Digital Photography Tips & Techniques

Taking Pictures At Day

2009-07-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

Since I showed tips for taking pictures at night, I think it is only logic that show you tips for taking pictures at day too.

When you are taking pictures at the day, remember to watch for the exposure. Sometime we tend to shoot the pictures without adjusting the exposure. This can cause your pictures to look blown out even you are keeping the exposure meter at normal.

Luckily, we are in the era of digital photography. You can always change the exposure and take the pictures. Imagine when you were in the film photography time. You probably have to waste a precious shot and be upset for days.

Another thing you need to look after when you are taking pictures at day is your digital camera lens. This is because lenses are actually sensitive to sun light. Excessive sun light can damage the lenses.

So, when you are taking pictures for sun rise and sun set, try to avoid pointing directly at the sun. If you need to work under a sunny day, remember to cover the lens and for compact digital camera user, remember to off your camera so that the lens can be hidden.

Lastly, try to take a break when you are taking pictures under the sun. It will cost you a lot of money to buy a new lens.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong.

Taking Picture At Night

2009-07-25T02:19:00.000-07:00

Even though you are equipped with flash, some time taking picture at night is not as easy as it seems. Due to the total dark environment, some time your pictures will appear blown out, a condition when your subjects' details are lost because of the strong intensity of flash.

If you really want to take picture at night, try to use external light source to illuminate your subjects before you take he pictures. If you can't do that, you can stand further from your subjects and zoom in on your subjects before you snap the picture. This will then spread the flash to a larger area instead of close proximity to your subjects.

However, things can be a lot easier if you are using DSLR camera where you can disperse your flash and reduce the intensity on your subjects.

But before you start taking pictures at night, have you ever thought of taking pictures at dusk?

During the dusk, the sky is relatively dark yet still provides enough sunlight for your pictures. At that time, you don't need to use external light source and you can minimize the use of flash. And when you are taking pictures with dim natural light, it will give you different feeling to your pictures.

However, dusk only last for a short time. So, you have to be well prepared and pre-frame your pictures before you take the shot. There are photographers who even go look at the scene days before the shoot. They want to experience the environment so that they can take better pictures when the day comes.

And to let you know, not many people practice taking pictures at dusk. And you are simply missing the beauty of it when you leave such beautiful moment at bay.

Try doing it sometimes,

Michael Wong.

Digital Photography Tip - Pay Attention To Your Subject

2009-07-24T03:08:00.000-07:00

When you are taking picture, you will want to make sure you pay attention to your subjects. Whether they are your friends, pets or even a fruit bowl, they should be the main focus of your picture. You want to show their details and their uniqueness. So, below are some tips to help you on that.

1. Attention

Just like what I said, you have to focus on your subjects. At that moment, they deserve 120% of your attention. Period. So, before you go into the shooting, prepare yourself make yourself comfortable with the subjects.

2. Proximity

One of the ways to make your subjects stand out is to get in close to them. You just walk towards them or zoom in with your lens. Your main responsibility here is to fill your frame with your subjects or part of them.

3. Select your background

Often, your subjects will come to you in a way that is totally the opposite of how you have imagined it should be. For the case of a fruit bowl, you can always rearrange yourself to make it suit your photograph shooting.

How about people or pet?

The inexperienced might not notice it. But you probably will bang your head on the wall when you see your subjects appear like that. If that is the case, the only thing you can do is to match your subjects with the best background you can get.

And that is why it is probably a good idea to have some light back drop in your studio.

4. Be creative

For all you know, there is no law in digital photography that depicts you have to do this and that to get good pictures. It is purely base on how you feel you will want to take the pictures.

So, when you want something different from your pictures, try to change the angle and move your subjects when you are taking pictures.

And of course, there are more things you can do to bring out the detail of your subjects. Just keep practice with digital photography and you will be better with it.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong.

4 Simple Digital Photography Tips

2009-07-23T03:26:00.000-07:00

If you have much experience with digital photography, I think you don't need to read this. And if you just started out with digital photography, I understand how you feel when comes to taking pictures that you want. You probably have imagined how it should be but the end product is totally disappointing.

Hang in there. Actually, there are a lot of things that you can do to improve your pictures. You just need to try different thing to see which feel the best and below are 4 tips that you can experiment on to get a better picture.

1. It is important that you don't overpopulate your pictures. Many digital photography newbie like to put a lot of things in their pictures. You are only going to confuse your viewers when you do that.
So, be clear of your theme and what you are trying to communicate in your pictures.

2. Speaking of being clear with your theme, it is good that you can practice blurring your background when you are taking pictures. It is a common technique to remove disturbing information from the background.

You might not be able to master this immediately. So, give yourself more time to practice and read more about digital photography whenever you can.

3. When you are taking picture of people, try to take as much candid shot as possible.

You want to capture the light side of your subject especially this person is always serious and hardly smile.

Still, it is not to say that you can't take picture of serious people. President Obama does look good when he is serious while giving speech. But don't you feel he is more approachable when he is smiling and waving to the public?

4. The last tip for you to take home is about lighting. When you are in digital photography, it is best that you can take picture with proper exposure of lighting. So, it doesn't matter whether it is sunlight or artificial light in the studio. As long as your subjects are properly lit, then you are fine.

However, this doesn't apply to the flash that pops from your camera. This is because the intensity of the sudden lighting can make your subjects to look wash out if you can't control the flash properly.

So, that is all for today. Just digest what you have read and practice with digital photography.
Take more happy pictures,

Michael Wong.

Take Pictures With Low Ambient Light

2009-07-21T05:06:00.000-07:00

All I can say is taking pictures with low ambient light is fun. It gives a whole different feeling then the day and night. I personally like the grey bluish view just after sunset and before the earth is totally consume by darkness.

And to help you get that new feeling, you just decrease the aperture, increase the ISO so that the camera is more sensitive to light. Then, you will want to increase the exposure time but slow down the shutter speed. All this process will then help to direct more light to the image sensor and give you a good picture even the ambient light is low.

I know you some of you might be confused with what I said, so here is a quick explanation:

Increase ISO - increase camera sensitivity to light
Increase aperture - increase exposure time and light entering camera
Increase shutter speed - decrease light entering camera

So, Increase ISO + Increase aperture + Decrease shutter speed = More light enter the camera. I hope that is OK.

However, prolonging the exposure time make your pictures susceptible to vibration and your pictures can turn out 'shaken'. And to minimize these unsatisfactory pictures, you can either turn on the 'anti-handshake' feature in your digital camera or mount your camera on a tripod.

By the way, increasing ISO and exposure time can both introduce noise in your pictures. If the noise is unbearable, you probably will want to retake the picture or edit it with photo editing software.

As pretty as taking pictures under low light can seems, it does require more practice. One of the reasons is because this condition only last for a short time after sunset and it is easy to spoil the shot when you are unprepared for it.

Please understand this, it is common to take lousy pictures. In fact, that is how the professional photographers gone through. They took pictures and analyze what is good and what is bad with their pictures.

Just like Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." And you only need that one way to be good in digital photography.

Happy photographing,

Michael Wong.

How To Take Pictures Of Pets

2009-07-20T04:27:00.000-07:00

Many people have taken pets as part of their life and it is not uncommon that you want to include your lovely pet in your pictures. However, taking pictures of your pet is certainly a challenging task because they can't take direction like people. You will have tougher time taking a snap your pet if it is active and always running around.

So, below are a few tips to help you take pictures of your pet.

1. Understand them

Since you are the master, you should be familiar with your pet behavior. You should know what ticks them and when they will be quite and cute. Once you know that, you will know how to lead your pet into the emotion.

You can wiggle a piece of feather in front of your cat to make it leap or capture its action to grab the feather with its paws. Don't you think it is kind of cute?

However, as much as you need to understand your pet to take its picture, sometime it can be fun to have one or two surprise shot from your pet. Although this might not sound proper, you can actually provoke (not getting yourself hurt of course) your pet to get its angry picture. This can be one of the abnormal pictures of your lovely pet.

2. Patience

Ever heard of "patience is the best virtue"? I think you have to hold on to that when you want that special shot of your pet. Sometime your pet will lay still and rest when you are expecting some action from it. And when you are tired of waiting and decided to snap the silent side of your pet, it suddenly sprung into action and spoils your frame.

It is like they know what you want and decided to make fun of you. I know how annoying that can be. Still, pets are unlike human subject, sometime you just have to follow their mood.

3. Look for emotion

Despite of what you might think, animals do express their emotion on their face. However, you probably only see that when you are familiar with them as your pet. I personally saw a stray cat showed its hungry face at me and I regretted that I didn't have my camera at that time. I believe it will be a good picture. But I still feed it, just incase you want to know.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that pets only show their true emotion when they really mean it and that might take you some time before you can catch that in pictures.

4. Natural light

When you are taking pictures of your pet, remember to use natural light as much as you can. This is because the sudden burst of flash can startle your pet and make it uneasy for the rest of the photograph shoot.

By the way, animals' eyes don't share the same anatomy as human. It is very common to see red eyes when you flash on them.

5. Angle

Just like any digital photography tips told you before, you need to find an angle to bring out the uniqueness of your subject. And this goes the same with pet photography.

You can set your camera at ground and lead your pet to examine it. This is how the photographers get the curious expression of the pet with their head huge in the pictures. Or you can try standing taking the picture while your dog is sitting and looking up to you. You can get a better picture if you can get its sad puppy face into the picture.

Pets photography can be fun and you can make it even more enjoyable with some creativity during the shooting.

Happy taking picture with your pet,

Michael Wong.

3 Tips For Shooting Great Digital Photos

2009-07-19T02:24:00.000-07:00

Do you feel something is missing with your pictures? You know that you are taking nice pictures but somehow you feel is not quite right. Right? And the worse thing is this unknown is bugging you whenever you look at your pictures. So, how do you overcome this annoying feeling?

When you are in digital photography, it is very important that you take note about the ISO setting. This setting is related to the camera's sensitivity for light. Generally, you will want to use low ISO setting for still pictures like fruit bowl or flower. Then you will want to use high ISO setting for moving pictures like waterfall or soccer player in a match.

And just to let you know, when you increase the ISO, you also are limiting the amount of light entering your digital camera. Hence, that will make your pictures look noiser.

Have you ever taken your pictures with the grid lines activated? Many photographers think that grid lines are a waste of time and the lines often annoy the view. As much as I have to admit that, I do believe that grid lines are a waste of time.

Still, they can be quite useful when you think something is wrong with your pictures. They might be your missing tool to great digital photos. Some time it is by having the grid lines as your guide, only then you will notice that your pictures are out of line. And by practicing with the grid lines, you will become better in framing your shot.

And when all else fails, your last resort is to put out your pictures and let other experience photographers critic your work. I know how that feels. No one likes to be critic by someone else.

Still, if you can let go of your artist ego (I am sorry if I offended you when I say that) and try to listen to the other photographers have to say, you will start to see the issues you have. If you can take and practice the experienced photographers' feedback, you will start to see the differences in your pictures.

I know you are comfortable with your style but sometime it is our own style that limits us from growing our skills. It is not like you will fail anyone when you try something new. You can always switch back if you prefer your own style.

But for the time being, just try...

Happy taking pictures

Michael Wong.

6 Amazing Landscape Photography Tips For You

2009-07-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

As I promised, no more portrait photography tips today and I want to share some landscape tips with you. Landscape photography is about getting out, be close with the nature and capture the beauty of Mother Nature. I hope you will find the tips here useful,

1. Tripod

There will be time that you need to wait for the special shot. Imagine you are holding the camera while waiting for the special moment to appear. It can be really tiring when you are holding a DSLR camera.

Besides, tripod can add stability to your pictures. It certainly comes in handy when you are taking picture with low ambience light because the increase aperture size is going to affect the stability of your pictures. So, it is good that you can mount your camera on a tripod when you are taking landscape pictures.

2. Wide angle lens

You probably have seen some landscape pictures where the scenery extends to the far end of the horizon. Now, if you are using a normal lens, you probably will have a hard time figuring which part of the landscape you have to sacrifice so that you can fit the scene in your picture. It will take you some time and work even you decided to stitch your picture with photo editing software.

All of these can be avoided when you have a wide angle lens to capture the amazing landscape pictures. As the name implies, wide angle lens offer more field of view than normal lens so that it can take in more of the surroundings.

I know some of you might think that you will never enjoy good landscape pictures because you are using a point and shoot camera. Just incase you haven't know, more compact digital cameras with wide angle lens are coming out into the market nowadays. And if you are interested in that, you really have to take a look here.

3. Foregrounds

If you have been following this blog consistently, you will notice that I talk a lot about blurring the background (shallow depth of field) to bring out the detail of your subjects. That can be quite useful when you want to focus on something in the nature like a flower.

However, I think it is more appropriate to talk about foreground here. When you are with landscape photography, you can focus on something in front of you and let your picture extend to the far end of the landscape.

Imagine you are standing at the entrance of a valley and you are focusing on a rock pile in front of you and let the picture extend to the end of the valley. I know the picture can be boring because of less contrast in the picture but it is just the example that pops into my mind. I hope you get the picture of what I am trying to say here. :-)

4. Depth of field

While it is perfectly alright to have shallow depth of field in landscape photography, I personally prefer that I have deeper depth of field where I can see the whole landscape clearly.

To me, I like to have everything in focus in my landscape pictures. It is only then I can feel the overwhelming feeling of Mother Nature. And if you are just like me, you probably will not adjust the setting on your camera and take it as normal as you can.

5. Movement

Just to let you know, landscape photography is not just about still pictures. It is not just about the mesmerizing hills or the silent sun rise.

You can capture the water at the waterfall, waves at the sunny beach and moving clouds. And if you get to travel to Asia, try to look for beach with fishing boat and take the picture standing behind the boat. You want to have a part of the boat in your picture but giving attention to the coming waves.

This can be a wonderful picture.

6. Timing

Have you ever seen pictures that are taken at different timing? I personally think this is important when you are in landscape photography.

Just compare the pictures (at the same location) where one was taken during early morning and one was taken at the afternoon. You don't just see the differences in the pictures, you can even feel differently from the 2 pictures.

The early morning picture might tell you that the scenario is calm and comfortable. The afternoon picture might says that the location is hot and it going through a tough time. Many people might not like the afternoon picture due to its brightness.

The landscape photography tips I shared with you are purely personal preference. It is not the law to landscape photography. However, I will urge you to keep photographing and in the process, you will surely develop something that you like.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

2 Quick Portrait Photography Tips

2009-07-15T04:54:00.000-07:00

What ?! Portrait photography tips again?! I know how you feel when you see the title. It seems that I never get enough with portrait photography. How can I? It is my favorite subject and I love it a lot. It is alright that you don't see eye to eye with me on this. If you think you had enough with portrait photography, please come back later. I promise that I will share something different in my next post. Until then, let's enjoy the tips for portrait photography. J

1. Simplicity

Have you heard of the quote "Simplicity is beauty and beauty is simplicity, nothing more, nothing less."? (Author unknown)

And that says it all for portrait photography because the art is supposed to highlight the beauty of your subject (at least I think it is supposed to do that). You should make the picture as simple as possible and focus only on your subject. You should use a plain background whenever is possible and when you are force to take portraits with distracting background, you will want to blur the background as much as you can.

2. Back lighting

As a photographer, you probably know that back lighting is terrible for portrait photography during outdoor. Your subjects will appear dark in the pictures and they will lose their details in the pictures. For some of you, it might mean total failure on the portraits.

Still, it is possible to rectify the problem by flashing on your subjects. But if you have look at pictures done with that technique, you might feel that the subjects glow in a different and awkward vibe.

How do you rectify this? But my question to you is, why do you want to rectify that?

Back lighting can actually add interest and different feeling to the portraits when you do it right.

The next time when you are taking a portrait, try to find an angle where your subjects almost block the light source. This will create a picture with ray of light showering your subjects while keeping most of their details.

A word of caution when you are doing this is that sometime the ray might become a sudden glare to your eyes. So, it is good that you can look into the LCD when you are composing the shoot instead of looking directly to your subjects.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

How Should A Professional Photographer Behave?

2009-07-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

Besides having great photography skills, what does a professional photographer needs to bring his or her career to another level?

Personally, I think it is every important that a good photographer is willing to build rapport with the subjects. One of the reasons why some subjects give you awkward pose is because they felt uneasy with you. It is not that you are a bad person or what, it is because they don't know you and it is strange posing for a stranger. When that happens, your job is to close the gap between the two of you and make your subjects comfortable.

And when your clients are comfortable with you, they will take instruction better and be more open with you. They might even tell you which is their best angle and that can really make your job easier. After all, who knows your subjects better than themselves?

By the way, how can I forget to mention your personality? Always try to remember to put on a smiling face. Your subjects know that they give bad pictures and they feel guilty enough. They don't need your unhappy face to feel guiltier.

Just to remind you, you are in the people business and being nice with your clients is one of the ways to build your business.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

How To Get Nice Portrait Pictures?

2009-07-09T03:36:00.000-07:00

I know portrait photography is addictive and fun. And looking at all the pictures you have taken, have you ever wonder that you can actually be better in portrait photography? If you are interested, below are some tips to share with you on portrait photography to help you take better portrait pictures.

1. Lighting

Most photographers agree that natural lighting is the best for photography however this can be different when you are indoor shooting for portrait photography. There are a lot of times that you will need help from artificial lighting to light up the subjects in a particular angle to bring out the certain shine of the subjects.

I understand that sometimes that you might need to take a few pictures before you can light up the subjects properly but I can assure you that this is only temporary. As you take more pictures and build your experience with portrait photography, you have easier time taking nice portraits.

2. Background

When you have dealt with the lighting, the next tip you need to know is about the background. This can be quite easy to manage when you are shooting in a studio where you can choose the plain background for the pictures. But what if you are outdoor or taking pictures in a party?

If that is the case, you will want to avoid too many things in the background. This is because too many things in the background will distract your viewers' attention. Even you have done a great job in capturing your subject's details, your viewers might not see it.

3. Communication

Now, communication is very important when you are developing your portrait photographer career. You want to know what your customers are looking for in their pictures and how you are going to take their portraits base on your professional photography knowledge. After all, photography is supposed to be a happy event. You don't want to spoil your customers' mood and you certainly don't want them to complaint about your service.

And even though you are not making money with portrait photography, communication is also very important when you are taking portraits as hobby. You want to let your subjects know how you are going to compose your shot and whether they are comfortable with your arrangement.

If your subject says her left side looks better in pictures you might want to take her suggestion and see how you work the portrait from there.

Since you have read the post, what are you waiting for? Let's go have some fun with portrait photography.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Common Mistakes For Digital Photography Beginners

2009-07-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

When you are starting new with digital photography, it is inevitable that you will make mistakes and I recommend that you give yourself chance to make mistakes. What do you have to lose? It is not that you have to spend money on film or anything like that, you can always delete the pictures that you feel is not up to your standard (you probably end up with slight increase of your electrical bills because of battery charges though).

And if you are serious with digital photography, let's take a look at the common mistakes that you see in digital photography beginners.

1. Too many distractions

I have to confess that I was a greedy person when I started with photography. I wanted to get everything into my pictures. I remember one of my pictures that I want to take the whole wall of graffiti with the subject in front of the wall but the picture was a total mess. There was no theme, no focus and everything seems to crying for your attention.

I was quite frustrated to how the picture turned out and I wondered how I can have everything while still have a good picture. It was not until my friend pointed out to me that it is common that we have to compromise with our pictures. We can't have them all. We have to give up some to have a good picture and that is when I started to give up on my dream. It was quite painful at that time. :-(

But after I stop being greedy, I found that taking pictures became easier. I hardly struggle to frame my picture and I no longer have to step a few feet back just to capture all the things and sometime sacrifice the details in my subjects.

With that being said, that leads us to the second tip.

2. Composition

After being in digital photography for some time, I realized that composition is very much important to your pictures. You simply can't take the camera and snap pictures as freely as you want. So, the next time you take your pictures, ask yourself,

"What do you want to show your viewers?"

When you understand that, you will know how to place and display your subjects so that they can stand out in the pictures. After all, photography is about showing the uniqueness of the subjects. :-)

3. Being too rigid

I believe you have been reading quite a lot when you started with digital photography. You are eager to improve on your photography skills and you follow exactly what you have read and the professional advice you have seen.

Now, these tips are great as guideline but they are not the law and you don't need to follow them to the dot. For all you need to know, digital photography is free to explore and you should improvise on what you have read. Who knows you might find something new and revolutionize the art.

So, a good picture doesn't means that the subject has to always be in the center. Shooting into the sun is not wrong when you want to capture the ray of light beaming on your subject and it can be fun to take a picture with your friend mouth full and eye wide open.

Ok. Ok. That might be too far away but the point is, you are not limited in a handful of ways to take picture with digital photography.

So, feel free to experiment with digital photography. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Be A Better Photographer

2009-07-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever be mesmerize by the surroundings and you start taking a lot pictures but when you got home and look at your pictures, you felt the pictures are boring and you can actually take better pictures?

If that is the case, you need to look at the pictures and see how you can edit the pictures so that they can look better. If there is too much distraction from the background, you can blur the background with the photo editing program. Since you are editing the pictures, why limit your option? After you have blurred the background, you can try to give a foggy feeling to the picture by slightly blurring the entire picture. Besides, the next time you take your pictures, remember to capture them in RAW format (you can only find this format in DSLR camera) so that you can edit them later.

Do you always take pictures with automatic mode? Do you want to save time so you take pictures with the automatic mode? However, when the camera takes pictures in automatic mode, the camera will adjust the setting to what it thinks is the best for the picture. You can actually take better pictures when you adjust the setting yourself. After all you are sharing your pictures with real people and who knows them better than you? Now, please don't misunderstand that I am saying the automatic mode is bad for your pictures. It is there to help save your time and work so that you can enjoy taking pictures.

And have you ever think about the exposure of your pictures? Sometimes, a simple adjustment of the exposure can make huge difference on your pictures. If the lighting is too bright, you need to lower it and vice versa.

And how can I ever forget about the angle when you are taking pictures. Instead of taking pictures while you are standing and putting your subjects in the middle of the frame, why don't you try to squat down and put your subjects at the side of the frame and leaving a huge space at the other side? You might felt odd to have that big empty space at the side but you probably will work out something when you take the pictures. Besides, you can always take vertical shot if you don't know what to do with the empty space.

So, you see, it is simple to be a better photographer. All you need is to change your perspective and something new will come up. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

6 Beginner Photography Tips

2009-07-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

If you just started with digital photography, the tips below can be useful to you.

1. Hold your wallet

I know how it feels when you see someone taking picture with DSLR camera. If you have heard the sound of the shutter of the DSLR camera, you probably will say to yourself that you also want the camera as birthday gift.

But before you rush into that, you might want to start your digital photography journey with a point and shoot camera. Besides, if you ask the experienced photographers, they will tell you that it is the photographer who takes great pictures. A high end DSLR camera is merely a plus point.

Who knows you might get bored with digital photography? Then your expensive digital camera might go wasted or listed in ebay.

2. Understand your camera

This might be the most important tip in this whole post.

I still remember how excited I was when I first got my camera and I am all pumped up to start taking picture. How hard can it be? You just lift the camera, look into the LCD screen and press the shutter button. And you will see a nice picture. But have you ever thought that your pictures can be better?

Let's take the white balance for example. Depends on your light source, it is possible that your picture will turn out slightly blue or red. And until you adjust your white balance, your pictures will feel different than other photographer.

So, when you got your camera, take a deep breath, relax and go through your manual and experience the camera settings.

3. Learn the basic

Since you are taking time to understand your digital camera, why don't you take the same time to learn the basic of digital photography as well?

If the manual doesn't provide you with the adequate information about digital photography, you can always look into the search engines for more. There are a lof of websites and blog that offer free digital photography tips.

So, make it a habit to read 2-3 articles or blog post about digital photography every alternate day and experiment what you learn with your camera. It can be very exciting when you see the pictures you took with what you have learn.

If you are worry about the cost, why should you? With digital photography, you are film free. You can simply delete the pictures that you don't like (although I will recommend you to keep those pictures for a while, you will know why by referring here).

And if you are learning from the internet, you just pay for the normal internet connection. If you are busy or the information seems overwhelming, you can always save the article in a folder and go back to it later.

4. Keep your camera

Have you ever wonder why you didn't have your camera with you during certain moment? It just makes you want to pound yourself for leaving the camera at home.

Great pictures often appear when you least expect it and I always see that during dinner with friends. You can't imagine how well the chefs set the plates nowadays, it is a waste if you like food and photography. Besides, if you visit the restaurant for the first time, you probably want to capture the ambience of the surrounding with your camera. It can be a great topic to share among friends too.

And to avoid missing all these precious moments, I now make sure that I at least carry my compact digital camera when I go out for dinner.

5. Tripod

You might be thinking, why you should get a tripod when your digital camera already comes with the anti-shake function. If you have compare pictures taken with and without a tripod (even with anti-shake function activated), you will see the reason why you need a tripod. The difference is even more significant when you are taking picture with low surrounding light where the shutter speed has to be delayed.

By mounting your camera on a tripod, it gives so much more stability to the camera and clearer pictures. Besides, tripods nowadays are affordable, light weight, portable and adjustable. If you are serious about digital photography, you should really consider getting the tripod.

6. Practice to improve

What more need to be said about this? If you want to have nice pictures; if you want to people to compliment about your pictures and if you want to come out triumphant in any digital photography competition, you have to practice to improve your digital photography skills.

Some of you might say that practicing is boring. I totally agree with you because I do felt that some time. I used to think how long I still need to become as good as the professional photographer. And to be frank with you, I have no idea.

Still, I know what I want with digital photography and I am going to work for it. I will continue to look for inspiration and improve my skills.

I hope you will do the same. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Keep Your Pictures First

2009-07-05T01:38:00.000-07:00

If you were like me, you will delete the photo that doesn't look good immediately after you review it on the LCD screen. And I do it even more whenever I am low in storage memory (So, take my words. Please bring more memory cards or larger capacity storage card when you are out taking pictures. You never know what you will see). But seriously, you should keep the pictures and delete them after you see them on PC and you tried to revive them with software.

If you are wondering why you should do that, tell me, why do you want to get into photography? You want to keep the moment and capture the specific feeling. Now, you have to understand that a good picture doesn't necessary always need to be properly frame and have the best composition in the world. A distorted and picture that was taken by accident can still be a good picture. It just needs to give that feeling and tell the stories at that moment. Don't you agree?

What I am trying to say is that it can be difficult to determine whether you have taken a good picture when you are at that moment. You probably have set your mind to 'see' certain pictures to be accepted in your memory card. It is not until when you have transfer the pictures to your PC that you will notice a blurred foreground picture can be better than a properly compose picture.

Besides, you might miss some details when you are reviewing your pictures on the LCD screen especially when you are on a job that might need you to snap a lot of pictures. The rush in the job might cloud your judgement from creating something special.

So, if you extra storage in your memory card, try to keep the pictures you have taken. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Think First Before You Take The Pictures

2009-07-04T01:15:00.000-07:00

What are you thinking when you are taking your pictures? If you are like me, I sometime didn't think much. I just want to keep the moment in pictures. And if you want to start getting good pictures, we should start thinking before we take pictures.

1. What's the message?

Before you snap the picture, you have to ask yourself,

"What is the real message I want to convey through my pictures?"

Different messages will require you to perform differently in terms of framing and composition. If you want to create a romantic feeling for the portrait, you probably have to create a silhouette of the couple during sunset or a black and white portrait of the couple holding hands together.

2. Proximity

How close are you to your subject? If you are too far from the subject, you will lose the details and you will take in too much distraction in your pictures. If you are too close to your subject, you might highlight the flaws in the subjects and some might misunderstand the theme in your pictures.

And if your subjects are uncomfortable with you getting too close, you can always zoom in to the subjects. However, I personally like to get close personally. I probably just want to bond with the subjects. I don't know how to explain this in words. It is a feeling that needs me to get close to the subjects.

3. Background

Now, when you are taking pictures, it is common that the background will draw your viewers' attention from the subjects. So, that is why you see sometime photographer purposely blur the background so that the subjects will stand out in the pictures.

And sometime you are force to take pictures even you know the background is distracting. Imagine you are taking a portrait at a hot tourist spot. It is difficult to get a clear picture with only your subjects when there are tourists all around the place. Since that is the case, you ought to blur the background to avoid the distraction.

4. Lighting

Have you ever thought of the lighting before you take your pictures? Your pictures will lose clarity when they are poorly lit. And when you are using artificial light (flash), is it too strong to your subjects?

And do you know that light coming from different direction can also affect your pictures? Try taking a picture of fruit bowl and you will know what I mean. So, the next time you take another picture, try to look for where is light coming from and you create a different feel in your pictures.

5. Habit

Now, as a photographer, I have developed a certain habit of mine when I take pictures. It was not until that when my brother asked me why most of my pictures are taken horizontally.

Do you have certain habits when you take pictures? If you do, that certainly limits the diversity in your pictures. So, if you have been fond to taking pictures horizontally, you probably want to start taking picture vertically. If you have been taking pictures vertically, you may want to look into taking pictures slantingly.

6. Angles

Talking about habits, many photographers also take the same when they pictures and I am one of them (I still do even I realize my problem). And you have to think about new angles the next time you try to take a picture. Before that, why don't you take a look at the pictures you have taken, are they taken from a similar angle? If they do, you might want to start lying down, crouching or simply hold your camera high above the subjects to take the pictures.

Although it might seems there are a lot of things you need to ask yourself before you start taking picture, it is alright that you can't remember them. It took me quite a while before I develop the habit (see, is habit again) and punch my thigh when I review the pictures. Just take more pictures and you will build that habit. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

How To Take Nice Babies And Kids Portrait

2009-07-02T02:27:00.000-07:00

Don't you agree that kids grow up so fast these days? It seems that it was just a few years ago when they are still small and sleep soundly in your arms. Don't you have the urge to freeze time and keep them as they are? Now, you and I both know that it is unlikely to happen and that is why we need digital photography to help us keep the memory when they are still nice and cute. :-)

One thing about babies and kids is they changes rapidly. They can be cute and cuddly now but when you got your camera and ready to shoot, they become sour face without any reason. That is why the first thing about taking nice babies and kids portrait, you have to always keep your camera ready. Once you miss your chance, you will have to wait for another time to get the picture and you probably have to wait for a long time.

When comes to taking babies and kids portrait, I personally like to use natural lighting instead of artificial lighting. I personally feel that they glow under sunlight. Besides that, some babies and kids cried when you pop flash at them. If you have experienced that before, you know how ugly the scenario can be especially when their parents showed you the why did you make my baby cry look.

By the way, some people do say that flash is not good for the babies and kids eyes because the sudden flash might damage their eyes. I am not sure how true that can be but it does make sense because their eyes sensory might not be fully developed. We probably have to becareful the next time we take babies and kids portrait.

And when you finally got the chance to take the picture, remember to zoom in close to capture their facial expression. Their smiling faces are the precious pictures which you will show your children when they grow up. Another tip for you to take a smiling picture of baby and kid is to have them sit on the mother lap. They somehow show their best smiling face when they are with the mother. I am sorry dad.

Since you are taking pictures of the babies and kids on the mother lap, why don't you take a picture of the mother with the child too? This can really highlight the maternal side of the mother and create a total different feel in the portrait.

Lastly, remember to add some accessories when you are taking the portraits. Professional photographers add hat, special costume and toys to bring out the cheerful and cute side of the babies and kids. Besides, babies and kids will have more fun during the photography session when they have something to play with.

Since you have read the tips, what are you still waiting for? Go have some fun with babies. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Starting Your Own Digital Photography Business

2009-07-01T04:22:00.000-07:00

Unlike taking digital photography as a hobby, having passion and enthusiasm are not enough to build your digital photography business. Many people thought that they can turn their photography passion into money only to find that there are a lot of obstacles to clear in the business.

It is true that digital photography can be a fine work at home business. All you need is a PC and photo editing software. You can even start the business without a printer. You just send the edited pictures to the printing services and they will churn out the pictures for you. How about those customers who don't need printed pictures? You can just copied the pictures into DVD and collect your payment when you deliver the DVD.

So, you see, it is easy to make money with digital photography.

However, it is this ease in running the business that created a lot of competition. How can you stand out from the competitors besides slashing your price?

I expected that you already have proper photography skills when you are looking into starting your won digital photography business. So, I am not going to highlight the importance of having good photography skills before you start your business.

The first thing you need to have for your digital photography business is to have a plan. No business can survive if you don't have a plan. And looking at the fierce competition that is coming your way, it is only logical that you create a counter competition plan as well.

Now, you are dealing with people when you are in the digital photography business and when you are in people business, your level of service will determine the money you can earn with digital photography. Many people fail their business not because they didn't product good pictures. They fail because they provide bad service.

Many photographers promised to deliver the pictures but to fail to do so and your customers might forgive you for once. But if you fail to deliver the pictures by the next due date, your customers will be frustrated and start throwing words at you. Now, you might have a lot of works and delayed your delivery but your customers don't care about that. They will only think that you give them bad service and they might spread the words to not to book you for a job.

After that, you will need to market your business. There are a lot of affordable and effective marketing strategies you can find online. For starter, you can start advertising your service in the social networking websites. You can either buy ad space in the social networking site and announce your service in your status.

You can also take part in local photography competition (if your area has such event) to build your reputation. Of course you aim to win when you join the competition but so what if you didn't win? The most important thing is that you can see how other photographers produce their work and what the weaknesses in your pictures are. When you have rectified the problems in your pictures and build your reputation, your customers will start to look for your service.

Lastly, a digital photography business is like any business. You will have stress, budget problem, put in effort and sacrifice time to build your business. If you are unwilling to do necessary sacrifice, you probably have to think about entering the business.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Word About Candid Pictures

2009-06-30T03:41:00.001-07:00

As much as I love to take candid pictures, not all people will appreciate the pictures especially the subjects you took into the pictures. There are people who don't like to have their face in pictures and I learnt my lesson the hard way during a few days back.

I was having dinner with a group of friends and being a photography fanatic myself, how can I miss the chance of getting the food and all the friends into the picture? But there was a particular friend of mine who refuse to get into the picture. She only told me that she hate to be in pictures. I should have listened to that instead of being rebellious and follow her face around with the camera. I thought it was funny and it was challenging. I told myself that the more you hide from me, the more I want to get your picture.

When I finally got her picture and showed it to her, she snapped (luckily she didn't snap my camera). She was furious and scolded me for disrespecting her. She was quite loud and almost all the diners and waiters turned to our table. I was shocked with her response and it took me a while before I realized that I might have violated her and started to apologize. I immediately deleted her picture and showed her that I don't keep her picture. Only then, she nodded and warned me again not to take her picture.

So, you see, there are people who are sensitive about you taking their pictures. And I am still bothered by the fact that she said I disrespected her. I was just trying to have some fun. I never thought I can offend somebody by just having fun.

But to think about it, it is my fault to be scolded. She did tell me that she wanted to be excluded from the pictures and I ignored her and chase her around with the camera. So, to my friend (you know who you are),

"I am sorry."

So, the next time you take a candid shot, remember to get your subjects' consent. If you are taking a picture of a stranger, I think it is good that you can go up to the people and ask for their approval before you keep the pictures and walk away. You don't want someone to chase after you and scold you on the street that you offended them.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Digital Photography Tips For You

2009-06-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

I know that point and shoot cameras do come shorthanded when you compare them with DSLR camera. Still, that doesn't mean that you can only get low quality picture. You can still get nice picture with compact digital camera when you look at the following tips,

1. Macro

Have you ever saw pictures that the background is blurred and the object seems to stand out in the picture? Don't you feel that the pictures are amazing and don't you wish you can do that?

The blurred background you saw in those pictures are actually created by shallow depth of field and you can see that when you activate the "macro" mode of your compact digital camera.

Then, you just frame and snap the picture and you will get a nice blurred background picture of your own. But a word of cautious is that the effect of the shallow depth of field may vary depend on the camera manufacturers. Still, you will know your practice time is well spent when you see the final result of your picture. :-)

2. White balance

Most of the white balance in digital cameras are usually set as "auto" when they are release from manufacturing. And that might be the reason why sometime you feel that your pictures are clammy. Try adjusting the white balance when you are taking pictures and you will notice the differences in the pictures.

Again, take some time and get acquainted with the white balance so that you will know how to leverage on the feature when you need it.

3. Flash

Time and time again I have advised you that you need to take control with flash when you are taking pictures. This is especially true when you are using point and shoot camera because you don't have much control over the intensity and direction of the flash on your camera.

Although it is great to use natural light for your outdoor pictures, the light sometime might be too strong and you need to activate the flash to give certain burst of light to counter the shadows on your subjects.

And when you are indoor, try to stick a small piece of white paper near (don't stick on) your flash unit to absorb some of the flash so that your pictures won't be too 'bright'. However, you might need more time and practice to get this right. And if you don't want to do that, you can probably take a look at DSLR camera.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Quick Tips For Portrait Photography

2009-06-27T01:04:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wonder what makes the perfect portrait photography?

I personally like candid pictures. I like to take pictures when people are drinking, eating, laughing and especially when they are thinking. If you look at the people around you, you see that there are a lot of interesting thinking faces. And these faces vary among people. They almost are like a trademark to the thinkers.

Sometime it is fun to snap the picture only to have the thinker to look at you in shock. It seems that they suddenly woke up from a trance and is embarrassed that you caught them in deep thinking. But that is OK, you just go up and show them the picture. Of course you need to ask them whether you can keep the picture and whether they want a copy of it. If they refuse, you must delete the picture in front of them. But with my personal experience, my subjects rarely ask me to delete the pictures. I even made some friends when I showed them their thinking faces. :-)

And if you are in any photography business, I think this can be a good way to increase your contacts and to get some job later. I am not sure how successful this can be but I think it is a worth a try.

People sometime do ask me what I like about candid photography. I can hardly answer that. Maybe is because I just like the natural side of people. I think that is the purest and most spontaneous moment of one can be. That is the time when you take your guard down and let your emotion roam free. I don't have picture of people crying though. It feels a bit wrong to take picture when people are crying. Well. That is just me. :-)

Another tip for you to good portrait pictures is to give instruction to your subjects. It is common for people to pose as they like but that doesn't mean that their poses are good for pictures.

So, it is your duty to tell the subjects that there is a better way to pose for the pictures. And if you are serious about portrait photography, sometime you have to take both pictures (one is your subjects comfortable pose and one if pose under your direction) to your subjects that you are right. Don't be afraid to give instruction because you have the same objective as your subjects. You too want to show the best of your subjects.

Also, if you are making money with portrait photography, you have to learn to give instruction to ease your job. But before you start pointing your subjects around, it is important that you established a clear understanding about what your subjects want and how you are going to do that. When both of you understand each other, you will save a lot of time and energy making the photography session a success.

Besides that, please remember to be gentle when you are directing your subjects. They are your customers after all.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Tips To Taking Automatic Pictures

2009-06-26T01:59:00.000-07:00

Ever since digital photography has been introduced to the consumers, taking pictures has never been easier. You can just frame the image and snap the picture immediately. The most you need to do is to select the correct mode and the digital camera will adjust itself and give you the optimum pictures. The following tips are going to show you how you can leverage on this automatic mode to take some nice pictures.

1. Getting the camera ready

Select the dial on your camera to automatic mode (refer your manual for the right icon or indication) and frame your picture. Press the shutter button halfway down to let the camera gets the focus and exposure of your subject. When the digital camera is done, it will either give a beep or light and you can then push the shutter down completely to take the picture.

2. Focus

When you are in automatic mode, the digital camera will do this for you. If you are using a compact digital camera, it is common to see green boxes on the LCD screen when you are pushing the shutter button halfway down. These boxes indicate the focus zone selected by the camera. So, when you take the picture, these areas will the sharpest part of your picture. You can however change these focus areas by letting go of the shutter button and press it halfway down again.

3. Exposure

If you have read about how to get the right exposure for your picture, you probably will be confused by what you read. You need some photography experience before you can properly get the right exposure.

So, if you are like me, you will let the camera do its job. Digital cameras come with an exposure system to measure the light coming from the scene and use the measurement to give you the best exposure.

4. Flash

Looking at the autoexposure reading, the digital camera will then decide to activate the flash or not. But depending on the manufacturers, some compact digital cameras might have flash that is too strong and some is too dim. Sometimes, it can be quite frustrated to be unable to control the intensity of the flash.

This can be different if you are using a DSLR camera. You just need to take the extra step to point your flash unit away from the subject and the flash will be dispersed. You might need some practices with this.

5. Aperture and shutter speed

And judging from the light in the surrounding and exposure system, your digital camera will automatically adjust the aperture size to allow the total amount of light entering the camera.

If the light is not enough, the aperture will be opened wider so that more light can enter the camera and vice versa. By the way, the shutter speed will go opposite of the aperture just to achieve the same purpose. That means the shutter speed will be lowered when the aperture size increases if more light were needed for the picture and vice versa.

Confuse? Is OK. All of these are being done automatically by the digital camera once your select the automatic mode. You don't need to fuss about them.

I hope the tips just now have given you some insights to how you can leverage on the automatic mode to take nice pictures. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Photography Tips To Help You Take Pictures

2009-06-25T04:14:00.000-07:00

Today, almost everyone can afford a digital camera and the hobby is getting cheaper and cheaper by the day. Looking at the speed that cameras are being launched in the market, you can get quite a fair deal of camera with backdated technology. Since digital camera is not the issue anymore, let's look at some tips to help you take nice pictures. By the way, I am focusing the tips today only about outdoor photography. If that doesn't interest you, you might want to come back later. :-)

1. When you are thinking of including the background in your pictures, try to look for something that complements your subject. It is nice that you can get a picture of your girlfriend sitting in a garden of lavender (just don't let her wear the purple dress).

2. If unfortunately, you can't find a complimenting background, you can always blur the background by activating the 'macro' mode of compact digital camera or increasing the aperture (same as lowering your focal ratio or f-number) when you are using a DSLR camera.

But either you are using a compact or DSLR camera, it is better that you can stand further from your subjects and zoom into them to get better effect of blurred background.

3. When you are taking pictures outdoor, it is very important that you be cautious about your environment. It is quite frustrating that when you have composed your shot and something budge into the frame to ruin the moment.

Even though you haven't snapped the picture, you will automatically look away from the frame and focus on the intruders. There are occasions that I nearly snap on the kid who run into frame and spoil my mood. Quite a grumpy photographer I am. Hehe. :-p

4. If you have any experience, it is quite difficult to get a nice portrait when you are visiting tourism spot. People are everywhere. If that is the case, you can either wait them out which will kill if you are as impatience as I am or you can compromise and take the picture anyway.

But after a recent trip, I have developed something improper. I will find an angle which I take the least part of other people (usually I keep them at the edge of the picture) and then I will use the photoshop to rub away the 'participants'. Now, this might mot work well for every picture. For those pictures that didn't work, I will try to add something with the photoshop again to try to cover them up.

5. Lastly, remember to take candid pictures. Now, this might not be a good tip to you because I personally like candid outdoor pictures. I don't know why but I think you should have fun and enjoy the outdoor. You should laugh, jump, run, and do all the wacky stuff outdoor.

Probably I have been too serious and stress at office and at home. Anyway, this is entirely up to you. If you are uncomfortable to do it, don't force it.

After all, digital photography is about having fun and appreciating the art.

I hope you have enjoyed my outdoor tips and I welcome any comments. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

How To Take Wonderful Pictures

2009-06-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

Since you now have your own digital camera, it is time that you hit the road and start snapping pictures everywhere. And I believe you have done there even before you read my blog. But if you are like me, you probably think that something is missing in your pictures. So, I hope the tips below can help you to improve in your digital photography skills.

When you are taking portraits, unless you want to include the background, try to take your pictures vertically. You can then see the difference in your pictures. Sometimes, you will see something even better when you take the picture slightly slanted and vertically.

By the way, you can use the same technique to take pictures of building. Imagine you are taking picture of an entrance of an old building. If you are taking the picture horizontally, you might include unnecessary background that make your viewers confuse about the real message you want to tell through your pictures.

Sometimes, your pictures can be dull when take them at normal angle. Have you ever thought of taking the same picture from bottom to up? This will give a totally new feeling to the picture.

Lastly, you will want to learn more digital photography and improve on your skills. So, if you are not struggling financially, remember to join some photography courses or subscribe to digital photography magazines.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Some Tips of Portrait Photography

2009-06-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

I believe most of you are having digital camera nowadays and I think you must be happy taking pictures of your family and friends. But sometimes things can get awkward when you miss the shot. So, below are some tips to help you boost your portrait photography skills.

LCD screen

The LCD screen has been great help in digital photography. Do you remember the last time missed the body part when you were with film photography? Aren't you upset with yourself for not paying enough attention with your subject?

But you shouldn't repeat the same mistake with LCD screen on your digital camera. You can now see clearly every part of your subject before you snap the button. If you see the head is cropped, you can adjust the camera and get the complete picture.

Besides, LCD screen nowadays are build bigger and bigger into the digital camera and some LCD screen even occupied the whole back side of some compact digital cameras in the market now. And with the increased size of the LCD screen, you take advantage on the benefit to improve your portrait photography skills.

Background

I think a lot of you must have problem that the background steal the shine from your subject. Have you ever tried to blur the background before?

You can always activate the 'macro' mode on your compact digital camera, focus on your subject and you will get a blurred background picture. When the background is blur, you will be able to highlight and bring out the uniqueness of your subject.

However, there are also cases where the background can actually enhance your subject. However you might need certain skill to appreciate and leverage on the background. So, if you are not comfortable with including the background, you can blur it. At least until you have developed your skills.

Lighting

Please understand that proper lighting will bring out the details of your subject. If you are taking picture outdoor, the natural daylight will be good enough to make your subjects look good. Another tip for you is that when daylight is too strong for your picture, you can use the flash to shine on your subjects so that your subject will not seen dark.

And when you are taking picture indoor where lighting is always the problem, you need to be careful when you are using your flash. Because if you don't use your flash, your pictures will turn out dark; on the other hand, if you use your flash, your subjects can look too bright in the picture.

So, if you are using a compact digital camera, you can stand further from your subject (far enough that it doesn't affect your subject's details) and zoom into your subject. Then you will get a better picture.

If you are using a DSLR camera, you can always disperse the flash so that it is not pop directly to your subject. You can either disperse the flash to the ceiling or to the back of you.

I hope these tips help you to improve on your portrait pictures. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

A Simple Tip To How To Be A Good Photographer...

2009-06-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

My personal tip to be a good photographer is to Get Up and Start Taking Pictures and I don't care you are taking indoor or outdoor pictures.

It is common for photographers to start digital photography with a camera in the casing while they are looking for tips online, reading articles and magazines and researching about the strategies to be a good photographer. Well I have.

While it is great to improve your knowledge about digital photography, there is nothing better compare to experience photography with your finger snapping the shutter button.

Have you ever felt that your picture is not as good as other photographer even both of you are using the same camera and lens? That is where the skill makes the difference. And you can only learn the skills through taking pictures and improving your skills along the way.

It is OK that your pictures look awkward initially. Every photographer went through the same thing. You will get better as you take more pictures. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Flash As Secondary Light...

2009-05-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

Flash can come in handy when you are taking pictures. However, your picture will never feel as good with natural light. This is because you are trying to get the essence of your subjects and they look the best under natural ambient light.

So, remember, flash is just there as a supporting light source.

Still, this doesn't say that flash is created to spoil the fun of digital photography. There are instances when you need flash to save your picture.

Imagine there is a bright sun in front of you and a unique and nearly distinct butterfly just landed on the table in front of you. And coincidently you got your camera at your hand, before you snap the picture, remember to set the camera flash on so that the butterfly can be properly illuminated.

If not, your butterfly will appear dark and lost its vibrant color. This is because cameras were not built to handle this kind of situation and they seems to give priority to the back light and make your subject dark.

This phenomenon is similar with our eyes where you too can't properly appreciate the object in front of you when the back light is too strong. The object will often turn out to be dark too.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

5 Tips To Start With Digital Photography

2009-05-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

If you are new to digital photography, I happily welcome you to the hobby and I believe you are going to enjoy it. I hope that the tips below can show you how to play with digital photography and take some pretty pictures. :-)

1. Know Your Camera

I know how excited it can be when you first got your digital camera. I can still remember how I felt when I open the box and how it smells once I unpacked the camera. It seems to connect with me when I hold it in my hand and I immediately slot in the battery and took it for a spin. It proved that I made the right decision to get the camera. :-)

It was only later that I heard that running your camera with minimal battery can damage the camera and I have been worried since. I am not sure how true that is, but I would like to advice you charge the battery to the full first before you start taking pictures. And since you are charging the battery, why not take the time to read the manual and understand what your camera can actually do. You might never imagine your camera can do something different than other cameras.

2. Flash

And to help you to get the hang of digital photography, you should learn all you can about the flash (link to my flash) on your camera. If you are using a point and shoot camera, the intensity of your flash might be different base on different manufacturers and it might cause your subject to look glaring. If that is the case, you will want to learn to control your flash with distance and zooming into the subjects.

If you are using a digital SLR camera, you can disperse the flash to minimize the glare.

3. Macro

The macro mode is ideal to take close up picture with your subjects and it is represented with a flower symbol (symbol may vary with manufacturers).

Once you have selected the macro mode, make sure that you get as close to your subject as possible to capture its details. You can compare taking picture with macro and normal mode and you will see that the macro is able to capture the detail of your subject better.

However, when you are using the macro mode, make sure that you have a tripod or steady hand so that your pictures don't come out blur.

4. Use the grid

It is common to take pictures that are out of proportion when you are new to the hobby and grid lines are great help to frame your picture. Most digital cameras nowadays come with this setting where you can have lines showing on your LCD screen.

You can then use the line as guide to properly place your subjects and get that tremendous picture that you hope for.

5. ISO setting

ISO is actually the International Organization for Standardization which is same as the organization that sets standard for the businesses and technologies around the world.

Digital cameras nowadays come with different ISO setting and you can now be free from taking different roll of ISO films for any photograph shooting. Although the cameras do come with different ISO setting, you will want to be careful with the high ISO setting. This is because less light will be allow into the camera (due to fast shutter speed) when you are using high ISO and you will suffer noise picture.

So, that marks the end of this post and I hope you enjoy the tips as much as I did it. Remember to go out more and take more pictures to build up your digital photography skills.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

3 Tips For You To Take Good Pictures

2009-05-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

Do you know how far we gone from digital photography? It just seems 10 or plus years when we just start to see the power of digital photography. And people nowadays are mostly using digital camera and taking pictures can not be any easier than the older days. But how do you take good pictures with digital photography? Below are some tips to share with you. Enjoy. :-)

1. Lighting

It is a well known fact that the pictures taken from digital SLR cameras have better quality than normal compact digital camera. However the point and shoot camera can still give good quality picture when you have proper lighting to illuminate the subject.

And talking about lighting, most people will have no problem taking picture at the day time. Problems usually arise when you are taking picture at night when you need to use the flash.

For the standard compact digital camera users, it is common for a lot you to suffer glaring picture when you use the flash. This is because you were not given the power to control the intensity of your flash.

You can however stand further from the subject and zoom into it before you snap the picture. Although this step can solve the issue, it still have a challenge that how far you have to stand from the subject and this often require you to trial and error to get the hang of it.

Or, you can try to disperse the flash manually by sticking a piece of white paper in front if the flash, this somehow makes the pictures look odd. And if you have the patience you can run your own experiment to how to stick the paper so that you can disperse the flash properly.

2. Camera

Just like what you saw just now, camera plays a definite role in the quality of your picture. If you are using a digital SLR camera, you can take your picture in the RAW format so that the picture you took retains the details as you capture it. The camera will not do anything to alter the picture so that you can edit it as you like.

Although digital SLR cameras gives you the best quality picture, how do you know which camera give you the best? You obviously can't see the difference when you are testing the cameras at the shop.

Besides, the more testing and explanation you get from the sales person, the more confuse you will be. So, it is only logic that you spend some time research the cameras online, look in photography magazines and ask other experienced photographers for advice.

3. Techniques and skills

I am sorry to say that despite of all the things you can get, you still need a set of skills to get good quality pictures. And this is unlikely something that you get together with the camera.

Luckily, these techniques and skills to good quality pictures are easy to learn. All you need to do is to spend time studying the art, take pictures, hang out with like minded photographers and ask for their feedback. Sometime you can send your pictures to magazines to have the professional photographers to comment on it.

So, go out more often and take picture. Since you have the camera, it is a waste to let it lay there and collect dust. You are missing a lot of beautiful things uncaptured.

Happy taking picture,

Michael Wong. :-)

Taking A Look At Your Digital Camera.

2009-05-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

Ever since you have adopted digital photography? Have you ever really look at what made up your camera? Let's do it now. :-)

At the heart of your digital camera, it sits the image sensor which is responsible to convert light to electrical signal for storage in your digital camera or to display on your LCD screen as the picture. The most popular image sensors nowadays are,

Charge-coupled device (CCD) - although you are practicing digital photography with digital camera, CCD is actually an analog device. Although they might not be related, personally I just think it is amazing that we are using analog material for this digital art. (Do correct me if I misunderstand the meaning of analog here).

Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) - due to this technology, your digital camera use less energy to operate. However, also due to same technology, the picture taken by a CMOS digital camera tends to be "noisier" than the CCD digital camera. I am not going into the details here because it can turn out to be a confusing lesson.

So, it depends on you of which kind of digital camera you are looking for. And looking at the current market trend, CCD image sensor is more popular than CMOS.

Just now we mentioned about storage in your digital camera right? And I believe a lot of you will think about JPEG (Joint Photography Expert Group). It is true that your pictures are being stored as JPEG file, then, is that all?

There are actually the TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) and RAW format. Unlike JPEG, TIFF and RAW files are uncompressed and they are more resemblance to what the camera sees.

By the way, JPEG files usually are compressed in a weak method and that is one of the reasons why the pictures created with TIFF and RAW files look better than the JPEG. With that being said, you probably understand now why people are aiming for digital SLR cameras for their photography hobby. :-)

Please understand my intention is not to put JPEG technology down. What I want to say is that you ought to think about upgrading to digital SLR camera whenever you have the chance.

And besides giving great quality pictures, what other benefits do digital SLR cameras offer?

Personally, I like the camera because of it challenges my skills as a photographer. It is a totally different experience compare to a compact digital camera. At least it is a lot heavier and it shutter sounds better. My friend once said that he even build up his arm muscle for carrying the SLR camera around. I wonder why he didn't use the neck strap.

And how can I forget the RAW format of the pictures? For the pictures you have taken in RAW, you can't print them out unless you process them with software. And that is when I can refine the pictures, remove the "impurities" and make them look better. I sometime do add some special effect to the pictures to make them look more unique. :-)

But I don't do that much because it eats a lot of my time (I am not so using the editing program actually. Hehe......).

I hope that you enjoy this quick tip and we will meet again. :-)

Until then, be happy and keep taking pictures. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Basic Of Digital Photography

2009-03-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

For all you know, digital photography is a fun hobby and I know how exciting it is to be able to hold your digital camera in your hand and just follow the calling and go snap the pictures right away. And that is what goes wrong in most of the digital photography newbies.

You have got to read your manual first. I know it sounds boring and a lot of you would rather learn the features while you are taking pictures but do you know there are so many features in your digital camera that you can't possibly know by just taking pictures?

Now, without looking at your manual, can you tell me what the maximum ISO of your camera is? Do you know the lowest shutter speed for your camera?

Although your manual might say it all, it still explain to you the limitation of your digital camera and what you can expect from it. Another tip for you is that, the more expensive camera you bought, the more you need to read the manual before you start taking pictures. Surely you experience what a high end digital camera can do and I can tell you that you will be amaze by it. :-)

After you have read your manual, it is time you take your digital camera out for some actions. Go take more pictures, the more the better and it is better that you can take more pictures of the same subject. My personal advice is to take all pictures you can and don't delete the pictures. You can review them just don't delete them. Not yet.

Now, when your fingers are soar from pressing the shutter button, it is time you sit down and view your pictures in front of your PC (not view on your camera LCD screen as it is too small for you to notice the difference and it used up the power too).

So, among the pictures you have taken (for the same subject), which are the pictures that you like? Which are the pictures that tell you that you have done a good job that you have capture the spirit of your subject?

Then compare those pictures to those that you don't like. What is wrong with them? Is it the angle, the proximity or something in you that just don't feel right (is OK to let your feeling decide as you are still new in digital photography)?

My point is, even as a novice in digital photography, you know that something is wrong with your pictures and you prefer some of them over another. So, how do you always be proud of your work? Take a guess. I hope you got it right and it is certainly through more practice. I think this wouldn't be difficult looking at the enthusiasm you have for digital photography. :-)

The last basic digital photography tip for you to take home is to explore more about digital photography. It might be pure luck that you landed at my blog or you are strong follower of my posts and anyway, this should not be your final station for learning about digital photography.

There are more tips out there and there are more professional photographers out there who offer more tips then me. So, look in forums and search engines for more information about digital photography and of course do come back for more tips. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

5 Tips To Help You Get Better With Digital Photography...

2009-02-04T01:14:00.000-08:00

Today, I am going to talk about digital photography tips for beginners and some might involve compact digital camera users.

1. Macro

For experienced and DSLR photographers, they will need a macro lens and some skills to take macro pictures. But for most compact digital camera users, your camera is build in with the 'macro mode'. Of course the picture you take with this feature will not be as good with the DSLR camera, this is still a good place to start.

Macro photography is fun which you can expose your subject to such details that you hardly see in normal pictures. Have you ever seen picture with a magnified fly eye? It is awesome that such small thing can become so magnificent under digital photography. :-)

2. Move around

Personally, I think photography is about capturing anything in movement (it is still a movement if you don't move). So, never stay idle when you are taking picture. Be active and move around.

You can kneel down, lye on your stomach or stand on a chair and take the picture from top. This will add diversity to your pictures.

3. Tripod

Although some said that this is not necessary in digital photography, I personally think it is good to have a tripod by your side because compact digital camera nowadays are still light and they are sensitive to movement. Sometime turning on the flash and anti-handshake also might not help to correct the situation.

Since tripods nowadays are build to be affordable, you will want to consider to get one for yourself so that you can preserve your shot and save from any frustration later.

4. Take a class

For you to become good in digital photography, I would recommend you to join a class and take a photography trip with the class. Reading digital photography tips is one thing but it can never be better than to having hands on with a real subject and taking picture under different lighting and weather condition.

Plus, when you go for a class, you will meet more like minded photographers like you and you can get constructive comments from other photographers. That is how you improve in this hobby.

5. Grid lines

Look at your digital camera setting and set the grid lines feature on. You will then see the grid lines on your LCD screen. Then, you can use those lines as guide and properly frame your shot.

I hope that the tips you read just now can help to improve your digital photography skills. Do contact me when you need any clarification. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use compact digital camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

5 Quick Digital Photography Tips For You...

2009-01-31T00:19:00.000-08:00

Digital photography has made photography become easier, affordable and certainly more enjoyable. Just look at a wedding dinner, more and more participants are carrying their own digital camera and some of them even have their own DSLR camera.

If you are just started with digital photography, it is good that you can look into the 5 quick tips below to help you get acquainted with this hobby ASAP. :-)

1. What amazes me with digital photography is the LCD screen. Now, you can just look at the screen, adjust your frame and snap the picture. Then, you can look at the picture you have taken and decide to keep it or not. You can never do that with film camera. You will never know whether you have taken a good picture until the picture is developed.

Since the LCD is one of the important components of the digital camera, it is only wise to protect it as best as you can. Remember, fixing a spoiled LCD screen can be costly and guarantee period can be short term too.

2. Another important components of a digital camera will be the flash. Without it, your pictures will turn out dark. However you need to know that most flash can only light up your subject within 15-20 feet. So, use that as your reference and move in or out to your subject so that it can be properly lit.

3. Most digital cameras nowadays come with image stabilizer technology and it is good that you can factor that in when you are buying your digital camera. Just to comfort you, this stability technology will not cost much extra. Imagine the clear and stable pictures you can take with this technology and you will know that it is worth the money to invest in this feature.

4. A word of reminder for the compact digital camera users who are reading this, you might experience a short lag time when you press the shutter button and this can make your picture turn out to be blurry.

To avoid that, you can half press the shutter button so that your camera can have time to focus on your subject and you can often see a rectangle appear on the LCD screen when you half press the button. After that, you can fully press the button take the pictures.

5. Now, let's imagine that you are taking pictures outdoor and it is sunny and bright. The digital photography tip for you here is to change your white balance setting to cloudy. This will then add certain degree of red and yellow filter to the camera and help you to get better pictures.

So, that is all for now and I am looking forward to share more digital photography tips with you in the coming post. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use DSLR camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

Tips On Controlling Your Exposure

2009-01-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

Since you are into photography, you ought to know how important exposure is to your pictures. What is exposure then?

Exposure is simply the total amount of light that falls on the image sensor (or film in film camera) when you are taking a picture. There are 2 ways for you to get the right exposure for your picture.

1. Set your digital camera to auto and let it works its magic or

2. You manually control the aperture or f-stop (to control the brightness) and shutter speed (to control the duration of light entering the camera link shutter speed)

Another thing you need to know about exposure in photography is that it is determined by the sensitivity of the medium you use and this sensitivity is measured by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Surely you can still remember the different film you bought for different occasion during film photography time and that different speed of film is the ISO for film photography. Since we are in digital photography, we can now select the ISO from the camera with ease. Thank you technology. :-)

Do remember that aperture and shutter speed work hand in hand to give you the right exposure to your picture. Imagine that you are taking a picture during a sunny day when light is not an issue. So, the picture you get by having a normal aperture and shutter speed will be similar to the picture you get when you set your camera to the auto mode.

Then, what if you are taking picture in a dim environment? If you continue with the auto mode, you might underexpose your picture. That is the time you need to adjust aperture to make it bigger (smaller f-stop) so that more light can go into the camera. Remember that shutter speed and aperture work together? In this case, you will want to slow down the shutter speed to have more light going into the camera too.

One word of caution is that when you slow down the shutter speed, your camera is more sensitive to movement. A gentle handshake can result in a blurred image. Imagine that is a once in a lifetime shot. Wouldn't it be a frustration to have missed it? Some said that you can counter it with flash or with the anti-handshake feature for some compact digital camera but if you have seen the end result of these pictures, they usually don't look better than having a tripod. If you can't find a tripod, stack something like books to stabilize your camera so that you get the best out of your picture.

Now, I know that a lot of you are using compact digital camera and you can't control your aperture and shutter speed. What you can do is to look into your camera pre-program mode and select the most appropriate mode for the scene. Let's say you are in a dim environment, probably you can use the "birthday" or "party" mode. If you are trying to capture an athlete in action that is the time you use the "sport" mode.

However, some compact digital cameras do allow you to manipulate the exposure with an exposure meter so that you can over or underexpose your picture when you want to. This feature is resemblance to adjusting the aperture and shutter speed just that it is done by the camera itself.

You can also look into the setting of your camera and for some compact digital cameras you will find the "shutter priority" so that you can control the shutter speed while the camera controls the aperture and other settings. Once you got that, take some pictures with different shutter speed and you will get the feel of how different exposure can affect your pictures. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Lighting Up Your Pictures

2009-01-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

Before you even took on photography, you know that light plays a major role in your pictures. How you use the light will either wow your viewers or get them to question your skills. Both the compact digital camera and professional DSLR camera are able to take picture automatically with optimize lighting. This is done by the built in meter which measures the amount light reflected to the camera.

Then, is that all you can do with lighting? If that is all, you can call me whatever you want for starting this post. You can now look into the angle of light.

Know that shadow add marvelous effect to your picture and you can control the kind of shadow you want with different angle of light. The simplest thing you can do with the angle of light is to create a silhouette of your subject. Let’s imagine that the sun is setting in front of you and your subject is looking at you. When you take the picture at this moment, your subject will appear to be a black silhouette that is underexposed.

Besides, exposing your subject with lighting from the left or right will create different feeling to the picture and this often seen in portrait photography. That is probably why sometime you hear people say my left face looks better than my right. :-)

Although you can play with lighting from almost all angles, beware of light shining directly to your subject because this will overexpose your subject. If this is the case you can either you can block the light source or flash on your subject. However, you can only so much flashing your subject under this kind of condition because you can still see the artificial light on your subject. This is even worst when your subject is a person with oily face or heavy make up. If you can try to disperse your flash or step further from your subject.

I am always amazed of some photographers who can get the ray of light in their picture. I have tried to do it but I am not sure whether it is my poor skill (I was told you can do this with very slow shutter speed and narrow aperture) or my timing, the pictures I took are disasters. Don't you feel great when you capture ray of light penetrating the clouds or light pouring from the glass roof? When you can do that, it definitely signify that you have move up another level for digital photography. I sure want to reach that level ASAP.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use DSLR camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

Just To Share Again...

2009-01-20T17:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the pictures I taken just for comparison. Here is the bouquet of flower.

A normal bouquet of flower right? Take a look at this then,

Personally, I think this is quite dull and feels like something are missing. Then, look at this one

Better right? I think is because I included more color like green and purple in that picture. What do you think?

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use DSLR camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

How Digital Photography Evolved...

2009-01-17T00:46:00.000-08:00

Looking at the current technology of digital photography, you can't imagine what it has gone through to become the beautiful art today. It was dated that photography started around 1600 (it was more than 400 years ago. Such amazing history if you ask me).

I have never seen how a camera looks like during the 1600 but I bet it can be bulky and difficult to carry. The oldest cameras I know are the one that I see movies where the photographer needs to hide himself under the black cloth and hold the flash up. When the photographer snaps the picture, it will give out loud sound with the blinding flash. Then, the subjects will rub their eyes because of the flash. I am not sure whether the camera does "blind" the subject at that time but it was funny to see the technology at that time.

To me, photography only started to be fun when Robert Eastman (founder of Kodak) started to promote handheld film camera to the consumer. At that time, there were no photograph processing centres like you see in the 1980. In order for you to see the pictures you have taken, you need to send the whole camera back to US, let the professionals process the film and re-load your camera with film then only you will get your pictures and camera back. The process might sound to be lengthy still it actually takes 3-4 weeks to get these things done. Looking at the technology at that time, you can say that is a fast service.

And as technology improve, you can buy the film and re-load the film yourself instead of sending your camera back to Kodak for processing. It was at around 1930 that Kodak developed Kodachrome color processing which color photography was made available to the consumers. During that time you can send your film to the photo processing center and get to see your pictures in 4 days to a week.

Then in 1980s, Fuji developed the world first disposable camera. With the presence of the disposable camera, you can buy a camera to take picture for a particular event. This has made photography more affordable to the consumer because they don't need to buy a camera.

When you buy the disposable camera, the film is already loaded in the camera. Then, just like a point and shoot camera, you just snap the pictures and send the whole camera for processing. And after 2-4 days, you can share the pictures with your friends and family.

However, it doesn't take long for Fuji to introduce the first truly digital camera in 1988. By using complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or charge coupled device (CCD) as image sensor, you can now look at your pictures immediately on the LCD screen. If you don't like what you have taken, you can just delete the picture and take a brand new one knowing that you won't be wasting any film.

And ever since the introduction of digital camera, film cameras started to meet their downfall. The numbers of picture developing center has reduced tremendously over the years. If you look at the development of digital photography properly, it only took 20 years for it to become what it is today (I still have my Fuji film camera with me and it still looks good) and you can still see that digital photography is evolving everyday. New equipments are being developed, new techniques are being introduced and careers that you never heard of are being built with digital photography.

As how I see it, there are still a lot of rooms for digital photography to grow. You will have cheaper yet more powerful digital camera in the future. Not to mention the possibility of printing the pictures yourself with cheaper printer and ink. I do hope that printer developers can build a printer that can print photos and documents together. Plus, in the future, more and more players will start to compete in the photo editing software market. When that happens, you and I will be enjoying more affordable and user friendly software. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use compact digital camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

Just To Share...

2009-01-13T20:16:00.001-08:00

Here are some of the pictures I took for my 12/31/2008 dinner.

Below are some of the pictures I edited with software and I hope you are ok with them.

Also here are some of the pictures I took for the dishes. You can compare the pictures of the whole dish and the close up. For me personally, I like the close up more.

By the way, don't you think that the lamb is much thicker and the plate is more occupied when you are looking at the close up? That is one of the tricks you can play with food photography.

And I edited the one below with software too. Doesn't the lamb looks more delicious now? It is like it is shouting for you to sink your teeth in it...

So you see, there are a lot of things that you can do when come to digital photography. You just need to open your mind and more ideas will come to you.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use DSLR camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

How About Nude Photography?

2009-01-10T00:49:00.000-08:00

I am not talking about pornography or anything exotic here. After I read this short article , it gets me thinking. Can I do this? Can I be professional enough to engage in this art without having second thought about my models?

This can be difficult looking at my own state of mind because after looking at the nude photography and pornography pictures (I am sorry that I can't show them here), I think I am still having difficulty "controlling" myself (if you understand what I mean).

If I do get involve in the art, this going to blow my family off. This is because from the way I was brought up, nude photography is something filthy and unacceptable to my culture. You are not supposed to reveal your body to the public. They will wonder what is wrong with me and my models.

What if I were my own model for nude photography? Worst still. The first thing that goes to their mind is that I must be chasing some invisible fame. It will need a lot of convincing and explanation to make them see the value why I am practicing the art.

Come to think of it, probably nude photography is not going to be included into my portfolio. At least for the time being.

However, you can't deny the fact that the nude photographers have created such wonderful art that it left the viewers in awe (at least I did). Their talents have made something so special out of something so debatable.

By the way, what do you think about nude photography?

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use compact digital camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

Expressing Myself With Photography

2009-01-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

"Pictures tell a story without words". And everyone has their own stories to tell. That is what I admire about photographer. They are marvelous story teller.

How I take my pictures is my own perception and how I see the world. There are just so many ways to look at a subject (or an incident). The way I like to photograph a cup of tea is to zoom to the edge of cup while it is hot with steam. I can't really tell you why but something about that feel better than capturing the whole cup of tea (you will see both pictures below).

In both pictures, I added flash so you can see the steam. I should have used a black cloth instead of white because it made the lower picture too bright. See, that is why you need to plan before you take your picture. Don’t be like me.

So, you see, photography is an art that is totally up to us and with the help of a camera; there is no telling what you and I can create. Just know that how you display your pictures is how you express your own individuality. It is totally personal and up to your personalities. Plus, your unique experience of the world is what made up the person you are today. And your personal experience becomes your stories. So, all of us can bring different stories to the table and get it broadcasted.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use compact digital camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

Strange Pose...

2008-12-31T23:39:00.000-08:00

Sometime, my friends do question me like "Hey, Michael, don't you feel awkward when you lie on the ground to take picture in the public?"

As a human being, of course I feel awkward but to get something once in a lifetime, I will force myself to do it. It is like the fight between an angel and devil you see in the cartoon.

Now, some people are going to raise their eyebrow seeing you position like that in the public. It is normal for them to behave like that because they don't understand our passion. Before I got drawn into photography, I also can't understand how people can go so far to get a picture. They will climb a tree, crawl into a hole and spend thousands of dollar on their camera just to get the picture.

During that time, I thought photographers are crazy because if I have those money in my hand, I will invest into something profitable. Now, I am so into photography that I am willing to work my bud off to upgrade my camera.

This is because when you have a better camera, you will have a better picture and you have more control over the picture you take. Then, when you look at the picture you have taken, that indescribable satisfaction is so overwhelming that other things just seems unimportant. I am not sure about other photography fan but that is the feeling I am trying to get from all my pictures.

So, when you want to get something done, you just won't care about how others think.

Happy photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Playing With Aperture

2008-12-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

Basically, aperture is an opening which light is allowed to pass into the photosensor. It is use to control the amount of light reaching the photosensor. The amount of light will then determine the sharpness of your photo.

How aperture works is when light is low, it will open wider and when light is too much, the aperture will be narrow to a smaller opening.

Aperture is classified as f/value (sometime F-stop, f numbers and aperture value) and they are double in the classification, like f/4, f/8, f/16 and so on. I used to wonder why they classify the aperture with double number. Then I found that as the value double, it actually allows double the amount of light into the camera compare to the previous f/value.

When comes to photography, aperture doesn't work alone. It usually works with the shutter speed to give you a good picture. Fast shutter speed is to use for capturing motion picture like a soccer player in action while slow shutter speed is for you to take portrait and landscape pictures.

Since you are playing with aperture and shutter speed, I might as well let you know that for you to really feel the satisfaction of capturing the perfect picture, you need to take into account of the depth of field too. When you have a small aperture, you will see a picture with focus from the foreground to the background. When you have a larger aperture, you will have a picture that only focuses on your foreground and this is usually applied in macro photography. So, the smaller the aperture, you will get higher depth of field.

However, the aperture of most of the compact digital camera in the market now are set to be automatic and as disappointing as it may sound, sometime you just have to compromise with the picture quality you get.

Some of you might ask that don't photography become easier when things are set to automatic? Don't you have less frustration when the camera select the aperture and shutter speed automatically as require during the circumstances?

I too used to think that leaving the aperture setting to automatic will be easy on me. I can just point the camera to my subject and shoot the picture. But as you gain more exposure to digital photography, you will feel that something is missing in your picture.

And that is when I realize I really need to look into a more advance digital camera and you should too if you want to enjoy better picture quality.

By the way, the festive season is here. So, I would like to wish you merry Christmas and a happy new year. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

What Is So Fascinating About Photography?

2008-12-18T00:36:00.000-08:00

"Hey, Michael, what is so fascinating about photography that you are willing to carry the heavy camera around? We saw you taking pictures of food, grass, sky, us and almost anything." That is what I get most of the time when my friends see me taking pictures.

Well, to tell you the truth, I don't really have a definite answer to that. You just like it. I guess.

Maybe the thing that inspired me to take up photography was my father death. When I went through his stuffs, I found that was hardly any picture of me and him. That again maybe is because my parents are working very hard to put us (the kids) to school. At that time, having a camera for photography is just a luxury we can't afford. I can still remember the time we used to borrow camera for our family outing.

Every outing with the family was fun and I can still recall what we did. The beach, the picnics and the laughter. I wish that I can show you the pictures but it is quite impossible now as we rarely have any pictures together.

Maybe the incident was locked into my subconscious and pushed me to take up photography. I am not sure. But what I can tell you now is that I enjoy taking pictures. Snapping the moment of my friends laughing, I have one great shot that she was laughing with her mouth wide open and her eyes close to a tiny slit. The pictures were hilarious but she prohibited me from publishing it. Great things are supposed to be shared. She just doesn't understand that. Sigh...

Another great thing about photography is the memory. When you look back at your pictures, the feeling of that moment just flow to your mind automatically. It is as if you can see the event, hear the laughter and feel that day again. I can't really put that into words because that is a feeling you need to feel yourself (also maybe I am not a good writer).

Just like that picture of my friend laughing, we never fail to make fun of her and see her blush and again taking her picture. :-)

You can have this kind of fun only when you have photography in your hands. Hehehehe......

Happy photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Black & White Photography

2008-12-13T09:25:00.000-08:00

As far as my memory brings me, I have never plays with black and white photography before. One of my friend show me some of his black and white pictures and it amazed me. Then, I started to do more research about it.

Do you know you can use color filters to create special effects on black and white film that no software can do?

As you already know, red, blue and green are primary colors and cyan, magenta and yellow are opposite of them. So, when you want to make Bumblebee (the yellow Chevvy Camaro in Transformer I mean) to be specially black for your picture, use a green filter for your black and white photography.

Everything for the picture will remain fine, just that the yellow Camaro will turn darker. Imagine your Bumblebee became black instead of yellow. What will things be then? I never did that before but it certainly worth a try. :-)

That is why it suddenly hits me that I can have a lots of fun with black and white photography. But I have been a "color" boy for so long and it might be different to do something different. Still, I try to keep myself open and see what else I can find with black and white photography.

Until then,

Happy photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Tips To Taking Pictures of Moving Water

2008-12-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I like to take pictures of water movement. I can't explain it. It is just fascinating to look pictures of still water. I bet some of you do share the passion (I hope).

You might think that it is difficult to take pictures of the streaming water. Actually things can be much easier when you slow your shutter speed and you can emphasize the water flow.

Go to the setup and select shutter speed. Your shutter speed is usually shown 1/X where the larger the X, the slower the shutter speed. And to get the maximum for your picture, you should use a larger aperture size (if you have that control for your camera) when you are using slow shutter speed.

Also when you want to make the water looks as smooth as single thread, you should take your picture under dim light. This is because your shutter speed might not be slow enough during a sunny day.

Since you need dimmer light to take better picture for the streaming water, you can actually change the white balance of your camera "cloudy" setting. This will help to make the picture more bluish hence making the water more natural.

One thing you need to remember when you are using slow shutter speed is that your picture will get blur easier. This is because your camera can't capture the water fast enough. So, it is better tat you stabilize your camera with a tripod when you are taking picture with slow shutter speed.

The picture above was taken at 7-8am with shutter speed of 1/32. I am sorry that I didn't include another picture with faster shutter speed for comparison because I deleted that picture after it turned out horrible.

Still I hope you enjoy the tips about taking picture with water. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Red Eye Monster...

2008-12-06T06:36:00.000-08:00

When the light is dim and the people are having fun, with a sudden flash, the monsters are revealed. These monsters only reveal themselves for that short period as they will not shoe you their true self when the flash is gone. You can only indentify them later in the pictures that you took.

I think that was a very familiar scenario for any person who has taken a picture under dim light with flash on. But why does that happen?

Have you ever shined light on a cat or dog at night? When that happens, their eyes will shine back with a white light. This is because they have a special layer, tapetum lucidum, in the epithelium of their retina. We human, however lack that special layer. And when flash hit us at night, you will capture the red color of the blood vessels that nourish our eyes.

How do you remove this annoying issue then?

First off, many digital cameras nowadays come with the red eye reduction feature. Try to pay some attention during the next time you take picture under dim light. You will notice that the flash will go off twice. The first flash is to make your pupil constrict to reduce the red eye effect and the second flash is to take the picture.

Next, is to get your flash further away from the camera lens. This can be a problem for compact digital camera as their flash is build near the lens. Since it is impossible to remove the flash device from these cameras, it is best that you include the red eye reduction feature when you want to buy a compact digital camera.

Then, you can bounce the flash to the ceiling. This don't just reduce the red eye effect at night, it can also help to reduce your subject being too white at day. This is easy for DSLR camera as most of the time its flash can be twist from front to back.

Lastly, when all else fails, you can remove those horrible red eyes pictures by editing your pictures with photo editing software. One good new is that the operating system nowadays are equip with basic photo editing software. Unless you want to do more editing on your pictures, you can save your money from getting a picture editing software.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Taking Pictures With Compact Digital Camera

2008-12-02T19:39:00.000-08:00

Compact digital camera was built to be small, lightweight and easy to carry. This can be the advantage for a point and shoot camera but it also can be a weakness that a lot of people dislike.

For some photography beginner, they tend to block the camera lens or flash with their finger. It is really disappointing to find out that one of your fingers has ruined a great picture.

What you can do is to really have a look at the front part of you camera (strangely enough, many people hardly look at the front part of their camera) to know where your flash and lens are located. Then, practice to hold the side of your camera firmly (always on your anti-camera shake feature if you have one). When you think you can hold your compact camera with your thumb and index finger, make sure that you lift the other 3 fingers so that they won't block the lens or flash.

Some photographers also recommended that you get a heavier compact digital camera so that you can create a more stable picture.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Why Screen Protector For Your Digital Camera?

2008-11-30T07:41:00.000-08:00

A screen protector is just a thin and transparent coating that sticks on the LCD screen for protection. It is usually pre-cut to the universal size for the cameras in the market.

The simplest reason you need a screen protector for your camera is to protect the LCD from scratches, smudges, liquids, finger prints, dusts and dirt. Do you know that the static on your camera LCD attracts dust and dirt? You can greatly reduce these disturbing materials once you get your LCD screen coated.

Also, do you know that this simple coating also reinforces the LCD against impact? This can highly prolong the life of your LCD. Unless you have a viewfinder on your digital camera, or else you will have to send your camera for repair or get a new one when your camera is spoiled.

Sometimes, when you are taking picture in the day, your polished LCD may become an annoying mirror that reflects the sunlight and made it difficult to frame your shot. Fortunately, most of the screen protectors nowadays come with the antiglare property and that will help to increase the visibility when you are photographing under very bright sun.

There are a few types of LCD screen protector and the most common of them is the film LCD protector which is most likely made from plastic. Although film protector can be cheaper than other screen protector, it is less durable than other protectors. Sometimes, it may need extra attention to be applied onto the screen to make sure that there is no air bubble.

Screen protectors nowadays are affordable and widely available online or offline. You can even get one with less than $10.

Then, how do you choose your screen protector?

1. Simple material that you can clean easily.

2. Easy to apply and no air bubble

3. Easy to remove and leave no residue after removal

4. It fits and sticks nicely on your digital camera LCD screen

5. Durable

I hope these tips are good enough to help you get a screen protector for your camera. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

10 Digital Photography Tips For You...

2008-11-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

As a beginner in digital photography, you might find it challenging to take a satisfying picture. Look at the 10 tips below and you will be able to improve your digital photography with little effort.

1. Take vertical shots

People are so used to taking pictures in landscape format because the LCD was designed to be horizontal. So, it is now time to make some changes and start to take some pictures vertically. You will see a different perspective in your pictures.

Instead of just taking your pictures vertically and horizontally, you can tilt your digital camera in different angle to appreciate the different beauty of your subject.

2. Off the center

Again due to the landscape format of the LCD, a lot of people like to take the picture with their subject at the center. You can make your pictures more interesting by moving your subject to the side and include more background.

3. Create your own style

You can always refer to how other photographers take their pictures. You will see different people will have different preference in displaying their works and that is what you need to learn.

Use other photographers' works as a guide and develop your own style of photography.

4. Get inspire

Sometime you will be frustrated why you just seem to fail to get the picture up to your standard. When this happen, go look at other photographers work again. You can find these pictures easily online and one of my favorite is to read 'National Geographic'. They have splendid pictures and always impress me that you can take pictures in ways that you never imagine.

5. Subscribe

You can only learn so little things on your own. That is why you need to subscribe to our local photography magazine and study the current information about improving your photography skills.

You can also subscribe to other photographers newsletter online. Often, these newsletters are free and the photographers will share their some tips with you about photography.

6. Tripod

Some photographers tend to have shakier hands than others. When you have problem stabilizing your camera (sometime the anti-shake feature in the digital camera just doesn't perform as good as stated in the advertisement), a tripod is a handy partner to improve your digital photography skills.

Tripods nowadays are design to be light weight, easy to carry and most importantly price savvy.

7. Hold the camera properly

This tip is for those who, for some reasons have problem accessing a tripod.

You need to hold your camera with both hands where your right hand is use to press the shutter button and your left hand is to support the camera. And depending on the size of your camera, your left hand should be holding the camera entirely for compact digital camera (becareful not to block the flash) and supporting the lens for DSLR camera.

8. Flash

Never limit the flash of your digital camera (most digital cameras nowadays come with rechargeable batteries).

Sometime you are force to take picture with a light source at the back of your subject. When you safe the flash under these circumstances, your subjects will appear dull and shadowed. However, when you pop a flash at these moments, you will make your subjects livelier.

9. Select the best mode

Compact digital camera nowadays comes with different modes so that you can maximize the pleasure of digital photography without getting a DSLR camera.

You need to expose your pictures to different mode to get the best picture. For starter, you simply can't use the normal mode to capture your favorite football star in action. Very likely, you will get a blur image. You need to use the sports mode to get a more favorable picture.

10. Know the features

Your digital camera is your tool to a perfect picture. That is why you must understand your camera features and you can only do that by reading your manual.

I do understand manuals can be boring sometime. Still, you can only maximize your camera and get the ideal pictures when you know what your camera can do. So, spend sometime with your manual and you will have more fun with digital photography.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

7 Tips To Take Better Photograph...

2008-11-18T01:30:00.000-08:00

1. Enter contest

Contests always have a theme to help you find your subject. It can help when you have no idea what you need to choose as your subject.

2. Visit zoo

Many animals are good subjects for your photography training. Visit the zoo with other photography fanatic and learn from them.

3. Plan

Think before you push that shutter button. Let's take the example of the zoo, do you want to take a sleeping tiger or an active tiger leaping for its lunch. I once saw a white tiger leaping from the pond for its lunch. The leaping tiger with water dripping from its body will make a marvelous picture however I was not expecting to see that and missed that shot which I still regret today.

4. Go beyond

Point and shoot is what beginner photographers are doing. When you want to show off your pictures, you need to take the picture with different angles and lighting.

5. Timing

You should learn to take pictures at different timing. You can only get morning dew at morning and different timing in a day will give different lighting to your picture. When you want to create the mysterious feeling of your picture, it is best that you take your picture at night.

6. Go online

There are a lot of inspirations online. Photographers are happy to share their experiences in their website or blog. You can even ask them questions when you need any photography tips.

7. Be prepare

When you want to take better photograph, you need to carry your camera wherever you go (you can also bring it to work if you don't mind). You will never know when a great shot will leap out.

There are more photography tips every where in your life. Just open your senses and you will find more tips to help you take better pictures.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Digital Photography Tips – Tips For Taking Picture At Night

2008-11-15T06:20:00.000-08:00

Do you like to take photo at night? However, the dark condition makes it difficult for you to work on your hobby. Take a look at the following tips and they might come to some help:

If you have any outdoor light or flashlight, turn it on. It might not be much help but it is better than none
Avoid direct lighting on your subject because this might make your subject become too bright on the picture. Try to shine the light above your subject so that the light can be diffused.
Move closer to your subject instead of zooming in. This is because when you are near your subject, your camera lens is open and therefore allowing more light to goes into the subject. If you zoom in, you are increasing the ISO and the chances to get noise on your picture.

Pictures that you take at night will always have less detail than the pictures you take at day time. If you want to add some sense of mystery to your picture, try to do it at night. You can't get the same feel even you edit your picture with software.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Be Innovative & Creative In Your Photography

2008-11-12T01:52:00.000-08:00

I bet most of you have learnt about photography either in workshops or self-learning.

But what I want to highlight here is that photography is an art and you should be free in how you want to display your masterpiece.

A lot of photographers are frustrated what their picture is similar to someone else. The pictures don't seem to belong to him. To my personal opinion, you might be limiting your own potential by what you learnt or did before.

If you want to be creative in your photography, you need to let yourself loose. Can you capture the subject with a step back? You might block the extra light from ruining the picture. Can you put a black sheet behind your subject? It might make your subject stands out more.

There are a lot of possibilities to create an ideal picture. Feel free to do so today.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Make Money With Digital Photography – DSLR or Compact Digital Camera

2008-11-08T01:24:00.000-08:00

What do you think?

Well, it pretty much depends on the photo you want to sell.

If you are a photographer who follows the subject around like the wedding photographer, then you will need a DSLR cameras. They don't just take better photos, it also boosts your reputation in your customers.

Just imagine the wedding photographer you hire follows you around with a compact digital camera. What will you think of the photographer?

No matter how good his skills can be, you will still doubt his expertise and that might affect your chance to make money with digital photography.

Then, if you are starting small and sell photo online, you can choose a compact digital camera for the job. There are buyers who are looking for affordable and average quality picture to fulfill their needs.

Pictures taken from current compact digital cameras in the market will be able to help these customers.

But remember this, if you want to make more money with digital photography, do consider upgrading to DSLR camera. You can only charge higher price for your work if you produce high quality work.

And as a reminder, whether you choose a DSLR camera or compact digital camera for the job, sometime your pictures might not turn out as expected. Do some adjustments with photo editing software before you submit your work.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Learn To Compromise

2008-11-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

As someone who takes photo (I don't think I am a photographer because it sounds so professional & there is more for me to learn), I understand how desperately you want that perfect picture. I also understand how frustrating it can be that frame after frame you still fail to capture the essence of your subject.

But the hard truth is, there is something out there which deserves your attention too.

You will never know what you can achieve if you didn't move on. Sometime you need to learn to compromise with what you already have.

I know something is just not right to alter your picture with software but instead of wasting time and adding more stress to yourself, you are better off to work with what you have on hand. Maybe you can get the perfect picture you dream of the next time you try.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

What Is Digital Camera?

2008-11-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be long. So, make sure that you are free to read this, or you can read part of it & come back again.

Have fun. :-)

As the name goes, digital camera is simply a camera that takes images digitally. And with the technology today, a digital camera can perform more than that:

Record video with sound
Playback your photograph on a screen
Huge storage
Delete unwanted photograph
Transfer your photograph to PC or TV

Digital camera has come a long way before it developed to wide consumer camera today. It was designed to give navigation information for astronauts. During 1988, the Fuji DS-1P was considered as the first digital camera that record images in a computerized file. However, the camera was not confirmed to be marketed.

Digital cameras are classified into few categories and some of the popular cameras are:

Compact digital camera

Example: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5

Compact digital camera sometime is also call point and shoot camera. It is designed to be affordable, easy to use, portable and lightweight. Often, you can carry it with a small pouch instead of a backpack like the SLR or DSLR camera. And due to its design to be easy to use and cost effective, you will sacrifice much advanced features compare to the higher end digital cameras. Still if you need a camera for casual use, then compact digital camera will be your choice.

However, as technologies grow and become cheaper, manufacturers are able to build in more fun features into compact digital camera and one of them is the face detection feature.

Face detection is simply the technology to locate sizes of a number of faces. The technology only detects facial features and ignores other things. It used to detect only one face and again as technology improves, compact digital cameras nowadays come with multi-face detection feature which further enhance your photo snapping pleasure.

The face detection feature can be important to those who love to take pictures of people. What if you like to take sceneries than people? Then you might not use the face detection feature much.

Don't worry, compact digital camera manufacturer understand there are different user out there. That is why some manufacturers have built the wide angle lens into their compact digital camera.

The wide angle feature allows you to take in much wider angle of view so that you can capture more of the surroundings. You can then keep the subject in focus and make the picture more interesting with the background. And the smaller the number (in mm) of the lens, the wider view you can get.

By the way, if you love to snap pictures of big group of friends and family, having a wide angle compact digital camera can be very helpful.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 is among the compact digital camera that comes with the wide angle of 28mm which make photographing your favorite group of people fun and easy. You no longer need to stitch your picture or sacrifice anyone from the moment.

SLR like camera

Example: Sony Cyber-shot DSCH50

SLR (single lens reflex) like camera is also known as bridge digital camera. It is similar to DSLR camera but sometimes its lens is not interchangeable. Bridge digital camera fills the gap between high end DSLR and compact digital camera and hence the term "bridge".

SLR like camera was build for the intermediate photographer but some compact digital camera user would skip this category to save their money and go straight to DSLR. Some photographer however will start with SLR like camera rather than compact digital camera because they know that they will move into professional and they might as well prepare themselves for the future.

An SLR like camera is fun to have because it is similar to DSLR with the manual control over aperture, shutter speed, ISO and white balance. However, it might have smaller photosensor and lack the reflex system compare to the DSLR.

Since the SLR like camera lens is not interchangeable, manufacturer has built very large zoom range (including wide angle and telephoto) into the lens. But what if you want more zooming power than that?

Although the lens for SLR like camera is not interchangeable, you can actually get a secondary lens to increase the zoom capability. These secondary lenses can usually be screwed at the front of the lens directly or with an adapter tube. However, some photographers do comment that the DSLR produce better picture quality than the SLR like camera with secondary lens.

Another difference between the SLR like camera and DSLR is that SLR like camera uses electronic viewfinder (EVF) in oppose to optical viewfinder (OVF) in DLSR. The image you see with EVF is actually a digitally created through-the-lens (TTL) image. This then allows 100% previewing of the image compared to some DSLR that may not show you the 100%.

However, since the image is digitally created, you might experience lag time while taking your picture. This might then cause you to miss that only second to get the perfect picture.

DSLR camera

Example: Nikon D40

DSLR is a digital single lens reflex camera which uses reflective light from a mirror to project image to the eyepiece. It was created based on the film base SLR camera so now, you can take as many pictures as you like without worrying about your film cost.

DSLR camera offers photographers full control where you can control the aperture size, shutter speed, flash and more. With the help of these controls, you can very much decide how you want your picture to look like.

It also comes with a larger sensor compared to the other two digital cameras. Why larger sensors size you ask? That is to help you to get better quality and lower noise image in almost any lighting condition. If you have any experience with compact digital camera with dim light, you will wish that you will have a better camera. Even though some compact digital cameras do offer different condition, the end result still can't be compared to the DSLR camera.

What makes DSLR so superior in photography is the ability to change the lenses. Can your compact digital camera or bridge digital camera do that? Most likely not.

Now, there will be situations that you would like to take close up pictures but you can't. If you like photography and car race, you will understand what it means to have a far away shot of the racing cars. That is where telephoto lens comes in where you can zoom in so close that it looks like you are at the side of track.

If you like to take nature pictures, you will love the wide angle lens. You can take the whole mountain landscapes without sacrificing any part of the nature.

But with the ability to change the lenses, you are opening your DSLR to dust contamination. You might think that small dust in your camera is not harmful but think again. Even the smallest dust can affect the quality of your picture. Surely, you don't want to capture the once in a life time image only to find it is ruin by dust particles later.

When you want to clean your DSLR camera, you can remove the dust yourself or send it for service. Some DSLR camera manufacturers like Olympus have developed a dust removal system where a filter is created to protect dust from sticking to the image sensor. Then an ultrasonic vibration will remove the dust that rest on the filter and these dust will then be captured by the adhesive strip at the bottom of the filter.

As superior as DSLR camera may sound, some do comment that the camera is bulky, heavy and it will weight even more if you change the lens. Some also comment that the DSLR cost more than the SLR like camera and the lenses for DSLR is not cheap either.

You must agree that you ultimately want a great picture. It can be so great to brag about it to your grandchildren and to be frank, you can't get that kind of satisfaction with compact and SLR like digital camera.

You do need to invest some capital to get a sturdy piece of equipment. Then for the heavy lifting, just think that you are building your muscle while you are enjoying photography. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

What Is Telephoto Lens?

2008-10-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

Do you ever notice the huge and long lenses used by the photographer during the Olympic or soccer match? Those are the telephoto lenses and they have very long focal length and is use to capture image that are too far away.

Thanks to these telephoto lenses, you can now capture your favorite soccer player in action without being on the field. Besides using the lens for sports, telephoto lens is also use for capturing wildlife. This is because you don't know how friendly the wildlife subject is, so it is better that you keep your distance.

Since telephoto lenses are huge and heavy, it will be even heavier if you were to hold it with your DSLR camera. How long can you stand before you get tired and ruin the perfect shot?

It is wise that you use a tripod to stabilize your DSLR camera with telephoto lens to get a good picture. Compact tripods are light and cheap nowadays and easy for travelling. It certainly won't burden your luggage or wallet.

Some photographers also advise that when you are using a telephoto lens, you should apply some pressure on the lens to avoid camera shake.

What Is Noise?

2008-10-25T01:18:00.000-07:00

Noise in photography is basically the grainy effect you see on your pictures.

This usually happens when you increase the ISO of your camera. This is because as you increase the ISO, you are increasing the light signal. However, when you increase the light signal, you also increase the electrical noise in your digital camera.

However that also depends on your camera performance. DSLR camera will have less noise compare to compact digital camera at the same ISO level.

Why is that so?

This simply is because DSLR has a larger image sensor.

There are a lot of light sensors on your image sensor. When you are taking picture, these light sensors will produce electrical noise and transfer the noise to the neighbors.

Now, imagine that these light sensors are pack together in the image sensor. So, if you have a big image sensor, these light sensors can be loosely packed. Since there are more spaces between the sensors, the sensors are less likely to contaminate each other.

That is why a DSLR with a larger image sensor will have less noise than the compact digital camera with smaller image sensor.

Then how do you remove noise from the picture?

Digital camera manufacturers nowadays have built in an algorithm to reduce noise when it happens. However, the algorithm can only work so much. Then, you will need a noise reduction software to remove the bothering noise from your picture.

Hope that clear some of your question noise. Do leave a message if you need more information.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

What is ISO?

2008-10-23T03:32:00.000-07:00

ISO is about the image sensor sensitivity to light in digital camera and film sensitivity to light in film based camera. So, the higher the ISO, the more sensitive the image sensor and the film is. And the more sensitive the image sensor and film is, the more likely of you to take pictures in low light condition.

Lower ISO number will give better quality pictures. This is because the higher ISO number you go, the more likely you will introduce noise to your picture. You just don’t want to ruin your ideal picture with something you can adjust.

Then, why do you need a higher ISO?

High ISO is usually needed when light is low or indoor photography. One of the examples when you need high ISO is when you are photographing your children blowing the candle in a dimmed environment.

Maybe you will think of using flash. But your subject might end up too white for the background. Unless you are using a DSLR camera which you can disperse your flash.

Have Fun in Photography,

Michael Wong. :-)

What Is Focal Length?

2008-10-19T01:31:00.001-07:00

Focal length in photography is simply a measurement of the distance of a far subject to the photosensor and it is usually specified in millimeter (mm). When you are focusing on a far subject the lens is moved nearer to the sensor and opposite if you are focusing on something near.

What Is Depth of Field (DOF)?

2008-10-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Depth of field (DOF) is simply the part of the image that appears to be sharp. Usually, the images in front or at the back of the depth of field will appear to be blur. So, if you want to increase the sharpness of your picture, you need to increase your depth of field.

However, there is no standard usage for depth of field. What you think should be the depth of field might not work for other photographer. This is because different photographer has their own taste of enhancing their photos.

There are a few factors that determine the depth of field. But usually, depth of field can be determined by:

1. The aperture (the f-number) – the smaller the aperture (the larger the f-number), the more depth of field.

2. Focal length – wide angle lens will have stronger depth of field than telephoto lens.

3. Distance – the further the camera from the subject, the more depth of field you will get.

Have Fun in Photography,

Michael Wong. :-)

Wide Angle Digital Cameras...

2008-10-10T00:21:00.001-07:00

Have you ever tried to fit in the beautiful background of your subject and you can't? It is really frustrated that you need to choose between sacrificing part of the background or the subject. Either way, something is just not right with the final picture.

Today, with the help of wide angle lens, you no longer need to sacrifice anything to get a satisfying picture. Now you can get everything into that frame and show everyone your masterpiece. And to make more people enjoy photography, manufacturers have bring this fun feature into compact digital cameras too. If you are starting with photography, you got to get an affordable wide angle digital camera.

Before you go and get the camera, you need to get the basics of how do wide angle lenses work and is it necessary in your compact digital camera.

As the name suggests, wide angle lens take in much wider angle of view so that you can capture more of the surroundings. With the help of this feature, you can still keep the front subject as the focus of your picture and make the picture more interesting with the background.

The wide angle of the digital camera will have shorter focal length and it usually ranges from 24 – 35 mm.

Wide angle works with the angle of light entering the camera lens. Imagine that you need to squeeze 30 peoples into a frame. If there is not enough space for you to back up, you will need to sacrifice part of your subjects’ limbs. Even you can back up, your groups might be so small that you can hardly see their face expression. But as the angle is widen, it allows more details to be focus on the digital photosensor. Now, you can just gather your group and snap the picture. If your lens is wide enough, you can even take in some surroundings to enhance the moment.

If you want to know how much scene you can take into your frame, you can look at the focal length (the number of mm of a lens). So, the smaller the number, the wider you can get.

Since you got the wide angle digital cameras, taking close up picture can be a breeze because with the short focal length, you can now stand close to your subject and still get its full size.

Maybe manufacturers understand that consumers nowadays spend a lot of time hanging out with their friends and family. There will be occasions that the consumers would like to take a group picture with ease without spending a lot for high end digital camera. And to cater on that need, wide angle compact digital camera was born.

Now, if you are looking for a digital camera, remember to factor in the wide angle feature. It wouldn't cost you an arm or a leg but you sure will have a lot of fun with it. :-)

Have Fun in Photography,

Michael Wong. :-)

What is Face Detection doing in digital camera?

2008-10-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

To put it in more general explanation, face detection is a technology that the digital camera is able to detect human faces in a frame.

It is known that the digital camera will use an algorithm to detect faces and show a preview on the LCD screen. When you press the shutter button halfway down, the digital camera will pin-point the faces in the frame with a rectangle. It calculates the distance of the subject with the camera and adjusts the flash. What you will get then is photograph with more natural looking people. So, you are free from all the overexposed or dark pictures.

However, you shouldn't rely entirely on face detection in digital camera because you still need good lighting and keep an optimal distance with your subject. Please don't blame the technology that you fail to capture a picture that is out of your camera zoom and terrible lighting.

As helpful as the face detection technology may sound, you need to know that sometime it is build in as default in digital camera and sometime it is selectable by the user. And the number of faces a digital face detection camera can detect varies from manufacturer to the cost of the digital camera.

Still, if you are a beginner in photography and want to have fun with it, a digital face detection camera is what you need.

Have Fun in Photography,

Michael Wong. :-)