This is the place to pick up photography pointers, to refresh your knowledge and get tips to help you with Picture This projects.
What makes your pictures truly yours?
by Tom Geens
Why we find something interesting is a good question and one that goes to the core of the debate about personality. In this day and age of increased commodification of personality, the consensus seems to veer towards the myth theory: all we are and do is determined by other people and our environment.
Posted: 16/06/08
Approaches to Landscape Photography
by Joe Cornish
When I go out and photograph I sometimes do so with an idea in mind, and so I time my visit to a particular place when the seasonal or lighting conditions will (I hope) be helpful.
Posted: 02/06/08
Outdoor Portraiture
by Alain Rolli
Time to get some fresh air! Going outdoors to shoot portraits can be a truly invigorating experience. New locations, changing light conditions and colours can really add to a portrait.
Posted: 19/05/08
The Pros and Cons of using digital and 35mm SLR’s
by Adam Booth
I prominently use both film and digital in my work. Although since getting a digital camera I must admit I tend to use digital far more often than I used to. Much of my work is taken using a 35mm camera and slide film. You’ll find that slide film is brilliant for bringing out the best in strong colours. I find it captures something that you just can’t get with digital and you’ll find that many professional photographers work with this medium.
Posted: 09/05/08
HDR
by Alex Rumjancevs
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and it is used whenever the scene you want to photograph contains a brightness range that’s beyond what your camera can capture in just one shot. HDR can enhance and improve your images, often adding drama and details.
Posted: 21/04/08
Cloning
by Adeline Scott
A ‘cloned’ image is one in which you exist several times over. It basically consists of 2 or more images merged together. The background is exactly the same in both/all images.
Posted: 09/04/08
Night Photography
by Alan Humphris
There's something about photographing at night that gets into the psyche and loosens the imagination. It's one big creative playground where everyday sights become something that little bit “darker”, an alternative vision. Open spaces can feel enclosed, built up areas lose their boundaries, and busy streets become silent. Taking images can be pretty straight-forward, nearly all the same subjects are available to you and you don't need any extra equipment. Don't expect results to be predictable, but that's the fun!
Posted: 28/03/08
Lomography - Forgetting the Rules of Photography
by Maya Newman
"Lomography" is the name given to the style of photography common to the community of users of Lomo cameras. Most famous of the Lomo cameras is the LC-A a small "compact automat" film camera (originally built at the Lomo factory in St. Petersburg) which has a special lens which enables the camera to be used under a variety of light conditions while set on "automatic". The camera's portability and a set of attitudes developed by early western European fans of the camera led to a style of photography in which none of the customary technical rules of "classic" photography were adhered to. In fact the "Lomographic Society" most famously has a set of "rules" which are mainly (and jokingly) concerned with not caring about any rules!
Posted: 17/03/08
Landscape
by Alan Humphris
Landscapes are ubiquitous, but how to take one that stands out from the crowd? Its not just about travelling to remote and undocumented places (though it can help!). A well composed image in your local park with good light is worth a hundred mountain tops taken in average light and poorly composed. It's all about encapsulating the mood of the moment and communicating your personal reaction to the viewer, and this you can do anywhere.
Posted: 07/03/08
How to Get Started in the Business
by MindStudio
Everyone says that photography is a competitive business and they're right, but this doesn't mean that you can't be successful in this tough business.
Posted: 29/02/08
Capturing The Moment
by Jamie Mellor
Framing and waiting is a technique often used to capture the moment. Simply frame the shot exactly how you want it and wait for something to come along.
Posted: 15/02/08
The Pros and Cons of ISO
by Ione Ascanio Green & Ian Wedgewood
ISO is the scale used to measure the light sensitivity of your camera, and it can be tricky to get it right.
Posted: 08/02/08
Passion in Pictures
by Ian Wedgewood & Kris Krüg
We're using music photography to illustrate this week’s technique.
It's hard for a musician to perform without passion so it's our job as photographers to capture that moment in time. So how do we do it? Well the first thing is to turn your flash off! It's really distracting at gigs for the musician. Besides in many venues flash photography isn't allowed, so you can't use it anyway! What's more musicians are often lit by dramatic light which changes by the second, so before you start snapping, study the lights; what colours there are, where are they aiming and what effects are happening.
Posted: 01/02/08
The art of movement - Shutter Speed
by Ione Ascanio Green & Ian Wedgewood
Mastering shutter speed can have a dramatic effect on your images. Whether you're using a compact or an SLR you can capture things that the human eye cannot, changing the speed of the shutter can have a major impact! Simply put, the longer you have the shutter open the more light comes into the camera, meaning that objects in motion will blur.
Posted: 25/01/08
Getting in Close - Macro Photography
by Ian Wedgewood & Michael Brydon
Macro photography is all about photographing small things and seeing the detail right up close. It opens up a colourful and detailed world for the photographer. We've used decay as the content here but macro techniques can be used across a broad range of subjects.
Posted: 18/01/08
How to choose your best photo
by Sam Talbot and Sarah McLean of London's Proud Gallery
If you’ve been working on the tasks set by the Picture This website and taken a hundred shots you really like, how do you choose the best shot from the collection?
Posted: 11/01/08
Eight Ways to Get Great Documentary Photos
by Anna Packham
Once the preserve of photojournalists, the documentary style of photography is popular now even in the most formal of settings, like weddings or other ceremonies, for the natural, interesting and often moving images it captures.
Posted: 04/01/08
How To Take Better Portraits
by Anna Packham
"The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt."
Henri Cartier-Bresson
A great portrait always communicates something interesting about its subject. But how do you use the camera to reveal it? Here we look at tactics used by photographers to create portraits that capture a person's true essence.
Posted: 07/12/07
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