DIYPhotography.net

I love my mother in law. I know this is not a popular statement, but it may explain the following tutorial and experience I am about to share with you.

Rss readers, grab the video here.

My mother in law is an artist. She paints pictures, and lovely ones, if you'll listen to my un-bribed opinion. Last week she asked me to make a video clip from some of her shots so she can share her art. The video is also to be used as a pilot for distributing her catalog in video form.

In the following article I will describe the process of making the promotional DVD, including the setup and lighting, the post processing and the creation of the slideshow. (And of course the "thank you" note I got from my mother in law - priceless).

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Signs are great resource of photography inspiration. Why? Signs usually carry a clear message. Clear message is a good thing: you can echo, contradict or correspond with a clear message. If your message is clear too, you hit the jackpot.

In the following article I will discuss five ways one can interact with signs on pictures. At the end I will share a personal story showing the difficulties of shooting images with signs.

1. Relating Signs - The simplest way of using a sign in a photograph is to find a sign or a combination of signs that can convey a different message than originally indented. This is usually also very funny.

Pick Your Poison by Scott Ableman

There are several ways to do this: One way is to show two related signs in the same picture. This is what Scott did in his "Pick Your Poison" image. The road guys post up a "Dead End" sign to warn the drivers off a road condition. The fast food guys want the drivers to know that they will serve food on location. Combining the clear dead end message with a bunch of well known fast food chains create a new message: "fast food is a dead end".

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Results from the Shadows Assignment, in which you were asked to include shadows in your photographs.

We had 9 flickr submissions (two by Carlos - waytogo!) as well as 10 comments submissions - coming to a total of 19 submissions.

All images submitted were great and I had a hard time choosing the top four. I got those four as they each reflect a different technique of using shadows.

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If you got here, you must have read the first part of the complete guide to children photography. By now you should know that the key element to your success is having fun - both by you and by the kid. In this part I will talk about some more tips and techniques for children photography, but this time from a more "technical" angle. Did I say technical? Nothing to worry, I am going to keep it simple. Click to continue ›

OK, to be honest I must start this "children photography" tutorial with two disclaimers:

Disclaimer #1: There is no "complete guide to children photography" there are only bits and pieces of information. When shooting my (or other's) kids, I try to look at the session (or occasional snapshot session) as a new, and put most of what I know behind me. Here I will try to list some of the principles that I think always stay true, not necessarily in an order that makes any sense. However - remember - those are merely general guidelines. If I had to come up with a more appropriate title for this tutorial, it would be called "How To Photograph Your kids and Leave the Jelly of the Walls", as this is the level of things that I am going to discuss.

Disclaimer #2: The author of this tutorial is also a proud Father (yes capital "F"), and as such, had to make some breaks during the writing of this tutorial to change diapers; fetch milk; kiss a scratch and hug. Also last night my daughter ran the test called "See if my father can stay up all night, and still be functional". SO.... I do not take responsibility for random thoughts; loose connection and general "make no sense" advices I here by give. Ready? Here we go: Click to continue ›

What Is Short Light?

Short light is type of studio lighting setup, where the face side which is further from the camera gets the main light. see the diagram for details. In this type of lighting setup, the side of the face which is toward the camera gets less light then the side facing away form the camera. The effect you get when using this lighting setup is a thin face, this is why it is good to photograph fat (or chubby) people with a short light setup. Click to continue ›