The secrets about styling and photography you should know Did you know that:
So, if you want to
You are mad not to use images to tell your story. I know, because I get more than 300% engagement from Tweets with images than without. But, and this is a big one. If you want to get ahead, then you must post GREAT images. As the competition gets hotter then you need to be on fire! Oh no, I hear you say,
Well I'm going to show you how you can, with just your... smart phone Look at these 2 photos Which one was taken on a DSLR and fancy lens costing over £3k, and which was taken on a smart phone, in this case my Samsung Galaxy S5? Props Tip: I have kept the colour palette simple with tones of grey and used complimentary colours red and green to zing out. Light ![]() I gather random stuff all the time to use in photography.
Nothing costs much, if anything at all. We're shooting a candle in an apple so we need it to look like evening. (I am shooting this at 11am in the morning btw)
Can you tell? Now I'm not saying that a smart phone is better than a fancy camera, I love my Canon 5D Mk III But, if you are strapped for cash, just starting out, I want to show you how you don't need to spend lots until you can afford to. Here are the 3 magic words:
Light makes or breaks a photograph. Natural light is easy to use and looks great. I much prefer to shoot using natural light. Here is my set up. Looks simple? It is. No studio, just the corner of my kitchen next to a window. I use thin drapes to control how much light I let into the room. TURN OFF ALL artificial lights and use absolutely no flash. Composition I like this composition but, I'm not happy with the brightness of the in-phone image so I do the following using my phones photo-editing tools (you can download great apps for free to do this too)
That's it! This is the smart phone image, did you guess right?? So how did I shoot this with my DSLR? The set up is exactly the same except
TIP: use a large piece of card to reflect some light onto the other side of the subject To be sure, I will have more mega pixels with my DLSR, which will be good enough to use in magazines and advertising, but... If you want images for the web on a budget that rock... It's a no brainer. ©Lynn Keddie I hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you did, please So you don't miss out!
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1 Stop using auto
Instead dial onto aperture priority or shutter priority and experiment. 2 Understand your lens If you have more than one lens, choose one and go out for an hour or so, shoot 40 or more shots varying the way you use that lens. Go home, take a long hard look at the results on your computer screen and see what you can learn. 3 Photograph a willing subject Ask a friend if they will model for you. Say you will need them for about 1 hour and then photograph them. Work out how you will pose before hand. If you are using natural light, make sure you chose somewhere that has interesting light, diffused if possible. 4 Clean your equipment Keep your kit clean. Use a lint free cloth I like Pec*Pads. Keep your bag dust free and organised. Regularly download images from memory cards then format to erase them. Keep a cloth in your bag to wipe your camera if it gets wet. Always keep a lens hood on your camera. 5 Set up a still life Place your subject close to a natural light source, frame and shoot. Experiment with different apertures and camera angles. Try fruit, musical instruments, bottles anything really. 6 Move (pan) the camera While you are shooting a subject either sweep it up or to the side when you press the shutter. Alternatively, zoom the lens in when you shoot, you may need a tripod. Experiment its great fun. 7 Try light painting In Winter, when there is more darkness than light try this. Set your camera up on a tripod. Set to bulb. Click the shutter and stand with a torch 10 feet in front of the lens. Make a picture with the torch, after say 60s. Depress the shutter again and look at the results. Keep trying adjusting the shutter speed till you get the right effect. 8 Use a tripod Essential for longer exposures they are a bit cumbersome to begin with, but I wouldn't be without mine. 9 Use a neutral density filter Useful to darken skies and balancing the light over a whole frame. It doesn't affect the colour. 10 Share your photos ...the list goes on and will probably get longer! Ask for feedback and give feedback to others. It is about sharing after all. ©Lynn Keddie Sign up for my newsletter if you want my HOT 3 tips if you want to take great photos The basic elements What is macro photography? And it is great for art subjects too. New compacts, bridge cameras or even smart phones are geared up to take great macro shots now. Pretty impressive stuff, and the file sizes are impressive too. However, you do need to use equipment that is suitable for your end use:
Mastering the technique As with most things once you have nailed this, you just have fun getting a good composition and seeing the results. So here are my tips on how to shoot great macro images:
Once you have mastered the technique it's all about composition, choosing:
Top tip: shoot the same subject several times altering the aperture (f-stop) each time then choose which one has the right amount of the subject in focus and good background blur. Edit on your computer, ideally; blow it up to 100% to see what it really looks like. This takes a bit more time but guarantees you a good result. ©Lynn Keddie Shooting butterflies and insects Watch out for my blog post on that. It's a whole new technique. Why not sign up to our email subscriber list for a heads up on when I will be posting, 'Shooting butterflies dead...SHARP!' If you are interested in writing a guest blog for this site please contact us
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