I’ve learned a bit about digital photography. Now I want to incorporate black and white film into my studies. The only difference i see is that with black and white film, it is good to shoot in a lot of sunlight?? unlike with color, where shade was recommended. I’m going to practice doing portraits with a friend this weekend. Does anyone have any pointers. I’ll be shooting with a canon eos rebel 2000. 35mm-80mm f4 lens, and I’ll be using a gray card.

The whole sunlight rule is because this creates sharper contrast in monochromatic pictures. Contrast automatically "attracts" the eye to your composition, but in and of itself it does not make a composition good, or ultimately the photograph for that matter. It is one of the many factors a good photographer considers before taking a picture. Do you want high contrast? Low? What is your vision? Is this factor that important? Can you compensate with it? Make compromises?

If it’s your first time, shoot three shots of every shot. One with your expected preference of shutter speed, one below and one above. This is "bracketing" your shot. Gives you more variety in your final piece. Use the lower f-stops if you’re doing portraits, most of the time, at least.

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.

Currently, I enjoy photography as a hobby, but would like to start taking more professional looking pictures. I usually take most of my photos of my family and friends and am interested in tips and techniques for good portrait photos. My mother is interested in purchasing a magazine subscription for me for Christmas and I was thinking that a good portrait photography magazine would be nice to have if there’s one out there. Last year, I got a magazine subscription that was basically all about the gear (cameras, lenses, filters, flashes etc) and it wasn’t what I was expecting. Any recommendations?

I do some portrait painting and have found inspiration in the paintings of famous portrait artists of the past, such as John Singer Sargent. 1940’s black and white movies have some great scenes that show lighting techniques.

Any techniques he used to do his photography.. please say.

Ansel has become world famous for his way of thinking of the correct exposure for a landscape shot (even though he worked with Fred Archer it’s Ansel that got the fame). It’s known as the zone system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_System

Im currently doing a gcse photography course and I am need of some photography techniques to help me in my course. Any will help and I have an Nikon slr and photoshop so I have the technology to try some out. Thankyou!

browse through different types of photography. Here’s mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vangorkumphotography/sets/72157623193786470/

or some of other’s photos that i really like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vangorkumphotography/favorites/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/143/sakurafn.jpg/

As the title states – What post processing has been used on this photograph? I’m starting to learn the ways of photography. Techniques, ect. And I’m trying to figure out what has been done to this photograph. Any help?

Thanks to everyone in advance.

I see no evidence of post processing.

That is simply a shot that is called a back-lit photo.

The photographer exposed for the hand which was in shadow and let the background overexpose

Here are the details of that shot

Filename:sakurafn.jpg
Size:143Kb
Resolution:600 x 600
Camera used:PENTAX PENTAX K-x
Orientation:Horizontal (normal)
Focal length:18.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 27.0 mm)
Aperture:f/5.6
Date/Time:2011-03-22 17:24:47
Exposure time:1/80
Lens F-Number:f/5.6
ISO:320
Whitebalance:Custom
Metering mode:Multi-segment
Exposure:Manual
Jpeg Quality:JPEG (old-style)

Learn about composition, light, exposure and depth of field. Then practice by always thinking about the light, the composition, the exposure and how much or how little depth of field you want. Doing this will help you avoid falling into what I call the "machine gunner mentality" – take 300 exposures and hope – HOPE – a few are worth saving. I’ve no doubt someone will tell you to: "Just go out and shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot. That’s how you gain experience." This is about the worst advice you can get. The only "experience" you’ll gain is in taking snapshots. Good photography requires thinking – thinking about your composition, thinking about the light, thinking about the exposure, thinking about depth of field. Since thinking requires time there is no way to be thinking about those elements if you fall into the "machine gunner mentality". The goal should be quality, not quantity.

Here are some sites you should spend time on:

http://www.digital-photography-school.com

http://www.kamerasimulator.se/eng/?page_id=2

http://www.photonhead.com

http://www.illustratedphotography.com/photography-tips/basic

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Another technique you need to learn is to pay as much attention to everything else in the frame as you do to your main subject. Look for litter, power lines, dead branches, an overexposed area in the background, a dull sky – anything that might be a distraction to someone looking at your pictures. By doing so you’ll learn that a slight change in your composition can eliminate or at least minimize any distractions.

http://www.flickr.com/drifter45h/3991210245/ After settling on this composition but before releasing the shutter I picked up 3 cigarette butts, a discarded tissue and a plastic bottle.

Don’t fall into the "Oh I can fix it in Photoshop" mentality either. The idea is to "Get it right in the camera" and keep your use of an editing program to a minimum. An image file that suffers from a blurry image caused by subject or camera movement or is underexposed or overexposed or is out of focus is a lost cause. You might be able to improve it if its only slightly under or over exposed but if its out of focus or blurry all you’ll be doing is wasting your time.

So learn to concentrate on the light, the exposure, the composition and the depth of field and learn to pay attention to everything in the frame.

just out of curiosity(:

Whatever it takes to get the shot I want.