In this post Matt Bambert shares some ideas on usig your photos as gifts – his post is based upon his book 101 Quick and Easy Secrets for Using Your Photographs.

If you’ve got thousands of images sitting in hard drives around your house, you can put them to work for you by making gifts with them for family, friends, coworkers and all those other people you feel you want to give those little holiday somethings to.

First, start with family and others you love with a big gift. If you assess the living space in which your family members reside so that you can match a photo with the decor, you can make them a framed photo, getting all the supplies you need from the Internet. You can even have the photo

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Weekly Assignment

We wanted people to look at the less looked at things around them with our assignment on Architectural Detail. We got to see some very interesting parts of buildings that we wouldn’t normally see. Our winner this week was kurtwall’s Stucco and Beam. This shot really captured the idea of the assignment with looking at the details and showing how the details don’t have to be grandiose in order to catch our eye. The stucco gave the image a nice texture and the wood added to the warmth. Our first runner up was Boscopix’s BMW World. This picture of two lights on a corner showcased how the shadows and lines created an interesting detail. The photo had very nice contrast and the simplicity really …

Photo michah

I recently took a trip to my cities zoo to do a test on a camera that I was reviewing and thought I’d share a few tips that I put into practice along the way.

Zoos are great locations to practice photography as they present us both with a great variety of subjects (both animals and the people watching them) but also with some real challenges. Some of the things you’ll need to overcome in getting great shots at a zoo include:

• Distance – the space between photographer and animal
• Moving Subjects – animals rarely stay in the one place for long
• Tricky Lighting – foliage and indoor/outdoor shooting can prove to be challenging
• Cages and Glass – while many zoos are improving in how they contain their animals and are giving them more natural surroundings the challenge of photographing them without the distractions of reflections off glass or grim looking bars both in the foreground and background add to the ‘fun’ of zoo photography

Zoo Photography Gear

What camera and gear will you need to get good photos at a zoo?

The answer to this question will vary a little from photographer to photographer depending upon their style, the type of shots that they want to take and the type of zoo that they’re visiting – however, a long zoom lens will almost always be handy to have attached to your camera.

Camera/Lenses – This means you’ll either need a DSLR with an attachable longer focal length prime lens or telephoto lens (something with an upper length of 200-300mm would probably be handy) or a point and shoot camera with a super zoom lens (probably a 10-12x Optical Zoom).

Also consider taking a macro lens if you’re lucky enough to have one. At our zoo we have a number of enclosures where they are handy (a butterfly enclosure for example).

Tripod – Also consider a tripod or monopod (depending upon the weather and how light it is, you’ll probably find that in some animal enclosures you’ll need to use slower shutter speeds which mean you’ll need the extra stability).

Lens Hood – the combination of shooting outdoors, having limited angles to shoot from (which means sometimes you’ll need to shoot into the sun) and that at times you’ll be shooting through glass means that a lens hood might be handy to have. I actually left mine in the car and as it was a bright day my images suffered considerably as a result.

Zoo Photography Tips

Photo Big-E-Mr-G

1. Points of Interest – Before you start photographing an animal ask yourself ‘what is it about this animal that interests me?’ What has drawn you to photograph it above other animals around you? Does it have great colour, is it in a humorous pose, is it about it’s expression, is it something about it’s surroundings? The reason to ask these questions is that they help you to identify potential points of interest for your image (something that will take your shot to the next level) and will help you to determine how to approach the shot.

2. Get in Close – as with many styles of photography, if you’re able to get close to your subject you create a feeling of intimacy with it and are able to capture details that you’d not otherwise have been able to see. Of course with animals in cages this is a challenge and getting close will almost always need to be done using a longer focal length (you can of course help a little by shooting for as close as you can get – without breaking any zoo rules). Tightly cropping the animal’s face or body helps you get shot with a real impact but also helps eliminate any distracting elements in the photo.

Image by Buntekuh

As a follow up to our Dogs Image Collection earlier in the week I thought it might be fun to run a weekend photography challenge that revolves around our pets.

This might exclude a few people that don’t have a pet (although perhaps you can be a little creative and photograph your pet rock, a sock puppet…. or a neighbour’s pet) but I’m sure enough DPS readers have a pet to make it a fun project.

So grab your camera over the weekend and take a few pet shots. If you’re looking for some tips on the topic check out our how to photograph pets tutorial.

Note: We’re looking for ‘new’ shots – this is a challenge rather than a look through your archives …

Time for another poll – do you print your digital images? If so, approximately how many of them?

In comments below it might also be interesting to hear HOW you print them – ie do you get them done at a lab, do you print them at home on a printer etc?