Cameras That I Would Buy (From Nikon)

Here is a short list of all the cameras I would buy if I was rich.

• Every camera in existence

Okay, okay that probably wasn't helpful at all. Let me break things down a bit. These are the cameras that I would recommend for different price ranges and experience levels. If you're looking for a camera and you take photography seriously, I hope this list can help you choose the right one for you.

Note: This list is only Nikon Cameras. I have nothing against any other brands and I would definatally buy a Canon or Sony or any other brand if it fit my needs more than a Nikon. I simply am more informed about Nikon than other brands currently and therfore feel it better to keep my list to Nikon. I may do more lists of different brands in the future.

Beginners

 These will be cameras under $600

• Nikon D3300. ($546)  See it Here
• Nikon D5200. ($496)  See it Here
• Nikon Coolpix L330 ($179) This camera would be for an absolute beginner. It is not a DSLR. See it Here

Intermediate

These will be cameras under $2000

• Nikon D750 ($1996) See it Here
• Nikon D7200 ($1346) See it Here

Expert

These will be cameras under $5000

• Nikon D4S ($4989) See it Here
• Nikon D810 ($2796) See it Here

The Exposure Triangle

Lets get technical, shall we?
The exposure triangle is basically three ways to control exposure that all connect with and and work together in different ways.

1. Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed controls how fast or slow your shutter opens and closes. The amount of time it is open determines how much time light has to enter your camera. Long shutter speeds create brighter images, while short shutter speeds create darker images. 

But the light isn't the only thing that changes with your shutter speed. If your shutter speed is long, say at 1/15th of a second, moving your camera during the shot will cause a blurry image. For long shutter speeds, using a tripod is best.

Shorter shutter speeds, however, create sharper images with less movement and  camera shake if you are taking the shot hand-held. A good rule of thumb is to keep the shutter above 1/60th while you are shooting hand-held.

Using a fast shutter may seem like the best option, as a long shutter will give you a blurry image in some occasions, but if you put your camera on a tripod, set a long exposure of, say, 30 seconds or a minute, place the camera on a beach with crashing waves, and click the shutter button, you can get amazing results with smooth, glassy water. Beaches aren't the only place you can do this, of course, any moving water will work. But who needs water? Put your camera in the middle of a busy street and see what a long exposure can give you. There are endless ways to play around with the shutter and get creative and interesting results.

2. Aperture

Aperture is the opening in your lens that lets light through. It can be big or small, and the bigger it is, the more light comes through. You can see how large your aperture is by looking at the F-stop on your camera. It often shows as something like this: F5.8. (with the number replaced with whatever your aperture is set at.) 

But what use is a number to you if you don't know what it means? The bigger the number (F12, F16, F32), the smaller the opening. The smaller the number (F1.4, F1.8, F2.8), the larger the opening. (Yeah it seems backwards, I know)

So if you have a smaller number, more light will get through.

As everything in the exposure triangle, aperture has a side effect. It's called Depth of Field. The larger your aperture is opened, the shallower your depth of field will be. (meaning less will be in focus and more will be blurry and out of focus) Using a shallow depth of field is extremely popular in portrait photography.

Coincidentally, the smaller your aperture is opened, the deeper your depth of field will be. (more of your image will be in focus.) A deeper depth of field is often used in landscape photography.

3. ISO

For those who are interested, ISO stands for international standards organization. It is a measurement of how sensitive your camera is to light. A low ISO like 100 means your camera will be less sensitive to light, while a high ISO such as 32,000 indicates a high sensitivity to light. In short, the lower the number, the darker the image and vise versa.

The side effect of ISO is noise. That nasty thing in your image that appears as red or dark colored dots that ruin the detail of your photo. Noise is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to photography, and I always try to keep my ISO below 400. Depending on your camera, you may be able to go higher than that and be perfectly fine, I can sometimes go to ISO 800 and be okay if there is sufficient light. But I find that my camera (Nikon D5200) does not preform well at all in low light situations. I have found that Canon DSLRs actually preform a bit better in low light than Nikon. So if you're looking for a camera to use in low light, Nikon may not be the best brand to turn to. (Although it pains me to say so...sorry Nikon) Of course, I'm sure there are Nikon cameras that perform very well in low light, I refuse the believe that there aren't--they are just few and expensive. 

5 Tips For Portrait Photography

1.Use The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds can be a very helpful composition tool. If you're struggling with finding a good composition for a shot, it's a good go-to set up.

2. Don't Use the Rule of Thirds

Wait...didn't I just say a few seconds ago TO use the rule of thirds? Yup. But as I'm sure you've heard before, rules are there to be broken. But only if you have a set plan in mind. Placing the subject in the middle of the frame can have a better effect than using the rule of thirds in some cases. You just have to train your eye to see those situations when it is necessary to break the rules. In the image above, the subject as a whole is not to one side or the other, therefore breaking the rule of thirds. But if you were to put a grid on it, you would see that the eyes lay right on one of the lines, making them one of the main focus elements. So while this image does break the rule, it also subtly follows it as well.

3. Let your model be themselves

It may not result in the most artistic shot in the world, but if you let them express their own personality, they will be more willing to correctly pose the way you want them too when you ask. This is especially true of younger kids.

4. Work with the right light

Light can make or break your photograph. Be sure to think about the lighting situations before heading out. You don't need fancy lighting equipment to get great photos, you can use natural light, or even lamps and artificial light found in your own home.

A quick hack for inexpensive lighting is to use cheap clamp lights from home depot.

5. Use Props

The photo above is a bit of a sad mood, as shown on the face. The small bunch of flowers she is holding add a bit more depth.

Fields of Flowers

My Photography is Now Available to Buy in Prints!

Hey guys!

My photography is officially available to buy here.

I'm so excited to finally have my work available for the public to purchase! Here are some of the shots I have for sale:

Shooting in a Professional Studio

I recently had the amazing opportunity to do a bit of shooting with some professional studio setups. I had an awesome time there playing around with lighting and shooting with different backdrops and models, so here are some of the shots I got.

Getting up at 5:00 AM

A few days ago I had a job to babysit all day for a family I know, because of this I had to get up earlier than my usual 10:30 in the summertime. Although I hadn't planned on getting out of bed quite as early as I did, whenever I know I have to get up early, I instinctively wake up earlier than I need to. (Don't ask why or how, I just do.) So seeing as I had already woken so early and the sun wasn't even out yet, I figured it would be the perfect time to get some sunrise photos.

Splash Photography

Splash Photography can be a very fun and creative style of photography. 

In this post I'm going to take you through the set-up that is required to get this kind of shot.

Here's what you'll need to get started:

• Remote trigger for your camera (only necessary if you're taking this shot by yourself and don't have an assistant to throw the water)
• Water
• A dark backdrop (I used dark brown and later brought the shadows down to make it black because I didn't have a black backdrop. If you have black, that would be the best.)
• A black, reflective surface (I used a black granite tile)
• A subject. (I used an apple)
• A camera
• A flash
• A table to set it all up on

The first thing you need to do is set up your props.

Now that you have everything set up, it's time to decide where you want the water coming from. I tried it from several different angles, but what turned out the best for me was throwing the water at a very, very slight angle from the top of the subject.

Set up your exposure for the shot, and expose the image so that it's just a little darker than you want; the flash will fill in any extra light your shot will need.

For this shot, we're going to keep our shutter 1/200th of a second or faster. If you set up your flash to be fast enough, you shouldn't need a ridiculously fast shutter speed as the flash will freeze the motion for you.

Take a few test shots to make sure your flash is working. Now thee are a few ways you can precede from here. If you have an off-camera flash, you can set it up as a slave flash and either put it on a flash stand or have someone hold it pointing toward the side of the subject. You could also just use it on the camera by connecting it to the hotshoe if you're subject is lit well enough on the sides. (I did this for my shot because I was outside. If you're indoors you may want some lighting maybe even on both sides.)

Setup complete? Flash set up? Camera ready to go? Okay, now let's get to the fun part!

If you're taking the shot by yourself, grab your remote trigger and get your water ready.

All you have to do now is throw the water at the same time that you trigger your shutter.
After you have taken several images, you can combine them in Photoshop to get the splash patterns that you want. (But if you plan to do this, make sure that apple and camera stay perfectly still during your different shots or they won't line up)
After you tweak the contrast, brightness, and saturation, you're done! 

Composition: Leading Lines

Leading lines are lines in your photograph that lead the viewer through your photograph in some way. They can lead to a subject or lead into the distance to a vanishing point. Anything can be used as a leading line if you have the eye to spot it.

The picture above shows a path leading through a forest. The path acts as a leading line that guides the viewer through the picture. The straight up and down trees are also leading lines as they point the eye to the path.

This is a bit more of an abstract way to use leading lines. The lines go back into the photo from the tips of the pencils into the back of the photo where they begin to blur together as it becomes more out of focus.

It takes practice to train your eye to see lines around you, but eventually you will begin to naturally look for lines in photos that you can use to compose your picture more strategically.

How to Quickly Enhance A Boring Picture With Only Two Steps!

This is the original photograph.

It was taken at sunset pointing away from the actual sun and toward this lake, causing the colors to be less vibrant. The colors had to be sacrificed to get this shot looking over the water, however, it is easier than you may think to bring them back.

The first step is contrast.

Bringing up the contrast will add depth and feeling to the clouds and water as well as bring out a bit more color.

Contrast alone won't cut it, though.

Your last step is to bring up the saturation.

But not too much!

You can also select certain colors to bring out more if you have a program that allows you to do so.

Those are the only two steps you need to do for basic photo editing and enhancement. There are, of course, many other things you can tweak and play with, but those are the main things that will help you to improve your photograph.