If you saw my last post you know that I planned to close my account at "Imagekind.com." Well that has happened. The site is closed as of January 28, 2012. During the process however the folks at imagekind informed me that they owed me money and that a payment would be sent to my paypal account on February 15, 2012. As of this post, no money as been transferred as promised. I sent an email to then this morning and haven't heard back from them at all. Not even the message that says I sent one.

I'll keep you posted!

How To Use Your Camera - Selling Your Work

I just had a real eye opener that helped wise me up a bit.

I have an account at an online photo store called "Imagekind.com" I've had the account going on three years and have paid them the premium price of $94.99US per year. If you look at any of my posts in the past couple of years you will see that I reference that site a lot in an attempt to advertise and sell images. So far I've sold one greeting card for 60 cents and one print for $24.99. I checked my accounts at imagekind and at paypal to see if I ever received any money. Well none seems to have made it my way.

In looking at the policy at Imagekind I learned that they won't send any money unless I earn more than $50.00 dollars. After considering this I decided I had a few options to consider. Yes they are the same ones you are thinking about too. But since I am still advertising that site in so many ways, I decided not to close it just yet. I will at the end of this year however. Instead I simply raised the prices on every image in my store by $50 bucks. It's the only way to insure I will be paid. It probably also insures that I will never sell another product from that site. Never-the-less, there is a better option now.

I still encourage you to go to my website at "http://dwainspicks.imagekind.com" to see my images. I have great pictures there and if you want you can buy them as plain prints or framed and matted. There is a better option however. If you find one of my photos that you would like to have, send me an email at  vermilyea.dwain@gmail.com and tell me which print and what size you want. I will ask you what media you want your print on and tell you what it will cost to print and ship. If you have a paypal account all you have to do is send your payment to my email address from your account and I will personally print, package and ship a signed print directly to you. If you don't like the product you can return it to me and I will refund your account, less shipping costs.

I can print up to 13x19 inches on my own professional printer. A company I work with in Portland, Oregon handles my prints that are over that size all the way up to wall sizes for your home or business. I also make my own greeting cards, and will make them from any photo in my galleries.

 

How To Use Your Camera - HDR Photography, What It Is!

HDR or HDRI photoraphy has been around for awhile now but not all of us really know what it is. "HDRI" or "High Definition Resolution Imagry" is simply using specially designed software to combine several images of the same subject into a single image. The effects can be very pleasing. The process can be simple or very detailed and complicated, depending on your individual taste and abilty. Read on to find out how you can do this with any camera for free.

The images used for HDR photography are usually created with your camera by shooting (bracketing) multiple images of the same scene at different exposure levels. This is a good reason for having the best tripod you can afford since the camera should not move during the shooting process.

Some cameras have built in programs that allow what is called "Bracketing." Photographers have been bracketing their photos for many years because it is not uncommon to find yourself shooting in very difficult lighting situations. Photographers will set their cameras to shoot at the meter reading, then shoot additional shots at exposures both above and below the camera's suggested exposure level to help them get the right exposure. Each shot is adjusted by anywhere from .3 to .5 to .7 to 1 full stop and out to a total of at least two full stops above and below the average meter reading. My little kodak point and shoot has the possibilty of shooting 13 different exposures by simply changing it's exposure setting before each shot. My Nikon D300 can do many more and it can be set to do it automatically. The Kodak must be set manually before each shot. The point is that we can bracket our photos with just about any camera so long as we can adjust the exposure settings for each shot. When combining all these photos for a single HDR image, the more exposures you have the better.

After creating your bracketed images for combining into HDR photos, you need to have the proper software. Both commercial and free versions are available. Photoshop, HDRshop, and Photomatic, are a few of the more popular commercial versions. Photonaut, and Luminance are a couple of free versions and are excellent places to get started.

Luminance is probably the easiest version to get started with and a simple internet search will help you find it. I found it by searching for "free hdr software" and checking out all the google suggestions and blog posts about this kind of software. There are tutorials available all over the internet and in You Tube to help you too. So good luck and happy shooting.

 

Please send comments if this article was helpful to you or if you would like information about other topics.

I have created a great little book store called "How To Use Your Camera" where you can buy photography books online. Just click the link to see what is available.

If you need a camera get it here at my camer store at "Photo To Go"

You can also visit my own photography website at Dwains Picks to see some of my work.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will check this site often.

 

How To Use Your Camera - How to Choose a New Camera

Today's cameras are incredible electronic tools. They can do many things that more expensive and larger digital SLR's can't. Well, they can but it requires more technical expertise to do so.

Since it is so near the holiday's and so many people are planning to buy a new camera I thought it wourld be helpful if I offered a simple tip that might help you choose which camera is right for you. I spent some time in a local department store with an electronics department that contained several brands of cameras on display. One thing I should mention is that most of these will have very comparable image quality. As a matter of fact if you don't make prints larger than 8" X 10" they are virtually the same.

So if they all give the same quality image then how do you choose? There is a simple test you can do in the store. You should do this before talking to any clerks or sales people. Look the camera over and see how it feels in your hands. The controls should be easy to reach and easy to understand. Most cameras nowadays have very few outside buttons on them. You should have an on/off button, and a "W/T" button for wide angle or telephoto views. Another button will turn on the menu options. If these are easy to find and operate, continue checking out the camera by taking a couple of pictures of something or someone in the store. Was it easy to do without having to figure out how it works? If so your still on good ground so keep going. Somtimes a message will pop up telling you the internal memory is full. If this happens try to delete the pictures on the camera. It's OK, its a demo model you are using and you need to know how to do this. If this is easy to do keep going. The camera may or may not have a button for viewing images and some have delete buttons on the outside too.

Next you need to open the camera's menu and find out how easy it is to change the settings. If this is easy for you to understand, you have found a good camera for you. There will probably be several models of the same brand at different prices. The higher the price the more options and pixels. Only buy the more expensive cameras if you will use the options offered, if you won't then save your money for a tripod. If you can figure out how to operate the camera without the help of the clerk then it is a good bet you will be happy with it later.

I found the menu's of Sony, Fugi, and Nikon to be the easiest for me to navigate. Olympus was available but I didn't get to handle it at the time I was there. Canon is an excellent brand but I had a hard time decifering it's menu system. Once you have become comfortable with the camera you like talk to the clerk if you need to, or if you have questions but don't let them talk you into something you find complicated or hard to operate. After all the clerk isn't going to be shooting your pictures for you.

Good luck and have fun. Once you have your new camera check out my older posts to learn how to use it.

 

Please send comments if this article was helpful to you or if you would like information about other topics.

I have created a great little book store called "How To Use Your Camera" where you can buy photography books online. Just click the link to see what is available.

If you need a camera get it here at my camera store at "Photo To Go"

You can also visit my own photography website at Dwains Picks to see some of my work.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will check this site often.

 

How To Use Your Camera - With a Tripod

How to use your camera includes how to use your camera on a tripod. Most new tripods have a base plate that attaches to the bottom of your camera. That's what that little ¼ inch screw hole is for. In some instances you will attach the camera directly to the tripod head. I like the base plate idea since I can remove the camera from the tripod and put it back as needed. I just leave the base plate attached to my camera most of the time.

The first thing you should do is learn to take a self portrait while using your tripod to hold the camera. Decide where you want to be and what background you want. Then point the camera at the area where you will be. Turn on the auto timer, activate the shutter, and then go pose in front of the camera. When you check your image you will know what adjustments to make to your position or the position of the camera and tripod. Take shots with the camera in landscape position then tilt the camera on it's side and shoot portrait images. Experiment with close-ups and wide angle shots until you get several images in each position that you like.

Now find a subject on the ground or floor to take shots of. This could be a flower, bug, mushroom, pet cat or dog, whatever interests you at the time. It should be something that won't move very much. With your camera on the tripod, lower everything until the camera is as close as it can be to your subject and still focus. If your camera has a Macro setting, turn it on as it will help you get as close as the camera can get. Shoot several images from above, to the side, from the back and any other angle you can think of. Just keep moving the tripod around and framing your shots then take the pictures you have created.

Did you ever see those sports photographers with cameras that have long sticks under the camera or the lens? The stick is called a “Monopod.” Most are adjustable so that you can adjust the length, and some have the same kind of heads that will hold removable base plates like tripods do. Some folks like monopods because of their small size and weight. Personally, I avoid them. I can do anything a monopod can do with a tripod by simply extending only one leg. But I still have the option of using the tripod when I want as well.

To use your tripod as a monopod, close the legs up together. It doesn't matter if you have one or all of them extended. Just be sure to fully extend at least one of them. The tripod should be about as tall or a little taller than you are with the camera attached. When you use a monopod, you are still creating a tripod, it's just that two of the legs are the ones you are standing on. Put the tripod out in front of you so you are slightly leaning into it to make it as steady as possible. This is why it needs to be longer than a walking stick.

Practice taking shots of moving subjects such as kids at games, running animals, cars on the street, and so on until you feel comfortable with the process, then open the legs and take some landscapes using the tripod. Again put your camera in both landscape and portrait positions and shoot until you are comfortable with all the features of the tripod you are using.

I hope you found this article interesting and useful. I know that a tripod will improve your photography a great deal. Most Pro's will buy a better tripod before they will buy a new camera or lens. It's that important to them.

Please send comments if this article was helpful to you or if you would like information about other topics.

If you are looking for books about how to use your camera click this Book Store link to see what is available. Need a Camera? This Camera Store has the the best choices available on the internet.

You can also visit my own photography website at Dwains Picks to see some of my work.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will check this site often.

How To Use Your Camera - The Tripod

The single most important accessory you can have to help you learn how to use your camera is a tripod. I have two and use them all the time. One is small and light weight and the other bigger and heavier. I use the small one when I'll be doing a lot of walking with lots of other gear. The bigger one gets selected most of the time because it is solid as a rock. It's a bit heavy and predates the newer carbon fiber tripods but it still works really well.

You can find tripods in most department stores and in any camera store that will work for you. To choose one, take your camera with you and try them out. Get the one that will hold your camera steady indefinitely in all positions. My camera is too heavy for my small tripod when tipped sideways for portrait shots. It worked for my previous camera if I didn't have long heavy lenses in place. It works perfectly for my point and shoots. For now the important thing for you to do is buy or borrow a tripod and get ready to learn to use it. My next posts will cover this topic in detail so keep coming back.

Watch this site for more information about how to use your camera and the tripod together.

Please send comments if this article was helpful to you or if you would like information about other topics.

If you are looking for books about how to use your camera click this Book Store link to see what is available. Need a Camera? This Camera Store has the the best choices available on the internet.

You can also visit my own photography website at Dwains Picks to see some of my work.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will check this site often.

How To Use Your Camera - Built In Light Meter, what it does

Something you should know as you continue to learn how to use your camera, is what your built in light meter really does. These are really remarkable tools these days but you still need to be aware of their limitations.

Back in the early days of light meters, scientists determined that of all the light provided by the sun, only an average of about 18% of that light was reflected from any surface. Photographers refer to the tone of this reflected light as 18% gray. Ansel Adams took this concept much further but for me to go deeper into this here would take many pages that I am sure you don't want to read just now. So for now, just accept that something near 18% of available light is actually reflected back to your eye, and to your camera.

Because of this, most but not all built light meters are designed to calculate apertures and shutter speeds for your automatic exposures based on an average light reading of 18% gray. Some camera manufacturers have determined to use a slightly different value but for all practical purposes the idea is the same. You can see this in your photos. Have you ever taken a shot of a bright object such as a snow or beach scene only to find your image looking gray rather than white? You can try this if you want by setting your camera to auto everything and shooting a picture of a piece of white paper or some other bright object.

This is why your point and shoot camera may have special scene modes for things like portraits, beach, snow, landscapes, and so on. The manufacturer has decided to help you properly adjust your exposures by attempting to provide clues as to the kind of light scene you might be shooting in. If your camera doesn't have these features, you can still make corrections if it has an exposure lock feature.

In this instance you move your camera as close as possible to the subject you are trying to photograph, letting the meter read light directly from the subject, activate your exposure lock and then recompose your photograph and shoot.

Digital SLR users have more control over this, as do many of the more elaborate (expensive) point and shoot cameras. Continue learning how to use your camera by spending some time experimenting with this. Adjust your scene modes and white balance settings until you feel comfortable with the results and where to find the menu options. You will find that your photos will not be as dark and gray, but the colors will be richer and more true to what you actually see with your eye.

Please send comments if this article was helpful to you or if you would like information about other topics.

If you are looking for books about how to use your camera click this Book Store link to see what is available. Need a Camera? This Camera Store has the the best choices available on the internet.

You can also visit my own photography website at Dwains Picks to see some of my work.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will check this site often.