A friend of mine just loves my pictures of flowers. She always wants to know how I get such wonderful pictures with such amazing detail. My secret, besides taking about 100 shots before I get the right one, is macro focus. This wonderful and versatile tool, which is on most digital cameras sold now (the symbol looks like a flower), is perfect for detail when you want to get up close – REALLY CLOSE. In fact, many cameras being made now can take pictures at about an inch away, something the average traditional camera can’t do. All you need to know are some simple rules and techniques.

1) Turn Off Your Flash

First of all, don’t use flash. The first time you try shooting close and forget to turn your flash off, your
subject will look like a big, white, shiny blob. Children might be fascinated by the ghost you took a picture of, but you probably won’t be. Occasionally, if you happen to have the right angle and are slightly farther away, you may be able to get a good picture with a flash but it’s better to have good natural lighting.

2) Use Your LCD Screen

Then next thing you want to remember is to use your LCD screen instead of your viewfinder. The LCD screen sees what’s going to be in the picture while the viewfinder is slightly offset. This isn’t noticeable when you’re taking pictures farther away, but up close you end up having a picture of half a flower or a headless lizard.

The picture on the left was taken using the viewfinder. The picture on the right was taken using the LCD screen. Notice the difference in lighting and focus as well as that the subject is barely inside the frame.

3) Parallel Shooting

At a very short distance from the subject, it is sometimes hard to get the entire subject in focus. One tip is to angle your shot so you are parallel to what you are shooting. Obviously, most things aren’t flat, but lining us the shot parallel to the main focal point of the shot will help make the largest portion of the shot clear.

4) Use A Small Aperture Size… And A Tripod

Next, it’s best to use the smallest aperture size (largest F number) possible. Using a small aperture allows more of your picture to be in focus. The problem with this becomes the lack of light. The smaller the aperture, the less light that gets in and the shutter must be open longer, making your picture more likely to be blurry. When shooting really close, the smallest movement when the shutter is open can turn into big blurs. It’s best to use a tripod if you can, and if you can’t fit a big one where you’re shooting get a small tabletop tripod. They’re inexpensive and much easier to move and use than the traditional monsters.

The picture on the left was taken with a large aperture size (f 2.5). The pictured on the right was taken with a small aperture size (f 8.0). Notice the difference in the clearness of the orange ball inside the green one.   Click on the images for higher resolution photos.

Picture on left was taken without a tripod; the picture on the right was taken with a tripod.

5) Blur With A Larger Aperture

Now if you’re up for experimenting, and you’ve used the last tip, try this: ignore the last tip. Try blurring part of a picture by using a larger aperture size. While a picture can be great in focus, you may also want to try having part of the picture out of focus. Remember, always make the part that’s in focus be the main subject of your photo, but adding blur to other parts can make a great shot. Having only the main part of the object in focus can give the picture an artsy feel. Having a background that is out of focus can also make your subject stand out more. Just keep trying different things and see what you can get.

The blurred background allows the flowers in the foreground to stand out more.

6) Experiment

The last tip, which applies to all photography, is to remember to experiment. While changing the angle just slightly in a landscape picture makes little difference to the final product, doing it with an extreme close up can provide an entirely new picture. Many of my flower shots are close ups from above the petals of the flower. But some of my best shots have come from different views, such as from the ground pointing up so you can see the transparency of the petals, or from putting the camera inside the folded petals of the flower.

Flower on the left was taken with the camera pointing up giving the flower petals a translucent appearance.  The flower on the left is an extreme close-up shot of the inside of the folded petals of a flower.

Try new things, and also remember to always try new subjects. You may have seen something every single day, but have never really looked at it close up.

In this article, I’ll teach you how to ensure the correct white balance when taking pictures.

Different types of light have different “temperature”. Cooler temperatures come out looking blue, while warm temperatures appear yellow or red in your photo. The best color for a shot is a neutral temperature. All this means is that white objects in the picture actually look white. If you can achieve a proper white balance, you’ll notice the coloring of your pictures comes out more like what it looked like to your eye when you snapped the shot.

With film cameras, getting the correct white balance means changing a filter, but with digitals, the camera does most of the work for you. The problem is, the camera doesn’t always know what white is, so you have to know how to use the features.

The easiest way to adjust your white balance is to let the camera do it for you using the “auto white balance” feature. This is just like auto focus or anything else “auto” on your camera; the camera determines what filter level it thinks is right for the shot. The problem with auto white balance is also the same as any other auto feature on your camera; the sensors just aren’t as good as your eyes. Start with the auto white balance on. If the white in the picture doesn’t look white to you, then you can start adjusting.

When you go into your camera’s white balance menu, you’ll notice a lot of choices that may or not make sense to you. Sunny and cloudy white balance should be self explanatory, but you’ll also find adjustments for different kinds of indoor light bulbs, called tungsten (incandescent) and fluorescent.

If you’re like me, you can’t look at the ceiling and say “ah, that looks tungsten, I should use that filter”. The easiest way to determine the correct setting is to take a picture and look at the color. If you’re picture is turning out blue, try using the tungsten or incandescent feature. For yellow or red hues, try the fluorescent option.

If none of the preset white balance options on your camera are working, many cameras now let you set the white balance yourself, although you may need to pull out your camera manual to find exactly how to do it on your particular model.

The manual function works by you telling the camera what color is white, just like you set a scale by telling it what weight is zero. Take a white card and hold it where you will be taking the picture; be sure the camera is zoomed so only the white card is in the frame. Set your white balance to zero and you should have the perfect coloring.

If you’ve tried all the above options and nothing has worked for you, don’t give up yet. Almost all photo editing software programs have an option for adjusting your image temperature. Just look for a setting that can make your picture “cooler” or “warmer”.

While perfecting the white balance in your pictures may take a bit of time, you’ll notice a significant improvement in the quality of your shots.

Want to learn how to take pictures of fireworks or lightning? Want to be able to take those cool pictures with only a background and the blur of a light or of writing in the air with light? Well you can create all these effects and more using one simple rule: low light, long exposure.

All you need is a tripod and a camera with an adjustable shutter speed. Set up in an area with little or no light (except the subject of your picture, of course) and set the shutter to be very slow (several seconds). Be sure not to move or jerk the camera when your picture is being taken (using a camera remote helps, but is not needed) and you can capture moving lights and objects creating unique, artsy, or just plain cool pictures. Below are a few examples to start with, but there’s really no limit to what you can do.

Blurring Lights

One application of this is blurring lights. Many of us have seen this technique (maybe on video) where the background is clear and crisp, but anything moving appears blurred with the lights showing up particularly well. For outdoors pictures, twilight is best (or even when it’s dark). Take the picture when one or more objects in the picture are moving. It looks best when a moving object is lit up (i.e. headlights on a car) because this will show up best in the picture. The length of your exposure (as always) depends on the speed the object is moving and the light level around you. Set your exposure as long as you need to in order to capture the scene. If the picture turns out overexposed or even completely white, shorten the time your shutter is open.

Picture of a rotating fiber optic Christmas tree taken using a long exposure. (click image for larger, high-quality shot)

Drawing With A Laser Pointer In Your Pictures

Have you ever seen Picasso’s light drawing of a bull? This was doing by using a very long exposure time and a bright light beam (point flashlight). When I first showed my friend this technique, he thought the pictures were of someone writing on glass. In actuality, the subject simply writes slowly in the air with light while the shutter is left open for a long time (depending on how long the artist needs and how long your camera will allow you to keep the shutter open). If you’ve never tried this technique you should. It is great fun and you get a product that definitely gets a second look. Just remember to set up in a room or area that is VERY dark. If you can block any light coming in, do so. This way the writing or drawing will show up best.

Taking Pictures of Fireworks

Using a long exposure time is also a great way to take lightning or fireworks pictures. You really can’t just guess when lightning is going to strike (and if you can, please tell me how) and it may be hard to predict fireworks as well. In a lightning storm (or fireworks show), simply set a long exposure time and let the camera sit. For lightning, you probably want to start with the slowest shutter speed possible and work down. Fireworks can use a faster shutter speed because you can predict them better and they may blur. Since these pictures will be generally shot at night or under dark cloud cover, you don’t have to worry about overexposure, but the slow shutter speed will allow you to capture the light show without psychic powers. If you don’t want to do all this hard work yourself, many cameras have a fireworks setting that does all the work for you. But using a tripod still helps for crystal clear shots.

Photo of fireworks taken using a slow shutter speed. (click image for larger, high-quality shot)

These are just a few ideas for great pictures you can take using this technique. There are endless possibilities for other fun things you can do. Why don’t you try using this idea to take pictures of stars (watch your exposure time though, the stars do move), go out during a meter shower, or come up with some ideas of your own?

The Panning Shot

This picture was taken using the panning technique. Notice how the car is much clearer than the background.

Panning is a pretty difficult skill to master, but once you do you can get some wonderful shots. In pictures with this technique, the subject, which is moving, appears clear while the background appears blurred. You do this simply (ok, maybe not so simply) by moving the camera with the subject as it moves. This can be difficult, because the field of your shot needs to be moving at the same speed as the subject. To best accomplish this, you should begin moving the camera before the subject enters your field, and continue moving the camera after the subject has exited (like following through on a basketball shot). Also, remember not to set your shutter speed too fast or the subject and background will both come out clear. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t perfect this technique right away – it’s tough, just keep practicing.

Slow Motion Water Pictures

Another fun technique is slow motion water shots. These are pictures where the background looks clean and crisp, but water in the scene appears almost as if it is a painting. This technique is accomplished by using a slow shutter speed (best is one to two seconds) and a tripod to steady your shot so the whole scene isn’t blurry. You then take a picture of water that is moving. My favorite use of this technique is to photograph waterfalls, but the water doesn’t need to be falling. It can be moving rapidly or flowing slowly over rocks and other objects. It does, however need to have moving edges to create the "flow" effect. Also, it should be noted since you’re using a relatively slow shutter speed, the lighting should be low. Shooting at dusk or dawn is best; however, you can also shoot in a shaded area, heavy cloud cover, or after dark in an area
with not a lot of lighting.   And if you want to have a person in this type of picture, they need to remain perfectly still or they’ll appear blurry.

This waterfall photo was taken using a tripod and a 2 second exposure time.

Pinhole Camera Pictures

Another technique you can try, that might take a little more work to accomplish, is pinhole camera shots (yes, the things you use to look at eclipses). These are a great way to take pictures with an almost infinite depth of field. Make a box out of wood or cardboard that’s about a foot square. The inside of the box should be painted black on five sides and white on one. The white side will be the side you project your image onto. This is what you will actually be taking an image of. The opposite side of the box should have two holes cut into it: one for your camera lens (be sure to make this snug so you can block out the light from entering) and one in the center of the side for your pinhole. You then cover the hole in the center with silver foil and poke your pinhole. You can use this page to calculate your pinhole size. Once your camera is set up, be sure the camera is very still (you could use a tripod or even make a stand for it if you’re using wood) and take the shot. You should set your exposure length as long as you can because very little light is making it through the pinhole. One you get this technique down, you can take some great shots.

These are just a few techniques to take cool and interesting pictures. Try experimenting with them to see what you can come up with. If you get really good at them, try using the principles from these techniques to come up with other interesting shots you can take.

1. Blurry Photos

• Turn on the lights in the room so that your subjects’ pupils will decrease in size.
• Ask them to look to the side of your camera rather than straight at the camera when you snap the picture.
• Divert babies or pets so that they look away from the camera.

3. Lens Flare

These simple tips should have you taking better, and more consistent, photos in no time!

I have a laptop hard drive sitting in a drawer at my parent’s house; it’s been there for months. It’s sitting in a static free bag just waiting until I can save up enough money to get the information off of it. Let’s just say it will be there a while – quality data recovery services are pricey.

The moral of this story? BACK UP YOUR PICTURES!!! Unfortunately this is a lesson that most people learn too late. They only start backing up their information after they’ve suffered a catastrophic hard drive crash.

Fortunately, backing up your photos can be almost painless and quite simple. One easy way to backup your photos is simply to burn them do a CD or DVD (dual layer DVD burners can store 8GB+ on one disc, and a Plextor Blu-ray Disc burner can store 50GB on a single disc).

Of course, you can always just purchase a backup hard drive. Spare hard drives these days are cheap. I’m preferential to those made by Lacie, but any just about any external drive will work.

And then there’s always online backup which not only backs up your photos but also allows you to access your photos even when you’re not at your computer. Many people use photo sharing sites to save their photos, but if you’re serious about your photos, you probably don’t want to do this since few photo sharing sites allow you to save your pictures at full resolution. It’s better to go for the paid photo backup services.

Bought a great new digital camera? Don’t know why you’re keeping the old film camera? Don’t put the garage sale price tag sticker on that old camera just yet. Film still does have some advantages, such as:

• Increased resolution (for those ever so popular “will you marry me?” billboards)
• Don’t need batteries (more recent point and shoots do, I’m talking the old SLRs)
• Easily accessible media (my local gas station doesn’t sell memory cards quite yet, does yours?)
• Burst mode and no shutter lag. Burst modes on digitals don’t usually take a lot of pictures except on the highest end digital SLRs (which cost over $4,000 and that doesn’t include the lens!)