Strategies to follow when you want to produce the best quality from your inkjet printer.
Photo Review tips section
A healthy crop
A guide to when you should – and shouldn’t – crop digital images.
Special effects photography at night
Almost since the first point-and-shoot digicams were invented, camera manufacturers have come to the aid of novice photographers by providing pre-set exposure modes to help them select appropriate aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings for popular photographic genres. The first of the ‘Scene’ pre-sets were for portrait, landscape and sports photography. But it wasn’t long before night portrait and night landscape pre-sets were added and it’s not uncommon for modern cameras to provide separate pre-sets covering fireworks, candlelight, sunset and dusk and/or dawn.
Creative editing
This article is created to show you some of the ways in which images can be manipulated to add a sense of movement to a subject that is essentially static. Most software applications provide a range of tools, some of which are easier to use than others.
Shooting in the twilight zones
The transitional periods between day and night – sunrise and sunset – have inspired artists (and subsequently, photographers) since time immemorial and most photographers continue to appreciate their magic. The changing colours in the sky are the obvious attraction for most people.
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Image management while you travel
What do you do with the images and movie clips you record while you’re travelling? Most photographers like to download each day’s shots to a portable computer and cull any obvious failures (blurred and out-of-focus images, for example). Having a laptop also allows you to back up shots on an external drive or upload them to ‘cloud’ storage.
Shooting with additional light sources
While point-and-shoot cameras automatically pop up their flashes when light levels are low, a surprising number of serious photographers avoid using flash wherever possible. However, used properly, additional light sources can extend your picture-taking opportunities and result in better, more engaging, pictures. The trick is to know what add-on lighting to use and when to use it.
Creative shooting techniques
In this article we investigate some popular creative shooting techniques including panning to capture a sharply-rendered subject against a blurred background; flash blur by combining slow shutter speeds with flash exposures; very long exposures for landscapes, seascapes, and architecture; and using ND filters for blurring exposures to reduce the visibility of moving objects and to add motion blur to subjects.
Memory card speeds and capacities
Your camera will determine the type of memory card you need. The camera’s resolution, video capabilities and the extent to which you use continuous shooting will dictate the card speed required.
This article will help ensure you choose a memory card that perfectly suits your photography.
Creating long exposures
Long exposure photography is often associated with ‘fine art’ pictorialism because it enables photographers to achieve surreal and unworldly effects, often from quite banal subjects. Most cameras aren’t designed specifically for long exposure photography but you can obtain worthwhile results with appropriate equipment and correct exposure and focusing.