Tutorials Frames Advices

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

General Tips on Shooting Babes in Night Club

Nightclub photography generally falls into one of two camps: moody, atmospheric shots featuring plenty of smoke and lasers or montages of drugged-up punters raving their tits off. No matter which will you choose, you need to remember some next rules:

  1. First thing is to get permissions from the management, and the band's manager. If you don't you and your camera can be busted on the hard road. And there will be no possibility to shot anything until you get yourself another camera.

  2. Taking shots in nightclubs or bars you are limited, of course, by the light available. The flash on typical Point-N-Shot camera, like Canon PowerShot or Nikon Coolpix is probably only going to be good at distances under about 10 feet. So under 10 feet and you can use the flash. So, get closer to an object you shot

  3. If you can't get so close to a scene, you need to steady the camera in the low light. A tripod would be best, but not very mobile or easy to carry on the dance floor. A monopod would be the next likely choice, but most bouncers are not to happy about you bringing in that kind of stuff.

  4. If you use SLR camera (I hope you do), use the fastest glass (lens) you can. As I used 2.0f-2.8f lenses, it's is dark enough to take good quality shots, but I think something in 1.2f-1.8f will be enough.

  5. If you don't have a spot meter, get one because, as I have discovered, exposure is very difficult. Ideally, it would be a TTL (Through The Lens) meter in the camera.


And of course, don't forget to take an emails from the babes you shot. This can be start for a good long-lasting partnership :-)

Take a Shot: Night City Lights

This article brings you some advices, how to make good night city photo.

Shooting a cityscape during day isn’t the same thing shooting the same scene at night. Building lights, neon glow signs, lights from passing cars and street lamps – all this can create magical scenes. But this scenes are always high contrast scenes and this aspect requires certain shooting techniques.

Take a look at your city at night. These tips and techniques will help you to capture not only the scene you see in your camera’s viewfinder, but also the exciting feeling of the original experience. After all, if a photo conveys a feeling or an emotion, it’s a successful picture.

If you shoot film, I recommend using daylight-balanced film. For after-sunset shots with my digital camera, I set my ISO to 400 and use a tripod to steady my camera during long exposures. To determine the correct exposure, I set my camera to. I often use Exposure Compensation set to –1 – 1,5 because the dark areas of a scene can fool a camera’s exposure meter into “thinking” that the scene is actually darker than it actually is – resulting in the bright lights being overexposed.

High-end digital cameras have a noise reduction feature that removes some of the grain associated with long shutter speeds on digital cameras. (Noise in a digital image isn’t equivalent to grain in a film picture.)

When I plan on taking nighttime pictures in a city, I scope out the city during the day for scenes that may make nice nighttime scenes. Spending some time during the day helps me become familiar with the city. It also lets me pick safe shooting locations such as curbs or traffic islands in roadways.

I’d like to add an important safety note here: Follow your mother’s advice. Always wear white at night. You want passing cars, bicycles, and skateboarders and so on to see you when you are shooting.

A good time to take nighttime pictures is actually not at night. If you shoot shortly after the sun sets, you’ll get some skylight in your pictures. Skylight does two things. One, it softly illuminates the buildings so you don’t have just bright lights in your pictures. Two, it adds a soft glow to the sky so you don’t have a totally black sky in your pictures, as is the case when you shoot well after night fall
Notice that there are no white lights in the picture – which would have been created by cars heading toward the camera. That is no accident. I usually wait until no cars are coming toward me – because I only wanted red lights in the scene.

Speaking of streaking, look at how the bright red and yellow lights in your scene stop (or start) in the middle of the scene. It looks rather strange, don’t you think? My point: for successful streaking photos, most of the lights should streak through the entire frame. Again, to get that kind of result, you need to have patience, to take a lot of pictures – and to watch the lights.

So the next time you are in a city, remember: Nighttime is the right time for fun – and creative – pictures. And, please remember to wear white at night to be safe!

This article is compilation of Rick Sammon guide to a night photography published at
Adorama's catalog.

P.S. But what to do, if it's rainy outdoors? Just take a good camera bag and drive in the club. There you always can find awesome babes which will be posing for you for free. How to shot them in action is the next material, I'm gonna compilate.


Sunday, February 25, 2007

Kazy - Choke


As I've browse for more stream videos with good photoshop tutorials and cool articles on photography tips and tricks, I've found this one cool track on an awesome serviss. Listen and feel free to tell in comments, what do you think.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Taking Photos Outdoor: On Travel or Vacations

Honestly ask yourself a question: "Do my friends really want to look at my vacation photographs?"
No one travels without a camera, and some take more than one with, and the urge to document a vacation usually results in hundreds of photographs, but for friends and family members, looking at all of these pictures has all the appeal of jury duty. If you getting tired of your friends on a holiday it’s easy to put up a white screen, telling: “And now we’ll look for a photos I’ve taken in Prague, not all, but only best twenty dozens of them”.
Peter Guttman is a New York-based travel photographer who takes pictures that people not only want to look at, but will also pay to own. He has traveled to more than 190 countries, is the author of three books on travel and has had numerous gallery shows, including a recent one at Sotheby’s, and in 2000 he was named the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year by the Society of American Travel Writers. In 1986 he held an end-of-the-year slide show as a way to keep friends up-to-date on where his travels had taken him.

As I research down the Internet there’s the tips I’ve found:

Determine the time you will have available for photography. Staying in one location for two weeks will provide different types of opportunities than when traveling through six European countries in ten days. Remember that others in your group may be affected by your schedule. Don't delay the adventures of your travel companions by chasing butterflies around a meadow for two hours. Good photographs take a considerable amount of time to capture. Time is needed to learn about a location and understand where and when the best photograph opportunities exist. It takes additional time to return to a location, set up, and wait for the proper conditions. Also, remember that the light will vary throughout the day. How does this fit into your itinerary? For example, if you want to photograph a city skyline while facing east, you will need to be there in the evening to capture the necessary light.
Carry your equipment with you as much as possible! Experienced photographers know this is a good idea at all times. When an opportunity arises, you will immediately be able to take advantage of it. This is also the best way to ensure that you acquire a complete collection of snapshots as any unexpected, interesting moments can quickly be recorded.
Stock up on film or memory cards before you leave home. Film is expensive in touristy areas, and the type of film you desire may not be available. This will also save you time during your trip and ensure you do not run out at an inconvenient time. When traveling, many photographers are concerned about the effect of airport x-rays on their film. However, documented cases of damage caused by airport x-rays are relatively rare. There is usually no reason to be concerned about film with a speed of 400 or slower. Some newer types of x-ray equipment used in modern international airports are stronger and do pose a higher risk. The equipment used to scan checked baggage is especially strong, so keep your film with you in a carry-on bag. To be safe, ask the attendant to hand check your film, although many airports insist all film undergo machine scanning. The effect of the x-rays is cumulative, so take extra precautions if film will be scanned repeatedly. Remember that your external hard drive can be any moment out of batteries, so keep a medium-sized CF or SD card to replace yours quickly.
Take many photographs at your destination. Try different angles, different compositions, different lighting. Don't photograph only the typical subjects. Take photographs of unique hotels you stayed in, meals you ate, and people you met. These often tell a story and bring back memories better than photographs of famous sites. Film is relatively inexpensive. You don't want to return from your trip regretting the ones you didn't take. You may not be able to return for quite some time.
Safety is important. In a city or other tourist area, carry your equipment as inconspicuously as possible. An ordinary looking backpack works well and is also a great place to pack small quantities of food, water, clothing, and travel guides. Some photographers even put black tape over the brand names on their equipment. However, in most areas, a direct robbery is very rare. Instead, bags are often stolen from distracted or careless travelers. For example, do not let others see your equipment just before locking it in your automobile or leaving your baggage somewhere.
Finally, at the end of your trip, take time to organize your photographs. Document dates, places, and people before you forget. It helps to write notes as you are taking photographs, rather than relying completely on memory. Use archival quality materials when storing prints or slides. For something different, prepare a travel scrapbook and mix photographs with brochures, tickets, receipts, and other souvenirs.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Stencil Graffiti Guide

Melbourne is the proud capital of street painting with stencils. Its large, colonial-era walls and labyrinth of back alleys drip with graffiti that is more diverse and original than any other city in the world. Well, that was until a few weeks ago, when preparations for the Commonwealth games brought a tidal wave of grey paint, obliterating years of unique and vibrant culture overnight.

This may seem like no great tragedy to readers of the Daily Mail, but Melbourne's graffiti scene is a key factor in its status as the continent's hothouse of creativity and wilful individualism.

Melbourne became a hub of stencilling for reasons no one seems particularly able to explain. Its laid-back atmosphere and sense of isolation most probably have something to do with it. Painters there have never been as shackled to the New York school of large letters on subway trains that took a stranglehold everywhere else. Rather than scrawling their name across a window, most preferred to paint something a little different: a dog chasing a butterfly on a mailbox, for instance, or a couple kissing in the space left where an old poster has been ripped away.

More info on stencil graffiti in Melbourne you can find in guardian's article.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Quick Sketch Creating Tutorial

Do you know, how to quickly create photo sketch using photoshop. Usually it take me for about one hour to find good propotion of applying whole heap of effects. Do you beleave you can make it without any effects, except Blur?
Watch this movie and greate respect to the author, which created it.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Tutorial Changing Eye Color

This is photoshop tutorial on changing eye color. Made pretty cool and even with Spanish comments. Now I know that post title is translated as "Mudando A Cor Dos Olhos " :-)

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Quick Change From Black-n-White to Colorful Photo

We've all seen beautiful hand-colored black and white photographs. A lovely shot of a child with lightly tinted cheeks and an armful of flowers, or a black and white beach with red and blue striped umbrellas. Perhaps you've wondered how it was done. Perhaps you've even assumed only professionals could create such images. The truth is it's actually quite simple once you know how. With the proper tools, anyone can create professional-looking hand-tinted photographs.


To get started, buy some black and white film. It's sold anywhere film is sold. Try Kodak Plus-x or Tri-x Pan. Next, go out and shoot! Landscapes, portraits-anything goes! For beginners, it's best to start with uncluttered photos, free of unnecessary details and distractions. A shot that is light in overall tone will work best.

Marshalls sells a great starter kit that includes 12 tubes of paint and everything else you will need, except the cotton swabs, waxed paper, tape, and pencils. This can be found at larger art supply stores, like Michaels or Aaron Bros.


Now that you have your photos and supplies, you're ready to get started. Find a workspace that is well lit (our dining room table works great!) where you can spread out. Take a piece of waxed paper and tape it down to the table. This will serve as your palette. Next, tape down your photo in front of you (tape underneath rather than on the surface of the photo).


Next, decide what colors to use. Paint larger areas first. Put a very small amount of paint onto the waxed paper. Apply paint lightly to the area you wish to color with a cotton swab. Blend it in well with a cotton ball. If it is darker than you want it to be, keep blending! If it is lighter than you want, apply more paint and keep blending until you have just the right shade.


Now.. have you gone over the lines? No problem! Get out your eraser and erase the edges until the paint is only where you want it to be. Is the color all wrong? No problem! Erase it all with the eraser, or start over completely by putting a little Marlene solution on a cotton ball and taking it off that way.


For smaller areas or finer detail, you have two choices. You can use the colored pencils, or you can use paint by twisting a tiny amount of cotton onto the end of a toothpick and carefully dabbing paint onto the area. This works well for lips and cheeks, and other very small areas.


If you want a truly nostalgic look, don't paint the entire picture. For portraits, you may want to just tint the hair, cheeks, and lips. For a field of flowers, painting just the flowers and not the sky or grass might look just right. Play around with it. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Remember, you can always start over.


Once your image looks the way you want it to, let it dry for 24 hours before handling or framing. Soon you'll have beautifully hand-colored photos to share with family and friends. They make great gifts, and also look great on notecards and calendars. Have fun with your new hobby!

This article was found by using this forum, where you can found more information on editing photos.

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Digital Photo Frame Replacing Gift

As I asked my wife some days ago, what a present will be most suitable for 14th of February which come soon. As she thought, I was thinking she asks about new flash card (as far as I know she wanted something like 1GB SD CARD), but I was wrong.
She told that the best gift for St. Valentines Day will be
CTX MediaView MVCHB010 - digital photo frame. As far as you can see this photo frame is "pretty" expensive gift: I can buy myself a new car for this money. Another minus of typical digital photo frame is that it work only when the computer is on. But this one is completely stand-alone solution - based on 10.4" LCD display from CTX it offer a great color system range.
So, does anyone have any ideas what I can present my wife instead? Feel free to comment this article, how I can save my money. I will be very great full to you.
So far, I decided that 8.5x11 classic travel book from Picaboo will be my hit, but ready to accept other ideas. Do not forget, that Picaboo offer a free shipping (only using coupon code: 1PFGSH-AP which expires February 15, 2007).

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Offtopic about Web 2,0

Photo frames

The best thing that visitors are now searching is "photo frames". They typically want to know, howto create beautiful borders around their photos. So, as I found this trick movie I give it to you, my friends!


Photoshop Tutorial - Creating A Border On Your Photo

Let's Remove Pimples

Some time ago I've found a page with the text like:

Photo Restoration services

Typically photo repairs range from $10 to $30


We specialize in digital photo restoration services and old photograph repair of family pictures.
Do you have old photos that are damaged, faded, scratched, large tears, fine cracks, heavy creases, and silverfish damage? Over time, photographs can become stained, cracked, spotted or faded creating unsightly marks which spoil the photograph. Digital photo restoration services clean the photo and draw out the photographs features.
Many photographs may look blurry or fuzzy and beyond repair, this may not be the case! Our photo restoration service depends on state-of-the-art computer systems, the newest versions of specialized and cutting-edge techniques and the widest collection of picture themes and special effects have made it possible to save and restore many treasured family photographs. Damaged photographs can look as good as new, or even better. It is now possible to repair old photographs without damaging the original. A good family snapshot can become a great old photograph by simply fixing a few flaws.

As I so this movie, I understand why the price is so high!


Make Your Picture More Clear And Nice. - video powered by Metacafe