Enter our latest DPS Competition HERE

[Darren Rowse]

Welcome to our latest DPS competition where you can win a new Olympus Tough 8000 camera or an ImageVueX Web Gallery Package.

Learn full details about this competition, the prizes and how to participate here.

PLEASE NOTE: this thread is only for entries. If you have a comment or question on the competition please leave it on the blog post.

The Rules:

* Tips Must be Submitted to THIS THREAD (the one you're currently reading) in our Forum. To add a tip you need to sign up as a forum member.
* Tips must be 350 words or less - ie a MAXIMUM of 350 words.
* You may use up to 3 images to help illustrate your tip. We recommend you hosting the images on Flickr and inserting them in your entry.
* Photography Tips will be judged on how helpful they are and how clearly they are to follow.
* We will publish some of the best tutorials submitted on the DPS blog in the weeks following the competition. Please include a link to your blog, flickr account or website as we’d like to include it as a thank you for the tip IF we publish it on the blog (this is not included in the 350 words).
* There is a limit of one entry per person. Please don’t join up as a member more than once - we can check if you do.
* Entries close on 8th April at 11.59pm - PST ( US Pacific Time). It’ll then probably take us at least a few days to sort through them all and choose a winner.
* Entries are welcome from people in all countries and locations.

If you have questions about this competition please don't leave them in this thread but feel free to leave them on the announcement post on the blog. This thread is only for entries - we'll delete other posts to keep it just for tips/entries.

[kencaleno]

Ok, so you are going to have problems if some images you want to make, are outside the dynamic range of the camera: So here's the plan for that:
With camera on tripod: meter for highlight, take a shot-then meter for shadows, take another shot. In Photoshop:
1. Add lighter image to darker as a new layer,( click on Move tool, hold down "shift" button, and drag lighter image over to darker, then release) then:
2. Select> Color Range-Click highlights
3. Check “invert”, click “OK”.
4. Add layer mask. Click on layer mask
5.Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur 250 pixels. Click "OK"
Flatten and save. You will get detail in highlights and shadows

[cruciformity]

One of the things I find myself doing more since I got a faster digital camera with a bigger memory chip is simply taking more pictures and hoping that something turns out.

Recently I took some pictures for a portrait photographer and he told me his secret.He takes just two shots of every picture, just like when he was on film. If he can't get it in two shots, he needs to perfect his craft, not buy a faster camera.

This lead me back to film (ok, I just pretend since I don't have a film camera).

1. Go on a photo walk and limit yourself to exactly 36 clicks of the shutter.
2. Commit to showing the results to friends/flickr/etc... no matter the results.
3. Post/share at least 24 of your 36 shots.

If you really want to fine tune your selective use of "film", make it a scavenger hunt and start with a predefined list of pictures you need to take. No going back and deleting because you found a better option. It's film, remember.

[fletch]

The best tip I have is this:

If you want people to think you are a good photographer, only show them your best photos. Simple as that.

In these days of digital camers we all take hundreds, even thousands of photos, at every oportunity. It can help you learn and increase you chances of getting that perfect shot the more you take so its no bad thing. However nobody wants to sit though huge slide shows of these images, each one slightly different from the last. Pick a few and show these, no more that one shot of any one scene and only pick your best. The same is true of you flickr account or website gallery, pro or amateur, holiday snaps or model shoot.

Your photography will be impoved if you only show people your best photos.

More detail here: at my blog post

[citadin86]

Here`s something new and exciting.
Take your camera to your pub or party bar and shoot people. People meeting new people, people dancing, people having fun and drinking.
Of course you don`t have to abuse your "power" and shoot drunks or embarrassing photos.
You will see different reactions on their faces. Some will pose, some will be a little shy, some will take the person next to him and throw him into the picture.
As a bonus, you could make a web gallery and post them for people to see.
You must smile, be flexible and social. As for tech, an external flash that points upwards helps.
You will learn your gear very good as well as how to handle low light situations. Plus you will overcome some of your shyness and maybe make some new friends.
Oh and one more thing. Take as many shots as you can, from different angles, of different people, of the crowd, from the ground floor, from the chair, from the table (if it`s permitted), etc. because you never know what are you going to shoot.

More photos http://photos.labebe.ro.

[Wooglah]

The only tip I can give to anyone is really a short one:
- Do your own research, but don't be afraid to ask questions.
That's it. Yes, not really one for the prize but can help someone I think...

[wax]

To obtain exciting and dynamic shots at night, it is advisable and often essential to use a tripod. Especially with time exposures of a couple of seconds, it is almost impossible to take sharp and unblurred pictures if using merely the hands to hold the camera still. But a tripod not only serves for sharp pictures. Moreover it can be used as a stylistic means. It enables the photographer to play and experiment with the scene, especially with the various light effects. This can result in very vivid photos. Surely, one can just put the tripod on a still-standing item but basically a tripod offers a far wider range of possibilities to create the scene according to personal affectations.

The attached three pictures come as examples for how one can use the light. Hereby it is important to take care of the decision what kind of aperture and shutter speed is being used. All of the three pictures were taken with a time exposure between 4s and 15s . With a wider aperture I could have chosen shorter exposure times but this in turn would surely have resulted in a loss of the impact of the impression.

Thus, to obtain awe-inspiring night shots it is advisable to use a tripod and to experiment a bit with the aperture and the shutter speed. The results are often surreal and enthralling. Try it out, I promise you a lot of fun.

[hora]

I don't have very many tips, being quite inexperienced myself, but there are a few pieces of advice I'd like to give to beginners.

Shoot lots, shoot often! Doesn't matter what, doesn't matter where - learn to find interesting subjects in 'boring' locations, learn how to use your camera, and get rid of any shyness you might have when it comes to photography.

Also, shoot in RAW if you can. It's more work once you get home, but can be very useful if the shot didn't come out just right, or if you wanted to turn it into a single shot HDR, or even if you learn a new Photoshop technique and want to practice on some old photos.

And one last thing. When you go shooting, go to do just that. And bring your tripod.

[SandeeWig]

This was a hard one for me to overcome when moving to dSLR. Each time I took my camera out of my bag, I'd take at least 2-3 photos using the settings from wherever I shot last before checking the display. Inevitably they turned out horrible (and, of course, could've been the cutest of the group if they hadn't been completely over/under exposed)!

So, unless you shoot in auto or program (P) mode, remember to check your ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings before you start clicking. If you adjust your white balance setting at all, check that too!

Not only will it prevent wasting time and energy throwing away (or making artsy creations out of) bad shots, it enables you to really understand and get a feel for what the best settings are in any given situation, without having to adjust and take so many test shots.

[private]

The best tips that I have is for the child photographer so he/she will get a child smiling and connecting with the camera w/o the "Cheese Face"

1. Relax - I will assume the photogher is relaxed but the parents and the child needs to do that also. If the parent is telling the child what to do that's bad. You will get a cheese face. You can bargain with the parent/child (you do one pose that Mommy wants and two poses that you want) - the child relaxes b/c he/she is in control. And the parent will relax b/c they get the shot they want.

2. Make the child laugh. Seems like this is hard but its pretty easy - even if the child does not know you at all. All children LOVE potty talk and they will smile (they cannot help themselves) - this is the BEST place to use it. Have them tell you a joke. I use a woopie cushion for the preshool set. Younger kids LOVE peek-a-boo - I will hide behind the camera and look at them from the side or the top. And for babies, I will use a whistle or christmas bells to get them to look up.

3. And if all else fails, its OK to have/make the parents leave the room. And if that does not work, pretend to cry - kids of ALL ages love that - even the parents laugh!

www.pixiememories.com