The visual impact of perspective & sharpness control

By Avi Roth

Jewelry, as a photographic object is comparatively small in terms of three-dimensional extension. The range of movements offered by the view camera present great control over quality and visual presentation. This article about using a view camera in the studio-managed environment, discusses ways of deliberately influencing and modifying perspective and sharpness to attain

visual splendor and image quality

Unlike SLR or medium format cameras (“rigid body” cameras), the view camera has capabilities for a full range of movements: rise and fall as well as tilt and shift of both front and rear standards. This is very important in digital jewelry photography since simply stopping down a modern digital lens all the way to f45 or f64 is a poor approach in obtaining sharpness and can have a damaging effect on image quality. Modern digital lenses perform optimally toward the middle of their aperture range: f/11 for short focal lengths, f/16 for moderate focal lengths, and f/22 for longer lenses. Sharpness has other implications on image quality as well: surface quality, data density, and separation of planes and edges.

In practical terms, when photographing a round pearl necklace or a pendant on a 180º object surface with a tilted camera plane of 30º- 45º, the view camera can quickly and easily be set to achieve sharpness throughout the entire object plane at the optimum aperture without stopping down, while retaining natural proportions. An SLR or medium format camera on the other hand, must always be stopped down to a maximum lens opening of f32 and beyond to achieve a greater depth of field, with all the associated disadvantages of image quality.

A limited amount of sharpness can be re-gained in post-production by image manipulation, but only with considerable losses in terms of image quality, and with unpleasing pixel distortions. For known reasons, diffraction has a large effect at high line frequencies, and to ensure that enough line pairs reach the digital sensor to achieve good sharpness, it is best to avoid very small apertures! This is why when desiring great image quality, it’s imperative to achieve sharpness by adjusted depth of field vs. stopping down the lens opening!

Another good example of the view camera advantage can be seen when photographing a square jewelry gift box. How do you photograph a square item from a dramatic angle without converging lines?

With a medium-format camera it‘s not possible to compensate for converging lines at a small aperture like f/11 in order to get the entire subject sharp. Since lenses made for digital photography perform best in this aperture range a view camera like the Sinar p3, Arca, Linhof or Cambo would easily realize overall sharpness without loss of image quality while retaining the desired viewing angle.

The above examples demonstrate how the capabilities of a precision view camera with a full range of movements can achieve great overall sharpness at small apertures. But at the same time, the view camera also allows to create purposeful un-sharpness for artistic and creative interpretations. Utilizing the view camera’s range of movements to manipulate perspective and sharpness will create spectacular special images of even ordinary jewelry objects – especially in close-up range.

In jewelry photography close-up sharpness over the entire subject, at the optimum aperture for best image quality, is inconceivable without camera movements. If you are searching for a system that will help you capture the ultimate digital image quality, I would highly recommend thinking about a view camera studio-solution. There are at least two other components beyond the camera platform you must consider: the digital back, and digital lenses. It’s not inexpensive – but the results will justify the investment.

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nareshkumar -
About the Author:

Author’s Bio
Avi Roth is an internationally recognized jewelry photographer and the founder of Digital Jeweller: Digital Jewelry Photography Solutions. His elegant jewelry photography can be seen in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Martha Stewart Weddings and other prominent publications. Roth has received numerous awards recognizing his professional virtuosity, but he feels most rewarded by sharing his knowledge with others who share his passion for photography. For more jewelry photography tips and info go to http://www.jewelryphotographyonly.com

The field of child photography is challenging but also both enjoyable and profitable – if you like children. Don’t bother pretending, if you really don’t. You may fool a parent – but not the little one.

Tips to help are: The techniques used in most other fields of photography do not always apply in child photography. The phrase “hold it” or “freeze” carry very little weight with children. They typically do as they please and if they please. Your assignment is to anticipate what a child may be about to do and capture it.

YOU can turn this into your advantage: Since children don’t always do what you want them to do, or what you expect them to do (actually they rarely do!). A solution often is: don’t expect them to become a cooperative little adult merely because you want to take their picture. Trick them – expect them to act like children. Don’t expect anything in particular. DO this and you can enter the fun and profitable field of child photography.

Know your stuff – Before you start booking sessions with children you must know exactly what you are capable of doing – what your camera is capable of doing – what all your equipment is capable of doing. Operating your camera and equipment must be second nature. Have your style of photography down pat, so when you start a session your mind is on the children). This takes your complete focus. This is not the time to be fiddling with you camera, or trying to figure out your light setup. Children take 100% of your concentration. For some children the entire shoot may only last 10 minutes – though you feel you have just run a marathon – so you have to be able to get in position , get the most cooperation from the child, get great shots. At times, this has to be done very quickly, BUT you cannot make the child feel they are being rushed.

Know your subjects – With children, you must expect the unexpected. At different ages children are capable of doing different things. The more you know what they typically do during some of these stages, the better images you are going to capture. And the happier you make your clients – which, in turn, makes you financially happy.

During a session photographing children you can get a variety of poses, expressions and antics. In no other field of photography are you liable to get such variety. The more you learn about little ones the better child photographer you will be. Children are not just children until they become adults -they come in all sizes. Between four months and four years you can place them into quite a few categories: 4-6 mos, 6-12 mos, 12-18 mos, 18-24 mos, and then you can lengthen out the age span. Awareness of these ages are needed to help you – the photographer – be aware of the limitations children (especially little ones) have.

Listening to the parent can help toward a successful session. You can learn specific things about their child that will make it or break it: Are they afraid of certain things or sounds? What are their special likes? Do they like books? How comfortable are they with a stranger approaching them? You do NOT want to spook a little one; the scheduled time may not allow for you to win their confidence.

Be ready with that camera when you first introduce something new -you do not get a second chance to get first reactions!

In most areas of photography a tripod is great for sharp photos. However with child photography you do not always have such a luxury. Once they reach the moving around stage, a tripod limits your ability to capture expressions and poses. Be mindful of your camera settings – keep that shutter speed fast enough to prevent blurring – and be ready to move quickly!

Child photography allows for close-up portraits as well as the child engaged in some activity – taking their socks off – in a box / tub with toys – climbing on or out of something. There is really no limit. As you continue to gain experience in working with children of various ages you will become more adept at learning what typically works with different age groups.

Child photography is a challenge – but don’t worry sometime it turns into children photography. Mom has twins – big brother / little sister – maybe three little cousins. The list goes on! Imagine two sister and they both have triplets! Other than the obvious difficulty of getting multiple little subjects in any semblance of position, conducive to a memorable photo you need to bring everyone’s eyes to a central focal point. Tricky, but not impossible. Adding something NEW to catch their attention, at the moment you press the shutter, can work. Use this sparingly, because when child photography turns into children photography getting all their attention on the same thing is quite a feat. The beauty of digital is no limits to the exposures you take and you can take a quick peek on the spot.

Parents can be quite helpful during the photo session. Children often are more confident with a parent nearby. Also, do not overlook the value of older brother and sisters. They have a relationship with the little one like no one else! Often they can get their little brother or sister to giggle, make faces, hold things and a host of other things that may be exactly what you need. Plus, you have the opportunity of including more subjects in the photos, which translates into a larger photo package for the customer!

As you advance in child photography you will want a lighting setup and a backdrop. A three light setup – consisting of a main light fill light and a background light – is ideal. However if you are just beginning you can do great photography with a lot less. Experiment, and add as needed. If you are using a backdrop keep the child at least four feet from the backdrop (if possible). This eliminates shadows and prevents the backdrop from competing with your subject.

Take your act on the road – You can do child photography at the park – on the beach – in the backyard, just as easily as in a studio or home – maybe more so – and nature will take care of the lighting for you, as long as you select open shade.

Items to have on hand: Depending on the ages and whether you are shooting indoors or outdoors you need a supply of items to catch and keep their interest and that look great in a photo: rattles feather dusters soft toys dolls hats mirrors a telephone (the bigger the better) a big whistle duplicate toys (for twins & overly competitive little ones) treats & snacks

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Dan Feildman -
About the Author:

Did you enjoy this article? Curious about Dominating Digital Photography? Well now you can by reading this Digital Photography Blog…what are you waiting for?

If you have children, it is only normal that you think about how you can make them happy all the time. These days, there are actually many types of things and fun activities for kids that you can get them busy with. You just need to understand their needs and preferences to make sure that you will be able to give them moments where they will truly be happy. To help your with this quest, there are few things that you may want to take into consideration.

First and foremost, you must get your children’s opinion as to what they want to do. Your ideas of fun activities for kids may not be so much appealing to them. If you are not going to be able to capture their interest and attention, you will fail in convincing them to do certain things that you think will help them become productive while enjoying themselves.

You should update yourself regarding the topic. Through time, there are many hobbies and interests that keep on coming up. You should be aware of the developments so that you can try various things and activities to help your kids during their leisure time.

You should also bear in mind that fun activities for kids can also be educational. Use this time to help your kids learn a few things while enjoying themselves. You can let them on their own with the tasks that you have prepared for them to accomplish, but you must let them be aware that they can call you and approach you when there are things that are unclear to them or if they want more instructions as to what should be done.

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Kelly Pearson -
About the Author:

Toddler Craft is a blog that offers free crafts, lesson plans and activity ideas.  Visit Http://www.toddlercraft.net for more information!

Selling digital photography to stock photo sites or selling photos over the internet can be a very profitable business if you know all the nuances that will get you a good amount of sales. Learning the technical aspects is very important, and really paints the fine line between making money and wasting your time. I don’t mean to discourage anyone, because it should be conveyed that anyone with a digital camera, an internet connection and a little spare time can do quite well. A lot of people sell their freelance photos through stock photography sites or through their own page/web host without a particular theme and do fairly well, but I will take more time and effort. A better battle plan is to find a particular type or subject of digital photography that you can easily focus on.

To explain further what picking a theme really does for photography sales, it helps consumers easily find what they are looking for when they type in specific descriptions or set of keywords. This benefits you because if a consumer types in your specific subject there is a good chance that it will bring them directly to your freelance photography. If you don’t already have the program called Camera Dollars, then labeling and specifying keywords is something you have to learn, but this tool will help you. And after you read the Camera Dollars lessons, you need to sign up with these companies and do a bit of research in order to figure out a profitable theme to pick for your photography.

Here are are several different types of freelance photography themes and short descriptions of each.

The method of taking pictures as a Theme:

Some examples of this would be macro, scenery, black and white, geometric, architecture, abstract, micro, motion, portrait, or panoramic.

These are usually recognized by simple types of photography and aren’t usually profitable on their own. Usually you want to combine this with other themes, like instead of “50’s Television” you could use the theme “Black and white 50’s televisions.”

Nominal Themes:

Simply put these themes based on any object, person, or place. Examples are Dvd, chair, cookware, doorknobs, Bahamas, Britney Spears and so on.

Themes Based off of Photo Utility:

Instead of think of what to take pictures of think of what the person buying the photo is using it for. You can base your theme off of a particular job or usage for the photo. To give an example a lot of graphic designers buy digital photos off the internet, do some research and try to sell particularly to them.

Intangible Themes:

Intangible digital photography themes are based off of ideas, emotions and other ambiguous images. Here are some examples: Love, hope, existentialism, correction, trust, triumphant, justice.

Your digital photography doesn’t have to be specified by just one form. Any of these three types of subjects can be put together to make an even more specific category of photos. An example of mixing two themes would be like Motion and friendship, which can be a picture of two friends doing some activity together or otherwise being in the state of “motion.” You could have hundreds of themes by the time your done, but it is better to focus on a few at a time. Do your research and in order to learn about how to sign up or start your own business check out Jobs in Digital Photography

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Nicholas Normandy -

About the Author:

Kids of all ages like to work on different craft projects. Craft projects can be an ideal way to enhance skills of kids especially during summer vacations. However, not all parents and teachers have the time, energy or creativity to come up with ideas on their own. To overcome this problem today one can find different type’s of kids craft book.

Kids craft book provides different project ideas for kids to make at home. Craft books can provide a break for parents from their kids to do their work. Crafts book are of different types

1. Preschoolers Crafts

Preschoolers love activity. They love to make things happen. A preschooler craft book can provide a perfect craft kits for young ones including mess-free paint kits, play dough and college kits. Some examples of preschooler crafts are
• Marble Panting
• Creating Spring Bookmark
• String Art Painting
• Mirror image painting

1. Elementary Crafts

Elementary Crafts are a perfect solution for a school child. The best judge as to whether your child can handle these crafts is you. Your goal is to have them enjoy themselves without getting frustrated. Some examples of elementary crafts are
• Recycled CD girl
• Button treasure box
• Painted snowflake picture
• Napkin butterfly

1. Crafts for kids 10+

Crafts for kids of age ten or above are quite popular. These books enhance skills of the young ones and help them to become more creative. They provide step by step guidance to beginners and are written in simple languages. Some of the examples of crafts for kids 10+ are
• Dressing up a plain napkin ring with seashells and flowers
• Create a doll using a badminton bird to display on your dresser or sit on a bedside table
• Recycled CD Sun catcher
• Paint a simple outdoor scene on a rock and use it as a paperweight or a decoration on a desk.

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Isabel -
About the Author:

Isabella Rodrigues writes for decorating-books.info,
offering the latest information on decorating books, visit them today for more
best buy decorating books.

Visit today: http://www.decorating-books.info

What should I look for in a high-quality photograph storage box?

•    Made of acid-free materials

Acid free photo storage boxes are preferred for fine art storage.  Airborne pollutants can damage the surface of the artwork, and thus acid free photo storage boxes can be used to neutralize those pollutants.

•    Constructed from archival quality products

Paper products are naturally acidic, and as boxes are typically made out of some type of paper, often they are not the best choice for long-term storage of artwork.  Archival photo storages boxes, however, have been made from conservation-quality materials that will help to preserve the surface of your fine artwork that is stored within them.

•    Ample size

You are also going to want to be on the lookout for boxes that are sized appropriately for your artwork.  Large photo storage boxes make a smart choice so that the edges of your fine art prints do not become damaged from rubbing against the sides of the photograph storage box, or be forced to roll up if crammed into too small a box.  You want your artwork to lie flat in the box, and large photo storage boxes can more easily accommodate various sizes of photos and other art.  Quality photo storage boxes come in a depth of three inches, allowing room for the storage of many photos, which can be separated with acid-free tissue.

•    Reinforced corners

If you have many photographs to store, you might decide to sort them into several photo storage boxes for better organization.  They will take up much less room if they are stacked, but if they are weighted down the corners of flimsy paper boxes will likely collapse, damaging the artwork inside.  Instead, choose photo storage boxes with reinforced corners.  Metal corners on the outer surface of the box will help it to retain its original shape even when stacked.

You can use an individual photograph storage box for organizing each type of photograph collection you have.  In addition, large photo storage boxes also make an excellent space to carefully store comic books, magazines and scrapbook pages.

You can find quality photo storage boxes at better online fine art photography framing suppliers.

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Susan Slobac -
About the Author:

Susan Slobac is an avid photographer.Susan believes a picture frame is more than just fashion; it’s a safeguard for something you love. In this article Susan talks about photo storage boxes and acid free photo storage boxes.

When choosing a photographer for your child, there is much more to consider than price.  You want to make sure your photographer does all of the following things to ensure that your portrait experience is excellent and that you get photographs that will stand the test of time.

The first thing your child’s photographer should do is to meet you and your child in advance of your portrait session.  They should meet you on a day before the actual session just to meet you and your child and discuss ideas to personalize your session.  During this “design consultation,” your photographer will get down on your child’s level and get to know them so that on the day of the session, the photographer will not be a total stranger to your child, making the session go smoother and be much more successful.  Your photographer should do this design consultation at no extra charge to you.

The second thing your photographer must do is to do the session on location, instead of a boring studio, at no extra charge.  This is so important to making your session successful.  You should be able to choose a location that is special to you or your child, an environment that your child is comfortable in.  This could be a local park or playground, or other favorite location, or even your own home.  Being photographed on location is so much more fun for everyone involved, and the results are creative and unique images of your child.

The third thing your photographer should do is to be flexible.  As a parent, you know that for some reason, a perfectly healthy child can (and often does) become ill on important occasions, such as Christmas Day, their birthday, or the day you have scheduled for their portrait session.  Your photographer should understand this and allow you to reschedule the session at no extra charge.  This goes for any other unforeseen problems that may come up.

The last, and most crucial, thing you should make sure your photographer does is to guarantee you will love your portraits.  Many photographers say that satisfaction is guaranteed”, but this is not good enough.  If your photographer cannot guarantee that you will be thrilled with your portraits, or your money back, it’s time to move on and find another photographer.  A portrait of your child should be something that moves you every time you look at it, not something that you are just “satisfied” with.  It is so important that your photographer has such a strong guarantee.

If your photographer does not do all of the above things, move on to another one and don’t stop looking until you find one that does.  The kind of photographer I have described is one who truly cares about you and your child as people and about giving you the highest quality photographs to preserve for you the precious years of childhood.

As you have seen, price is not the only thing to consider when choosing the best photographer for your child.   Think of photographs of your child as investments, as you would when buying a house, or as important a decision as choosing the best doctor when you need surgery.  While those photographs won’t bring you financial gains later on, if they were created by a photographer who does the things I discussed above, you will reap priceless rewards of the heart for years to come.

About Author

Angela Griffin -
About the Author:

Angela Griffin is a photographer and owner of Angela’s Portraits in Denton, Texas, which is now in its 6th year! Photography is Angela’s passion, particularly photographing babies and children. To view her portfolio and get portrait session information, visit her website at http://www.angelas-portraits.com. Angela is also the founder of http://www.photomarketingsuccess.com and author of the course Marketing Magic for Children’s Portrait Photography. Angela invites you to stop by http://www.photomarketingsuccess.com for free information on starting your own business, marketing it for success and lots of other resources for portrait photographers.

The lead up to Easter is an exciting time for kids so you may want some fun Easter activities to keep them busy, happy and settled in this exciting time. There are loads of activities that you do with kids that are not only fun but are also educational. When you choose Easter activities for kids at home or at school, you may as well choose something that will not just let them have fun but it will also help them to learn and grow.

There are many, many worthwhile craft Easter activities for kids of all ages. Design an Easter card or get creative with eggs. Try painting eggs, dyeing eggs or even making picture with crushed dyed, crushed egg shells. Decorating egg shapes is also a great Easter activity for kids of all ages. Just cut out an egg shape from card and the kids can cover it with bands of bright, colorful, crumpled pieces of paper. Kids can also be encouraged to decorate an egg shape with bands of patterns and to keep the patterns symmetrical.

One of the few craft activities that I remember doing myself as a child was actually done after Easter as we needed the beautiful, foil paper that the Easter eggs are wrapped in. We glued pieces of paper all over a jar to cover the outside of the entire jar. We then varnished it when it was dry and the result was a really beautiful jar that could be used for any purpose. This special Easter activity for kids to do after Easter is wonderful way to encourage recycling of jars and Easter egg wrappers.

Once you’ve tried some craft with the kids there are also loads of puzzles and games that can be tried. Why not make your own Easter board game? The kids can enjoy making the game board and inventing the game and then afterwards they can enjoy actually playing the game. This Easter activity will also bring out their creative side.

Easter Bingo is another fun Easter activity for kids to play again and again. They can make their own bingo cards with Easter words and then play Easter bingo with the cards. The caller can have all of the words on small cards and draw them out one by one.

Next try an Easter puzzle. One that is really simple is to organize is an Easter Bunny Word Scramble. Use the words ‘Easter Bunny’ or the word ‘Chocolate’.

Give each person a pencil and paper and have them write either ‘Easter Bunny’ or ‘Chocolate’. They then write down as many words as they can think of

that can be made using the letters contained in the words ‘Easter bunny’ or ‘Chocloate’.

A prize is given to the person who comes up with the most words and also to the person who has the longest word. Off course the best prize for this game is a Chocolate Easter Egg or Easter Bunny!

Another great Easter puzzle is to make your own word search filled with Easter words.

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Terese Evans -
About the Author:

Terese Evans is a teacher and parent who uses games to get kids excited about learning. She shares her favorite Kids Easter Activities including Easter worksheets, board games, card games and game sheets at www.kids-easter-activities.com. You can receive your own printable Easter Activities for Kids when you visit www.kids-easter-activities.com

Imagine that you are looking at picture of a scrumptious pork fillet, mouth watering steak and a glass of iced cold grape juice. How do you feel? Hungry?

That is what successful food photographers can do. They can trigger your hunger by just looking at their pictures. Isn’t it amazing when you can do the same? Let’s start by looking at the tips below:

1. Lighting

Lighting is very important in food photography. When you have the right lighting, it will seem like the dish is asking the viewers to feast on it. So, it is very important that you look at the surrounding and experiment your picture with as much natural light as possible.

There will be time that the surrounding light can’t really illuminate the dish. When that happens, you will want to consider using a flash. Then, you need to control the intensity of the flash. Remember that you want to highlight the essence of the dish and get your viewers hungry instead of disgust them with an all brighten up dish.

2. Presentation

Imagine a plate of pork chop with its broccoli scattered around and the sauce flooding the plate. Do you still have the intention to dig into it? Most likely you will wonder how a chef can present that for dining.

So, take your time to arrange your dish. It must be visually attracting before someone will actually have the desire to eat it. When you are photographing a burger, you will want to get the stuffing out of the bun and that is how the fast food chains advertise and get you to visit them.

And when you are photographing a dish, experiment your picture with and without the cutlery. How does that feel? Sometime, the cutlery will enhance your picture and sometime not.

3. Out of focus

Creating shallow depth of field on your dish will keep your food in focus while the background blurred. Your viewers will automatically pay attention to the food and it would trigger their urge to eat.

However, the compact digital cameras in the market now are unable to adjust the depth of field. It is true that you can create the effect with photo editing software later. Still, the picture will not look as natural as when you are using a DSLR camera to capture the picture.

As much fun as talking about food photography, you will start to feel hungry. Unfortunately, that is the side effect of looking into this interesting topic.

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michael wong -
About the Author:

Do you enjoy taking photos? Do you want more digital photography tips and techniques? Michael Wong is happy to share his knowledge about digital photography with you and hope you enjoy them. Just visit

=>www.Learn-DigitalPhotography.blogspot.com

The subjects of architectural photography are some of the most dynamic forms ever captured. Architectural photography captures a series of elements including shapes, massing, and height. It also involves capturing details such as textures, colors, shadows, and light. Photographing architecture does not stop after pressing the shutter button. It also involves a post-production process that includes photo editing, cropping, resolution adjustment, and finally printing on a preferred medium. Architectural photos appear on several types of printed medium. Below are examples of popular, printed mediums for architectural photography.

Postcards – Postcards are one of the most popular mediums for architectural photography. Buildings around the world have become famous icons due to their appearance on postcards. Classic, architectural icons on postcards include The Pyramids of Egypt, The Coliseum, and The Parthenon. More contemporary examples include The Empire State Building, The Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Great Wall of China, The White House, and most recently, The National Stadium in Beijing or ‘Birdsnest’.  When taking architectural photographs as a freelance photographer, printing work on postcards can be fast, convenient and affordable using online printing services. Online printers offer custom printing of postcards at reasonable, often discounted prices.

Flyers – Flyers are also a graphic and informative medium for architectural photographs. Flyers are commonly used by real estate developers or realtors as sales flyers of current property on the market. Flyers are handy and direct, making them popular choices for marketing. Flyers today can also be printed in full color at both standard and customized sizes. Realtors, land and commercial developers can avail of professional printing services for printing wholesale orders of flyers.

Posters – Posters are ideal mediums for architectural photography due to their large formats. Large formats can mean higher resolution; capturing more architectural details, vividness and scale. Poster printing today uses full color, digital or offset printers. Travel photographers can make use of online printing services in order to print poster samples for personal or professional use.

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Nikki Sabato -
About the Author:

Nikki Sabato is a writer with a background in landscape architecture and design. She currently works in the field of marketing and design communication.