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If you are just getting started in digital photography or just want to start taking better photos, then there are some books that I would highly recommend to help you to start taking great photos.
As you probably know already, there are tons of books on the market and picking one to cover all the basics in a plain, easy to read format can get confusing. If a friend asked me to suggest a few good books to read, I would recommend the following three. My first two choices would be a pair of books written by Scott Kelby and the third book would be one written by Bryan Peterson.
The Digital Photography Book and The Digital Photography Book Volume 2 by Scott Kelby are both enjoyable reading and full of useful tips and techniques. These books do a great job of getting you started in digital photography. In the first book (Volume #1) he covers a lot of the basics in good detail without getting too technical and even adds some tips on sharpening and printing your images. He has entire chapters written about shooting sports, people, weddings, landscapes and wraps up the book with a chapter called “Photo Recipes” with tips on what to do to get the shot.
In Volume 2 he actually picks up where he left off in the first book, and gives you tips on using flash, building a studio and shooting more professional portraits. Plus he has entire chapters devoted to shooting travel, landscape, macro photography just to name a few. He gives us tons of useful tips on how to take better photos. He even includes another chapter in this book on “Photo Recipes”. Both books are full of tips and techniques and loaded with photos and examples, which I will guarantee to help you take better photos. There is actually a Volume 3 in the works, which should be out very soon and I will definitely pick that up when it reaches the stores. Scott Kelby is the author of many excellent books on photography and Photoshop, all in an easy to read, friendly style all his own. If you ever have a chance to attended one of his all day Photoshop seminars I would recommend that also. Scott is also the president of the NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals), which I have personally been a member of for a number of years. Joining NAPP entitles you to a yearly subscription to Photoshop User magazine, open access to Photoshop TV and tons of members perks and discounts. You can click on the banner at the bottom of this page to join or to just find out more about it.
The third book is one I would highly recommend and is probably the most important book I’ve ever read on photography, it is called Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. This book is a little more technical, and the author gets into details on aperture, shutter speeds and shooting in manual mode on your SLR camera. He also includes a lot of tips to help you get more creative in your photography. This book I consider a must read for anyone who wants to get the most out of his camera. I refer back to this book over and over and recommend it highly. I purchased this book and a training DVD and utilize them both often. Bryan, in addition to being a great photographer, is also the founder of The Perfect Picture School of Photography. It’s an online school that offers a wide choice of classes taught by excellent instructors. Click on the Amazon.com box on the side of this page and you will find all of these books and more.
I hope you have a chance to pick up these books. I will guarantee they will help you start to take photos you can be proud of. Remember, keep shooting and last but not least, have some fun!
If you are shooting wide open, which is at the camera's largest aperture, your depth of field will be correspondingly shallow. That means your focus is going to be even more critical than otherwise. Pick a point that needs to be sharp and really pay attention to keeping that point sharp. Generally, if you are shooting people, the most important thing to keep sharp is the eyes. When I am shooting people I focus on the eyes, shoot, re-focus and shoot again...and then do it all over again. I can't tell you how much I hate to be editing and find that I have a potentially great shot, but out of focus eyes ruin the picture. I have found that if I am worried about an image not being sharp, I am usually right. Pixels are cheap...shoot enough to make sure you have your shot!
Shooting for stock, know your equipment, know your agency
If you are shooting with a stock agency in mind it is good to know just how high you can push your ISO before you reach the point where the agency is going to reject the image. That means you have to know both your own equipment and the standards of the agency. I was once shooting from the interior of a jeep on a mountain road in China. The scene, road-building equipment clearing a landslide, was lit by the headlights of the cars waiting for the road to be cleared. I shot the scene, hand held, but braced against the head-rest, at an ISO of 1600 with a Canon 1ds. Man did I work on that image in post (processing the digital files)! They accepted it too. With the newer cameras I have no qualms about shooting at 400, I am comfortable shooting at 800 and don't think 1600 would really be such a stretch. But don't take my word for it... do some testing!
Exposure and more
RAW (the file format native to the camera) has been talked to death, but keep in mind that it is more akin to negative film than transparency film and I personally find that I can safely get another stop to a stop-and-a-half in post-shoot processing. Shoot RAW, not jpeg! As far as exposure, keep your histogram as far to the right as possible without clipping (going off the edge). If you loose your highlights (which are on the right hand side of the histogram) you probably can't get them back. I guess in that way a digital file is like transparency film.
I am not a big user of on-camera flash, but it can be a real life-saver. I suggest a good starting point is to set your flash to under expose by two-thirds of a stop. That can help bring out details without overpowering the image...and looking like you used on-camera flash! If you do use on-camera flash it is generally a good idea to bounce it or at least put some sort of diffuser over it.
Use movement to your advantage
Another thing to keep in mind is that a little movement in your image isn't necessarily an image killer. Sometimes you can make it work to your advantage. A year ago I was shooting in the train station in Mumbai, India. The station is indoors and while it wasn't exactly gloomy, it still qualifies as low light. I put the camera over my head as high as I could hold it and fired off a half-dozen frames at an eighth of a second. I only shot six frames because at that point a machine gun carrying police officer politely but firmly informed me that photography in the train station was forbidden. That image, in which everything has movement, even the lamp posts, has already sold a number of times as a stock picture with Getty Images (1377). Sometimes movement can make an image more dynamic and help it convey a mood or message.
Stock Photos of cute puppies, cats, cows, elephants happy people, ethnic people etc.: John Lund Stock Photos Animal stock photos, Fine Art Prints, and printed gift merchandise
Visit John Lund's Blog Creative Stock Photography Concept stock photos, Fine Art Prints, and printed gift merchandiseArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_M_Lund
