How To Take Perfect “People Pictures” In Digital Photography

One of the things people ask me most about digital photography is how to take perfect “people pictures.” Digital photography is great for people because you can simply delete the ones you don’t like, and show them, on the spot, what the digital photo looks like.
In any digital photography session, whether it be portrait photography or photography at a birthday party it takes prior knowledge to getting “perfect people” digital photos.
So here are the digital photography secrets to this type of photography.

People Photography Secret number 1:

Horizontal vs. vertical

Most people who do digital photography of people hold the digital camera horizontal. Not sure why this is; most likely because the digital camera is built that way, but really you can do well with holding the camera vertical as well. Horizontal digital photos of people are ok, but work best when taking a group photo rather than a single photo of someone. A vertical angle for your digital people photo can give you a great composition for close up and it tells you a lot more about that person that a horizontal will. Horizontal angles in digital photography of single people tends to increase the amount of potential clutter and irrelevant objects in the frame.

People Photography Secret Number 2

Where to put your people in the frame

In digital photography, pictures of people work best by creating some interesting composition. Don’t put your person in the center of the frame just because everyone else does their digital photography that way; be unique and creative and you’ll get a much be result. And good digital photography is all about capturing that special moment of someone to last and reflect something positive about that person, right?

People Photography Secret Number 3

Go Candid.

Personally, in my experience as someone who does digital photography for a living, I can tell you that candid digital photographs work so much better then staid photos. It’s so much better to capture someone just as they laugh at a funny joke, or see their friend for the first time in a while, or even talking quietly to others, it so much more interesting and creates a positive photo of someone than a shot of them looking into the camera with a posed shot; hey anyone can do that. But do take that digital photo with them laughing and not knowing they’re being photographed captures a side of them that not everyone sees. It’ll show them in good spirits and create a positive image for all those who see that digital photo from now on. Get creative with people photography; try black and white and sepia. And even try taking the digital photo of them doing something they love, like playing an instrument for example.

Good luck!
Amy Renfrey

If you are totally serious and really want to learn proper people photography just go to www.digitalphotographysuccess.com right now for ways to bring your people pictures to life...



This photo is copyrighted to Amy Renfrey.

How To Photograph Landscapes With Your Digital Camera

If you’ve ever wanted to do landscape digital photography then here is some good news. You don’t need powerful digital photography equipment, but what you do need is a good lens.

Sorry to say but a lot of (I didn’t say all) digital cameras can’t take clear and “big” landscape photos because they don’t have the lens that enables them to do it. Digital photography has come along way in recent years and is racing up to traditional camera quality. Due to this fact landscape digital photography still needs to be done with a good lense.

So what is a good lens for landscape digital photography? A wide angle is a good place to start. Like a lot of things in digital photography this rule is not set in stone like the ten commandments, but it will help you a lot if you have a lens that is able to take mountain and nature scenes with a good view.

Think of a lens as a pair of glasses. The digital camera has the eye and the eye needs glasses. Okay, bear with me here….

The eye needs special lenses to see things from certain angles. It needs a pair of binoculars to see far away distances up close (telephoto lens), a magnifying glass if it wants to see detail up very close (macro lens) and it needs to see a ‘wide’ if it wants to see a scene clearly (wide angle lens.)

Okay now I know you are not a silly person and you can understand more technical things that that! I am just meaning that if you want good, clear detail in your landscape digital photography then you need to assist your digital camera to do it. And a wide angle is exactly what it says; it gives you a wider angle to shoot mountain ranges, landscapes, seascapes and even astrophotography. (The stars in the night sky.)

It’s easy to get landscape digital photos, but without the right lens its not easy to get good, sharp and clear digital landscape photos. If you won’t have the right lens then your landscapes will be flat lines with no depth, and you’ll be frustrated. I know, because this happened to me. Until I understood that your digital camera acts like the human eye and sometimes needs a little help for it to “see” what you want it to see.

If you are not sure if your digital camera can even take good landscape photos, then try it out. Get yourself to a mountain range or even cityscape and take a few different angles. If you have a camera that has an adaptable lens then you will be thankful for ever! If not, don’t despair, you can always hire dlsr’s from camera stores for a pretty reasonable price. It will be entirely worth it for that brilliant, clear, sharp detailed landscape photo you can hang on your wall for the rest of your life.

Good luck!

Amy Renfrey

If you are serious about landscape photography and want to know how to take suberb, clear digital images of your beautiful landscape then just go to www.beautifuloutdoorphotography.com

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

Photo copyrighted by Lyndie Jeffrey. Landscape Photographer of the year winner 2006.

Digital Photography On Vacation

Going on holidays or vacation to get away provides one of the best digital photography opportunities that must not be missed. Most people take the usual digital photography “snaps” without really looking an examining their environments first.

The normal holiday digital photographs are taken with hard light over exposing parts of the picture, and the digital image is always the same. One or two people standing near a monument with the usual holiday clothing on…it’s the same ting over and over again.

If you want to get interesting digital photography opportunities then firstly the thing to do is not do what everyone else does! So let’s looks at ways you can make you digital vacation photos interesting so that you can use them to hang on the wall or give away as postcards when you get back, or greeting cards. Ahh, what the wonderful world of digital photography can do for the soul!

Firstly the get your digital photography really interesting and stimulating when going on holiday is to research as much as you can about the area you are going to, and, the season you are going in, and what the temperature is likely to be. This is called digital photography preparation; not just holiday preparation.

Discover what things you will be likely to visit. Are you going to a fairly established area, such as old churches that have been around for centuries and you are aiming to get your digital photography experience reflecting the beauty and the art work in these old buildings?

Or perhaps you are having an action holiday with hot summer days, beaches, hotels, lying by the pool….in that case then your digital photography will be a completely different experience. Your digital photography needs will be very different and require different things.

If you perhaps want to do a bit of both; churches in Rome then Hawaii on the flight back then you have an even more interesting set of digital photography requirements. Most digital photography professionals may take two cameras, one digital camera for one scene or situation and a traditional camera with film for another situation. But being an enthusiast, you don’t have to go to that length; there are some things you can do.

The reason I say to investigate further about what it is you really want to see when you are on your vacation is to see what kind of light you will be working with. If you are going to see some beautiful European churches in winter time then the light will be very different from the light on a beach in summer time in Hawaii. Digital photography is the type of activity that requires you think about what you are doing first. Always think about your digital photography in this way because light can be very different in other places and especially if you are going to a different season.

Good luck!

Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com