5 Tips for Making High Resolution Photos

Have you ever ordered photos and got them in the mail or from the drugstore only to realize that they are blurry, unclear, and maybe even pixelated? If so, you may have been quick to blame your photo printer. It has to be their fault right? After all, if you ordered the photos online they probably looked perfectly fine on the screen.

The reason your photos were pixelated is because they are low resolution. This mainly occurs from too much cropping or if a photo was taken with a low megapixel camera or camera phone. It is very important to understand resolution when printing photos, especially if you print them often. This prevents a lot of frustration and helps make sure that you are satisfied with your prints each and every time you order.

The following is a list of tips you can use to make sure that your photos are high resolution and give you the highest quality photo prints and products:

1. Make sure your digital camera or camera phone has a high number of megapixels. 10.0 MP and above will allow you to print larger photos. If your camera is lower than 10.0 MP you will need to print smaller photos to maximize print quality.

2. Camera phones are not ideal for capturing high resolution photos. My camera phone is 8.0 MP which is the highest I've seen. While I can print high quality photos at lower print sizes, if I print larger than an 8x10 the quality will start to diminish.

3. Be careful when cropping! The more you crop a photo, especially when trying to maintain the same size print, the more pixelated it will become since you are removing part of the photo and therefore the pixels.

4. Remember, viewing a photo on your screen whether it's on your computer or on Facebook requires a lower resolution photo than printing. Therefore, a photo can look great on your computer and awful when printed unless it's high resolution.

5. Experiment when printing your photos. Keep the first 4 tips in mind when deciding which photos to print, but experiment a little as well. For example, you may decide to crop a photo some more to see when the quality will start to diminish. Please keep in mind though that the prints you order may not come out perfectly until you learn from trial and error.

While having high resolution photos is very important when printing, there are other factors to consider for printing high quality photos as well. Lighting, focus, and how steady you hold the camera are also factors that affect print quality.

How To Take A Good Picture Of Yourself

Are you photogenic? If not, well not to worry, not every body is. Some times the most handsome or most beautiful person does not appear in the photograph as they actually are. By carefully following few points and tips you can learn how to take a good picture of yourself.

Take a lot of pictures, from your digital camera in different poses then carefully examine each picture and try to find out which of your sides appears better. It can be a left side pose, a right side pose or the front pose. You can take advice from your family or friends to decide which pose is better. While taking a picture you have to be in a relaxed, casual mood. It will be easier if you practice some poses in the mirror first to see what you look like.

You should also try to find out what type of smile looks best on you. Whether you look good in a smile with your mouth closed, or may be you would like a smile showing your teeth, if you have a good set of teeth.

Now as you are ready to take a picture of yourself, you have to decide whether you want a picture inside in artificial light, or outside in the natural sun light. To take a good picture you have to play around with your camera settings and find out which option makes you look the best. It is a universal fact that a picture taken with your face slightly turned at an angle, to left or right, comes out the best. If you have nice and full lips then to show them off, tip your face upward so the camera is a little under your lips.

Be prepared, for it happens that on any given day you may look into the mirror and find yourself looking nice. That may be the day for you to take a good picture of yourself.

If you are in the mood to take a picture out in a garden then pick a place where there is good natural light. Pick an outfit that makes you look good and put your camera at a suitable place so that the light may illuminate your whole body. It is not necessary to have your face to the camera in every photograph. You may take the picture in different postures smiling, laughing, lying down or sitting.

Remember, if your skin is oily or there are pimples on your face then do not hesitate to puff your face a little bit for a fresh look. Plus there is also image editing software to enhance the captured images.

Of course it is always best to start with a great photo.

Camera or the Lens?

Everyone asks me, when they are interested in photography, the same question. Where should I spend my money? The camera or the lens? Almost every photographer will tell you that you should put your money towards the lens. Why? Ultimately it will lead to better pictures. Now this is a bit convoluted. Lenses can cost from a few dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. The same goes for cameras. However if I tell you to buy a lens first, then the camera, then your next question is what lens.

There are many lenses that you can buy. They will depend on the style of photography that you shoot. If you like landscapes, then a wide angle lens will be great. If you like to take pictures of animals in the distance, then a telephoto will be good. If you just like to take pictures of everything, then a standard zoom lens will be fine. 

There are also tilt shift lenses, primes, and much more to get into. However, as a person looking for equipment you need to ask yourself what will I be shooting. I often tell people to get a standard zoom lens first. Then expand. Generally the best camera companies will have a lens in the range of 24-70 mm f/2.8. That will cost you around $2000.

Most people who ask me what they should get don't have $2000 to spend. Which is where my story will take a turn. Most people don't have that much money to spend on a camera let alone a lens. I do, but it is my profession. Generally the higher end companies have packages that will include a lens and a camera. DSLR cameras can cost $500 to $50,000. If you do not plan to become a professional camera, then most cheaper cameras will suffice as the quality today is great. This will only continue to get better.

Now, you are now asking me why everyone tells you to buy a great lens and cheaper camera. Why are they telling me something different? It happens to be that most people who ask this question don't have money to pay for the best lenses. I would put my effort in buying the best camera that fits you, before spending a lot on lenses. You can always add lenses later.

If you are professional, then you wouldn't have asked the question in the first place. You would have gone out and spent the money on that expensive lens. Ultimately, you know the better the glass, the better the outcome in sharpness, allowances in depth of field, less defects, better color, more light, and so on.

These are my tips. I hope it helps.

Street Focusing Techniques I

Hyper focal distance is a popular technique used mostly with rangefinder cameras.  If you are using a Leica or Contax manual focus rangefinder - you'll find the lenses marked and easy to read the hyper focal distance.

Look at the lens and see foot and meter distance measurements for a given F-Stop.  Since most street photography is done between 7 and 15 feet you can easily set the lens so that everything that falls within this distance will be in focus for a given f-stop.  It's not what I'd call exact focus - but it's close enough so that focus will seem fine.  After that you can walk around and know that if your subject is within your hyper focal distance you'll be fine.  Obviously, you need to be able to judge distances, and it will not be possible if you are shooting "wide open" at say f1.4.  There just isn't enough depth of field (DOF).

Modern SLR lenses don't usually show the hyper focal distance (because they're auto-focus).  I like to have the foreground and/or background out-of-focus.  In other words, even when I was shooting with a Leica M, I would tend to pre-focus and use a lower f-stop.  In fact, I brought neutral density filters with me (since I usually shot a fast film) so that I could shoot at a wider, more-open f-stop if I wanted to.

Pre-focusing, whether with a manual focus camera or an auto focus camera involves anticipation.  You have decided what your shot is going to be and find an object that is at an equivalent distance to focus on.  With a manual camera, once you've pre-focused the lens, just leave it as is, and point it at your subject and take the shot.

With an auto focus camera, you need to know how to "lock focus."  On the Canon line of digital cameras (both digital and film) you can move focus lock to a button on the back of the camera and keep your thumb on it to lock focus - or even flip off the auto-focus once you know the general area you are aiming for.  This is found in Custom Function 4.

You can also just work with the built in focus.  I use the center spot only.  I don't want the camera to make the decision as to what is going to be in focus.  Though the Canon's also have an interesting Depth of Field setting that will attempt to emulate hyper focus.  I haven't used that much.

If all you were interested in shooting was street stuff, then I'd have to give the rangefinder a strong edge.  If you are (like me) a generalist, you could have two cameras.  One for your scenic work and another for street work, but I have a problem with that - I like to stick to one camera at a time and let it become a part of me.  I don't want to have to think about what switch to hit or where such-and-such is buried in the menus.  I set the camera up once, and that's usually it.

There are other techniques for street focusing that can be used in combination with these focus techniques.  One of these I'd call - the street ballet.

For example: you are walking down the street and about 20 feet away you see someone approaching that you want to photograph.  Just point the camera at a spot on the sidewalk where you are planning to photograph them and lock focus.  Then turn around with your back to the subject.  If you hold the dslr in the right position you can see the reflection of your subject approaching.  You still have focus lock on.  As they are approaching the spot you locked focus on - turn slowly with the camera already to your eye - as if you are just looking through the camera at just about anything and if your timing is good you can take your shot and keep moving so that they are puzzled by what you are doing.

Takes some practice, but works well.  It's sort of a street ballet.

Remember, as I've said before, you never lower the camera from your eye after taking your shot because this is a dead giveaway.

Yes - it's sneaky - but if you are attempting to photograph people at a close distance without alerting them - this is a useful technique.

Another caveat: the shot from the hip has been around forever.  And there are times and places when you may need to do this.  But as a general rule, I'm in favor of looking through the viewfinder.  Especially when you are starting out.  You should get used to various techniques that allow you to take a quick shot with time to frame.

EXERCISE: Find a busy corner where you can practice this technique.  You don't need to stand in the same spot but can move around but try it about ten times to see if you can master it.  It's most useful on a deserted street where there's only one person walking towards you.  So once you think you've got it down - try it on a quiet street.

How To Take Great Artistic Photographs

Considering that photography can be catalogued as Art there are not really a set of rules to take "great photographs"; in fact, just very few photos can be considered as artistic photographs, even when hundreds of pictures are taken from the same subject. There are, however, recommendations on how to improve your chances in achieving "best photographs", improving the quality and style of your photos and experimenting with new techniques.

• Sympathize with the subject, when photographing human beings or animals is very important to be on their level, to understand them and sympathize with their feelings; it will also give you a great opportunity to take interesting shoots, for example taking a photograph while you are on your knees will give you a different perspective of the subject.

• Close-ups tend to be more interesting; normally many people make the mistake of photographing their subjects from the distance without realising that photographs are more interesting when the subject is captured filling the entire space; try not to stand too far from the subject matter, this will allow you to capture all the expressions and make it more realistic and authentic; you can even try to get even closer once you have found the perfect composition, you will be amazed of the results.

• Depending on their subject, it could be a good idea to use a plain background; this applies particularly if you are photographing a very striking or interesting person or if that person is wearing very colourful or different clothes; you should try to bring all the attention to them instead of the background; this is why a plain background should be selected; try not to distract the main focus on the picture by using a bright and vivid background.

• Flash should be used when needed; many people believe that flash should never be used; however, this, does not apply when the sun is too bright, as it tends to create shadows; the use of the flash minimises this effect; just remember to be close enough to achieve better results, capture more expressing and allow the flash to be effective.

• Consider the light in your photos; before taking the photograph you need to stop for a few seconds, in order to study how the light will affect the quality of your work; light is an essential element in digital photography but it could reflect in the wrong areas, always analyse the sun's angle and how the shadow will affect you.

• Avoid blurry images; make sure your camera is fixed; especially if taking night or distant photographs, in these cases try to use a tripod.

The best tip is to practice, practice and practice (trial and error); take photos of the same subject but vary the angle, play with the lights and the shadows and then analyse the results; you will always be your best teacher.