When to Capture that Picture Perfect Moment…

With the advent of camera phones and digital cameras, a lot of people have become more inclined with photography. You often find people taking snapshots of particularly everything from the malls, in restaurants and even in rest rooms, no matter how queer it may seem. However, not everyone is born to be a photographer, but it doesn’t mean that you will forever be taking bad pictures just because you’re not one.

Here are few things to help you capture that picture perfect moment.

• Choose your equipment.

A lot of cameras are available in the market from the high end digital cameras to the traditional film cameras. Choose the camera that you are more comfortable with. A digital camera can help you view your shot at an instant and can help you correct or change your shot as soon as you want. Film cameras, on the other hand, do not give you ample time to review the pictures you have taken.

• Take time to familiarize your equipment.

If you have a simple film or digital camera, the very basic thing you have to know would be how to hold the camera, aim, shoot and click. You must learn how to view things from the viewfinder and from the screen of your digital camera. However, if you have cameras that are more high-end, you must learn how to control shutter speed, white balance, aperture settings and flash. Take time to read the manual and take pictures using each different setting. If this would be too complicated for you, take pictures in the most basic mode of the camera.

• Avoid “camera shake”.

Nothing ruins more a good picture rather than a “camera shake”. A “camera shake” occurs when the camera is not held tightly and the picture becomes blurry. When taking pictures hold the camera with your hand and tuck your elbow at the side of your body with both feet firmly on the ground. Then take a deep breath and click. This lessens the impact of “camera shake” and captures clearer pictures.

• Decide on your subject or composition.

Before just clicking and taking a picture, decide on who, when, what or where your subject would be. Take time to study your subject and know when to capture the right moment. Get to know his or her attitude like, for example, if he or she is shy try to make him/her more comfortable or if the subject is a child, prepare things that would make him or her less restless. On the other hand, if it’s an inanimate object, know when would be the best time of the day to capture the picture.

• Apply the rule of thirds.

A lot of people would say that rules should be broken even in photography when applying the rule of thirds. This might be applicable to professional photographers, but if you are just a beginner, the rule of thirds will help you capture the picture with more interaction, composition and make it less boring.

• Study the background.

Sometimes, the background can ruin your perfect picture. Before taking a click, make sure that everything is clear. Check if there is any kind of objects in the background that would appear hanging from a person’s body. Moving backgrounds can also cause a blur and would be a problem if you don’t have a high-end camera. For starters, you might want to use a plain and nonmoving background.

• Capture the moment.

Yes, capturing the moment is very essential. You must know when to click and not to click. Not all the time, all the poses that you would capture would be choreographed. Sometimes candid moments show the most natural setting and at times the funniest. Being observant would pay-off when capturing the perfect picture.

Learning the basics of photography and your camera will help you capture better pictures. For some it might be as easy as the ABCs while for others it might take some time. If you are having a struggle capturing a good picture, take time to practice since a good capture also means capturing a whole lot of good memories in it.

Scenes Beyond the Lens

They say picture paints a thousand words. Indeed it is; but in order to produce such grandeur, it needs a lot of skills, finesse, and the right equipment for those amazing moments.

With this in mind, a sufficient knowledge and skills in photography are valuable. Photography is the process, activity, and art of creating still or moving pictures by recording radiation on a sensitive medium with the use of a photographic lens inside a device commonly known as the camera. This process manipulates the time exposure of sensitive materials and sensors to lights or sunlight, thus, saves the captured image in the film.

There are different aspects of photography. We have the old-fashioned one – film photography and the modern one – digital photography.

Film photography is very famous way back since George Eastman started the company called Kodak in 1880’s. It gave an opportunity for enthusiasts to practice their passion for photography. Though until now, few are still using such crude method because it is less expensive. Nevertheless, the result is equally elegant as with the modern method.

On the other hand, digital photography became popular to professionals in 1991 when Kodak introduced the first advanced digital camera much more sophisticated than the point and shoot camera. With this development, other manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon and Pentax produced their own advanced digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras. Hobbyists and professionals alike, thus, now have more options to produce higher quality images depending on their needs.

However, no matter what type of photography one is hooked into, there are things that are common to both digital and film photography. Whether to use a digital SLR or a film-based camera, their basic controls – focus, aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and ISO speed – are still the same; although, some are equipped with additional features.

Focus is the adjustment to place the sharpest focus on the subject where it is desired. Aperture is the adjustment of the lens opening and is measured in the f-number,, which controls the amount of light passing through the lens. It also has an effect on depth of field and diffraction – the higher the f-number, the smaller the opening. Furthermore, shutter speed is the control for the speed of the shutter to moderate the time exposure of the imaging medium to light.

Photography is for everyone who wishes to capture the moments. All aspects must be taken into considerations – the environment, the lightings, the timing, and of course, the camera that one is using.

For the minimalist and conservative ones, they prefer to use the more affordable film-type cameras. Although, viewing and editing of their shots will take much more time. A tedious process of developing the film in dark rooms is performed before the actual pictures can be obtained. This method needs a lot of skills to produce the desired effects on the pictures; failure to do so would result to more time and money being spent.

For the practical and the chic ones, a classy point and shoot digital camera is enough to take good pictures on events, vacations, parties, and other important gatherings. This type of camera is preferable for occasions because they are more convenient to bring with – sleek design and basic functionalities of a digital camera. This camera is handy and trendy when it comes to design, but the price is much more expensive than the film-type cameras. However, editing and reviewing of the shots are much easier and convenient to users because of the technology we have now known as the memory card, where we can edit and delete the unpleasant pictures and save the good ones.

Digital SLR then came. This camera is intended for the professionals and hobbyists alike. This type of camera needs a separate lens in order to create a much higher quality and crisp image than the other types of the camera. The only trade-off in this type is the price. However, if one does not mind the baggy price and the baggy setup, then this is the camera for them.

Photography is an art of capturing the moments in life. It doesn’t matter what type of medium one uses as long as he captures the scenes far beyond that lens.