Imagine travelling to beautiful and exciting destinations all around the world, trying delicious food, meeting interesting people and seeing some of the best views that nature has to offer.  Imagine taking photos of everything you see and making money from the entire adventure.  Imagine even getting paid to travel by the person who hires you to go there. Maybe you take a few photos of your morning coffee and sunrise, next you video the locals in a special parade, then later you get invited to watch someone’s grandmother make soup – and sample the results, of course.  Next week, you’re going on a river cruise of the Amazon and you’re…

Some cameras offer the ability to save images as raw files versus JPG files.  If you plan to do a lot of editing, the best choice is to save them as raw files.  While JPG is the most widely used file format for images, saving in raw format allows you to see all the raw image information captured at the time the picture was taken. A raw image is like how your images looked on film before they got developed, which gives you as the developer a lot of leeway in how your final image looks.  This is a good thing because you can edit all the elements of the…

When you take family photos, it’s important to get some shots that look more natural than typical poses.  These are often referred to as “unposed poses”.  They are often more playful although they can be serious too – such as getting ready for a wedding or another important occassion.  However, they aren’t ‘stiff’ poses and they are often taken in the midst of action. Here’s how to get great, natural-looking photographs: Think of Why When you look at the big picture of the photoshoot, considering the ‘why’ is important.  What is the reason for the picture and what is the feeling you want people viewing the image to feel?  When…

Taking family photos at home is a common Christmas pastime for that unique, yearly greetings card or family newsletter.  Of course, you want to share your family with everyone.  Sadly, sometimes the pictures leave a bit to be desired. Let’s try to help you get the right shot at the right time that you are really proud to show off: Lighting Matters If you’ve ever watched America’s Next Top Model or X Factor, you know how important finding the light is.  Help your subjects understand where the light is and that they need some of the light in their eyes, so they have that glint in the photo. Use a…

One of the trickiest aspects of photography is using a wide angle lens.  With a wide angle lens, it more closely approximates the way we actually see the world.  Most of us can see a little bit on each side of any scene.  A wide angle lens is great for capturing landscapes, and sometimes people use the “fish eye” wide angle lens to take photos of real estate. Let’s explore how to make great wide angle shots: Fill the Frame When you look through the viewfinder, ensure that every part of the frame is full of what you want to show in the shot.  You don’t want to have to…

Taking photos outdoors makes a photographer’s job a lot easier.  Most of the time (unless it happens to be a bad weather day) the natural lighting and backgrounds, help to make your job so much easier. Set Up Shots Ahead of Time Having a plan for the type of shots you want to take is important for outdoor photos.  Experiment with your settings in advance, on days with varying weather conditions, to give a reference point.  Just check today’s weather so you know what settings you’ll need to apply. Use Your Autofocus Using autofocus doesn’t mean you’re a bad photographer.  Predictive autofocus works for birds or any moving animal.  You…

Few things are better than taking pictures of nature.  Even amateur photographers gravitate towards taking pictures of nature because it’s easier to get a good picture, with the right approach.  After all, nature is the most magnificent work of art, and you want to do it justice with your pictures.  There are a few ways to make your nature photography look great. Take Pictures When It’s Overcast Believe it or not, a good overcast day is an excellent time to take nature pictures.  The reason is that the lighting is like having diffused lighting, which makes things look soft and beautiful. Take Images during Twilight This works really well if…

When you take close-up photos, a shaky hand and bad lighting show up even more.  Thankfully, there are some things you can do to perfect a close-up photo, whatever the subject matter is. Set Up the Subject Matter Put the subject matter where you want it to be first, so that you can move the camera in for the shot, as close to it as you want.  That way you don’t have to worry about setting up the shot all over. Determine the Background With close shots you will not be able to determine what the background is because it will be so close.  The background colours do matter and…

If you like to take pictures of food for a blog, or just to share with your friends on Instagram, you can improve your food photography with just a few tweaks: Lighting Is Key It’s important to be careful with lighting for food.  The lighting you use for food is backlight as it will help show off the texture of the food and even show steam coming off hot food.  If you want your food to look super fresh, use appropriate backlighting to avoid plain, flat images.  If you do nothing else, do this. Backgrounds Should Be Interesting While you want the food to be the main thing in the…

When you do photoshoots, it’s important not to overlook the background.  It’s amazing what a difference a background can make on the appearance of your image – whether it’s a portrait or a still image.  The background can detract or bring forward important features you want to highlight in any image. Keep It Simple Don’t overthink it and end up with a busy background in an effort to be unique.  Most of the time, simple is best.  You don’t want the background to distract from the image that is supposed to be the main focus. Avoid Conflicting Messages While sometimes conflicting messages work well in print advertisements, they don’t often…