1. ‘Return this camera or memory card to…’

Small digital cameras are easily lost or fall out of pockets and handbags. Often the loss of a camera can be overcome as long as you don’t lose your precious pictures. While the amateur detective may take great joy in trying to identify the people and landmarks so they can return the camera, often the camera and images are lost forever. This little trick offers you a greater chance of at least getting your images back, even if the camera does not come with it.

Many cameras allow you to lock a photo on the memory card usually when reviewing your images and opening your menu . Take a photo of your name and phone number on a piece of paper. I recommend locking this photo so that it is always your #1 photo to appear and regardless of whether you delete all photos this one doesn’t get cleared like the rest of the images because you have cleverly locked it.

2.Maps

Unless you carry around a portable GPS or one of the new iPhone style phones you can get a very good substitute with your camera. Modern high megapixel digital cameras pack a lot of information and detail in a single photo. Most cameras allow you to zoom up on your image for greater detail.

Often new airports, underground railway systems can be very confusing, so grab a quick shot of their floor plan in case you have to find gate K23 in a hurry.

You may also like to try snapping a shot of Google maps of your address, particularly if your traveling so you can show people where you live. This may also be useful when trying to explain where Australia is on the planet.

3. Parking Lot

Have you ever been completely disorientated when returning to the car park. It becomes particularly unnerving when you are in a strange city and as you wander aimlessly looking for your car, others are convinced you’re either a stalker or car thief.

If you have ever lost your car and landmarks like B12 and L51 don’t stick in your memory, take a photo of the parking lot signs near your car, you may be able to include your car in the photo. You could even possibly shoot a wider angle shot with identifiable landmarks to help orientate you.

4. Mechanisms you are repairing

This is a great tool and insurance policy when you are about to pull apart the Lawnmower throttle linkage, Clothes dryer with the lost socks, or replace the headlight in your car. Take a photo of what it used to look like, just in case you need it.Often if you get interrupted for a few days before completing the task a quick visual refresh will let you see what it was like when it was only a little bit broken.

I used this method once when repairing a part on a car I was unfamiliar with and was very grateful to look at the images as I reassembled it.

5. Number Plates

If you have ever been tailgated and have another person in the car shooting off a snap of the vehicles number plate allows you to report it later.

What about the carpark when you are sure your car will not escape unscathed because of close parking, baby capsules or bull bars. For your peace of mind and the possibility of door dings grab a shot of your new neighbours.

6. Yellow Pages

Need to take a little bit of info on the road? Rather than destroying your directory and tearing out a page snap a photo of the landscape and nursery supplies or the home brewing shops, not the pubs… you must drive home!

7. Evidence for your defence

Have you ever pulled up in the only carpark only to find the parking meter broken. Occasionally you will end up in situations which may require you to explain your action or presence and a carefully captured photo may come to your defense.

Some other situations may be;

• Ticket machine broken
• Taxi driver taking you on circuitous route
• Impediments left on paths and access routes
• Damage by tradesmen

Certain cameras with date stamping ability help your defense even further. Still, might be best to consult your lawyer first before relying too heavily on your photograph.

7. The old Chinese menu

You know you bought one home and now you can’t find it. You could just ring up and order number 7, 28 and 63 but you have forgotten the phone number as well.

This is a great idea for all those written menus you can never find or even the boutique blackboard pizza shops and other takeaway menus.

8.  Recipes

If you have got to take a special trip to the markets or  deli for ingredients for a recipe, don’t write down the recipe. A quick snapshot and you can refer to it any time if the odd or different ingredient slips from your mind.

9. Rental Dings

Part of your process before you hop in any rental is to check it for dings. if you are worried about getting charged for something you didn’t do then you should do a thorough examination of the car and take photos of any damage. If you are concerned you should go back and show the rental clerk before driving off.

This is also good practice if renting a holiday apartment or unit and you find mould growing in the bathroom or marks on walls.

10. A Mirror?

Yes a mirror! No need to worry about the parsley between your teeth or leftover soup in your moustache, take a picture.

What about those new sunglasses, hat or outfit, remember the camera doesn’t lie, well maybe it doesn’t know you well enough.

So if you want to check your lippy or perform a mole check, the camera makes a convenient mirror.

11. What plant is that?

Do all leaves look the same to you when you go to the nursery or latin wasn’t your strong point at school, then a quick snap of your favourite plant will help at the nursery. You can almost here the nurserymen say ‘Oh that’s a Latinigula Guessagain leaving you none the wiser but with the correct plant.

You may want to take a picture of the landscape or garden bed you will be planting it in to see it it is suitable for that position.

12. What part is that?

You know your not a mechanic that knows every make and model of car, so before you go into get that part grab a quick shot of the model plate and the part if it’s too big or awkward to carry. That way when you are asked is it the TF G series or the L you can show them you camera and let them work it out.

The same rule can be applied when reordering a paint mix from the code placed on the tin or other bits and pieces you may not be familiar with.

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In this video from Erin Manning you will learn the tips that professionals use to get posed, but natural looking shots. You have probably felt it yourself, what do I do with my hands? I feel awkward? etc. Most people are uncomfortable in front of a camera, so it is important that before and while you are shooting that you build up a rapport, even though that relationship may be only for 5 or 10 minutes or several hours. The more you gently give direction and encouragement the more relaxed everyone becomes and the better the photograph you will get.

Tip 1 Position your subject to make a three-quarter turn towards the camera and move their weight on to the back leg. This position gives the body shape, dimension and makes them look slimmer.

Tip 2 Don’t let your subject remain stationary, have them move their weight from front to back foot and create a sense of movement.

Tip 3 Most people are uncomfortable in front of the camera. Help them out by giving them direction. Tell them they look great, give them feedback and interact. The positive energy will show in your photographs.

Tip 4 A real expression is always better than a fake one. To alleviate a frozen, unnatural smile, try puffing the cheeks to relax your subjects face. Do it together! Puff out your cheeks, hold, then blow it out. This exercise relaxes your face, and the goofy look is enough to make anyone laugh.

Tip 5 Portraits are traditionally shot a few degrees above your subjects eyeline, but shoot from all different angles too. Mix it up and experiment!

If you enjoyed this video by Erin Manning you may like to view her book from our affiliate

Portrait and Candid Photography: Photo Workshop (Photo Workshop)

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Sports photography is a highly-specialised and expensive field, but armed with a few basics – and a degree of patience – most photographers can capture a magic moment without breaking the bank balance.

The surfer tries to stay near the breaking part of the wave, rather than well out in front of it.

Equipment choice

The best sports photographers also use the best equipment — for example, ultralong lenses that come with an ultra-big price tag.
But I’ve been able to take the occasional good action shot using my digital SLR which came with a 300mm lens (all up, the cost was $1300 for camera, 35mm lens and the 300mm lens – it didn’t break my bank!).
Here’s a few basic tips to get you started. They won’t make you into an instant pro, but hopefully they’ll help improve your sports photography:

Non-SLR cameras these days have a large zoom capacity, so play around with different zoom settings to determine how you’ll get the best results.
If you’re using a long lens, a tripod or monopod will help provide sharper images. But if you don’t have one, try resting the camera on a fixed base — for example, the playing field’s fence.

Position, position, position

Position yourself where you'll catch the best of the action. For cricket, a spot in line with the batsman and bowler is best, rather than an across-field shot.

The best piece of advice for sports photography is to know the sport you are shooting. It’s all about position, position, position — that is, getting close to the action.
For example, in athletics, the focus is the finish line, while for cricket, the preferred position is in line with the bowler and batsman, instead of a cross-field shot.
If it’s surfing, you’ll notice that the surfer tries to stay near the breaking part of the wave, rather than well out in front of it.
The football codes are different, with action all over the playing area. Rather than trying to follow all the play and running up and down the sideline, you can focus on a certain spot on the playing arena.

A good tip is to try to shoot as the players are moving towards or away from you, rather than having to pan across the field.

In games involving a ball, remember that the ball is the focal point of the action, so, as all sportsmen and women are told, keep your eyes (and camera) on the ball!

If you’re not familiar with the sport you intend to photograph, take some time to check out the game and where you think you’ll be able to get closest to the action.

Choose the correct setting

Positioning yourself is vital. This shot was taken at a fun run and the photographer based himself at the finish line. The result was this great shot of highly-ranked Australian triathlete Josh McHugh (right) and his training partner Adam Horder holding hands as they crossed the finish line -- they wanted to be declared joint winners!

Most digital cameras come with a sports mode which increases the shutter speed, so experiment with that and see what results you get.
I’ve used a point-and-shoot digital camera to good effect by leaving it on auto and holding the shutter continuously for a quite a few seconds. Not every frame was perfect, but some good results were achieved.

If you’re at an event being covered by your local newspaper or a professional photographer, watch how he or she works; where they’re situating themselves, what they’re focusing on, and so on.

Don’t turn your camera off

Don’t turn off once the game is over – some of the more graphic shots are taken when players are celebrating a win, or commiserating their loss.

And finally (and importatly), don’t just turn up and start taking shots.

stick around after the game has finished and catch the joy of the winning players.

Ask permission from the ground officials, especially if it’s junior sport.
Find out where you can locate yourself without obstructing the fans’ view. The last thing you want is abuse from an irate fan!

To learn more about sports photography you may like to check this book out from our affiliate site.

Digital Sports Photography: Take Winning Shots Every Time

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We’ve all seen them, and we’ve all probably taken one or more of them — the group photograph that didn’t quite work.

The kids look great; all happy, smiling faces.

But Grannie looks as if her favourite pet just died, and Uncle Joe … well, he is in the shot, but the bottom of his face has become lost behind Aunty Flo’s healthy crop of hair.

Group photos are among the most common. They’re taken at family gatherings, parties, weddings, at school, at work, in the sporting arena.

They are a vital part of photography, and that family shot taken at a 21st birthday party, or of young Billy’s first junior sporting team, can become a family heirloom — a treasured piece of family history.

So how can you get that great shot at the party — and as quickly as possible (keeping in mind that your subjects are there primarily to party, and not to hang around for half an hour while the happy snaps are taken)?

Here’s a few tips:

Be Prepared

Be prepared. Work out where you’ll take the photo, and let the group know when you’ll be wanting them to gather.

Make sure you have everybody there. Avoid the frustration of taking some really nice pictures, only to realise that someone is missing.

If, for example, it’s a celebration – someone’s 21st – use the the party decorations as a backdrop. Make the birthday person or the wedding couple central to the photo.

What is the photo about?

Make the photo explain what it’s about. If it’s a sports team, take the shot on the field (don’t line them up against the wall of the dressing sheds). If it’s a work shot, use the company logo or sign as part of the background.

Keep it tight

Keep the shot tight — get in close — but don’t cram the subjects. Make sure that, as we mentioned above, Uncle Joe’s face isn’t lost in Aunty Flo’s hair. Check your first couple of shots, and if someone’s partly obscured, rearrange the shot.

Take the photograph according to the occasion. If it’s a party, a celebration, get them smiling together, even if it means telling a silly joke or clowning around. There’s nothing worse than a grumpy face among a sea of happiness. Alternatively, if it’s a solemn occasion, even a slight grin can look awkwardly out of place.

Keep shooting

Take as many shots as you can within the short space of time you’ll be able to have the group together. Use continuous shooting mode if possible.

Vary the framing of your shots to suit the occasion. If it’s a ‘happy snap’ of a group of revelers, focus on their faces. If it’s a wedding or fancy dress occasion, what people are wearing is important, so zoom out.

Think about ‘dead space’ when posing the group: tall people to the rear or centre, shorter ones to the front or edges. If it’s a large family shot, don’t be afraid to use chairs for the senior or shorter people, with the taller ones standing in formation around those seated.

Light is everything

Lighting is important. Group portraits are all about faces, and you need to see them. In harsh sunlight, look for a shaded area to take shot in. Always try to use the flash.

Vary the height

Don’t be afraid to vary the height from which you take the picture. If it’s a group of children, get down to their level, rather than looking down on them. Alternatively, a group shot taken from height, using a ladder or a chair, and getting the subjects looking up at the camera, can provide a great effect.

Practice

Finally, as with just about everything, practice makes perfect.

Don’t be afraid to round up the family or some friends before the big party, and fire off some practice shots. Take note of what worked and what didn’t work — you’ll be all the better prepared when the real moment arrives!

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photo by manumohan.com

In the following explanation I will try to cover the basic photography technique you’ll need to take good lightning pictures. You will very quickly notice that shooting light is not at all that difficult technically speaking but it takes time, patience and also determination.

Equipment Protection

Taking lightning pictures is exciting but you need to remember that you paid money for your photography equipment so the last thing you want is to have it ruined. So try to shoot in a covered location i.e. under an umbrella, or a covered area and, unless you have a good weather sealed camera, protect your camera with a shower cap.

Camera Selection

Any camera with bulb mode will do here, but I’d advise you to get a digital one simply to cut on film cost since you shouldn’t expect a high keepers ratio in this kind of photography.

Lens Selection

Usually, and I am saying usually, wide angle lenses performs better in lightning photography because you can include more sky and, thus, increasing your chances of capturing a lightning bolt in your image.

Tripod

You will need a good sturdy tripod for this but, if you feel uncomfortable putting your tripod in such extreme weather get any cheap one heavy enough to resist wind.

Photo by Craig Jewell

Settings

ISO Settings

Set your camera to its lowest ISO (100) speed. Since we are going to be using a tripod anyway there is no need to boost the ISO speed. Just set it to the lowest value possible because this will give you the cleanest picture your digital camera can give you.

Aperture

While shooting lightning pictures you should keep the aperture between f/5.6 and f/8. Remember a lightning bolt is very short in time and very high in intensity (just like a flash) and you want it well recorded on that sensor of yours. Apertures faster than f/5.6 might over blow it and very small apertures (smaller than f/11 or so) might not give you the impact you are requesting, so better stay within these known aperture range. Smaller apertures (f/8 ~ f/11) will give you a longer exposure time thus more chance to capture multiple bolts on the same exposure.

Photo by Julia Starr

Focus

Set your lens on Manual Focus and focus for infinity since it is most likely that the lightning will hit somewhere far from your lens.

Mirror Lockup and Timer

To minimize camera movements to the max you will want to turn on the mirror lockup and, unless you have a cable release for your camera, turn on the timer on your camera

Taking the shot

Secure your camera on the tripod, get the composition you want. Use what we have seen in this article to set both the f-stop and shutter speed. Then all you will have to do is click that shutter button and hope you will catch a lightning bolt in that frame. If you don’t, simply repeat the process.

Conclusion

It is simply amazing to notice how easy it is, technically speaking, and how hard it is, practically speaking, to take one of those great lightning pictures we often see on the net. Why? Well simply because it takes much more than just technique to take a good lightning picture, it takes time, patience and also determination to be added to the photography skills.

Photo by Damian Riches

Damian Riches is a Professional Photographer based in Glen Innes, Australia. Damian is the owner of www.richimage.com.au and a member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers. He shoots mainly with the Nikon D1x and D90 as well as a Fuji S3Pro, lenses include Nikkor 17-55 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 and a 50mm f1.4

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A silhouette is defined as an outline that appears dark against a light background. This means being in the right place at the right time, and having the right exposure settings.

So when is the right time?

For best results, pick a time when the sun is just above the horizon — that is, immediately after sunrise and before sunset.

In a sunrise/sunset silhouette photo, the sunlight in the background is exposed correctly, forcing everything else in the photo to be underexposed, causing the silhouette effect.

To create a silhouette, ensure that you put an opaque object in front of a bright background and expose for the background.

If you’re using a point-and-shoot, switch off the flash. Point the camera at the bright area, half-click and hold  the shutter half pressed to fool the camera into thinking the whole area is bright, then recompose the shot using the dark areas as a frame.

If you’re using an SLR that has a spot-metering feature, take a reading of just the bright area and then bracket in half- or full-stop increments toward overexposure.

Look for subjects that have simple but bold shapes, and it’s important not to crowd the shot: one fisherman at dawn creates an uncluttered shot; four or five fishermen in close proximity could leave you with nothing but a dark clump.

Silhouette photography is a wonderful way to convey mood in a picture. You might get lucky and snap the perfect silhouette at any given time, but more often than not, you have to work at ‘shaping’ the picture.

When you see a brilliant sunset looming, let your imagination take over. Find the ideal silhouette subject — it might be a person, an animal, a tree or some inanimate oject — and experiment.

And remember: practice makes perfect. You might not get it right the first time, but you can have a lot of fun trying for that perfect shot.

In summary, remember to:

Choose a strong subject with a defined and recognisable shape

Turn off the flash to have as little light on the front of your subject as possible

Get the light right by having more light shining from the background than the foreground

Frame your image so that the brightest light source is behind your subject

Make sure the silhouette shapes are distinct and uncluttered by making subjects recognisable and keeping multiple subjects separate.

Photo by Dan Shirley

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You’ve just taken a gorgeous snap and think that is worthy a framing and hanging on the wall but…… the ugly date stamp has ruined it!   We can show you how to remove it and save your beautiful photo.

First open your image in Photoshop

The tool that you will use to remove the date stamp is the Patch Tool. You’ll find this tool under the Healing Tool in your toolbox, to access it just click and hold the healing tool until a pop out menu appears showing the patch tool, release click once you have the patch tool highlighted.

You need to trace around the date stamp in order to select this area to be corrected.

Make sure you have selected 'source' below your drop down menus

Once you’ve done this you can drag the selection to anywhere on your image to resample a new area for the patch tool to “patch” over the date stamp.  But first you will need to feather the selection so that you are left with no hard contrasting outlines, this will help with blending.

From 'select' drop down menu choose 'feather'

To feather the selection, click on “select” in the top tool bar and click “Feather” for the submenu.  The “feather” dialog box will appear, enter a value of around “25”, this will determine how much the edges on the new patch area will blur or feather.

Change feather radius to 25

Now it is a matter of dragging your selection to the desired area for resampling.  Make sure you use and area that is of similar pattern and colouring to the area under the date stamp.  To do this just drag the selection by left click and hold and then simply release over the area that you want to sample.

Hold your left mouse button down and drag your selection to sample an area

Now check out the great job that the patch tool has done! No more date stamp!

Date gone and picture improved and ready for printing

Lisa works in the Eastmon Lismore store and often encounters customers looking for simple Photoshop techniques to improve or fix their photos. This is the first of Lisa’s tips for Photoshop.

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The view from the Tamworth lookout is spectacular but like most scenic views, once you’ve seen it … unless it’s the start of the day and a dense fog is just clearing and you catch the morning flight from Sydney on its final approach. This was shot on my Canon 50D EOS in AV mode, mounted on a Slik Pro500DX tripod at f5.6, 1/1000sec and 100 ISO with the 18-200mm lens set to 135mm and picture style on landscape.

I’ve travelled a fair portion of Australia, with only Tasmania and the tropical north of Qld still escaping my lens and it would be a reasonable assumption that whilst all of those kilometres enveloped me in their protection from all things “back home”, they also gave me opportunities to take some spectacular photographs.
The assumption could therefore be, that to get great photos you have to have subjects and scenery from far flung places. An unwise hypothesis however, because it’s not true. Just as Dorothy explained to Auntie Em, “there’s no place like home”.
The problem to overcome is, home is so familiar. Even the keenest eye can miss a great opportunity if it looks through the glasses of habit we all wear when we drive the kids to school or head home from work. We pass that grove of trees every day at the same time but did you ever stop to wonder what they look like at another time of day? We’ve all seen the view from the town lookout but have you seen it at sunset, during a thunderstorm or when it’s foggy.
The other evil we are guilty of is keeping the camera in a safe place – the cupboard, the study, the top shelf, in the ubiquitous corner … but how often are you in those places? For this “great shot thing” to work, the camera and you have to get it together and that starts from being together. Keep you camera with you.
Imagine I can change your thinking and you start to believe that something spectacular is waiting for you somewhere, perhaps even within walking distance of home. If I send you a sign, how will you know where it points? Well, you know all there is to know about where you live but start to think of the same places at different times of the day (light) and in different perspective (angles and size). What should you look for? Changes in light … early morning or late afternoon especially when everything turns golden in the last hour of the day. Changes in weather conditions … thunderstorms, fogs, frosts, wind. Changes in circumstance … high clouds and a sunset are always good but so are construction sites, schools, traffic, animals etc, etc.

A sunset is a sunset right? After shooting a series of shots for a wide stitch sunset just south of Tamworth among the farmland, I closed in on the fence line and using a shallow depth of field I let the colour of the background do the talking and kept the barbed wire in sharp focus. This was shot on my Canon 50D EOS in AV mode hand held at f5.6, 1/2000sec and 1000 ISO with the 18-200mm lens set to 180mm and picture style on landscape.

A few composition basics in shot making might help, like the rule of thirds, not placing the horizon in the centre of the vertical axis, making sure lines lead you into a picture, looking for points that form triangles in the shot and seeking to shoot familiar places from unfamiliar vantage angles. While you’re wandering in cyberspace, Google “photo composition” for some more handy hints.

Sunrise can be tricky without filters but shooting objects lit by the sun can be good fun. Add in a clear frosty morning and the effects can be beautiful. Here a single barb on a wire fence is coloured by the rising sun and the frost which still clings to its dark side. Again, a shallow depth of field gave a lovely almost paisley mix of colour as a background. This was shot on my Canon 50D EOS in AV mode, mounted on a Slik Pro500DX tripod at f5.6, 1/50sec and 100 ISO with the 18-200mm lens set to 120mm and picture style on standard.

One I pinched from my daughter is to tighten your zoom beyond the normal shot and shoot fragments of subjects in such a way that the viewer will still recognise them but the tighter shot makes the viewer more aware of component parts. Fragments can be fascinating. Fill you lens with the smallest scenes.
Here in lies the great advantage of digital … it costs nothing to experiment. Your laboratory is all around you and won’t cost you an airfare to reach so start snapping.

And then I opened the curtains one morning and … when to avoid colour and just let contrasts and light do the work? This was just after sunrise one morning and I was on my way to boil the jug but this scene distracted me. After several snaps in colour, I switched over to monochrome for a comparison (always a good thing to do in extreme lighting conditions). It had rained overnight and a deep fog was slowly giving way to the rising sun. This was shot on my Canon 50D EOS in manual mode, handheld at f8, 1/60sec and 100 ISO with the 18-200mm lens set to wide angle at 18mm and picture style on monochrome.

Lango has contributed several articles with tips to improve your photography, read more about him here and on facebook. Lango is a customer of the Eastmon Tamworth store.

Lango’s Bio

I’m a writer essentially, who loves to take photos. Poetry is my favourite form of written expression and I see a strong parallel with photography – both are about using economy in expressing a moment.
My wife and I have traveled to most parts of Australia to gather experiences we can’t find at work or the shops or the local pub. In the process we found what we left behind but with different geography as a backdrop.
I’ve been a teacher, a cricketer, a family man and a mate – with many other side tracks along the way – but people remain my fascination.

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This is Peter’s second contribution and you can read more about him here and on facebook. Peter is a customer of the Eastmon Tamworth store.

Sometimes, fortune takes over from planning and a shot just appears before you. At times like these, you hope all of the workshops and courses and advice from others has sunk in and the choices you make are good ones.
Photography is about moments held in your viewfinder so that others can wish they were there and a bit like fishing, we can all talk of the one that got away. To land more of the big moments, you have to spend long hours learning and rehearsing the skills you need and then be prepared to be critical of your work.
Next, put yourself into places, positions and events so that you can hone those skills and experiment with pre-compositing, as opposed to post-composing photos on digital manipulation programs on the PC. Nothing provides more satisfaction than nailing the shot on offer.

These two shots offer the case in point.

"The Red Leaf" was shot with a Canon EOS 50D, shutter at 1/8sec at f5.6, 100 ISO and a focal length of 200mm mounted on a Slik Ant Pro500DX tripod

“The Red Leaf” was taken in my backyard in the first hour of sunlight after a night of rain. I was wandering about with the Canon on tripod, when I noticed the caterpillar manoeuvring about to depart his dinner table. With the camera already stable and set up for macro, it was just a matter of position, focus and click. Of course, I had to think on how much of the leaf I needed to establish the subject, so I cropped in close, leaving the retreating caterpillar in the top third of the frame. A short depth of field kept any background past the stem out of focus. I also angled the camera to keep the bottom of the leaf closer so focus on the shot would gradually get sharper as the eye approached the caterpillar. The water on the leaf added a lot more interest and life to the shot.

"The Constant Guide" was shot with a Canon EOS 50D, shutter at 32sec at f5.6, 100 ISO and a focal length of 24mm and with auto focus switched off mounted on a Slik Ant Pro500DX tripod

“The Constant Guide” was the by-product of night shoot, practicing in preparation for a TAFE assignment. After working around a bowling club, taking shots of abandoned greens and seats, I glanced up to check on the weather which I hoped would be clearing. There was the Southern Cross, wafting in and out of lightening clouds, showing me the way home. I positioned my tripod under a Silky Oak tree to just catch a branch tip for perspective. The timing of the rolling clouds gave the star constellation the perfect framing and the wispy effect  of the clouds achieved by thirty plus second exposure made the constancy of the stars more emphatic. My only problem came with the lens collapsing as it had its unteloscopic way with itself, so I snapped a rubber band in place as a collar. I set the timer release for 2 sec so there was no bumping, as I don’t have an electronic release.

Lango’s Bio

I’m a writer essentially, who loves to take photos. Poetry is my favourite form of written expression and I see a strong parallel with photography – both are about using economy in expressing a moment.
My wife and I have traveled to most parts of Australia to gather experiences we can’t find at work or the shops or the local pub. In the process we found what we left behind but with different geography as a backdrop.
I’ve been a teacher, a cricketer, a family man and a mate – with many other side tracks along the way – but people remain my fascination.

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2. How to Photograph a Lightning Strike
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Pushing yourself to the front of the crowd can often get you into a good position. ~ Hanging Rock Picnic Races

This article is contributed by Peter Hunter OAM,ARPS,AFIAP, a member of the Lismore Camera Club

Many of the great photos taken by serious and professional photographers are good because they were “in charge of the situation”. What do we mean by this? In effect the photographer acted like a motion picture director where subjects and other things were arranged and organised.

Organising the Subject

Working with animals is difficult - it is rare that they will both look at the camera at the same time.

People who are not shy make the best job of organising photos. If you look at a good wedding photographer in action you will observe that he or she will carefully arrange the bride and groom and others into the desired positions before taking the photo. The same goes for professional photographers, whether they are shooting still life or gorgeous fashion models. The facial expression or direction of a head or a foot can make or break an image.

If you take photos of family or friends at a simple dinner party get partners close to each other. Use the red eye reduction and face detection, and get them to look happy or smile on the count of “one, two, three”. Children are hard to organise so it’s often a good idea to let them take a few photos on your digital camera, see the results on the back of the camera and then join into the fun of photography.

Animals are even harder, you need a very cooperative owner or handler and well trained animals. having an empathy with animals helps a lot.

Removing Distractions

Many times it is easy for the photographer to remove some litter, cut away some vegetation or move a distracting sign. It comes back to what has been written many times… that you must look beyond the subject in the viewfinder and check the background in the viewfinder before taking the photo.

Look at that distracting pipe near the bottom of the photo

Covering the pipe with a few rocks really improves the photo.~ Lake District England

Choosing the Viewpoint

When there's a blank sky look for some trees to frame and fill the space ~ Bodiam Castle, Sussex England

As most photographers acquire their own style, they also develop their own sense of composition or creativity. The more photos you take and the more critical you become of your own work, the more you will progress. Almost automatically you will choose a vertical or horizontal viewpoint. You will zoom your lens to frame the subject properly. Also becoming second nature will be whether you use a low angle or get up high. Seeing a blank sky will make you look for a tree, an arch or something to frame the subject and cover the sky.

Taking Portraits

Getting your subject to look at the camera lens will make her look right at the viewer

Almost every photographer has to take a portrait at sometime or another. Books have been written on the subject so it’s only possible to summarise some main points here. A willing subject, suitable clothing and a place to work are essentials. It may be a good idea to tear out pages from magazines and newspapers to keep in a scrapbook to give you and the subject ideas. Many good portraits have eye contact and a happy look but like every idea they are not always necessary. If the subject looks right at the centre of the camera lens the viewer sees that subject looking straight at them.

Related posts:

1. Easy tips to shoot great group photos