Taking Pictures At Day

Since I showed tips for taking pictures at night, I think it is only logic that show you tips for taking pictures at day too.

When you are taking pictures at the day, remember to watch for the exposure. Sometime we tend to shoot the pictures without adjusting the exposure. This can cause your pictures to look blown out even you are keeping the exposure meter at normal.

Luckily, we are in the era of digital photography. You can always change the exposure and take the pictures. Imagine when you were in the film photography time. You probably have to waste a precious shot and be upset for days.

Another thing you need to look after when you are taking pictures at day is your digital camera lens. This is because lenses are actually sensitive to sun light. Excessive sun light can damage the lenses.

So, when you are taking pictures for sun rise and sun set, try to avoid pointing directly at the sun. If you need to work under a sunny day, remember to cover the lens and for compact digital camera user, remember to off your camera so that the lens can be hidden.

Lastly, try to take a break when you are taking pictures under the sun. It will cost you a lot of money to buy a new lens.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong.

Taking Picture At Night

Even though you are equipped with flash, some time taking picture at night is not as easy as it seems. Due to the total dark environment, some time your pictures will appear blown out, a condition when your subjects' details are lost because of the strong intensity of flash.

If you really want to take picture at night, try to use external light source to illuminate your subjects before you take he pictures. If you can't do that, you can stand further from your subjects and zoom in on your subjects before you snap the picture. This will then spread the flash to a larger area instead of close proximity to your subjects.

However, things can be a lot easier if you are using DSLR camera where you can disperse your flash and reduce the intensity on your subjects.

But before you start taking pictures at night, have you ever thought of taking pictures at dusk?

During the dusk, the sky is relatively dark yet still provides enough sunlight for your pictures. At that time, you don't need to use external light source and you can minimize the use of flash. And when you are taking pictures with dim natural light, it will give you different feeling to your pictures.

However, dusk only last for a short time. So, you have to be well prepared and pre-frame your pictures before you take the shot. There are photographers who even go look at the scene days before the shoot. They want to experience the environment so that they can take better pictures when the day comes.

And to let you know, not many people practice taking pictures at dusk. And you are simply missing the beauty of it when you leave such beautiful moment at bay.

Try doing it sometimes,

Michael Wong.

Digital Photography Tip - Pay Attention To Your Subject

When you are taking picture, you will want to make sure you pay attention to your subjects. Whether they are your friends, pets or even a fruit bowl, they should be the main focus of your picture. You want to show their details and their uniqueness. So, below are some tips to help you on that.

1. Attention

Just like what I said, you have to focus on your subjects. At that moment, they deserve 120% of your attention. Period. So, before you go into the shooting, prepare yourself make yourself comfortable with the subjects.

2. Proximity

One of the ways to make your subjects stand out is to get in close to them. You just walk towards them or zoom in with your lens. Your main responsibility here is to fill your frame with your subjects or part of them.

3. Select your background

Often, your subjects will come to you in a way that is totally the opposite of how you have imagined it should be. For the case of a fruit bowl, you can always rearrange yourself to make it suit your photograph shooting.

How about people or pet?

The inexperienced might not notice it. But you probably will bang your head on the wall when you see your subjects appear like that. If that is the case, the only thing you can do is to match your subjects with the best background you can get.

And that is why it is probably a good idea to have some light back drop in your studio.

4. Be creative

For all you know, there is no law in digital photography that depicts you have to do this and that to get good pictures. It is purely base on how you feel you will want to take the pictures.

So, when you want something different from your pictures, try to change the angle and move your subjects when you are taking pictures.

And of course, there are more things you can do to bring out the detail of your subjects. Just keep practice with digital photography and you will be better with it.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong.

4 Simple Digital Photography Tips

If you have much experience with digital photography, I think you don't need to read this. And if you just started out with digital photography, I understand how you feel when comes to taking pictures that you want. You probably have imagined how it should be but the end product is totally disappointing.

Hang in there. Actually, there are a lot of things that you can do to improve your pictures. You just need to try different thing to see which feel the best and below are 4 tips that you can experiment on to get a better picture.

1. It is important that you don't overpopulate your pictures. Many digital photography newbie like to put a lot of things in their pictures. You are only going to confuse your viewers when you do that.
So, be clear of your theme and what you are trying to communicate in your pictures.

2. Speaking of being clear with your theme, it is good that you can practice blurring your background when you are taking pictures. It is a common technique to remove disturbing information from the background.

You might not be able to master this immediately. So, give yourself more time to practice and read more about digital photography whenever you can.

3. When you are taking picture of people, try to take as much candid shot as possible.

You want to capture the light side of your subject especially this person is always serious and hardly smile.

Still, it is not to say that you can't take picture of serious people. President Obama does look good when he is serious while giving speech. But don't you feel he is more approachable when he is smiling and waving to the public?

4. The last tip for you to take home is about lighting. When you are in digital photography, it is best that you can take picture with proper exposure of lighting. So, it doesn't matter whether it is sunlight or artificial light in the studio. As long as your subjects are properly lit, then you are fine.

However, this doesn't apply to the flash that pops from your camera. This is because the intensity of the sudden lighting can make your subjects to look wash out if you can't control the flash properly.

So, that is all for today. Just digest what you have read and practice with digital photography.
Take more happy pictures,

Michael Wong.

Take Pictures With Low Ambient Light

All I can say is taking pictures with low ambient light is fun. It gives a whole different feeling then the day and night. I personally like the grey bluish view just after sunset and before the earth is totally consume by darkness.

And to help you get that new feeling, you just decrease the aperture, increase the ISO so that the camera is more sensitive to light. Then, you will want to increase the exposure time but slow down the shutter speed. All this process will then help to direct more light to the image sensor and give you a good picture even the ambient light is low.

I know you some of you might be confused with what I said, so here is a quick explanation:

• Increase ISO - increase camera sensitivity to light
• Increase aperture - increase exposure time and light entering camera
• Increase shutter speed - decrease light entering camera

So, Increase ISO + Increase aperture + Decrease shutter speed = More light enter the camera. I hope that is OK.

However, prolonging the exposure time make your pictures susceptible to vibration and your pictures can turn out 'shaken'. And to minimize these unsatisfactory pictures, you can either turn on the 'anti-handshake' feature in your digital camera or mount your camera on a tripod.

By the way, increasing ISO and exposure time can both introduce noise in your pictures. If the noise is unbearable, you probably will want to retake the picture or edit it with photo editing software.

As pretty as taking pictures under low light can seems, it does require more practice. One of the reasons is because this condition only last for a short time after sunset and it is easy to spoil the shot when you are unprepared for it.

Please understand this, it is common to take lousy pictures. In fact, that is how the professional photographers gone through. They took pictures and analyze what is good and what is bad with their pictures.

Just like Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." And you only need that one way to be good in digital photography.

Happy photographing,

Michael Wong.

How To Take Pictures Of Pets

Many people have taken pets as part of their life and it is not uncommon that you want to include your lovely pet in your pictures. However, taking pictures of your pet is certainly a challenging task because they can't take direction like people. You will have tougher time taking a snap your pet if it is active and always running around.

So, below are a few tips to help you take pictures of your pet.

1. Understand them

Since you are the master, you should be familiar with your pet behavior. You should know what ticks them and when they will be quite and cute. Once you know that, you will know how to lead your pet into the emotion.

You can wiggle a piece of feather in front of your cat to make it leap or capture its action to grab the feather with its paws. Don't you think it is kind of cute?

However, as much as you need to understand your pet to take its picture, sometime it can be fun to have one or two surprise shot from your pet. Although this might not sound proper, you can actually provoke (not getting yourself hurt of course) your pet to get its angry picture. This can be one of the abnormal pictures of your lovely pet.

2. Patience

Ever heard of "patience is the best virtue"? I think you have to hold on to that when you want that special shot of your pet. Sometime your pet will lay still and rest when you are expecting some action from it. And when you are tired of waiting and decided to snap the silent side of your pet, it suddenly sprung into action and spoils your frame.

It is like they know what you want and decided to make fun of you. I know how annoying that can be. Still, pets are unlike human subject, sometime you just have to follow their mood.

3. Look for emotion

Despite of what you might think, animals do express their emotion on their face. However, you probably only see that when you are familiar with them as your pet. I personally saw a stray cat showed its hungry face at me and I regretted that I didn't have my camera at that time. I believe it will be a good picture. But I still feed it, just incase you want to know.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that pets only show their true emotion when they really mean it and that might take you some time before you can catch that in pictures.

4. Natural light

When you are taking pictures of your pet, remember to use natural light as much as you can. This is because the sudden burst of flash can startle your pet and make it uneasy for the rest of the photograph shoot.

By the way, animals' eyes don't share the same anatomy as human. It is very common to see red eyes when you flash on them.

5. Angle

Just like any digital photography tips told you before, you need to find an angle to bring out the uniqueness of your subject. And this goes the same with pet photography.

You can set your camera at ground and lead your pet to examine it. This is how the photographers get the curious expression of the pet with their head huge in the pictures. Or you can try standing taking the picture while your dog is sitting and looking up to you. You can get a better picture if you can get its sad puppy face into the picture.

Pets photography can be fun and you can make it even more enjoyable with some creativity during the shooting.

Happy taking picture with your pet,

Michael Wong.

3 Tips For Shooting Great Digital Photos

Do you feel something is missing with your pictures? You know that you are taking nice pictures but somehow you feel is not quite right. Right? And the worse thing is this unknown is bugging you whenever you look at your pictures. So, how do you overcome this annoying feeling?

When you are in digital photography, it is very important that you take note about the ISO setting. This setting is related to the camera's sensitivity for light. Generally, you will want to use low ISO setting for still pictures like fruit bowl or flower. Then you will want to use high ISO setting for moving pictures like waterfall or soccer player in a match.

And just to let you know, when you increase the ISO, you also are limiting the amount of light entering your digital camera. Hence, that will make your pictures look noiser.

Have you ever taken your pictures with the grid lines activated? Many photographers think that grid lines are a waste of time and the lines often annoy the view. As much as I have to admit that, I do believe that grid lines are a waste of time.

Still, they can be quite useful when you think something is wrong with your pictures. They might be your missing tool to great digital photos. Some time it is by having the grid lines as your guide, only then you will notice that your pictures are out of line. And by practicing with the grid lines, you will become better in framing your shot.

And when all else fails, your last resort is to put out your pictures and let other experience photographers critic your work. I know how that feels. No one likes to be critic by someone else.

Still, if you can let go of your artist ego (I am sorry if I offended you when I say that) and try to listen to the other photographers have to say, you will start to see the issues you have. If you can take and practice the experienced photographers' feedback, you will start to see the differences in your pictures.

I know you are comfortable with your style but sometime it is our own style that limits us from growing our skills. It is not like you will fail anyone when you try something new. You can always switch back if you prefer your own style.

But for the time being, just try...

Happy taking pictures

Michael Wong.

6 Amazing Landscape Photography Tips For You

As I promised, no more portrait photography tips today and I want to share some landscape tips with you. Landscape photography is about getting out, be close with the nature and capture the beauty of Mother Nature. I hope you will find the tips here useful,

1. Tripod

There will be time that you need to wait for the special shot. Imagine you are holding the camera while waiting for the special moment to appear. It can be really tiring when you are holding a DSLR camera.

Besides, tripod can add stability to your pictures. It certainly comes in handy when you are taking picture with low ambience light because the increase aperture size is going to affect the stability of your pictures. So, it is good that you can mount your camera on a tripod when you are taking landscape pictures.

2. Wide angle lens

You probably have seen some landscape pictures where the scenery extends to the far end of the horizon. Now, if you are using a normal lens, you probably will have a hard time figuring which part of the landscape you have to sacrifice so that you can fit the scene in your picture. It will take you some time and work even you decided to stitch your picture with photo editing software.

All of these can be avoided when you have a wide angle lens to capture the amazing landscape pictures. As the name implies, wide angle lens offer more field of view than normal lens so that it can take in more of the surroundings.

I know some of you might think that you will never enjoy good landscape pictures because you are using a point and shoot camera. Just incase you haven't know, more compact digital cameras with wide angle lens are coming out into the market nowadays. And if you are interested in that, you really have to take a look here.

3. Foregrounds

If you have been following this blog consistently, you will notice that I talk a lot about blurring the background (shallow depth of field) to bring out the detail of your subjects. That can be quite useful when you want to focus on something in the nature like a flower.

However, I think it is more appropriate to talk about foreground here. When you are with landscape photography, you can focus on something in front of you and let your picture extend to the far end of the landscape.

Imagine you are standing at the entrance of a valley and you are focusing on a rock pile in front of you and let the picture extend to the end of the valley. I know the picture can be boring because of less contrast in the picture but it is just the example that pops into my mind. I hope you get the picture of what I am trying to say here. :-)

4. Depth of field

While it is perfectly alright to have shallow depth of field in landscape photography, I personally prefer that I have deeper depth of field where I can see the whole landscape clearly.

To me, I like to have everything in focus in my landscape pictures. It is only then I can feel the overwhelming feeling of Mother Nature. And if you are just like me, you probably will not adjust the setting on your camera and take it as normal as you can.

5. Movement

Just to let you know, landscape photography is not just about still pictures. It is not just about the mesmerizing hills or the silent sun rise.

You can capture the water at the waterfall, waves at the sunny beach and moving clouds. And if you get to travel to Asia, try to look for beach with fishing boat and take the picture standing behind the boat. You want to have a part of the boat in your picture but giving attention to the coming waves.

This can be a wonderful picture.

6. Timing

Have you ever seen pictures that are taken at different timing? I personally think this is important when you are in landscape photography.

Just compare the pictures (at the same location) where one was taken during early morning and one was taken at the afternoon. You don't just see the differences in the pictures, you can even feel differently from the 2 pictures.

The early morning picture might tell you that the scenario is calm and comfortable. The afternoon picture might says that the location is hot and it going through a tough time. Many people might not like the afternoon picture due to its brightness.

The landscape photography tips I shared with you are purely personal preference. It is not the law to landscape photography. However, I will urge you to keep photographing and in the process, you will surely develop something that you like.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

2 Quick Portrait Photography Tips

What ?! Portrait photography tips again?! I know how you feel when you see the title. It seems that I never get enough with portrait photography. How can I? It is my favorite subject and I love it a lot. It is alright that you don't see eye to eye with me on this. If you think you had enough with portrait photography, please come back later. I promise that I will share something different in my next post. Until then, let's enjoy the tips for portrait photography. J

1. Simplicity

Have you heard of the quote "Simplicity is beauty and beauty is simplicity, nothing more, nothing less."? (Author unknown)

And that says it all for portrait photography because the art is supposed to highlight the beauty of your subject (at least I think it is supposed to do that). You should make the picture as simple as possible and focus only on your subject. You should use a plain background whenever is possible and when you are force to take portraits with distracting background, you will want to blur the background as much as you can.

2. Back lighting

As a photographer, you probably know that back lighting is terrible for portrait photography during outdoor. Your subjects will appear dark in the pictures and they will lose their details in the pictures. For some of you, it might mean total failure on the portraits.

Still, it is possible to rectify the problem by flashing on your subjects. But if you have look at pictures done with that technique, you might feel that the subjects glow in a different and awkward vibe.

How do you rectify this? But my question to you is, why do you want to rectify that?

Back lighting can actually add interest and different feeling to the portraits when you do it right.

The next time when you are taking a portrait, try to find an angle where your subjects almost block the light source. This will create a picture with ray of light showering your subjects while keeping most of their details.

A word of caution when you are doing this is that sometime the ray might become a sudden glare to your eyes. So, it is good that you can look into the LCD when you are composing the shoot instead of looking directly to your subjects.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

How Should A Professional Photographer Behave?

Besides having great photography skills, what does a professional photographer needs to bring his or her career to another level?

Personally, I think it is every important that a good photographer is willing to build rapport with the subjects. One of the reasons why some subjects give you awkward pose is because they felt uneasy with you. It is not that you are a bad person or what, it is because they don't know you and it is strange posing for a stranger. When that happens, your job is to close the gap between the two of you and make your subjects comfortable.

And when your clients are comfortable with you, they will take instruction better and be more open with you. They might even tell you which is their best angle and that can really make your job easier. After all, who knows your subjects better than themselves?

By the way, how can I forget to mention your personality? Always try to remember to put on a smiling face. Your subjects know that they give bad pictures and they feel guilty enough. They don't need your unhappy face to feel guiltier.

Just to remind you, you are in the people business and being nice with your clients is one of the ways to build your business.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

How To Get Nice Portrait Pictures?

I know portrait photography is addictive and fun. And looking at all the pictures you have taken, have you ever wonder that you can actually be better in portrait photography? If you are interested, below are some tips to share with you on portrait photography to help you take better portrait pictures.

1. Lighting

Most photographers agree that natural lighting is the best for photography however this can be different when you are indoor shooting for portrait photography. There are a lot of times that you will need help from artificial lighting to light up the subjects in a particular angle to bring out the certain shine of the subjects.

I understand that sometimes that you might need to take a few pictures before you can light up the subjects properly but I can assure you that this is only temporary. As you take more pictures and build your experience with portrait photography, you have easier time taking nice portraits.

2. Background

When you have dealt with the lighting, the next tip you need to know is about the background. This can be quite easy to manage when you are shooting in a studio where you can choose the plain background for the pictures. But what if you are outdoor or taking pictures in a party?

If that is the case, you will want to avoid too many things in the background. This is because too many things in the background will distract your viewers' attention. Even you have done a great job in capturing your subject's details, your viewers might not see it.

3. Communication

Now, communication is very important when you are developing your portrait photographer career. You want to know what your customers are looking for in their pictures and how you are going to take their portraits base on your professional photography knowledge. After all, photography is supposed to be a happy event. You don't want to spoil your customers' mood and you certainly don't want them to complaint about your service.

And even though you are not making money with portrait photography, communication is also very important when you are taking portraits as hobby. You want to let your subjects know how you are going to compose your shot and whether they are comfortable with your arrangement.

If your subject says her left side looks better in pictures you might want to take her suggestion and see how you work the portrait from there.

Since you have read the post, what are you waiting for? Let's go have some fun with portrait photography.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Common Mistakes For Digital Photography Beginners

When you are starting new with digital photography, it is inevitable that you will make mistakes and I recommend that you give yourself chance to make mistakes. What do you have to lose? It is not that you have to spend money on film or anything like that, you can always delete the pictures that you feel is not up to your standard (you probably end up with slight increase of your electrical bills because of battery charges though).

And if you are serious with digital photography, let's take a look at the common mistakes that you see in digital photography beginners.

1. Too many distractions

I have to confess that I was a greedy person when I started with photography. I wanted to get everything into my pictures. I remember one of my pictures that I want to take the whole wall of graffiti with the subject in front of the wall but the picture was a total mess. There was no theme, no focus and everything seems to crying for your attention.

I was quite frustrated to how the picture turned out and I wondered how I can have everything while still have a good picture. It was not until my friend pointed out to me that it is common that we have to compromise with our pictures. We can't have them all. We have to give up some to have a good picture and that is when I started to give up on my dream. It was quite painful at that time. :-(

But after I stop being greedy, I found that taking pictures became easier. I hardly struggle to frame my picture and I no longer have to step a few feet back just to capture all the things and sometime sacrifice the details in my subjects.

With that being said, that leads us to the second tip.

2. Composition

After being in digital photography for some time, I realized that composition is very much important to your pictures. You simply can't take the camera and snap pictures as freely as you want. So, the next time you take your pictures, ask yourself,

"What do you want to show your viewers?"

When you understand that, you will know how to place and display your subjects so that they can stand out in the pictures. After all, photography is about showing the uniqueness of the subjects. :-)

3. Being too rigid

I believe you have been reading quite a lot when you started with digital photography. You are eager to improve on your photography skills and you follow exactly what you have read and the professional advice you have seen.

Now, these tips are great as guideline but they are not the law and you don't need to follow them to the dot. For all you need to know, digital photography is free to explore and you should improvise on what you have read. Who knows you might find something new and revolutionize the art.

So, a good picture doesn't means that the subject has to always be in the center. Shooting into the sun is not wrong when you want to capture the ray of light beaming on your subject and it can be fun to take a picture with your friend mouth full and eye wide open.

Ok. Ok. That might be too far away but the point is, you are not limited in a handful of ways to take picture with digital photography.

So, feel free to experiment with digital photography. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Be A Better Photographer

Have you ever be mesmerize by the surroundings and you start taking a lot pictures but when you got home and look at your pictures, you felt the pictures are boring and you can actually take better pictures?

If that is the case, you need to look at the pictures and see how you can edit the pictures so that they can look better. If there is too much distraction from the background, you can blur the background with the photo editing program. Since you are editing the pictures, why limit your option? After you have blurred the background, you can try to give a foggy feeling to the picture by slightly blurring the entire picture. Besides, the next time you take your pictures, remember to capture them in RAW format (you can only find this format in DSLR camera) so that you can edit them later.

Do you always take pictures with automatic mode? Do you want to save time so you take pictures with the automatic mode? However, when the camera takes pictures in automatic mode, the camera will adjust the setting to what it thinks is the best for the picture. You can actually take better pictures when you adjust the setting yourself. After all you are sharing your pictures with real people and who knows them better than you? Now, please don't misunderstand that I am saying the automatic mode is bad for your pictures. It is there to help save your time and work so that you can enjoy taking pictures.

And have you ever think about the exposure of your pictures? Sometimes, a simple adjustment of the exposure can make huge difference on your pictures. If the lighting is too bright, you need to lower it and vice versa.

And how can I ever forget about the angle when you are taking pictures. Instead of taking pictures while you are standing and putting your subjects in the middle of the frame, why don't you try to squat down and put your subjects at the side of the frame and leaving a huge space at the other side? You might felt odd to have that big empty space at the side but you probably will work out something when you take the pictures. Besides, you can always take vertical shot if you don't know what to do with the empty space.

So, you see, it is simple to be a better photographer. All you need is to change your perspective and something new will come up. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

6 Beginner Photography Tips

If you just started with digital photography, the tips below can be useful to you.

1. Hold your wallet

I know how it feels when you see someone taking picture with DSLR camera. If you have heard the sound of the shutter of the DSLR camera, you probably will say to yourself that you also want the camera as birthday gift.

But before you rush into that, you might want to start your digital photography journey with a point and shoot camera. Besides, if you ask the experienced photographers, they will tell you that it is the photographer who takes great pictures. A high end DSLR camera is merely a plus point.

Who knows you might get bored with digital photography? Then your expensive digital camera might go wasted or listed in ebay.

2. Understand your camera

This might be the most important tip in this whole post.

I still remember how excited I was when I first got my camera and I am all pumped up to start taking picture. How hard can it be? You just lift the camera, look into the LCD screen and press the shutter button. And you will see a nice picture. But have you ever thought that your pictures can be better?

Let's take the white balance for example. Depends on your light source, it is possible that your picture will turn out slightly blue or red. And until you adjust your white balance, your pictures will feel different than other photographer.

So, when you got your camera, take a deep breath, relax and go through your manual and experience the camera settings.

3. Learn the basic

Since you are taking time to understand your digital camera, why don't you take the same time to learn the basic of digital photography as well?

If the manual doesn't provide you with the adequate information about digital photography, you can always look into the search engines for more. There are a lof of websites and blog that offer free digital photography tips.

So, make it a habit to read 2-3 articles or blog post about digital photography every alternate day and experiment what you learn with your camera. It can be very exciting when you see the pictures you took with what you have learn.

If you are worry about the cost, why should you? With digital photography, you are film free. You can simply delete the pictures that you don't like (although I will recommend you to keep those pictures for a while, you will know why by referring here).

And if you are learning from the internet, you just pay for the normal internet connection. If you are busy or the information seems overwhelming, you can always save the article in a folder and go back to it later.

4. Keep your camera

Have you ever wonder why you didn't have your camera with you during certain moment? It just makes you want to pound yourself for leaving the camera at home.

Great pictures often appear when you least expect it and I always see that during dinner with friends. You can't imagine how well the chefs set the plates nowadays, it is a waste if you like food and photography. Besides, if you visit the restaurant for the first time, you probably want to capture the ambience of the surrounding with your camera. It can be a great topic to share among friends too.

And to avoid missing all these precious moments, I now make sure that I at least carry my compact digital camera when I go out for dinner.

5. Tripod

You might be thinking, why you should get a tripod when your digital camera already comes with the anti-shake function. If you have compare pictures taken with and without a tripod (even with anti-shake function activated), you will see the reason why you need a tripod. The difference is even more significant when you are taking picture with low surrounding light where the shutter speed has to be delayed.

By mounting your camera on a tripod, it gives so much more stability to the camera and clearer pictures. Besides, tripods nowadays are affordable, light weight, portable and adjustable. If you are serious about digital photography, you should really consider getting the tripod.

6. Practice to improve

What more need to be said about this? If you want to have nice pictures; if you want to people to compliment about your pictures and if you want to come out triumphant in any digital photography competition, you have to practice to improve your digital photography skills.

Some of you might say that practicing is boring. I totally agree with you because I do felt that some time. I used to think how long I still need to become as good as the professional photographer. And to be frank with you, I have no idea.

Still, I know what I want with digital photography and I am going to work for it. I will continue to look for inspiration and improve my skills.

I hope you will do the same. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Keep Your Pictures First

If you were like me, you will delete the photo that doesn't look good immediately after you review it on the LCD screen. And I do it even more whenever I am low in storage memory (So, take my words. Please bring more memory cards or larger capacity storage card when you are out taking pictures. You never know what you will see). But seriously, you should keep the pictures and delete them after you see them on PC and you tried to revive them with software.

If you are wondering why you should do that, tell me, why do you want to get into photography? You want to keep the moment and capture the specific feeling. Now, you have to understand that a good picture doesn't necessary always need to be properly frame and have the best composition in the world. A distorted and picture that was taken by accident can still be a good picture. It just needs to give that feeling and tell the stories at that moment. Don't you agree?

What I am trying to say is that it can be difficult to determine whether you have taken a good picture when you are at that moment. You probably have set your mind to 'see' certain pictures to be accepted in your memory card. It is not until when you have transfer the pictures to your PC that you will notice a blurred foreground picture can be better than a properly compose picture.

Besides, you might miss some details when you are reviewing your pictures on the LCD screen especially when you are on a job that might need you to snap a lot of pictures. The rush in the job might cloud your judgement from creating something special.

So, if you extra storage in your memory card, try to keep the pictures you have taken. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Think First Before You Take The Pictures

What are you thinking when you are taking your pictures? If you are like me, I sometime didn't think much. I just want to keep the moment in pictures. And if you want to start getting good pictures, we should start thinking before we take pictures.

1. What's the message?

Before you snap the picture, you have to ask yourself,

"What is the real message I want to convey through my pictures?"

Different messages will require you to perform differently in terms of framing and composition. If you want to create a romantic feeling for the portrait, you probably have to create a silhouette of the couple during sunset or a black and white portrait of the couple holding hands together.

2. Proximity

How close are you to your subject? If you are too far from the subject, you will lose the details and you will take in too much distraction in your pictures. If you are too close to your subject, you might highlight the flaws in the subjects and some might misunderstand the theme in your pictures.

And if your subjects are uncomfortable with you getting too close, you can always zoom in to the subjects. However, I personally like to get close personally. I probably just want to bond with the subjects. I don't know how to explain this in words. It is a feeling that needs me to get close to the subjects.

3. Background

Now, when you are taking pictures, it is common that the background will draw your viewers' attention from the subjects. So, that is why you see sometime photographer purposely blur the background so that the subjects will stand out in the pictures.

And sometime you are force to take pictures even you know the background is distracting. Imagine you are taking a portrait at a hot tourist spot. It is difficult to get a clear picture with only your subjects when there are tourists all around the place. Since that is the case, you ought to blur the background to avoid the distraction.

4. Lighting

Have you ever thought of the lighting before you take your pictures? Your pictures will lose clarity when they are poorly lit. And when you are using artificial light (flash), is it too strong to your subjects?

And do you know that light coming from different direction can also affect your pictures? Try taking a picture of fruit bowl and you will know what I mean. So, the next time you take another picture, try to look for where is light coming from and you create a different feel in your pictures.

5. Habit

Now, as a photographer, I have developed a certain habit of mine when I take pictures. It was not until that when my brother asked me why most of my pictures are taken horizontally.

Do you have certain habits when you take pictures? If you do, that certainly limits the diversity in your pictures. So, if you have been fond to taking pictures horizontally, you probably want to start taking picture vertically. If you have been taking pictures vertically, you may want to look into taking pictures slantingly.

6. Angles

Talking about habits, many photographers also take the same when they pictures and I am one of them (I still do even I realize my problem). And you have to think about new angles the next time you try to take a picture. Before that, why don't you take a look at the pictures you have taken, are they taken from a similar angle? If they do, you might want to start lying down, crouching or simply hold your camera high above the subjects to take the pictures.

Although it might seems there are a lot of things you need to ask yourself before you start taking picture, it is alright that you can't remember them. It took me quite a while before I develop the habit (see, is habit again) and punch my thigh when I review the pictures. Just take more pictures and you will build that habit. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

How To Take Nice Babies And Kids Portrait

Don't you agree that kids grow up so fast these days? It seems that it was just a few years ago when they are still small and sleep soundly in your arms. Don't you have the urge to freeze time and keep them as they are? Now, you and I both know that it is unlikely to happen and that is why we need digital photography to help us keep the memory when they are still nice and cute. :-)

One thing about babies and kids is they changes rapidly. They can be cute and cuddly now but when you got your camera and ready to shoot, they become sour face without any reason. That is why the first thing about taking nice babies and kids portrait, you have to always keep your camera ready. Once you miss your chance, you will have to wait for another time to get the picture and you probably have to wait for a long time.

When comes to taking babies and kids portrait, I personally like to use natural lighting instead of artificial lighting. I personally feel that they glow under sunlight. Besides that, some babies and kids cried when you pop flash at them. If you have experienced that before, you know how ugly the scenario can be especially when their parents showed you the why did you make my baby cry look.

By the way, some people do say that flash is not good for the babies and kids eyes because the sudden flash might damage their eyes. I am not sure how true that can be but it does make sense because their eyes sensory might not be fully developed. We probably have to becareful the next time we take babies and kids portrait.

And when you finally got the chance to take the picture, remember to zoom in close to capture their facial expression. Their smiling faces are the precious pictures which you will show your children when they grow up. Another tip for you to take a smiling picture of baby and kid is to have them sit on the mother lap. They somehow show their best smiling face when they are with the mother. I am sorry dad.

Since you are taking pictures of the babies and kids on the mother lap, why don't you take a picture of the mother with the child too? This can really highlight the maternal side of the mother and create a total different feel in the portrait.

Lastly, remember to add some accessories when you are taking the portraits. Professional photographers add hat, special costume and toys to bring out the cheerful and cute side of the babies and kids. Besides, babies and kids will have more fun during the photography session when they have something to play with.

Since you have read the tips, what are you still waiting for? Go have some fun with babies. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Starting Your Own Digital Photography Business

Unlike taking digital photography as a hobby, having passion and enthusiasm are not enough to build your digital photography business. Many people thought that they can turn their photography passion into money only to find that there are a lot of obstacles to clear in the business.

It is true that digital photography can be a fine work at home business. All you need is a PC and photo editing software. You can even start the business without a printer. You just send the edited pictures to the printing services and they will churn out the pictures for you. How about those customers who don't need printed pictures? You can just copied the pictures into DVD and collect your payment when you deliver the DVD.

So, you see, it is easy to make money with digital photography.

However, it is this ease in running the business that created a lot of competition. How can you stand out from the competitors besides slashing your price?

I expected that you already have proper photography skills when you are looking into starting your won digital photography business. So, I am not going to highlight the importance of having good photography skills before you start your business.

The first thing you need to have for your digital photography business is to have a plan. No business can survive if you don't have a plan. And looking at the fierce competition that is coming your way, it is only logical that you create a counter competition plan as well.

Now, you are dealing with people when you are in the digital photography business and when you are in people business, your level of service will determine the money you can earn with digital photography. Many people fail their business not because they didn't product good pictures. They fail because they provide bad service.

Many photographers promised to deliver the pictures but to fail to do so and your customers might forgive you for once. But if you fail to deliver the pictures by the next due date, your customers will be frustrated and start throwing words at you. Now, you might have a lot of works and delayed your delivery but your customers don't care about that. They will only think that you give them bad service and they might spread the words to not to book you for a job.

After that, you will need to market your business. There are a lot of affordable and effective marketing strategies you can find online. For starter, you can start advertising your service in the social networking websites. You can either buy ad space in the social networking site and announce your service in your status.

You can also take part in local photography competition (if your area has such event) to build your reputation. Of course you aim to win when you join the competition but so what if you didn't win? The most important thing is that you can see how other photographers produce their work and what the weaknesses in your pictures are. When you have rectified the problems in your pictures and build your reputation, your customers will start to look for your service.

Lastly, a digital photography business is like any business. You will have stress, budget problem, put in effort and sacrifice time to build your business. If you are unwilling to do necessary sacrifice, you probably have to think about entering the business.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Word About Candid Pictures

As much as I love to take candid pictures, not all people will appreciate the pictures especially the subjects you took into the pictures. There are people who don't like to have their face in pictures and I learnt my lesson the hard way during a few days back.

I was having dinner with a group of friends and being a photography fanatic myself, how can I miss the chance of getting the food and all the friends into the picture? But there was a particular friend of mine who refuse to get into the picture. She only told me that she hate to be in pictures. I should have listened to that instead of being rebellious and follow her face around with the camera. I thought it was funny and it was challenging. I told myself that the more you hide from me, the more I want to get your picture.

When I finally got her picture and showed it to her, she snapped (luckily she didn't snap my camera). She was furious and scolded me for disrespecting her. She was quite loud and almost all the diners and waiters turned to our table. I was shocked with her response and it took me a while before I realized that I might have violated her and started to apologize. I immediately deleted her picture and showed her that I don't keep her picture. Only then, she nodded and warned me again not to take her picture.

So, you see, there are people who are sensitive about you taking their pictures. And I am still bothered by the fact that she said I disrespected her. I was just trying to have some fun. I never thought I can offend somebody by just having fun.

But to think about it, it is my fault to be scolded. She did tell me that she wanted to be excluded from the pictures and I ignored her and chase her around with the camera. So, to my friend (you know who you are),

"I am sorry."

So, the next time you take a candid shot, remember to get your subjects' consent. If you are taking a picture of a stranger, I think it is good that you can go up to the people and ask for their approval before you keep the pictures and walk away. You don't want someone to chase after you and scold you on the street that you offended them.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Digital Photography Tips For You

I know that point and shoot cameras do come shorthanded when you compare them with DSLR camera. Still, that doesn't mean that you can only get low quality picture. You can still get nice picture with compact digital camera when you look at the following tips,

1. Macro

Have you ever saw pictures that the background is blurred and the object seems to stand out in the picture? Don't you feel that the pictures are amazing and don't you wish you can do that?

The blurred background you saw in those pictures are actually created by shallow depth of field and you can see that when you activate the "macro" mode of your compact digital camera.

Then, you just frame and snap the picture and you will get a nice blurred background picture of your own. But a word of cautious is that the effect of the shallow depth of field may vary depend on the camera manufacturers. Still, you will know your practice time is well spent when you see the final result of your picture. :-)

2. White balance

Most of the white balance in digital cameras are usually set as "auto" when they are release from manufacturing. And that might be the reason why sometime you feel that your pictures are clammy. Try adjusting the white balance when you are taking pictures and you will notice the differences in the pictures.

Again, take some time and get acquainted with the white balance so that you will know how to leverage on the feature when you need it.

3. Flash

Time and time again I have advised you that you need to take control with flash when you are taking pictures. This is especially true when you are using point and shoot camera because you don't have much control over the intensity and direction of the flash on your camera.

Although it is great to use natural light for your outdoor pictures, the light sometime might be too strong and you need to activate the flash to give certain burst of light to counter the shadows on your subjects.

And when you are indoor, try to stick a small piece of white paper near (don't stick on) your flash unit to absorb some of the flash so that your pictures won't be too 'bright'. However, you might need more time and practice to get this right. And if you don't want to do that, you can probably take a look at DSLR camera.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Quick Tips For Portrait Photography

Have you ever wonder what makes the perfect portrait photography?

I personally like candid pictures. I like to take pictures when people are drinking, eating, laughing and especially when they are thinking. If you look at the people around you, you see that there are a lot of interesting thinking faces. And these faces vary among people. They almost are like a trademark to the thinkers.

Sometime it is fun to snap the picture only to have the thinker to look at you in shock. It seems that they suddenly woke up from a trance and is embarrassed that you caught them in deep thinking. But that is OK, you just go up and show them the picture. Of course you need to ask them whether you can keep the picture and whether they want a copy of it. If they refuse, you must delete the picture in front of them. But with my personal experience, my subjects rarely ask me to delete the pictures. I even made some friends when I showed them their thinking faces. :-)

And if you are in any photography business, I think this can be a good way to increase your contacts and to get some job later. I am not sure how successful this can be but I think it is a worth a try.

People sometime do ask me what I like about candid photography. I can hardly answer that. Maybe is because I just like the natural side of people. I think that is the purest and most spontaneous moment of one can be. That is the time when you take your guard down and let your emotion roam free. I don't have picture of people crying though. It feels a bit wrong to take picture when people are crying. Well. That is just me. :-)

Another tip for you to good portrait pictures is to give instruction to your subjects. It is common for people to pose as they like but that doesn't mean that their poses are good for pictures.

So, it is your duty to tell the subjects that there is a better way to pose for the pictures. And if you are serious about portrait photography, sometime you have to take both pictures (one is your subjects comfortable pose and one if pose under your direction) to your subjects that you are right. Don't be afraid to give instruction because you have the same objective as your subjects. You too want to show the best of your subjects.

Also, if you are making money with portrait photography, you have to learn to give instruction to ease your job. But before you start pointing your subjects around, it is important that you established a clear understanding about what your subjects want and how you are going to do that. When both of you understand each other, you will save a lot of time and energy making the photography session a success.

Besides that, please remember to be gentle when you are directing your subjects. They are your customers after all.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Tips To Taking Automatic Pictures

Ever since digital photography has been introduced to the consumers, taking pictures has never been easier. You can just frame the image and snap the picture immediately. The most you need to do is to select the correct mode and the digital camera will adjust itself and give you the optimum pictures. The following tips are going to show you how you can leverage on this automatic mode to take some nice pictures.

1. Getting the camera ready

Select the dial on your camera to automatic mode (refer your manual for the right icon or indication) and frame your picture. Press the shutter button halfway down to let the camera gets the focus and exposure of your subject. When the digital camera is done, it will either give a beep or light and you can then push the shutter down completely to take the picture.

2. Focus

When you are in automatic mode, the digital camera will do this for you. If you are using a compact digital camera, it is common to see green boxes on the LCD screen when you are pushing the shutter button halfway down. These boxes indicate the focus zone selected by the camera. So, when you take the picture, these areas will the sharpest part of your picture. You can however change these focus areas by letting go of the shutter button and press it halfway down again.

3. Exposure

If you have read about how to get the right exposure for your picture, you probably will be confused by what you read. You need some photography experience before you can properly get the right exposure.

So, if you are like me, you will let the camera do its job. Digital cameras come with an exposure system to measure the light coming from the scene and use the measurement to give you the best exposure.

4. Flash

Looking at the autoexposure reading, the digital camera will then decide to activate the flash or not. But depending on the manufacturers, some compact digital cameras might have flash that is too strong and some is too dim. Sometimes, it can be quite frustrated to be unable to control the intensity of the flash.

This can be different if you are using a DSLR camera. You just need to take the extra step to point your flash unit away from the subject and the flash will be dispersed. You might need some practices with this.

5. Aperture and shutter speed

And judging from the light in the surrounding and exposure system, your digital camera will automatically adjust the aperture size to allow the total amount of light entering the camera.

If the light is not enough, the aperture will be opened wider so that more light can enter the camera and vice versa. By the way, the shutter speed will go opposite of the aperture just to achieve the same purpose. That means the shutter speed will be lowered when the aperture size increases if more light were needed for the picture and vice versa.

Confuse? Is OK. All of these are being done automatically by the digital camera once your select the automatic mode. You don't need to fuss about them.

I hope the tips just now have given you some insights to how you can leverage on the automatic mode to take nice pictures. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Photography Tips To Help You Take Pictures

Today, almost everyone can afford a digital camera and the hobby is getting cheaper and cheaper by the day. Looking at the speed that cameras are being launched in the market, you can get quite a fair deal of camera with backdated technology. Since digital camera is not the issue anymore, let's look at some tips to help you take nice pictures. By the way, I am focusing the tips today only about outdoor photography. If that doesn't interest you, you might want to come back later. :-)

1. When you are thinking of including the background in your pictures, try to look for something that complements your subject. It is nice that you can get a picture of your girlfriend sitting in a garden of lavender (just don't let her wear the purple dress).

2. If unfortunately, you can't find a complimenting background, you can always blur the background by activating the 'macro' mode of compact digital camera or increasing the aperture (same as lowering your focal ratio or f-number) when you are using a DSLR camera.

But either you are using a compact or DSLR camera, it is better that you can stand further from your subjects and zoom into them to get better effect of blurred background.

3. When you are taking pictures outdoor, it is very important that you be cautious about your environment. It is quite frustrating that when you have composed your shot and something budge into the frame to ruin the moment.

Even though you haven't snapped the picture, you will automatically look away from the frame and focus on the intruders. There are occasions that I nearly snap on the kid who run into frame and spoil my mood. Quite a grumpy photographer I am. Hehe. :-p

4. If you have any experience, it is quite difficult to get a nice portrait when you are visiting tourism spot. People are everywhere. If that is the case, you can either wait them out which will kill if you are as impatience as I am or you can compromise and take the picture anyway.

But after a recent trip, I have developed something improper. I will find an angle which I take the least part of other people (usually I keep them at the edge of the picture) and then I will use the photoshop to rub away the 'participants'. Now, this might mot work well for every picture. For those pictures that didn't work, I will try to add something with the photoshop again to try to cover them up.

5. Lastly, remember to take candid pictures. Now, this might not be a good tip to you because I personally like candid outdoor pictures. I don't know why but I think you should have fun and enjoy the outdoor. You should laugh, jump, run, and do all the wacky stuff outdoor.

Probably I have been too serious and stress at office and at home. Anyway, this is entirely up to you. If you are uncomfortable to do it, don't force it.

After all, digital photography is about having fun and appreciating the art.

I hope you have enjoyed my outdoor tips and I welcome any comments. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

How To Take Wonderful Pictures

Since you now have your own digital camera, it is time that you hit the road and start snapping pictures everywhere. And I believe you have done there even before you read my blog. But if you are like me, you probably think that something is missing in your pictures. So, I hope the tips below can help you to improve in your digital photography skills.

When you are taking portraits, unless you want to include the background, try to take your pictures vertically. You can then see the difference in your pictures. Sometimes, you will see something even better when you take the picture slightly slanted and vertically.

By the way, you can use the same technique to take pictures of building. Imagine you are taking picture of an entrance of an old building. If you are taking the picture horizontally, you might include unnecessary background that make your viewers confuse about the real message you want to tell through your pictures.

Sometimes, your pictures can be dull when take them at normal angle. Have you ever thought of taking the same picture from bottom to up? This will give a totally new feeling to the picture.

Lastly, you will want to learn more digital photography and improve on your skills. So, if you are not struggling financially, remember to join some photography courses or subscribe to digital photography magazines.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Some Tips of Portrait Photography

I believe most of you are having digital camera nowadays and I think you must be happy taking pictures of your family and friends. But sometimes things can get awkward when you miss the shot. So, below are some tips to help you boost your portrait photography skills.

LCD screen

The LCD screen has been great help in digital photography. Do you remember the last time missed the body part when you were with film photography? Aren't you upset with yourself for not paying enough attention with your subject?

But you shouldn't repeat the same mistake with LCD screen on your digital camera. You can now see clearly every part of your subject before you snap the button. If you see the head is cropped, you can adjust the camera and get the complete picture.

Besides, LCD screen nowadays are build bigger and bigger into the digital camera and some LCD screen even occupied the whole back side of some compact digital cameras in the market now. And with the increased size of the LCD screen, you take advantage on the benefit to improve your portrait photography skills.

Background

I think a lot of you must have problem that the background steal the shine from your subject. Have you ever tried to blur the background before?

You can always activate the 'macro' mode on your compact digital camera, focus on your subject and you will get a blurred background picture. When the background is blur, you will be able to highlight and bring out the uniqueness of your subject.

However, there are also cases where the background can actually enhance your subject. However you might need certain skill to appreciate and leverage on the background. So, if you are not comfortable with including the background, you can blur it. At least until you have developed your skills.

Lighting

Please understand that proper lighting will bring out the details of your subject. If you are taking picture outdoor, the natural daylight will be good enough to make your subjects look good. Another tip for you is that when daylight is too strong for your picture, you can use the flash to shine on your subjects so that your subject will not seen dark.

And when you are taking picture indoor where lighting is always the problem, you need to be careful when you are using your flash. Because if you don't use your flash, your pictures will turn out dark; on the other hand, if you use your flash, your subjects can look too bright in the picture.

So, if you are using a compact digital camera, you can stand further from your subject (far enough that it doesn't affect your subject's details) and zoom into your subject. Then you will get a better picture.

If you are using a DSLR camera, you can always disperse the flash so that it is not pop directly to your subject. You can either disperse the flash to the ceiling or to the back of you.

I hope these tips help you to improve on your portrait pictures. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

A Simple Tip To How To Be A Good Photographer...

My personal tip to be a good photographer is to Get Up and Start Taking Pictures and I don't care you are taking indoor or outdoor pictures.

It is common for photographers to start digital photography with a camera in the casing while they are looking for tips online, reading articles and magazines and researching about the strategies to be a good photographer. Well I have.

While it is great to improve your knowledge about digital photography, there is nothing better compare to experience photography with your finger snapping the shutter button.

Have you ever felt that your picture is not as good as other photographer even both of you are using the same camera and lens? That is where the skill makes the difference. And you can only learn the skills through taking pictures and improving your skills along the way.

It is OK that your pictures look awkward initially. Every photographer went through the same thing. You will get better as you take more pictures. :-)

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

Flash As Secondary Light...

Flash can come in handy when you are taking pictures. However, your picture will never feel as good with natural light. This is because you are trying to get the essence of your subjects and they look the best under natural ambient light.

So, remember, flash is just there as a supporting light source.

Still, this doesn't say that flash is created to spoil the fun of digital photography. There are instances when you need flash to save your picture.

Imagine there is a bright sun in front of you and a unique and nearly distinct butterfly just landed on the table in front of you. And coincidently you got your camera at your hand, before you snap the picture, remember to set the camera flash on so that the butterfly can be properly illuminated.

If not, your butterfly will appear dark and lost its vibrant color. This is because cameras were not built to handle this kind of situation and they seems to give priority to the back light and make your subject dark.

This phenomenon is similar with our eyes where you too can't properly appreciate the object in front of you when the back light is too strong. The object will often turn out to be dark too.

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

5 Tips To Start With Digital Photography

If you are new to digital photography, I happily welcome you to the hobby and I believe you are going to enjoy it. I hope that the tips below can show you how to play with digital photography and take some pretty pictures. :-)

1. Know Your Camera

I know how excited it can be when you first got your digital camera. I can still remember how I felt when I open the box and how it smells once I unpacked the camera. It seems to connect with me when I hold it in my hand and I immediately slot in the battery and took it for a spin. It proved that I made the right decision to get the camera. :-)

It was only later that I heard that running your camera with minimal battery can damage the camera and I have been worried since. I am not sure how true that is, but I would like to advice you charge the battery to the full first before you start taking pictures. And since you are charging the battery, why not take the time to read the manual and understand what your camera can actually do. You might never imagine your camera can do something different than other cameras.

2. Flash

And to help you to get the hang of digital photography, you should learn all you can about the flash (link to my flash) on your camera. If you are using a point and shoot camera, the intensity of your flash might be different base on different manufacturers and it might cause your subject to look glaring. If that is the case, you will want to learn to control your flash with distance and zooming into the subjects.

If you are using a digital SLR camera, you can disperse the flash to minimize the glare.

3. Macro

The macro mode is ideal to take close up picture with your subjects and it is represented with a flower symbol (symbol may vary with manufacturers).

Once you have selected the macro mode, make sure that you get as close to your subject as possible to capture its details. You can compare taking picture with macro and normal mode and you will see that the macro is able to capture the detail of your subject better.

However, when you are using the macro mode, make sure that you have a tripod or steady hand so that your pictures don't come out blur.

4. Use the grid

It is common to take pictures that are out of proportion when you are new to the hobby and grid lines are great help to frame your picture. Most digital cameras nowadays come with this setting where you can have lines showing on your LCD screen.

You can then use the line as guide to properly place your subjects and get that tremendous picture that you hope for.

5. ISO setting

ISO is actually the International Organization for Standardization which is same as the organization that sets standard for the businesses and technologies around the world.

Digital cameras nowadays come with different ISO setting and you can now be free from taking different roll of ISO films for any photograph shooting. Although the cameras do come with different ISO setting, you will want to be careful with the high ISO setting. This is because less light will be allow into the camera (due to fast shutter speed) when you are using high ISO and you will suffer noise picture.

So, that marks the end of this post and I hope you enjoy the tips as much as I did it. Remember to go out more and take more pictures to build up your digital photography skills.

Happy taking pictures,

Michael Wong. :-)

3 Tips For You To Take Good Pictures

Do you know how far we gone from digital photography? It just seems 10 or plus years when we just start to see the power of digital photography. And people nowadays are mostly using digital camera and taking pictures can not be any easier than the older days. But how do you take good pictures with digital photography? Below are some tips to share with you. Enjoy. :-)

1. Lighting

It is a well known fact that the pictures taken from digital SLR cameras have better quality than normal compact digital camera. However the point and shoot camera can still give good quality picture when you have proper lighting to illuminate the subject.

And talking about lighting, most people will have no problem taking picture at the day time. Problems usually arise when you are taking picture at night when you need to use the flash.

For the standard compact digital camera users, it is common for a lot you to suffer glaring picture when you use the flash. This is because you were not given the power to control the intensity of your flash.

You can however stand further from the subject and zoom into it before you snap the picture. Although this step can solve the issue, it still have a challenge that how far you have to stand from the subject and this often require you to trial and error to get the hang of it.

Or, you can try to disperse the flash manually by sticking a piece of white paper in front if the flash, this somehow makes the pictures look odd. And if you have the patience you can run your own experiment to how to stick the paper so that you can disperse the flash properly.

2. Camera

Just like what you saw just now, camera plays a definite role in the quality of your picture. If you are using a digital SLR camera, you can take your picture in the RAW format so that the picture you took retains the details as you capture it. The camera will not do anything to alter the picture so that you can edit it as you like.

Although digital SLR cameras gives you the best quality picture, how do you know which camera give you the best? You obviously can't see the difference when you are testing the cameras at the shop.

Besides, the more testing and explanation you get from the sales person, the more confuse you will be. So, it is only logic that you spend some time research the cameras online, look in photography magazines and ask other experienced photographers for advice.

3. Techniques and skills

I am sorry to say that despite of all the things you can get, you still need a set of skills to get good quality pictures. And this is unlikely something that you get together with the camera.

Luckily, these techniques and skills to good quality pictures are easy to learn. All you need to do is to spend time studying the art, take pictures, hang out with like minded photographers and ask for their feedback. Sometime you can send your pictures to magazines to have the professional photographers to comment on it.

So, go out more often and take picture. Since you have the camera, it is a waste to let it lay there and collect dust. You are missing a lot of beautiful things uncaptured.

Happy taking picture,

Michael Wong. :-)

Taking A Look At Your Digital Camera.

Ever since you have adopted digital photography? Have you ever really look at what made up your camera? Let's do it now. :-)

At the heart of your digital camera, it sits the image sensor which is responsible to convert light to electrical signal for storage in your digital camera or to display on your LCD screen as the picture. The most popular image sensors nowadays are,

• Charge-coupled device (CCD) - although you are practicing digital photography with digital camera, CCD is actually an analog device. Although they might not be related, personally I just think it is amazing that we are using analog material for this digital art. (Do correct me if I misunderstand the meaning of analog here).

• Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) - due to this technology, your digital camera use less energy to operate. However, also due to same technology, the picture taken by a CMOS digital camera tends to be "noisier" than the CCD digital camera. I am not going into the details here because it can turn out to be a confusing lesson.

So, it depends on you of which kind of digital camera you are looking for. And looking at the current market trend, CCD image sensor is more popular than CMOS.

Just now we mentioned about storage in your digital camera right? And I believe a lot of you will think about JPEG (Joint Photography Expert Group). It is true that your pictures are being stored as JPEG file, then, is that all?

There are actually the TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) and RAW format. Unlike JPEG, TIFF and RAW files are uncompressed and they are more resemblance to what the camera sees.

By the way, JPEG files usually are compressed in a weak method and that is one of the reasons why the pictures created with TIFF and RAW files look better than the JPEG. With that being said, you probably understand now why people are aiming for digital SLR cameras for their photography hobby. :-)

Please understand my intention is not to put JPEG technology down. What I want to say is that you ought to think about upgrading to digital SLR camera whenever you have the chance.

And besides giving great quality pictures, what other benefits do digital SLR cameras offer?

Personally, I like the camera because of it challenges my skills as a photographer. It is a totally different experience compare to a compact digital camera. At least it is a lot heavier and it shutter sounds better. My friend once said that he even build up his arm muscle for carrying the SLR camera around. I wonder why he didn't use the neck strap.

And how can I forget the RAW format of the pictures? For the pictures you have taken in RAW, you can't print them out unless you process them with software. And that is when I can refine the pictures, remove the "impurities" and make them look better. I sometime do add some special effect to the pictures to make them look more unique. :-)

But I don't do that much because it eats a lot of my time (I am not so using the editing program actually. Hehe......).

I hope that you enjoy this quick tip and we will meet again. :-)

Until then, be happy and keep taking pictures. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

Basic Of Digital Photography

For all you know, digital photography is a fun hobby and I know how exciting it is to be able to hold your digital camera in your hand and just follow the calling and go snap the pictures right away. And that is what goes wrong in most of the digital photography newbies.

You have got to read your manual first. I know it sounds boring and a lot of you would rather learn the features while you are taking pictures but do you know there are so many features in your digital camera that you can't possibly know by just taking pictures?

Now, without looking at your manual, can you tell me what the maximum ISO of your camera is? Do you know the lowest shutter speed for your camera?

Although your manual might say it all, it still explain to you the limitation of your digital camera and what you can expect from it. Another tip for you is that, the more expensive camera you bought, the more you need to read the manual before you start taking pictures. Surely you experience what a high end digital camera can do and I can tell you that you will be amaze by it. :-)

After you have read your manual, it is time you take your digital camera out for some actions. Go take more pictures, the more the better and it is better that you can take more pictures of the same subject. My personal advice is to take all pictures you can and don't delete the pictures. You can review them just don't delete them. Not yet.

Now, when your fingers are soar from pressing the shutter button, it is time you sit down and view your pictures in front of your PC (not view on your camera LCD screen as it is too small for you to notice the difference and it used up the power too).

So, among the pictures you have taken (for the same subject), which are the pictures that you like? Which are the pictures that tell you that you have done a good job that you have capture the spirit of your subject?

Then compare those pictures to those that you don't like. What is wrong with them? Is it the angle, the proximity or something in you that just don't feel right (is OK to let your feeling decide as you are still new in digital photography)?

My point is, even as a novice in digital photography, you know that something is wrong with your pictures and you prefer some of them over another. So, how do you always be proud of your work? Take a guess. I hope you got it right and it is certainly through more practice. I think this wouldn't be difficult looking at the enthusiasm you have for digital photography. :-)

The last basic digital photography tip for you to take home is to explore more about digital photography. It might be pure luck that you landed at my blog or you are strong follower of my posts and anyway, this should not be your final station for learning about digital photography.

There are more tips out there and there are more professional photographers out there who offer more tips then me. So, look in forums and search engines for more information about digital photography and of course do come back for more tips. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

5 Tips To Help You Get Better With Digital Photography...

Today, I am going to talk about digital photography tips for beginners and some might involve compact digital camera users.

1. Macro

For experienced and DSLR photographers, they will need a macro lens and some skills to take macro pictures. But for most compact digital camera users, your camera is build in with the 'macro mode'. Of course the picture you take with this feature will not be as good with the DSLR camera, this is still a good place to start.

Macro photography is fun which you can expose your subject to such details that you hardly see in normal pictures. Have you ever seen picture with a magnified fly eye? It is awesome that such small thing can become so magnificent under digital photography. :-)

2. Move around

Personally, I think photography is about capturing anything in movement (it is still a movement if you don't move). So, never stay idle when you are taking picture. Be active and move around.

You can kneel down, lye on your stomach or stand on a chair and take the picture from top. This will add diversity to your pictures.

3. Tripod

Although some said that this is not necessary in digital photography, I personally think it is good to have a tripod by your side because compact digital camera nowadays are still light and they are sensitive to movement. Sometime turning on the flash and anti-handshake also might not help to correct the situation.

Since tripods nowadays are build to be affordable, you will want to consider to get one for yourself so that you can preserve your shot and save from any frustration later.

4. Take a class

For you to become good in digital photography, I would recommend you to join a class and take a photography trip with the class. Reading digital photography tips is one thing but it can never be better than to having hands on with a real subject and taking picture under different lighting and weather condition.

Plus, when you go for a class, you will meet more like minded photographers like you and you can get constructive comments from other photographers. That is how you improve in this hobby.

5. Grid lines

Look at your digital camera setting and set the grid lines feature on. You will then see the grid lines on your LCD screen. Then, you can use those lines as guide and properly frame your shot.

I hope that the tips you read just now can help to improve your digital photography skills. Do contact me when you need any clarification. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use compact digital camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...

5 Quick Digital Photography Tips For You...

Digital photography has made photography become easier, affordable and certainly more enjoyable. Just look at a wedding dinner, more and more participants are carrying their own digital camera and some of them even have their own DSLR camera.

If you are just started with digital photography, it is good that you can look into the 5 quick tips below to help you get acquainted with this hobby ASAP. :-)

1. What amazes me with digital photography is the LCD screen. Now, you can just look at the screen, adjust your frame and snap the picture. Then, you can look at the picture you have taken and decide to keep it or not. You can never do that with film camera. You will never know whether you have taken a good picture until the picture is developed.

Since the LCD is one of the important components of the digital camera, it is only wise to protect it as best as you can. Remember, fixing a spoiled LCD screen can be costly and guarantee period can be short term too.

2. Another important components of a digital camera will be the flash. Without it, your pictures will turn out dark. However you need to know that most flash can only light up your subject within 15-20 feet. So, use that as your reference and move in or out to your subject so that it can be properly lit.

3. Most digital cameras nowadays come with image stabilizer technology and it is good that you can factor that in when you are buying your digital camera. Just to comfort you, this stability technology will not cost much extra. Imagine the clear and stable pictures you can take with this technology and you will know that it is worth the money to invest in this feature.

4. A word of reminder for the compact digital camera users who are reading this, you might experience a short lag time when you press the shutter button and this can make your picture turn out to be blurry.

To avoid that, you can half press the shutter button so that your camera can have time to focus on your subject and you can often see a rectangle appear on the LCD screen when you half press the button. After that, you can fully press the button take the pictures.

5. Now, let's imagine that you are taking pictures outdoor and it is sunny and bright. The digital photography tip for you here is to change your white balance setting to cloudy. This will then add certain degree of red and yellow filter to the camera and help you to get better pictures.

So, that is all for now and I am looking forward to share more digital photography tips with you in the coming post. :-)

Have fun photographing,

Michael Wong. :-)

P.S. Look here for affordable and easy to use DSLR camera. You can enjoy great value and free shipping to your doorstep...