Tripods

Oft-Used orientation – Horizontal

Most of the times the tripod will be used to support the camera horizontally. Like this.

Vertical orientation

A camera can be placed to make a vertical orientation on the tripod. This orientation is useful when you want to take photos in portrait orientation.

Sky-face orientation

It is possible to make the camera face upwards using the same tripod. Here is how to do it.

Click to see a high resolution version of this photo

Also you can achieve this orientation with out rotating the moving flap of the tripod. It is by mounting the camera reversely like shown below.

I don’t know how often you would want these orientations, but it is always good to know. Aint it?

Align Center – Eyes straight

An insane close-up of the face with the eyes staring straight at the viewer can be both captivating and menacing.

Align Side – Eyes sideways

In this type of framing, subject’s eyes lead you out of the frame’s border from one corner to the other. Normally eyes will be placed according to the Rule of Thirds. Also, most of the time, the subject itself fills the canvas in its entirety in the direction of the eyes.

Align Side – Eyes straight

The subject will be placed in the right or left corner of the frame with eyes looking straight at us.

This post is an attempt at generalizing the approaches of better photogs to help photogs like us to make a better and learned judgement about the shots we are about to take. Keeping in mind that the key to better portraits  is to keep on experimenting, I would like to hear your observations on the topic.

Q. Is there anything you wish you knew when you started photographing?

A.

Sriram Guruswamy (Style – Potrait)

I never had the luxury of a mentor or of a formal training. My Photography style is totally self-taught and it took years to get evolved. I realized late that photography is not just about capturing something that is already beautiful.
There is a bigger dimension to it as being an honest perspective into those real moments of truth depicted in an aesthetic way.

Fabien Bravin (Style – Macro)

He he… On my side, there is nothing that comes to my mind right now. But, I think my wife wish she knew, when I began photography, that macro was a kind of drug and that you can become quickly addicted to.

Richard Gastwirt (Style – Stage Show)

If I didn’t learn by trial and error, the lessons probably wouldn’t have stuck. So I’m not sure that if there’s anything I wish I knew. But it took me a while to realize that the histogram was more important than my exposure needle and that cameras aren’t very intelligent and their metering isn’t suited to concert photography.

James Brandon (Style – HDR)

In the beginning, I wish I had surrounded myself with other photographers. I’m currently a part of a local photography group through meetup.com and it is awesome. I think a new and aspiring photographer should surround themselves with other photographers to learn from them and grow.

Mukul Soman (Style – Street)

I wish I knew how to anticipate a moment and wait for it, before taking that photograph at the right time.

Phalgun P (Style – Wedding)

Yes! There is one thing which I came across very late. It is the podcast series of the photographer Brooks Jenson called Lenswork. Each of them is just three minutes long and it leaves you thinking at the end. I wish I’d started listening to his podcasts before.

Enjo Mathew (Style – Visual Art)

I am painfully self taught, so yes, there are a lot of things I now know, that I wish I knew back then. I have never gone for any formal photography classes nor have I gone to anyone to formally train me. I just had the will and a lot of patience to discover things around me on my own.

Nidhin G Poothully (Style – Wildlife)

I usually travel to the jungles in Karnataka as they are nearer since I stay in Bangalore. In my earlier days, I used to get excited a lot while seeing a bird or a mammal. I have tried to capture them in my camera as soon as possible. I used to chase them away as they see the sudden flurry of my activities. Now I know that I need more patience to get the click without causing the least disturbance to the subject.

In all wildlife encounters, there are a thousand possibilities to take a bad photo and there are only one or two opportunities to take a good photo. A nature photographer learns to be ready for that perfect moment. This needs years of patience and practice.

Jyothy Karat (Style – Photo Documentary)

Ayyo! I can’t think of anything specific at the moment.

When you are starting out and learning the photography basics in the Academy, you will be flooded with the works of other master photographers. They are the references that will inspire you.

The study on the history of a painting or an object of art can also have a profound influence on your photography style.
That’s something I could have started earlier. Nowadays I am reading a lot on these subjects.

Guest Author

Barun Patro is an architect and designer from Chennai, India. He is passionate about creative ideas and love digging anything that comes under design. He is also a part of a global design community called ORTAP. He loves to travel and socialize.

Off late, a lot of our friends have been asking us to tell them how do I make money online. One of the favorite ways of mine is – stock photography.

What is Stock photography?

How do I make money through Stock Photography?

Stock photography refers to a collection of photos that are available online for use to designers and individuals for free or for a nominal fee,  to be used in their design projects and presentations. It can be the picture of a ball, a chair or even the sky that people can download and use.

For example, consider that I am writing an article on chocolates. Instead of googling up an image of a chocolate, I download stock photo of a chocolate and use it . Stock photos are licensed for such kind of use. Some sites offer them free while others offer them for a small fee which goes as royalties to the photographer .

Here are a few links to stock photo sites:

• dreamstime
• iStockPhoto
• SXC
• shutterstock
• gettyimages

Who can be a stock photographer ?

Anyone who is interested in photography, knows how to operate a digital camera and can shoot decently good photos can become one. I am a stock photographer myself and I don’t even own a camera myself. I borrow “point and shoot” camera from my friends to take pictures.

You must know a little about noise and exposure which determine the quality of your photos. Otherwise when you submit your photos to those sites, you might get rejections. But that also is a good learning experience.

A decent camera and understanding of photo editing tools like Photoshop or Lightroom to fine tune your photos, if needed, are the basic necessaries for becoming one.

What type of photos can I include in my stock?

It depends on the website where you upload your photos. The subject of your photography can be anything – from safety pins to mountains, pencil sketches to illustrations.

For example, SXC allows only photo upload. While iStockphoto, in addition to photos, allows uploading of vector images, illustrations, flash animations, videos, 3D animations etc. You are only limited by your creative talents.

How much will I earn per photo?

It depends on the dimensions of the photo the user downloads. You should always upload the largest and highest quality photo that you have. The website will automatically generate different sizes for your photograph. If a user downloads a thumbnail version of your image, you will probably earn $0.5. Higher earnings are credited for bigger dimension download. The exact rate varies form site to site. When you reach a minimum earning total of, say $50 or $100, you will be allowed to transfer it to your bank/paypal account.

Check out the screenshot below of my account in “dreamstime”, with my total earnings on the top right corner and detailed earning for each image.

Keywording your photos

Keywording your photos is also known as labeling your photos with IPTC tags. This is a very important part in managing your stock photos. It is the process of embedding keywords to your photos that describe them. When a user searches for a photo, the results shown will be based on a match against the tags that you have given. The general approach should be, “the more the number of keywords, the better.”

The above photo, for example, can have the following keywords:

interior design, white, clean, 3D, rich, living room, concept, bungalow, space,black and white etc.

Keywording for Batch  upload

Every time you upload an image you will be asked to fill in the keywords manually. This can get a little tedious when you plan to upload your photo on multiple sites. Instead you can keyword the image before hand and upload. To do this, right click and check for properties of any image/photo and you’ll find the option to add keywords. Otherwise you can also use Photoshop software to add keywords to image properties. Now when you upload your photo to the stock website, the site automatically detects the keywords/descriptions attached to the image. That’ll save a lot of your time.

Cautions

Rejections

If your images are rejected , they will mostly be done so with an explanation for the rejection. It may be because of factors like excessive noise, chromatic aberration, artefacts, over saturation, low exposure, low resolution etc.

Basically these sites just want a good photo and over a period of time you will learn to get your photos approved with lesser rejections as you learn. Most of the times, you can simply correct the image and upload a better one and it gets approved. In any case be prepared for rejections and learn from every fedback to improvise every photo you take.

Logos

Be careful to avoid taking photos with any brand names/logos . You are not supposed to do that. In case they come in, try to remove such signs from your photo before upload.

Plagiarism

You cannot download some photo from the internet and do minor modifications and upload it as your own. That’d be illegal and you’ll be in trouble if caught. It is better to go through the terms and conditions of these sites or go through their guidelines.

Managing your multiple stock photo accounts

The more number of sites you post your photos to, the more wil be the money you’ll earn. To manage my stock photos, I keep a track of them in an Excel sheet, and I track my image uploads like this

Photo1 —> Website 1—> Website 2—> Website 3

This way I know which all sites I have uploaded my works to. You may also use software like http://prostockmaster.com to manage/keyword your photo collection.

Getting Started

To get started, you can register yourself at dreamstime by clicking on this link. Don’t forget to check out my SXC portfolio.

I’d love your comments and feedbacks. Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers !

Recently a friend of mine asked me to help his friend buy a DSLR. To be frank, it left me scratching my head as I was at a loss as to what to tell him. Then I realized that the posts that have been published in antzFxWay are indeed a great place to start, if read in the right order. Once I sent him the mail, I figured it could help more people. So here is the post from where you can start your research.

	A Beginners Guide to Buying a DSLR (from a Beginner) I wanted to make a transition from P&S to DSLR. So I asked Google, my all-knowing ever-faithful friend, “What should I do?”. The keeper-of-all-knowledge promptly dumped thousands of camera reviews in front of me to choose from. “Oh my!” - I pinched myself.
	Photography – Reliable DSLR and Lens Review Sites Trust is a little hard to come by – especially in online sector. I spent the last two weeks in search for a “good’ DSLR. (Read More)
	Half A dozen Stupid things people will do after buying their first DSLR It is astonishing to see that newbies buying their first DSLR (including me)have hit on a sequence of spending behaviours that is not exactly helping them. (Read More)
	Realizations of a DSLR newbie It’s been almost 10 months since I bought my first DSLR.Given below are a few realizations I had in the last few days. (Read More)
	A dozen sites for Photography Inspiration – Part 1 and Part 2 A collection of sites that will help to run your imagination run wild. Enjoy.

Image by Piotr Bizior

It’s been almost 10 months since I bought my first DSLR. The days so far were both beautiful and challenging as well as immensely educational.

The time I spent juggling with my camera have given me some insight into the intricacies of this business. Given below are a few realizations I had in the last few days.

1. What you see is not what you get.

2. To get what you see you need to understand light. That takes a lot time, effort and patience.

3. The best asset a photog needs is anticipation and readiness to capture a moment.

4. There is time and place for every gear.

5. Some of the best photographs you see are not accidental. They are the end result of careful thinking and planning.

6. Overcoming the inertia of using a DSLR is not enough. Always remember to keep learning and try for improvement.

7. Possesing a DSLR doesn’t warrant you to be in manual mode always. Importance should be given to capturing the moment. Explore your creativity only if the situation permits. [courtesy - urvesh]

8. Even if you don’t realize it, most of the photographs you see online are post processed. Take time to master some techniques. It will pay off nicely in the long run.

9. Be gracious about your success rate. Only a few among the many photographs you have clicked will be useful.

10. Costly gear does not necessarily equate to better photographs. Know your existing gear like the back of your hand.

What do you think about them? Tell me what was your experience in the comment section below.

1. 500px.com

500px is a photographic community powered by creative people from all over the world that lets you share and discover inspiring photographs.

2. HDR Spotting

HDR Spotting is designed to be a next-generation gallery for an emerging group of photographers. I quote, “This site was started because we saw an intense desire on behalf of HDR Photographers to get their work noticed and to drive more traffic to their sites.”

3. Joe McNally’s Blog

This is photo blog of an internationally acclaimed photographer. He shares some amazing pics everyday.

4. One Eyeland

The site was founded by award winning Indian lensman Sharad Haksar in AD 2008, out of a whim to create a dark room large enough to fit photographers of every hue.

5. A PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNAL

The photo blog of Bangalore based photographer Jyothy Karat’s photo blog is dear to me because her photos always speak volumes. Even an empty chair will have a story to tell. You can read an interview of Jyothy Karat by following the link.

6. Picture Correct

This site is a great resource for photography tips and techniques.

7. Momentary Awe

This is the photoblog of  Catalin, a professional photographer based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

8. LIFE

Your life in pics – Its that simple.

9. Current Photo Contests

The greatest inspiration is when there is a prize to be won. This site lists photo contests happening all over the world.

10. Design Float’s Photography Feed

Design Float’s Photography feed gives you a top class listing of photography inspiration resources.

11. ?

Due to some unforeseen reasons (like running out of links to add), I am redefining “a dozen” to ten! So long!

It is astonishing to see that newbies buying their first DSLR (including me), even after spending so much time on their research, have hit on a sequence of spending behaviours that is not exactly helping them in the long run. Here is a rundown of half a dozen of such things they we regret on later.

1. Extra battery

The battery pack that comes with the camera is an excellent unit that lasts for a reasonable amount of shots. I have used my fully charged battery on Nikon D90 for approximately 600 shots on a span of a week. Although it would make sense to buy extra battery if you are into professional business, as a newbie you will seldom find yourself actually needing any unless you trek for weeks on end in the jungles.

2. Extra card

A 2GB card can hold approximately 250 RAW pics. (Calculation based on Nikon D90) That would generally be sufficient for a couple of day’s casual shoot. Rather than buy extra card, buy a card with higher capacity like 8GB or so, so that you don’t have to juggle cards regularly.

3. Lens Filter

“Don’t you want to protect your lens with a filter, sir?” The innocent salesman will ask you.

Although there are no scientific proof as to the effectiveness of using a lens filter as a protective shield in front your lens, common sense decrees that it would do more harm if it is not of a higher quality glass. Because you run the risk of scratching the lens from the filter’s broken pieces. I have been using my 18-250mm for the last 6 months without a filter and everything is okay till now.

4. Cheap tripod

There is an excellent article bythom which details how people will be spending their money on tripods. And I think it is quite true. I invested in a cheap tripod thinking I will upgrade once I know the quirks of using it. But every time I use it to capture a delicate moment, I end up cursing it because of its poor build. Lesson I learned? Invest in a good support system because you will never know when a once-a-life-time opportunity presents itself and your tripod mucks it up.

5. Extra lens

Although Kit lens that comes with the body is good piece of glass, it is almost impossible to hold back and not buy more lens than you need. For a newbie, I believe it will take some time to identify his style and interest. So it is better to hold on to your kit lens or a single zoom lens until there is more clarity. I own a zoon lens (Tamron 18-250mm) and now I am contemplating the buy of a 50mm because I am very much interested in profiling people.

6. After spending a fortune on gear, we leave the camera in the safety of our home!

Everyone does this! Your DLSR is not a delicate instrument that is to be left safely at home, but rather accompany you everywhere. I have already regretted leaving my camera at home a million times because that would be the time I will be presented with something quite extra-ordinary.

Since we are humans, we may be tempted to click on a ‘fun’ video in Facebook that is liked by one of our friends. The moment you click on the ‘play’ button, you will be redirected to a website and then some scripts get executed.

The result? All your friends and the world will see that you liked the video. This leads to more clicks. In addition to this ‘auto liking,’ I strongly believe that these scripts may lift your personal data. So what can we do?

Likejacking

Although I used the term ‘auto liking,’ it appears that the correct technical term is ‘likejacking.’ Wikipedia says that:

Likejacking, a form of clickjacking, is a malicious technique of tricking users of a website into posting a Facebook status update for a site they did not intentionally mean to “like”.

My suggestions:

1. If you are already a victim, immediately change the Facebook password to something complex and difficult to guess.

2. See the above screenshot (Click on the image for a larger view). Spartacus trailer is a genuine Youtube video. Hot Girls Fight is a spam. It is shown there that the redirected link is ‘apps.facebook.com.’ So, do not click.

You can also verify this by hovering the cursor on the video. Your browser will show the link at the bottom status bar.

3. If you observe closely, you will see that the blue Play button of the spam video is a low resolution image. Observe that the Play button in the Spartacus link has clear edges and looks alive.

4. I have heard that you can disable auto execution of scripts in your browser. I don’t know how it will affect the browsing experience.

Other Spam Videos

Read more about this spam video and how it works in this link: AllFacebook.com: ‘ALERT: Avoid ‘Father Catches Daughter On Webcam.’

I have no information on this ‘clothes’ video yet. Just stay away!

This site should have been named “Photography for dummies”. The tutorials are structured in such a way that even the toughest technology is a breeze to understand.

2. Digital Photography School

DPS ( as it is affectionately called ) is a great site for learning digital photography tips. Whats nice about them is that they have got pros writing articles which are excellent guides for a newbie.

3. 1x.com

The idea of 1x.com is to create a collection of the most beautiful photos in the world. And they are pretty serious about it.

4. Stuck In Customs

A daily dose of HDR photography done by Trey Ratcliff. Excellent site for HDR inspiration.

5. HDRPhotog.com

HDRPhotog.com is A High Dynamic Range Photography Collaborative Blog where HDR Photographers contribute their new photographs to share with the world.

6. The Big Picture

An excellent site for drawing inspiration from the best in the business of photo journalism.

7. DIY Photography

DIYPhotography.net (or DIYP in short) is a place dedicated to photography lovers. It teaches you how to take great pictures, and do so without breaking your bank account. Discussions on photography technique, share a ton of tips, and explore creative and cheap alternatives to expensive studio gear happen in the site.

8. Ben Neumann Photography

This is a blog of  Ben Neumann, a nature photographer. He captures the breathtaking views of California.

9. Advanced Photography

Advanced Photography is a website with photography tips for beginners and pros. Professional photographers may find that some of the articles written here are a little basic while others may find certain articles somewhat advanced. However this site is a blend of tips for starters, intermediate photographers and the professionals alike.

10. Chromasia

An excellent site to understand fine art and commercial photography.

11. Unified Photography

A photo blog launched by Ken Snyder to share and collaborate with all who have a mutual excitement for creative digital photography.

12. The Sartorialist

“The Sartorialist” is a fashion blog by Scott Schuman in New York. The blog showcases pictures of people who had dressed in some way that caught his eye.