Some basic tips about Macro Photography

Here is a small video which talks about Macro Photography and what all should be main consideration while shotting macro objects.

As we know MCRO/micro photography is about shooting very small objects. With normal lenses its very difficult because the are restricted from shooting objects from shorter distances which is main requirement of MACROs. Photographer needs a Macro lens or Extension Tubes for this purpose. Extension tubes are cheaper options which helps us using our standard lenses for shooting macro objects.

Even when we have Macro lenses and Extension tubes, there is challenge of getting nice Depth of field so that complete object is clear in final photograph. For that we need to shoot at low aperture which effectively means HIGH F value. Many lenses support F45 types for Macro shots. Since light will be low at F45, we need to shoot with slow shutter speed and TRIPOD would be must in that case.

Use Timer to avoid camera shake due to Click... For more details, watch this video...

Rick Sammon's Top Ten Digital Photography Tips

After a Series of video by Karl Taylor, here is another video I watched where Rick Sammon talks about his ten tips about Digital Photography: I have described all these tips in my words my mixing my views, so watch original video for pure thoughts of Rick.

1. Learn How to see the Light :

 Light is more about Color, Highlights, Shadows and its Quality with respect to subject you are planning to Capture.

2. Create sense of Depth and Dimension

 Another thing which needs to be consider is dimensions of view you want to capture. By Dimensions he means horizonal distances, Vertical Distances and how far objects are placed.... All three sides which can be described as Height, Width and Distance...

3. Take a Hike !!! Take a walk and Take time before Shooting

Its very important to understand overall situation, so spend some time around the place and decide how you want to capture the moment/place.

4. Always look Down Back, Up

 When you are set to shoot, make sure about your placement to capture the moment in correct perspective.

5. Tell the Whole Story

Its a duty of Photographer to  capture any place or moment in such a way that final results tell that story to viewers.

6. Framing

Framing take a photograph to next level of Beauty. 

7. Be Aware of Background

Background is very important. Most of the times Photographers just think about main subject while shotting and ignore overall environment and background which is an integral part of photographs.

8. Fill the Frame

Watch the Video...

9. RAW Rules

10. Envision the End Result

Natural Light Portraiture : By Karl Taylor

Here is another video by Karl Tayor where he explain about shooting People Portraits in Natural Light.

There are great tips in this video but I liked this one : "Its a complete Myth that Sun should be kept behind the Photographer so that Subject/Model is well Lit" : If you have the same myth in mind, watch out the video and you will be amazed by final results by Karl...

In this video, he is going to shoot a Model during Sunset behind her.


Karl has given 5 Tips about Natural Light Portraiture:

1. Communication with Model : Its always a good idea to regularly communicate with the Model to make her/him comfortable with overall setup of Photo-Shoot. This is very important for good finals...

2. Choice of Lens : Karl is using 85mm Lens on Full Frame Camera and describes this in detail... So watch the video below...

3. Choice of Aperture : Large Aperture is good for People Portraits. Karl is using 1.2 Lens but recommends Aperture between 1.8 to 2.8.

4. Lighting : First he started with the Photography Myth mentioned above and placed his Model in front of Sunset. Karl want to shoot into the SUN.This will give a nice backlit onto the Hair. Because light will be very less on face,  Fill in light with standard silver reflector will help in this case, but need to make sure that its not too harsh...

5. Environment...Location, soft background with shalow Depth of Field...

Watch out the video to know more from Karl about Natural Light Portraiture...

Few Important Tip about Action Photography by KARL TAYLOR

As shared in last post, I am watching some Photography videos by Karl Taylor. 

Recently I checked his video about Action Photography, where he is demonstrating a Photography event for Bike racing. He is carrying two cameras, one with Telephoto and other with super-wide angel lens.

In this video we talks about Panning, Motion Capture apart from fast shutter speed to capture the moment. Accoring to Karl, its very important to capture the moment of action in any photograph and a sense about current action should always be there.

Panning is a photography technique in which your camera follow the moving object for sometime, which makes background blur with clear moving subject as still. Blur in background is gives the sense of motion. So it clearly meet the goal of capturing the subject with the sense of motion. Karl is standing just close to the track with wideangel lens on his camera. He is using Shutter Priority and trying to set Shutter speed to match with the speed of Bike... Before actually shooting, he tried some trial shots to set Exposure Compensation for Shutter Priority....

For more detailed and nice description watch this video:

Interesting Video on different types of Lights : "Photography Tips on Understanding Light" - Photography Tips by Karl Taylor

Few days back, I started viewing some Photography related videos on youtube and checked few videos by Karl Taylor

I am impressed with  this guy  and his videos are really helpful.  Personally I am learning a lot from these videos. Here I am sharing one video where he is talking about differenyt types of lights and a demo of shooting during sunset... he calls it Magic Hours...

He has classified light into four categories:

1. Transmitted Light

2. Soft Light

3. Hard Light

4. Reflected Light

and defined like: 

HARD LIGHT is Small light source like SUN on clear sky - Extremly bright having Hard edge shadows, String textures and Sparkles.

SOFT LIGHT is light coming from Large surface area like SUN behind cloud blanket : hardly any shadows... Incorrect usage of soft light may give dull results...

SUN-SET : "Magic Hour" ???

During this moment there is Soft light from Sky, Hard Light through Sun, Reflected light on water surface near sea shore and check out the video for more details....

has dmoed a photo-shoot during sunset on sea shore with superwide angel lens with 6-7 seconds of shutterspeed in Manual mode with small Aperture. ND Filters are used to balance lighter sky with darker foreground.

TIP : "Try to shoot 1/2 hr before OR after the Sunset to get better results"

After a small demo about sunset shoot, Karl talked about shooting people portraits using window light and a simple reflector. Check out this video and hope it will be helpful for you !!!