Photography for Beginners

Tips for taking photos at the beach

Joanna Stass — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:04:29 +0000

Summer is almost in full swing and for many people that means a much-needed trip to the beach! If you are lucky enough to live by the coast, or are planning on visiting a beach on your travels, there are plenty of things you can shoot whilst you’re there. It is important to remember that expensive camera equipment doesn’t mix with sand and water, so make sure you are careful with your kit. You may wish to use a camera strap to prevent dropping it, or a waterproof case that will protect it from the elements. You can even buy specialist tough cameras that are protected from water, sand and knocks and bumps. Take inspiration from our beach photography projects and learn some handy tips for taking your best-ever shots.

Seascapes

There are some breathtaking vistas to be found along the coastline and capturing the movement of the water in your shots can produce some creative results. Use a slow shutter speed to make the water look smooth and silky in your photos. You will need a tripod to avoid camera shake during long exposures and if you are shooting in daylight, then you may need a Neutral Density filter to block some of the light entering your lens so your shots are not overexposed. Look for some foreground interest to include in your shots for a pleasing composition.
Portraits

The beach is a wonderful backdrop for taking portraits of your friends or family. Use a wide aperture (low f-number) to create a shallow depth of field that will blur the background of your shot. This will help you avoid a busy and distracting background for you image, particularly if you are on a crowded beach. You may encounter problems with harsh shadows appearing across your subject’s face if you are shooing in bright sunlight. To combat this, just fire your flash to fill in the shadows or use a reflector to bounce the light back into the dark areas.
Macro

You can find some fantastic subjects for extreme close-up photography on the beach. Seashells in particular look great up close. Switch your camera to macro mode, or use a macro lens to enable you to focus at a short distance from your subject. It is best to use manual focus if you can, as your camera may struggle to autofocus at a short distance. Consider the composition of your shot and position your subject off-centre in the frame.
Sport

There are many different sporting activities that take place at the beach, so you may be lucky enough to spot some surfers, volleyball players or kite surfers. Use a fast shutter speed to freeze the action and take some dramatic shots. If you can predict the direction your subject is travelling in, pre-focus your shot at the point you wish to capture them in the frame. If not, use continuous autofocus to keep them sharp in your shots.
Dusk and dawn

Photographing sunrise and sunset is ideal at the beach, as you can capture the sun as it appears or disappears on the horizon. You will need to research the position of the sun to make sure it rises or sets over the sea, then use a slow shutter speed and a tripod to ensure enough light gets into your lens and you can keep your shots sharp. Instead of just shooting the sun on the horizon, include something in the foreground to add some interest to the image.
Wildlife

All sorts of species of wildlife can be found at the beach, from seagulls to crabs. Use a fast shutter speed and continuous autofocus to freeze them in the frame and burst mode to take a series of shots to increase your chances of getting a great photo.
Silhouette

Silhouette shots are a great technique to practice at the beach. If the sun is low in the sky then you can position your subject in front of it. If you are shooting in the day, then you may need to shoot from a low angle to position the sun behind your subject. Select spot metering mode and half-press the shutter whilst pointing your camera at the bright sky. Then frame your shot and fully-press the shutter to take a silhouette photo.

Proporta launches Camera Demon helmet camera mount

Joanna Stass — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:09:47 +0000

Proporta has launched the Camera Demon, a universal helmet camera mount to fix any compact digital camera to a sports helmet.

This means that you can capture shots or video of the action whilst snowboarding, skiing, biking, skateboarding or any other sporting activity.

The Camera Demon uses 3M’s high-bonding pad to secure on top of a helmet, and then the camera screws onto the mount, just like on a tripod. It can then be tilted and rotated a full 360 degrees so that you can capture different angles.

Once you are finished, the Camera Demon is very easy to remove, using just a hairdryer to heat up the 3M pad for it to slide off. No adhesive is left behind so the helmet stays in great condition.

It is lightweight, compact, and compatible with practically all modern digital compact cameras. You could even even use it with a waterproof or shockproof camera to capturing footage of extreme sporting action.

Proporta’s Head of Product, Lynnette Prigmore, said: “Being a company with more than its fair share of adrenaline junkies in the office, Camera Demon was always the kind of product that Proporta would be excited about. Gone are the days where you need to buy an expensive piece of kit to capture those moments of glory.”

Camera Demon is available to buy for £24.95. For more information, visit the Proporta or Camera Demon websites.

Mount July colour-splashed lens filters launched on Kickstarter

Joanna Stass — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:10:07 +0000

Mount July have launched a range of three colour-splashed lens filters on crowd funding website Kickstarter.

The Mount July filters were created by two Stanford University Product Design students, Martin Bush and Olivia Vagelos. The idea behind the filters comes from their belief that creativity and creation should occur in the moment, not in post-processing.

The filters allow you to create a retro, Instagram-style effect in-camera. You can screw them onto your digital camera or attach them to your analog camera and saturate your film. You can even stack them and twist them independently of one another to create different effects. They can be attached to any 58 mm camera lens but there is a step-up ring that adapts the filters to fit a 52 mm camera lens included.

The Mount July filters launched on Kickstarter on 13th May. The site allows members of the public to back the product be pledging money to fund the manufacture of the filters. The aim is to raise $32,000 by Wednesday 12th June, and so far over $6000 has been pledged by over 100 backers.

Martin Bush and Olivia Vagelos said; “We started from a small idea, interviewed professional photographers, designers, and engineers, built countless prototypes, and iterated over and over to get to this point. We have found a manufacturer who has the capabilities to produce radial, multi-colored gradients on glass, and is tooled for our rotating aluminum housing. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to get the first round of filters into production on our own. That is where you come in. We need your help to begin the production, shipping and testing of larger sample batches, final manufacturing development, and start the first round of filters on the production line.”

To find out more, and to back the project, visit the Kickstarter page.

Get 10% off Portrait Professional editing software

Joanna Stass — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:50:15 +0000

Portrait Professional from Anthropics is editing software created specifically for enhancing your people photos. Use it to soften skin, whiten teeth and remove blemishes for quick and easy flattering results. The intuitive software will automatically edit your portraits for you, then you can use the array of sliders to adjust the intensity of the effects. It will even display the before and after shots side-by-side so you can easily view the changes.

You can currently get 10% off Portrait Professional 11 if you use the discount code PFB711 when you purchase from the Portrait Professional website.

Don’t forget to upload your perfect portraits for us to see here on the Photography For Beginners website, or send them to us on Facebook and Twitter.

Get the tiltpod mini tripod for half price from PhotoWhoa

Joanna Stass — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:39:09 +0000

Tiltpod is a small tiltable stand for a compact camera or cameraphone.

The magnetic base will allow you to take steady shots on almost any surface, as well as enable you to get in the shot without having to ask someone else to take it.

You can attach it to a wrist strap or your keychain, and it will easily fit in your pocket.

The tiltpod is for small digital cameras and the tiltpod Mobile is for the iPhone and cameraphone. For a limited time only, you can get both for $15 from PhotoWhoa.

For more information, visit the PhotoWhoa website.

First International Youth Photo Festival to take place this month

Joanna Stass — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:46:11 +0000

After the success of the first Children’s Eyes On Earth International Youth Photo Contest last summer, the first-ever International Youth Photo Festival will take place this month in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This event aims to raise awareness of environmental issues through the eyes of young people and their photographs and will give visitors the chance to view the best 100 images from the competition.

With the themes “I Love Nature” and “I Fear Pollution”, the competition drew thousands of entries from young people in over 90 countries around the world, and encourages young people to express their views on social issues and the environment using the visual language of photography. The aim is to now train, mentor and accompany these young, talented photographers through the second phase of the project, the International Youth Photo Festival.

The festival will give the winners the unique opportunity to develop their photography skills through a series of events and workshops in Baku. Festival highlights will include an outdoor exhibition, film screenings, seminars and an opening night Awards Ceremony. Azerbaijan is also celebrating the 90th anniversary of National Leader, Heydar Aliyev, and the traditional Flowers Holiday, so the Festival will also be the perfect opportunity for visitors to experience the beauty, ancient culture, exquisite architecture and memorable festivities which will be held in the capital city of Baku.

Eight-year-old Anastasya Vorobko from Saint Petersburg in Russia was the winner of the Children’s Eyes On Earth Contest, with her image ‘S.O.S.!’ The photograph depicts a bird flying over the thick smog being emitted from a factory funnel and conveys her fear of the pollution which affects her local environment.

The Children’s Eyes On Earth global initiative was initiated by Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the founder of the non-governmental organisation IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action) and REZA, renowned photographer and founder of the non-governmental organisation AINA World. The project is also supported by WPO (World Photography Organisation), National Geographic Kids magazine, SDN (Social Documentary Network), Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan, FotoEvidence, SFR Jeunes Talents and Webistan Photo Agency.

For more information, visit the Children’s Eyes On Earth website.

Anastasya Vorobko

Olympus announces new CSC with a retro design

Joanna Stass — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:07:51 +0000

Fresh from winning the TIPA Best Entry Level CSC award for the Olympus PEN E-PL5, Olympus has now announced the new E-P5.

The camera’s features include:

A 16 megapixel Live MOS sensor. The same one that is found in the award-winning Olympus OM-D camera.
A fast shutter speed of 1/8000sec for freezing super-fast action. This is the first compact system camera with a mechanical shutter capable of operating at this speed.
Fast autofocus for keeping fast-moving subjects sharp in your shots
Built-in WiFi for sharing photos via your smartphone or tablet. You can also an Apple or Android smartphone
9 frames per second continuous shooting to ensure you get a great shot of the action
Tiltable LCD screen for framing shots from interesting angles

Available: From the end of June

RRP: £899.99 (body only), £999.99 (with 14-42mm lens), £1349.99 (with 17mm f1.8 prime lens and VF-4 high resolution viewfinder).

Adobe has no plans for new Creative Suite products

Joanna Stass — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:08:01 +0000

Adobe have announced that they have no plans for future releases of Creative Suite or other CS products, and will instead focus on the development of the Adobe Creative Cloud.

They have made it clear that Adobe Creative Suite 6 products will continue to be supported and available for purchase, but they will now focus their creative software development efforts on the Creative Cloud.

A new update to the Creative Cloud will feature a new set of ‘CC’ desktop applications, including Adobe Photoshop CC, and enhanced cross-device collaboration and publishing capabilities. Users will be able to store, sync and share files via the Creative Cloud and use Behance, the online creative community, to showcase their work and get feedback on it.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud currently has more than half a million paid members, and over 2 million total members have signed up for Creative Cloud since it was launched in April 2012.

David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager of Digital Media at Adobe, said: ”We launched Creative Cloud a year ago and it has been a runaway success. By focusing our energy – and our talented engineers – on Creative Cloud, we’re able to put innovation in our members’ hands at a much faster pace.”

For more information about Adobe Creative Cloud, visit the Adobe website.

Trendz Canvas Bridge Camera Case review

Joanna Stass — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:32:27 +0000

The Trendz Canvas Case is a stylish solution for carrying any compact system or bridge camera. The bag is padded to keep your kit safe but not too bulky or heavy, making it is easy to carry. There is a small zipped pocket at the front and another pocket on the top for storing spare batteries or memory cards, so you can ensure you never run out of space or charge whilst on the move.

The discreet design is fashionable, with attractive buckle and leather features that give it a modern feel. The shoulder strap can be adjusted to make the bag sit wherever you like at your side, or you can remove it entirely and use the carrying strap on the top to carry it with your hand.

One downside of the Trendz bag is that the camera pouch only seals with velcro, and so if it wears out or is not sealed correctly, your kit could fall out when you pick up the bag by the handle on the top. It does mean that it is quick and easy to access your camera, but a zip fastening would feel a little more secure.

Overall, this is a brilliant bag for those looking to carry their gear with a bit of style.

The Trendz Canvas Bridge Camera Case is available from LoveCases.co.uk for £17.99.

Technical Image Press Association Awards 2013 winners announced

Joanna Stass — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:18:00 +0000

The Technical Image Press Association is comprised of editors from 28 of the world’s leading photography and imaging magazines from 15 countries. They meet every year to select the best imaging products, considering everything from innovation to design and overall product quality.

This year’s award winners have just been announced, with Canon’s EOS 100D winning the Best Entry-Level DSLR category, the Olympus PEN E-PL5 being awarded the Best Entry Level CSC award, and the Nikon CoolPix S01 being crowned the Best Easy Compact Camera.

The full list of winners can be found on the TIPA website.

Photography for Beginners

Tips for taking photos at the beach

Seascapes

Portraits

Macro

Sport

Dusk and dawn

Wildlife

Silhouette