can surely move your way around the program.

Tutorial Centers

You can find centers in your locality that can give a crash course or a specialized program that can provide Photoshop CS tutorials. You can enroll for a series of session so that you can be trained to do Photoshop CS as well for other programs. You even have the choice to join a class or get a personalized training.

Self-Help Tools

There are also self-help tools that you can buy. You can go to the bookstore and find a material that can give you Photoshop CS tutorial. You can choose to read books to learn. You can also get those releases in cassettes or CD so that you can listen through the instructions. Choose this option if you are more comfortable of studying on your own than getting a tutor.

Go Online

The online community also offers a wide range of choices for your Photoshop CS tutorials. There are web sites that can let you download e-Books with instructions and tutorials in PDF format. You can read the explanation from these together with illustrations so that you can easily identify the commands in the program. You can even choose to get an eSeminar. This setup is just like a classroom method, only you do things through the computer.

You can also choose to explore some sites in their forums and discussion boards. You can ask members for advice and most of them are willing enough to give their help. This serves as a peer-to-peer discussion where specific questions can be answered directly. Try exploring too the site of the manufacturer. They often provide help to their clients to help you enjoy the program you purchased.

Conclusion

Get to learn the basics of the Adobe Photoshop CS. Make sure you develop your skills well with the Photoshop CS tutorial. This way you can do the amazing images through your own efforts and make a project album that you can be proud of.

Why Photographers Need To Use Camera Downloader Program?

by: Martin Brinn


As a digital camera owner you may not be surprised to learn that digital import software to automate image transfer from your card-reader or digital camera is important. Everyone needs to get their images from point A the camera to point B the computer and we need this task performed with the minimum of fuss and bother. As photographers we are all aware that there are occasions when we will need images rotated or some pictures may require a little resolution correction. Using professional digital camera downloader program like RoboImport to automate photo transfer and to perform some image adjustments easily manages mundane digital camera workflow tasks.

When purchasing your new digital camera it may come with program that claims to be the “gift with your purchase”, some quaint little image viewer. Usually this digital camera import software is offered on a trial basis or it is the bare minimum quality, if it’s any good at all. With the lower cost of digital cameras today many don’t even come with any digital camera downloader software at all, in fact if you’re lucky your camera package might come with a driver for your computer for digital camera communication but nothing else at all. Some new images may believe that since their new camera did not come with any special digital camera workflow program, it’s not required. Unaware that the uploading photographs from their camera does not require time consuming steps. They will begin by creating folders, then picking photos out one by one and face the next process of cataloguing and arranging. This is simply unthinkable for photographers or even new photography enthusiasts who have thousands of photographs to process and organize.

Digital camera workflow program specifically developed to transfer your photos from your camera to your PC does far more than automate the picture transfer process. Any program that would just perform just this task is really quite inadequate. Photographers require professional digital camera workflow software such as RoboImport. This recommended digital camera workflow program will detect the camera connection for us photographers that may not be seasoned computer experts. RoboImport will create the required folders to transfer the images into, and even rename it accordingly. Some less professional digital camera import program may present a problem during the upload process by duplicating filenames and sadly overwriting other treasured photographs that may be present in the computer. RoboImport takes the precaution of renaming pictures from the standard number your digital camera presets, by reading and recording the EXIF information of the photographs to create a unique code representing the date and time the photo was photographed. The complete EXIF information including your cameras make, model and settings will also be transferred with your images, retaining this information is absolutely necessary for professional photographers.

RoboImport will also rotate images when required, correct image resolution (DPI) and add any further IPTC-NAA information to the photos you would like to include. When managing hundreds of images this is an exceptional time saving feature. Wildlife and travel photographers are also considered with the added ability of RoboImport to include GPS coordinates of the photos location.

Professional photographers who do not have access to their RAW photos do not do their work any justice. JPEG images are not as good in quality and are prone to bleeding and blurring the photographer was not responsible for, and certainly their camera did not create, this is a result of the compression required to convert photographs JPEG images or other formats. RoboImport saves both the RAW image file and the JPEG image in separate folders giving the photographer the photograph they really took, as security and backup against format conversion damage.

Excellent digital camera workflow program like RoboImport will also open your Picajet photo manager, or other available digital photo manager you might have on hand for further assessment of your photographs. The time and fuss saved by using software to automate image transfer gives the photographer back their time to spend on the tasks they want to be performing, like taking masterpiece photos.

To learn more please visit RoboImport’s home page:
http://picajet.com/en/index.php?page=Digital-Image-Management-Software

Photography and the Great Outdoors

by: Suzanne VanDegrift


Combining photography with the passion of hiking, biking and mountain climbing can result in the most incredible photographs imaginable. Whether it's ice climbing in the Rockies, with your camera bag packed safely away, until you reach the summit where you have a breathtaking panoramic view of the frozen earth spread out as far as the eye can see. Or a leisurely springtime hike up a flower carpeted Pocono hillside with your camera close at hand to catch that pheasant or covey of quail. The outdoors and photography are a perfect match.

If you're a week-end photographer who can't wait to get out of the city and become one with nature, there are countless opportunities that will allow you to fulfill your desire to "get away" and get that "shot of a lifetime".

Consider those who are lucky enough to live in Seattle, Washington where you can leave work on a Friday afternoon and be standing on the majestic and rugged coastline, removing your camera and tripod from their bag in time to be setting up to focus on one of the most beautiful sunsets on earth. The next morning, while enjoying your first cup of coffee, you could be snapping pictures of the Grey whales which migrate north along the Washington coast between February and April every year.

Or maybe mountain scenery is your first love and you are fortunate enough to live in the Yellowstone area of Montana were the wildlife is phenomenal. Grizzly, coyote, elk.... big horned sheep playing on the mountainside. Buffalo grazing peacefully, as they must have a 100 years ago. This is truly Big Sky Country where you can catch a glimpse of a graceful eagle gliding silently through the trees. These are pictures most people can only see in a magazine, not through their camera lens on a brisk autumn morning.

Remember it's important to research not only where you're going to be photographing and what camera equipment you'll be using, but also the bags, backpacks and pouches to which you entrust your valuable cameras, lenses, tripods and accessories The touring bicyclist needs to invest in a dry sack in the event he encounters inclement weather, but the young photographer hiking through the Sierra Nevada, in search of the various species of blooming cactus, probably would be in need of the backpack with room for her water bottles. Look for quality, durability and functionality.

Whatever your passion, wherever you call home. There are beautiful pictures waiting to be taken. That horse pasture you are fortunate enough to pass on your way to work every day. Stop; take a good look. I bet you'll see a terrific photograph. One you'd probably be in awe of if you saw it in a magazine. So pack up those camera bags and keep your equipment handy. You never know when that one perfect picture will appear.

Photography Pioneers

by: Suzanne VanDeGrift

Modern day photography dates back to the early 1800's. The word photography is derived from the Greeks; photos meaning light and graphein meaning to draw. The word was first used in 1839 by scientist Sir John FW Herschel to describe a method of recording images. That was 12 years after the first photograph was captured by Frenchman Louis Jacque Mande Daguerre, a professional opera scene painter. This first process took eight hours and he then worked 12 more years to reduce the expose time to under 30 minutes and keep the image from disappearing. These first photographs were exposed on metal that had been sensitized to accept the image and were called Daguerreotypes after their French inventor. Then came the tintype, invented in 1856 by Hamilton Smith. This was a thin sheet of iron used as a base for light sensitive material to produce a photograph.

Along came an American from upstate New York, George Eastman, who was very fascinated by photography, but frustrated with what he considered cumbersome exposure methods. He developed a dry photographic plate, patented it in the United States and England and began his first photographic business in 1880. In 1884, he replaced the glass plates with paper rolls allowing multiple images to be taken much more quickly. Four years later, on September 4, 1888 he patented he "roll film camera". You could take your pictures, mail the camera to Kodak who would develop your 100 photos and send them back to you along with another roll of 100 exposures. Sound familiar? The big difference? You used to get your camera back, now you don't!

These pioneers would be amazed with the equipment available to us today. We have the digital camera, the SLR,35mm, the camcorder, automatic exposure and automatic focusing, zoom lens and video. We even take pictures with our cellphones, which we can then download onto our computers. We have the luxury of going just about anywhere to get that perfect shot. Indoors, outdoors, underwater, or on top of a mountain. We attach our camera to a tripod and set the self timer so we can be in that majestic mountain scene.

When the equipment was of a size to be transported from place to place, they certainly didn't have a camera case with a padded shoulder strap. We have a camera bag suited to fit every camera and the accessories. Backpacks for hiking up that trail and lens pouches.

We can take pictures as a hobby, while on vacation; supplement our income as a weekend photographer/writer for a local newspaper; or travel the world as a full-time photojournalist. Today, our photographic possibilities are limitless thanks, at least in part, to these photography trailblazers.

Source : http://www.articlecity.com/articles/hobbies/article_1105.shtml