Hi all,

I’ve been battling with a deadly problem for the last few years in one of my favorite hobbies. The problem was too basic for the pros to correct me, and too personal for common advice. But I found quite a few people on the internet who had the same problem as I did, and I found a lot of pros giving advice.

The problem - camera shake.

Camera shake is when the photos you take with a camera appear blurred because of shaking or shivering hands, unsteady breath, instability of the body, and many other such reasons. My problem was mainly the shivering of hands. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get the shivering to stop.

But finally, last week, I succeeded in correcting the problem, and I also understood how to master the shake, to get artful pictures.

(camera shake shot - supposed to be a crab on a rock)

(no camera shake - a girl lighting a firecracker)

Here are the tips I can give to all others who have the same problem -

• Hold the camera with both your hands
• Stabilize your breath, by either breathing in, or breathing out, and holding it
• Tuck in your elbows to just below your rib cage
• Don’t bring the camera to your face, rather, bend to bring your eyes to the camera
• Support the camera lens with your left hand and the left corner of the camera with the bottom part of your palm. Catch the right side with your right hand, leaving your pointing finger over the trigger(shutter button). Make sure that your complete finger is free of the camera body - this will help to prevent shake while pressing the button.
• Forget all about working the camera and about the shake. Focus more on the photo as such. This will help you to relax your hand by not thinking about it, and also, in the process to get a better shot. Ever noticed that whenever you look at your hand, your hand starts shivering a lot more? My theory is that our mind makes our hand ready for use when we look at it - pushing in more blood, and loosening muscles, thus resulting in the shivering hand.

I hope this helps out. You can also try using a fast shutter speed, and a small aperture size, because lesser the time and amount of light the camera is exposed to, lesser the shake captured. Also try using the camera flash in low light shots, which will enable you to lower the aperture size/shutter speed.

Good luck! More tips coming soon… (as I learn them )

Technorati Tags: camera shake, photography, tips, avoid camera shake, picture blur, blur, shake, hand shake, how to

Hi all,

Printo - a printing company based in Bangalore, has launched its web services in India. It is a startup based in Bangalore, and they act like popular photo printing websites in other countries.

You can upload pictures to Printo, order prints, calendars, visiting cards, posters and so on. They deliver at your doorstep.

To check it out, visit http://www.printo.in/

Cheers

Technorati Tags: printo, print photos, india, photography

Good evening

Now here’s yet another tip for amateur photographers. There’s this little thing called  sepia which can give a whole new appearance to your photos. A sepia tint is a slightly brownish-red tint which gives your photo an old appearance.

Old photos tend to tint into the sepia shade because of oxidation. But these sepia tinted photos look really good - sometimes. Some people go overboard on the mode, and keep clicking sepia, even when not necessary.

Why use sepia?
Photographers use sepia to impart an ‘old’ feeling to the photograph. It improves the photo in many cases. It also gives a feeling of "timelessness". Wouldn’t you want your love to be eternal?

So when should you use sepia?
Technically, it should be a very well lit object that your photographing in sepia. Or use your flashbulb. Aesthetically, the subjects should be "classical" in appearance. Remember - our aim in using sepia is not to make photos look brownish, but to make them look old! Typically, shoot more than one person/object. Give it a slightly crowded, animated look. Also, don’t use sepia in candid shots. Most often, people posed in old photographs.

Use your brains before you use sepia - do you want the photo to have a timeless/old appearance? I use sepia during parties, weddings, picnics and so on.

 
(good sepia - well lit, classic appearance)

(bad sepia - not well lit, and only one subject)

And HOW can sepia be used???!!!!!
Oops, should have said this first… Sepia is a mode which is available in most of the digital cameras today. Look under Modes in your digital camera’s menu, and it will be there along with Black and White, Vivid and so on…
In case of a film camera, you can use a filter.

If you’ve already taken the photo, don’t worry, we can always apply the effect in good old Adobe Photoshop. Open up the picture in Photoshop. Hit Ctrl + U (Command + U in Mac) to bring up the Hue/Saturation panel. Tick the Colorize option box. Set the Lightness to somewhere around -15 to -7. Set the Saturation to 50. And set the Hue to somewhere around 35 to 43. Adjust the Lightness and Hue until you get a sepia effect to your liking.

Thats it guys! Enjoy sepia!

Technorati Tags: sepia, how to, photography, sepia tint, old photos

Hi all,

There seems to be much confusion about what is HDR imaging. HDR, or High Dynamic Range imaging, is a process by which each object in a photo can be focused seamlessly by combining several pictures sporting several exposures.

The speciality of HDR imaging is that, the scene captured is more like how we see it than how it is seen in a photo. HDRI is done by taking many pictures of the same scene, from the same angle and distance, at different exposures. A minimum of 3 exposures are recommended. Each exposure reveals certain aspects of the scene.

When these images are combined, all aspects of the scene are equally highlighted. HDR imaging helps us to produce greater details, with lesser shadows, as compared to ordinary photos.

John Miles has written an excellent article on HDR imaging. He describes how HDR imaging can be practiced. While you’re at it, John Miles’ HDR Photo Gallery is surely worth a visit. Another of my favorite HDR photo gallery is The Daily Sunrise.

To practice HDR, you can use HDR cameras (which are for pros, and are expensive) or you can do HDR in Photoshop (File>Automate>Merge to HDR) after shooting several pictures of the same scene at different exposures.

Happy shooting!