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

Did you ever just want to take a photo of a nice Fountain or Street Scene but there are way too many people around and no matter how much time you wait and wait you can not get the Magical Moment where there is not one straying into the foreground or background.

Well the FutureLab Group has come up with a solution. It is called the Tourist Remover. You may be asking if this is some sort of fancy Retouching service - Well No Not really - They require a series of photos taken of the same spot.

On their How to page the recommend that you use a tripod and use the manual metering to get a consistent color and area.

What happens with this service when you feed your photos into it. It will help you remove all the annoying distractions that you didn’t want in the photo.

Below is an example I copied from their website:

I can see this being useful at the Theme park or Historical Landmark and you want to get a great photo of the Disney Castle or National Landmark without all the inconsiderate people walking behind or in front of your camera.

Now to the that great image you create it afterwards by just taking a series of photo and piece the best parts together from each image.

I have performed this in the digital darkroom before by using Photoshop.
The Basic steps are as follows:

1) Take a series of photos 3 or more - The more the better of the same exact scene you want to have. Make sure you get all the background at various stages of the people walking or even cars (One photo the people on the left - One where they are on the right Don’t try to get them always at the same place or you will not have the background covered.) See above image.

2) Open all the images you have in Photoshop and put each image on a separate layer.

3) Starting at the top layer using the eraser tool Remove what you don’t want on that layer.

4) Switch to the next lowest layer Remove what you don’t want on that layer. Repeat with the next lower layer until you have all the items (People Cars Birds Etc..) Removed.

5) Flatten Image.

6) You now have a composite image of the scene without all the distractions.

You now should have that perfect image to be proud of. And it was quicker then hanging around half a day to get that perfect moment!

If would would like me to do a more detailed post about the above process - Email me or Post a comment.

Digital Alan

Tags: Art, Art+and+Photography, Digital, Digital+Camera, DIRECTIONS, DIY, Hacks, How+To, PHOTO, PHOTOGRAPHY, Photos, Photoshop, Technique, Tips, tool, travel

Today’s Photo Technique is “Taking better Photos at the Theme Park” - I should make this a series on Vacation Photos as lately it seems to be hints and tips on better Vacation Photos.

First off, I am a lover of theme parks and I could walk around them and take photos all day. In fact I did just that a few weeks ago. I went to the local amusement park - Kennywood Park - The Roller Coaster Capitol of the World. Take a look at their site and if you want to have a great time - Feel Free to visit - You will not regret going.

Today I gathered a few tips and techniques from some site and posted them here with some of my photos I took while at the Parks I love to visit and photograph.

The First tip from Kodak’s Guide is to look for Colorful Details - Look for things that will tell a story of your trip to the park. Look at the prizes you were trying to win. Take a look at the games you played. Take some photos to help you remember the things you did and played and won (or even lost)

Another Tips is to make sure to take some of the wonderful sights you will see at night. Taking photos of the Night Lights can be some dramatic photos.

Resources:
Kodak - Photographing at a theme park
Adobe Digital Kids Club tips: Theme Parks

Tags: Art+and+Photography, Digital, Digital+Camera, PHOTO, PHOTOGRAPHY, Photos, Theme, Park, Technique, Kennywood, Disney, Rollercoaster