Now that you have your digital camera you want to start playing around shooting some black and white photos. Well, I have one suggestion today - Don't shoot in Black and White. Still shoot in color and then use the computer to convert to Black and White afterwards. There are several way to do this. If you are using Photoshop I recommend using the channels and individually selecting the color levels to get the best Black and white image that you can.

If you are interested in performing this check out Galvin Photography and his technique. It give a basic run down on how to use the channels to convert from color to black and white.

Some additional resources to help you learn about Color to Black and White Conversion are listed here:

Adobe PDF Guide to Black and White Conversion.

DesignByFire has some Wonderful Examples and Great Method to Accomplish this.

Keep Shooting and Share your work.

Technorati Tags: Photo,, Black,, White,, BW,, Conversion,, Photoshop,, Technique,, DIY,, Hack

Today on Digital Camera Gear - We are trying something different - I found a few really good video tutorials on how to take a better portrait making sure the Skin Tones are better. These videos will show you how to adjust your camera and how to manipulate the skin tones in your various software. But in case you are a book learner and like to have some visual reading feel free to check out the additional links after the videos from some various sources across the internet.

DIY - How to adjust Skin Tones Part 1/4

DIY - How to adjust Skin Tones Part 2/4

DIY - How to adjust Skin Tones Part 3/4

DIY - How to adjust Skin Tones Part 4/4

Additional Resources: 

Using Photoshop Hue/Saturation To adjust Skin Tone - Nikon-Euro.com 

Skin Tone Color Corrections - RetouchPro Forums 

Help on How to Adjust Skin Tones Via - SmugMug Help Files

Technorati Tags: Color, Skin, Tones, DIY, Help, Digital, Camera, Gear, Hack, Video, Photoshop, Elements, PSP, PS, Paint, Shop, Pro

Mirror Mirror on the wall - or the puddle on the street or water surface of the pond, or the lake.

Use reflections to increase the impact the image has from the rays of light hitting the water or the color of the trees and flower reflecting in the pond makes the image go from good photo to great photo.

These type of photos will capture a whole different view from the norm.

What you are looking to do to capture a Reflective Image is to move your focus and angle to get the reflection to be the center of attention and focus. These photos will require you to be patient (Letting the wind and breeze die down) You will often have to move the lens pointing it downwards more and possibly adjusting the exposure to adjust the overall brightness and contrast of this image but as you will see below the results are worth the time and effort. Just as a note you may need to have a Polarizer Filter for your camera to help capture the effect even better. 

But if you would like to be even more creative with Reflections - Only take a photo of the reflection itself and what the reflection sees.

Below is a sample thumbnail of one of these photos:

This photo is from a collection of photos of this type
By Vlado Marinkovic

His gallery has some wonderful photos taken of just reflections.

Some additional resources of reflection photography can be found at the follow resources.

Surfaces  & Streaming by Steven Jusczyk
- Both two really interesting galleries.
Plus  Reflection Art - By And Patrick HANEZ 

Marcia Smilak - Wrote up an interesting piece called Reflections of the mind about Reflections with some powerful photography.

And Located on Flickr - Here is an inverted Reflection of a boat by JerseyImage

Also located on Flickr - is a Hint of Color by HB19 

Now that you have a few good examples - Go out and create your reflection photos - If you take any let us know and post a link to them in the comments section.

Have fun and Stay warm…..

Technorati Tags: Reflections, mirror, photo, photography, digital+photography, lake, pond, puddle, ice, images

I have to assume that if you are reading this blog you have taken at lease one or two photos with your camera - Let me guess. Most of them have been taken at eye level.

Today's Technique is to try and take a few photos at a different angle then you normally would. Try taking the image from above the scene or below the scene or from any odd vantage point. You can even try getting closer or further from the subject to make a difference. 

The main point I am trying to make is that you want to move away from the typical point of  view and  find a new way to  take that photo.

Below are a few samples of odd angles I found on Flickr (All Rights Reserved By the Owner of the Photo)

Flicker Search of Some Photos Tagged as Odd Angles

Technorati Tags: Photo, Hack, Technique, odd, Angle, angles, Digital, Camera, Gear, Hint, Tip, Hints, Tips, DIY, Hacks, Darkroom, Help, Flickr, Search

Today's Photo is a photograph of a light bulb burning out. It was taken in a completely dark room with the camera ready to take the photo and then the light bulb switch was thrown. The bulb then burn out and this photo was created. I have to say this really is a great photo and I loved learning a new techinique for the day. Any one else have something like this please let us know and leave a comment.

Digital Alan 

Technorati Tags: Photo, Technique, time, lapse, bulb, setting, light, , bulb, burning, out, how, to, guide