Tips for Getting Pictures of Your Baby

Baby Portrait Photography is about creativity, so don't worry about getting everything right as some of the best pictures are the imperfect ones. It has to be said that Baby Portrait Photography is great fun and if you don't want to hire a professional photographer then there is no reason why you shouldn't have a go yourself! Some of the best baby shots are the ones showing the intimacy of a baby with a parent.

Unlike Commercial Photography or Fashion Photography where everything has to be perfect, Doing it yourself means you can try and try again especially as you will more than likely be in the right place at the right time. Have a look at the following tips as they will give you a great starting point:

• Shoot more pictures than you need
  Sometimes you need to shoot 20 to 30 pictures or more to get the image you really like.
• Have someone to help
  This will ensure you don't miss that cute smile or adorable facial expression.
• Use burst mode
  If you are the one taking the pictures then a good idea is to use the burst mode on the camera settings to try and capture that one image that happens in a split of a second
• Light & Time of day
  Early morning or evening Natural light is best as babies look especially good in soft natural light.
• Get down to their level
  If your joints and muscles will allow it then try to take your pictures from the baby's eye perspective as their world is much more interesting for producing great pictures than the adult's eye view.
• Useful things for the Shoot
  Avoid anything that may frighten the baby and do not give food as encouragement where possible as you will more than likely end up with a lot of airbrushing to do on those final pictures you like - unless a dirty adorable face is just what you are trying to get.
• Be patient
  Don't try and force the shot and keep everything as natural as possible and the right shot will happen if you are patient
• Avoid distracting backgrounds
  White sheets or a duvet are always a good idea to use as they bounce light back onto the subject and can reduce any shadows
• Keep baby happy and entertained
  A good idea is to take the pictures just after the baby has been fed and changed and preferably after a nap although should the little one drift off during the shoot, then they can create great opportunities for those adorable sleeping baby pictures and close ups of toes and fingers
• Familiar surroundings
  

  very easy to create a small studio environment right in their own homes. This is great as they are familiar with the smells and sounds around and much more likely to be happy and content with the intrusion in their busy day.

Simplifying the Pixels and DPI's

When it comes to getting the printing done, there are a few things one should keep in mind to prevent wasting too much of quality photo paper, and the costly printing ink. We'll review a few basic terms related to digital photography and offer a few tips on getting the best prints.

Resolution

Resolution refers to the 'image-sharpness' of a document, and is usually measured in dots (or pixels) per inch (DPI). Depending on your particular needs, documents can be scanned at various resolutions. The higher the resolution of a document, greater the image-sharpness, and larger the file size will be.

Pixel

Pixel is short for 'Picture Element.' It is the smallest part of a digital image, and each image is comprised of thousands or millions of pixels. This basic unit, from which a video or computer picture is made, is essentially a dot with a given color and brightness value. The more pixels an image has, the higher the resolution of that image will be. One Mega pixel is equal to one million pixels.

JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) is a standards committee that designed this image compression format. The compression format they designed is known as a 'lossy' compression, as it deletes information from an image that it considers unnecessary. JPEG files can range from small amounts of lossless compression to large amounts of lossy compression. This is a common standard on the World Wide Web,

When dealing with digital photography printing, you will mostly work with the JPEG file format. Remember that every time you open and save a JPEG file, you lose some of the image information. Therefore, it is advisable to do all the changes in one sitting, and then save them only once.

Resolution Guide to Quality Prints

The higher number of mega pixels a camera has, the more detail an image will retain when enlarged and/or printed.

• 1 to 2 Mega pixels

Cameras with this resolution range are sufficient for sending photos electronically via email, but are not ideal for printing photos. Most camera phones, PC camcorders, and PC cameras have a resolution in the 1 to 2 mega pixel range.

• 3 to 4 Mega pixels

Cameras with this resolution range are good for printing and retouching the standard 4x6 inch images.

• 5 to 6 Mega pixels

Cameras with this resolution range produce professional results when enlarging photos up to an 8x10 inch format.

• 7+ Mega pixels

Cameras with a resolution range of at least 7 mega pixels promise superior quality and detail when printing or enlarging photos beyond the 11x14 inch format.

Printing Paper

Needless to say, in the end, your prints will be only as good as the paper you use.

There are many new coated papers available on the market specifically for this purpose, and you should consider what is recommended for the printer you are using.

Regular color ink jet and laser printers are good for text and charts, but not always best for digital photography printing. Pict Bridge-enabled printers allow you to print your digital photographs directly from the camera. Portable printers, such as the HP Photo smart 320 series, allow you to take a picture and print 4x6 inch sized pictures anywhere on the move.

If you cannot get satisfactory results with your own digital photography printing, especially if you're printing larger than 8x10 inch sized images, you could try one of the brick-and-mortar, or even on line photo labs that make use of dedicated photo printers with excellent results.

Photo labs can easily handle digital files directly from your memory card. Take your digital camera, a homemade CD, or your camera's memory card along for professional quality digital photography printing.

Creative Inspiration - Alphabet Photography

Interestingly enough the idea behind alphabet photography started with an illustrated children's book. In 1999 Stephen T. Johnson put together a wordless book that featured still life pictures of everyday objects that looked like letters of the alphabet. Letter art and alphabet photography are an exciting new twist on letters and pictures you can give as gifts or keep for yourself. Also called 'Letter Pictures,' 'Letter Photography' or 'Letter Photos,' these letter photographs can be used as unique home décor, spelling out messages to your friends and loved ones and a great idea for a holiday or birthday gift.

There are currently many services offering you photographs you can use to spell out your message or your name. On the other hand, you can also do this yourself if you are already a budding or a professional photographer. For amateurs who would like to explore creating their own letter art, you can use bicycle wheels as the letter 'O' and building posts as the letter 'I' and so on.

If you do not have the equipment or the time to find objects that look like letters and take outdoor photographs, and if you live in climates that prevent you from being able to do this, there are a couple of ways you can participate in this popular craft. One way is to pick photos that have had their copyrights expire.

If you are a photographer and are interested in taking pictures that look like letters, there are a lot of different methods you can use. The preferred photograph that people choose usually has objects that naturally spell out the letters you need rather than a photo that looks like you 'arranged' them in such a way that they look like a letter. This is when your creativity comes in. You will need to take the time to scout around the neighborhood and the surrounding community for objects that look like letters. when it comes to letter art and alphabet photography, the sky is the limit.

What makes alphabet photography so popular? Part of the appeal of alphabet photographs is the simple appeal of personalization. Everyone likes to see their name - the bigger and flashier the better. Having creative, unique pieces of art on your wall that also spells your name appeals to many people's egos. The variability of this exceptional art choice is another attraction. Almost any and every occasion you can think of is an appropriate time for letter art. Not only individual's names need to be used, for example, an office building could decorate with words like "teamwork" or "success" or "performance". What about a dentist's office with "teeth" or "smile" in their waiting room? A wedding gift with "love" or the couple's last name would be a fun gift. Or a graduation gift that spelled "dream" or "achieve". As you can clearly see, the sky is the limit when it comes to combining words and art. As the age-old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Element Of Art Photography

1. Shape
   Photos containing shape is the presence of objects that will form an abstract shape resulting from the comparison of two different light conditions.
   photos that contain elements of shape is shilouet photo, image compare objects in light and dark conditions in which the object is dark or not exposed to light or object in front of the light that will form the shape
   
   
   
2. Line
   The line can cause effects on the depth and motion picture shows. When garisdigunakan as a subject, that there are pictures to attract attention.
   
   
   
    
3. Texture
   Photos with an outstanding texture image can be a creative form of shape or pattern. Texture will give realism to the photo, brings depth and three-dimensional impression to your subject. 
   
    
4. Perspective
   Photos with the object element has a distance perspective or as if it is, these elements are usually combined with elements of line, because usually a photo with perfective element can be a line.
   
    
5. Rule of Third
   In general rules of photography, photo field actually divided into 9 equal parts. A third part is the technique where we place objects on a third of the field photos.

You can see the composition of the object in the photo above, the photographer puts the object of one third of the overall big picture.

6. Framing
   The frame is usually formed by a photographer as a boundary object vision and are usually frames which are used in the photograph itself using other objects.
   
   
   
7. Patterns
   Pattern in the form of repeated shapes, lines and colors is another visual element to the elements of drawing attention. The presence of rhythmic repetition of the cause and effect of harmony in the picture. Secrets of the use pattern is to find variations that are able to capture the attention of observers.
   
   
   
    
8. Reflection
   The element in this picture reflects the real object to the objects around him. Objects in use as the object of its reflection, water and a white floor and who can reflect back and describe the original object.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Color
   Color is one element that is always physically present in the appearance of an image, and this element is also evident by sight.
   Elements that provide the psychological effects and consists of 3 components, namely hue, for the term primary colors (Red, Yellow, and Blue), intensity, to force the color itself, and value, for light and dark rather than color.
   
   
   
10. Depth of field
    This element is influenced by the size of the diaphragm, shooting distance and focal length lens.
    
     

History Of Photography

Photography comes from two words that is a photo which means light and Graph, which means writing/painting. In art, photography is the process of paint / write by using light media. As a general term, photography means the process or method to produce pictures or images of an object by recording the reflections of these objects on light sensitive media. The most popular tool for capturing this light is the camera.

Photography is the art of producing images of objects by the agency of light. Such images may be made on many different materials by direct contact of the object to be imaged with a sensitive surface; or the image may be projected on the sensitive surface, by the aid of a lens. The underlying principle is the same in both cases, though the manipulations are different. The first mentioned method is that characteristically used in photographic printing processes; the second in the making of photographic negatives.

Long before the first forays into photography during the 19th century, intellectuals since the time of Ancient Greece have described the pinhole camera, the camera obscura and the photochemical effect, often unknowingly. According to some theorists, artists have used the camera obscura and camera lucida to aid them in their craft since the 1500s. However, the first 'permanent' photograph was not created until 1826 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce. This photograph, created on a pewter plate using a process taking 42 hours, was later accidentally destroyed. Later in 1826, Niépce created 'View from the Window at Le Gras', which survives to this day. When Niépce died in 1833, he left his notes to Louis Daguerre, who, in 1839, announced that he had developed the daguerreotype, a process involving silver on a copper plate. During the course of the 19th century, photographic processes were developed further, improving the quality of the photographs produced.

In 1884, George Eastman (founder of Eastman Kodak) developed film, which increased portability and allowed photographers to practice their art without carrying toxic chemicals with them. In 1901, Kodak's Brownie line of cameras came on the market, making photography accessible to a wider group of people. The initial price of US$1 was a product of Kodak's intention to make the camera available for anyone to use. In 1907, the first fully practical color plate was marketed. Until color film became available in the 1930s, Autochrome served as the most common color photography process available.

In 1975, the first recorded digital camera was built. The camera, which weighed eight pounds, took 23 seconds to capture its first image. This prototype was the first of a string of digital cameras which were to change the photography world forever. In 1988, the Fuji DS-1P was released. This camera is considered by many to be the first true digital camera, as it recorded photographs as a computerised file, instead of on film. The DS-1P recorded photographs to a 16MB internal memory card. The camera was not marketed in the United States, and it is not known whether it was shipped in Japan. In 1990, the Dycam Model 1 was released, allowing photographers to transfer their photographs directly to a computer. In 1991, Kodak brought its digital camera to market, with a retail price of $13,000. In 1995, Casio's QV-10 was developed, featuring the first LCD screen on the back of a camera. The same year, the first commercially-available digital video camera was released, and in 1997 the first high-quality mega pixel cameras were marketed.

The development of mass market consumer electronic devices in the 2000s has allowed photography to become even more widespread than before. Many now carry cameras in their pocket in the form of photography-enabled mobile phones, which allow photographers to take quick shots at any time without having to use a camera.