New Photos

I know I haven't posted for a VERY long time but I wanted to share these photos I just took.
This is for my color photography class and we had to pic a theme...and so I chose to focus on where your feet take you in life...and the shoes to go with those places.

Outdoor Photography

Outdoor Photography is a magazine and online site that is dedicated specifically to outdoor photography. This site is currently holding a winter contest in which the winner can choose one of three prizes. They can choose from a Canon EOS 40D camera, a Nikon D300 camera or $1,500 cash.

Unfortunately you can no longer submit your photos but anyone visiting the site can look at all of the submitted work that will be judged soon. Many of the images are not all taken in the United States. Although it is not required to name the area in which each photo was taken, many photographers still listed this information. Each photograph does list the name of the photographer who took that specific picture.

Here are a few examples of the amazing pictures entered into this contest.

Taking Pictures of Animals

Taking quality pictures requires you to know about the subject of your photograph. For example, if you want to take a picture of an zebra running away from a lion, you need to adjust the shutter speed and aperture to capture the animals speed and agility.

Conversely, if you want to photograph a sloth, you would approach the situation drastically differently from the zebra and lion photo. Again adjust the shutter speed and the aperture for this slow moving subject.

One very important tip to remember is to be patient, especially when photographing wildlife. Animals rarely pose for pictures so being patient is an essential tool to remember.

Here are some photographs of animals that I truly enjoyed.






















All of the information and images in this posting was provided by photographytips.com. Click here to learn more.

Learning Through Mistakes

I was looking online to find some new photography information and I stumbled upon this website.

I really enjoyed looking through the different examples of what not to do when taking a photograph. Here are a few examples of the photographs shown on the website.



















The image on the top was taken inside of a car at dusk. The image looks okay at first but when looking closer, it becomes clear that the bright light on the bottom part of the frame was created by a reflection on the hood of the car. This is not the kind of quality anyone should be aspiring to create.

The image on the bottom was obviously was taken from inside of a car. A general rule is very few images will turn out good when taking them from inside of a car. There are many limitations and as you can see, there is a lot of unnecessary information inside of the picture plain.

Another Famous Photographer

Charles C. Ebbets is most famous for taking the photographs of the worker on the top of Rockefeller Center while it was in construction in 1932. These images are stunning because they
show the extreme working conditions that these people had to endure. The black and white quality of the photos add as classic look that captures the time the photograph was taken.

Famous Photographer

Mathew Brady is a famous photographer from the civil war. He was significant because he took pictures of fallen soldiers when very few photographers did so at that time. This changed how people looked at war because they could now see the fields covered with the lifeless bodies of loved ones. It brought the destructive act of war into the thoughts and minds of everyone waiting at home. The civil war was the most photographed war but it is also because of Brady that there is very little coverage of war today. It is too difficult for people to see with their own eyes the hundreds of fallen soldiers who gave up their lives for our country.

Photography Tips Video

This video covers three of the five basic tools used when taking professional quality photographs. It provides examples of point of view, filling the frame and leading lines.

8 of the Top 30 Best Photo Album Covers

Here is a list of the coolest, sexiest, and most iconic photo albums covers ever. There is a list of 30 on popphoto.com but I picked my top 8 in no particular order.

Artist: The Beatles Artist: The Clash
Title: Abbey Road Title: London Calling











Artist: Madonna Artist: Marilyn Manson
Title: True Blue Title: Mechanical Animals











Artist: Nirvana Artist: Captain Beefheart and His Magical Band
Title: Nevermind Title: Trout Mask Replica











Artist: The Doors Artist: Rage Against the Machine
Title: Strange Days Title: Rage Against the Machine












There were some rules when choosing these album covers. The covers had to feature photos. It was limited to one pick per artist.

All this information came from American Photo Magazine. November/December 2008 Volume XIX Number 6

Photography Basics

This podcast is designed to describe how the aperture affects the depth of field in a photograph. By adjusting the size of the aperture, you can create close up photos as well as landscapes.

Top Ten Digital Cameras

There are thousands of different cameras to choose from. Anything from disposable cameras you buy at the drug store to cameras costing more than a year's salary. However, which cameras were ranked the most popular in the last five years? Below is a table showing the Top Twenty Digital Cameras based on "click throughs."

The number one camera on this list is the Sony Alpha DSLR-A900. This camera has every function a person can think of and takes incredibly stunning photographs. However, the price tag for this camera can also be looked at as incredible. This camera costs around $3000.

This next table shows the top twenty camera brands in the past five years. The number one brand is Canon has an outstanding 29.7% of the click shares. Here is a list of some of the most popular Canon cameras, again that range in price significantly.

Photo Contest

National Geographic is currently running the 2008 National Geographic International contest. Anyone can submit their photos and or visit the section that shows all of the winners from the previous years. Many of the photographs demonstrate political, environmental, cultural or moral issues through the use of photography. You can vote for your favorite photo without submitting one yourself by logging on to the website. If you want to submit an image, you have to sign up for the National Geographic website and become an official member. Here is the link to find out more information about submitting your photos or looking at past winners. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photo-contest/photo-contest

The winner of the 2007 contest is shown below. It is of "caged monkey's awaiting their fate at a medical laboratory Hubei Province, China." Here is a link to learn more information about this photo and other winners. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photo-contest/2007-winners

Andy Batt Studio

Photographing people is incredibly difficult in so many ways. People don't stay still, they have many facial expressions (some of which are not very photogenic), and most people have their own idea of how they want to look in the final picture. Despite all of these obstacles, photographing people can be the most satisfying experience in a photographer's career.

While meandering through a Google search for "people photography" I found a website for a company called Andy Batt Studio. Andy is the photographer for the company and he has worked with over 35 clients such as Dell, Adidas, Nike and Levis . His company specializes in taking pictures of people in a variety of settings. They have portfolios dedicated to sports, dance and music which took my breath away.

The first portfolio has a plethora of sports shots. Many of these pictures are taken at the climax of every game, showing off the incredible skill of these athletes. The camera angle in each photo is positioned perfectly to capture the subjects achieving the unbelievable.







The dance photos shows the immense strength needed to become a professional dancer. These images really explain to the viewer the balance between strength and elegance. The lighting being used gives a"spot light" ambiance, as if the viewer got VIP seating on the stage with the dancers during a performance. They are truly beautiful.








Lastly are the images that are taken for the music industry. All of the pictures are of the band members, doing whatever they feel like to express themselves. Although many of the pictures are taken in the same place, Andy has still captured the uniqueness of every individual by changing the lighting or the angle of the camera. These seeming small changes impact an image significantly.












Andy Batt Studio is truly an amazing company with hundreds of stunning images. These photos are inspirational and they demonstrate how photography is truly an art form unlike any other.
http://www.andybatt.com/

Common Rules for Photography

I know there is no "right or wrong" way to take a picture, however, there are a few guidelines that can be helpful to make an image more impressive.

The Rule of Thirds: This concept covers where to place the subject of your image. The idea is to avoid placing your subject in the center of the frame; rather, you should place it where the lines intersect on the image below.








Fill the Frame: If you have one subject that you want to focus on (such as a person or animal) don't stand 15 feet away and take the picture. Get up close and don't be afraid to fill the frame with your subject. It will make your image more memorable and striking.







Natural Framing: If you are in a location that has something hanging down from above your subject, (such as a tree branch or a building) or an object in the foreground (such as a plant or fence) than you can incorporate that natural framing into your photo. This is a simple technique that will make your photos look very professional.








Point of View: To make your photo collection really divers, take you photos at different levels and point of views. An image will change dramatically if you take it from a worm's point of view compared to a bird's.









Leading Lines: Be conscience of the lines in your image and use them to benefit you. You have complete control of how to move the viewer's eyes around your image and utilizing lines can be really helpful.










Photographs created by Jennifer Bilek
Guidelines information contributed by http://www.aea1.k12.ia.us/lois/ruleofthirds.html

Unreachable Expectations

When we walk up to the register at any drug or grocery store, we are bombarded with magazines and tabloids showing one of three things. The first is the "best and worst celebrity bathing suit shots," showing images of cellulite thighs and flabby stomachs. The second is fitness magazines with tanned models with little on, weighting 90lbs. Lastly we see magazines with quick-fix headlines like "how to lose 20lbs in 2 weeks and keep it off!"

Most women after looking at these images of flawless skin and perfect abs end up being escorted home by Ben and Jerry and are welcomed home by their broken in couch. We try to eat right (most of the time) and we try to fit in exercise between work and picking up the kids, but somehow it doesn’t seem to be enough.

So after all of our hard work, why can’t we look like the models on fitness and design magazines? Well, I’ll let you in on a secrete…neither do the models! The men and women who are photographed in these magazines do not look anything like the finished product. They are older, scarred, larger, paler and so much less attractive than they are perceived in the 2-D form.

Through the use of Photoshop and other photo manipulation programs, these people are cropped, skewed, altered, tanned, and changed to an unrealistic perfection. Barbie would even envy the women who are in some of these magazines. Take a look for yourself.

As you can see, this woman looks fifteen years younger in the image on the left than the original on the right. Her jaw construction has been significantly altered. Her skin has been smoothed over and all of her blemishes have been removed. The manipulated image even shows evidence of her eye shape changing as well as her lips and shoulders. This hopefully demonstrates how even the models who are praised for their extreme beauty aren't good enough to be placed in a magazine without extreme alterations. To see more photos like these visit www.digitalphotoshopretouching.com and watch how the professionals can change anyone’s raw image into an unobtainable figure.

The Photo that Changed Everything

Photography seems ordinary in the modern day due to its frequent exposure in our daily lives; however, photography trudged through many journeys before it became what it is today. There is evidence of basic principles of photography being discovered as far back as 16^th century, but it wasn’t until 1826 when a man by the name of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce created the first permanent photo. He did this by coating a pewter plate with a Judea bitumen solution and allowing it to rest for around eight hours in the windowsill of his summer estate in France. The sunlight chemically dissolved the sections of the Judea bitumen solution that were exposed to varying amounts of sunlight. This is how the famous photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras, was created. Although it has faded significantly over the years, it is still in tact to this day. This photograph is more than a page in a history book; it acts as a constant reminder how far we have come from Niépce era. Conversely, it also reminds us of how important it is to push the boundaries and never accept any task as impossible. (photography.nationalgeographic.com, Philip Greenspun, Photo.net/history)

-Jennifer Bilek