Photography Tips (Page 44)

I am a research writer by profession. A few years back, as part of a regular exercise to enhance my skill portfolio, I decided to learn photography. I felt that it could be an added feather to my cap of existing achievements.

I did set out on a mission to find an apt photography school. A photography school that will not wipe me off my years of savings as well as deliver the goods as promised. Did I find one? That is part of another story.

If you have the knack of originality and a proficient hand at handling digital equipments, starting your own photography business would not be a mean feat for you. However, possessing excellent technical and photography skills do not qualify you as a business person capable of sustaining your own photography business.

To commence your own new photography business successfully, you need to have prior knowledge on the legal, financial and management aspects of it. Here are a few tips on starting your new photography business.

The introduction of digital photography has changed many things not the least of which is professional photography. In the past it took several weeks from the time of a sitting to the time a customer was actually able to receive professional photographs.

When discussing types of pictures that can be taken by a professional photographer, there are two main types. Candid photography lends a more personal feel to each photo, and captures life as it is happening.

Professional photographic portraits on the other hand, are more about chronicling an event, and preserving it in a staged manner. Each method has its own place and time in which it is most appropriate, and the information below will provide you with the main differences between the two styles.

Often I am asked, how to best start a photography business? The answer mainly depends on which area of you wish to specialise in photography, or you may decide to be a 'all rounder'.

You should clearly know this before the start of your business. There's nothing as distracting to achieving your goals as constantly jumping from one specialist area to another specialist area; you never make it in anything! You definitely need a plan for your business with targets and goals that you have to work towards.

From wide open spaces to rugged mountains, rolling meadows to dramatic coastlines they all play an important part in the nature of landscape. However, with such a view it is often hard to appreciate the beauty because there is nowhere for the eye to settle and concentrate on.

Why not take a fresh approach to nature photography and concentrate on part of the view and take time to consider color, shape and texture to really appreciate the finer features of the scene.

After the popularity and growth of photography and the invention of the camera, it was no surprise that dissemination and mass production of photo prints followed.

Due to the art of photography, public as well as personal history, time and perception has immortalized mankind. The concept of privacy altered as the number of public figures increased and the action of man began being recorded. Photographs became proof of any event, experience or state of being.

Apollo 11 by NASA

Black and white photography is a number of monochrome forms in visual art. Monochrome comes from the Greek monochromos meaning "of one colour", which is a combination of monos, meaning "alone" or "solitary" and chroma meaning "colour".

Quite basic when you break it down!

Church, Taos Pueblo by Ansel Adams (1942)

Photography is an art of transforming images into a story, which speak and make an impact on the mind of viewers and audience. Photography is not about expensive cameras and high-tech gadgets but it is about imagination.

Imagination..... by Vimal Raveendran on flickr (licensed CC-BY-ND)

Digital schools for photography are emerging each day with various fee structure and courses. Earlier, photography was not a profession for everyone due to the huge expenses allied with films and its processing.

There was not a huge market to sell someone's photographs but today, clicking and sharing your photographs with the world just requires a good digital camera and a personal computer. Photography has stretched out into several streams and the equipments used in the photography industry are constantly changing.

Nokia exec says cameraphones in future will make DSLR's obsolete by Mark Guim on flickr (licensed CC-BY)