May 27 2010

Adding the HDR effect to bad photos makes HDR photography look bad

I see so many HDR images out there that were created with bad photos. If the HDR effect wasn’t added, which makes it somewhat interesting, the normal photo would be garbage. Some people must think that the HDR effect makes any old photo spectacular, so they don’t bother to learn how to take good photos. The HDR effect can make ordinary or even bad photos look kind of cool, but you should still strive for and make every effort to take quality photos. My rule is if the scene is worthless as a normal photo, then I won’t try and make it into a HDR image just to see if the HDR effect will make it look somewhat cool. You should still look to find interesting scenes and angles and then take well composed photos.

I try not to take bad photos and turn them into HDR images and I think more people should also.

HDR photography won’t make you a great photographer, you still need to learn how to take great photos, and then the HDR effect, if properly applied can enhance the photos.


May 7 2010

Please do not post Spam blog posts here about your unrelated website or product they will just get deleted

Please do not post Spam blog posts here about your unrelated website or product they will just get deleted. I am getting to many Spam blog posts on here, where the the visitor is just posting there unrelated website and products and have no interest in our photography blog, except to get a link back to their website and products. If you do post one of these Spam posts, they will be deleted, so save yourself some time and us, by not posting your Spam blog posts here. Thank you.


Apr 30 2010

Comparing the Canon EOS Rebel T2i or 550D to the Canon EOS 7D

Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR Camera Front And Back Views

Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR Camera Front And Back Views


The Brand New Canon EOS Rebel T2i or 550D Digital SLR camera is out and if you compare it to the more expensive Canon EOS 7D, you will find it is very similar, and cost about $1000 less. They are both very nice cameras, loaded with awesome features, like 18 megapixels, awesome low light performance with ISO up to 12800, and advanced Full HD movie mode with movie crop(not in HD mode). The only differences that I see are the size and speed. The Canon 7D is a lot more rugged, which means a stronger frame, better weather resistance, and its made to take more abuse from professional photographers. The Canon 7D also is a lot faster, it can take up to 8 frames per second, while the Canon T2i can only take 3.7 frames per second. I don’t know but the Canon 7D probably can focus a lot faster also, does anyone know that for sure? The Canon T2i is a lightweight digital SLR, which is good if you don’t like carrying around a heavy camera. If you bought a Canon EOS Rebel T2i or 550D or a Canon EOS 7D, let us know what you think about them.

Great Deals On The New Canon EOS Rebel T2i And Other Photo Items


I am looking to upgrade from my old relic Canon 20D, so I think I am going to get the Canon EOS Rebel T2i, since I don’t really want to spend more than $1,000. I would rather have the Canon 5d Mark II or Canon 7D, but they are kind of out of my budget range right now, since I am still looking for full-time work. So anyway, let us hear what you think about the Canon EOS Rebel T2i and Canon EOS 7D, and checkout our web page about it, Canon EOS Rebel T2i Features, take care, Bob



Mar 18 2010

Cute baby portrait photography – Submit your favorite Cute baby portrait photos and portrait tips


cute baby portrait photography photoshoot photos

Cute baby doing her best baby modeling poses

Everyone loves cute baby photos, so lets see your favorite cute baby portrait photos. If you have some good portrait photography tips that you would like to share, please submit them also. The cute baby photos posted to this blog page is my 8 month old daughter Kayleen. I didn’t have many good portrait shots of her, so I thought I better get some before she got too old. I love how they turned out, she looks so cute in the photos. 4 of the 5 photos I added a slight sepia tone, I used the curves adjustment to increase the contrast and brightness, and then added some soft focus effect to the photos.

cute baby portrait photography photoshoot photos

Cute baby doing her best baby modeling poses


My 5 quick baby portrait photography tips would be:
1) Let the baby do what they want and take the photos as they move around. With Kayleen, when I tried to pose her, she would cry, so I just let her roll around and do what she wanted and I got some great poses of her.
2) Make sure you focus on their eyes in most photos, unless something else like their feet or hands are the focus point.
3) Have a simple and blurred background by using a wide open aperture if possible. With Kayleens photos I used an aperture of f2.8 which did the trick, but I would have liked to use an aperture of f1.4, but my flash was too powerful on the weakest setting.
4) Shoot vertical and horizontal shots when appropriate.
5) The most pleasing angle for the camera is at the babies eye level. Sometimes you can take lower or higher camera angle shots, but the most pleasing to most people are eye level.

Cute baby portrait photography photoshoot photos

Cute baby doing her best baby modeling poses


So we hope you like our baby portraits and 5 quick baby portrait photography tips, so now lets see your baby portraits and your baby portrait photography tips. Bob

Cute baby portrait photography photoshoot photos

Cute baby doing her best baby modeling poses

Cute baby portrait photography photoshoot photos

Cute baby doing her best baby modeling poses


Mar 9 2010

Thoughts And Reviews On The Brand New Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR

Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR Camera Front And Back Views

Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR Camera Front And Back Views


Well the Brand New Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR camera is out and we would like to hear your thoughts and your reviews on this new SLR. From what I have read about it, it sounds like a very nice camera loaded with awesome features, like 18 megapixels, awesome low light performance with ISO up to 12800, advanced HD movie mode with movie crop(not in HD mode), 3.7 frames per second, and much more in this lightweight digital SLR. If you bought a Canon EOS Rebel T2i or have tried it out, let us know what you think about it, and submit your best photo taken with it.

Great Deals On The New Canon EOS Rebel T2i And Other Photo Items


I am looking to upgrade from my old relic Canon 20D, so this might be my next camera, since I don’t really want to spend more than $1,000. I would rather have the Canon 5d Mark II or Canon 7D, but they are kind of out of my budget range right now, since I am still looking for full-time work. So anyway, let us hear what you think about the Canon EOS Rebel T2i, and checkout our web page about it, Canon EOS Rebel T2i Features, take care, Bob



Mar 3 2010

Submit Your Photos For Constructive Feedback And Helpful Photography Advice


Do you have some photos that you would like to get some feedback on to help you improve as a photographer, then you came to the right place. You can submit your photos and receive feedback from us and other visitors like you. Having other photographers review your photos and give you constructive feedback will really help you improve as a photographer. So don’t be afraid, submit your photo for helpful feedback.

Constructive feedback photography wedding men tuxedos

Wedding Photography - Group of men in tuxedos



Mar 3 2010

What is abstract photography and submit your favorite abstract photo

What is abstract photography

What is abstract photography?

What is Abstract Photography…..hmm, good question, most people have heard about it, but wouldn’t really know how to describe it. A good definition that I found defines it as this, Abstract photography is photography which contains a design of patterns or shapes where the identity of a subject is not easily evident. That is a pretty clear and easy to understand definition, but what is your definition of abstract photography?


I haven’t taken too much abstract photography, but I still think abstract photography can be very interesting with the right subject and composition. Currently our digital art and abstract photography page just has digital art, but I will be adding some abstract photography to it soon.

If you would like to contribute to our abstract photography page, then please submit your abstract photos for review and if approved, they will be added to our abstract photography page.

I will post some of my abstract photos to this abstract photography blog post, and we would love to see your abstract photos on posted on here also.

So lets hear your abstract photography definitions and see your abstract photos, and if you don’t have any, then get your camera out and start snapping. Take care, Bob

What is abstract photography

What is abstract photography?



Feb 25 2010

Top 5 Photography Tips

Digital Photography tip of the rule of thirds
Rule of Thirds


Our top 5 photography tips, Well let me think a little here, what do I always remind myself to do before taking photos? Here are our top 5 photography tips at this moment:

1) Before taking any photos I always check my camera settings for each situation. Check the ISO speed for the amount of light available, check the shutter speed, aperture, white balance, focus point, is auto-focus on, quality setting, etc. Also what goes along with this tip is to really know your camera well, don’t be afraid to read the manual, so you can make adjustments quickly.

2) Make sure your main subject is in focus, out of focus main subjects ruin good photos. To make sure my scenics are in focus, I have been using the center spot focus point in my Canon, deciding what is the main focus point in the scene, focusing on that area, then while holding down the shutter button to hold the focus, I recompose the photo how I like it and then take the photos. If you have your camera use all the focus points available, you might not know what point it will use and it might be the wrong point, so the wrong area of the scene will be in focus.

3) Always keep your eye open for some interesting angle on a scene, don’t just settle for the same old angle that everyone else uses.

4) Make sure your white balance is correct for the scene. It is really hard to make the scene look natural after the fact with photo editing software, in my experience anyway. I have some indoor photos that have a bluish tone to them when they should be a more warm tone, and I could not modify them to get them to look like they should have, so correct white balance is important.

5) And for number 5, I will say hold your camera steady. Nothing ruins a photo more than unwanted blur.

If you want a lot more photography tips, please feel free to check out our Beginners Photography Tips Page.

Hope these top 5 photography tips help, but if you think you have a better top 5 photography tips, make your list and submit them to this blog, thanks, Bob



Feb 11 2010

Cool Digital Photography Technique – Light Painting Your Photos

Orange Rose painted with light painting digital photography lighting technique

Orange Rose painted with light


Painting your photos with light. I don’t think this is a very common lighting technique in Digital Photography, but it can produce some very interesting results, and just about every photo has something unique about it.

I started painting my photographs with light many years ago when only film cameras where around. I don’t remember how I found out about the technique, but it was probably from some article in a photo magazine.

I would go out at night by a river, or just use my car as the subject, and with big spotlights, I would take long exposures and “paint” all the things in the viewfinder with the spotlights. I got some cool results, but unfortunately I am in Switzerland now and my old photos and negatives are still in the USA, so I can’t post any on here.

Since they were done with film, I would have lots of wasted film, because with light painting, you never know how the photo will look and if you applied enough light to the subjects or not. Now with digital cameras, you can take a photo, look at it immediately, see what you have to do differently to get better results, and delete it if it was too bad to keep. Digital photography makes it much easier to get good results in light painting your photos.

Since I have been in Switzerland, I have only done light painting twice, and both times it was of a rose in the comfort of our apartment. I don’t have a big spotlight and I wouldn’t feel comfortable going out at night and shining a big spotlight on someones old house or building, getting them upset, and then trying to explain what I am doing when they only know Swiss German and German. With all the cool old buildings here, I know I could get some really cool looking light painted photos, but for now I don’t feel comfortable doing it, so I will stick with just small subjects for now.

I have some light painting tips here, Light Painting Digital Photography Tips.


If you have some light painting photos, we would enjoy seeing them, so post them here along with some information on the photo. If you haven’t tried to light paint, then you should try it, and if you have questions ask us here, and then post your results.

Another tip about light painting, is not to apply too much light or the subject will just look like it was lit with a flash. You have to practice and experiment with different amounts of light and different sources of light, until you get the right combination.

For the rose photo I posted, I used a small flashlight and quickly moved the flashlight around the flower, lighting up the areas that I wanted lit. The ISO setting was 100, F-stop was f/20, and the shutter speed was 30 seconds.

The photo of the rose was taken on Dec. 23rd, 2009.

So now lets hear from you, and see some of your light painting work. Thanks for stopping by, Bob


Jan 27 2010

What is your review of the brand new Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3?

Anyone buy or try out the brand new Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3? I just downloaded the free trial last night and have mixed feelings, how about you? Feel free to write your review of the brand new Corel Paint Shop Photo Pro X3.