Technique: Framing your shot with angles

One thing I learned shooting stock photography was the importance of angles.  Angles help turn an ordinary picture into something different.  A simple technique is to turn your camera a little so you see lines hit the corner of your frame.  Here is a good example of lines hitting the corners of the frame.

See how the each corner has some lines being thrown at it?  It really helps the eye flow, and when you see a picture like this you say, wow, I've never really seen something like this before.  See more of my "Heart of San Francisco" pics.

Try taking a picture next time with a person coming from an angle. See how the camera was turned just slightly?  My good friend Steve (asiseeit) who is my iStockphoto mentor, helped me big time learn this easy technique.  See more of my iStockphoto portfollio.

I hope this helps you take better shots!

Tip: Let your picture flow

Look at this picture and why does it work for something that is so plain and boring?

Things to notice. I did not put that sign in the middle of the picture, I put it in the bottom left third of the picture so that your eye first see's this sign then draws you to move your eyes toward the plywood.  So your eyes are moving across a photograph.  That is how you can make your picture flow.  Not mention that this is actually funny!  See more of my Heart of San Francisco pics I took this past year.

Going out of town

I'll be traveling this next week so I will not post much this next week.  We'll so how exhausted I am!

Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta 2 Free Download

As to my previous post, I forgot to mention that you could actually try the Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta 2 for FREE.  Yes, not many things are free in this world but this is a temporary use.

You can read more in depth about Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta 2

You can also download it directly here.  Of course they make you sign up free first.

My Two Favorite Photography Software

I get asked a lot about the software I use.  Software to process your images is actually almost as important as shooting itself.  Many times the camera and lens take away what the human eye can see and you personally experience.  How many times have you been at a breath taking spot and taken a picture, and then got home and eeesh, you are embarrassed to show your friends.  I can hear it now....."No really guys, it was really beautiful....honest!"
 
Well, the two most important software I use in my work flow is.....

Where do I buy camera gear?

I get this all the time...Where do I buy camera gear, Shelly?
Here is what I do:
In the USA, 99% of the time I buy it from one of three places.

• B&H Photo
• Adorama
• Amazon

*Maybe one day I'll sign up to get perks from referring you to buy it from them.  But until then my profit is ZERO.  (Update, I just signed up!, Maybe after a year I can buy a Starbucks drink)

** I NEVER....

Tips: How to take your family picture with your DSLR

So you have this new DSLR and you try the timer on your camera to take a family photo and it just does not work.  Sure the camera fires, but you always have the one person not smiling.  Then you have to run to the camera and look at the picture to make sure you and/or your wife likes it.  By the 5th picture your kids begin to loose control and get restless.  Yes, I have been there too.  And ohhh boy that fun idea just became a disaster.  Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Here are some tips:...

Connecting with people as you shoot!

Have you ever read a book or blog hearing someone say HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO CONNECT WITH THE PEOPLE YOU ARE PHOTOGRAPHING?  But when you shoot your adrenaline kicks in and you forget?  This past weekend I shot all day seminars and a dinner banquet that totaled 8 hours long for a friend.  I did my normal thing trying to hide (yeah right...with two big cameras) while catching people engaging with the speakers and each other as they all tried to network with each other.

When it was over I began to put away my equipment, I noticed there were a group of people standing around me.  And low and behold, they wanted to talk to me, and...

HOUSE TV season finale shot on a still camera...that does video.

I woke up this morning to find this.  Pretty amazing that a still DSLR (that just so happens to shoot video) could produce something like this.  What that means is that this is no ordinary camera, for film makers to actually consider this a High Quality video camera makes it pretty darn amazing!  I know friends who say the 5D Mark II is an amazing video that just so happens to shoot still shots.

Kinda makes you think about it doesn't it?

Top 10 Photography Quotes

1. “ You don’t take a photograph, you make it. - Ansel Adams
2. “ Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. – Henri Cartier-Bresson
3. “ Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. – Matt Hardy
4. “ Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times…I just shoot at what interests me at that moment. – Elliott Erwitt
5. “ Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow. – Imogen Cunningham
6. “ You’ve got to push yourself harder. You’ve got to start looking for pictures nobody else could take. You’ve got to take the tools you have and probe deeper. – William Albert Allard
7. “ If I saw something in my viewfinder that looked familiar to me, I would do something to shake it up. – Garry Winogrand
8. “ I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good. – Anonymous
9. “ Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop. – Ansel Adams
10. “It can be a trap of the photographer to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get. – Timothy Allen

Taken from: http://digital-photography-school.com/photography-quotes