I’ve got some great black and white portrait photography tips I want to share with you. I was photographing a friend recently and the only way I could photograph her was candidly. She was terribly shy of the camera and became very self conscious of her skin. At the time of shooting she was experiencing some skin problems and didn’t want them to be so noticeable.

I took a colour photo of her holding her cat in her lap:

You can see some of the skin blemishes. I opted to turn the photo into black and white. I didn’t like the chair in the back ground so I cropped the photo then turned it into a black and white photo.

I didn’t feel I “was there” yet with the photo. I knew I wanted to increase the exposure and do a few other things to it before I felt satisfied. I turned the contrast up a little to accentuate the darker tones. Then, with the magic of photo editing, I smoothed out her skin tones. I still kept the black and white as the final image. Here is the final result.

 Once I show you how, you can tone down the blemishes as much or as little as you want to. I wanted to try toning them down almost completely. Some people need a lot of toning down and others do not.

By turning the photo to black and white and adjusting the toning of her skin her skin looks brighter and healthy. She looks more radiant in the photo. In colour, I may have had to do many more things just to even out the skin tone. In black and white it has made my job easier. Creating a beautiful image of a lovely girl has not only increased her confidence but mine too.

What are we looking for in a black and white photo?

What constitutes a “beautiful” black and white photo is not only composition and lighting but as many different variances of grey as possible.  Digital photography can make black and white photography look quite washed out, which I will explain soon, but if you create deep grays, crisp whites and deep blacks then you are on your way to creating gorgeous black and white photos.

And if you want to get even more creative, try one in sepia:

By Amy Renfrey

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A long time ago there was a man who flew airplanes, then become an airplane mechanic.  He also had a great love of nature. I am sad to say that I did not know this man as well as I would have liked. He was quite aloof and a little grumpy, but I knew, under that gruff exterior, he had a love of all things beautiful. He then married a concert pianist. It was love at first sight. he walked into to a concert hall and saw her at the piano. He fell in love with her on the spot. He was 23.  A couple of years later they had three children, the third child was my mother.

This mans name was Geoff. He used to collect rocks. I know that seems a little boring, but hear me out. He would not only collect rocks, but he’d clean them, polish them with a special machine and make them look stunning. He would sit over his polisher in the garage for hours. He put his glasses on, pushed the foot pedal and held that small dirty, cracked rock over the polisher  until it had a smooth and shiny surface. He spent hours and hours doing it. They could have been worn as jewellery they looked so good.

He had quartz, rose quartz, pyrite and even opal. He never smoothed out the Pyrite, but I remember being fascinated as I held it up to the light and saw all the flat metalic parts sticking out of it like something of an alien planet.

He had pink, orange, blue, green rocks that were so beautifully smooth and shiny. He polished them so well that you could see the layers of crystal inside them, like layers in a cake. I wonder what ever happened to that old polishing machine. They looked even more beautiful in the sun.

Then came the early 70′s. I came a long. I would look at his gleaming polished rock collection with awe and wonder. I could see each tiny crack, layer and grove within each rock. Each rock was another world. It was magnificent. I shared my love of all things natural and beautiful with him.

I loved shells. The swirls, curls, shapes and smooth textures of the shells fascinated me. How could these beautiful works of natures art be scattered all over the beach so freely? Back when I was young, there were shells everywhere…every beach you went. Nowadays you’d be hard pressed to find an array of shells on a beach. Perhaps we’ve collected them all.

To cut a long story very, very short, when my grandfather died at 94, I inherited his rock collection. I was delighted that I had something of his that was so beautiful. He really appreciated natural beauty, he was a great lover of it. I decided to combine my shells and his rocks in a beautiful glass vase. The other day I cleaned them all and laid them out in the sun to dry. And here they are.

Each rock you see was hand picked, cleaned and lovingly polished by my grandfather. Each shell you see was handpicked from various beaches all around the east coast of Australia; from Victoria, NSW and up to Queensland.

I thought you might like this picture.

It’s easy to learn how to photograph the moon. In fact once you understand why you need to apply the principles I am about to tell you, moon photography will be a piece of cake.

The first thing to aim for, naturally, is good weather. A lovely clear night is the ideal conditions to take moon photography. Alternatively you can look for a gentle cloud streaking across the surface of the moon. This also makes for wonderful photography. So let’s have a look at exactly what you will need:

Your focal length. If you want to shoot the moon close up, or as close as you can, then you need a very long lens. The best way to get close is by using a telescope. You can place your camera on a mount and then the telescope effectively becomes your lens. It replaces the lens and you can get very close shots pretty easily.

If you do not have a telescope then you can use a telephoto lens. A telephoto lens is a lens that is very long. It is used for wildlife photography and portrait photography. A good range might be something like 200mm to 400mm. These lenses are very expensive but yield the loveliest results.

What about the brightness of the moon? Many people shoot the moon the same way as they would a night time scene. If you do this too, you may experience a large ball of white against a black sky. That might be ok over water for example, but if you want to capture the craters, then this is simply not the way to photograph.

The moon is very bright, especially when it’s full. I recommend choosing settings that mimic brighter, daylight conditions. When I photograph the moon I set my settings at anything from 125^th of a second to 60^th of a second. If you are not sure which shutter speed is best then try a few shots on a variety of shutter speeds to find the best one.

Setting up. You will need a tripod when you shoot the moon. This is because the moon is so far away, any movement of the camera and you may find you risk missing the beautiful craters. Keep your camera on a tripod, and if you have one, use a shutter cable to control the shutter speed. We use these because we do not want to bump the camera by pressing the shutter button down. And yes, even something as light as finger movement can blur your image.

It’s important to keep the camera still so you get everything in focus. I use manual focus so I can get the craters as sharp as I can. I sometimes find that auto focus can either have problems getting the right focus or sometimes can’t focus at all. Try moving the focus ring until you find a position whereby the moons craters look sharp.

Light sensitivity. ISO is a feature of your camera that controls how sensitive the camera is to lighting. If you are shooting the moon as the main subject against a black sky, then you will not need a very high ISO. If you are shooting the moon as an addition to your scene, then this becomes a different matter altogether.

What about aperture? Since the moon is in the far distance I suggest using a small aperture. In other words use a large f-stop number. I usually prefer F22 for the sharpest I images I can get. It’s better to get as much sharpness into the depth of your scene as you possibly can.

Shoot at the very highest quality you can. I always chose RAW for all my photography and photographing the moon is no exception. If you want high quality images then opt for the highest quality setting you can go. Even if you can’t shoot in RAW, select the largest Jpeg size you can.

Once you have taken your moon photograph, you may have to sharpen it a little. Not because your photo will come out blurry, but remember, it is hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. A little sharpening will help bring out some of the clarity and sharpness in the craters. Try increasing the contrast a little too. That always helps to give the surface more depth and detail, rather than having a big flat white surface.

Photograph the moon well by using these simple tips to help. In the mean time don’t stop looking at the beautiful night sky. You may be surprised at what you see; falling stars, a shift in position of the moon and constellations and even a satellite of two. They may for excellent time lapse shots. Never underestimate the sheer beauty and brilliance of the night sky. It offers us a chance, as photographers to capture the distant past and marvel at the place we live in.

Discover how to get beautifully sharp photos in all your photography. Discover the ebooks that can change the way you do photography from now on. http://digitalphotographysuccess.com/focusezinesub1.htm

There are many great advantages of learning how to use a digital camera, even a point and shoot, or compact digital camera. Just because you don’t have an slr doesn’t mean you won’t be capable enough to take gorgeous images. The beauty about smaller digital cameras is that you can take them any where, fit them in your pocket and if you see something worth photographing, you can simply point and shoot. Once you appreciate a few useful techniques, you can then begin getting beautiful shots.

In order to photograph beautiful images you need to take a few methods into consideration prior to pressing the shutter button. As much as the camera has some fabulous technology, it can simply prove as an assistance for you, rather than take the photograph for you. It’s you who takes a superb image due to creative and scientific skills, not the camera.

On the days when you have a few moments to assess what result you are going will get you will be grateful that you stopped and really looked closely at what scene you are about to photograph. It is always from this evaluation and understanding that takes you to a higher level of skill in your photography.

To begin, let’s check out the essential mechanical foundations of your digital camera. Shutter speed and aperture. Every shot relies upon of a amalgamation of shutter speed and aperture. To understand this wholly think of your shutter speed as the measurement of time the lighting has to enter the camera sensor and then be shut out again. The aperture is the quantity of lighting that the shutter lets in. Shutter is about timing and fstop is about the amount of light.

When you have a lens fstop that is quite big, you will find you have a quicker shutter speed time. This is so that not too much light floods the camera sensor and provides you with overexposed photos. (Photos with too much light can ruin your photograph). Aperture and shutter speed continuously work together. Once you become more certain in your camera and your skills and abilities, you will be capable enough to work out the ideal blend of both. Once you get the perfect combination you will be able to improve your photography in leaps and bounds.

What about the modes on the digital camera? There are a few shooting modes you can use on your compact . Most of the time you will most likely shoot in automatic. I suggest to aim to use out the other controls if you can.

“SP” is shutter priority function. It means that the digital camera will select what it believes the best shutter speed is for your shot. “AP” means aperture priority. It will decide the aperture for you while you pick the shutter speed. You may also find a range of other scene modes such as Portrait, Landscape, Night Time and Sport. When you place your dial on any of these modes it will mean that the digital camera will look to come across the most ideal arrangement of shutter and aperture for these situations you have chosen.

These different settings bring about different things to occur within the compact itself. Portrait mode tells the camera to have a fuzzy background. Landscape sets the camera to be able to get sharp focus in the distance. Night Time function sets the compact to have a very slow shutter speed and Sports mode tells the camera to have a very quick shutter speed. Within all of these settings you won’t be able to to influence the light sensitivity (called ISO), and sometimes won’t be able to use the flash. (Based on what compact you have.)

Working to get the best image sharpness you can is the ultimate way to take pictures. It’s essential to know what kind of subjects needs what kind of focusing. For example, a close up of someone’s face needs clear, close focusing. A water fall cascading over a mountain edge needs sharp focusing all the way as far as the eye can see. (This scale of focusing is called depth of field.)

To be sure that your shots are in focus at the point you want them to be, you will see a little dot come up in your view finder or lcd screen. When the photo is in focus the little dot will come up. Some cameras don’t have a dot but may beep when the shot is in focus and it’s ready to take the image.

it’s important not to drop the focus, which is why camera making companies created a helpful little mode called “Auto Focus Lock”. This function lets you keep the focus on your subject while you get the best position, then you can photograph and still keep clear focus.

Then again you can position the camera, keep the button down half way (don’t push it yet) wait for the compact to beep, then take the image. By doing this you will also be holding the focus. This has great advantages for the reason that you don’t have to recall to take the auto focus lock off. You can just move on to the next shot.

Always keep in mind to scrutinize your light, prior to taking the shot. Check to see which mode you love photographing in and take the photo accordingly. Happy shooting!

Written by Amy Renfrey.

Want more photography information? Just visit this link and learn how to take stunning photos every time you press the shutter button.

Winning Photo

Theme : “Orange”

Photo By Katy Robertson

Canon 40D
F/5.6
1/180s
ISO200
55mm

Why Katy won:

Katy’s ability to capture such detail and create a beautiful pattern and composition really impressed us. We loved the way she captured the depth of field- not always an easy thing to do with a flower up close. But she was very careful in choosing her dof and it worked masterfully.

Katy chose a very soft and dim lighting, but you can see the detail and the beauty of the flower up close. Everything is well exposed and she has done a sensational job.

Amy & Paul

P.S If you didn’t win, it’s not because we didn’t like your photo. Every photo on this page is a beauty. We love all of them. We want to extend a big “thank you” to everyone whose work is contributed each month. We are very proud of you.

Special Mention Entries:

(Simply click on a photo to enlarge and see camera data.)

Thank you very much for taking the time to submit your photos. You have done a great job. We have a limitation of one Winner and 12 finalists photos. This is due to the wonderful success and popularity of Focus Ezine and that we are now getting a large number of entries each month. If you don’t see yours here it’s not because we didn’t like it, it’s simply because of space limitations.

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Please add your comments about any of these great photo efforts at the bottom of the page.

Next Month’s (May) Theme:

“Urban Life”

The closing date is the 25th of May 2011

See examples :

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There are many wildlife photography tips I can reveal to you, but here are the most key. It actually does depend heavily on, not only light, but your shooting at the right moment and knowledge of the creature you are photographing and a whole lot of patience.

I can recommend to a a small number of memory cards with you and ensure you can store an obscene amount of information on them. And photograph in RAW. You will be able to get the best quality that way and be able to keep those shots for a lifetime. And expect to take many images until you get the right shot. It all comes down to preparation.
Portraits can really teach us about wildlife photography. How we order and structure our creature within the frame, concentrate on the eyes and body movement, and keep clear focus on the eyes…these are all things we do in portraiture all the time and wildlife photography is no different.

Even if you get nothing else in focus, and you have the eyes nice and sharp, then you can get away with it. We naturally look at eyes, which is why this system works best and works well. You may have noticed in the past that if the eyes are indistinguishable in a head and shoulders shot, then we just do not connect emotionally with the shot.

Your own personal well being is a huge point. Stay within a huge distance from a wild animal. This is why wildlife photographers make use of really lengthy lenses. They must be able to get as close up to the action as soon as possible without surprising the animal to their being there, or, put themselves in harms road. A lot of wild animals are tremendously protective and will act in response to you as a threat if they are unsure. So be intelligent. Take a long lens and keep out of view.

Not only do we use a long lens for this reason, but also for the idea of not wanting to intimidate the animal in any way. This is especially true for birds. Wild birds are nervous little things at best. When a bird is resting calmly on a tree branch waiting for a mate, you don’t want to make a noise from the bushes and risk it hurrying to another place.

Sunset and the break of day are by far the best times to take photos of wild animals. They come out for food and can be seen stalking, fighting with other animals and searching attentively. They will also come out of their sleeping place, get ready for attracting a soul mate and begin singing or performing the traditional mating rights of courtship. This can give you with some incredible photo opportunities.

What about where you place things in the photo? Wild life photography, like any portraiture, is best complete with a balance of negative space and positive breathing space surrounding your animal. if an animal is looking into the distance for instance, make certain you give the animal space in front of it to “look into”. This works properly for most wildlife.
Apply these wildlife photography suggestions by going to the zoo. Practice on a variety of animals until you are sure to go to the next step- the wild. Good luck and happy shooting!

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All videos written, recorded and produced by DigitalPhotographySuccess.com and Amy Renfrey. Amy maintains copyright over all videos and printed material.

The “Trick Photography Book” written by Evan Sharboneau is an in depth and exciting book. I absolutely loved it and I am happy to write a review about it to share with you. It is sure to enlighten photographers of all stages on how to get those special effects photographs that thrill and inspire us for years to come. Even for those that may have never picked up a camera in their lives or are using simple cameras many special effects can still be used. The book still offers to help photo enthusiasts in a straightforward and very simple to understand way.

I loved its strategies, tactics and was thrilled to read the whole book from front to cover. Evan has done himself proud. There is a wealth of information in the book. There is so much in fact, that it will take you a while to digest it all. And it should be like that. The best educational books are like that.

Long Exposure Effects and Light Painting
Setting the Shutter Speed
Setting the Aperture
Setting the ISO
Setting the White Balance
and Generic Common Settings for Light Paintings

These just some of the countless things you will discover in the book. There is so much more in here I hardly know where to start.

He talks a lot about the best lighting and other really great techniques you can create in the post processing end of your photography. I liked the way he went into specific detail and defined how the whole thing works mutually, from start to finish, to create your final image. Lighting is the key to photography and Evan covers this extensively.

When you first open the book you are hit with a huge table of contents.

It feels a little overwhelming to begin with because the content he provides is so big. He not only goes into all the things you need to know like lighting, but talks about dslr’s, angles, software and other technical facts, which he describes very effortlessly and straightforwardly.

High Speed Photography
One of my favourite aspects to his book was the part High Speed Photography. Want to see what a balloon looks like when it bursts? Its high speed photography but the shots look like they have been taken in slow motion. This is the section you won’t want to miss. He explains all the equipment you will need (yes you can set this up at home) where to buy the equipment and how to put it all together. He explains it in such a simple way that you want to rush out and buy it. That’s what I did.

The photos are extraordinary. I actually felt myself getting excited by the possibility of photographing my own high speed photographs. I can’t wait to try this.

Evan also covers a segment on Bubbles and close up photography. The images are stunning and you are truly transported to another world by examining at them. You can produce wonderful effects, abstract photos and extremely interesting photos of close up bubbles. You see the dazzling swirls of the water across the surface of the bubble and the patterns look like something out of a fantasy book.

Photographing smoke is also in the book, thankfully. I am thankful because I get so many clients asking me how to photograph smoke. Now I can refer them to Evans book. I love this part a lot. He talks about the lighting, things to use as backdrops and what you need to accurately photograph smoke and produce attractive and amazing patterns. You don’t have to use cigarette smoke; you can also use the smoke from an incense stick.

Recommendation

I have been a photographer for many years. I know how hard it can be when you are first beginning to not only take good photos, but special effects. Evan makes this process easy, fun and really enlightening. I highly recommend this book. I am recommending it to all my clients who learn about photography.

And just when you think you can’t fit i any more in your brain, he gives you a handful of special bonuses. What an incredibly generous offer. He’s a sweet guy and very eager to help people. You will not find a better experience with trick photography. I loved the bonus ebooks as much as I loved the main ebook. A brilliant collection that I am now proud to own.

It’s easy to learn from and fun to do your first special effects photos. It’s worth $97 but I seriously think he should be asking for twice the cost. It’s worth a few hundred dollars in value and content. It’s worth so much more than it’s current outlay. It just shows the generous nature of the author.

Amy Renfrey

To check out Evans book, just go to his website: Trick Photography and Special Effects

Amy Renfrey is a professional photography teacher. She shows you how to take stunning photos every single time, even if you have never used a digital camera before. To discover how to take good photos better than ever before visit her website today.

If you want to take stunning photos every time you press the shutter button, then head on over to our site to learn how to take stunning photos.

Understanding the way to learning how to do panoramic photography is one of the most exciting and fun things in photography. You can create thousands of photos that look stunning on your wall or home office. It’s not only a great way to practice the way you look at photography in general, but a great way to master your landscape photography abilities as well.

Let’s begin with why panoramas were “created”. Software companies knew that the scene was bigger than what our cameras could record. So they created a process called “stitching”. Stitching is a word used to describe taking a series of photos side by side and merging them together to create one single, long and wide photo.

For panorama photography you don’t need anything too expensive when it comes to cameras. You just need a tripod, good lighting and some software. My favourite software to stitch my panoramas is known as “Panorama Maker Pro”. Nowadays they have version 6 available. You can even test it for a short period of time to come to a decision whether or not it is suitable for you.

I have created a lot of panoramas with the software. Once complete you can plainly see how it beautifully elongates a photo. This works fabulously for landscape photography. When you want to photograph your scene and do not have a wide or ultra wide angle lens, creating a panorama is good fun.

How To Shoot Panoramic Photos- Here is how you set up the digital camera

There’s one thing to create panoramas, and another thing to actually take them. There is a specific method to take panoramic pictures and it’s less difficult than you are probably thinking. Okay, so let’s start out. Let’s start with taking a landscape image. Choose the scene you want to photograph. Make sure your landscape has good lighting and there are no harsh shadows across your scene, it will make it easier to stitch if you have a clear and open landscape.

Set your camera up on a tripod. Keep the digital camera securely fastened and able to move from left to right or right to left only. It’s crucial that you let the tripod to move horizontally. If your tripod slips down vertically as you are taking a photo you make risk having your photo out of focus and the software will be unable to stitch correctly.

Don’t photograph into the sun. Have the sun at the back of you. It is better to photograph at the end of the day, or the start of the day. The light is nicer, sweeter and so much more gentle at the start and end of the day. The tones are deeper too.

Creating Panoramic Photos

Choose manual setting and position the camera towards the part of the view you want to expose properly. Now keep the digital camera on those settings the whole time. Let’s say you have the camera at 1/250th of a second and F20, 100 ISO. You’ve decided that you want a certain part of the picture to be well exposed and these settings will do it. That’s good, keep them that way and don’t change the settings at all. Once you have chosen your settings, now take a sequence of photos, one after the other. Move the camera from left to right, for example. Make sure you leave a section of the scene as overlap. Your stitching software program needs to overlap something.

What Sorts Of Things Can You Make a Panorama From? Fast moving subjects may not work- depending on the light. Begin with subjects that don’t move, like rocks, mountains and buildings. Landscapes with a nothing but blue sky and a mountain range are great subjects to start with. Nothing is moving so the Panorama software should not have any problem stitching your scene together. Let me clarify this further.

If you are taking pictures with a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second and the subjects is fast moving, like water for example, then you may not have a fast enough shutter speed for the motion of the digital camera and the water. In the first photo the water will be at the top of the rock and the next photo the water will be half way along the rock. When the software attempts to stitch two irregularities together it will not be able to form a full and complete picture. The outcome will look like two pieces of paper that have been glued together. Keep the shot without motion so the software can stitch the photo in exactly the same spot. It will then make photo 1 the same as photo 2. There will be no difficulties and the two photos will come together nicely.

However, on saying that, if you have loads of light and a quick shutter speed you need to move the camera sooner than the water is moving. In other words, you need to move super fast to make sure you set up your digital camera in a way that the stitching will match up. If the water is moving at 1/250th of a second, then you need to move at 1/500th of a second. You need to move the camera from left to right, faster than the water. However for now, begin with a single scene without speed of any kind. Keep your mind on a motionless subject. It’s simpler in the beginning that way.

What Other Scenes Make Magnificent Panoramas- There are heaps of ways to create your photos wide and large.

Mountain ranges are not the only subjects that look good as panoramas. Once you have mastered the shutter speed and speed of movement for photographing a series of pictures, why not attempt a waterfall. Once you have mastered this method of panorama shooting, you can work to create panoramas in any direction. Not only do horizontal panoramas work but so do squares (tiles- two at the upper section of the photo and two at the bottom of your image, and so do vertical scenes.

I took a series of shots at Nightcap National Park in New South Wales, Australia. I did what was referred to as a “tile.” The photo comprised of 6 photos; 3 bottom ones and 3 top ones. I was vigilant not to overlap any sections of the water because I was unable to shift the digital camera quickly and have a fast shutter speed. This was due to the sunlight falling behind the mountain. I used a very high ISO to compensate for the light decrease. I knew it would be okay to do this because my camera wouldn’t overexpose anything in dim lighting like this. I was blessed, the image turned out fine.

Making Your Panorama as a Final Picture- Placing your panorama together

Once you have photographed a sequence of shots from left to right, say 5, simply upload the photos to your computer. Open up the Panorama software. Then, once you are in, go for the images you want to work on. You will be able to follow the instructions pretty well when you are in the program itself. If your panorama works properly, you should see a huge scene. It is amazing to see, for the very first time, that your photos have now become one and you are looking at a big scene- exactly the way you saw it with your own eyes. It’s a lovely thing to experience.

Creating panoramas is a wonderful way to not only become skilled at the art of photography but helps you look at scenes in a different way. You will have a innovative love and excitement for landscapes especially.Don’t just stick with landscapes. Once you become more familiar with the process, try taking beautiful photos of trees, water, oceans (remember your light and shutter), highways, and even pathways. Everything I have pointed out seems like a landscape scene, but if you do additional photographing you will find you can produce a panorama out of just about anything. It’s so much fun to do!

Amy Renfrey is a professional photography teacher. She shows you how to take stunning photos every single time, even if you have never used a digital camera before. Visit her website today and discover how to take great photos for the rest of your life.