Do you want to take perfectly illuminated portraits of outdoor subjects in bright sunlight? How about in situations where they’re standing in front of a bright background? Do you hate dark shadowed “raccoon eyes?” The answer to make your outdoor portraits pop, is to expose for the sky. Use this tip to make the shot every time!

Using a SLR 35mm autofocus camera and flash, you can create flattering and dramatic outdoor portraits with ease.

Technique:

With the flash turned off and your camera set in manual mode, use the camera’s internal exposure metering system. Looking through the viewfinder, press the shutter button halfway to illuminate the internal panel. The exposure meter is generally in the center on the bottom as you look through the viewfinder. (-2…1…0…1…+2)

To make the adjustments, start by selecting either your f stop or shutter speed. Aim the camera towards the brightest part of the picture, in this case the sky. Using the meter as a guide, adjust your shutter speed and f stop until reading is centered at 0. With the exposure set, turn on your camera’s flash, stand within a normal flash exposure range (6 – 10 ft.), focus on your subject and shoot.

Your flash will fill in and illuminate your subject nicely. If you desire more or less exposure on your subject, step forward or backwards accordingly. Some flash units can also be adjusted manually to allow shorter or longer bursts. This is also an option.

Very important, — always pay attention to the changing light. The sun going behind a cloud while you are shooting can affect the results of your image. The sky is no longer as bright as when the full sun was exposed so you will need to check your exposure meter again for the change in light.

Last, but certainly not least, be kind to your subject, don’t have them facing so they are looking directly into the bright sunlight. They will appreciate it and it will help to avoid squinty, closed looking eyes.

Examples

The image examples below were shot using a Canon 5D Mark II and Speedlight 580 EXII mounted on camera. The lens – 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS.

Photograph 1, was shot using the camera’s internal exposure meter as a guide. ISO was set at 100, f/13 the aperture with a focal length of 135mm. The meter centered at 0 at 1/125 of a second for the shutter speed. Here’s the result:

Photograph 2, shows the camera aimed toward the bright sky behind my subject, adjusting the shutter speed and f stop until the camera’s internal meter was perfectly centered at 0 . This recorded at 1/400 sec, f/13, ISO 100, 135mm. Here’s the result:

Photograph 3, the exposure meter was set for the sky, flash turned on, aim, focus and fire. Here’s the result:

Sum it up: 1/400 sec, f/13, ISO 100, 135mm with on camera flash. Pretty Blue sky, white billowy clouds, nicely illuminated subject…that’s a wrap!

photo credit: Carissa GoodNCrazy

I don’t know how I’ve managed to survive my whole life without Pure Digital Technologies’ Flip Video Camera. Small, compact, and so simple to use – I chuckle when I think back to the days of having to set up a tri-pod, flip out the little swivel window on my big-as-a-breadbox camera and navigate my way through a maze of buttons to start, pause and zoom. And oh how I remember the archaic way of having to attach component cables to the television and transfer the video onto VHS tape residing in my VCR before I walked five miles to school in the snow. Uphill. Both ways.

But those days are gone. Fortunately, the Flip Video Camera makes video recording seamless and easy and puts out some pretty good quality video too. I’m not saying it rivals expensive digital cameras but it holds its own particularly in low-light situations. The sound comes through nicely too.

About the size of a small point and click, the Flip has everything it needs to operate right inside itself. The USB pops out to hook into your computer – no cables needed at all. All of the necessary software is in the camera itself. It launches as soon as you plug the USB connector in to your computer. It takes a couple of minutes for the Flip Muvee software to load but other than that, as soon as you connect it, you can watch your videos and publish them on YouTube or other sites. There is also a link for sharing the videos via email. What’s nice about this is you don’t have to upload a huge file and try to send it – the recipients are sent a link to your video.

There is a jack for a TV connector if you think it’s not necessary to upload your film to a video sharing site or your PC at all. The connectors are included as well. You can watch what you shot in an instant right on your TV.

Charging the camera is a thing of the past. A couple of standard AA batteries makes charging an internal battery unnecessary. One word of caution, though – have plenty of batteries on hand. You’ll go through them quickly. The Flip also hooks up to any standard tripod mount too. Some of the nice albeit standard features are a no-glare screen, a big red record button that you can’t miss even if you’re recording in the dark, and a speaker for those folks in a super hurry to watch their film right on the camera’s screen. And if you don’t like what you shot – two clicks will send it to the trash.

Since the Flip Video comes with everything you need to shoot and transfer your videos, you won’t need to buy accessories but you can if you want to. There are underwater cases which are nice if you dive or do other water-related things. You can find a tri-pod, a carrying case and some other cool accessories on the Flip website.

What I love best about the Flip is its portability. You can always have it with you because it’s small enough to fit in a pocketbook or jacket pocket. It’s the perfect camera for those candid moments when you don’t have the time or desire to run inside, find your video camera and go through a lot of setup.

The Flip camera keeps the kids busy too. They will shoot videos of themselves and their friends for well, not hours on end, but quite a long time. It’s small enough that they can easily manipulate it and simple for them to upload the video and watch themselves on our PC. And the price is nice too – starting at about $150 – I don’t have to worry about them possibly abusing it as much as I would an expensive camera.

One of the cons with the Flip video is the amount of space – you can only shoot about 2 gigs which ends up being about an hour’s worth of video. You can’t purchase an expansion card for the Flip which would allow you to shoot extensive videos. But for the money, it really does what it was designed to do – effortlessly record short videos that can be easily uploaded to your TV or your computer and can be quickly shared with your family and friends.

UPDATE: The Flip is Now Available in HD! Check out the prices for the Flip UltraHD Camcorder on Amazon here.

photo credit: aneye4wonder

We are visual creatures. We rely mainly on our vision to survive in this world. We see pictures everywhere. In fact, we are inundated with pictures: printed, on TV, real life – constantly moving and changing. Everybody makes pictures: from drawing and painting to making graphs, having images in our minds to taking photos. Art is everywhere.

Yet from all the images that we see everyday, sometimes one stops you in the tracks, makes you think and takes your breath away. It could be a painting, a drawing, a photograph, or some other creation. Not only does the beauty pull you towards it, it feels like you were there when the moment was captured. It evokes a certain emotion, as if you can feel it, you can hear it, touch it or taste it. It is not only visual delight, it is so much more. Or, sometimes you can not put your finger on it, but it somehow draws you in like a magnet. It might evoke a distant memory or a secret desire. It totally captivates you and you are left speechless. You become one with the artist at that moment.

Now if you are on the other side and you want to create something that extraordinary, how do you do it? Simple – follow your passion. What in life captivates you? What takes your breath away? What makes your heart beat faster? What interests you so much that you want to learn more? What puts a smile on your face? What makes time fly? Immerse yourself in that moment, feel every feeling, every sensation in your body, and create what you see, imagine, hear, feel, touch. Express yourself through drawing, painting, creating, dancing, music or taking pictures frame by frame until you catch that right moment, that feeling that is deep inside of you. When it comes from your heart, it shows, and others will notice it.

Now when you’re ready to create your masterpiece, you may ask “what equipment should I use?”

The answer may surprise you: It really does not matter. If you can afford state-of-the art latest things, great for you, if you know how to use it. However, what I truly believe is that if you create or capture something that comes from your heart, that passion will radiate to the viewer no matter what equipment you will use. The moment will capture their hearts, as they captured yours by creating it. The passion will show and it will shine through.

Don’t miss out on the everyday moments you want to capture with your little ones! Photographing infants and toddlers can be the most exhausting and stressful assignment for a professional with a limited time frame and cranky kids, but those of you with your very own portable human and a camera have no reason to miss out! Make it a point to keep your camera in a quickly accessible spot. Convenience is key!

Here are just a few simple tips to making sure you capture the moments before they’re missed. Most of these tips are for both point and shoot and SLR users. If you’re the type that’s never switched your camera’s setting from automatic, give it a try and you’ll be amazed at the great shots to be had. Here are some tips:

1. NO FLASH

Get a more professional look even if you are limited to a small point and shoot by using available light. Open up the curtains and play right next to a window or outside under open shade. Overcast days are great for this. Your shutter speed will be slower without the flash so try a higher ISO setting if your shots look a little blurry.

2. USE COLOR

Adding a little color can brighten a shot and create a fun fresh look. Try pining a colorful sheet up on the wall behind the play area. Using a colorful chair, rug, pillow, etc… look around and you’ll find something fun!

3. NAP TIME

Take advantage of nap time! Try using a dark sheet or blanket, it really helps with the contrast especially if you enjoy converting your shots to black and white. It’s also a great time to get those extreme close up detail shots of feet and hands wile they’re still. Try close ups for a fun collage or multiple photo frame.

4. ZOOM!

If you’ve a got an SLR and a decent zoom lens you can capture amazing candid shots of everyday activities. Just sit back, keep your camera in hand and click! If you’re more than 15 feet from your subject go ahead and turn the flash off.

Again, the most important part of getting the shot is not having an amazing camera, but keeping the one you have nearby.

It really got me thinking about what it takes to take a truly great photo and it’s actually very simple. Here’s the real secret:

Show people something they’ve never seen before

If you think back to a photo that really inspired you or moved you, it was probably a photo of something that you’ve never seen before. Or it was a photo of something you have seen – but captured in a really unique way that you’ve never seen before.

There are billions of photos out there of people posing in front of things, there are billions of photos out there of places and things – and they all eventually fade together – but what makes a photograph really spectacular is something that captures attention.

This is why I love HDR, tiltshift, fisheye shots, and anything else that’s just different from the norm. You don’t even have to go anywhere to take a spectactular shot – just look around wherever you are and DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

To help you get started thinking in the right direction, here are 10 ideas:

1. use shadows

2. get closeup

3. capture patterns

4. use long exposure

5. get low

6. blur it

7. use lots of empty space in your composition

8. use reflections

9. capture motion

10. get down, look up

And that’s not even scratching the surface – there are plenty more resources for taking unique, interesting, and creative photos. Now go out there and capture something truly unique.

Tilt shift lenses focus on a single part of the photo and shift (blur) the surrounding area to create an optical illusion of miniaturized scenery. Real tilt shift lenses are quite expensive, but a similar effect can be achieved by using Photoshop after you take the photo.

Tilt shift photographs create an optical illusion that makes scenes appear as if they are actually miniature models (like your uncle’s train set). The outer edges are blurred which tricks the eye into perceiving everything in the unblurred parts as miniature. There is a Flickr group dedicated to this technique. It’s a fun post processing trick – and it’s quite easy to reproduce.

Here is my (and Drew’s) Photoshop tutorial for creating fake tilt shift photos.

1. Taking the photo. An above ground shot is usually best for this type of technique. Cityscapes, crowds, streets, and similar things are perfect.
2. Open the shot in Adobe Photoshop and click onto “quick mask mode”.
   
3. Select the gradient tool.
4. Select the “cylindrical gradient reflected gradient”.
   
5. Draw vertically upwards from where you want the point of focus to be up the screen to the top of the window, and release the mouse button. A red transparent line should appear.
   
6. Go back into “Standard Mask Mode”.
   
7. In Photoshop CS2 or CS3 go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur (Or if you have Photoshop 7.0 you can use Gaussian Blur). Then select the amount of blur you’d like. You can experiment with the radius value a bit to see what amount of blur looks best.
8. (Optional) For a more “plastic” feel you can increase the saturation and contrast in the photo.

There you have it – you should have a nice “fake tilt shift” photo. You can experiment with lots of different photographs – some are a lot better than others for “miniaturization”. Below are a few more examples. Feel free to link to your own tilt shift photos in the comments. Happy shrinking!

In the video the steps are:

Set the dial to “P” “A” (aperture priority – per Helmut’s comment)

Go to “Menu”, Settings (pencil on the left), and scroll down to #12 (BKT Set), press the dial right, Go down to AE & Flash, press the dial right, Select 2.0 Step, and press the dial right “OK”.

Now you will see a BKT setting on your top LCD panel that looks like this:

Take 3 photos (each little black bar disappears once you take them in turn). Voila – you have the photos you need for your HDR.

The 3 consecutive photos taken from the shot in the video are here:

Each one is taken with a different exposure setting – the EV Steps. Once you combine them all in HDR processing software (I use Photomatix) and tweak the settings, the resulting photo should look like this:

Maybe next time I’ll take a photo of something more exciting than some garbage cans and a driveway

I recently got the people at HDRsoft to create a Photomatix coupon code for our readers (anyone can use it) for 15% off any of the HDR software programs:

VPG15
(Update: see below – it’s now VPG8)

This coupon code will work for any of these products:

• Photomatix Pro (the versions is 2.5.1, 3.0, etc.)
• Photomatix Tone Mapping Plugin for Photoshop
• Photomatx Bundle

To get this discount applied to your order, follow these steps:

• Go to the Photomatix order page
• Click the buy button for the software version you need
• In the box where it says “Coupon Code (Optional)” put in: VPG15 (04/08 Update, the 15% coupon expired – but you can use VPG8 to still get 8% off)
• Click the recalculate button
• It will show you the special discount applied with your new price
• Complete the rest of the order form

That should do it. To give you an example: the regular price of Photomatix Pro is $99 so with this coupon code you should be able to get it for $84.15.

Once you have Photomatix installed you can go through their short tutorial (which you can see once you launch the program). It’s pretty clear and easy to follow. Once you have a chance to experiment with your own HDR photos, you might want to join the Flickr HDR group. Hope to see you there.

While Visual Photo Guide might be all about technique for the casual photographer, sometimes I find photos that I just have to share. Case in point: Antarctic underwater photos. While you and I will probably never get a chance to take photos in the Antarctic Ocean, we can still draw a lot of inspiration from these.

The following set is from Time Magazine’s series entitled “Life Beneath Antarctic Ice“. Simply stunning…

I found out these images are actually taken from a book with the same name:

One of the questions people ask me all the time is what digital camera they should get. Since new models come out all the time, it usually takes some time to research the best cameras at any point in time. So I decided to put together a list of the best and most popular digital cameras (point & shoot) for the second half of 2007 by comparing available information and data from Amazon, Flickr, eBay, Circuit City, dpreview, CNet, and more:

Canon Powershot SD850 IS Digital Camera

Price: $356.48 (Click to check current price)

This camera is a new model from the popular Canon Powershot / Digital Elph line. It’s an Amazon Bestseller (4.5/5 star rating), is one of the highest rated point-and-shoot cameras on Zdnet, dpreview, and Cnet. I’ve loved the Elph series since a friend of mine bought one in 2002 – the picture quality has always been really superior.

• 8 Megapixels
• Image stabilization
• 4x Optical Zoom
• Face detection & red eye correction
• High quality lens & 2.5″ LCD screen
• More features and reviews

See sample pictures taken with the Canon Powershot SD850 IS.

Black Sony Cybershot DSC-T100 Digital Camera

Price: $353.88 (Click to check current price)

A few years ago I bought the Sony Cybershot DSC-T1, an older model of this camera, after spending days researching the best options. It was my favorite camera for a very long time. The Cybershot T100 is the new model of the same line but is much improved. It’s slim and compact – perfect for your pocket (without making a buldge). It comes in silver, black, and red (the black version is very sleek and sexy). It’s one of the highest rated cameras at Circuit City, ZDnet, Cnet, and a bestseller on Amazon.

• 8 Megapixel
• Carl Zeiss (quality) lens with 5x Optical zoom
• Image stabilization
• 3″ LCD screen
• Quality MPG Video mode with in-movie zoom
• More features and reviews

See sample pictures taken with the Sony Cybershot DSC-T100.

So there you have it. My picks for the best two point and shoot cameras in the market today – just because I know they’re both very well rated, I’ve had personal experience with each line, and have seen the quality of the pictures taken with them. If anyone asks me what camera to get, I’ll just point them to this page (for the next few months at least). Oh, and if either of these are out of your price range and you don’t need it to be very compact or full-featured, you might want to check out the Canon Powershot A550, which is a good value at $128.94.

See the entire Amazon bestseller list or look at Trey’s SLR camera recommendations if you’re looking for something more sophisticated.