Arts & Entertainment | Fotography

Just take the time to consider how you would feel if all the irreplaceable photographs in your computer just disappeared – never to be seen again! Or if the 400+ photographs which you had stored in your camera did likewise.

For many people the words ‘back up’ are just an American version of ‘reverse’ when they are driving a car…

To begin with photographs in your camera – many people do keep hundreds in the camera memory – this is really not a good idea for a number of reasons. Specific pictures can be very difficult to find and, when you do find them, they are really so small that they should only be used to show people pictures of your loved ones and other people. Holiday pictures are really a waste on your camera as no-one can really see anything properly and soon lose interest – they only look and comment out of politeness!

You do not have to fill the memory card before downloading your pictures onto your computer – your camera is really just a picture capturing machine – not really a storing/viewing machine. Move them to your computer as soon as you can so that you and others can view them clearly and where they will be safer than in the camera memory… but not really safe until you have backed up your computer files onto some other form of memory.

Your picture files are purely electronic and, as such, can disappear in a flash. You must make sure that you have at least two copies of everything – your main file on your computer for easy reference and a second file, either on a CD or DVD or on an external hard drive which plugs into your computer through a USB port (this is much the preferred method). The cost of these external hard drives has come down significantly and you should really view it as an ‘insurance premium’ for all your valuable pictures.

When you download the pictures from your camera memory, you should copy them onto your back up external drive first and then onto your computer. In this way you always have a copy of everything and so avoid any chance of having to kick yourself which can be both painful and frustrating!

Computer experts do not talk about ‘if’ a hard drive will malfunction, they talk about ‘when’ this will happen – you may be fortunate and never have any problems which would be wonderful – but if you do… it is really worth having the back up!

The feeling of loss when you lose all your photographic memories cannot be imagined – it’s just terrible! Do yourself a big favour and back up your files today.

If we take photographs that are blurred and out of focus in any way they are really worthless. The human eye immediately notices (and dismisses?) anything that is not in focus.

Modern digital cameras come with really excellent auto-focus systems built in to try and make this as easy as possible. Remember, however, that your camera is not magic! Just a little bit of help from the photographer can make a world of difference!

Remember it is always a good idea to pause for a split second when you have half pressed the shutter button to give your camera a chance to do its job of focussing properly.

With compact cameras there are really two auto-focus methods that could concern us –

Firstly there is the ‘infra-red bounce’ or ‘Active’ method where your camera emits a red beam to measure the distance to the subject. If you have one of these do not put your finger over the beam light when taking a picture – you will not get any focus!

Then we have the ‘contrast measurement’ or ‘Passive’ method. In this a special sensor measures at which point the lens produces an image with the highest level of contrasting pixels – best focus. The camera needs something with contrast so if your camera struggles to focus try turning it on its side or look for something with more contrast which the camera can recognize.

Modern cameras are amazing – many of them now come with ‘image stabilization’ a really intriguing invention that helps to prevent the camera shake which can give you a blurred picture.

This is really useful but it is not magic! You still have to help your camera by holding it as steady as possible – how many people do you see taking pictures holding the camera with one hand? It looks cool and casual but does not lead to good, sharp pictures. The only time you should take a picture with the camera in one hand is when you need the other hand/arm to hang on, to stop yourself falling off a cliff.

At the best of times the human body is not a great camera stand – it moves too much but, if we hold the camera with two hands and, where possible, anchor our elbows against the body, it can do a pretty good job.

Practice holding the camera as steady as possible (it also helps you to think about the picture you are taking) and you will get better pictures.

When the light starts to fade you have a new challenge as your exposure times can get too long to hand hold your camera. The best solution is a tripod but resting your camera on a wall or a rock can work just as well. Just be sure that it is stable!

‘Keep it Steady’ should be the constant refrain in your mind when taking photographs and you will be impressed at how the quality of your images improves!

‘I’ve just got a little point and shoot camera – nothing fancy… ‘

How often have you heard someone make this remark about their camera? No matter how ‘simple’ or straightforward your camera might be it is still a technological marvel capable of doing far more than most owners would ever believe.

The only real limit is you! – photography is a marvelous hobby as you can enjoy yourself at whatever level of interest or expertise that appeals to you.

Should you want to get more creative with your ‘simple’ camera there are a lot of things which you can do… the obvious start point is the instruction manual – this is a mine of useful information – it just takes a little perseverance – don’t try and learn it all at once! Just look up what you need to know now.

When you take a photograph with your camera in the ‘automatic’ mode it will produce what the manufacturer considers to be the best picture based on all the information available to the camera – such as the light; the type of light; the type of scene the camera calculates is in front of it; is it using the flash and so on. However the camera is just guessing, albeit very cleverly, about the picture it is taking.

You, however, know what type of picture you are taking – people, scenery, buildings etc and if you just tell your camera what you are doing it will be able to do a better calculation and produce a better picture for you.

How do we do this? Built into your camera are a set of different ‘modes’ or ‘scenes’. By selecting one of these we tell the camera what the picture is all about and it will calculate the exposure accordingly – it really is that simple. Your instruction book will tell you how to turn on modes really quickly – it is so easy! Just remember to turn the camera back to automatic afterwards to avoid taking a whole lot of pictures at the wrong settings.

On most cameras there are a multitude of different modes as the manufacturers compete to add features. At first sight this can be quite daunting – do not get mode gridlock! Pick two or three that you really find useful such as ‘Portrait’ or ‘Landscape’ and concentrate on these – practice with them and get an idea of the effects you can achieve. You will be so impressed with yourself!

Once you are comfortable with these you can start to increase the number that you use. Don’t be cautious about experimenting – the more you try the more confident and comfortable you will become with your camera and your pictures will improve considerably. You will get just so much more fun out of your hobby.

Camera owners often ask about ‘White Balance’ and the part it plays in digital photography. Is it important and can they perhaps use it to improve their photography.

Well, the colour of the light reflected from an object varies with the colour of the light source. The brain adapts to all these changes so that white objects appear as white objects whether seen in the shade, direct sunlight or under incandescent lights. Unlike film cameras, digital cameras can mimic this adjustment by processing images according to the colour of the light source.

With ‘automatic’ white balance the camera identifies the brightest element in the picture, assumes this is white and then adjusts or balances all the colours in the picture based on this.

Most of us just leave the White Balance setting on ‘automatic’ and the camera does a pretty good job of estimating the correct setting and we are generally happy with the results.

However, if we really want to improve our photography and add our own individual touches to our images it is really well worth experimenting with the various white balance settings available on your camera – AWB (automatic) Cloudy, Daylight (Bright Sun) Shade, Tungsten etc – and seeing the difference they can make to your pictures. Remember, you know what the prevailing light is. Your camera can only guess!

If you experiment with these, you will soon be able to see how to make the best use of them to help your photography. For example, if you use the ‘cloudy’ setting, even when it is not cloudy, it will have the effect of ‘warming up’ the picture – great for sunsets! The automatic setting may well remove most of that wonderful glow you wanted to capture.

The wonder of Digital Photography is that you can experiment freely at no cost – play around and experiment with your camera to your heart’s content – the more familiar you become the better you will get at taking pictures that actually reflect what you have seen and which are not just ‘postcard clones’ as it were!

Continual experimentation is one of the key secrets of digital photography. It can take people some time to get out of the habits of film photography where it cost money each time you pressed the shutter button! Once again – time spent reading the instruction manual for your camera will pay serious dividends in helping you to really enjoy your photography!

With the purchase of my rather expensive camera a while back it was like winning the lottery. It takes gorgeous photos and can be zoomed in or out to get the best shot. It also has automatic focus and the memory card helps to deposit the photos onto the computer. But then a few months ago when returning a recently purchased lap top the money was used to buy a Samsung Galaxy Edge smart phone.

What a surprise! The photography possible with this machine is far better than any camera owned previously. It takes shot after shot of incredible photos whose detail can be enlarged and studied. Like the camera before it of course it takes videos as well.

This is a far cry from the first camera that my brother gave me when I was around 8 years of age. It was quite small but the photos I took have survived and are a record of the family history from those early years. Film had to be inserted and then the photos developed through the local chemist. It meant saving my pocket-money to redeem them.

From that time to this photography has been one of my hobbies and the quantity of shots from just about everywhere travelled or experiences enjoyed are filling albums and taking up storage space around the home. That is unnecessary with the new technology. The computer stores anything needing to be kept while some photos are printed immediately either through my printer or the local shop.

The difference in convenience and cost is astronomical and the pleasure of taking photos has increased enormously thanks to the new smart phone.

An action camera is generally light in weight and has a waterproof surface. The gadget is famous for its robust performance. Users can mount these gadgets in almost anywhere or in any place. It helps photographers and sports lovers to capture the best epic footages. The product can capture both videos and still photos. Continue reading to know about 5 best places to mount an action camera to get extreme videos and still photos from the best angles.

Top of The Helmet: This is one of the best places to put this device. Cyclists and bikers use this spot to mount this gadget.

Advantages:

1. Pure POV feel
2. Vibration of the motorcycle does not affect the performance

Disadvantages:

1. High-speed wind can affect the performance
2. Can attract unwanted attention
3. Head may feel heavy

Best to Shoot: Group of riders’ footage.

At The Side of the Helmet: This is one of the best places for bikers to place action cameras. It can help users to capture great side views.

Advantages:

1. Very close to POV feel
2. Do not attract unwanted attention

Disadvantages:

1. Can affect balance of the rider
2. You will only get the shot from one side

Best to Shoot: Side views.

At the Steering or the Handlebar: Bikers and car drivers can use this place to mount the camera.

Advantages:

1. No added weight on the rider
2. Stable and secure place

Disadvantages:

1. Jello Effect: Vibration of the bike can affect the image and video quality
2. Sometimes it can block the windscreen. It depends on the design of your bike

Best to Shoot: Front view, road view.

Frame Sliders or Passenger Pegs or Crash Bars: These positions are only applicable for bikers.

Advantages:

1. Steady location
2. Unique angle to shoot

Disadvantages:

1. Footage will only cover side view
2. Typical perspective

Best to Shoot: The road from a lean angle.

Tail Section of the Bike: This is the best position to get a view from the back side.

Advantages:

1. Stable area to mount
2. Viewers can see the body position of the rider

Disadvantages:

1. Users need a wide-angle camera lens to capture the complete view

Best to Shoot: Body position of the rider.

Final Words:

So these are the top 5 places where users can mount their action cameras. It will help them to capture the best sports moments from different unique angles. Users can try capturing both still photos and videos for creating an ultimate experience.

Boudoir photography is gaining a lot of popularity and the photo shoots and the albums have now become a great present for husbands on the wedding day. This is the opportunity for women to show off their sexy side to their partners and it makes a great and tasteful gift.

The boudoir photographers are actually great masters and they create classy, sensual and elegant images of women while they are in their lingerie. However, before you decide to go down this road, it is important to know some basics of the whole process and the things that you should expect during the shoot.

Bridal boudoir photography

Boudoir is French and it means a lady’s bedroom or private dressing room. When it comes to photography, it can be defined as style where women pose while partially dressed or while in their lingerie. These photos are rather tasteful. Nudity isn’t explicit, but rather implied. The albums and photos can be used as birthday, holiday, Anniversary and wedding day gifts for husbands. The photo is aimed at showing how great a woman feels and looks at the particular point in time.

Choosing the photographer

Just like your wedding day, you need to choose the correct boudoir photographer. You need to find someone who you will be comfortable around. Interview a few candidates before you settle for one and look at portfolios too, this will help you determine whether their style is to your liking.

The location

After a photographer has been selected, choose the place where the photo-shoot should take place. Most photographers have got a studio for this purpose where you find beds and chairs set up for different settings and scenes. If you want, you can use this or a hotel room or any other private location that you want.

Accessories, props and outfits

The photos in this category are mainly lingerie, but it doesn’t mean that you have to go shopping for undergarments. You need to really think of the look that you are aiming at. Different things go for different moods such as glam, pinup, playful or sexy. It is not also a must to pose in your underwear. There are other modest outfits that you can choose such as tank tops with jeans and so on. Settling for the things that your fiancé adores may actually make it an even greater gift.

Makeup and hair

So as to be in character, makeup and hair need to be well done. Many studios offer makeup artists and hairstylist on site as part of the entire package. You can have as much or as little makeup as you want and it is best to consider what your man likes.

The poses

The photographers are quite versed when it comes to poses and they will advise you on this. Torso twists, leg lifts, and arched backs are quite popular with the boudoir photos. You will get directions as the shoot goes on and you will be given demonstrations and suggestions for the best moods and gazes that you could try out.

Outdoor fashion photography is a big hit in the shooting world and the reasons are innumerable. All you need is a good location and your creativity. An outdoor photo shoot means you do not need a personal studio and lights. Although, it might seem easy, the factors that govern your photography in an outdoor setting have a huge impact on the work you do. There are a few things you should be aware of as a photographer to make your photo shoot effective.

While a good looking model and state of the art camera equipment’s are the two mandates, there are a few more points you need to consider.

1. Explore and be familiar with the location
The location that you choose for your shoot will be the first factor that determines the effectiveness of your work. Scout the location a day prior to the shoot and see how exactly can you use it to the fullest. It is even better if you click a few pictures of the places you seem are perfect for clicking.

Following this practice before your next photo shoot will give you the upper hand and you will save a lot of time on the final day. It is good to join photography workshops once in a while to keep up with the happenings in the market and also refine your skill level. Not only this, such tips and tricks are the biggest bonus you will have.

2. Pay attention to the time of your shoot
Once done with the location, it is time to pay heed to the time you want to click the pictures. It is crucial to choose the right time of the day. However, it all depends on your preference of light and how you want your photos to be.

According to a lot of photographers, the best times are just after sunrise or two hours before the sunset. On a cloudy day, the light would be soft and the contrast for the background would be less compared to other days. If you wish to capture photos with diffused light, you can definitely go ahead.

3. Choose the right background
Selecting the right background takes a while. Gauge the place and then visualize your fame. Make sure the colors are in contrast and your subject is not getting camouflaged. Your model should always be in the highlight. With the right photography classes you can learn to understand how your surroundings can make or break the photos you click.

4. Put ambient and flash light to use
Step out of your comfort zone and try a new technique. Use ambient and flash light together to create different and unique effects. Use the sunlight as key light falling on your model and the flash to create a rim light effect.

5. Exposure
Exposure adjustment should always be done beforehand and not after during post processing. Doing so will give your photos sharpness and detail. A photography school is the perfect place to learn and grow yourself technically. Working with things like exposure, aperture handling etc will not be a task once you understand it and there is no one better than photography teachers to do it.

It’s every photographer’s dream to take beautiful portraits. The idea of capturing seamless beauty of a best friend or beloved one often ransack the brain of college going students, who wants to establish himself as a renowned snapper, at least before his girlfriend. But capturing seamless beauty is not easy as you think, because in reality there is nothing absolute. There must be some flaws on face like hairline, blemish, dark spot or wrinkle. You must remove all these to impress your beloved one. In this article I will tell you the easiest way to edit a portrait, keeping focus on the face.

When I was pursuing my bachelor degree I felt in love with a girl. After two years of sweet and sour romance, we decided to marry. My parents were not aware of my secret affair, because I never exposed my love letters before them. I was so afraid of showing my girlfriend’s photo to my parents, because she had a face full of pimples. After reading some articles on how to edit portrait in Adobe Photoshop CS 6, I decided to apply it on my girlfriend’s photo. Believe it or not I succeeded to make my parents impressed and get married. The method I used is called frequency separation.

Open Your Portrait

After opening your portrait on Photoshop make a duplicate of the image twice by pressing Ctrl + J two times, because we don’t want to affect the original image.

Naming the layers

Edit the upper layer name to ‘High Frequency’ and lower layer to ‘Low Frequency’. Hide the upper layer by clicking on the eyeball icon.

Applying Gaussian Blur Effect

Select the lower layer and go to the Filter and click on Blur then select Gaussian Blur and drag the slider to right to get a slightly blurry effect so that wrinkles and pimples disappear. Now bring back the visibility of the upper layer and select it.

Apply Image

Selecting the upper layer, in our case ‘High Frequency’ go to Image and click on apply image from the drop down menu. When the dialog box appears, select ‘Low frequency’ and for blending mode select ‘Subtract’. The Scale should be 1 or 2 and offset 128. After altering all the values properly, click on OK. You will notice the upper layer turns to grey embossed type. Now change the blending mode of the upper layer to ‘Linear Light’. As soon as you change it your photo gets back to its original appearance.

Selecting Lasso Tool

Now select the ‘Lower Frequency’ layer and the select Lasso tool, change the value of Feather of Lasso tool to 25 or 27. Cover the forehead of your portrait by drawing with the lasso tool. Now go to Filter again and select Blur then Gaussian Blur. Drag the slider to vanish all the spots and pimples over the forehead. When you feel happy with the result, click OK. Now you can cover the areas on chin and cheek by drawing with lasso tool, apply the preset Gaussian effect by pressing Ctrl + F. If you can do it properly, you will get a spotless beauty at the end.

Editing pimples and dark spots

Select the upper layer and pick the Spot Healing Brush tool from tool menu, make the size of brush slightly bigger than the pimple or spot and holding the Alt key click on a spotless area near to the pimple and then release the Alt key and click on the pimple. In this process you will get rid of all the pimples and spots on the face.

Isn’t it a simple process to glorify the seamless beauty of your beloved one? If you don’t have Photoshop then you can try other application too. I hope every famous image editing software have some kind of tool to retouch a portrait with ease.

Streaming is the method of delivering the video or audio contents over the internet. Live streaming of aerial videos is one of the hottest trends in sports, events, content creation and music industry. It is due to the increasing popularity of drones and advances in drone and drone filming technologies. There is a huge demand for aerial videos, and filmmaking and short-film industries, are thriving on the advances in consumer drone technology.

The demand for aerial videos:

Aerial videos are in huge demand in almost every sector of life. People love to see the aerial views of sports and events from some unusual angles. Before consumer drones, it was extremely expensive to make such videos. However, now it is dirt cheap to get some amazing aerial views. Also, agricultural imaging and industrial inspection of large structures are some other areas where aerial videos are being used.

The application for Live Streaming of aerial videos:

The drone owners can use their FPV (first person view) and VR (Virtual Reality) types of headsets to see some amazing outdoors when flying their drones. Now imagine that with live streaming of those videos, thousands of other people can experience the same effects from the comfort of their home. It is the experience people want to have. You can fly your drone and share the view with thousand others.

Another wide scope application is the streaming of industrial inspection videos to the control rooms and boardrooms of plants and companies. It is usually carried out by small drone companies offering these services. This area of video streaming has an enormous potential, and in future, we can expect a tremendous growth in this sector.

Other applications include political and religious event streaming to show the aerial view of the gatherings. Also, news channels are using live streamings for important events. Similarly, people want to stream the videos of their weddings to someone not attending and so on.

Aerial Live Streaming setup

You can use a helicopter for aerial photography, but we are talking about a cheaper version, so here we only discuss drones. Live streaming from drones is still a novel technology. Some of the considerations for aerial live streaming are following:

1. Live streaming services:

The first thing you want to decide is where you want to live-stream your drone videos. Some of the live streaming services are YouTube Live, ustream, LivestreamTwitter’s periscope and Facebook live streaming service.

2. The drone camera: Some cameras output the videos in a generic way, but you need a drone with a camera which gives a clean HDMI output to be able to use live streaming services. If your camera does not provide a clean HDMI output, you would have to find a suitable adapter.

3. Then you need an encoder which takes HDMI and transmits it on the internet.

4. There are two main protocols used by streaming services. RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) and RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol). Have a look at the appropriate one for your service because your choice of the encoder depends on it. There is also HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) where you divide the video file into small segments and deliver it to a player via HTTP protocol.

5. The broadcast standard (ATSC, NTSC, PAL, or SECAM) is another consideration while streaming drone videos on any of the services. You would need to stick with the specifications the service demand. Just look at the technical specification section on their website.

6. Another consideration is the ability to transcode (in other broadcasting standards) and the latency of the platform (the delay in transmission) you are using.

7. The internet speed should be reasonable to be able to live stream the video.

8. Some companies are making standalone solutions for drones which could be expensive, but if you are providing commercial services, then you might consider these solutions. One of the companies is Amimon. The company provides various products for enthusiasts and professional drone users. Two of their popular products are Connex and Connex Mini. However, their drone Flying Eye could be a quite expensive thing to buy! Another company is Newtek, and ustream recommends some of their devices.

9. Also, if you want to use high-end camera rigs or high-quality professional VR cameras and streaming cloud, then you might consider any products from companies like 360designs and wowza.

10. Some live streaming service providers have their own video streaming equipment which you can use if you plan to adhere to that particular company for your drone videos. It might save you some money when compared to products from Amimon. For example, livestream has Livestream Broadcaster Pro which is a device while ustream recommends some encoders as Ustream Certified Encoders and offers software called Ustream Producer and Ustream Pro.

11. It is good to test your stream on multiple devices before you start streaming.

12. You get a link for your live video broadcast from your service provider. You can send this link to anyone to see the broadcast. You can follow instructions from the platform of your choice.

How to make money from your videos (during live streaming and afterwards):

Making videos cost money and it would be a good idea to monetize your live streaming, and then the videos and get some cash.

Monetization during live video streaming:

First, we talk about live streaming, and if you are using YouTube live, then you can make some instant cash during your live stream! There is a feature called super chat which is recently introduced by YouTube. You can activate this feature, and your fans would be able to chat with you during the streaming. Their chat would be highlighted during the video stream. This way you would be able to see their chat and their chance of getting a reply would likely to increase. However, to be able to send this kind of chat message, they would have to pay. You then get your share from YouTube. It is probably the easiest way to monetize your live streaming. Super chat is, however, available to people having a certain number of subscribers and in few countries only.

Monetization of Prime Video Contents:

Prime video contents are not those which are of high quality but also if you are presenting them to the right audience. If you have created such high-quality videos, then you have many options to make money out of them. There is a big market for videos on demand. Traditionally, it was a challenge to distribute your film. You would have to go through the distribution channels. Now some companies still follow the same practice, but on some platforms, you can reach directly. There are three types of market places where you can sell your videos. Firest type are transactional platforms, where people pay a small money to see the video, the second category is subscription platforms (iTunes) where they pay a monthly or annual subscription to get access to videos and the third are based on advertisement (You Tube, Hulu, DailyMotion) where you get paid based on the ads played on your videos. A brief introduction to these market places is below:

1. Netflix

If your video is of very high quality and you have done a good amount of publicity and have got thousands of social following, then you might be able to sell that video to Netflix and get a good load of money. However, to get a deal done, you need to find a distributor or go to film festivals and grab some attention from Netflix.

2. Amazon Prime Video

Prime video is another alternative for you to sell your prime contents. For this, you do not require any distributor. You can directly upload your videos using Amazon Video Direct.

3. iTunes

iTunes require you to pass their quality control before the acceptance of your movie. But even before reaching iTunes, you normally have to use an agregator which will take a fee and put your video in the proper format for iTunes. Then you must go to one of Apple approved encoding houses, who will then encode your videos properly according to their requirement. You can avoid agregator, but you can’t avoid encoding houses. So there are a lot of steps involved, and finally, iTunes also check for quality.

4. Hulu

This platform is based on the advertisement. You pay a fee to a distributor, get your movie on the platform, get traffic to your movie, the ads will run, and you will get a commission.

5. You Tube

As you probably familiar with how You Tube works. It is very easy to sign up for your You Tube channel and start uploading your films. Based on the advertisement, you can make money from your videos.

6. POV(Point of view)

This is a place where you can find some resources for non-fiction filmmaking. On their website, you can also find organisations which offer funding to individual artists and film makers companies. Every year they ask for submissions, and if your film is approved, then it will be broadcasted on PBS television.

7. Vimeo On Demand

Here you can start selling your videos after paying a monthly fee of AUD19.

8. DailyMotion

You can use this platform in a similar way to You Tube. Also, if you have a website, you can run Daily Motion videos on your site and get a commission for advertisement on those videos. But this needs approval from DailyMotion. If your site has some traffic, you will get this authorization and start making revenue.