If you a photographer you are going to have to get on photoshop at some point.  I suggest you open up a picture and start messing around. Just play with all the tools. Put some time into it as much as you can and you will figure out many things just by experimenting.

But there are a few tips to know when you get into optimizing a picture and what i mean by optimize is making the picture that you took look even better looking than what was actually photographed.  The idea is to take a beautiful picture, but sometimes even a picture that didnt look so good on your camera can look extra special after applying  a little photoshop moves.

I will explain how to take a picture that does not look so great with the color you captured. The colors might be to saturated and the photo looks real flat and boring. Make the picture black and white and turn that picture into something that shows much more depth and much more interesting.

- get your picture opened up in Photoshop

- in the top menu bar there is a option called adjustments

-simply select adjustments than scroll over to convert to grayscale

-you now have a black and white photo

- save as the file you want to call it and thats it

But, most the time, there isnt a person that does that can or wants to do that.  Of course family and friends will get caught up doing what they are supposed to be doing.. and that is spending time together.  I know I’ve been there before too, when i get to my own family get togethers, I say to myself.. oh ya, Ill get to the pictures later. Before you know it, its the end of the day or night and you only took a few pics and you forgot to get a good pic of grandma with her new grandson.

Thats where you just buckle down and get yourself a photographer for an hour and get the fam together to get all those family portraits.  For a little bit of money you can really get some great photos of the entire family.  A good photographer will get some magical photos of everyone.  A good photographer will make sure everyone is in ideal lighting conditions and composition.

Only and experienced photographer will achieve these things.  I takes time to learn about great composition to keep the camera focused and to have the right exposure and other settings just right to get those magic photos.

If you are interested in getting such photos of your family, Please contact me at 760 845 1983 and Ill come to a location of your choice and spend an hour with you and your family getting great shots of everyone together.  I only charge $200 for an hour and you will end up with at least 100 photos that you will be happy with.

Call me to set up an appointment

760 845 1983 or email me at tobyogden@tobyogden.com

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

-Toby Ogden

Product shots seem easy to do and they are easy but you need the right equipment and the right technique to pull them off professionally.  If you have products you are selling on Ebay, or Amazon or on you own website you are going to need to get product photos.

You can pay for a professional photographer to handle all this stuff for you or give it a try yourself, with small investment in equipment and some great instruction from some pros, you will be on your way to getting product photos whenever you need them.

check out this website for some great information

http://www.tabletopstudio.com

Product Photo

Museum Policies

The wonderful world of museums can be divided in several categories

• very few let you take all the photographs you wish, using a tripod or a flash
• some require a permit to take any photos
• many museums require a permit to bring a tripod
• most museums do not allow you to use a flash
• there even are museums that do not allow cameras in at all
• one museum in Rethymnon (Crete) even labelled each individual piece, allowing you to photograph it or not.

The reasons for these policies usually are that flash might damage the piece of art and that, according to museum logic, only professionals use tripods.
Now, a pro photographer taking pictures would usually publish them, maybe taking a share of the market that the museum itself serves with (often inferior) books and photo-postcards.

This means that you should enquire beforehand whether you are allowed to bring your camera and tripod.
It’s possible that you have to surrender that expensive photo equipment to a person at the wardrobe – leaving you with the uncanny feeling that it could be accidentally dropped or stolen.

If you want to use a tripod, you often need a special permit that may or may not be issued on the spot and may be free or cost you an extra charge.

Over time, I have collected some very official looking documents full of stamps.

Lighting

If you are not allowed to bring a tripod or use a flash, you’ll have to make do with available light. This means that you’ll need to bring a fast lens (very good if it’s an anti shake lens) or film or both.

If you are using a digital camera, you can adjust your ISO setting to a higher value.
Sometimes you can put your camera directly against the glass separating you from the subject, thereby steadying it (almost as good as a tripod).
Make sue not to set off an alarm though!

Using a fast lens reduces depth of field, but this can actually be an advantage concentrating attention on the most important parts.

• Consider using a car, a tree, or a swing set as a device for arranging your group.
• Have the group strike up varied poses: some looking directly at the camera, others looking to the side; some standing, some holding onto something and leaning.
• Try to create two or three different small arrangements within the bigger group. One or two loose triangles of three people each works well.
• Use a plain background that doesn’t distract from the group.

Indoors—Arrangement of indoor group pictures will be based on using a flash. Its limited range also limits your creativity.

• Keep the group inside the maximum flash distance range.
• Position the group so they are no more than two rows deep.

Macy Mullen performs an air move in Huntington Beach

This picture is open for critique, what is good about this picture, what is bad, what would have made this picture more interesting, please comment.

Before i got into photography, light seemed to be something that was needed and I was somehow fooled that you need lots of  light to get a good photograph and that that was the good light.  I’ve learned that this is not true.  Good photos are taken in low light too, I call this the good light. The hard light casts harsh shadows especially when you are photographing people and more important, peoples faces. Be sure to understand that a hard light will have the following outcome:

• creates dark, clearly defined shadows that can hide the face
• emphasizes wrinkles and blemishes
• causes unattractive squinting

Light from an overcast sky or a north window is soft and does this:

• creates soft shadows that don’t hide the face
• minimizes wrinkles and blemishes
• reveals subtle skin tones and hues
• allows the subject to open his or her eyes wide

Good things to always keep in mind. Take your time to find not just the light but the good light.

For example if you were shooting taxis coming down the road and wanted to really show the movement and the feeling of that, a blur will show a light trail effect in your photography.  With your camera’s manual mode, adjust to a low shutter speed.