Red eye is a common problem in pictures that are taken with flash. But not all of the flashes necessarily create the red eye effect, mostly camera-top flashes or built-in (pop-up) flashes are the ones that create red eye effect. Because they are too close to lens and in the same axis with lens, light coming from these flashes hits the eye directly which increases the risk of having red eyes in the picture.

How to Prevent Red Eye

• Turn the head of flash to a white wall or ceiling so flash light can bounce all over the room and create much more balanced light in the room. This is not an option for built in pop-up flashes, their direction can not be changed, unfortunately.
• Place the flash to a different position if you can, not on the same axis with the lens.
• Taking pictures without flash is the best option in my opinion. If there is not enough light in the room, you can use an ambient light for lighting the room. If you are in a situation that you cannot find a light to increase the amount of light in the room, reduce the exposure 1 or 2 stops and than increase it in raw picture processing softwares or photoshop.
• In modern SLR cameras there’s red-eye reduction option so you can use it.
• If you have a built-in pop-up flash and if you have to use it, tell the subject he or she should not look to the camera directly, instead he/she should look shoulder of the photographer.
• Also if you have red eye problem in the picture you can remove it by using softwares such as photoshop.

Cheapest Underwater Photography Camera

Summer is coming, beaches, sea, ocean they all make good subjects for photography. But most of our summer pictures are on the land, why we don’t try taking pictures under water? You’ll probably think, this is a crazy idea, but wait.

Equipment and gear used for underwater photography is expensive. Even if you buy these equipment you cannot use it often and for different kinds of photography. Underwater photography equipment has only one purpose, giving you the ability of taking pictures underwater. So for many of us it is meaningless to buy this kind of equipment. But who doesn’t want to experience taking pictures under water at least for once. I want to try it this is for sure.

And i have a really really cheap solution for this; Kodak’s disposable underwater camera which is cheaper than $10. I bought 2 of them, and didn’t tried yet but i certainly will. There are 27 shots film in the camera and film speed is ISO 800 which allows us to take pictures underwater, that is a relatively low light environment. It is also able to take pictures up to 50ft (15m) deep under the water.

Ok it is not something like a SLR camera but at least it is a camera that works under water. It doesn’t have aperture or shutter speed settings but still i think i can come up with nice results. Plus it will bu fun to use a so simple camera after a log time.

And last; I bought them about $4 each so i don’t expect miracles.

Where can i find it?

Well there is a search engine called Google, as all of you know. Search it in Google. Also you can visit the stores that are selling this disposible underwater camera by clicking the link below which will direct you to Google’s products page.

Kodak’s Disposible Underwater Camera

Yesterday i wrote about horizons, today i want to show some examples. Generally horizon divides the frame 1/3 to 2/3. But i like exaggerated skies, and sometimes i place the horizon down very close to lower edge of the picture. I can not say that it is a good composition, but i like it. Some of my viewers like this, some of them not. I just want to show you something different, and out of “rules”. You may like it or not, but remember after learning the rules, sometimes it is good to break them on purpose, in order to create original, unique and different works.

As you see, i like filling the frame with sky. Not always but sometimes trying something different is good.

See also Part 1

One of the common mistakes in landscape photography is horizons that are not parallel to the up and down sides of the picture. I was doing that mistake when i first started taking nature and landscape pictures. Main reason was i only paid attention the scene in front of me and never checked the horizon line.

In landscape photography horizon should be horizontal. There are some items that shows if your camera is completely straight and parallel to the ground; such as the spirit levels on a tripod or spirit levels that you can mount on your camera. If you had none, you can use the dots that you see when you are looking through the visor of the camera. Place all the dots in the horizontal line on the horizon then take the shot. Of course these dots are in the middle of the frame, and adjusting the horizon according to these dots will make the horizon centered in your picture. But mostly placing the horizon in the center of the picture doesn’t give nice results. So after adjusting the horizon line parallel to the sides of the picture, shift your camera up or down in order to change the position of the horizon.

In my earlier post i wrote about composition, so if you don’t remember take a look to the rule of thirds. To have more impressive landscape pictures do not place the horizon right in the middle, place it slightly above or below. If you want to show the beautiful sky then let the sky fills 2/3 of the frame and land or ground fills the rest which is 1/3. And reverse, if you want show something on the ground and eliminate the boring gray sky, let the land fills the 2/3 of the picture and sky fills 1/3. And the horizon line is the line that separates 2/3 from 1/3 so place it to divide the frame leaving 1/3 of picture below or above the horizon line. And make sure it is parallel to the edges of the picture.

There’s one more thing that you can do. You can divide the picture 1/2 to 1/2 by placing horizon diagonal from one corner to another in the frame. As shown in the example;

Tomorrow is mother’s day. If you didn’t buy something for your mother, print a picture that you took before or took pictures of her and print the best one, buy a nice frame, put the picture in and your gift is ready.

This picture can be a picture of you and your mother, your picture or her picture. Also you can choose printing a picture that symbolizes something special for you and your family. I believe it is much more than buying a simple gift. There are feelings, work and thoughts of you in a picture that you take and since you are a photographer (doesn’t metter amateur or professional) you can take pictures that can make somebody feel special. Use this ability and create something special for your mother.

Do not forget the most important women in your life, who had so many hard times for raising you. All mothers are special and they need to feel special.

Macro photography is close-up photography. Almost anything can be the subject of macro photography but the insects and flowers are the most common ones. Depth of field really narrow in macro photography so you must be careful about where to focus.

• Simplify the scene; get rid of any unnecessary things and focus on your subject.
• Fill the frame with your subject.
• Sharp focus is important at macro photography. Your pictures should be sharply focused.
• As i mentioned before depth of field is narrow in macro photography, natural backgrounds will be blurry and most of the time you don’t need any backdrop or something like that.

Subjects of nature photography are basically; land, lakes, seas, mountains that are not changed or modified by human, also non-domestic animal and plant species. So a rose, sheep, dog or cat can not be the subject of nature photography. Of course you don’t have to be so strict about that, but these are the most common rules for nature photography contests.

There are lots of photography equipment that you can use for nature photography, but even most simple camera can be enough most of the times. And having a tripod and a shutter release cable will make the things easier for you under low light conditions.

If you want to have significant results, increase the depth of field by using a narrow aperture such as f/16 or f/22 to keep every detail in focus in the scene. And as you know narrow aperture, lets smaller amount of light into the camera so your shutter speed may decrease and this is when a tripod comes in handy for preventing shaking.

Light

In nature photography, we mostly use daylight. Best light conditions for nature photography are “Golden Hours” which are first lights in early morning and the last hours of evening when the sun sets. Don’t miss that hours! Waking up early in the morning and giving up a couple of hours of sleep may reward you magnificent photographs of nature.

You can take pictures, in the different hours of day, but none of them will be as impressive as the “Golden Hours”. Especially in the noon when sunlight comes with a vertical angle and creates strong and dark shadows, taking nice pictures is really hard.

Rain

I already told that there’s no bad weather conditions for photography, actually bad weather conditions makes extraordinary images for us to capture and rain is one of them. Rain is the thing that keeps nature alive so it is one of the most beautiful natural events. One day try getting out to the nature or streets after rain but don’t forget to protect yourself and your camera from getting wet. Colors are more saturated after rain.

Equipment

As i mentioned earlier in this post, it is hard to tell must-have equipments, since even the most simple camera can be enough to take gorgeous shots. But of course some equipment will help you to take better pictures. A wide angle lens is good for mountains, valleys and large plains, while a tele lens helps you shoot animals and plants from a distance. If you have 300 mm-f/2.8 or 600 mm-f/4 lenses that lets a considerable amount of light in and allows you to shoot a distant subject with a fast shutter speed, then you have a great opportunity to take wild life shots.

Filters are also important at nature photography. Especially ND, natural density filters, increase the contrast and saturation thus helping you to capture better nature pictures. Nd filters, eliminates the reflections from non-metallic surfaces, including, glasses and water. Since you are taking nature pictures, eliminating reflections of water can be one of the things that you need. UV filters and skylight filters are useful too for eliminating UV lights. And graduated filters helps us to increase the contrast and saturation of the sky.

I wrote before about building your home studio, but not in detail so i decided to write about producing photography equipments that similar to professional ones for cheaper prices. Photography is an expensive hobby, everything is expensive, lights, flashes, lenses, cameras, studio equipment all of them are expensive. Since there are so many students and amateurs that are interested in photography we should find cheaper solutions.If you say “I’m not earning my life from photography but i want to keep doing this hobby, It is not my job so i don’t want to spend thousands of dollars for studio equipment, but still i want to get significant results in my pictures.”. i advice you to use your creativity because this is what photography is about; “Creativity”.

And yes it is possible to use cheaper and home made equipment and get significant results. Search about it on the Internet there are tons of web sites that shows you how to make photography equipment cheaper.

Today our topic is Making a backdrop which is easy.

You need;

• A large piece of cloth
• Curtain hangers
• and a relatively thick wooden or metal stick - curtain rods

Here we go;

Go to your local cloth store and buy a large piece of cloth. You decide the width and color of the cloth. Make sure the cloth is long enough, some of the cloth should be lying on the ground. We want to cover both the wall and the ground with our backdrop. It can be twice as long as the wall, it will be enough to cover up enough space on the ground.

Curtain hangers are the metal hooks designed for holding curtain rods on the wall, you’ll need a pair of these. You also need curtain rod to hang the cloth. You can find them any hardware store for reasonable prices.

Attach the hooks to the wall, place the curtain rod on them and hang the cloth to the rod. You’re done. But make sure the cloth is straight not wavy like a curtain, so try to keep it plain.

When you are finished taking pictures you can just wrap the cloth around the rod.

I want to announce a photography contest; picturewagon.com has a photography contest about mother’s day. There’s only five days to deadline. So i’m writing this post a little bit late. If you have a picture that you already took before and fits the subject of the contest, send it. Prize is $1000 for the winner. Plus if you win you can buy a good mother’s day gift for your mother.

You must be 18 years old or older and a USA resident to be able to enter the contest.

More Information about the contest;

PICTUREWAGON.com Mother’s Day Photo Contest $1,000.00 GRAND PRIZE Jackson, WI. : (April 10, 2008) PictureWagon.com, America’s low price online digital photo superstore, announces its first ever Mother’s Day Photo Contest with an incredible $1,000.00 Grand Prize. While this contest is intended for Moms…anyone can enter. Visit www.PictureWagon.com and click on the Mother’s Day Photo Contest. Upload your favorite photo of your children, cousins, nephews & nieces, grandchildren etc! You can only upload one photo…so pick a winner! You can return to PictureWagon.com to vote for your photo every day from April 10 through May 11, 2008. If you really want to win…email all of your friends and tell them to become members at PictureWagon.com so they can vote for your photo too! How to Enter? Snap a fun photo of your kids laughing and playing…or show us a tender moment with you and your children. This is your chance to have fun taking photos that you will cherish for a lifetime. What matters most is that you have fun! Timeline: Upload your photo at PictureWagon.com any time between April 10 and May 11, 2008. Upload your photo early and vote often! It’s so easy! Prizes: If your photo wins the Grand Prize…you’ll receive a $1,000.00 credit to use anyway you want on PictureWagon.com. Consider what $1,000.00 will purchase on PictureWagon.com. 20,000 photo prints, or 143 photo posters, or 76 Photo T-shirts, or 62 photo puzzles…you get the picture! The Grand Prize winner will receive a $1,000.00 credit to purchase anything they desire on PictureWagon.com! The Second Prize Winner will receive $250.00 in credit on PictureWagon.com and the Third Prize Winner will receive a $100.00 credit. The Top 20 Honorable Mention Winners will each receive a free 16×20” Photo Poster of their uploaded photo. Even if your photo doesn’t snag one of the top prizes, everyone wins at PictureWagon.com. Become a member and you’ll automatically get 20 free prints just for signing up! More about PictureWagon.com Lowest Price Prints Anywhere! PictureWagon.com offers the lowest prices on digital photo prints. High quality 4×6 digital photo prints are everyday priced at only 5 cents each on PictureWagon.com. Quite simply, no one offers lower prices on digital photo prints. Online retailers like Shutterfly.com offer promotions that feature 4×6 digital prints for 12 cents each with a prepaid plan. But PictureWagon.com offers the lowest pricing for digital photo prints at just 5 cents each. Whether you purchase one print or one million prints, no one offers lower pricing for digital photos than PictureWagon.com! Photos make great Mother’s Day gifts. Make prints of all of your favorite photos for only 5 cents each. Print loads of photos and create a scrapbook for Mom…or upload your favorite photo and transform it into a stunning photo jewelry box or photo clock available through PictureWagon.com. 20 FREE PRINTS: In addition to FREE Membership, PictureWagon.com offers even greater value to all new members. PictureWagon.com offers 20 FREE Prints to all new members. Visit www.PictureWagon.com and register for your FREE membership. Upload and store photos on our secure server, and place your order for 20 FREE high quality 4×6 prints! MEMBER DISCOUNTS: Every month, PictureWagon.com offers special discounts and promotions available only to our members. Members also receive our free monthly newsletter with member discounts, and advanced notice of new products and upcoming sales and promotions. FREE PHOTO STORAGE: Why use up valuable computer memory by storing photos on your computer? Upload your digital photos to PictureWagon.com and take advantage of unlimited FREE photo storage. Store as many photos as you want. No restrictions. No limits. PictureWagon.com makes it easy to send emails with simple photo links that make it fun to send and receive photos. No tricky uploads or photos that are too large to view. Get on the Wagon, and get on with the fun. LOW PRICE PHOTO GIFTS: Turn your photos into priceless works of art. At PictureWagon.com we take personalized photo gifts to the next level. Transform your photos into creative…yet affordable photo gifts…Photo Posters, Photo Greeting Cards, Photo Gifts, Photo Calendars, Photo T-Shirts, Photo Puzzles and more…all at the lowest prices! At PictureWagon.com, we take pictures…personally! For more information about PictureWagon.com, contact Patrick Goodness at 312-205-6424 or via email patrick@goodnesscompany.com

Patrick Goodness (patrick@goodnesscompany.com) CEO The Goodness Company 820 Baker Street Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494 Phone : 312-205-6424

PictureWagon.com

Yesterday i got an e-mail asking my opinion about buying Rebel Xsi (450D). Well it is a tough question, but i’ll try to answer it.

I never used 450D or Rebel Xsi but i read about it a lot. It seems it is quite better than other cameras of the series (Digital Rebels). It has Dust Control System, Lİve LCD screen and it is 12 Mega-Pixels. Plus it is light and compact also it comes with a lens with image-stabilizing ability. I think it is a good deal, but considering it’s price it is so close to more professional cameras like 30D and 40D.

The average price difference between Rebel Xsi (450D) and 30D is $100, and between Rebel Xsi (450D) is $250. If you can afford a Rebel Xsi (450D), you probably can afford 30 D and 40 D too. These cameras are semi-professional, unlike Rebel Xsi (450D). They are faster than Rebel Xsi and have higher ISO speeds are available. Their fastest shutter speed is 1/8000 second, and highest ISO value is 3200, these values for Rebel Xsi (450D) are 1/4000 second and ISO 1600.

Both of these cameras are good, and preferable. But if you ask my opinion about these three, i’ll pick 40D.

There’s a web site that i appreciate; Imaging Resource. You can easily make a technical comparison between these three by clicking the following link

Compare Rebel Xsi (450D), 30D and 40D