Photography Education from Digital Photography School and the Strobist

Ever wonder how to shoot a good portrait? Want to know how to shoot a timelapse film with your DSLR? Get some advice on retouching or equipment? Check out the Digital Photography School blog for great tips and techniques.And the favorite lighting blog --Strobist -- is now on DVD! Strobist has released a lighting seminar on DVD presenting everything from gear to techniques in a hands-on way. We like seeing what we're learning through demonstration. The first edition sold out but they're still taking orders and will deliver in late June.

Digital Cameras for Travel: Key Features to Consider

When it comes to photography on the road, there's some key digital camera features that will help you avoid a life of frustration and travel photo mediocrity. We're going to focus on point-and-shoot cameras -- they're the most convenient for travel due to size and weight. Plus, you DSLR folks already know what you're doing, right?

Below are 6 considerations we believe to be crucial to having the best tool for travel. And just what camera lives up to this wish list, you ask? Check out Panasonic's Lumix DMC-TZ5K. At $269.99 you're getting 10X optical zoom, wide angle, 9-megapixels, incredible intelligent auto modes as well as manual options and decent video capabilities. 1. Wide-Angle Lens
A wide-angle lens isn't a common option for point-and-shoots, but it's one to keep an eye out for. Like a zoom gives you the flexibility to get close-up or shoot from far away, a wide-angle can add depth and help you capture shots in tight places. Just beware that capturing a group of people with a wide-angle is mutiny -- the people on the outside 20% of the frame will look like they're in a fun house mirror. Which isn't fun.

2. Flexible Controls for Aperture and Shutter Speed
While we love auto mode because we can use our brain for other things, it's not always the best move. Look for cameras with "Aperture Priority" and "Shutter Priority" modes. These are semi-automatic modes that allow you more control for unique lighting situations like sunsets and night shots. For example, in "Aperture Priority" mode you set the aperture (how much light gets in the lens) and the camera adjusts the shutter speed accordingly. If you've got a travel tripod, using "Shutter Priority" to set a long shutter speed (how much time the light has to get in the lense) can be a nice way to capture a sunset at dusk.

Continue reading: "Digital Cameras for Travel: Key Features to Consider"

Got an Old Laptop? Turn It Into a Digital Picture Frame!

Take a click over to Hack A Day to learn how you can transform an ancient laptop into a fancy digital picture frame. It looks hard.

Digital Organization: Keep a Visual To-Do List with Your Cameraphone

See? Technology makes it all better! Even if you do manage to keep a To Do List in one place without regularly misplacing it, remembering to write things on it can be a feat in itself. What if you could document your needs as they arise? Try this tip from an overworked blogger at Minddriven who finds that his mobile phone is usually with him and he can easily snap a photo when he, say, runs out of toothpaste or coffee. If you don't bring your phone to the bathroom with you, well, get with the times. (via Lifehacker)

CHDK: Hacking Your Canon Digital Camera

Just what you've been waiting for! Lifehacker has a fabulously intriguing article about hacking your average Canon point-and-shoot digital camera. CHDK (Canon Hacker's Development Kit) is an open source firmware that you can load onto your camera's memory stick whenever you want to use it. Even if you don't intend to do this, it's worth a read. Did you know you could increase the video recording time to one hour, get faster shutter speeds, change onscreen data or even run scripts for a set of actions like time lapse photography? No you didn't! Now go visit Lifehacker and he'll tell you how to do it.

How Aspect Ratio Affects You: Have You Ever Noticed Your Digital Prints Are Cropped?

When we all shot 35mm film, we all produced images with the same aspect ratio (3:2), and the ever popular 4x6 print is based upon that. In the digital world, however, digital cameras do not all share this 3:2 aspect ratio, and as a result, all digital photos do not convert well to 4x6 prints. The most common aspect ratios for digital cameras are 3:2 (most digital SLRs) and 4:3 (most compact point-and-shoots). Some cameras allow you to choose your own aspect ratio. Aspect ratios differ between manufacturer and even between models from the same manufacturer. Awesome, huh?

What is aspect ratio? Aspect ratio is simply the relationship between the width and height of your image--as you see in the chart below, we get the aspect ratio of an image by reducing the numbers to their lowest common denominator. (Don't worry, we did the math for you!)

Print Size ---> Aspect Ratio
4x6 ---> 3:2
5x7 ---> 7:5
8x10 ---> 5:4
20x30 ---> 3:2

Some day, this discrepancy may sort out--maybe labs will print in other aspect ratios and maybe manufacturers will agree on an aspect ratio. Until then, here are a few things you can do to prevent an Insolent Cropping Crisis:

1. If you know what size you like to print, get a camera that agrees with that aspect ratio.


2. Some labs (try Snapfish) allow you to select "true digital size" and will not crop your image.


3. Print with a lab that allows you to select your own crop when you want to -- try myPhotopipe.com (see our earlier post on this service).


4. Be vigilant when taking your photos and leave enough "safe space" around the edges so that an auto-crop won't cut off anyone's head or eyeball or some such.


5. Write to your congressman. If they have time to pioneer HDTV, they have time to save us from crappy crops.

Apple Photo Books: 6 Tips to Get Good Results

Recently, PictureSnob ordered some photo books through Apple and we were a little surprised by the results... we designed and purchased a hardcover book and several soft cover books. We're going to describe what happened and at the end of the post are 6 hot tips for getting good photo book results. Read this! It will save you.

So we had a great time designing these books in iPhoto. It was easy to use and if you consulted the "help" menu you could figure out how to crop and customize to your heart's content. So we get the books (timing was fast, less than a week) and the hardcover book looked fantastic except for a magenta cast that was apparent across all the photos, including black & white images. Now most people might not notice this, but PictureSnob is, well, a SNOB, and this wasn't up to snuff for us. The soft cover books were damaged in shipping (bent corners) and the text had dropped out of most of the book. Additionally, it seemed like images were darker than expected.

So we go to the Apple Photo Services Support page to kvetch. Within hours Apple fully refunded every single book and included some helpful tips on how to better control the photo book results. (We still don't understand why they're shipping soft cover books in cardboard envelopes, but it's their buck.) The tips are good. Why this kind of information isn't more apparent when you set out to make your first photo book is mind-boggling. Apple? What gives?

Anyhoo, here's the tips:

Continue reading: "Apple Photo Books: 6 Tips to Get Good Results"

Lighting 101 from the Strobist and Table Top Studio

If you have ever tried to shoot anything you have to light, we have two tips that just might save you some grief. Check out the Strobist -- it's a fantastic blog about lighting. Go to the Lighting 101 section to get a step-by-step education. He's got great advice on how to light, what gear you need (and don't need) and the blog regularly analyzes shots you see in ads and such and tells you how they were lit. Pretty cool. This lighting mostly applies to those trying to shoot still-life, portraits and interiors, but the more you understand about light in general, the better photographer you'll become.

So let's say you've got a night job hawking wares on eBay. And you can't get a nice picture of that ruby brooch to save your life, let alone get a bid that covers shipping. Or maybe you make things -- jewelry, beads, invitations -- and want to photograph your work for your portfolio. Well, saunter over to Table Top Studio! There's a ton of lighting advice and a bunch of lighting kits you can purchase for various studio shot needs -- they're affordable, portable and contain everything you need from lights and acrylic stands to soft box tents and wires. You can get some of their products, also found under the EZ-Cube name at Amazon -- sometimes you get a better deal there, it depends what you're buying.

DIY: Homemade Digital Photo Frame

Well, it's possible to make your own digital photo frame. There are several recipes at instructables -- here is our favorite. The ingredients? A SanDisk Digital Photo Viewer, Zenith LCD screen, deep picture frame... all for under $100. But for $134.99 you can get this Bluetooth eMotion 7-inch frame. Unless you really, really enjoy this DIY experience. It looks scary.

Smile Detection, Blink-Recognition and Other Intelligent Promises

Between intelligent cameras and Prozac, the world will never frown again. A new "intelligence" seems to launch every year, this year being smile detection. It's up to you if you're willing to pay a premium for these features, but we suggest applying the proverbial grain of salt here. These features turn your camera into an auto-monster -- most require the auto setting to work and you might end up spending more time communicating with your camera than the photo-worthy experience around you. There is no cheap trick to get a perfect photo, and perfection does not the best photo make. As the author of this photo gaymay asks: is a frown just smile turned upside down?

Blink Recognition
If someone blinked in the photo you just took, the camera alerts you so you can take another shot.
Reality Check: This is handy when it works and if your subjects are obedient.

Face Detection
The camera finds faces in the scene and auto-focuses on the faces and optimizes the exposure and flash for the face. This is often part of a "portrait" setting.
Reality Check: A person's face must be facing towards the camera and the lighting must be good for this to work well. There may be a limit to how many faces a camera can detect.

Continue reading: "Smile Detection, Blink-Recognition and Other Intelligent Promises"

Coping with Technology: Smashing a Digital Photo Frame

OK, we don't endorse this, but we can all remember a special piece of technology that's required violent treatment in defense of our sanity. Is this what Best Buy is up to after the digital photo frame virus debacle?

Underwater Photos with a Digital Camera Mask

Swim with the fishes! Liquid Image has come up with a digital-camera-scuba-mask-in-one. The camera lens is right over the nose, and there's crosshairs in the tempered glass so you can line up the perfect shot. 5 megapixels with a 16MB internal memory -- that'll get you 29 hi-res photos and 45 low-res -- add a Micro SD Card for more memory, or just come up for air and download the shots to your laptop via USB. It can also capture 53 seconds of video. The mask will retail at $99 -- you'll need 2 AAA batteries, but it comes with image editing software (ArcSoft). This could be a lot of fun for kids -- one size fits all, safe for ages 8 and up, and there's a 3 megapixel version for a little less dough. Stay tuned for more news on its release in March!

Turn a Camera Lens into a Macro Lens with Binoculars

The Do-it-yourselfer in us wants to learn all the tricks we can when faced with a "close up" crisis. This may well do the trick.

Via Lifehacker