A Guest Post by Chris Folsom.

Lineup of Lenses – by canonsnapper

It’s a question I hear a lot from new photographers: “what lenses should I buy?”

And while there are a lot of different types of lenses appropriate for many different situations and needs, time and time again I find myself primarily relying on three lenses in my bag: a fast general purpose zoom (18-50mm), a macro lens and a telephoto zoom (70-200mm). These three lenses will give you enough versatility to shoot in almost any conditions. Also, these three lenses are available for just about every camera system and lens mount on the market.

The general purpose zoom

This is the lens that sits on my camera the most. For APS-C cameras, something in the 18-50mm range is best… for 35mm format cameras, a 24-70mm will work. This will give you the ability to go fairly wide while also being able to zoom into objects off in the distance. This lens might be your kit lens, but it should preferably be fairly fast (a fixed f/2.8 if possible) to give you greater control over depth of field. It makes a great “walkabout” lens when you aren’t sure what you will be shooting.

The macro lens

The length of this lens isn’t as important as its ability to create a 1:1 magnification of subjects. I currently keep a 50mm f/2.8 macro in my bag because it is small and light… easy to carry around for when I might need it. It makes a decent portrait lens (very sharp and the f/2.8 provides a fairly shallow area of focus) and the level of detail you can get when shooting objects up close is fantastic. Having a macro lens opens up a whole new world of tiny objects to photograph. Also, if you do any type of product photography (jewelry, food, etc.) this lens will allow you to capture a much greater level of detail than is possible with non-macro lenses.

Fortune by Chris Folsom http://www.flickr.com/photos/zero101/3335373821/

The telephoto zoom

The telephoto zoom should be in the general range of 70-200mm with a maximum aperture of at least f/4 (faster is nice though). This will give you a lot of distance to work with and a very shallow depth of field to bring focus to your subjects. For faster moving objects, the bigger aperture will allow you to shoot at faster shutter speeds which will help capture moving objects (birds, sports) too. This is also an excellent portrait lens as the focal length minimizes distortion and narrows the angle of view to fill the frame with your subject.

Wait… what about?

I am sure many of you reading this have other lenses you would consider essential. A fast 50, or a wide angle or a longer zoom… and all of those are great lenses to own also. However, for someone who is new to photography or who has just bought their first DSLR, these three lenses will give them the versatility to shoot in almost any situation. Family gatherings, sports events, birds, insects, flowers, landscapes, portraits, etc. Once you narrow in on a particular type of photography that most interests you, other lenses may be more useful for that specific subject, but until then these are the lenses all photographers should be carrying with them.

What lenses would you include in your ‘every photography should own’ basket?

Recently, I posted that my biggest frustration is improper focus.

If you use a point-and-shoot, the solution it pretty simple. You hold down the shutter button halfway until focus is achieved and then push it the rest of the way down. The only reason you’d be likely to end up with poor focus is, as I said before, you’re shooting in an improper mode. For example, you’re shooting a landscape in macro mode.

For us DSLR users, focus becomes another monster all together.

{Factor 1 – Selecting Focus Mode}

The first thing to consider is the mode you’ve set for your camera. In the menu, there will be an area for ‘AF Modes’. The three you may see are:

1.} One-Shot – Suitable for still subjects. Press the shutter halfway and the camera will focus only once. If the subject moves or you want to recompose the shot, you must release the shutter and press it halfway again to refocus.

2.} AI Servo – Also known as ‘continuous focus’ on a Nikon, AI Servo is used to keep a continuous focus on moving subjects until the shutter is pressed all the way. The ‘AI’ stands for ‘artificial intelligence’ and the camera uses these algorithms to predict where a subject is about to be. This is the setting to be used in sports photography and I use it with children on the go. Wikipedia’s entry on AI Servo says it so well: “Before servo focus the photographer would generally pre-focus on an area where he/she thought the best action would take place; today he/she can follow the entire sequence of events, and select the best later.” In AI Servo mode, the camera won’t beep once focus is achieved. It just keeps focusing until you decide to take the picture.

3.} Al Focus – AI Focus mode starts with normal one-shot focussing (hold the shutter down half way and it will beep when focused) but if the subject starts moving, it will switch to AI Servo mode. Certainly, this is clever of the camera, but Nikon doesn’t even have this option. Why? Your subject is either a living, breathing, moving being or it isn’t. I’m either in One-Shot or AI Servo. AI Focus just seems kind of dumb to this Canon user

{Factor 2 – Selecting the AF Area}

In my camera (A Canon 7D) there are three AF Areas and it should be pretty much the same in most cameras.

1.} Single Point AF – this selects one spot to be used for focus. In the viewfinder, you’ll see the little square and you press the shutter halfway and the camera will beep to let you know that focus has been achieved. This mode is useful if you often follow the rule of thirds because you can focus on your subject, slowly re-compose the shot and take the photo. Your subject will be in focus.

2.} Zone AF – Focus points are organized into five different groupings, and the camera uses one of the points in the group to autofocus. Can be used in the thirds composition as above but offers a bigger area for focus, useful for tighter shots and portraits.

3.} Auto Select 19-point AF – All 19 available autofocus points are used. If multiple areas are in focus, all of these points will light up in the viewfinder. This is the mode used in full auto and creative auto modes. Pressing the shutter halfway will display the AF point(s) which have achieved focus. If multiple points are displayed, it means they all have achieved focus. This mode tends to focus the nearest subject. Great for moving subjects.

How to take advantage of what is right above you.

The sky is the single most abstract and dynamic canvas that a photographer has at his disposal. It is an endless source of inspiration that can change a boring photo into one of tremendous interest.

Sweet Home Under White Clouds – by tipiro

The sky is a key element in almost all landscape photos and if you can’t get it just right the entire photo will suffer. The problem is that it is often very difficult to properly expose the sky and the ground at the same time.

By turning to tools such as graduated neutral density filters or bracketing photographers have been able to perfectly expose photos right on the camera, however, this isn’t always possible given circumstance.

furthermore, the sky itself doesn’t always behave. Sometimes you show up for that shoot and the sky is boring and uninteresting. Other times the sky simply does not convey the right mood. Sometimes an image needs a new sky.

Shoot the sky when it is interesting

Carry your camera everywhere with you and always make a point to look up to the sky as you go about your daily routine. If the clouds are doing something interesting. Take a picture of them.

Begin to create a collection of cloud photos that you save for later use. The clouds don’t have to always be wickedly cool or on a vibrant sky but it is important to build a diverse collection.

These photos, while often are interesting enough to become stand alone images they truly shine when used to augment something else.

Tricks to shooting great clouds

• Make sure that you shoot more of the sky than you need. It is easy to crop in later if necessary.
• Slightly underexpose the image. The sky is notoriously bright during the day. Overexposed clouds tend to look goofy. You can always fix up the exposure later in post processing.
• Get creative, clouds are very abstract try interesting things with them. Long exposure times. Wild Filters. Go Nuts!
• Watch out for things in the sky. While they can always be removed later it is annoying when a bird or plane is in the middle of your frame.

How to make certain skies more interesting

Even though the sky is almost always interesting to a degree, sometimes you want to make it that much more compelling. This can easily be done in Photoshop.

Cheery

Everyone likes bouncy soft clouds. They can make a scene feel more fun and energetic. Cheery clouds are characterized by smooth white tones in the clouds set upon a vivid blue backdrop.

Energetic

Clouds can also look very interesting when given tension.

This can easily be achieved by framing the clouds at a unique and compelling angle.

Antique

They have nearly become a cliche but they are also very effective.

Antique clouds can perfectly help frame all sorts of interesting photos. Antique clouds tend to be moody and work best in a more overcast sky.

Muted

You could also consider them boring clouds. However they are also very useful when you simply want to add texture.

Muted clouds are characterized by less bold lines and lower contrast.

Ominous

You can also add powerful emotion to a piece with more rugged and defined clouds.

These clouds tend to feel foreboding and can really add tension to a composition. Ominous clouds looks best when the clouds themselves have high contrast and often are very dark. Such as before a storm
.

From Above

Did I mentioned that you should take your camera everywhere?

This includes on an airplane. Clouds look really cool from above.

Getting Creative

Once in Photoshop you can either let your clouds remain realistic or you can easily change them dramatically to add another dimension to their abstraction.

This will usually depend on the style of image you are aiming for in the final piece but given how abstract clouds are it is very easy to vastly change them without ruining their effect.

Don’t be afraid to really experiment, the worst possible outcome would be starting over but the rewards can be infinite.

Things you can do to clouds to make them more abstract

• Add extreme color of any type. We are used to seeing clouds with sky blue as a back drop. They also look good with most other colors of the spectrum.
• Give them movement. Add motion or radial blurs to simulate movement.
• Warp them. Given that clouds have no predefined shape you can use tools such as liquefy to mold them to your desired shape.
• Add things to them. Birds, rainbows, and lightning can all add an interesting twist.

You have shot your clouds… Now what?

Take advantage of them. As mentioned above you can’t always count on the sky to deliver it’s best performance when you are taking your pictures.

Next time you have a photo that you think could have been amazing but just isn’t quite right consider how it would look with a new sky.

Look through your collection of clouds and find the perfect sky to match your photo. Just make sure the sky you have chosen fits with the image you are giving it to.

Things to watch out for when adding a new sky

Make sure to cut out the original photo well. A halo of the old sky can look really weird.

Instead of completely replacing the old sky, consider blending it with the new sky to make things look more natural.

Make sure the lighting matches. It would look really weird if you add a sky behind a mountain with the sun in it but the shadows on the mountain imply the sun is behind the photographer.

Match the tones so that the entire image has similar saturation, brightness, and contrast. It needs to look natural.

Other cool tricks

• You can vastly increase the size of the sky. For example, in the image above the original sky looked fairly good but it was cut off by the end of the frame. By adding a new sky I was able to use one that was much taller and thus make the picture more interesting with a taller aspect ratio.
• You don’t always have to replace a sky. Perhaps you photo doesn’t have any sky in it. But it does have some water or other reflective surfaces. Create an interesting reflection.
• Layer skies. If done well, and carefully, you can layer several skies together by blending them and create a compelling effect.
• Transform them. Flip and rotate them. A sky doesn’t always look it’s best right off the camera. Find the angle that best benefits the final image.

Conclusion

Clouds are a great and fun canvas to work with. They inspire creativity and help expand your ability as a photographer. The greatest strength of the sky is it is endless in it’s abstraction and thus is only limited by your imagination.

If your digital camera has a hot shoe, it can accept an external flash. Here are five compelling reasons to use one.

Often when you’re working in Lightroom you will want the images to be sorted in the order that you want to see them, not in as order such as capture date which is one of the Lightroom sort options.

You may want to do this when assembling images for a slide show or for printing, for example as the order of the images in the filmstrip will affect how the images appear in a print template and in the slideshow.

You can control the order of images in a Lightroom folder by dragging and dropping an image from one place to the other in the filmstrip view. To do this, grab the image in the middle and drag on it until you see a black bar appear between two images. If you let go the image it will drop into the indicated position.

This drag and drop process works in most instances but there are some exceptions to be aware of.

The first is that this will not work if you are in a folder where there are images in a subfolder below it which are also visible. You can see if this is likely if you open the fly-out for the folder in the Folders panel in the library. If there is another folder the one you are working on, chances are that the images in the subfolder are included in the filmstrip and so you cannot arrange the images by dragging them into position if this is the case.

To workaround this limitation you can remove the photos in the subfolder from view – this just removes them from the grid and filmstrip and not from Lightroom or your disk. To do this, click Library in the menu and disable the Include Photos from Subfolders option.

With this disabled, you can now move images by dragging and dropping them into position.

Another exception is when you are working with a Smart Collection. While images can be located in a regular collection and rearranged in order to suit, they cannot be rearranged if they are in a Smart Collection. If you have images in a Smart Collection that you want to be in a specific order, you will need to create a regular collection for them and add them to it to do so.

Another situation where you cannot reorder images to your own preference is when you are working on the images in the Catalog such as Previous Import. You must, instead, locate the folder or collection in which the images are stored and rearrange them there.

Once you have arranged the images as you want them to appear, Lightroom stores your ordering so it is as accessible as, for example, any other sort order options for that folder or collection. So, you can return to your preferred sort order at any time by selecting User Order from the Sort dropdown list.

We ran this question/discussion just on two years ago now but a lot of new camera bags are now on the market so it’s time to do it again.

What camera bag do you use and recommend – and why?

• Do you use a brand like Crumpler, Tamrac or Lowpro OR do you prefer a more anonymous brand that looks less like a camera bag (and makes it less attractive to thieves)?
• Do you use a bag that is not really a camera bag at all?
• What features do you look for in a camera bag?
• Do you have more than one bag for different situations?

Last time the most popular bag was the Lowepro Slingshot 200 All Weather Backpack (pictured). It’ll be interesting to see if it still ranks highest among our readers or whether another bag takes the cake now!

The Canon PIXMA iP2702 is an inexpensive, compact photo printer. Photo quality is acceptable but not on par with printers that use more colors.

A Guest Post by SusanG from Camelot Photography Forum.

We talk about things like Workflow and Task Management. Yet, how much time do we dedicate to looking, really looking, into our own work? The end product itself!

I spent eight months last year photographing one linear mile. It wasn’t a planned series, but evolved into a long-term project. I recently reviewed the whole collection to select forty images as representative. In re-assessing the series, I took a long hard look to determine if the photography was an evolution of a signature approach, or a rut. That was not easy. It almost teetered into a self-involved downward spiral of “Why is everything rubbish?”

I kicked my ass out of that one ASAP as the end result of whinge-influenced decisions often is not a forward motion but a knee jerk response. Which can result in decisions that don’t further the goal. What does further the goal is to analyse objectively why an image (or images) failed or didn’t succeed as well as expected. Define the problem then look for solutions.

Also take the time to see what has been accomplished. If you know in your heart and mind that you have achieved a goodly portion of your photographic goals, take a moment to bask in that. There is more to be gained from honest congratulations then beating your self up. But keep that “Why Is Everything Rubbish” on hand for brief self-indulgences, and then use it in a positive manner.

My appraisal identified what lens and camera purchases I will be making next. I see that I still have issues resolving what I think I’m seeing to what I’m actually seeing in terms of composition. Which tells me I need to evaluate more completely the scene before I think I’m ready to click the shutter.

Perhaps that isn’t earth shattering, or a Road-To-Damascus moment. It is an important process and it has helped me to plan the next steps to where I want photography to take me.

Practical Things – Recap!

1. Look at what makes the bulk of your subject and composition. Think about making a specific purchase (lens, filters, even camera upgrade) to take those types of images.
2. Look for what’s missing! Could you have repositioned the camera to take a better or more complete perspective? Do you need to spend more time looking for different views to photograph a scene or subject?Be brutally honest with yourself when considering the above. You’ll stand a better chance of purchasing the equipment you need, and have a better idea on how to use it.
3. Look for what’s right in your photography! No matter how small you may think it, everything you feel you got right is one more step towards becoming the photographer you want to be!

These are only a part of an ongoing process. Once you know where your photography is, you have taken an intelligent and objective look at your work. There’s bound to be items I missed or are unique to your own photography. That is what makes your work unique. That is what defines part of your signature style.

SusanG is the Creator of Camelot Photography Forum, a MySpace™ Photography Site where anyone can find their new level.

I’m Benjamin and am a hitchhiking photographer. In my travels I quickly realized a need to make my own postcards for my friends and family.

I wanted unique and personal postcards at a cheap price. Here is the result of that quest. This is a post for those whom aren’t familiar with Photoshop and editing their photographs. You should be able to make postcards that are one-of-a-kind and appealing at less than the cost of buying a postcard.

Read on and when you are finished, please share this post with others, whom would benefit from it. Also, check out my journey hitchhiking around the USA, sharing stories of the Goodness of People at my blog, Create Our World.

Here we Go!!!

What You Need:

1. A digital camera.
2. Access to a Computer and the Internet.
3. About 15 to 30 minutes.
4. A Free Picnik Account.
5. About 30 cents for the card and 44 cents for the stamp.
6. A Zip Drive.

Make Your Own Postcard (here is a photograph I took of my friend, Nai, in Austin, Texas)

1. Take a Photograph and Upload it to a computer

I love to photograph people. I love to remember places by the people I am with, so my postcards are of friends, either new or old. What do you want to remember about the place or what do you want to share? Be personal and be yourself. And take that shot and upload it to your own laptop or upload it at a computer lab.

After Editing

2. Edit your Photograph. (Optional.)

If you are a Photoshop expert, you can skip this page and just do what you do. Or if you don’t care about jazzing your photograph up a bit, then skip it as well. But with a few clicks, you can really improve how your image looks and trick your granny into thinking you are a professional photographer.

Open up your photo editor. I use iPhoto for my Mac. I have also used Picasa by Google, which is a free download and is easy to use. You can also do this in Picnik, which I am going to explain in the next step.

Here are two easy steps you can take to making the photograph look more vibrant. One increase the contrast of the photograph. Usually there is a little pointer that you can just drag. Contrast makes the darks darker and the lights lighter. The second step is to increase or decrease the color saturation. You can make the colors a little richer to improve the photograph or sometimes by lessening the colors, it will catch the eye more. Fool around with these two settings until you have a photograph that you are happy with.

3. Upload your photograph to Picnik

Picnik is an online photograph editor. Picnik is free for the basic edits and it has a lot of options to use. Sign up for a free account and follow the instructions to upload your photograph.

After the LOMO filter, adding a Border, and the 1960’s filter

4. Create Your Postcard

Here we are going to jazz our photograph up a bit more, add borders, and add our message. (Picnik has lots of options, so feel free to add any options that you want)

A. Open up the CREATE tab along the top of the border.

B. Click on the LOMO Filter under EFFECTS. (This simulates how a LOMO camera would take a photograph, which is toy camera.)

This increases the saturation of the photograph, adds a vignette (a dark shadow around the border), and blurs the outside of the photograph. Mess around with the settings until your photograph looks as you want.

C. Add the Border in Frames.

Every good postcard has a border. Choose a color for the border that goes well with the photograph. Go with black, if you can’t decide. Then, make it look like a postcard, by increasing thickness of the OUTER COLOR and leave the INNER COLOR alone. In my photograph of Nai, I decide on a Dark Orange and Black (University of Texas colors). Finally, increase the CORNER RADIUS too to give it an interesting look.

D. Go back to EFFECTS and chose the 1960’s effect.

I love the look of old film photographs. This adds a slight reddish tint to the photograph and also curves the outside edges. Tweak these settings again, till you like the look of your postcard.

E. Add Your Personalized Message in the TEXT tab.

Here is where you add your message. Anything you like works. “I love Mom!” or “Wish you were here!” are good. I am a huge fan of the “Greetings from…” postcard series that was popular a long time ago. There is a host of different fonts to chose from, so chose one or more that fit your style. For my photograph, I chose PANHEAD for “Austin, TX”, which is a western-looking font and then a bold font, IMPACT for the “Greetings from…” I keep my color theme similar as with the border colors.

F. SAVE your photograph & SHARE it.

Now you can save it to your computer or Zip Drive, share it on Facebook or email it.

5. Print Your Postcard

Save your postcard on something that is portable. I bought a Zip Drive for 15$ and I upload my postcards to this and head to a local store with a photograph kiosk. Walmart, CVS, Rite-Aid are very common options. However, more and more stores have a place that you can print your digital photographs on location.

Upload your postcards to the kiosk and chose the quantity, before hitting PRINT!

NOTE: Make sure your postcard fits and the border will not be cut off. Sometimes, I will lose my border by how the machine cuts the photograph, so you may have to make little edits at the machine.
Print off your new postcards!

6. Write on the back and Send it!

Write on the back like any postcard and send it off with a stamp in the top right corner. Your Mom and Granny will love you and tell all their friends!

Finished! Enjoy making your postcards and share this post with your friends. I will be blogging from all over the USA on my hitchhiking journey. I usually write about the people I meet and about the goodness of people, but I also share budget travel advice on my website, Create Our World.

If you’ve ever taken a photo with a TV in it, you might notice just how hard it can be. The picture can seem squiggly or, as in this photo, not even visible. You don’t have to be a Photoshop pro to replace the screen in post production. The answer is in shutter speed.

The screen on a TV is rolled down one pixel at a time at lightening speed. Use a speed of 1/30 or slower to catch the fully ‘rolled out’ screen of pixels.

If your camera doesn’t allow you to set a shutter speed, take a look at the automatic modes. For example, ’sports’ mode wouldn’t be any good because the shutter is too fast.

Today’s new television technologies don’t present this problem because they no longer work with a scanning electron beam like older televisions. But as you can see from my photo, some us still have the old types

Other factors that present themselves when setting such a low shutter in an indoor environment are camera shake and motion blur from your subjects. A tripod or resting your camera on an object can help with camera shake as can IS (image stabilisation) lenses. As for your subjects – well – tell them to freeze! And if they’re kids and there’s a TV in the room you probably won’t have to tell them