Photography Tips (Page 2)

Wabi-Sabi Photography – The art of the imperfect

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Wabi-sabi is a Japanese word roughly translating as 'imperfect aged beauty'. It is used to describe a particular philosophy that beauty can be found in the old, the everyday, the imperfect. And that everything is in a state of transition from or to nothingness.

Wabi-sabi photography, then, can be said to be noticing and capturing this beauty, for others to see. Wabi-sabi in photography can be split into 3 main types - photography of the overlooked beauty, photography of worn and weathered beauty, and adding imperfections to staged images to make them seem more real. We'll look at all 3 types in this article.

Wabi-Sabi Photography - The art of the imperfect

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

July 17th, 2016 at 2:23 pm

Taking great photos with your kit lens

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Interchangeable Lens Cameras are often sold in kits containing a basic zoom lens. Because these lenses come with the camera as part of a kit, they are often referred to as 'kit lenses'.

The kit lens depends on the camera, but it is practically always a zoom. Often it is something like an 18-55mm for an APS-C camera, 24-100mm for a full frame camera, or 14-24mm for a m4/3 camera. These are all roughly equivalent.

The kit lens lets you go from wide-angle to short telephoto and everything in between. It's a good all-round general purpose lens.

Often you may read disparaging remarks about kit lenses. For sure, they're not the sharpest lenses around, and they don't have fast apertures for easily creating smooth and creamy out of focus backgrounds. But they're surprisingly useful and can give great results when you play to their strengths.

Taking great photos with your kit lens

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

July 10th, 2016 at 3:15 pm

Flat Lay Photography Guide

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Flat Lay Photography is a style of photography where a group of items are photographed from above, giving a top down view. Items are laid flat on the surface, facing the camera.

Flat lay photographs often have a minimalist aesthetic to them. They work well for showing off a collection of smallish objects and are most commonly used for lifestyle, product & food photography. Sometimes all the items in the photo will be of equal importance. But often there is one main element (such as a food dish or handbag) with extra elements that add to the story (such as ingredients or accessories).

Although flat lay photographs may appear relatively simple, there's more to a good flat image than just laying out a few objects then shooting down on them. In this article we'll look at some tips for creating great flat lay photos.

Flat Lay Photography Guide

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

July 3rd, 2016 at 2:47 pm

Top 10 Photography Tricks

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With the increased availability of photography editing software and the introduction of new, easier to use compositing tools, 'trick' photos have become much more common. Compositing together photos to create a trick photo is not a new technique though - even in the early 20th century photos would be cut up then stuck together to form a new image.

However, trick photography isn't just compositing photos together to make something new. There are plenty of tricks that can be performed right in camera, with no Photoshop wizardry needed at all.

In this article we'll look at 10 different tricks that can be achieved wholly in-camera but usually work best with some post production editing as well.

Top 10 Photography Tricks

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Suprematist Abstract Art Photography

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Suprematism is an abstract art movement founded in the early 20th century by Russian painter Kazimir Malevich. Suprematist paintings are constructed from simple geometric shapes, such as circles, squares and lines.

Suprematist art is based on creating from feeling rather than depicting an actual object. The movement's name comes from the supremacy of pure artistic feeling, as Malevich described it in his manifesto.

Given that photography is based on capturing physical objects / scenes, suprematist photography may seem like a oxymoron. But while replicating the suprematist style exactly in photography may be difficult, it is certainly possible to create abstract art inspired by suprematism.

Suprematist Abstract Art Photography

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

June 12th, 2016 at 12:27 pm

Split Toning Explained

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Split toning is a technique where a color cast is applied to an image, but the color cast applied to the highlights is different to the color applied to the shadows.

Different color casts can give different feelings to an image. Oranges, reds, and yellows can give a warm, sunny day feeling. Blues can give a cold feeling. Greens and magentas can give a cross-processed film look.

There are quite a few different ways a split toned effect can be applied to an image. Different methods can be applied at different stages of the image editing process, they differ in how much control they offer, and how quickly they can be applied. In this article we'll look at the main split toning methods so you can decide for yourself which one would work best for your needs.

Split Toning Explained

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Take better photos by following these 5 simple tips

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In this article we'll look at five relatively simple tips that you can apply to your photography to capture much better images.

However, none of these are quick 'magic' tips. They won't suddenly make you an amazing photographer. They all take time and practice. But if you put the work in you'll find a noticeable improvement in your photography.

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

May 29th, 2016 at 3:18 pm

Clean up your photos with the Clone Stamp Tool

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While I always advocate getting as much right in-camera as possible, most photos can still look better with a little touch-up in post production. It might be something in an otherwise great shot that you had no way of changing. Or it might be something you just didn't notice at the time you took the shot. But there's no foul in retouching your photos to make them look better (unless it's a strictly documentary photo).

In this article we'll look at some tips on using the clone stamp tool. This is a very useful tool for quickly and easily removing an unwanted item from an image.

Clean up your photos with the Clone Stamp Tool

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

May 22nd, 2016 at 4:42 pm

Take Better Travel Photos

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The majority of us like to take photos when traveling, whether it be a vacation abroad or a domestic holiday. We like to photograph the things we saw, what we did, and the people we were with, so we can look back at the images and remember the good times we had.

But a simple record shot doesn't necessarily make for a great photo, no matter how exotic the location. In this article we'll look at at some tips for taking better travel photos.

Take Better Travel Photos

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May 15th, 2016 at 8:08 pm

Conceptual Photography

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Conceptual photography is a style of photography where the main subject of the image is an idea or concept, rather than a physical subject. The photo must be carefully thought-out and composed so that the concept being depicted is obvious to the viewer.

It could be argued that most photography is conceptual. After all, good photos work by conveying a feeling to the viewer. However, I think it is easiest to define conceptual photography as where you purposefully go out to photograph a certain concept. In this article we'll look more in depth at conceptual photography.

Conceptual Photography

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

May 8th, 2016 at 8:56 pm