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10 Tips for Better Photography!
1.Don’t have a tripod?
Set your camera on a bean bag.
2.Shooting in Rain?
To avoid getting your camera wet use a ziplock plastic bag.
3.Want to shoot close-ups but don’t want to spend the money on a new macro lens?
Buy a reversal ring. They cost anywhere from $10 to $30.
4.Do you have old lenses that do not fit on your new camera?
There are adaptor rings out there now that will make it so you can put almost any lens on any camera. I have one that allows me to but a Hasselblad lens on a Canon digital camera (Don’t know what a Hasselblad is? Google it.).
5.Need a reflector for a photo shoot?
Wear a white t-shirt and use yourself as a reflector. Or aluminum foil on a peice of cardboard works great. A small one can be used to lighten the shadows of a flower.
6.Speaking of flowers, do you have an ugly background behind the flower? Take a piece of colored paper and place it on the background, or use an 8×10 print of a photo you have taken to liven it up a bit!
7. Do you worry that you are going to scratch up a nice lens when putting it in a back pack or bag? Wrap it in a sock.
8.Want to create a soft focus look?
Use an old pair of pantyhose over the lens. White will look diffent than black or nude so have fun experimenting.
9. Need some software to edit photos?
Download Picassa 3 for free and start to experiment.
10. Want to become a better photographer?
Be patient, go out and do it, and keep on learning! You will never get good if you just wish for it 🙂
Aperture: What is it?
Every profession has its own lingo. It is the same with photography. Photographers say things like, “Use a wider aperture,” or, “What f-stop are you using?” So, What is an f-stop? It is a term for a measurable expression of how much light is entering a camera lens. Aperture is the same thing as an f-stop.
All cameras have a lens which light passes through to help record the image. However, to get a proper exposure so you do not have underexposure or overexposure, light must come in through the lens in the amount needed. That is, the photo should be neither too light nor too dark. The f-stop on a camera helps control the exposure.
The “F” in f-stop stands for focal length. The focal length divided by the diameter of the pupil , or the amount of light entering the lens is how the f-stop is determined. The numbers f/2 or f/16 are expressions of f-stops. The number denotes how wide the opening in the aperture is. The aperture is an opening behind the camera lens. The aperture works like the pupil of the eye. It gets wider when there is not a lot of light and smaller when there is more light. Test this out. Get a flashlight and go to a mirror. First look into the mirror at the black part or pupil of your eye. Notice the size. Now turn on the flashligtht and point it at your eye. While looking in the mirror you will notice that your pupil gets smaller. This is exactly how an apeture works. The more light, the smaller the pupil of your eye, the less light the wider the pupil of your eye. Now here is the weird part. When you apeture is open wider, the f-stop will be a small number like f/5.6 or f/2(if you have a fast lens). If the apeture is smaller, you will have a number like f/16 or f/22.
Now that we have learned a little about apertures and f/stops we need to know about shutter speeds. To get the proper exposure we need to have an apeture and a shutter speed that correspond. For instance, you can use a wide apeture or f/stop (which will have a small number) and fast shutter speed, or a narrow f-stop (larger number) and a slower shutter speed. When these correspond the result is a properly exposed photograph. Shutter speeds are measured in amounts of time. For example, you can have 6th of a second or a longer exposure of 1 second. 1 second will let in more light than 6th of a second. To get the proper exposure you will balance the f-stop and the shutter speed.
Now, when you’re out shooting and you hear another person say, “What f/stop are you using?” you will know what to say.
If you need clarification or more help understanding this let me know. Thanks, Brian.
My Favorite Place for Family Photos!!!!
You are going to think I am crazy and the truth is that I am a little bit. When it comes to photographing my family, the best place I have found is the kitchen table. What the? Yes, I am serious and I will tell you why. It’s easy, and the kids can’t run away. LOL. Seriously, I love to get shots of my fam at the kitchen table. There are always fun photos like kids with pudding or spaghetti all over them. Then they get a little older and they look at you so tenderly. My daughter is at the stage where she looks and me and says “I love you Daddy”. It melts my heart. Anyway, next time you are sitting down for a good meal at the table, break out your camera and have some fun. Thanks for visiting, don’t forget to bookmark this blog and if you have questions or want to know about something, let me know. Frank, don’t worry. I’m getting ready to do a post for you on which f-stop to use in which situation.
Being a Bad Weather Friend!
Tonight I was out in a rain storm having fun. A few posts ago I told you that bad weather is your friend. This is what I got from the storm. Hope you enjoy!
Getting Up Early, Staying up Late and Being a Bad Weather Friend!
Here is the question: when is the best time to shoot? This is easy for me: morning, evening or when there is a rainstorm or blizzard. Seriously, I love bad weather. These photos below were taken in bad weather (snowstorms, thunderstorms, or soon after). I think the biggest reason that so many photos look boring or bland is because of the time of day that they were taken. Here is a challenge for you. Take a photo at noon, and then go back to the same spot about 30 minutes before the sun goes down and take some more photos. Look at what you have taken and decide for yourself. Good luck and have fun:)
Family Photos Without Freakin’ out the Kids (Tips on Photographing Children)
This was taken off my old blog. Hope you enjoy!
Almost everyone wants better photos of their families. So here are a few tips on how to get those shots that only professionals get (not really, anyone can get them!).
1. When you want someone on the other side of the camera to smile, smile!!!!!! Right now your thinking I am crazy right? Well, I might be a little but it takes a lot of practice to get to serious crazy. What I mean is the photographer (you) need to smile at your subject if you want them to smile.
2. The best thing you can do when trying to get you kids to pose for you is to not pose them. Let them do what they usually do. And don’t get impatient and yell or threaten them. Think about it. Would you be happy if your mom said, “Stop crying or I’m gonna give you something to cry about!” With kids you have to be really patient. I know. It’s hard not to yell at your kids when it’s so much fun. (kidding again 
)
)3. This is a great way to get kids’ attention. Do you have a cell phone? When you want a kid to look at the camera, make your cell phone ring! They always look at it. Make sure it is by the camera when it rings.
4. With digital you can take multiple shots without charging up a huge bill for film and printing. So shoot away. Take a lot of shots. This way when you get a blink or bad expression, you will at least get a lot of them. Ha Ha. What I meant to say was that you have a better chance of getting a good shot when you take a whole bunch of shots. You might hit the lottery and get an awsome one.
Now that I have given you some advice, here are a few shots of my fam.
This is the most important thing to remember when shooting family and kids. Have fun. Because if you are not having fun, no one is!
Let me know if you need any clarification on this and thanks for visiting my blog. Hey, if you like the blog, please bookmark it so you can return often 🙂
First Lesson on How to use Depth of Field
This post is for Frank.
Here is what he wrote:
“Mr Johnson, good stuff here. I found myself taking some notes to take with me the next time I go out to shoot. You make some excellent points and you made me realize some things that I was doing wrong. Filling the frame lesson was actually an “a ha” moment for me.
I learned about your site from “notshootingonauto”. I have just moved from auto mode to aperture priority. Still trying to figure out what fstops to use for what situation but I see you
have outlined some good guidelines.
Pls don’t stop your training, it is helping me bigtime.”
Well, here is the answer to help you out. I will be breaking it into a few posts so that it is easier to follow.
I will first tackle the fstop you would use to photograph landscapes. So, you ask, which fstop should I use when photographing a landscape?
I would use f/22 or f/16 in a landscape. In a landscape I usually want everything in the photograph in focus. Using a small aperture will help to acomplish this. If you have questions on depth of field or what depth of field is, please read the post above. I have included a photo (below) that I took for an example of when you should use f/22 or f/16. Also keep in mind that with a small aperture, you will have to use a longer shutter speed. You might need to put your camera on a tripod if your shutter speed is too low. Thanks for visiting my blog and if you have any questions let me know. thanks:)
Fill’er Up Man!!!!
My goal here is to help others become better photographers. What I do is offer free lessons (and you can request a topic) on photography. For the first lesson on this blog I have chosen to talk about filling the frame. I have another blog, http://buffaloz.wordpress.com/ that I do the same thing on. Sometimes the lessons will overlap and I will post the lesson on both blogs. Her is my first lesson on Blogger. I took this photo about 2 years ago and it fits for the lesson so here it goes, my first photo lesson on Blogger. It is really not the best example but I know that you guys who read this stuff are smart and will understand what I am pointing out.
Filling the frame is the name of the game (LOL). Lets first discuss the photo below.
As you can see, I did not fill the frame in this photo. A lot of photographers will take a photo of a person and will leave a lot of room at the top and will put the head of the person in the middle of the photo. That is bad. Next time, for a more pleasing result put the head of the person near the top of the frame. Don’t believe me? I dare you. Just try it. Anyway, as you can see there is a lot of dead space at the top of the photo above. Now look at the photograph below.
In this photograph I have filled the frame. This is more pleasing to the eye and also draws the eye to the subject. Also, notice how the background is very bright in the first photo? Not good. Usually in a photograph the eye will go to the brightest spot in a photo. I don’t want the eye to look at the background, I want the viewer to look at the mushrooms. So, if you want a good assignment for the next week or so, work on filling the frame. It is best to do it while you are taking the picture. You might need to move in closer to the subject or zoom in, but do it and you will see the difference. I promise. If you do forget to do it while you are taking the shot, then fix it afterwards by cropping the photo. Let me know if you have any questions and good luck 🙂
Photography Tips and Training 
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