Photography

Part of what I love about being the Photography Guide here at About.com is virtually meeting so many different folks from around the world. This street photography contest gave me another interesting look in to your world.

After much deliberation, we have winners!

Congrats to:
Winner - Mahashakes
Finalists - Ben Spalding, Kate Brown, and Sandi OReilly

To see all the winning images and read the critiques just click the photo!

Winning photo by Mahashakes

Raksha Bandhan

Photo © mahashakes with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click on the photo to see the original post in the forum.

Sometimes it is necessary to take a step back and review the basics. Camera controls are all about modifying light, either how much light strikes the film or how sensitive the film is to light. The two primary ways to control the light striking the film are shutter speed and aperture. Shutter speed controls how long light is allowed to strike the film while aperture controls how much light strikes the film. These two controls work in conjunction with the ISO setting (that controls the film sensitivity in digital cameras and refers to the film sensitivity in film cameras) to fine tune the light recorded by the camera.

Photo © HC James with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click the photo to see the original forum posting.

Love it or hate it, spot color is a popular technique so this month we'll be exploring how to use spot color to your advantage. Muted colors and careful selection tool work are a huge part of getting spot color to work visually. Also, remember that grey skin when everything else is in color makes a person look dead.

Spot Color Photo Contest Details, Lessons, and Entry Links

Hi There

Photo © DebK with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click on the photo to see the original post in the forum.

How to photograph lightning, how to photograph storms like tornadoes, and other storm chasing questions are frequent ones in photography. Today I'm focusing on how to photograph lightning. Lightning photography really is a matter of timing. According to NOAA, lightning moves at 60,000 miles per second so trying to time one as it strikes is a low chance at best.

To really improve your chances of photographing lighting you'll need to use a long shutter speed, usually several seconds (start around 15 seconds). If you are including any foreground objects like a city you'll need to make sure you are not over exposing the city lights as well so take a test shot or two to find the right setting combination to allow you the time you need to capture the lightning.

Get the rest of the lightning photography lesson and photo tips.

Lightning Photo by snowpeak ©

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Photo © HC James with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click the photo to see the original forum posting.

Finding a nice template for a photography website is difficult. Overuse of Flash (that won't reach anyone on iPad or iPhone), blaring music, and far too long on load times seems to be the norm. Learn to program for the web yourself and you won't be at the mercy of these bad templates any more.

HTML 5 is the new standard for web programming and the new book, "Teach Yourself HTML5," is a great option for learning this programming language. Right now you even have the chance to possibly win a FREE copy.

Visit the author's blog and register to (hopefully) win! (There is also a free chapter posted now for you to review.)

Nighttime Illumination

Photo © Bill Fields with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click on the photo to see the original post in the forum.

Free is one of my favorite words and right now Ilford and Canon are teaming up to offer a free photo print so you can see the quality of both Ilford papers and Canon's professional PIXMA printers.

This offer is the Try My Photo program, available only in the U.S., and gives photographers the chance to see the results of Ilford's Galerie Prestige papers teamed with Canon PIXMA pro printers before buying them. By allowing photographers to see their own photographs printed this way, photographers can be assured that demo prints are not manipulated specifically to make the paper or printers seem better than reality.

From Ilford, "to take advantage of this promotion, register online at www.TryMyPhoto.com, upload an eligible image and select the option to print your image on ILFORD paper. The free prints will be produced on Canon PIXMA Pro printers including the Canon Pixma PRO-1, Canon Pixma Pro9500 Mark II and Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II, and mailed directly to the recipient; offer is limited to one per household during the period 17th July thru 30th September. Each Try My Photo print comes with information explaining exactly how the image was printed so photographers can easily replicate the results using their Canon printer at home. To ensure accurate reproduction of their images in home-printing, photographers can also download the free ICC profiles from the ILFORD web site. http://www.ilford.com/en/support/printer-profiles/."

Photo © AZHiker with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click the photo to see the original forum posting.

Each Saturday, I'll post an image that was originally posted somewhere in our forum on roughly the same day last year. Be sure to check every Saturday for photographic time capsule!

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What does a game of tic-tac-toe have to do with photography? The grid this simple child's game is played upon is key to composing your image in a dramatic way. In photography, this grid works with the "rule of thirds" to create visually compelling images. The rule of thirds taps into the way that the human eye works to predict the most visually appealing places within a frame. This allows the photographer to use the way that the eye works to add to the impact of his or her images.

• Rule of Thirds Definition
  
• Rule of Thirds Photo Lesson
  
• Rule of Thirds Examples

Intricate Worship

Photo © mahashakes with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click on the photo to see the original post in the forum.

Each week I select a photo from those posted in our forum to be the new photo of the week. If you would like to submit your photos for possible photo of the week just visit our forum and post in the photo sharing area. Please do NOT label photo threads as "photo of the week."

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Have you upgraded to the new version 4 of Lightroom yet? Take a look at our review of Lightroom 4 and see if the new features and improvements are enough to make up trade up.

Lightroom 4 Review

Photo © PaulKK with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click the photo to see the original forum posting.

Each Saturday, I'll post an image that was originally posted somewhere in our forum on roughly the same day last year. Be sure to check every Saturday for photographic time capsule!

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Approaching Storm

Photo © JJR47 with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click on the photo to see the original post in the forum.

Each week I select a photo from those posted in our forum to be the new photo of the week. If you would like to submit your photos for possible photo of the week just visit our forum and post in the photo sharing area. Please do NOT label photo threads as "photo of the week."

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There are tons of full size tripods to chose from but what about pocket cameras? Most of the time you don't want a full size tripod with a smaller camera but there are times when you need the stability of a tripod. Well, JOBY has a solution to your dilemma. The original Gorillapod is a small tripod for lightweight cameras that not only works on a tabletop but can be bent and twisted to hald onto almost any surface. Full review of JOBY Gorillapod

Photo © Stephanie Calhoun with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click the photo to see the original forum posting.

Each Saturday, I'll post an image that was originally posted somewhere in our forum on roughly the same day last year. Be sure to check every Saturday for photographic time capsule!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and now Pinterest

We had a great turnout for our latest black and white photography contest. Nearly 100 entries!


Congrats to Andrea Jones for our overall winning image!

See all the winning photos and read the critiques.

We had a bit of extra fun this weekend with a mini contest.

Winner of the "cold" theme is DebK


Winner of the "hot" theme is Sandi OReilly


Remember to check back often for new lessons and the occasional mini contest in addition to your monthly competitions.

Street Photography July Contest

Just a Little Closer

Photo © Kate J Brown with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click on the photo to see the original post in the forum.

Each week I select a photo from those posted in our forum to be the new photo of the week. If you would like to submit your photos for possible photo of the week just visit our forum and post in the photo sharing area. Please do NOT label photo threads as "photo of the week."

Be safe tonight as you celebrate Independence Day and don't forget about our Fireworks Photo Tips. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and now Pinterest

Did you know About Photography has a thriving forum? This isn't a bash the newbie forum like far too many photo forums out there. We have an active and friendly group ready to welcome you. If you are looking for a welcoming environment to learn and share your photos, then check out the About Photography forums!

About.com Photography Forum

Time for our new monthly contest. This month we're taking advantage of the warmer weather and focusing on street photography.

Street photography contest details

Photo © Renee with permission to About.com, Inc.

Click the photo to see the original forum posting.

Each Saturday, I'll post an image that was originally posted somewhere in our forum on roughly the same day last year. Be sure to check every Saturday for photographic time capsule!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and now Pinterest