Macro Digital Photography

Macro digital photography has to be one of the most underrated and under-practiced aspects of digital photography. The fact is that it’s just not "close-ups". Macro digital photography is o much more. Taking digital photography of macro, particularly abstract, is an incredibly stimulating art form. One of the reasons why macro digital photography is so good because the objective is to get as much detail as you can. And the subject is not often distinguishable. You can turn a basic household item into a brightly colored world filled with shapes, lines and form. It allows the mind to take a break from categorizing everything and lets the imagination just enjoy the art form.

In macro digital photography, it’s very important to understand that you will be working with less light. What tends to happen is that you have less light on a smaller surface than you do a larger surface. This can lead to the need, in your digital macro photography, to adjust our F Stop to compensate for less light. And not only that, but in digital photography macro but your lens so you can get the important sections of your macro subject and focus on a shallow depth of field.

Composition is everything in Macro digital photography. Due to the fact that you are working with an absence of defining elements you find yourself working with the tone, texture, shape and light of the subject. To capture your lines, shapes, tones and texture well, make sure you have the right exposure. This means that in all aspects of your digital macro photography you'll need to get the right macro lenses. If you don’t have macro lenses and you wish to practice, I suggest grabbing a magnifying glass and seeing what things look like up close. Keep in mind that this is not an effective long term photographic tool, but it does open your mind when you first start macro digital photography.

One tip I can give you for successful macro digital photography is to take "portions" of subjects up close. Find a point in your macro digital photography that shows flowing lines, symmetry and a loving gentleness that you normally would not find at normal distance. For example take the centre of a flower, such as a daisy. You will notice that the centre of the daisy comes alive with a softness and fascination that can only be obtained by macro digital photography.

To practice your digital macro photography, take your magnifying glass and really look up close at sections of subjects that have lots of detail up close. You can choose the grain of wood, clothing material, flowers and even colored objects such as semi precious stones. You’ll find that subjects with very, very small fine detail are the best digital photography macro subjects. So get practicing!

By Amy Renfrey

Digital Photography Tips - Why You Don't Need to Sell Photos to Make an Income

By Martin Hurley

In complete honesty I have seen truck LOADS of photography work which isn't going to get anywhere near the top downloads at any stock photo agencies any time soon. In fact, I've seen photography work so bad that it's made me wonder why exactly a photographer has thought it important enough to show the world.

Having said that, I'll always encourage the photographer to keep shooting. I strongly believe in the beauty of our dreams, and we all have room for improvement. But if you're a photographer who is struggling to create good sellable work then this article is for you. We're going to show you a way to start making an income without having to sell your own photos.

As I'm sure you'd know, images, just like a CD, book, illustration, and so on, have a marvelous quality about them. There's something that glistens and shines with a photograph. Do you know what it is? Let me tell you. A 'good' photograph can be sold over and over again... you can earn yourself a passive, ongoing income... with the potential to build many streams of income that roll in for a long time to come.

Of course that's great if you're a natural at taking photos that sell! And many of us simply aren't. But the good news is that you can still build an online income in the photography niche, just by doing things a little bit differently. One way that has worked successfully for me is simply by promoting digital information products such as ebooks. It's not that difficult to actually start selling ebooks either, although it works much better if you have some sort of subscriber base to start with.

Basically, as long as you are generating some degree of traffic or people are finding your site in the search engines (Ie. Google), then there's really no reason why you can't recommend ebooks. Believe me, there's more than a handful of good ebooks out there on subjects ranging from perfecting your digital photography, selling stock photos, to selling photos locally, and many more. (Try searching for them at Clickbank.com)

In a nutshell I introduce new ebooks that are related to the digital photography tips niche, to my subscribers often, but not too often! There's an art to 'selling' and recommending. You have to understand the balance. Remember you should be about delivering good content to help your customers. Try to keep 'how can I help you' in mind rather than the potential 15%-75% commission per sale you'll pocket for every ebook sold. :)

Of course you're not limited to just photography ebooks either. There's a whole assortment of other digital products you can recommend to your customers too. Everything from website hosting to photoshop tools, from website building software to suggesting the best microstock stock photo websites to join. And that's just the start.

Each one of these photo niche tools or products will happily earn you a commission (sometimes recurring too) as long as you can match customers to them (who buy their product). If you approach this with a mindset of over-delivering good, helpful information and beneficial resources to your customers, (and not just trying to 'sell' to them to earn a quick dollar) you'll find you'll be amazed how much passive income you can make.

Often too it's just a case of recommending something (like an ebook about digital photography tips for newbie photographers) at the right time... Something that your customer needs at that time, and is willing to invest in. Of course, I could on and on about this for hours... But if you want to learn more just sign up to my newsletter in my signature below.

Martin Hurley's http://photomarketeers.com site will show you how to sell your photos online, how to set up a profitable photo website and how to easily get marketing your photography. Download a free guide to creating a stunning WordPress blog and discover everything you ever wanted to know about selling photos online here.

© Copyright Martin Hurley 2008

How To Get The Best From Your Travel Photography

By Amy Renfrey

There have been many instances I've heard of where someone has got back from their holiday only to find their photographs have turned out quite different than expected. This can often be because they have not been there at a time when the light was at its best (i.e. best in the morning at 8am) or arrived just after a festival or a week too late.

Even though you can't have entire control over weather, lighting, festivals or events (sometimes things are canceled due to bad weather, in which case you can't control that) you can be prepared in other ways so you get the best shot for your trip.

A really good way to get the absolute best from your travel photos is to read the Lonely Planet's Guide to that area if that's possible. If that's not possible then you can ask a travel agent about how to find some more local knowledge of the area before you go. I suggest asking them about a month or a couple of weeks at least, before you go, so you can prepare yourself as much as possible. One example of good preparation might be that if you are going somewhere in summer you might want to stock up on extra polarizing filters, or buy an extra lens hood to keep the sun out of your lens to reduce flare.

If you are just in the thinking stages of a trip and combining your love of photography, then check with a travel agent first about what time of year is best to go to that area. They will have access to more local information; very handy especially if you've never been before. They might be able to recommend website for you to look at to get an idea of weather, what things are best to photograph at night, where to get the best shot for a famous mountain or countries icon, what exotic animals are around to get beautiful photos for wildlife photography, etc. You get the idea.

Another great idea for your travel photography is finding out what customs the place has. For example there might be a religious festival that has certain restrictions on photographers being there. Don't ask me to quote exactly when and where, but I do know that this does exist.

Another way to get fantastic photos is to look at professional pictures taken of that city or place. You can emulate the composition as much as possible. For example if you are planning to go to New Zealand then look at pictures of postcards on the net of the places in New Zealand you want to visit and make a list of all the things that impress you about that picture. If you can't find any pictures you like, go to your trusted travel agent again and ask for brochures on the area and look at the pictures on the covers and inside.

Bad weather doesn't mean bad photos. You may have planned your trip to a lovely tropical location in the summertime. In summer in the tropics there can be flash flooding and storms. But instead of cursing, you could try getting out there (as long as you are safe of course) and taking some beautiful black and white rain-on-a-city-street type of photos. You can also take advantage of rain by taking some beautiful macro shoots of rain landing upon different species of leaves and plants. Or perhaps you want might want to photo that storm coming in over the city or sea. You can adjust your aperture to a smaller number to get a greater depth of field if it's a long distance shot.

Much of your success overseas or traveling in your own country comes from getting local knowledge first. Local knowledge is important from not only a cultural aspect but from a environmental and physical aspect too.

By Amy Renfrey

Amy Renfrey is the author of two major successful ebooks "Digital Photography Success" and "Advanced Digital Photography". She is a photographer and also teaches digital photography. Her educational ebooks takes the most complex photography terms and turns them into easy to understand language so that anyone, at any level of photography, can easily move to a semi-professional level of skill in just a very short time. She's photographed many things from famous musicians (Drummers for Prince and Anastasia) to weddings and portraits of babies. Amy also teaches photography online to her students which can be found at http://www.DigitalPhotographySuccess.com

How To Take Perfect “People Pictures” In Digital Photography

By Amy Renfrey

One of the things people ask me most about digital photography is how to take perfect “people pictures.” Digital photography is great for people because you can simply delete the ones you don’t like, and show them, on the spot, what the digital photo looks like.
In any digital photography session, whether it be portrait photography or photography at a birthday party it takes prior knowledge to getting “perfect people” digital photos.
So here are the digital photography secrets to this type of photography.
People Photography Secret number 1:

Horizontal vs. vertical

Most people who do digital photography of people hold the digital camera horizontal. Not sure why this is; most likely because the digital camera is built that way, but really you can do well with holding the camera vertical as well. Horizontal digital photos of people are ok, but work best when taking a group photo rather than a single photo of someone. A vertical angle for your digital people photo can give you a great composition for close up and it tells you a lot more about that person that a horizontal will. Horizontal angles in digital photography of single people tends to increase the amount of potential clutter and irrelevant objects in the frame.

People Photography Secret Number 2

Where to put your people in the frame

In digital photography, pictures of people work best by creating some interesting composition. Don’t put your person in the center of the frame just because everyone else does their digital photography that way; be unique and creative and you’ll get a much be result. And good digital photography is all about capturing that special moment of someone to last and reflect something positive about that person, right?

People Photography Secret Number 3

Go Candid. Personally, in my experience as someone who does digital photography for a living, I can tell you that candid digital photographs work so much better then staid photos. It’s so much better to capture someone just as they laugh at a funny joke, or see their friend for the first time in a while, or even talking quietly to others, it so much more interesting and creates a positive photo of someone than a shot of them looking into the camera with a posed shot; hey anyone can do that. But do take that digital photo with them laughing and not knowing they’re being photographed captures a side of them that not everyone sees. It’ll show them in good spirits and create a positive image for all those who see that digital photo from now on. Get creative with people photography; try black and white and sepia. And even try taking the digital photo of them doing something they love, like playing an instrument for example.

Good luck!

Amy Renfrey,

If you are totally serious and really want to learn proper people photography just go to http://www.digitalphotographysuccess.com right now for ways to bring your people pictures to life...

Looking At The Best Nikon Digital Camera Packages

By Kevin L Taylor

When looking at what has to be, arguably one of the best makes of digital cameras, on the market today, I came across Nikon digital camera packages. Even if you are just thinking of getting yourself a decent digital camera, then a starter package has to be looked into. Not only will you be getting the camera itself, but you will also be purchasing all the other bits that you will want at a later date, the price of which will make you take a sharp intake of breath, as you add it all up individually.

Nobody has to want to become a serious photographer, to want these extras, which will undoubtedly make your life easier and more enjoyable when using the equipment.

Take a look at Nikon digital camera packages like the Nikon D80 starter package, with the D80 digital camera itself, you also get a Nikon AF 18-55mm lens, wide angle lens, a 3 piece pro lens filter set, hi-speed USB card reader, 1GB SD memory card, lens cleaning kit, full size tripod, compact digital camera case and an LCD screen protector. All this is only $969.99, but this is a fraction of the price if you where to buy all those items separately.

You may even be wondering what all these extras are, and I'm not sure on some of the specifics, but when you have it all in front of you and you get to grips with using the camera and experiment, it will all become clear and you'll be impressing friends and family, with your knowledge and skilled use of the equipment you have.

Some people get bogged down with to much technical stuff when buying digital cameras, things like, should they have loads of pixels or not? Well if your aim is to download the pictures onto your computer, then you're better of choosing something that will not clog up your computer's memory, but still has nice clarity on the computer screen. Also you should note that having a huge memory will not enhance the performance of your camera - it just means you can capture more images.

Now I'm getting technical and I am not exactly David Bailey (one of the most famous photographers in the world), but you do pick these things up, when mucking around with cameras.

As I said before, you can't really go wrong with a make like Nikon. Even the Nikon D40X, which is not quite as powerful, but not far off the D80, comes in exactly the same Nikon digital camera package, except for one thing, you get a tabletop tripod thrown in and that's only $827.99.

There are lots of Nikon Digital Camera Packages available and they are great value for money - well worth looking at if you want a digital camera, or any camera for that matter.

I'd have kicked myself, if I had bought all my stuff separately, so don't make the mistake lots of others do. Look at the Nikon Digital Camera Packages at Digi Combos

You can have the best Digital-Photography-Secrets book by clicking here

5 Digital Photography Tips that Work

5 Digital Photography Tips that Work
By Al Sanez

Here we have five digital photography tips that work and they can really help take better shots right away.

Tip Number One:

Stray From the Average

What I mean by this is, don't take pictures with the subject in the middle of the photo! This is fine every once in the while, but constantly doing it is limiting your creativity. Try placing the subject off center or to the top or bottom. It will make a dramatic difference in your shots.

Tip Number Two:

Look Around Your Area For...

Patterns! These things can make your photos very interesting. Think of shots with landscapes and a pattern on the floor leading all the way to the far mountain. Patterns are very interesting and attractive to the eyes. Look around for lines, shapes, and colors that repeat themselves and try capturing these patterns in an interesting way. This could the be primary interest of your shot or could be used to add more impact to the subject. For example, you could have a shot of a Dalmatian without any spots and all the others filled with them.

Tip number three:

Use the Lines

Using lines can make your shots much better. Don't just put lines in your photos, use them to lead to the subject of interest. For example, if a road is leading up to a mansion, use the lines in the photo to add more impact on the mansion.

Tip Number Four:

Keep it Simple!

Many beginning photographers try to take photos that fit everything in their surrounding into the frame. This is alright, however, it can make for very complex shots. Try to keep your shots A.S.A.P. or as simple as possible.

Tip Number Five:

Practice Tips 1-5. hahaha Tip number 5 is pure joke, but reasonable :-)

Al Sanez has a Free Photo course that teaches beginners digital photography tips. He also has another free program on how to Sell Pictures Online.

If you really need to improve your photographic skills check out our best selling book Digital Photo Secrets

How To Buy A Digital Camera Without Breaking The Bank

By Chris Campbell

Before you think about buying a camera, you should know how to buy a digital camera. You should look at many different cameras in your price range and use a checklist to record the specifications. After you have all the information for different cameras, you can then compare the specifications to narrow down your options. It is always important to review as many cameras as possible to see which one has everything you need to take clear and colorful pictures. The megapixels are the first thing you should consider, and then consider the zoom for optical and digital.

Knowing how to buy a digital camera is important. You want to make sure the camera has image stabilizer. This feature will help with clear images even if you have a tendency to shake a bit when trying to take the picture. The next thing to look for in a camera is the shoot modes. It is always nice to be able to select different modes when shooting different subjects. The flash is also important. The main concern with a digital camera is also the internal memory and memory card. You want to be able to hold as many pictures on the memory card without uploading to the computer.

When you are thinking about how to buy a digital camera, consider the battery drain as well. You want a camera that does not drain the battery quickly. You should check to see how many images you could take on one set of batteries. Make sure the camera has a good battery or can use rechargeable batteries. Once you have all the information you need, you should be able to buy the best camera for your needs. Take some time before buying any digital camera and check reviews to see what other users have to say about the camera.

Good camera prices, and good digital cameras, don't always find themselves on the same shelf. There are however deals out there for the savvy consumer, who knows where to look, and when to buy.