Tech Help Site

Today I have got a link to download Corel Paint Shop Pro version X (10) for free. This is commercial photo editing software that rivals Adobe Photoshop for functions and usefulness. Recent changes have made it easier to use for beginners whilst retaining the full power of the software if you want to get down to very fine details and editing. If all you want is to remove red-eye, crop and touch up photos then this is too much for you – try Google’s Picasa which is free. But if you want a really powerful program then this is a good one. And hey – this version is totally free so give it a go. It is a large download though (about 100mb) so dial-up users beware.

Some more details on Paint Shop Pro from this sites:

So before I spill the beans on from where to get this software, let me highlight a few features of Corel Paint Shop Pro X:

• One-Step Photo Fix. With just one click, the One-Step Photo Fix command automatically adjusts the color balance, contrast, clarity, and saturation of an image. It also sharpens the image.
• Background Eraser. The Background Eraser tool lets you easily erase unwanted backgrounds while retaining the fine detail in your photos. It’s a perfect first step before copying and pasting elements from one photo into another.
• Raw file format support. Paint Shop Pro X continues to support the Camera Raw file format. You can open, enhance, process, and convert images that were saved on your digital camera in the Raw file format.
• Picture Tubes™. A longtime favorite, the Picture Tube tool lets you paint on your photo with a collection of professionally-designed artistic elements. For example, you can add butterflies and beetles to a picnic setting, fill an aquarium with fish, or frame a picture with holly. Picture Tubes are available in a variety of themes, including Animals, Artistic, Embellishments, Nature, Photo Objects, and Plants and Leaves. You can also create your own picture tubes.
• Scripting. A Paint Shop Pro powerhouse, scripting can save you tremendous amounts of time, especially when you are working with batches of images. You simply record a series of commands and then play them back to process an image or batch of images.
• Batch Processing. You can easily process batches of images with Paint Shop Pro. The Batch Process command lets you use scripts to apply fixes to batches of images, and you can also convert batches of images to a different file format.
• Lens Correction filters. Paint Shop Pro continues to provide excellent Lens Correction filters that help you correct common photo distortions, such as fish-eye, barrel, and pincushion.
• Perspective Correction tool. With this tool, you can easily fix buildings, landmarks, or other objects that appear to be leaning away from you in photos taken at an upward angle.
• Straighten tool. This tool lets you quickly align crooked photos by just pointing out a line that should be horizontal or vertical but isn’t.
• Scratch Remover. The Scratch Remover tool instantly removes scratches, wires, and other linear flaws from photos. This tool is particularly useful for removing scratches or cracks when restoring old photos, and is also an incredible tool for reducing face wrinkles in photos.
• Clone tool. The Clone tool lets you cover flaws in your photos by copying detail from a neighbouring area. You simply choose a source location and then draw over the flawed area of the image. This replaces the flaw with detail from the source location.
• Motion Blur. You can add Motion Blur to a photo to create the illusion that the photo was taken while the subject was in motion.
• Distort photos. The Warp Brush lets you create caricatures of your subjects by distorting pixels in a particular area of the photo.

As I said, that is just a few features of Corel Paint Shop Pro X – it really doesn’t do justice to the program. If you would like to learn more, you are welcome to read the excellent review on it written by Photo-i.

Now this definitely isn’t the latest Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 Ultimate edition (that one will cost you around AU$100 – click here to read about the differences in features between all the editions) – but this is still an excellent program worth having if you need this sort of thing.

 

***Corel Paint Shop Pro X System Requirements:

• 500-MHz processor
• Windows® 2000 (SP4) or Windows XP (it works fine on Windows Vista)
• 256 MB of RAM
• 500 MB of free hard-drive space
• 1024 x 768 resolution display, 16-bit color
• Macromedia Flash™ Player 7 (included)

Here are a couple of links to download from (just in case 1 stops working)

Download Link 1

Download Link 2

David Pogue is a well known Tech reviewer who writes a column, among other things, for the New York Post. I read his blog all the time (yep via RSS)

Here is his list of 5 great tips for (Digital) photography. Well 4 great tips. I don’t think the lampshade thing works in Australia

THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TRICKS OF ALL TIME

1. Half-pressing the shutter button (to prefocus) eliminates shutter lag.

Everyone hates shutter lag. That’s the half-second delay between the time you press the shutter button and the time the photo is actually snapped–during which your child, pet, or action photo slips away. (Pocket cams have shutter lag; S.L.R. cameras don’t.)

Shutter lag is the time it takes the camera to calculate focus and exposure. Thing is, you can make it calculate that stuff ahead of time. Aim the camera, anticipating where the subject will be, and half-press the shutter button. When you hear the beep, you’ve locked in the exposure and focus. Keep the button half-pressed; now you’re ready. When the subject appears, push the rest of the way down. Presto: no shutter lag!

2. For the blurred-background effect, back up and zoom in.

In technical terms, what you’re looking at is a limited depth of field. That’s a geek-shutterbug term meaning, “which part of the scene, front-to-back, is in focus.” Subject yes; background, no.

That beautiful, professional effect is easy to get if you have an S.L.R.; it practically happens automatically. (Dial up a wide aperture–a low f-stop number–to accentuate the effect.)

On a pocket cam, choose Portrait mode. Move your subjects away from the background–the farther, the better. Finally, use the back-up-and-zoom-in trick. That is, stand away from your subjects–the farther, the better–and then use the camera’s zoom to “bring you” back up close. Thanks to a quirk of optics, zooming in helps create a shallow depth of field.

You may look like a weirdo, backing way up like that. But it really works.

3. Force the flash outdoors.

It might not occur to you to use the flash when you’re taking pictures of people on a bright, sunny day. It certainly wouldn’t occur to the camera.

Problem is, the camera “reads” the scene and concludes that there’s tons of sunlight. But it’s not smart enough to recognize that the face you’re photographing is in shadow. You wind up with a dark, silhouetted face.

The solution is to force the flash on–a very common photographer’s trick. The flash can provide just the right amount of fill light to brighten your subject’s face–without affecting the exposure of the background.

It eliminates the silhouette effect. Better yet, it provides very flattering front light. It softens smile lines and wrinkles, and it puts a nice twinkle in the subject’s eyes. (It also means that you can ignore the old “rule” about taking photos on a sunny day–the one that tells the photographer to “Stand with the sun behind you.”)

4. Exploit the magic hour.

Hate to break it to you, but serious photographers don’t get a lot of sleep. Show me an award-winning, breathtaking landscape–a pond shimmering in the woods, golden clouds surrounding a mountain peak–and I’ll show you someone who got up at 4:40 am to be ready with a tripod as the sun rose.

That hour after sunrise, and the hour before sunset, is known as the magic hour. The lower angle of the sun and the slightly denser atmosphere create rich, saturated tones, plus what photographers call sweet light. It’s an amazing, golden glow that makes everybody look beautiful, every building look enchanted, and every landscape look breathtaking.

It’s a far cry from the midday sun, which creates much harsher shadows and much more severe highlights. Landscape shooting is more difficult when the sun is high overhead on a bright, cloudless day.

5. Use a lampshade socket as a tripod.

Another chronic problem with pocket cams is getting blur when you don’t want it–which is just about any time you’re indoors without the flash. Yeah, yeah, we know: “Use a tripod.” But come on: for the average person on vacation or at school events, buying, hauling around, and setting up a tripod is a preposterous burden.

Often, there’s a wall, parked car, bureau, tree, pillar, door frame, or some other big, stationary object you can use instead, to prop up either the camera or your arms.

But here’s my favorite trick: It turns out that the threads at the top of just about any lamp–the place where the lampshade screws on–are precisely the same diameter as a tripod mount! In a pinch, you can whip off the lampshade, screw on the camera, and presto: You’ve got a rock-steady indoor tripod.

People might think you’re a genius, a nutcase, or a genius nutcase, but never mind. It works.

There you have it, folks: five tips that can save you from throwing your pocket cam out the window. Happy shooting–and happy holly days!

Fishing the net is some articles of interest I have found whilst trawling newsletters and internet sites. Here you go:

Tips for Better Portraits

5 tips for taking better portrait photos with your digital camera

A brief history of Computers as told via TV ads

If you have used computers for a while you will recognize some of these ads and the machines in them. Just goes to show how good Apple usually is at it’s marketing.

Bit of trivia – as a teenager I owned both a Tandy TRS80 and a Commodore 64. The C64 was an excellent machine for playing games – I still remember some

Backup Your Mozilla Profiles

For users of Firefox, Thunderbird, Flock and even (god forbid) SeaMonkey.

Did you know that all the customizations, cookies, bookmarks, and plug-ins you add to your programs can be backed up? You can save them in case of a problem, copy them to another PC and so on. This link gives you a howto tutorial using MozBackup

Ultimate Windows Tweaker – Tweak UI For Windows Vista

Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a Tweak UI Utility for tweaking and optimising Windows Vista. It is modelled after the TweakUI program that was an ‘unofficial’ Microsoft product available for Win XP but never released for Vista. The Win XP version is available here.

Details of Tweaks :

The tweaks are classified under seven categories and can be accessed through a common interface, just like your Windows Vista Control Panel.
1) Personalization,
2) User Accounts & UAC,
3) System & Performance,
4) Security,
5) Internet Explorer (IE7 / IE8)
6) Network Optimization
7) Additional Options

 

 

The Complete Guide To Speeding Up Your PC’s Startup

A good summary of tips from Lifehacker on how to make your PC start faster. Follow the tips to speed things up. You can also investigate switching off some of the services on your  PC, although this is probably for more advanced users. I have personally tried the startup Delayer program they recommend and pretty quickly stopped using it – your mileage may vary

28 Powerful Photoshop Lighting Effects

Some tricks and tips for adding fancy effects to your pics using Photoshop or similar editing programs

Learn Photoshop in One Week

Interested in all this digital photography editing and manipulation but have never used Photoshop? Well here is a beginners tutorial that may suit you

 

There you go – that’s a few tidbits to keep you reading over the weekend

OK – this isn’t really about technology but I though you might enjoy the photos on the following website.

Sports Illustrated – Beijing Paralympics

Earlier this year, Oscar Pistorius (a.k.a. the Blade Runner) came within a hair’s breadth of making South Africa’s Olympic team. The achievement was a clear demonstration that in time, double amputees may well outpace able-bodied competitors. And meanwhile, it’s worth remembering that there’s more than one games in town.

Earlier this month, SI Online posted a remarkable photo essay from the just-wrapped Paralympics in Beijing. Four thousand disabled athletes competed in the same Olympic venues we saw this August: the Indoor Stadium, the Bird’s Nest, the Water Cube. There were soccer games between teams of visually impaired players — all of whom wore blindfolds to even things out — and a shot-put event in which the athletes strapped themselves into wheelchairs before rolling onto the pitch. Army 1st Lieut. Melissa Stockwell, who lost her left leg to an IED in Baghdad in 2004, was a special favourite of the Americans. And Oscar Pistorius won three golds, setting three Paralympic records. As for the photographs — they’re as extraordinary as the athletes themselves.

Found via VeryShortList

When taking photos it is a really good idea to try varying the angle of on the subject to see if you can frame the photo differently. With digital cameras it’s easy to take multiple pics of the same thing from a lots of different angles. Try lying or kneeling down, especially if taking photos of kids. Or climb up on a ladder or a fence. Whatever you do try to brace yourself so you can keep the camera steady. Oh and don’t fall off!

Here’s a link to a page showing a number of photos taken at angles that produce cool results. Click the pic see more examples.

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I thought there was really some useful tips there. Living in a small town I don’t often have the parking issue and lets just say that checking if my hair is ok before the party is not a concern . But a photo of something, a place or whatever, as a reminder of a date is brilliant as the date and time is stored with the picture. Photos of complex items like cables could also be helpful.

The cameras in newer mobile phones are getting better. Most are 2megapixel and some are 4 or 8 megapixel. But that’s only half the story as the lens in a camera is more telling of the photo quality than the megapixels alone. So the lens in a mobile phone will never be the best and most stand alone digital cameras will be better.

In some instances a higher resolution photo would be better – e.g. if you want to scan the text or have fine detail to prove the dints on your rental car. So if you have easy access to your digital camera for these sort of things then use it instead

I am going to use that grocery list one though – I always forget something! And I don’t know about you but I carry my mobile all the time and hardly ever use it so this might make it a little more useful!

Some creative and productive uses of camera mobile phones (and digital cameras):

Computer Screen Capture – You can use the Mobile Phone cameras for capturing screenshots of error messages that popup while you are reinstalling a copy of Windows or modifying some BIOS settings. In situations like the dreaded Blue Screen, Print-Screen key is useless but any phone-cam will get the job done.

Remember Dates – Some time back, I had gone to a nursery school for submitting the admission form of my son. I don’t remember the exact date now but luckily, I had snapped a picture of the school and so that date is automatically stored with the image.

Cable Connections – Before removing the cables from your home theatre system, gaming console or the computer, it is a good idea to capture the connections with your phone camera. Then you won’t have problems plugging the cables again in the right ports as the pictures will show you “what goes where”.

Use Mobile Phone as a Web Camera – There are some free utilities that will convert your mobile phone camera into a web cam for your computer. You can use the web camera via a USB cable or wirelessly through Bluetooth.

Car Parking – Most shopping malls here have huge underground parking but there aren’t any signboards so it gets tough to locate the car. So when you park the car, just look towards the escalator (or the exit door) and take a picture or record some video. This will save lot of effort (and time) when you return with all those heavy shopping bags.

Scan Printed Documents – Mobile phone camera can work as scanners for capturing clippings of text from newspapers, library books and printed magazines. Just photograph the page and use a service like Qipit or ScanR that extract the text out of pictures taken with a mobile phone. (See “Use Mobile Phone as a Scanner“)

Replace Paper and Pen – Your wife has prepared a long list of items that you are supposed to pick from the grocery story. Why tear down that paper from the diary or put extra pressure on your memory – just click. You can also use the camera phone for capturing information written on whiteboards, subway maps and notice boards.

Google Maps and Directions – You are travelling and need the driving directions from Google Maps onto your mobile phone. If your phone has no Internet or you are not too sure how to transfer data from computer to the phone, just open Google Maps, press F11 for full screen and click with your phone.

Rent A Car – If you are taking a car on rent, capture all the areas with dents and scratches so that you don’t run into a dispute when returning the car to the agent. Thanks CraftyGirl.

Security Weapon – Before you board a taxi in some unknown place, take a picture of the license plate and driver details that are generally written near the passenger seat. Email the picture to your spouse or friend as a security measure.

Shopping Alone – If you are in a store shopping without your spouse, get his/her opinion on the stuff you are about to purchase by emailing pictures though your phone. A word of caution here – some shop owners may consider your action as “digital shoplifting” and this may lead to an embarrassing situation.

As a Mirror – When you are about to reach the party, take a self-picture with your mobile phone to make sure that that makeup and hair style is in perfect condition.

Interesting Uses of Camera Mobile Phones To Stay Productive

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Following on from our previous article about Photo Story

Refer the previous post/article here: How to create a multimedia photo movie

Hi Matt

Have just received your email with regard to Photo story 3 for windows.
I was very interested in it.  Would I have to download previous  No 1 or 2 to be able to use this program to its full  potential?

Thanks for the question Joy

This is version 3 – obviously there was originally a version 1 & 2. You do not need an earlier version to download and install version 3 and use it’s full features

And of course it is completely free – Thanks Microsoft!

The program will work very well without any other paid software. You do not need to pay for the DVD burning plug-in referred to in the article ($20US for the plug-in – you can get Nero for that!). Most CD/DVD burning programs will burn the discs – there are free ones like DeepBurner if you don’t have Nero/Roxio or similar

The link to the download site in the original email/article does not work – it’s out of date
Here are a couple of links that do work:
Microsoft Link
Download.com
If you go to the MS link you will need to prove you have a valid copy of Windows XP to download the grogram but not at Download.com

The program is just over 5mb in size so even on dial-up it won’t take that long to download. Note this program is only for Windows XP
If you have Win 95/98/ME – sorry
If you have Vista then Windows Movie Maker incorporates all the functions of Photo Story

Last but not least check out this site www.windowsphotostory.com 
It has lots of detailed step by step guides on how to use Photo Story
I’d forgotten but I used this when I made my project and it is really well made and helpful

Good luck with the Movie Making!

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Mulligrubbers will remember the presentation we were given on Photo Story by Cheryl, the lovely teacher from the TAFE. I used the info she gave us to use the program to make a video for my wife for her birthday at the end of October. It was the first time I had used it and I am a bit of a perfectionist so I wasn’t totally happy with the result but I reckon it was OK. And Tracy was really pleased with it

You’ve been snapping digital photos all year long, and now you’re in need of gift ideas for Mom and Dad. Sure you could get a coffee mug with the kids’ faces on it or photo tee-shirt that reads "Grandma loves me." Even better: create a photo slideshow with music, titles and voice narration that the folks can pop into the DVD player and enjoy on TV.

No kids, but gift-challenged when it comes to the other half? A photo slideshow of you and your honey played to a favourite song would make just about anyone melt. Putting together your family tree? A photo history with narration by Grandpa will be priceless to your kids’ kids.)

Using free software Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows and an optional plugin, a multimedia gift DVD can be yours (and your loved ones) this holiday season.

What you’ll need:

1. A Windows XP PC
2. Digital photos.
3. [optional] A microphone (for voice narration)
4. [optional] Background music (any MP3/WMA/WAV file will do)
5. [optional] A DVD burner (if you want this to be playable in the computer-less living room)

Let’s get started.

1. Download Photo Story 3 here. Microsoft will do that creepy Big Brother thing where it "validates" your computer’s existence. Grit your teeth, download, install and launch.
2. Import your photos. Browse to the photos you want to include in your slideshow. It’s probably best to use Picasa or another photo manager to pick the best photos and then drop ‘em into a folder, as Photo Story only lets you browse pics in Explorer. Once your photos are in Photo Story, drag and drop ‘em into the order you want on the timeline, like so (click to enlarge):
   
   You can also do some photo colour correction (not bad) and red eye erasing here as well. When you’re done, hit next.
3. Add titles to your photos. Dates, places, snarky remarks whatever – add text to your photos here. Choose your font family, text colour and alignment on the right hand side, like so (click to enlarge):
   
4. Narrate your show and add motion to the photos. Watch out, Ken Burns. Using the Customize Motion button, choose a transition between photos and zooming and panning motions to each individual photo. I’m no filmmaker, but it’s a nice effect when you focus in on say, one person’s face really close up and then zoom out to include others. Your mileage may vary, so be sure to experiment with what works best. (Click to enlarge.)
   
   To add voice narration to your photos, plug in your microphone and hit the record button on the right hand side. Photo Story very conveniently provides a text area so you can type out some notes on what you’re going to say beforehand to aid the recording. Get the kids to say a goofy, cute thing or two to make it even more fun. (Click to enlarge.)
   
5. Add background music. Here you can choose a MP3, WAV or WMA file from your music library and add it to your slideshow. Adjust the volume of the music so that your narration is clear and audible. (Click to enlarge.)
   
   If you’ve no tunes you’d like to use, you can create music with Photo Story. Choose your genre, instrument and mood, and then set your tempo. New Age:Floating Away, Yearning Atmosphere, anyone? Or perhaps a Classical:Amadeus Anxious Harpischord? (Click to enlarge.)
   
6. Save your movie. Photo Story will save the movie as a Windows Media file suitable for full screen viewing or a smaller version for emailing. (Click to enlarge.)
   
   If your gift recipient isn’t much of a computer person (hi Mom!), the Sonic DVD plugin for Photo Story 3 will burn a DVD that will play on Mom and Dad’s DVD player. The Sonic plugin costs $19.99, and you can purchase it here.

There are a few example Photo Stories at the Microsoft site here (bottom right). The quickie I threw together of my baby nephews is here. (Warning: Windows Media player required to view; audio will ensue; and I literally spent 5 minutes on this small movie which is super-compressed for your downloading pleasure, so keep those expectations low! This is only an example.)

And that’s that! Your photo movie is guaranteed to earn you brownie points and put your year-long photographing to good use.

For more information on Photo Story, check out:

• FAQ about Photo Story 3
• Create a Story from a Single Still Photo

Geek to Live: How to create a multimedia photo movie

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some great short tips here – check it out

Digital Photography » Blog »

Improve Your Photos 60 Seconds at a Time

If you are tired of reading long explanations and confused by tricky photo techniques, here you can have it short and sweet. Arranged by topics, each subject takes less than 60 seconds to read.

Once you’ve read the ideas and tips, picture in your mind some photographs you have already taken. Think of how they could have been improved by applying what you have learned here. Visualize how you might have taken your photos differently. Already your photography is improving!

Light | Landscaping | People | Color | Composition | Being Ready

Light

Dancing with light

• Light from the side brings out shapes, textures and structures. That’s why early morning and evening are rich times to photograph.
• With the sun behind your subject, you get some of the most dramatic visual effects … but exposure could be tricky to get right. Try it anyway!
• When the sun is high and the light is hard, don’t fight it to try to get it all. Concentrate on exposing the bright parts properly and work with the shapes of shadows.
• For light and shadow effects you need the sun, of course, but colours are often more intense on half-sunny or overcast days.

The color of color

• Natural light is white, while artificial light is often shades of yellow, orange or green.
• Our eyes naturally adjust to colored or tinted light sources to make them appear white and so will your digital camera but only within certain limits
• If you want warm-colored pictures work earlier or later in the day when natural light tends to be more orange.
• This image shows warm light from an evening sun but bluish shadows from the cloudless sky

Mastering flash

• Balance the flash with day light for stunning results. Your camera may offer a ‘slow flash’ or ‘synchro flash’ or ‘daylight synchro’ setting.
• Direct flash on groups of people produces better-looking images than direct flash on a single person.
• The latest cameras allow you to set high ISO speeds e.g. ISO 800 which can help avoid using flash altogether.
• Avoid red-eye by turning up or providing more light in the room.
• If you use your camera’s red-eye reduction setting when taking flash photographs of people you avoid red-eye, but there’s a delay in taking the shot which may cause you to miss the moment.

Choosing your time

• Low or cross lighting at dawn or dusk produces wonderful lighting and colors.
• At dawn and dusk there are natural shadows to help give depth and form to your subject.
• For early evening shots, you will need longer shutter times i.e. longer exposure to make up for the low light. This makes it likely your photographs could be blurry due to camera shake, so lean your camera on something – anything steady – to keep still during exposure.
• Don’t be afraid to point the lens at a setting sun , but whatever you do avoid looking at the sun directly, especially through the viewfinder of your camera.

Landscaping your photos

Composition essentials

• It’s best to keep your horizons level in your photographs, otherwise your shots will appear crooked (unless that’s what you want!).
• Keep the main points of interest away from the centre, and from the extreme edges – better, still, try placing them in different parts of the image and see which works best.
• Don’t shoot everything from a standing position. Look for unusual angles by changing yours (and the camera’s position).
• Better to avoid completely empty space in your photos.

Framing the lines

• Don’t be afraid to use take portrait photographs – that is, with the camera on its side.
• Use natural features in the environment to create a frame for your subject or to lead the eye through the image.
• Zoom in to create a sense of intimacy. Remove from your shots elements like the sun or the sky, which give a feeling of open space.
• Experiment with framing. Try framing your shots with lots of foreground and very little sky, or lots of sky and very little land.

Zooming around

• Zooming-out allows you to capture more of the view.
• A wide-angle lens will keep everything in focus while helping to maximise the ‘depth of field’, or feeling of depth in your shots.
• Zooming-in will flatten the sense of perspective and make distant objects appear closer together.
• Zooming-in will also affect the amount of your picture that is in focus allowing you to isolate details against an out-of-focus foreground and/or background.
• Be careful to avoid camera shake when zoomed right in, as tiny movements in your hands become magnified.

Prospecting the perspective

• Create perspective by using the lines and shapes within the shot to draw the eye.
• Tall buildings can appear to ‘lean back’ when photographed. Getting something in the foreground of your shot helps balance this.
• Increase the sense of perspective by using a wide-angle lens and adding foreground interest.
• A low viewpoint and wide-angle setting helps to contrast the size and shape of objects in interesting ways.

Foregrounding

• Foreground is the area that is closest to the camera: the stronger it is, the stronger the rest of the image.
• An object in the foreground first invites the eye, then lead the viewer deeper into the photo.
• Include foreground objects to add a sense of scale and perspective
• Experiment with allowing the foreground to totally dominate the photo

Cool proportions

• The central part of your scene usually draws the camera like a magnet so it ends up in the centre – try resisting that tendency
• Place the main point of interest towards the sides of your photographs for more dynamic compositions
• Place your horizon near the top or bottom of your shots to add emphasis to the ground or to the sky
• In this picture you can see there is a smallish amount of sky while the rocks have been placed high in the image to allow the silhouette of the trees to be significant.

People with you

Lighting faces

• The soft light you get on overcast days is especially good for photographing people, as it delivers the best skin tones
• Side or ‘cross’ lighting is more interesting because it gives depth and form to your portrait sitter
• Keep backgrounds and other distractions to the minimum so that the viewer can concentrate on the face
• In this picture, soft light from a window lights the faces of the girls from the side, while a zoomed-in setting throws the foreground face out of focus.

Depth of feeling

• Use your zoom lens to shorten the ‘depth of field’ (depth sharpness) in your photograph, and throw the background out of focus. This adds emphasis to your subject.
• Use your zoom lens to fill your photograph, rather than leaving your main point of interest floating in space.
• Zooming in will flatten perspective, which generally produces a more flattering shot of your subject.
• In this picture, a zoomed-in setting focuses on the girl, throwing the foreground objects out of focus.

Natural frames

• Use a person’s surroundings to be a natural picture frame the photo
• People will often smile and pose stiffly for their portrait: if you don’t want a smile take two or more pictures – a second or two after a smile, the pose relaxes and you have a more natural shot.
• Look for the natural junctions of the human body (where it seems natural to ‘cut-off’) if you are not including the whole person in the shot.
• Soft light is easiest to work with: try sitting your subject near a window.

Childish tricks

• Get the children used to you and the camera by firing off lots of shots first.
• For small children , pre-focus the camera. This is done on most digital cameras by pressing down halfway on the shutter button. Then move yourself backwards and forwards with the child to keep the shot in focus.
• Get down on your hands and knees to stay level with your subject and appear less intimidating.
• Use something to draw the child’s attention away from the fact that they are having their photograph taken.

Coloring the essentials

Bolder colors

• Redder colors will create a warmer feel for your shots than blues or greens.
• color affects the way we look at pictures, so try to use color creatively in your shots.
• Look for images that contain contrasting colors, such as red and green or yellow and purple, to add tension or drama.
• Using shades of the same colors will create a sense of harmony.

The best light is free

• Bright sunlight gives colors a more intense or ‘saturated’ feel.
• Midday light has a bluer quality, which can give photos a harsher feel.
• Try to place strong colors against large areas of even tone or color – this helps bring out their intensity
• Look for color contrasts – red with blues and greens, for example.
• Photographs taken at the beginning or end of the day will have a warmer tone due to the natural orangeness of the light.

Emotional colors

• Different dominant colors lead your viewer towards different emotions which impacts on the way your shot is experienced
• Yellow is associated with happiness, but orange may moves us toward concern – hence the use of amber as a warning light.
• Red is the universal color of warning. Use it with caution – a little bit of red in your shot goes a long way!
• Greens and blues usually have a calming effect, hence their association with landscape
• The many colors in this shot are held together by the large areas of yellows, giving it an unmistakeable sunny Mediterranean mood.

Composition

Lines of force

• You can create a sense of direction using naturally occurring lines.
• Slanting or ‘oblique’ lines imply movement, action and change.
• Curved lines or S-shaped lines imply quiet, calm and sensual feelings.
• Lines that converge imply depth, scale and distance, for example, the outer edges of a road converge as it disappears into the distance, giving a two-dimension image three-dimensional depth.
• Repetitive elements create a sense of rhythm, which is often more interesting if the rhythm is broken by a missed element.

Thirds

• Imagine two horizontal and two vertical lines equally dividing your shot, then place subjects on the lines or where they intersect with each other: this can be a help in deciding on compositions
• Place your horizon on the top or bottom line to add emphasis to the ground or to the sky respectively.
• In this picture, the composition combines color contrasts with proportions closer to another principle, the Golden Section, which gives pleasing proportions.
• Just pushing your composition slightly to one side so it feels a little uncomfortable can give your photos a dynamic it wouldn’t otherwise have.

Focusing away

• The human eye is drawn to elements that are in focus, and this will influence how your photo is seen.
• Auto-focus (standard on most digital cameras) will focus on what is in the centre of the frame. Use pre-focus to move your subject away from the centre of the frame. (This is done on most digital cameras by pressing down halfway on the shutter button.)
• Use your zoom lens to reduce the ‘depth of field’ (sense of depth) and throw the background out of focus. This will emphasize any in-focus element in the foreground.
  Photo © Wendy Ang

Being ready

Drive your motor

• Take lots of pictures. With digital cameras shots cost you hardly anything at all.
• Move around as you photograph to experiment and give yourself plenty of choice later.
• Stay alert for that chance-of-a-lifetime shot: keep your camera turned ON, keep your mind switched to ON.
• In this picture, the golden eagle put its wing on the falconer for only a few very short seconds, and the falconer grinned for even less time!

Vantage points

• It is almost always worth clambering up a wall or steps to get a little higher – but don’t get yourself into trouble with authorities.
• You may also have to wait for the best light.
• And you might have to wait for a composition of passing people to arrange itself
• The best position may depend on the zoom setting that you choose.
• In this picture, I had to wait nearly thirty minutes for everyone to get themselves into position.

Shutter lag

• Shutter lag is the time a digital camera needs to capture a picture after you have pressed the shutter button.
• Reduce shutter lag by focusing beforehand, hold the shutter button down half-way or half-pressure and wait for the moment.
• Reduce shutter lag by turning off any unnecessary automatic features such as red-eye reduction.
• In this picture, the only way to catch the air force jets at the right instant was to release the shutter just before they reached their ideal positions.

Always ready

• If you see a good picture you may be early: an even better one may come in a few seconds
• Get your exposure and focusing and framing set up while you wait for the perfect shot
• Hold the camera to your eye all the time; in the half-second it takes lift the camera you could miss the shot
• In this picture, I spotted the shepherd from a car, screeched/skidded to a halt, got the car to disappear and waited for the flock to approach me – using the time to work out the best viewpoint to meet them.

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