February 2009

  • Sports Photos

    By sparklyscotty on 2/25/09 6:54am
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    Combining your love of photography with your love of your local sports team can be a rewarding hobby.  Knowing when to take the shot in sports is just as important as the equipment. If you want action shots, focus your camera on a spot where you know there will be plenty of it. If you do get a good location and you can use a tripod, this is the way to go, since it will cut down on camera shake and blurry images.  You will be shooting action, so blurry images will probably be your biggest challenge to great shots.   Make sure you have the scene in focus and experiment with action-freezing shots and slower shutter photos that will give a blurred background, which shows you the speed of your subject.  Continuous shooting modes may also help you get quality action photos.

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  • It's all about light

    By sparklyscotty on 2/25/09 6:41am
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    You can get some great shots with film cameras, but digital models are a lot easier to work with for many different reasons. One of the most important aspects of taking good photos is  the shutter speed, and while adjusting this technical detail on film cameras used to be a bit tricky,  digital model cameras have made this task a lot simpler.

    To get good photos you need to make sure there is enough light getting into the camera while shooting. This means you need to balance the shutter speed to the aperture. (Confused already? Don't worry, most digital cameras will work all of this technical stuff out for you automatically.) The aperture settings are called F-stops and are usually noted as f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4, f/8 etc. The lower the f-stop setting means more light is allowed into the camera, in other words a smaller F stop number means a larger opening for light.



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  • Photographer Interview: Jeremy Standley

    By sparklyscotty on 2/18/09 10:37am
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    Fotofocus points the proverbial mic at some of today's top photographers to find out what makes them tick.

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  • Photo Journalism

    By sparklyscotty on 2/15/09 11:36pm
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    While photography enthusiasts may take pictures for the pure love of the hobby, others actually do it as a full time job. Some of the best and most famous images in the world have come from the hard work of talented and determined photo journalists.  These pros venture into situations that most of us would not dare,  and armed with the proper equipment, such as a digital camera and laptop computer, photo journalists can share images of the most historical and world-changing events, just seconds after they take place.



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  • Out of this world photography

    By sparklyscotty on 2/15/09 9:29am
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    If you’ve checked out Google lately, you might have noticed one of the 'in' things online at the moment is satellite photography. This gives viewers the chance to check out aerial photos that have been taken from satellites that are miles above the earth. People are fascinated by the idea that they can zoom in on their own neighborhoods and homes as well as far away places that they have never visited. You can basically see an aerial view of just about anywhere on earth and zoom in on it for a closer look. It’s great for checking out some of the wonders of the world and even some stunning images of space and other planets.



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  • Printing Digital Images

    By sparklyscotty on 2/8/09 7:55am
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    Some photographers may take thousands and thousands of digital photos without ever printing one of them.  However, if you're somebody who likes to print off copies of your photos, the quality of the printer you're using can dramatically affect the quality of the prints. Printers for digital photos range from simple on-click models to high-end professional machines with plenty of options for various formats.

    The paper which you use for your prints can also affect the clarity of the image. Digital cameras can produce extremely high-quality images,  but this quality won't be seen in prints if your printer and paper aren't designed for printing high resolution photographs.

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  • Storing Digital Images

    By sparklyscotty on 2/8/09 7:28am
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    Back in the days when everybody was using film cameras, you really only had a couple of choices for storing your photos. Many people would display them in photo albums, binders, or photo boxes, while others would simply leave the photos in the envelopes they came back in from the developing store.

    With film photographs, you have the actual photos you could store as well as the negatives to fall back on, just in case the prints were lost or damaged.

    In the digital age, there are many more options open to you when it comes to backing up and storing your images.

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  • Underwater Photography

    By sparklyscotty on 2/4/09 1:45am
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    For those of you who are scuba divers or interested in the secrets of the deep dark seas, you can take some amazing photos and video these days with underwater cameras. You can get some crisp, clear photos of all types of sea life, plant life, and shipwrecks, etc. as long as you have the proper equipment such as an airtight underwater housing unit. Many swimmers and snorkelers enjoy taking cameras with them on days out at the beach, and underwater housing kits let you convert your normal digital camera for use underwater. Underwater housings units come with controls on the outside that allow you to manipulate the camera's settings while keeping your camera protected in a safe, sealed, setting.  This means that most digital cameras can be used underwater. You can also purchase specialized models that are specifically made for underwater photography. Quite a few camera manufacturers have developed underwater models and some companies even specialize in them.

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