BetterPhotoJim

Scanning Images

A radio listener posed this question to me the other day "When scanning, what setting should the resolution ppi be? The range is 75 to 19200 on my HP director. It was set at only 150 - shouldn't it be higher than that?"

Here's some thoughts and suggestions:

By default the resolution is often around 150 with these scanners. Since you are sending these images in for printing in newspapers, that resolution might be just perfect. It's hard to say though for sure. The ideal resolution depends on a number of factors.

If it's easy, I would contact the newspaper(s) and ask what size and resolution of image they require. If this is not practical, your resolution choice will depend upon how big the originals are, how large they end up in the paper, and the resolution the newspaper uses.

If you are scanning 4 x 6 inch prints, your 150 ppi should be more than enough to allow them to print the image at full size or even a bit larger than the original.

As a base starting point, I leave the resolution where it is. This will likely allow them to print the image in the size they need. And the danger of increasing the resolution (unless they explicitly tell you to do so) is that you will send the editors large files that clog their email system.

I would definitely stay away from the high numbers, as they are probably "puffed up" - using a technique called "interpolation" which usually results in poor quality images.

I hope these ideas help!

Winning Requires Selecting Just One Subject

When I was a teenager, I came across a set of audio cassette tapes called "The Psychology of Winning" by Denis Waitley. I’ll be the first to admit that I became a big fan of self help books and tapes, and this was my first taste. I must have listened to these tapes a hundred times or more. A couple years later, I attended a lecture by Dr. Waitley and had a few moments to speak with him before the talk. I told him how I wanted to be a successful writer, an accomplished musician, Harvard graduate, and more. He thought for moment and said, "My advice is to pick one, just one... and WIN at it. Then you’ll find success in other arenas will follow."

This same advice holds true with photography. When presented with a scene, it’s only natural for us to “want it all!” We just can’t fathom leaving something out. Because we’re enjoying the grand vista, we assume we must include every element in our two dimensional photo for the viewers back home to get some semblance of what you experienced.

Nothing could be further from the truth. That teenager who spoke with Denis Waitley was not succeeding in any field of endeavor – because he was not focused. Your photo, as well, will not succeed unless you make some hard choices.

So look at the scene and say to yourself, “Pick one, and WIN!”. Determine which one object or element in the scene is attracting you the most. Then zoom in on that object. Turn your camera on end to shoot a vertical photo, if necessary.

Your one center of interest may occasionally comprise two or more objects. That’s okay, as long as your true subject – that thing that is attracting you the most to the scene – is the relationship between those objects.

In any case, if you succeed in defining that one subject and putting all your efforts into capturing the essence of that one subject, you will undoubtedly win over your audiences back home.

Lone Daisy in Yellow Lupine

Happy New Year!

New Years Fireworks at the Queen Mary © Thomas McConville All rights reserved

New Years at the Needle 1999 © Margaret Baxter All rights reserved

I just wanted to wish all of our wonderful members at BetterPhoto a very happy and healthy New Year! I was looking through some images on our site and found some New Year shots with a bang that I thought everyone would enjoy. Here they are and hopefully they will inspire you to get out there and start shooting!

New Years With a Bang © Maxine Snyder All rights reserved

BetterPhoto™ Online School of Photography

Photography Courses for Beginners and Everyone Else

Light Abstract © Linda Spatuzzi All rights reserved

My family and I spent Christmas weekend in Leavenworth, WA. It's a cute little village designed and decorated in Bavarian style where the meal of the day is bratwurst and sauerkraut. During holiday time, Leavenworth is trimmed to the hilt with Christmas lights. The village was swamped with tourists and on Christmas evening and the Monday following literally everyone was taking photographs. It was obvious by the pausing, gazing at the LCD screens and adjusting that was going on that many of cameras were brand new. I was so bugged I hadn't thought to pack some information cards about BetterPhoto's school of photography classes with my travelling gear.

Classes for Beginners abound at BetterPhoto. Last time I looked - just a minute ago - there were 6 basic classes listed as "Beginning." What's interesting is that even though similar basic principles are covered in each class, every instructor has his own interesting, unique and fun style and his own "take" on what's the most important information to provide.

Take for instance:

Bare Bones Digital Photography is taught by Robin Nichols a fairly new instructor at BetterPhoto. His Australian environs lend a unique style. You can almost hear his accent in his lessons.

Mastering the Digital Camera and Photography is a brand new course with Peter Burian who has years of professional photograhy experience. The course is full of tips that will make learning your camera's capabilities easy and fun.

The awesome Editorial Director of Shutterbug and eDigitalPhoto magazines, George Schaub, brings the perspective of years of photography knowledge to his class An Introduction to Digital Photography: Using Your Digital Camera.

Susan and Neil Silverman teach two beginning courses.Ready, Set, Go: A Jump Start to Digital Photography and
Digital Workout #1: Beginning Digital Photography. Their friendly, approachable style has their students singing their praises.

Jed Manwaring's class, Getting Started: How to Make Great Photographs, although already full for the coming quarter, has helped many master the basic technical aspects of photography.

Join us here at the BetterPhoto campus. Winter quarter starts on January 4th and you can wear your jammies to the classes.

New Winter 2006 Photography Courses!

Morning Over Lake Wakatipu © Jim Miotke All rights reserved

Did you get that new camera you were hoping for? Do you think you'll be getting it this week? How about that new Lensbaby or teleconverter? Want to put it to good use? We've got four new classes starting January 4 that will help you make the most out of your new gear!

First, we're excited to announce that Jim Miotke has a new year-long course: The Complete Digital Photographer! This one-year class will MOTIVATE you and get you out of any slumps.

It's All About the Light ... In this one-year course, you will learn to recognize the various qualities and conditions of light. You'll learn how to see it as well as how to work it into stunning imagery. You'll gain confidence when it comes to exposure and dealing with contrast - you know, those times when you're photographing in a forest or trying to balance a dark foreground with a bright sky. Frustration in situations like these will be a thing of the past.

Rocky Mountain Elk © Jim Zuckerman All rights reserved

We're also thrilled that Jim Zuckerman has added another course for the Winter quarter: Perfect Digital Exposure.After completing this 8-week course, you’ll never say "I hope my pictures turned out", because you’ll know how to handle every exposure situation with the confidence of knowledge!

Most photographers, of course, are insecure about exposure. Even with the remarkably advanced automatic exposure systems available in cameras today, getting the right exposure can be a serious challenge. There are so many lighting situations that can fool an in-camera meter that a sound understanding of exposure is one of the most important aspects of taking good pictures.

Barn, Dusk, Mission Mountains, Montana © Tim Cooper All rights reserved

There's a new face around BetterPhoto – Tim Cooper! He'll be offering two short courses in January and February - Understanding Natural Light! Tim began his career as a commercial and assignment photographer working with clients such as The North Face, Vasque boots, 3M and The International Heart Institute. His editorial and commercial photographs have appeared in Travel & Leisure, New York Times Magazine, Outdoor Photographer, Fly Rod & Reel, Northern Lights and Private Clubs as covers, advertising, art and editorial illustration. He has also been teaching photography since 1993 and his short courses will cover many lighting topics, including:
• Explore the various aspects of natural light - sunlight, foggy light, cloudy light, twilight, sunrise, and sunset.
• Use white balance settings or filters to correct or enhance differences in light.
• Work with different qualities of light - i.e., soft light to create mood.
• Creatively use texture, shadow, and contrast.
• Discover the exciting intricacies of working in the magic hours of morning and evening.

Plus, we've got Paul Gero's awesome Digital Wedding Photography course!

So much to choose from – all classes start January 4. Enjoy your new photography toys, thanks for your support in 2005, and here's to a happy and creative 2006!

Question on ND Filters (A Great Holiday Gift for Serious Photographers)

A student recently asked me about which filters to buy. The filters I use most these days are the polarizer and gradual neutral density filters. I know the latter is a mouthful but I have to tell you, if you do landscape work, you absolutely need at least one gradual ND filter (these are also sometimes called "split ND filters" and are the ones that go from clear to dark).

Red Sky at Dawn: Made with a Gradual or Split ND Filter

Here's what I recommend... If you're shooting digitally, get at least a .6 (or 2x) and more likely a .9 (3x). The latter is what I use. This darker filter seems to work best with digital photography.

When it comes to gradual ND filters, I highly recommend that you get the square or rectangular variety of filters, instead of the circular, screw-on kind. The idea is often to line up the point of gradation with your horizon. Much of the time, you will want to place your horizon on the upper or lower third, rather than in the center. So it makes sense that the rectangular kind would be much better, much less limiting than the circular grad ND filters, which forces the line of gradation to be right smack in the middle of your composition.

So if anyone is still asking what to get you as a gift, or you just want to treat yourself to a gift, purchase one of these rectangular filters. Then either use a holder designed for it, or simply hold the filter in front of the lens when shooting.

If you use this filter well, you will find your landscapes looking much more like what you witnessed in person. The skies will be darker, the foreground will be brighter, and you're entire image will show more of the beautiful, colorful details you're trying to capture.

BetterWorkshops!

Juvenile Grizzly, Montana © Jim Zuckerman All rights reserved

One of the things Diane and I have been busy with lately are the new BetterPhoto™ BetterWorkshops – and the first ones are coming up at the end of January!

What are BetterWorkshops? They act like a mini-courses on wildlife and nature photography. Before you meet on location, you're supplied with articles, links, a lesson, and an assignment in order to prepare for the shoot. During the shoot, you learn more and have plenty of opportunities to put your photography lessons into practice. Then after the workshop, you upload your favorite photos from the trip to be critiqued by the instructor – very much like our online courses.

The cool thing is, the workshops are coordinated in partnership with Triple D Game Farm based in Kalispell, MT, whose trained and well-cared for wildlife models have appeared in a variety of publications, documentaries and other cinema productions. The workshops are open to both digital and film photographers, and offers you the chance to photograph wildlife models in an array of natural, beautiful settings.

I'm really excited about these workshops. The first BetterWorkshops are coming up in just a few weeks, but there are still spots available. The first four will focus on photographing very cool wildlife in the snow, including Siberian tigers and horses!

• January 25 Jim Zuckerman
• January 28 Jim Zuckerman
• February 6 Peter Burian
• February 20 Jim Miotke

Our BetterWorkshops will be led by our team of instructors, including Jim Zuckerman, Peter Burian, Charlie Borland, Vik Orenstein, Kathleen Carr, and Jim Miotke.

I'll be updating you on more workshops as the months wear on – but you can get details on all BetterWorkshops here.

Wedding Photography

As I read a recent BetterPhoto™ Q&A thread on wedding photography, it reminded me of my wedding day, and the regrets I have over the photographer I chose. I was an uninformed bride-to-be on a budget and have the wedding album to prove it. If I did it all over again, I still may not have been able to hire a high-end professional, but I would realize the importance of the photography – it matters more than the wedding dress.

Kiss © Lawrence A.  Whitaker All rights reserved

The standard shots were taken: Bride & Groom embracing, wedding rings on fingers, with his parents, with mine – with the whole gang. The pictures are staged and stiff. The one thing that does stand out is my cousin wearing his sunglasses in all of the indoor shots. As we returned inside from the sunny outdoor shots, his eyeglasses had turned to sunglasses from the sunlight – you know the kind. When you should be looking at the blushing bride, your eyes are drawn to the guy in the back with his shades on. How could that have been missed!

There is a great deal of insight and information shared in the discussion threads at BetterPhoto and there are also some great courses offered to enhance your skills in this very important and specialized field.

Whether you’re a professional looking to improve your portfolio, or the family photographer preparing to shoot your cousin’s wedding, we have a course for you.

Check out Paul Gero’s course, Digital Wedding Photography.

“Capturing great moments at a wedding can be challenging and fun. In this exciting course, documentary photographer and author Paul F. Gero will help you plan your wedding coverage and learn the tools and techniques to help you make great wedding photographs. You will also learn how to share and present images to your clients after the shoot in ways that are fun and innovative.”

Kathy Woodford teaches a great course Digital Wedding Album Design

"Offering digital albums to clients can be the unique selling proposition that sets you apart from other wedding photographers. In this exciting course, photographer Kathy Woodford will show you how to create digital albums - which are made up of composite images put together in Adobe Photoshop and then mounted and bound into a lovely coffee-table book"

If you have any questions about these courses or anything else – let me know.

Holiday Gifts for Photographers

All Wrapped Up © Monika Sapek All rights reserved

So, are you panicking yet? There's only a few shopping days left until Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah…have you picked out the perfect digital camera for your friends, family – or yourself?

There are so many out there, it can be intimidating to choose the right one. Luckily, we're one step ahead with tons of resources to make your shopping easier! First, we've got our awesome Digital Camera Calculator, which gives you a fun and quick way to narrow down the choices.

Then we've got the extremely detailed Digital Camera Comparison Charts with information including resolution, estimated price, and even user reviews and ratings.

Want even more depth? Try our Side by Side Digital Camera Comparisons, with the most detailed information. In fact, you can compare up to 5 different cameras with results that includes exposure, storage, and our exclusive BetterPhoto™ ratings!

Not looking for digital cameras? A BetterPhoto online course is always a great gift, and our new Deluxe Web Sites would be welcome in any photographer's stocking!

New Deluxe Web Site Designs - A Big Success!

As most of you already know, BetterPhoto™ unveiled it's exciting new Deluxe Web Site designs ten days ago and I am happy to report that they have been very popular so far. We've had over 100 existing Deluxe Web Site owners convert to our new designs with the overwhelming response being that of gratitude and excitement. I just want to thank you for your interest and support of our new product.

For all of you out there who haven't taken a look at our new designs, click here: New Deluxe Designs, and see what you're missing!!