Amazon Photography

Shooting in the Amazon rain forest is a tricky proposition. Much of the time you'll find yourself on a canoe in any of the hundreds of streams that lie within the huge forest covering an area from the east coast of South America to eastern Ecuador and Peru near the west coast of South America.

Shooting from a canoe with a zoom lens is a dicey situation in terms of first spotting the animals and then getting a clear photo of them.

Here's some tips:

1. Buy a zoom lens of at least 400 mm with image stabilization.
2. Shoot at at least 1000 ISO
3. Shoot using a variety of settings, with rapid fire shooting at each setting.
4. Respect the animals (if that means not getting as good a shot as you want, then so be it).

To be sure, the image below could have been clearer had the shot been taken with a camera that had a far-reaching flash unit attached, but I can't get myself to do that as it'd scare the wits out of the animals.

Ten Photography Tips for Scrapbookers

Memories tell tales of nostalgia. To capture the essence of the moment you not only take pictures today, but you also pick the pictures of yesterday. Here are some tips for finding and/or taking photographs that Martha Stewart is sure to adore.



1. Take photographs where a set of items match in color.

2. Take photographs of something you've carefully purchased.



3. If a photography does not give necessary details about time and/or place, write a caption and/or title that states the missing info. (The above photo was taken in Miami's South Beach, quite a change from what the people look like there today.)




4. Take photographs where one color predominates over others.

5. Put frames around your photographs using an image processing program.



6. Pick old photographs so viewers can identify the time period in which they were taken.

7. Pick photographs that reveal ideas of the person who's pictured.



8. Find shots where there are unique areas of subtle light.

9. Find peaceful shots.

10. Find shots that will make a nice background for typing in text.

UNESCO city center site in Mexico

UNESCO site, indeed. Here's the aqueduct in Morelia.

Notice how I angled the shot so that the aqueduct is most of what you see in the frame.

Good photography is focus, focus, focus.

Herman Leonard and Beyond

Musician in Orange, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Let's call today Herman Leonard Day. This jazz photography giant photographed the best--from Louie Armstrong to Billie Holiday.

Hundreds of his photographs can be found here.

Tip: If you see someone playing music--a group, or an soloist--get in there up close to catch facial expression details or anything from the musician tuning up to being prepared to wipe the sweat off of his face.

Photographing on the Red Carpet Tips

Hey readers of Digital Art Photography for Dummies, check out my pics of Brad, Cate and Kate at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. I'm reporting about it with text, image and message all week long!

Taking pics of these events can be tricky.

If you're ever on the run after some celebrities on the red carpet or anywhere else follow these tips:

1. Set your camera to multiple picture shooting mode (on a Canon it looks like a deck of blank cards on the LCD screen). 2. In low light situations turn your flash on and set your camera to the running man in auto-mode. Best to get an attachable flash unit and aim light above subject downward to avoid getting shadows. 3. In high light situations at night set your camera to a high ISO and turn off your flash. 4. You shouldn't hand-hold at shutter speeds slower than the focal length of the lens. 50mm lens = 1/50th sec etc. 5. You can purchase a monopod so that you can extend your shutter time a bit without blur. Here's an article to show you how to use this beast.