Photography tips and tricks, Equipment, Photography News, Photography Books, Tutorial, and Lighting – OneSlidePhotography.com

Photographer: Quinn Rooney

Photographing a motorcycle race isn’t easy and requires a special expertise. Split-second moments and various technical photographing conditions become hindering factors for the photographers. Here are 9 tips to better photograph a motorcycle race event. These tips can also be applied to other sports events that involve high speeds. I hope they’ll be useful:

1. Camera mode
To simplify use when shooting, set the camera to the Aperture Priority mode (AV on Canons and A on Nikons). Set it at the widest aperture (indicated by the smallest number), with a medium ISO setting (such as ISO 400). This is to ensure a fast enough shutter speed to capture the racers’ movement, minimalizing blurs.

2. Servo focus
Usually, there are several auto mode focus options on a DSLR camera. On Canons, for example, there are 3 auto focus modes consisting of AI Shot, One Shot, and AI servo. If you are photographing objects in constant movement, motorcycle racers in this case, it’s highly advisable that you use the AI-Servo mode (AF-C on Nikons). The AI-Servo/AF-C is an auto focus mode where the DSLR will constantly track the movement of the object as long as the shutter button is pressed halfway. Read the rest of this entry »

“The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.”

—Robert Doisneau, French photographer,
(1912-1994)

Robert Doisneau was a French photographer born on April 14, 1912 in Gentilly, Val-de-Marne. He was a photojournalistic photographer; focusing most of his life’s work recording the eccentricities of daily life in the streets of Paris. He liked to say “I never noticed time passing, I was too taken up with the spectacle afforded by my contemporaries, that gratuitous, never-ending show for which no ticket is needed, and when the occasion arose, I offered them, in passing, the ephemeral solace of an image.” Throughout the years of his long career, Doisneau documented, “the ordinary gestures of ordinary people in ordinary situations.”

He first studied lithography, but then quickly turned to photography. He worked for Renault as an industrial and advertising photographer until 1939. Then during the war, he worked for the resistance forging documents. He then in 1948 began work for French Vogue for 3 years. But his passion for photojournalism made him return to the streets of Paris in 1951. Read the rest of this entry »

Some people think that a photography business is a business based on capital, easily calculated by the total assets owned by the photographer, and expensive when it comes to studio and professional photography equipment. But now that paradigm has shifted, the digital age has carried with it a great change in the development of photography. You now don’t need to own an expensive camera and a studio for developing your film, or even a shop to sell your services.

In general, a photographer is a person that makes a career out of providing photography services. This usually comes in the process of: meeting with the client, photography session, printing, result transactions, and then getting paid for the services provided. But now the scope has widened.

Before starting a photography business, you need to establish a target market segment. Who are your potential consumers? You need to first assess the level of skill you have; because the higher your photography skills, the higher the chance of reaping greater financial rewards.

After establishing your skill level, you can then compile a portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of your personal work. A portfolio may consist of portraits, fashion photographs, photojournalism, still life, and other types of photography that define you as a photographer and your target audience. A portfolio can be printed and compiled into an album, or you can post them up in various social media site on the internet.

Then, start promoting. You can start promoting your services by giving out free photography services or by only being reimbursed for production fees just to get your name out there and to prove yourself. Because once you’ve got fans, mouth to mouth marketing is the most effective and efficient form of promotion.
What are the opportunities available in the business of photography? The following are several opportunities you can pursue in the photography business: Read the rest of this entry »

Question: “What is considered a good photograph?” or “How can I make a good photograph?”

Photography is essentially a form of media for communication and self-expression. Photography has much in common with writing. In writing, we choose words and construct them to form sentences. In photography, we use visual elements (line, shape, patter, color, light, etc.) and then construct them with composition (one-third rule, line, perspective, focus, frame, etc.).

Writing is considered good writing when it is straight to the point and is highly understandable to its readers. Good writing is filled with interesting ideas and meaning, and they have proper grammar making them easy to read and understand.

Similar to good writing, good photography needs a certain subject and clear idea without any disruptive elements. A good photograph also has a well-organized composition of visual elements.

Essentially, a good photograph is a photograph that corresponds with our desired intentions. For example, if we want to create a mysterious and eerie atmosphere, a dark and shady photograph would be more suitable than brightly lit photographs. If we want our photographs to encourage change, like for example to encourage people to care about the environment, then our photographs need to be filled with the message of environment preservation and so on.

In short, there are a few points we need to pay attention to in order to achieve good photographs: Read the rest of this entry »