How to avoid red eye.

Nothing is more weird then "red eye" on your photo. Why is this happening? Believe it of not it's the flash. The pupil of the eye dilates with that bright light. So you are seeing the blood vessels from the back of the eye. Here are some hintspurchase a simple device that will soften the flash a "flash difuser" Do a google search using that term and you will find many devices in all price ranges. Not only will this avoid red eye but your flash images will have a much softer light. Ask your subjects to look just to the side or above the camera Use red eye reduction on your camera setting But the easiest is to purchase a simple device that will soften the flash a "flash difFuser" Do a google search using that term and you will find many devices in all price ranges. Not only will this avoid red eye but your flash images will have a much softer light. .

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Avoiding Blurry photos

The easiest way to avoid blur is to use a tripod. This is especially important if the light is low, as in night or late afternoon photography. Your shutter is going to open more slowly to allow in more light. This slow shutter is the cause of the blur. You cannot hand hold a camera with a shutter speed less then 30. You can try holding the camera close to your body and bracing yourself or the camera against a solid object like a wall or fence but this is chancy at best. Here is when ISO is very helpful. The higher your ISO the faster you shutter speed can be. Remember shutter speed, ISO and aperture all work together. So when it’s dark I first crank up the ISO open up my aperture put the camera on a tripod and I will have wonderful results. Here are some examples.

Light and photography

Does all this seem confusing? The reason why it’s so confusing, is, it’s so simple. Really. It is. We complicate matters. Think about a great blues solo. Simple. The worlds best bands- often using three chords, no more. Simple. The best images in photography are often very, very simple use of light.The key here is to learn how to use it, simply. Use it to bring out results, to elicit a feeling, a mood and paint a picture. What we need to learn is to see light. There is always a light source and that is the key. Look at how the light is reflecting on the face. Just turning you subject will change everything. Experiment. It's digital.

The big three

Balance in ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. ISO is how sensitive your camera is to light, shutter speed is how long it takes for your camera to take a picture (which in turn alters the amount of light coming in), and aperture is how dilated the lens of your camera is. Not all cameras have this, mostly only digital photography cameras. By balancing these and keeping them as close to the middle as possible, you can avoid the noise caused by high ISO, the blurriness caused by low shutter speed, and the depth of field side effects caused by low aperture. Depending on how your picture should be, you should change these settings accordingly to keep light at a good level but still have the effects you want on your picture. For example, say you are taking a picture of a cool bird coming out of the water. You will need a high shutter speed to get it in focus, but you will also need a low aperture or high ISO to compensate for the lighting. A high ISO will make it look grainy, but a low aperture is perfect because it also creates a cool blurry background effect that draws attention to the bird. By balancing these elements, you can make the best image possible.

Tips continued

Fill the frame with your subject. Do not be afraid to get closer to your subject. On the other hand, if you are using a digital camera with plenty of megapixels to spare, you can crop it later in software. Try an interesting angle. Instead of shooting the object straight on, try looking down to the object, or crouching and looking up. Pick an angle that shows maximum color and minimum shadow. To make objects appear longer or taller, a low angle can help. You may also want to make the object look smaller or make it look like you’re hovering over; to get the effect you should put the camera above the object. An uncommon angle makes for a more interesting shot. Focus. Poor focusing is one of the most common ways that photographs are ruined. Use the automatic focus of your camera, if you have it; usually, this is done by half-pressing the shutter button. Use the “macro” mode of your camera for close-up shots. Don’t focus manually unless your auto-focus is having issues; as with metering, automatic focus usually does a far better job of focusing than you can. Next time we will talk about the technical stuff. ISO aperture and shutter speed.

Organizing your photographs

You want to take beautiful photographs correct? Organizing your photos is not high on the list. However before you know it you will have hundreds and hundreds of photos and how will you find any of them? Create a system NOW. Even if you are swamped with photos already. There are many systems you can use. I like to start with general headings. EX. nature, family, vacations, events etc. Then I have under each of these subheadings by the year. If this is all you do you will be ahead of the game. But the more subheading you have the easier it will be to find that one special photo you took in 2012 of your grandmother. Even if you are sitting in a photographic mess at this moment create your system and put all your future photos into these categories. Then little by little you can sort through the uncategorized photos and put them into your system. Before you know if everything will be in order and available. Remember while you are doing this edit edit edit. Only keep the best. Then when you look back at your work you will see where you have been and the progress you have made. Start today.