AdvancedPhotography.Net » General

Photo Of The Day #09:”Pink n’ green”

poonam — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:08:08 +0000

“pink n green” by horizontal.integration

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Photo Of The Day #08: Cecilia

ruchika — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:38:03 +0000

Cecilia by Astragony

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Photo Of The Day #07: “One Sixty One This Is Today”

poonam — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:00:05 +0000

One Sixty One This Is Today by Anna Gay, captured by Nikon D60

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Photo Of The Day #06: Morning Bokeh

poonam — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:16:22 +0000

Morning Bokeh by Dibytes

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Photo Of The Day #05: Soft Water Droplet HDR

ruchika — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:54:39 +0000

Soft Water Droplet HDR by Lucy_Hill

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Photo of the day #04: Rule Of Thirds

ruchika — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:20:11 +0000

Rule Of Thirds by Fd

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Photo Of The Day #02: Two Equestrian Riders

ruchika — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:04:39 +0000

Two equestrian riders, girls on horseback, in low tide reflections on serene Morro Strand State Beach by mikebaird

“Be your own leader, be your own follower.”

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Photo Of The Day #01: Tree of Light

ruchika — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:34:44 +0000

Tree of Light by JPhilipson

“Illumine your inner self and the world around you will get lightened”.

The beauty of a photograph lies in the eyes of the beholder. A perfect composition following the rule of thirds as well as golden ratio along with high DOF makes it an outstanding creation of art.

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Considerations when Choosing a Carreer in Photography

Shivanand Sharma — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:35:16 +0000

This article is written by Kathy Wilson, who writes on the subject of Photography College . She can be reached at her email id: kathywilson1983@gmail.com.

My husband holds a degree in visual communications, and although he’s a skilled photographer, that’s not how he earns a living. Instead, he chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and joined the family law firm soon after he graduated. Of his classmates, one is a well established and renowned fashion photographer today, who is sought after by the cream of the industry and makes a ton of money on each assignment (he was lucky enough to intern with a world class photographer who himself had no formal training in the subject, and from there, branched out on his own after a few years). And while most of the others are still in the photography business, their levels of success vary from low to mediocre.

This scenario should give you a general idea on the photography industry, and if you’re unable to draw your own conclusions, read on for all that you need to know before you choose a career in photography:

A formal degree is not necessary to make it big or even earn enough money in the field of photography.
In this business, you need a whole lot of luck to make money on a regular basis or find a well-paying job that is not temporary.
To make it as a photographer, you must be willing to follow your heart even though there may not be too many opportunities in the beginning. Be patient yet persistent as you wait for a break to make your entry into the world of photography.
Not everyone who has a degree in photography continues to work in this field or finds the success they hoped for.
While you do stand a chance of making it to the elite list of photographers or even earning a better than decent living, there are many drawbacks to being a photographer too, especially if you live from assignment to assignment.
Your continued success depends on your reputation, so you must make sure that your work speaks for itself and that people come back to you for their photography needs and also recommend you to their friends.
If you’re going into business for yourself, you must be prepared to bear the overhead costs even when you’re not getting regular work. Besides, you must also know how to manage money, find clients on a regular basis, manage your schedule, and follow up with customers. There’s more to running a photography business than just shooting great pictures.
And finally, you must know enough about photo editing so that you’re able to make the necessary adjustments to the pictures that you shoot. If you need to take a course for this, go ahead, but most people pick up the technique as they go or learn from tips and tutorials on the Internet.

Photography has been rated among the top 200 jobs for 2010 by Careercast with a starting salary of $17,000, midlevel salary of $29,000 and top level earnings of $62,000, so if you think it’s your cup of tea, go ahead and choose a career in this field.

This article is written by Kathy Wilson, who writes on the subject of Photography College . She can be reached at her email id: kathywilson1983@gmail.com.

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Photo of the day: Passing by a peacock

Shivanand Sharma — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:08:20 +0000

This one was quick and dirty. I wasn’t on a wild-life photography spree but still I was lucky enough to apply breaks and shoot this one from within my car. And I had to wait and wait to get this shot which seems the best of the set.

By the way here’s a bonus – the better half. Have a nice day!

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Should you digitally manipulate your photography?

Shivanand Sharma — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:53:31 +0000

Dariia Goncharenko 01 studio.es by Vincent Boiteau

This is a highly debatable question. The purists swear by originality and look down upon manipulated work. But in the digital age when most of the photographs don’t even take form on paper and just are passed from screen to screen, sure quite a lot has changed. It’s easy to use Photoshop to cover up the blemishes or may be only enhance the exposure. So while one photographer showcases the original, others have retouched images in their portfolio. Which way should you go?

Find your art

With new factors coming into the world of art, every field of art is growing. You have to decide your medium of expression. After all that’s what art is – it is a medium of expression. How do you want to express? You’ll find DeviantArt to be such a resource of artistic expressions. There’s no stopping, no-holds-barred. People share what they create in whichever ways. So basically you have to decide which way to go.
Photography manipulation is nothing new

Before digital was born, in the times of black-and-white, photographers employed custom film development to get the right exposure and results. They used the filters of their choice to bring out what they envisioned. So strictly speaking they did alter the original. But that’s about classical photography. Today the medium has gone digital. So why shy away from using Photoshop?
Retouching kills the technique

One thing that goes against retouching is that enthusiasts tend to be careless in technique and try to fix things later during post-processing. Basically here’s how I interpret it: if you falter at technique but achieve the desired results in the post-processing phase – you are more of a retouching artist. If you get the result right in-camera you are more of a purist and a classical photographer.
You don’t have to choose

Every professional photographer gets his work retouched before their photographs take form on media be it in advertisements or news. Things have to be polished to look surreal and marketable. In fact the job of a professional photographer demands that the results be polished and be marketable. But for something that doesn’t need marketing and is a pure specimen of artwork, the right employment is critical. This is the case with photography competitions etc.
A blend of both

Trick photography is another field that comes into play. The original can be retouched. To extend that idea trick photography fakes the result. So basically it all is a blend of everything. Employ the method that you feel like best expresses your expression.

So at last it all depends on the situation. If you are shooting a product for marketing you’d need everything you can get hands on to suppress the reflections on the product body or to create them when needed. When you are out their on the country-side streets capturing some the raw scenes you may prefer to perform the role of a purist. But just in case your rainbows feel unsaturated I find it ok to tweak them in Photoshop. The basic guideline is if your work sells commercially it has potent to be retouched. If your work sells to connoisseurs of art you keep it pure. Just be honest about your artwork. Retouching is by no means a way to say that you are a better photographer. But if you don’t tweak the curves or white-balance in Photoshop or tune your camera settings you are overlooking the limitations of the camera and as Ken Rockwell says “You cannot let the camera drive itself“. Do you digitally manipulate your photography work?

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Let’s take a break

Shivanand Sharma — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:53:53 +0000

Looks like we’ll have to take a break for a few days (4-5). Here’s a pic of my son who’s keeping me busy

My son born on 2nd Feb 2009 - Pet name: Sona

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Best of AdvancedPhotography.Net in 2008

Shivanand Sharma — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:16:05 +0000

2008 witnessed the launch of AdvancedPhotography.Net and some of the richest content published on this blog. We tried to cover some of the basics in-depth to form a solid foundation as we and our readers grow as photographers and a community as a whole. Here are some of the posts that made it to the top on the list of popular posts.

How to make a mark with your photographs – The post essentially explains the theory and the idea behind the art of photography. Essential for those who want to grow professionally into this stream.
RAW vs JPEG: Which format to shoot in – An analytic comparison of shooting in these two common and popular image formats. The post is simplifies some complicated theory to equip you better and help you choose between these two formats.
The secrets of shooting during the Golden Magic Hours – “Golden hours” or “Magic Hours” is a term used to refer to some exceptionally beautiful natural light that is available almost everywhere but only lasts a few minutes of the day. The post tells you how to make the most of this light.
Sunset Photography: How to shoot memorable sunsets – Sunsets make beautiful photographs. That was the idea behind this post dedicated to photographing sunsets. While sunsets are a common subject and situation the post drew a lot of attention from readers willing to make the most of this readily available scenery.
How to clean the camera lens – Maintenance of the equipment is as important as possessing one. A costly equipment won’t serve you for long if left uncared for. The camera-lens is one part of the camera that is the most sensitive and needs a lot of care. The post outlines some useful tips steps to keep your lens clean.
All you need to know and use filters – The word “filter” is more or less a jargon to the hobbyist photographer. The post aims at simplifying it and describing what the various filters are and how they affect your results.
Photographic Composition: Framing – Composition is one of the fundamentals of photography. While there are many rules (or guidelines) for composition, framing is a less known and practiced technique. This may have been one reason why the post become popular.
Histograms II: How to use Histograms – Histograms sound complicated, but once understood they are the best friend a photographer has. A casual look at the histogram will tell you lots about your photograph, especially comes handy when you can’t see the exact picture because of the small screen or due to the daylight on the camera LCD.
Lens Maintenance – Protect your priced possession – Bare basics of your lens. Effective care of your lens depends on you understanding and knowledge of your lens equipment.
Which camera do you own? – Another one that made it to this list, the post invited a lot of attention as every photography enthusiast possesses good equipment.

While these were largely what made it to the top in 2008, what’s the one that topped your list?

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Types and flavors of Photography: Get versatile

Sudhanshu Chaturvedi — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:51:22 +0000

Did I say flavors? It is interesting how many kinds or classification of photographs can be. Depending on your experience and the particular genre that interests you, you can come up with new categories. Here are some of the popular ones. Once you know the major types you can try your hand at some and expand the horizons. This certainly will help when you want to showcase your work, create a portfolio to target news organizations or even just to sell stock photos.

Aerial Photography – It is basically taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position or an airborne device, may be an aircraft, helicopter, balloon, parachute, etc. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or triggered automatically.
Adventure/ Action – It is a form of photography where you capture live incidents like adventure sports, daring feats, etc. The main application of sports photography is for editorial purposes; dedicated sports photographers usually work for newspapers, major wire agencies or dedicated sports magazines.
Amateur Photography – Any type of photography practiced by non-professionals. It’s a bit more than just a hobby. The quality of some amateur work is comparable to that of many professionals but may be highly specialized
Wildlife Photography – This form of photography deals with capturing wild animals and birds in their natural habitat. One of the toughest to handle but one of the most interesting form.
Art Photography – It is a photography that is done as a fine art – that is, done to express the artist’s perceptions and emotions and to share them with others. I would keep it same as Fine Art Photography.
Conceptual Photography – Photography that turns a concept or idea into a photograph. Even though what is depicted in the photographs are real objects, the subject is strictly abstract.
Macro (Close-Up) – This is a form of photography where you capture subject very close, like flowers, insects, butterflies, special stones (Diamonds, Ruby0, etc. the lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area approaching the size of the film frame.
Micro and Scientific – This form of photography is done for research purposes. Most scientific photographers work for governments or in research institutions, universities, or hospitals. A primary role is the production of images for recording, measurement, and interpretation purposes, principally in the fields of science, technology, and medicine, plus the communication of results in the form of audiovisual material and reports.
Astro-Photography – It is a specialized type of photography that entails making photographs of astronomical objects in the sky such as the Moon, Sun, planets, stars, and deep sky objects such as star clusters and galaxies. Astrophotography ranges from simple images of bright objects to very complex exposures designed to reveal objects that are too faint to observe with the naked eye.
Aura Photography – Its a controversial type of photography which some claim can photograph a person’s aura.
Black & White – Not simply photography without color, black and white photography explores shapes, tones and textures. Shadows and highlights become much more important. All photography was originally monochrome, most of these photographs were black-and-white. Even after color film was readily available, black-and-white photography continued to dominate for decades, due to its lower cost and its “classic” photographic look. It is important to note that some monochromatic pictures are not always pure blacks and whites, but also contain other hues depending on the process.
Commercial Photography – Commercial photography is probably best defined as any photography for which the photographer is paid for images rather than works of art. In this light money could be paid for the subject of the photograph or the photograph itself. The commercial photographic world could include:
- Advertising – photographs made to illustrate and usually sell a service or product. These images are generally done with an advertising agency, design firm or with an in-house corporate design team.
- Fashion and Glamor – This type of photography usually incorporates models. Fashion emphasizes the clothes or product, glamor emphasizes the model.
- Crime Scene Photography – This type of photography consists of photographing scenes of crime such as robberies and murders. A black and white camera or an infrared camera may be used to capture specific details. Also known as Forensic photography.
- Food photography – It can be used for editorial, packaging or advertising use. Food photography is similar to still life photography, but requires some special skills.
- Editorial photography – photographs made to illustrate a story or idea within the context of a magazine. These are usually assigned by the magazine.
- Photojournalism – this can be considered a subset of editorial photography. Photographs made in this context do act as an important mode to showcase a news or an event.
- Portrait and wedding photography – photographs of people as individuals or in some event and sold directly to the end user of the images.
- Architecture/ Real Estate – This is more of a commercial form of photography, an art of making property appear attractive. Architectural photography at its best will convey the experience of being in and around a built environment. Often involves panoramic photography.

Which kind do you shoot the most?

Photo by Zuan

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Which camera do you own?

Shivanand Sharma — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:38:50 +0000

Tell us about your camera and how you use it. What’s the one thing you like the most about your camera? Are you using a cameraphone? They are great for shooting when you come across an unexpected spectacular moment. Some of the excellent moments have been captured on cameraphones. Or are you using a DSLR? Tell us what you’d like to know more about your camera. We are coming up with some great posts for the camera owners so have your say before we start.

We have been covering a lot of basic and technical topics on the photography front in the last one month. We’d like to know you better and collect your suggestions. We want to make sure we know you and your camera so that the information is relevant, is usable and valuable. So what are you waiting for? Come on say something

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How to make your compositions lively

Sudhanshu Chaturvedi — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:15:06 +0000

You spent great time hunting for the natural scenery. And you waited long hours for the sunset and the right light. You got impressive colors in the results. But why does that photo still somehow feel lifeless? In spite of all your efforts, it still looks incomplete or blank & boring. Here’s what you can do about it.

Give the Human effect – I remember being at an exhibition some time back. The photograph that was appreciated the most was of a person collecting his valuables during a flood. That one picture was enough to portray the severity of the flood. Any other photo of the flood with lots of water or broken houses might not have generated that feeling of sympathy for the people stuck in the flood. I think the point is clear.
Capture people natural – People captured natural generate good outputs. These pictures tell you about the moment or a story behind their actions/ reactions. Every photo becomes unique in its own sense. Moreover, when asked to pose, people tend to get artificial hiding all the natural expressions, emotions and reactions.
Add life – You don’t have to do with people only. A sheep on the hill against the sunset or a line of camels on the horizon is just the right combination to make the picture lively.

Different professionals have different opinions on this. But definitely adding people or animals or birds in any frame adds life to it. What matters is how effectively you do it. After all the art of photography is depends on the photographer and his composition capabilities. What is your experience with such compositions?

Photo by lovelypetal

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Photography: The Art or Technology?

Sudhanshu Chaturvedi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:42:04 +0000

Do you consider photography as an art or you are completely dependent on technology. This debate has been going on since ages. Some people just do not get satisfied with the high end cameras they have. They always try to get the upgraded version with the hope that the advanced camera will improve their photography but forget the real essence of photography – THE ART.

Photography does not improve with a better camera. The most important thing is to understand the art, develop the right skills and understand the technicalities of exposure, composition and the knowledge to use the right equipment.

A few thoughts:

No matter how big or expensive the camera is, the quality of work will always depend on the photographer. Though you need good equipment for the work but there has to be an end to the never satisfying need of a better and high end camera. A good photographer can take good pictures from any camera.
Reading books and all high tech knowledge will not help you unless you pick up the camera and start shooting. Get the knowledge about all the technicalities of photography and practice it to make it your skill. You can not learn how to play golf until you take the club in your hand and hit a few balls. That’s the most important part.
Focus on understanding the basics of exposures, composition, and the right kind of equipment you need for a particular kind of pictures.
Understand the different types of lenses and filters (we will discuss about them soon in our coming posts) you can use to improve your work.
Always decide in advance what you want to do and get the right information about it. Keep a track of your progress.
The most important part- do not throw away the pictures which you are not happy about. Analyze them and keep them for future reference. It will help you understand your mistakes and improve your art over time.

Play with your equipment and experiment with all settings as long as you are learning. The equipment is only a tool to help you achieve the results that you imagine.

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Photograph Composition – An Introduction

Shivanand Sharma — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:01:51 +0000

There’s a lot that happens between eying the subject and getting the results. This is extremely complex to describe and understand. Luckily, the technological advancements have taken this burden off the photographer’s shoulder. However there’s quite a lot which still only the photographer can do, after all there’s a difference between the man and the machine.

Composition is one such thing. While today’s digital cameras can focus and expose effectively and some even do the face-recognition, it is only the human eye which can visualize the results and perceive the effect or the final result perhaps. Composition is the effective placement of the visual elements in the photographic frame such that the results draw emotional reaction.

There are various elements that contribute to a good composition like the color, texture, lines, shapes, the light and more. Also there are various rules which works more as guidelines to help you use these elements for maximum effect.

As I noted earlier, composition is out of reach of the camera and is dependent on the perception and the visualization of the photographer. Good composition is the difference between a perfectly sharp and well exposed yet uninteresting photograph and an underexposed photo with effective highlight on specific area(s) of the frame that make it interesting even to the layman.

Watch this space for more on composition and the rules coming soon.

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How many types of cameras do you know?

Sudhanshu Chaturvedi — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:44:35 +0000

Ever tried to think how many types of cameras are there? I always see people talking about DSLRs, but at professional level we have other cameras as well. Cameras are broadly classified on the basis of size of the film/ sensor (in digital cameras)
Here’s a brief introduction:

Small Format Cameras: All the SLR, DSLR cameras fall under this category. Small format cameras have normally 35mm sensor. It is 1.5 times smaller than the standard film. You do have some cameras in market which are termed as 1:1 ratio cameras which means the sensor size is equal to the film size. Easy to handle and carry. Good for outdoor and photography of moving subjects. But these pictures have a limitation when you blow it up to bigger size.
Medium Format cameras: These cameras are generally a smaller version of the large format cameras. Bulkier than small format cameras but still can be carried. Their film size is around 6X4.5cm, 6X6cm, 6X7cm, 6X9cm, 6X17cm. Some good brands are Pentax, Hassleblad, Mamiya and Fuji. Most of these cameras have detachable backs so that a subject can be photographed in colour (slide as well as negative) and black & white by using different back attachments. These have interchangeable view finders and viewing screens to meet the varying demands of the photographic assignments. Good for blow ups.
Large Format Cameras: These are purely professional cameras which enable the lense and film to have movements independent to each other. The picture size is around 4X5 inches, 5X7 inches, or 8X10 inches. These cameras are excellent in Perspective correction, Macro photography, table top, landscape photography. The pictures taken from these cameras can be blown up to big sizes which are used for advertising campaigns.

What did I miss?

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Introduction to AdvancedPhotography.Net

Shivanand Sharma — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:36:51 +0000

Welcome to AdvancedPhotography.Net. Since this is the first post let me take you through a small introduction while we save the more specialized stuff for later. This blog is a realization of my long cherished dream. The site had been planned for long but I had always chosen to postpone the plans to a better time when I could do justice to the blog, the subject and the topics I touch upon.

AdvancedPhotography.Net is powered by Wordpress, themed with Thesis and runs on a high-end dedicated server to ensure our focus on priorities and minimize maintenance and routine tasks. While the blog is about the advanced concepts and principles of optics and physics, it will be our endeavor to simplify the information so that it is easier to absorb while not being overwhelming and accordingly simple to apply to real-world scenarios. In the coming days we’ll start by forming base with the simpler concepts and move to more advanced as we progress.

To know more about the objective of this site you may want to click here to read the About page. Do not forget to subscribe to the feed and watch out this space for all the shooting action.

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AdvancedPhotography.Net » General

Photo Of The Day #09:”Pink n’ green”

Photo Of The Day #08: Cecilia

Photo Of The Day #07: “One Sixty One This Is Today”

Photo Of The Day #06: Morning Bokeh

Photo Of The Day #05: Soft Water Droplet HDR

Photo of the day #04: Rule Of Thirds

Photo Of The Day #02: Two Equestrian Riders

Photo Of The Day #01: Tree of Light

Considerations when Choosing a Carreer in Photography

Photo of the day: Passing by a peacock

Should you digitally manipulate your photography?

Find your art

Photography manipulation is nothing new

Retouching kills the technique

You don’t have to choose

A blend of both

Let’s take a break

Best of AdvancedPhotography.Net in 2008

Types and flavors of Photography: Get versatile

Which camera do you own?

How to make your compositions lively

Photography: The Art or Technology?

Photograph Composition – An Introduction

How many types of cameras do you know?

Introduction to AdvancedPhotography.Net