Posts Tagged ‘pictures’

Tips For Photographing Your Cat

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Every cat is proud of his or her friendly feline. Cats make perfect subjects in which to photograph. You can catch your cat and a variety of interesting and fun poses when you know how to take pictures of your cat. If you are interested in photographing your cat, here are some commands to help you purchase the best shots.

Catch your Cat Napping
Nothing looks quite as relaxing as a cat taking a nap. Cats do sleep a lot, so if you take a picture of your cat napping, you have plenty of opportunity. The best time to take a picture of your cat is to catch it when it is asleep. You can take close-ups of your cat either as it sleeps, or gently wake your cat up for a relaxed look. For a nice shot of your cat, try gently rubbing your cat’s belly right when you want to snap a picture. This will encourage your cat to roll over on its back.

Natural Sunlight
When you think of a sleeping cat, where do most cats enjoy sleeping? You can usually find a cat napping in the sun. If you have a window that gets full or filtered sunlight during the day, then try to open the curtains or blinds to encourage cap napping. As soon as you see your cat sit in the sun, try to take a few pictures. When the sunlight is good, try a few shots without using your flash. This will give your picture a nice natural glowing effect. In addition, natural light often works best anyway because if you use a bright flash, your cat will usually close his or her eyes or the eyes could end up looking red.

Forget Posing and Planning
Cats are much for posing. You cannot really ask that a cat stay and sit. When you take pictures of your cat, you should always have your camera on hand for candid shots. Look at your cat during the day and determine your cat’s schedule and favorite places. Accomplish around your cat and you will get better pictures. Try to be spontaneous, and above everything stay patient. It may take several tries to purchase a couple of great shots, but posing your cat rarely works.

I have tried to get my three cats to pose and let me take a picture, but even though they sleep together, play together, they cannot stand or in this sit next to each without someone starting something. If I had three people to help and set back out of the picture, it might work. As you can see, cat’s needs to do what cats do and take your pictures that way.

Buy Help
Another good tip for taking pictures of your cat is to purchase help. You can buy great pictures of playful cats and kittens by having someone help you wiggle a string, the throw a ball or call the cat’s name. It is very difficult to try to play with your cat and take pictures at the same time. Your pictures will turn out much better if you buy someone to help you. In addition, if you are trying to buy a picture of your cat looking directly at your camera, have someone stand above you can call the cat’s name, or make a noise that will prompt the cat to look directly above your head.

If you are a patient and willing, you can get some excellent shots of your cat. Cats are so fun to take pictures of because you never know what they will do. Keep your camera handy and ready to go as soon as your cat springs into action. Cat’s normal activity seems to make us smile and laugh, their antics always may wonderful pictures. Pictures of kittens playing from birth on also make for some great pictures. If you have the camera, you will never miss the perfect picture.

More on Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras ,SLR Digital Camera Reviews and Call Center Business Plan

  • Share/Bookmark

Things We Don’t Get in Miami… The Colors of Autumn

Saturday, October 24th, 2009


Tall Trees with Autumn Leaves

Originally uploaded by dgmiami

So, I was in the Seattle, Washington area earlier this month for a conference at Microsoft when I found out that it happened to be the peak of the season for the leaves changing colors. With a little research, I found out about the Washington Park Arboretum.

The Arboretum consists of 230 acres including North America’s largest collection of Sorbus and Maple. Since I had NEVER seen this up close and personal, I eagerly drove to the park to see the famous colors of fall that everyone talks about. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised!

My GPS took me directly to the visitor’s center at the park where I promptly gathered my back pack along with my camera to capture the spectacular beauty of the colorful trees. I shot hundreds of pictures (many bracketed for HDR later) as I walked along clearly defined paths in the park. The colors of fall are indeed something to be seen first-hand. Whether you are in the Pacific Northwest, or elsewhere, take a drive to one of these areas in the middle of October and see what you have been missing!

In capturing the image here, I was challenged with framing it properly. There is actually a sprinkler head on a pipe sticking out of the ground about 2 feet high just behind the center tree. I had to take small steps left or right of my optimal composition to get the shot you see here. My walk in the park was cut a little short that day unfortunately, as the famous rain in Seattle started to come down and chased me out of the park.

I hope you all get to see this in person sometime – it is spectacular!

[ad]

  • Share/Bookmark

How to take pictures for HDR processing

Sunday, August 9th, 2009


The US Capital HDR

Originally uploaded by dgmiami

During this week’s trip to Washington, DC, I decided to take some bracketed shots to process later to see what they would look like in HDR (high dynamic range).

The first – and most challenging thing to do was to convince the rest of my travel party to give me a few extra moments during our walk through our nation’s capital to take pictures, change some settings and take some more. If you have a choice, I suggest that you find the time to take pictures for HDR processing on your own.

Now that you have my first tip, the next and “real” first step is to setup your tripod. I like to attach my camera to the tripod and carry it around while looking through the viewfinder to frame the shot properly. Once you find your shot, set your tripod down and use the built-in bubble level to ensure your shot is setup as most people would expect to see it. Once the tripod is set, and your shot is properly framed, move on to “step 2.”

Next, you will want to go into your camera’s menu and look for AEB, or auto exposure bracketing. On my Canon Digital Rebel XSi, I set this to +/- 2 for this shot. I encourage you to experiment with this setting and take lots of practice shots using different settings. Check out the results when you set it at +/- 1, 1 1/2, 1 2/3, etc.

The third step I take is to attach my remote control AND turn off the image stabilization (IS) feature on my lens. The purpose of the remote control is to avoid causing any camera shake by simply pushing down on the shutter release. As for your IS setting, I suggest you read your user’s manual for the camera and/or lenses. My manual clearly states that one should NOT use IS when taking pictures on a tripod. The simple explanation is that the IS can make a mistake and compensate for movement when the shutter is released. Personally, I prefer the cable release over infrared – it’s just one less thing to fail in the field.

Now that your tripod, AEB, remote control, and IS setting has been taken care of, be patient! For this shot for example, I was waiting for the LEAST movement possible from the US flag. I also had to wait (along with the rest of my travel companions) for about 5-10 minutes for pedestrian traffic to clear this area, but in the end it was all worth it to me. Finally, the moment was here – I held down the remote control button and it took 3 automatically bracketed pictures for me within one second. I should take a moment to tell you that if you do not know, or like to use the AEB, you can also pause between shots and set your F-stops the old fashioned way too.

I hope this posting helped you get some kind of idea on what to do to take pictures for HDR processing. Now that you have your bracketed shots, I will let you decide on which method or program to use to process your shots.

One final note… Remember that the end result of your HDR creation is for YOUR enjoyment. If you are happy with the end result, that is all that matters. Some will say that it is too “fake” for their taste, or that it looks like a pencil drawing as opposed to a photograph – but that is quite alright. Your HDR creation is for YOU!

[ad]

  • Share/Bookmark

Capture the Moment!

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009


Your Boat is Ready!

Originally uploaded by dgmiami

During my current trip to Alabama, I took a ride into Oak Mountain State Park on what most considered a horrible rainy afternoon. While driving through, I saw a lake to my right and was fortunate enough to find that NO ONE was around! Their loss, my gain…

When I came around the corner, I saw a beautiful clash of colorful paddle boats and canoes sitting at the dock. The amount of color was just too much to walk away from, so I parked in the empty lot, put on the best lens I had with me, and walked out to the dock looking for the right angle to get this capture.

All I can say is walk around your subject until you can see what you really want to capture. I never imagined I would stand where I did to capture this shot. But, it was the best for lighting and color. Time was also on my side when the sky opened up and I caught the gorgeous blue sky with gray and white clouds just above the tree line. Don’t stay in if it is raining, you never know what you will find!

  • Share/Bookmark

Shooting Pictures from the Air

Monday, April 20th, 2009


Miami From Above – Residential Islands and Miami Beach

Originally uploaded by dgmiami

First and foremost, a very big thank you goes out to my buddy Ross at www.floridaphoto.com for a great flight on a perfect afternoon yesterday. Can’t wait to do it again!

Last time I went flying with Ross I had a Sony DSC-H1. The pics came out ok, but back then I was a pure point-and-shoot kinda guy. No manual settings, everything was set to automatic. The pictures came out fine, but nothing like the ones from yesterday using manual settings on my 450D!

I started out trying to shoot at ISO 100, then 200, only to find out that my shutter speed was way too slow for what I wanted to capture. Based upon his suggestions, I made some adjustments and all I can say is THANKS – it definitely made a difference in the sharpness of the pics.

Another thing I learned is that next time, I won’t be attempting to use my circular polarizer AND I will wear a dark color shirt to minimize the reflections from the inside of of the window on my side. Of course, one of those nifty holes in the window on the other side will help as well Ross – LOL.

If you are looking for aerial photography around South Florida – take a look at Ross’ site mentioned at the opening of this entry. If he doesn’t already have what you want, you won’t be disappointed with his work!

[ad]

  • Share/Bookmark

Perfect Timing!

Friday, April 17th, 2009


Merlin Falcon in the Florida Everglades

Originally uploaded by dgmiami

Talk about timing!

I was recently out with a friend of mine and his wife taking Loop Road out by the Miami-Dade / Collier County line… It was a 25 mile or so drive through the Everglades off of Tamiami Trail which proved to give me one of the best shots yet.

But, I must say, that all of this was absolute perfect timing! I was using the standard 18-55mm lens on my XSi, while my buddy was using his new 200mm lens on his camera. After standing out there for a few minutes, I asked if I could borrow it for a couple of shots and that’s when the magic happened!

The apparently young falcon was simply sitting there enjoying the sunlight when it decided to spread its wings and turn around for us! It was stunning to say the least! Needless to say, I am now in the market for the Tamron 18-270mm lens with the Canon mount for my XSi. With a couple of back-to-back trips coming up in May, I can tell you that I will absolutely have this lens for that next perfect timing moment!

  • Share/Bookmark

Bad Picture Day

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Some days are just much busier than others. Today was just one of those days that there was no time to do anything productive in using the camera or learning something new. Then, when I finally left my office, I was confronted with degrading weather conditions here in Miami. It was a dark sky, windy, there was a little rain coming down, and worse of all, there was lightning in the sky.

So, the next best thing to do? Look for stuff online, answer emails, and then create a badge from my most interesting Flickr photos. A badge is simply a mosaic of pictures that is shown where I put in a code on that page. Once it is pasted into a page, a small collage of pictures will appear. Every so often, the pictures will change within the badge.

Below is my “interesting” badge courtesy of Flickriver. When clicked, you will see my pictures on a black background as opposed to the typical white background on flickr. Come back every so often to see if they change!

dgmiami - View my most interesting photos on Flickriver

[ad]

  • Share/Bookmark