i want to study photography. i have background in film making. my husband said my shots (thru cellphone camera) are creative and i have the potential to be a good photographer.. if i will start studying with a private tutor, how long will it take to learn all.. basics, lightings, lenses, angles etc. thank you.

its just experience the more u play with ur camera the more u learn,

it will be good if u plan to take a tutor, also u can take a way to take online lessons from Lynda.com or the internet bloggers on youtube. the also provide good and informative stuff!

as an amature photographer, i will recommend you to start with just Basic photography and dont go in much technicalities in the start like as u mentioned about Lighting and lenses.. this is a bit advance topic considered in photography

once u knows all the basics then move towards the lighting and taking pictures with different lenses. this will not confuse you when u learning the basics.

for camera angles you can follow this link:

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/camera/angles/

but u dont need since u have a film making background..

thats it.. hope i have provided all info related what u have asked!

check my photostream and see u at Flickr then! within a month

www.flickr.com/photos/waleedahmed

At my darkroom photography class, my teacher did this technique with us but I don’t know what it’s called, it definitely had a name. We made photograms and began to develop them but after being in the developer for 20 seconds, we exposed them again under our enlargers. It made the photograms have a silvery effect. Do you know what it’s called?

Actually "solarization" is something else. That is when film is grossly over exposed and the negative starts to turn to a positive.

What you are talking about is called the Sabattier effect.

http://pworkshop.tripod.com/sabattier.htm

Happy 2012 Everyone , wish you a great year ahead!

I have a Canon 450D & I love Photography. I’m trying to improve my skills somehow.
I’m trying to figure out what are the best settings on my cam to take outdoor pictures during the day in a way that the pictures come out alive & decent.

I also would like to know some of the editing techniques that are used in certain pictures like these

http://www.fashiondistraction.com/2010/11/fastlove.html

Yes I do know most of them use Photoshop but I’d like a bit more details in how to achieve the looks.
And also what is the best way to increase the contrast and exposure without making the picture seem as if it were fake or has been edited on a lot.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150459459571662&set=pu.168699921661&type=1

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=270200343041640&set=o.168699921661&type=1&ref=nf

Few examples of Photos That I’m talking about

If there are a few websites or YouTube channels the you recommend that would be great as well

Your advice techniques & help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you

None of these are that good, none would have been accepted by any editor I worked for, may be standards have dropped. No control over the lighting has been used on any of them.

When taking shots of models for fashion, cosmetic and magazines the photographer will, almost every time, use soft-boxes or reflective umbrellas and flash, or at least a few reflectors, they rarely (if ever) accept the light as it is. Lighting is so important, PS can’t make a silk purse from a pigs ear, you need good start images, a lot less PS and more camera was always the rule. (Was as I’m retired now).

Check out this site

http://www.lastoliteschoolofphotography.com/?__utma=1.1134379909.1325422586.1325422586.1325422586.1&__utmb=1.3.10.1325422586&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1325422586.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=%28organic%29|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=lastolight&__utmv=-&__utmk=43210917

I got a lot of my gear from them over the years.

In this video miss out the beginning part and move onto the shoot, you’ll see the difference that flash can make.

http://www.lastoliteschoolofphotography.com/using-the-hotrod-octa-softbox

PS is not the secret, good lighting is. The trick is to get all your contrast and control the shadows in the camera. I can’t emphasise too strongly how important this is.

Usually all I ever did in PS was colour balance, sharpening (usually selective sharpening around the eyes), skin smoothing (usually using Surface Blur) and removing the blemishes that even the best model has from time to time. That’s all that was usually required.

Chris

Might sound like a stupid question, but I have been studying all things light and I guess this is an opinion question more than anything.
I wish I was still at exam age dude, I really do.

"I wish I was still at exam age dude, I really do." Oh boy, so do I!!!

Principally, the difference is between continuous lighting and flash lighting. When shooting stills, it is of course possible to use continuous lighting, but then there is no opportunity to play with flash/ambient lighting mixes – with continuous it’s all ambient light.

Flash is more powerful in a short burst of time, to get that sort of power from continuous lights they need to be a high wattage, soooo they get hot. They need cooling, they are a fire risk and the model gets hot, sticky & sweaty, which is a pain for the make up artist to have to keep sorting out. All those difficulties are removed with flash.

There is also the difference that stills shoots tend to be relatively static, whilst video is often more dynamic, needing the use of lighting dollies.