Holiday photo composition

Try to be very careful with the composition and subject matter. Note that one thing you can do to improve your photography is good composition and layout ideas. Older manuals used to say that you should place your subject in the middle of the photo image. Note that this was because viewfinders showed more than would end up in your picture, but it usually looks poor.

Try to imagine three equally-spaced lines running across your image both horizontally and vertically lined up. Note that where the lines meet are the strongest areas to place your object. Of course, you don't need to draw lines on your viewfinder to do this, however, just practice putting your subjects off-centre. Now try taking a few shots from different angles, you'll get the hang of it quite quickly.

Always shoot slightly more than you want in the picture, because when you get prints, your images may end up getting cropped to fit the print. Now, if you have photo editing software, you can crop it yourself to the right size so that it looks the best possible. Try not to go over board with the extra space, though, because printing a small portion of a larger image will result in poor quality results.

Photographing landscapes will help capture the feeling of a place, but too often they are boring. Placing something in the foreground will jazz up your landscape scenes. For example, a lone fisherman on the lake in front of majestic mountains not only adds interest to the shot, it shows just how huge the mountains actually were. Try leading lines, which are good in any image, and even more so in landscape shots. Leading lines are things like roads, fences, or a line of trees which begin in the foreground and lead the viewer's eye to the background of the scene.

When you're traveling you also want to see people in the scenes. Of course, there's nothing wrong with photographing your companions by a famous landmark, but remember to use creative layout. Avoid the "people standing in a line in front of a monument" snapshot by taking candid shots. Note that you'll also get more genuine expressions.

The more your subject fills the frame, the better the photo will be. This is especially true for people and animal shots. Now, you probably don't care about your companion's vacation wardrobe; what's important is their face in the photo. Your camera may not have a zoom lens, and you'll be more limited in how tight a shot you can achieve. Look at what's going on in the background of the scene. Avoid a sign sticking out of someone's head or face.

Try photographing local people, this can help tell a story about the place you're visiting, especially if you're in an exotic location. Many people find it rude to be photographed without permission, however. If someone looks upset about you pointing your camera at them, ask if it's okay to take their photo. Flattery may be helpful, and some may even ask for payment.

Interesting photo opportunities are everywhere around you. For example, a bustling market, a cityscape, details of an object or building, a roadside food shack, or a lizard sunning himself can all make great photos. While everyone prefers to remember their travels as pleasant experiences, few places are completely stunning, so do your best!

Composition Basics

A shot in focus is crisp and clear, with good definition of the object in the image. Digital cameras have automatic focus and manual focus settings. Automatic focus allows you to get quick action photographs. Manual focus allows you to determine what you want in focus: background, foreground, usually a person's eyes.

Digital cameras also allow you to fill the frame with the foreground (a bush for example), press the shutter half way (locking the focus), then frame the shot with the background (playground for example) and take the shot. You can make the bush in focus and the playground out of focus in the shot. Note that the reverse is also possible. Try filling the frame with the playground and pressing the shutter release half way, composing the shot to include the bush, and taking the picture. This would allow the background in focus and the bush out of focus in the shot. Keep the focus, stay the same distance from the subject as when you "locked" the focus on the camera.

Camera perspective: Photographs are two-dimensional in most cases. In order to make images more real and alive we try to give the illusion of depth or perspective. Avoid photographing people up against a wall, pull them away from the wall, have them stand with a room or a field behind. Try to light the subject or have them be the brightest object in the scene. If you're shooting a building, shoot it at an angle (from the corner) and have some branches be in the shot - close, yet out of focus.

The foreground is the part of the photo that is closest to the camera - the branches in front of a park scene for example. The background is the part of the photo that is farthest from the camera - the mountains behind a park scene in another example. Note, either can be in focus and thus the point or reason for the shot. Try to avoid shadows across faces by putting light and reflected light on the front of the subject matter.

The depth of field is the portion of the photograph that is in clear sharp focus in the image. How do you judge how much of the picture is sharp? In order to get lots of the photo in focus have lots of light and have the subject farther away. Alternatively, you may want to have a shallow depth of field (only the subjects eyes in focus, for example) then you would decrease the light and move the subject closer.

The image contrast: a lot of variety adds to your photograph's success. Note, the subject should be the lightest area of the screen because our eyes are drawn to light images. Also, the background behind them should be darker than the foreground. By placing the sun behind you will assist you in getting good lighting effects. 

The exposure is the amount of light entering the camera's lens.  An image looks its best with proper light and exposed correctly. Most cameras have automatic exposure settings. Try manually controlling the lights and exposure to get the best images. Fill the screen with the main object, frame carefully to get a tight shot of your subject matter. 

Photoshop retouching

Adobe Photoshop as well as other image editing software have revolutionised photographic retouching. Recent advances in digital image manipulation now allow for unlimited possibilities in the area of improving photographs through retouching. Which types of improvements are possible by retouching photographs with Photoshop software?

Skin blemishes like acne or scars can easily be removed using the retouching tools available in Adobe Photoshop software. One can learn these Photoshop techniques in no time. Next, damage to prints can be restored - the benefits of digital imaging for restoring old damaged or worn out photographs are one of the best reasons to learn Photoshop software.

When an old photograph is scanned it can be retouched to remove tears in the paper or water marks or blemishes. One can also restore colours that have faded. When you have retouched your image and it is like new again it will last because digital images do not deteriorate over time.

Another problem is closed eyes - this is one of the most common problems with groups. One finally gets the entire family together for a family photograph only to find that one or two people have closed their eyelids. This is not a problem for a skilled user of Photoshop software. One can easily open eyes and no-one will ever be aware.

Unwanted subjects can be easily removed. You can remove blemishes in Adobe Photoshop and another common use of Photoshop’s retouching capabilities involves removing unwanted people or objects in the image. People can be forever removed from photographs quickly and easily if you know how. Thorough retouching photographs has never been easier than it is now. Editing software applications have made it a breeze to open closed eyes, remove blemishes and scars, change colours, restore old damaged photographs and remove unwanted objects and backgrounds.

Fully understanding file formats and knowing the correct one to use will save you a great deal of time. A few file formats should only be used for web images, where others are ideal to get the perfect printout. This is a list of the most popular ones and the file formats:

JPEG stands for Joint Photography Expert Group, and is a file format based on a data-compression system. It can reduces file size to as little as ten percent of the original size without any great loss to the image quality or colours. It'ss an ideal format for web work.

With JPEGs you can control the quality standard by selecting different settings to save in. When the image is needed for large reproduction work a large setting of 9 or 10 should be used. When the image is for web use only use a setting of 3 or 4 or 5.

GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format - it is also a compression format and is special designed for use in the web world. It consists of a standard set of 216 colours and is suitable for photography because of the loss to image quality and resolution.

TIFF stands for Tag Image File Format and is the best choice for images that are going to be reproduced as prints or enlargements. It can be compressed, but takes forever when trying to open it.

PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics and is mainly used for web work. Some people say that this will become the standard for web images - replacing GIF.