Improve Your Travel Photography

It’s almost time for that winter vacation. Whether you are going snow skiing or going to just lie on a nice warm beach, travel photography is always exciting. However, many people return with disappointing photos at best. Below are some hints and tips that will improve your future vacation photos:

Researching Destinations – Before you go, spend some time at your local library or on the Internet reading all about your destination(s). See when the festivals will be. Read about its flora and fauna. Don’t over look the area’s politics, culture and history.

Shooting Themes – It is easier to see potential photos if you have a theme or self-assignment in mind. Some good topics are markets, festivals and holidays, music and dance, people at work, handicrafts, food, architecture, clothing and transportation. By focusing (no pun intended) on one or more of these topics each time you travel, you will eventually have a nice selection of those themes from all of your destinations.

Time of Day – Get up early and stay late for some great shots. From sunrise to two hours after and the same time before to sunset are optimal times to shoot. The quality of light during these times is great. The soft golden light is more pleasing to the eyes than the harsh mid-day light.

Also, because the sun is lower during the early morning and late afternoon, you have longer shadows, which add texture and depth to your photos. The texture and depth makes your two-dimensional photos look more life-like.

A Photo is Worth a Thousand Words – We have all heard this phrase. While at a destination, photograph its people, landscapes, buildings, flowers and markets. Use your telephoto, wide-angle and macro lens to tell the story of that destination. These photos say more than any writer can put into words.

Filters – Generally, you only need one - a polarizer. Use a polarizing filter to darken a blue sky, intensify colors or remove unwanted reflections. Remember, a polarizer works best with sidelighting. To remove unwanted reflections, make sure you are at an oblique angle to the reflection you are trying to remove. To keep the auto-focus feature of your camera, use a circular polarizer. 

White Balance - While many times the Auto or AWB setting works well, there will be times when you will want to manually set your white balance. If you are shooting in open shade or right before the sun comes up, you may get a bluish tint to your images.  Eliminate the blue by switching to the Shade setting. 

If you take photos lit by household lamps, use the tungsten or incandescent setting to remove the orange cast. Or depending on what you are trying to say with your photos, you may want to leave that orange cast in the photo. In that case switch to the Daylight setting. Our eyes don’t ascertain the differences in light like a digital camera sensor does, so beware of the causes of the bluish and orange cast and how to remove them.

Talk Before Shooting – When photographing people, talk to them before photographing them. Most strangers are not keen on being photographed by someone they don’t know, let alone someone they have never spoken with. Even if you have to use another individual as an interpreter, talk to your potential subject. After a conversation, they will warm up to you and you can work in some photos. Also, many of these locals are privy to a hidden location not covered in any of the guidebooks.

The Eyes Have it – When photographing people and animals, focus on the eyes. Don’t forget to use fill flash to brighten a face when in the shadows or open shade. The flash will also add highlights or small white dots to the subject’s eyes, which is a pleasing effect.

Look for the Bright Light – Your eye naturally goes to the brightest part of a photo. If you have varying light, try to place your subject in the bright light. Be cautious of staying within the seven-stop range of your sensor. This seven-stop difference is from the brightest to darkest light in your scene. You can check how many stops difference you have by spot metering on the brightest part of the scene and noting the recommended shutter speed and f-stop settings. Then, spot meter on the darkest part and note how many stops difference there were from the first spot meter reading. If it is over seven stops, your darkest part of the scene will lose it’s detail and will go black. To our eyes, it is within our 16-stop range so we can see the full range of light difference.

On The Move – When photographing people or animals work fast. They appreciate it and it will ensure you will not wear out your welcome.

Creating the Photo – Think about making the picture rather than taking the picture. Painters start with a scene and add elements as they go along. Photographers start with a scene full of elements and take out the excess to end up with a resulting photo having a single center of interest.

Break The Rules – It is important to know the rules of photography, but don’t be afraid to break them occasionally. Don’t get so locked into them that you can’t experiment.

In Closing – Travel photography is exciting. It is great to see and record images on how and where other people live, work and play. By using the above hints and tips, you will have great images of your destination to show family and friends.

If you enjoyed this article on travel photography, you'll enjoy my ebook titled How To Improve Your Travel Photography. You can purchase it from this link and instantly download it for your digital photography reading pleasure.


If you would like to read more useful articles on digital photography, please visit my photography website, Sunlight Media Digital Photography.

Daniel Boone’s Fort Boonesborough

It is a short walk from the parking lot to the fort, but once inside, the sounds, sights and smells instantly transport me back to an earlier and much simpler time.

Upon entering the fort, I hear a sharp crack, turn and in the courtyard, I see the puff of smoke from a marksman’s black powder rifle. After paying our entrance fee, we begin walking around the inside perimeter of the fort. One of the first buildings I encounter is an interesting cabin – one of many inside the fort. After stepping inside and letting my eyes adjust to the dim light, it is easy seeing the meager re-constructed furnishings the settlers used while living here – a crude four-legged table with a small slab-wood top, a mud and stick fireplace used for warmth and cooking, and a straw-filled mattress lying on the floor to sleep on. That was it.

Walking further along the fence, we come to the company store. Today, visitors can buy crafts hand-made by the artisans, but back in the late 1700s, it was the only place settlers could purchase staple items such as flour, sugar and coffee after they had used up what they had brought with them.

At the far end of the fort are period-clothed artisans working on their crafts. In one of the cabins, a man works leather making pouches and bags.

In another cabin, a woman weaves on a loom. In still another cabin further down, a woman works pottery using a foot-powered potter’s wheel. Across the path in the courtyard, we hear and see a blacksmith hammering red-hot iron just out of his forge.

The inside of the fort reeks with authenticity. It is easy to imagine that at any moment Daniel Boone himself will step out of one of the cabins, but as I walk around the fort, the one question in my mind is how did Boone come to settle this place called Boonesborough?

The story began during the French and Indian War (1753-1764), while the 19-year old Boone worked for General Edward Braddock as a teamster/blacksmith and became acquainted with a wagoner named John Findley. Instantly, Boone became intrigued with Findley’s stories of fertile valleys teaming with abundant game west of the Appalachians in a place that would eventually become Kentucky. Findley had been here before the war as part of a trading expedition with the Indians.

Four years later during the winter of 1768-1769, Findley met with Boone convincing Boone to join him on a hunting trip to Kentucky. During this trip, Boone fell in love with this new land and vowed to return someday. Four years later, Boone and five other families would make the journey and be among the first white settlers settling here.

In 1773, Boone and a group of fifty settlers having been commissioned by Colonel Richard Henderson of the Transylvania Company, left North Carolina and began making a trail west which became known as the Wilderness Road. In the years following, thousands of settlers would follow this trail in a never-ending attempt to expand the west.

In the beginning, Boone and the settlers followed a trail used for centuries by the Indians called Warrior’s Path, and then Skagg’s Trace from the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, but the trails were too narrow for wagons to traverse and it was Boone and company’s job to widen the trails. Once at Hazel Patch, in present Laurel County, KY, Boone left the old established trails and began clearing a new one called Boone’s Trace.

Eventually the small party stopped and built a fort on the Kentucky River near present day Lexington, KY. Fort Boonesborough, became the second English-speaking settlement in this new land.

While enroute to Boonesborough, Indians relentlessly attacked the small group of settlers and over time murdered several in the party, including torturing to death Boone’s seventeen-year old son, James. After establishing the fort in September 1775, Boone went back to Clinch Valley, Virginia, where he had left his wife and the rest of his family two years earlier on the trip out, and brought them back to Boonesborough.

Fort Boonesborough became a target for Indian attacks as soon as it was built, and continuing for the next few years, as the Indians did not like the westward expansion of the white settlers. This land was their traditional tribal hunting grounds and the Indians were determined to drive the settlers back east, however as the Indians soon found out, the settlers were determined to stay here.

Boone, and those inside the fort, fended off devastating Indian raids between 1776 and 1778. During one of the raids in July 1776, Boone’s daughters, Jemina, along with two other teenage girls, were outside the fort and captured by an Indian war party.

Boone and some of his companions went after the girls. Within two days, they caught up with the Indians, ambushed and killed two of them, and rescued Jemina and the other girls. This rescue account became the basis for James Fenimoore Cooper’s 1826 novel Last of the Mohicans.

In 1777, Boone himself was captured by the Shawnee. About a year after his capture, he learned of a plan by his capturers to attack Boonesborough. He escaped and made his way back to Boonesborough, covering the 160 miles in five days first by horse, until the horse gave out, and then finishing on foot, warning the residents of the upcoming attack and leading them to a successful resistance.

Once things settled down at Boonesborough, Boone learned his wife Rebecca, fearing he was dead, had taken the family back to North Carolina. Eventually, Boone was able to go back east, retrieve his family and all return back to Fort Boonesborough. But because of his capture, and living with the Indians, Boone never felt like he was trusted again at the fort. Eventually, this caused him to leave and settle in several different parts of Kentucky over a period of a few years.

In 1799, Boone left Kentucky because it was “getting too crowded” and he pushed farther west into the new frontier called the Louisiana Purchase, now present-day Missouri. The Spanish Government gave Boone a tract of land to encourage more settlers into the area. Boone spent the rest of his days in Missouri and died there on September 26, 1820 at the age of 86.

If you are in the area and enjoy history from this period of time, Fort Boonesborough is a must-see stop. There are other Boone historical places nearby including Boone’s Station and Boone’s Cave that add to the history of Daniel Boone and are worth exploring.


Located 25 miles southeast of Lexington, KY, today, Fort Boonesborough is a reconstructed working fort and a Kentucky State Park. As you tour the cabins, in many you will find costumed artisans working their crafts much like the settlers did back in the late 1700s. The fort is complete with cabins, blockhouses and furnishings. With their craft demonstrations, modern-day visitors get a true sense of what life was like for pioneers in Kentucky.

Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-12 and free for children under age 6. Tours are available 1 April to 31 October, 9AM – 5:30 PM. The hours of operation are 9 AM-5 PM everyday from April 1 through October 31. call them at 859-527-3131.

If you enjoyed this travel history article, contact us and let us write a travel history article for you.

If I Only Have A Day In Zion National Park?

Many people coming to Zion National Park ask this question. With so much to do and so little time, visitors want to maximize their experience while here. Below are some of the don’t-miss hikes if you only have a day to spend in the park:

Angel’s Landing – If you are afraid of heights or have small children, don’t attempt the last ½ mile of this hike. Angel’s Landing is one of two premier hikes in this park and the whole National Park System. This four-hour, five mile round-trip hike starts at the Grotto Trailhead and ends 1,500 feet above the canyon valley.

The trail starts out as soft sand, but quickly turns into a paved trail. As you start your ascent, the trail takes you up a series of switchbacks and through Refrigerator Canyon. With Angel’s Landing on the right and Cathedral Mountain on left, hikers get a reprieve from the otherwise constant upgrade as the path levels out and the temperature drops 10 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

After leaving Refrigerator Canyon, hikers start up the twenty-one short switchbacks known as Walter’s Wiggles exiting onto a flat sandy area called Scout’s Lookout. For those with a fear of heights or having small children with them, this is their final destination. Scout’s Lookout provides a great view of the Lower Zion Canyon. For those pressing on the additional ½ mile up to the summit of Angel’s Landing, the view is worth the effort involved getting to the top.

Take this last part seriously as it involves hiking along a trail that, in places, is as narrow as thirty-six inches and drops off 1200 feet on one side and 800 feet on the other. There are chains to hold onto along the way in places, but not all the way up to the top.

The Narrows – The Narrows is the other premier hike at Zion. Take the shuttle to The Temple of Sinewava and walk the paved one-mile Riverside Walk. At the end of the Riverside Walk is where the Narrows begin.

From here, hikers enter the Virgin River and wade in water ranging in depth from ankle to waist-deep. Hikers can hike upstream to Big Springs (about four hours one-way) without needing a backcountry permit. Keep in mind once in the water, you'll make about one mile per hour progress. Many hike upriver for a couple of hours (through Wall Street), turn around and hike back. Just before you get to the start of Wall Street, turn right and go up into Orderville Canyon for a ways. Then turn around, hike back out and continiue to Wall Street. This hike will give you a good experience of The Narrows.

At the very least, wear a good closed-toe hiking boot and carry a hiking stick. Many hikers will rent water shoes, neoprene socks (to keep their feet warm in the 57-degree water) and a pair of hiking sticks from one of the outfitters in Springdale, Utah. As the hike involves climbing over rocks, those with bad ankles or knees should not attempt this hike.

Emerald Pools Trail – Emerald Pools Trail begins across the street from the Zion Lodge. After crossing the footbridge over the Virgin River, turn right at the "T" in the trail. If you hike just the Lower Emerald Pool, the 1.2 mile roundtrip hike on a paved trail takes one hour. Once at the Lower Pool, hikers have the option of returning back the same path or continuing on.

For those continuing on, the trail becomes uneven and rocky working its way up to the Middle and finally the Upper Pool. Hikers can return via the same trail or take the trail on the right at the Middle Pool bringing them back to the other side of the "T" at the trailhead. Roundtrip to the Upper Pool and back takes about 2 ½ hours.

Hidden Canyon – The trailhead for this hike is the Weeping Rock Shuttle Stop. Hiking this two-mile, three-hour roundtrip trail gains 850 feet in elevation and ends at the end of a narrow canyon. This trail is not for those fearful of heights as some portions require hanging onto chains to negotiate narrow ledges of the trail. Once the maintained trail ends, the fun begins. You actually walk on the canyon floor with some of the walls only an arms-width apart and thirty feet apart in other areas. After about ten minutes on the unmaintained trail, you will see a free-standing arch on the right side. This is a great hike that has Angel’s Landing similarities, but is less demanding.

Canyon Overlook – Canyon Overlook is a fun one-hour, one-mile roundtrip hike with an elevation gain of 163 feet. If you are coming up from the South Entrance, the trailhead for this hike starts at the end of the 1.1 mile long Zion – Mt Carmel tunnel. Park in either the small parking lot on the right or the one on down the road on the left. Hikers using this rocky uneven trail are rewarded by spectacular views of both Zion and Pine Creek Canyons at the far end of the end of trail.

Weeping Rock – This trail has similarities to the lower Emerald Pools Trail. Water seeps out of the rock and falls into a stream created by the falling water. Various types of plants have taken hold in the moist rock and have created the ”Hanging Gardens”.

The paved walk has a few steep places, but they are short. If you want a short trail with scenery, this one is for you.

Pa’rus Trail – This is a fun trail. Running along the Virgin River with the great canyon walls on both sides of the trail; this trail is good both in the morning or evening.

This is the only trail where walking pets and biking are allowed on trails. Pick the trail up at the Canyon Junction shuttle stop. The trail ends at the Visitor’s Center.

Summary – Don’t attempt to do both The Narrows and Angel’s Landing in the same day. I recommend doing one or the other and then mixing in any of the other suggested hikes as time allows. Zion National Park is a true gem among the National Parks and these hikes will maximize your Zion National Park experience.

If you enjoyed this article on Zion National Park and you are a photographer, you'll enjoy my ebook titled How To Improve Your Travel Photography. You can purchase it from this link and instantly download it for your digital photography reading pleasure.


If you would like to read more useful articles on digital photography, please visit my digital photography website, Sunlight Media.

Explorers of Light

Are we talking about physicists experimenting with a new medium for transmitting light waves? No.

Are we talking about astronomers discovering new galaxies beyond the ones we have already found? No.

We’re talking about photographers. The great painters of Greece knew what extraordinary light meant to their paintings. Today, it also means the same to photographers. Without light, there isn’t a photograph. Even the word photography comes from the Greek words photos meaning light and graphos meaning writing. So photography means writing with light.

What elements make light extraordinary? Basically three elements: color, quality and direction. These elements are all intertwined but each have their own merit and all are necessary to have great light.

Color

We express light color in degrees Kelvin. If you are out shooting in the morning, before the sun comes up, you will notice a bluish cast to the light. The bluish color comes from a high color temperature, about 12,000 degrees Kelvin.

As the sun starts to come up, the bluish color evolves to a golden yellow. The golden light is caused by the light waves having to travel great distances through the atmosphere. While traveling, the light is refracted off of water, dust, smoke and other particles in the air. All of these particles help break up the light waves to create that beautiful golden color. The color temperature now is about 3,500 degrees Kelvin. The same effect happens at sunset.

However, the light can be more of a golden orange at sunset because late in the day there are more particles in the air caused by the day’s activities on the ground. Light records a golden color if you have your white balance setting set to Daylight this setting is balanced for daylight color temperature, which is about 5,000 degrees Kelvin. Because the light is lower in degrees Kelvin than daylight, it is recorded with a yellow cast to it. The same thing happens if you shoot the Daylight setting with household lights. The Daylight setting is balanced against light occurring between about 9:00 A.M. to around 3:00 P.M., however the light during this time if day is not of the highest quality. To eliminate the yellow cast, match your white balance to the light temperature; use the incandescent setting.

Quality

The hard, harsh mid-day light is probably the worst for photographers. During this light, look for tight compositions of flowers, animals and graphic details of buildings. Try to pick subjects in the shade. Spot meter off of your subject for a correct exposure.

Now is also a good time to use your fill flash. Stay away from people and landscape shots during mid-day light. This time of day can be productive by scouting out places to shoot for the upcoming evening light or the morning light of the next day. Thin clouds act as a diffuser and will improve the quality of overhead light. The harshness will be gone and it will be a more even, shadowless light. Early misty morning light can be good light to work with if the mist isn’t too heavy. Mist softens shadows, reduces contrast and brings subtle colors to life.

Of course the light from sunrise to about 1 ½ hours after and again from 1 ½ hours before sunset to sunset are by far, the best quality of light. This low-angled directional light will accent texture and impart a warm glow to your subject.

Direction

The direction of light is the last element. It comes in three different types: sidelighting, frontlighting and backlighting. Each has their application.

Sidelighting, such as the light at sunrise and again at sunset is the best for bringing out the texture in a subject. The light skipping over the high spots and forming shadows in the low spots create texture. People relate to a subject better if they can imagine how it would feel. Texture does that for you. It visually shows them what the surface of the subject felt like when you pressed the shutter button.

With directional light a subject can be backlit, frontlit or sidelit depending on where you are in relation to your subject and the light. The effect you want on your photograph will determine which type of lighting to use.

Backlighting is great for making silhouettes from graphic shapes. Close-up shots of translucent subjects, such as leaves, come out best when backlit. The veining will be very evident.

The last type is frontlighting. This light tends to minimize texture, reduces form and flattens out a scene. If used in early morning, this light is good when shooting landscape shots.

Let’s take a scene, the Grand Tetons, and visually photograph it three times. Each scenic shot will be from the same location, the Snake River Overlook. Each time we will use a different type of directional lighting. The first photograph will be frontlit. As the sun is first coming up, it will start to bath the mountaintops in that soft golden light.

As the sun gets higher in the sky, the light works its way down the mountain. We will end up with a brightly illuminated shot having minimal texture, but nevertheless a great shot. As the sun moves across the sky, the light will become high sidelighting. Gradually, we will start to pick up some texture and the mountains will start to take on some feeling. The light skips across the high points and creates shadows in the recesses.

In the late afternoon, the sun has moved behind the Grand Tetons and they start to become graphic silhouettes. The light in the sky gradually changes from a golden yellow to a golden orange and is finally gone.

As explorers of light, we constantly look for the three intertwined elements making up extraordinary light. Look for the color. Look for the quality. Look for the direction. Join the other explorers in their quest for the perfect light.

If you enjoyed this article on perspective and scale, you'll enjoy my ebook titled The No-Nonsense Guide to Digital Photography. You can purchase it from this link and instantly download it for your digital photography reading pleasure.



If you would like to read more useful articles on digital photography, please visit my photography website, Sunlight Media.

Perspective and Scale

The difficult task of a photographer is to record a three-dimensional scene on a two-dimensional medium. To show the 3d effect, it is important to use perspective and scale.


PERSPECTIVE

The human eye automatically relates the size of something in relation to its distance from the camera. For example, if we look at a row of trees, we know they are all basically the same size. However, the ones farthest away look smaller than the ones closest to us. A photographer can use this spatial relationship to enhance the 3d effect.

The tools in a photographer’s toolbox, used to create the 3d effect, are lenses. Wide-angle lenses appear to stretch a scene by showing near objects larger than distant objects. Telephoto lenses compress objects so they appear stacked or closer together than they really are. According to the diminishing scale concept, you imply depth in a photo by showing objects of similar size getting smaller as they get farther away from the camera.

To emphasize this effect, use a wide-angle lens and move up close to the first object of a line of repeated objects. With a wide-angle lens aperture set to wide-open, such as f16 or f22, the depth of field will be great and the whole scene will be in focus. The objects farthest away will appear to be touching due to diminishing scale.

With a telephoto lens, the effect is much different. The first object will have to be further away from the camera because a telephoto lens doesn’t have the close depth-of-field like the wide-angle lens. The diminishing scale look is somewhat different due to the compression of the elements in the scene caused by the telephoto lens.

The last object in the photo won’t be much smaller than the first, but the objects will appear closer together. If you don’t have a foreground object, but do have middle and background objects, consider using the telephoto lens.


LINEAR PERSPECTIVE

If you are photographing parallel lines, such as a road, railroad tracks, or a windrow of grain, then linear perspective will work for you. This is the effect when parallel lines appear to come together in the distance. For a wild effect, try shooting straight up the side of a tall building or stand between two tall buildings and shoot straight up. You can maximize this effect by having the camera closer to the ground than eye level. Lying on your back works great!


SCALE (Size Recognition)

We'll discuss scale in terms of fore-ground, middle-ground and back-ground. The challenge is to identify something, which will reveal or show the expanse that lies before the lens.

Humans are all basically the same size, so we instantly recognize that if someone appears small in a photo, they must be far away from the camera. This effect can be used to show depth, distance and scale.

Animals, cars, buildings, rocks, crops, flowers, trees, huts, and houses can all be used to show scale. To balance out a scene, try to place your foreground object one-third of the way into the scene. In bad weather, concentrate on showing the foreground. Little else besides the foreground and middle ground will be visible.

Including a human, or another object used to show scale, can show the size of the main subject in a scene. If you see a person in the distance hiking on a mountain trail, the person will appear small. The viewer of that image instantly knows two things:

• one, the person was a great distance from the camera and;
• two, the mountains were enormous.

If you have that same person closer to the camera, in the foreground, the effect will be the mountains are a long distance from the camera.

Without the person in the foreground to show scale, it would be harder to ascertain both the distance the mountains are from the camera and the size of the mountains.

Lastly, place yourself in the middle of the scene. It gives the viewers the effect that they were really there with you. This effect works really well if your scene happens to include a stream, creek or small river flowing toward your camera. The water flows towards you and the camera and just keeps on flowing through the scene. Use a shutter speed of at least 1/8 of a second or less to get that “cottony” effect.

By using perspective, scale and the proper lens for a scene, your will take the three-dimensional scene and accurately capture an image of it with your two-dimensional camera.

If you enjoyed this article on perspective and scale, you'll enjoy my ebook titled The No-Nonsense Guide to Digital Photography. You can purchase it from this link and instantly download it for your digital photography reading pleasure.


If you would like to read more useful articles on digital photography, please visit my photography website.

The Art of Photographing People

If you write bios or profile-type articles, you will want to include a portrait photo of your article's subject. What is a portrait photo? Well, there are three kinds of portrait photos - posed, environmental and candid.

Posed -
In the posed portrait, you, the photographer, control the pose, background and direction of light. When shooting these portraits, you will most likely use either a full face, three-quarter face or profile view:

• A full face pose is usually not the best pose to use unless the subject has a perfect face, which few do. However, this is the pose to use, if you happen to be shooting young women with silky-smooth complexions.

• The three-quarter face pose will be one you will use the most. In this pose, the subject's face is 45 degrees to the camera and both eyes are visible. This pose minimizes blemishes on the far side of the face, so have the blemished side facing away from the camera.

• The other pose you will use is the profile. With this pose, the subject's face is 90 degrees to the camera and turned away from the camera until only one eye is visible. This is also a very good pose if one side of the face is less desirable than the other.

If the side of the face toward the camera is less than perfect, reduce the imperfection by using a diffuser filter. This filter gives a photo a slightly out-of-focus look and reduces the visibility of the imperfection.

The profile pose is also good to use if the subject has "chiseled" features. Natural sidelighting from a window will bring out the texture of the subject's face and accent those features. Lighting can be either natural light filtering in through a window or off-camera electronic flash. To tone down natural light filter it through a sheer curtain if one is available or bounce the light off of a reflector.

Environmental -
Another type of posed portrait is the environmental portrait. With this portrait, you are still controlling the pose, background and direction of lighting, however, you include more of the subject's surroundings in the photo. The surroundings may be in the subject's workplace or at home while engaged in a hobby. This type of portrait eliminates the problem of what to do with the hands.

Backgrounds can add to or distract from a photo. In shooting portraits, the background should be very subtle and unobtrusive. Some simple backgrounds to use are plain wallpaper, a plain painted wall, or in a pinch, a blanket. Position your subject about four feet in front of the background and use about a f8 or f5.6 aperture. Focus on the eyes of the subject. These apertures will throw the background slightly out-of-focus, so it won't overpower the photo and distract from the subject.

If the foreground adds to the portrait, then by all means show it.  For example, if you are shooting an environmental if a person tying a fishing fly, then you would want to include some of the fly-tying bench with fly-tying materials in the foreground.

For light colored skin, use a darker background. Conversely, for a darker colored skin, use a lighter background. Maroon is a great all-around background color. Use brightly colored clothes or props with subtle backgrounds.

When deciding the placement of the subject's face in the photo, place it about in the center of the photo. Not exactly in the center, but close. Shoot both close in and farther out. Get headshots, three-quarter face, profiles and full figure shots.

When metering for the shot, use a gray card or meter off the subject's face. If you do meter off the face, come in close, push your camera's shutter button halfway down, note the reading in your camera's TTL (Through-The-Lens) meter, drop back, adjust your camera to the readings you have just taken, recompose and shoot. For light skinned subjects open up one stop. For dark skinned subjects, close down one stop. Be sure and shoot both vertical and horizontal shots. Use a tripod and a cable release. This will allow you to concentrate on the composition and not have to worry about camera movement.

Always get a signed model, location or property release, if anything is unique and recognizable in the photo. It will make your photos more marketable.

Candid -
The last type of portrait is the candid. You can take some of the best people-photos when they don't know you are photographing them. Shoot candids by photographing people doing something and not paying any attention to you. With natural lighting, you can shoot many photos without being discovered. If you are using a flash, you are limited to probably just one. Once the flash fires, the subjects know you are photographing them and they are more weary and not as spontaneous.

The next time you write a profile article, experiment with some of these portrait tips while interviewing the subject of your article. You'll be surprised how much a portrait photo adds to a profile article.

If you enjoyed this article on how to shoot portraits, you'll enjoy my ebook titled The No-Nonsense Guide to Digital Photography. You can purchase it from this link and instantly download it for your digital photography reading pleasure.

If you would like to read more useful articles on digital photography, please visit my photography website.

Photographing Rivers, Cascades and Waterfalls

Rivers, cascades and waterfalls. The very trio of words paint a distinct mental picture. In some pictures, we see the movement of the water frozen in time. In other photos, the water takes on a white cottony effect as it flows through and over these geologic wonders. How is this effect created?

The creative tool used to control this white flowing appearance is shutter speed. How fast the water flows decides which shutter speed setting to use.

Shutter speeds as fast as 1/15 second can create the cottony effect. Another variable, besides the speed of flowing water, is the amount of cottony effect you want. A shutter speed of 1/15 second gives you a minimum effect. A 2-second shutter speed greatly increases this effect.

The only way to learn how to create the effect is to experiment by shooting scenes at each of the shutter speeds range between and including 1/15 second and 2 seconds. Note the shutter speed setting for each image so you can compare the differences between the images.

Relate the shutter speed setting of the photo you like to the speed of the flowing water. The faster the water, the faster the shutter speed. Conversely, the slower the water, the slower the shutter speed.

For average flowing water, shoot at 1/4 second and then bracket one stop over and one stop under from the 1/4 second shot. Bracketing your shots is a method of assuring at least one of your shots has the amount of effect you want. For faster water, start at 1/8 second; for slower water start at 1/2 second. As you gain experience shooting flowing water, you can estimate what shutter speed you need.

Because we are using such slow shutter speeds, a sturdy support is needed to shoot clear, crisp photos. The best support is a tripod. If one is not available, substitute by steading your camera against a wall, rock or other sturdy support. Even a monopod will work, if you are really steady.

Another accessory used to prevent camera movement is a cable release. If you don't have a cable release or if your camera doesn't have a cable release socket, you can use your camera's self-timer feature to trip your camera's shutter.

Sensor speed (ISO) is another consideration when shooting moving water. It is very difficult to get the slow shutter speeds required if you use a high ISO, such as 400 or higher. Use a slow ISO so you to get down to the slower shutter speeds.

Sometimes, even the slowest ISO, it might not be enough to get to the shutter speed you need for a certain shot. When faced with this situation, use a neutral density filter. These filters reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor and come in several different intensities. The manufacture marks the intensity of the filter by a density number such as ND 0.3 or a filter factor such as 2X. Common densities range from 0.1 to 0.9 Filter factors range from 2X to 8X. The amount of light reduced range from 1/3 stop for the 0.1 density to 3 stops for the 0.9 density.

You can decide which filter you need by determining the slowest ISO your DSLR will allow you to shoot and comparing that speed to the shutter speed you want to shoot. That difference is in stops. Then choose the neutral density filter for that number of stops. Usually, a 0.3 or 2X and a 0.6 or 4X will cover most of your needs. This gives you a 1-stop or 2-stop reduction in light if used singularly or a 3-stop reduction if stacked.

By using neutral density filters, and shooting on a cloudy day or in shaded conditions, you can use a large depth-of-field setting such as f11 or f16. Using these f-stop settings will hold more of the foreground and background in focus than if you used a smaller f-stop.

Another great accessory lending itself to exploring your creativity is the polarizing filter. Experiment by shooting frames with and without this filter. The polarization removes the reflections from the wet rocks and quiet pools of water, plus it perks up the colors of the scenes.

If you have had problems getting the cottony effect in the past, using these techniques and tools will allow you to create beautiful cottony flowing water photos.

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