So I want to ask you… what is your favorite place to photograph?  Comment below to share.

Here are some things you should be aware of before hiring your photographer to ensure your day goes as smoothly as possible.

Digital Or Film?

While the vast majority of photographers these days have made the switch to digital, there are some photographers who prefer to keep it traditional and use film. It is down to personal choice and budget as to which method you choose, bear in mind using film will be more expensive due to the process of developing the prints afterwards. The drawback of film is that it is not quite so easy to make changes to your prints, even switching a colour print to black and white. With digital, there is no danger of over-exposure and the photographer can literally take thousands of shots at no extra cost to you.

Today’s digital photography offers sharp, clear, bright photographs with great clarity. What’s more, digital film allows the photographer to quickly and easily edit the photographs, put them onto DVD and email the shots to the client. This means you can share your photographs with family and friends without waiting weeks after the event.

Choosing A Photographer

No photographer is alike; they have their own individual style which reflects in their work. Depending on the occasion in which you want the photographer for, you need to check out their portfolio. For example, a wedding photographer should have an extensive range of photographs in different conditions, outside, indoor, candid, formal and more classic shots. Businesses and corporations may wish to use a commercial photographer. Make sure the photographer you select has adequate experience in photographing most events such as weddings, christenings and graduations etc. Check out their colour and black and white work as there can be variations on both styles.

Personality

A sign of a good photographer is one that is prepared to listen to what you want and work closely with you to get the best results, a good photographer will never dismiss your ideas and tell you that he/she knows best, they will want you to be happy with their work and though they may offer their opinion the final decision should always rest with the customer. Also evaluate how they work with other people. A family photographer, particularly working with children should be patient and accommodating.

Experience

How long have they been in the business for? Do they have experience in working at many different events? Make sure they have at least a few years’ experience under their belt before hiring them for an important event. This will ensure that there are no tears when looking at the images of the day. Check out testimonials and ask around for references of your chosen photographer.

Pricing

Before signing on the dotted line, make sure the photographer is upfront about all of the costs involved. And don’t be afraid to ask. Be wary of photographers that offer a very low fee initially as you can get caught out when purchasing the prints as they most likely charge extremely high prices to buy the prints.

Get a full written and signed contract of what you are paying for, the hours, the location/s, the date/s of the event etc. Does the photographer have a cancellation policy? What about copyright?

By following these guidelines will assure that you will have a permanent record of your special day for many years to come.

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This post was written by the team at Beck Photographic – the premier Northampton wedding photographers.

When preparing for a trip, pack your equipment carefully. Take all different kinds of lenses, and make sure you take cleaning accessories and enough batteries. You should avoid taking any equipment you will not use, and consider how each item you bring will be useful to your goals.

You do not want to risk missing a fantastic photo because you do not know which camera setting to use or how to adjust it properly. Do not pick a preset because you need to modify your settings. Experiment with your camera’s features to see how different settings affect your photos.

When you go travelling, look around for new ideas on all the different things you can shoot. If you do not know where to start, take a look at some postcards. There are also postcards highlighting the major attractions in town, so make sure you include these on your subject list.

Even with drastic technological improvements in cell phone cameras, lighting is still an issue for most of them. Cell phone cameras generally lack a flash. Therefore, you’ll need to compose your shot to take advantage of the available lighting. Zooming in is a great way to cut out some of the shade or shadows around the user.

One technique for capturing a great shot is to start taking pictures at a distance and then move forward, taking additional photos, until your subject fills the frame. The viewer will have the ability to more clearly see a shot’s details. Sometimes, these details can increase the interest of the shot to the viewer.

Always hold your camera at your eye level, or adjust your body so that the camera’s perspective is level with your own. This is a great way to pull the viewer to the photo because it creates a personal atmosphere. If you want to take pictures of children, kneel to their eye level.

If you are photographing a bride or another person wearing white clothing, make sure to use a contrasting background color. Majority of cameras have auto focus, so it takes in all the shades present in the full shot. White is almost always “washed out” in shots like this.

You can get free photo editing software, and have a little fun with it. All photographers use some type of photo editor, so you don’t need to feel bad about using it. It can make the difference between a so-so photo, and one you want to frame. with only a few minor modifications.

Though you may not think you need a flash outside, take a look and make sure. Bright sunlight can create harsh, dark shadows on your subjects’ faces. Set your camera to the setting that allows you to use a technique called “fill flash” when you see shadows. This setting will eliminate the shadows that appear in deep facial folds.

Don’t be afraid to break some photography rules with your camera. Good photography takes unique style, and you want to show the world a new view through your lens. Try to stay away from taking pictures that are described as ‘classic’. Experiment with new angles, and be creative.

Your photography skills will improve from a mere hobby to a work of art. Produce photographs that you are proud of and wish to share with the world by utilizing some of the tips here. It will take a lot of practice, but take some of these tips and give it a go.

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Thanks for reading. The author is an editor at camerashq

They have a good collection of Photographers, everyone from Ansel Adams to Fred Zinnemann. The website is clean and informative and not heavily reliant on flash gimmicks like many museums.

Take a look at the V&A website here.

Technorati Tags: photography, museum, ansel, adams, photographers, news, gallery

It seems if you are outside USA they assume you are using a stolen card until you can prove otherwise by faxing both sides of your credit card (fair enough, they already had me type out the info) and my credit card statement (!). Um, no, not going to do that.

On the flickr group people assert this is standard practice (uh, no, never had to do that before) and it’s for both parties protection (maybe, but still not going to do it).

One of my credit cards is purely online, I don’t get a printed statement. What would they have me do in that case, print off the web page and fax that. Hyeah. Really secure. Plus how many times have you seen consumer report tv programs where they go through some bins and have everything they need to order a ton of junk, including as it happens fresh credit cards.

Sorry, there are some hoops even this trained monkey will not jump through.

Problem is, karma being what it is, I will probably find down the road I absolutely have to order something from these jokers.

Update: Heh, the stuff arrived this morning. So despite A) they said they wouldn’t and B) I asked for the order cancelling, it all arrived. I could have saved myself all the hassle of sourcing different suppliers, paying customs import duty, extra delivery. Lesson learned, patience first, rant later. Thanks Adorama and my apologies.

Technorati Tags: adorama, can, kiss, my, butt, sorry, strobist

That’s what Thomas Hawk did, and they said no. Even though there is already a bunch of pictures floating around and he might bring in some much needed attention for the museum.

This place I had never heard of until he wrote about it, The Neon Museum, thinks keeping images of it protected helps with their mission of “cultural enrichment for diverse members of our international community” (it seems they only want to serve the international community of ‘driving distance from the museum’).

I just got back a rather disappointing email from the Neon Musuem in Las Vegas. I had written to the museum to inquire about taking photographs of some of their neon signs this past weekend while in Las Vegas. I’m not going to link to the museum. You can find them on Google if you want. For those of you who don’t know what the Neon Museum is, it’s a boneyard of sorts of many of the old Las Vegas neon signs. It’s a place that these signs go to die and the non-profit Neon Museum states their mission as “to collect, preserve, study and exhibit neon signs and associated artifacts to inspire educational and cultural enrichment for diverse members of our international community.” Unfortunately their policy with regards to photography does not seem to fit with their stated mission.

What they should have said was “If people can see your pictures for free who is going to visit and put money in our donations box”. Then they would have a point. It would be tempting for Thomas to just go and sneak some pictures like everyone else but then he would lose his moral high ground, I really doubt he will stoop to that.

It’s not an easy thing, on the one hand without publicity no-one will visit so they close, on the other if people can see the stuff without visiting they close any way. Really they should be smart and work out a limited way that he can take some pics and they get good coverage without giving away the whole thing. Until they do that, they are just making their mission a joke.

Technorati Tags: photography, ethics, issues, news, rights

“To take photographs means to recognize—simultaneously and within a fraction of a second—both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one’s head, one’s eye and one’s heart on the same axis.” — Henri Cartier-Bresson

It was used as an intro to a post on the discussion “making or taking” photographs. We have had this discussion here and also on Flickr. Each time I have discussed it my thoughts have evolved somewhat.

“Maker or taker”, it’s not an absolute thing in reality, and I agree to a degree that “intention” is probably what matters. The photographer always makes the picture by pointing the camera in a certain direction, with certain settings and pressing the shutter. Then after the picture is “taken” it changes in post. One person selects hyper saturation, another black and white. One crops here, the other there.

I have been doing a lot of reading about great photographers of the past and studying their photographs. Even photojournalists told a story with their pictures. Selecting what to show and what to remove from the frame is in effect “editing reality”. As is selecting a telephoto lens to flatten perspective or a wide angle to exaggerate.

But in the end it almost doesn’t matter what the photographer intended but what the viewer sees. Everyone observes the world through their own filters. What might have taken hours of planning might be dismissed as trash by one observer while your quick accidental snap of someones elbow as you dropped your point and shoot might be lauded as the best thing ever!

I guess the important thing is do you enjoy photography and whether you get a kick out of (or for the pro’s, financial return from) the results?

Wayne at Utata

All of my pictures are private now, because someone with multiple accounts at livejournal and myspace has been using them to construct weblogs in which my children are characters in a fantasy family.

Some strange person has taken his family photographs and used them as her own, constructing a fantasy family life and casting Wayne as her husband. Seriously.

I used to blog and post pictures about my family all the time until I started getting .. inappropriate .. comments made. Nothing too scary or threatening but some people got a little to familiar.

Darren Rouse, a popular blogger, had a stalker turn up at his house and make threats. Consider Flickrs new mapping feature, how easy are we making it for freaks to track us down?

It seems to me it is just not safe to make your private life too public. Sure post pictures and blog, but draw the line somewhere. The internet has a long memory and stuff is so easily copied, re-mixed, manipulated and re-posted. It is no good wishing in the future you hadn’t divulged stuff, then it is too late. You can take stuff down but you can’t delete from peoples hard disks.

People say to me “I have been blogging for years and nothing like this has ever happened to me”. I hope for your sake it never does but your past experience is no guarantee of what will happen in the future. It only takes one nutter to spoil it for you, best be fully aware of what you are doing now.

Technorati Tags: privacy, risks, blogging, photography, news, flickr