I got a call the other day from my friend Dan asking how to take some better photos of his house that he has decorated for the Holidays. Well, Unfortunately he has an older camera that doesn't have much in the way of any manual control. But I worked with him - I stated the obvious (Tripod, Use the Night Mode etc. etc..) Well I have to admit for the camera and the first time trying to shoot these photos himself I have to say he did a FANTASTIC job. Below is one of the photos that he had sent to me showing what he ended up with.

Some additional links to taking better Holiday Photos are: 5 Minute Video Called Take Great Holiday Lights Photos & New York School of Photography and Holiday Light Photography 

Technorati Tags: Holiday, Light, Christmas, Home, Homes, House, Tree, Twinkle, Bulb, bulbs, Christmas+Lights, Photography, Night, Nighttime, Time, Exposure, Long, Timed,

Today topic I will show you a few pages that can help turn your regular drab standard photos into a photo that says more then just WOW!

The first lesson will show you how to use your new Wacom Tablet (Or Your Trusty Mouse in case you have not bought a Tablet just yet - But as They State and I whole Heartily Agree using a Wacom Tablet can speed up and take your Photo Retouching up a notch and as Emeril Would Say "BAM" plus it makes it much easier ) The tutorial is at EyesOnTutorials.com and it is Called Photo Retouching Photo Effects.

Before and After Photo Retouching

The next tutorial is a video I found on MetaCafe that demonstrated how to use a wacom tablet to perform some basic Dodge and Burn Techniques to again enhance your photos and turn them into a masterpiece to print and hang on your wall to proudly display for all to see.  As the Author/Teacher in this Video States "We'll use the pressure sensitivity of the Wacom Pen Tablet to create a dodge and burn effect with a lot of control and flexibility"

Using a Wacom Table to Dodge and Burn 

 Now if you are interested in purchasing a nice Wacom Tablet be sure to check them out on Amazon: Wacom Tablets on Amazon

Technorati Tags: wacom, tablet, Photoshop, Wacom+Tablet, Wacom, Intous, Graphire, Bamboo, Photo+Retouch, Photo+Retouching, Retouch, Retouching

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