Three Photographic Acronyms Are Explained (Part 1 of 2)

Have you ever been shopping for a camera, but been bamboozled by a barrage of acronyms that you didn't recognise?

Sure, they all sound great, but it's useful to understand what they mean so that you can choose the right camera. Part one of this article will clear up three of six acronyms that you're sure to encounter.

DSLR

A Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera combines a single-lens reflex camera (SLR) with a digital camera back. But what does this mean for you and your photography?

You'll be able to capture shots exactly as you see them, as opposed to having colours skewed in preparation for print. And you capture them as digital photos, rather than images recorded to film. This 'what you see is what you get' principle is achieved through the camera's mirror-and-prism format which works as follows: light passes through the lens and bounces upwards off a mirror into a prism, which reflects the light through the viewfinder to the human eye.

DSLR cameras boast several other benefits, including the fact that they enable users to capture images of a very high quality. This is due to the large electronic imaging sensor used by the digital camera.

And the ability to change lenses gives you great versatility because a lens can affect many aspects of a photo, including the colour, contrast, clarity and saturation.

Another benefit of DSLR cameras is their near-zero lag time, which is the time between the user pressing the shutter and the camera capturing the shot. This is particularly helpful in action photography where you might only have a split second to get the perfect picture.

HDR

High Dynamic Range, an idea conceived as early as 1850, is a photographic technique. It enables the user to capture a greater range of light-to-dark areas in a photo than would be possible in a standard camera shot. The outcome means improved accuracy in the photo's intensity levels.

The technique is achieved by capturing several shots simultaneously (known as bracketing), even though the shutter has only been pressed once. These captured images are all shot at different exposure levels and, when merged, give a more accurate representation of the light-to-dark range.

HDR is measured in EV (Exposure Value) differences, which determine contrast. A DSLR camera has a contrast of 2048:1; twice that of a standard digital camera which is 1024:1.

HDR images are often known as 'scene-referred' because they more closely reflect what the human eye sees than standard photos.

ISO

Derived from the International Organisation for Standardisation, ISO originally referred to the speed of photographic negative materials. It denotes the sensitivity to the amount of light in a shot.

Simply put, the higher the ISO, the more sensitive the film is to light and the better your shots will be in a low-light scene. In daylight, a setting of no more than 100 is ideal. In low light, the camera needs a bit of help, which you can provide by increasing the ISO.

This can also be useful when you are taking action shots because it reduces the likelihood of a blurred image. However, be wary of going too high with your ISO setting; this will cause noise to appear.

Most cameras have an automatic ISO setting that adjusts according to the amount of light in a scene. If you do need to choose a high ISO value, to create artistic effects for example, you're better doing it with a DSLR camera. They provide a larger electronic imaging sensor, which gives you a broader ISO range than a point-and-shoot digital camera.

The three acronyms above should give you some idea of what to look for when it comes to buying a camera. But to be fully prepared, have a look at another three acronyms in part two.

Peter White is employed by Serif, a leading developer of software for home and small business use. Serif sells a range of software for photo editing, which includes PhotoPlus, a feature rich photo editing software package and PhotoPlus Starter Edition, a free photo editing software suite for novices.


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Sell Photography Online And Make Enough Money To Do It Full Time! Five Tips To Get You Started

Sell photography online.

As easy as organising your desktop!!!

Have you ever wanted to take photographs for a living?

Do you want to live a life full of passion, spending your time on activities you really enjoy?

Do you want a passive income that can free up your time?

You need to sell photography online because you have what it takes to become a photography entrepreneur.

It is as easy as it sounds to make an extra stream of income online. Whether an amateur photographer or a professional, you can still take advantage of this passive income stream.

Many people still don't know the power of this amazing opportunity and how it works exactly so I'll give you a couple tips to help you along the way.

Just think there are a bunch of people needing images as a focal point for their online business, blog, power point presentations, etc. You could be the one to provide them exactly what they need... at a cost.

Keep It Simple

Many times simplicity works beautifully. Some of the best-selling photos are often on something as simple as a rubber duck, a patch of green grass or a beautiful flower. When you're going anywhere just take along your camera and see what happens from there.

Be Creative

Let your creative juices flow as you consider the photos you want to sell online. Let your photo tell a story. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What do you have to say with your pictures? If you don't like photography, have you ever considered selling your drawings or your computer animation?

Research

Using sites like Google Trends and Google AdWords, can help you understand what topics are most popular and get a sense of what people are searching for. This will increase the chances of your photo selling well. From your own experience and perspective think what people would most like to buy.

Here are some great niches that will always sell well:

• Landscape
• Business people indoors
• Sport
• Social scenes
• Beautiful women

High Quality Images

Having high quality images are important as they show professionalism. After all someone will actually pay money to buy your photographs so it is worth the little bit of effort you put in. Approximately 12000 x 1200 pixels is sufficient. A large, high-resolution photograph is what you need to sell photos online.

Understanding Copyrights

Firstly you have to own the copyright on any pictures you sell. So make sure they are original and you took the pictures yourself. No copy and pasted photos will do I'm afraid! But importantly make you understand the terms and conditions of the copyright in the marketplace where sell the photos also.

With these tips... I wish you a most successful journey as you sell photography online.

If you want to find out more in-depth information on how to start this business please go to: http://www.takeyourincome.com/digitalcameracash.html

Happy Snapping!

B. John from TakeYourIncome. Visit us today at http://www.takeyourincome.com/


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Camera Upgrade or Not

When should you decide to upgrade your camera? We'll actually there is several reasons. If you're a long time compact or point and shoot camera user; you might be looking to upgrade to a digital SLR camera. Compact cameras today are top of the line giving you plenty of mega pixels for their capability and a quality zoom lens. But these types of cameras limit your photographic creativity. This is one good reason to upgrade to an SLR camera; but also this upgrade will broaden your creativity, give you many different choices of lenses, plus many creative tools that compact cameras can't offer.

My first digital SLR was a Canon Rebel and I used it for a long time till the camera exceeded its life expectancy as far as use. So I upgraded to a Canon 50 D which was a terrific upgrade with new features that expanded my skills as a photographer. This upgrade had given me a better frame per second burst and a much larger ISO sensitivity rang. And by staying with the same brand of camera I could use my lenses I purchased for my old camera on my new camera. So when you find technology is far beyond what your current camera will do, you might think about making that upgrade.

Another reason to make that upgrade is if you're freelancing and depending on just one camera to get by with, this could eventually be a problem. Not having a backup camera could leaving you as they say "holding the bag" and could give you much grief with potential customers. I actually bought my second camera about a year after I upgraded because I wanted to have a full frame camera to photograph landscapes. At that time the Canon 5 D Mark II had just been released and it being a full frame camera, having many features that professional cameras of twice its price; made it as good a time as any to make a second upgrade. This gives any photographer a peace of mind when going out on a photography shoot one or both those cameras will do the job.

But when you go to upgrade, don't wait too long and let technology pass you by, because you can always use the current camera for a backup. You also want to look at the cost of switching camera brands if you have several lenses from the previous camera; you don't want to purchase new lenses if it's not necessary. If you're going to spend lots of cash on this new camera you want to make sure it fits comfortably in your hands. Holding a camera that's uncomfortable can make for a long day of shooting photos. But the best reason to make an upgrade is to enhance your ability to create photographic art.

When not to upgrade is if you have a bad case of technology envy because your recent purchase might not have some bell or whistle that just come out after your purchase. Don't get caught up in a bigger; newer digital SLR will make me look more professional, that's determined by the photographs you take. From experience I would wait at least a year or two after my upgrade to take advantage of the newer cameras unless a fantastic deal comes along.

My name is Alan Slagle and I invite you to visit my photography website at;
http://www.frolickingphotos.com/
We have video and articles about photography and would like you to stop by. If you like the site enough maybe you would like to post one of your articles to share.


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Breaking the Rules of Photography

Do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that. Photography can be quite authoritarian sometimes with all the rules that you must follow. This is why it is quite a relief that all the rules you do learn can be broken, and broken to good effect too. My graphic design teacher told us that when we are to break the rules of design, we are to do it so that they are obviously broken, in other words, don't do it a little bit as it will look like a mistake. When breaking rules, she told us not to be wimps, but to do it boldly. The same is for photography, but I do recommend that the two rules you don't break are to carry a spare sd card around with you and a spare battery.

So what rules can you break? Having a shot slightly out of focus is a great way to start, this effect can give you a dream like state if the subject calls for it. There's a few ways you can achieve this. One is to open your aperture right up and have a shallow depth of field. Focus on part of your shot that isn't your subject, and your subject will be out of focus. Another way is to take your auto focus off and focus manually and out of focus. Alternatively, try the camera shake method, where you keep the shutter open for longer than necessary, and see what effect you get there.

In portrait photography, generally we place the subject to the left or right of the image, on the imaginary thirds line. However, we can also break that by filling the entire frame with just the person's head, even if they're looking away at a different direction. This can create a different mood to normal, and you should also experiment with the person looking in different directions too.

Upping your ISO on your camera is a great way to gain grainy and moody shots. How often have you taken a photo in darkened conditions only to find the resulting image containing a lot of noise or grain. Can be quite frustrating, but you can use this to your advantage, and deliberately introduce this into your own images. This is a great way to increase your creativity when using a point and shoot camera as the sensors on these aren't as good as DSLRs. As technology is improving, noise is becoming less of an issue on DSLRs now, and so this technique will be harder to achieve.

These are just a few ways to break some of the rules in photography, but the trick is to firstly master the rule, and then you will know how to break it. But when you do break it, remember to break it well, 'don' be a wimp' as my graphic design teacher would say.

Like What you Read? Try our Free Photography Secrets
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Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 USM IS Review

A while back I took the plunge and invested in the Canon 28-135mm prime lens, and now that I've had a chance to use it a bit, the verdict is in.

The Tech Specs

The Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 USM IS lens is technically sound. It feels solidly built in your hand, and it's got a decent weight and length, but nothing that's going over the top. It's a 72mm prime, so you have some nice wide glass that looks and feels professional grade. The focal and zoom rings may take some getting used to, as they're reversed from where they normally are, with the focal ring towards the top of the lens.

The USM (UltraSonic Motor) auto-focus is fast and smooth, providing a crisp focus in a short amount of time, without much noise at all. As you up the zoom length, the lens extends without rotation. This is great for anyone who likes to use polarizing filters, as you don't have to worry about zooming changing how the light passes through your filter.

The only downside technically is that there's some lens creep when the lens is not in use and placed at a downward angle. I use a sling style strap, so my camera hangs at my side with the lens facing downward. I frequently notice the lens has slid out a bit when I pull it back up to take a shot. This can be a bit of an issue if you're looking to fire off a shot quick with your previous zoom and focus settings, but it's certainly not a deal breaker for me. I like to take some time to compose my shots anyways.

As always, Canon's Image Stabilizer (IS) helps you to control camera shake, especially at longer focal lengths. I took some time to play around with slightly longer exposures in a night shooting scenario, and noticed that I was getting crisp results all the way up to 1/4 of a second, which is not always easy to do!

The Artistic Quality

The first thing I noticed about the output of the Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 USM IS lens is the beautiful colors. They're rich, and vibrant, and generally don't require much post processing to fix them.

The focus, both auto and manual, is laser sharp. It takes some time to find the focal ring and get used to using it, but once you do it's smooth and sharp, and I've never had any focal issues with this lens.

Upon taking my first images with this lens, I could tell the difference in the quality, even in my little 3.5 inch viewfinder, and I knew I'd really enjoy shooting with it!

Final Comments

The Good - the Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 USM IS lens has a professional look, feel and weight to it. It takes crisp, beautiful photos with a fast and quiet auto-focus mechanism that is spot on.

The focal range of 28-135mm makes this a great all-purpose lens! It's zoom range is dynamic, and allows for quite a bit of creative zooming. It's not going to be a super telephoto zoom, nor a super wide angle, but it's a perfect mid-range shooting lens.

The Bad - I would love to see a bit more zoom range on the lower end. If you're using a crop sensor, it could limit your framing in smaller areas. If this lens was down around the 15-20mm range it'd be the perfect short-mid range lens.

The Aperture isn't as wide open as I would've liked. An F-stop of 3.5 is decent, but if it were down around the 2.0 range, it'd be absolutely perfect for people shooting.

The lens creep is a bit of an issue if you're looking to pop the camera up for a quick shot, but it's not a huge issue.

The Verdict - The Canon EF 28-135mm F3.5-5.6 USM IS lens has quickly become my go-to, all around lens! It's output is crisp, sharp, and beautiful, and it's focal range is perfect for all your short-mid range shots. You can shoot anything from people to landscapes comfortably. It's a great intermediate level prime, and for the price, it was definitely a decision I do not regret!

Dan Losowski
Photographer
http://www.abpphotography.net

http://www.abpphotography.net/ - Daily photo blog based out of Buffalo NY, stop by and say hello!


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