digital photography

When I buy a new product, I always take a picture of it just in case I want to blog about it at some point. Doing product reviews is one of my favorite blogging subjects and a review post is one that definitely needs at least one photo.

When taking product photos for my blog, I like a clean background so that the product is the only focus of the picture. The best place that I have found to take these photos is on top of the washer.

It gives me a clean, white surface to take photos. Best of all, the washing machine is usually uncluttered unlike every other surface in our home.

Doing product reviews is fun and taking photos of products I already use gives me plenty of options. Using a white surface like the washing machine provides a clean back drop. This ensures only one subject of the photo and makes it easier to manipulate the photo.

Ever since I’ve started this blog, I’ve struggled to do meaningful posts on it. I want to share information that is useful. After giving this some thought, I’ve decided to give this blog a purpose.

Instead of posting general digital photography information, I plan to make this blog as resource for bloggers. Here I plan to give advice on posting pictures, finding pictures, taking pictures, and other topics as they relate specifically to blogging.

If you have questions or comments, I would love to hear from you as I’m still developing ideas for topics and am willing to help fellow bloggers with their digital photography questions/problems.

My husband finally bought his beloved Blackberry which means that I inherited his Moto Q. The phone was only 4 months old and was having issues with non-3G network areas. So since it was under warranty we were sent  a new phone.

When my husband first got the Moto Q, I remember the pictures being clearer than my current camera phone. So I’ve been very disappointed with this new phone since the pictures are very blurry.

This was taken at Wal-Mart. You can barely tell those are packs of seeds.  I was being as still as possible. Just not sure if there is anything I can do to improve the quality as I would really love the camera for those candid shots instead of having to lug around an actual camera everywhere.

Anyone have advice on taking pictures with your camera phone?

I knew procrastinating would someday pay off. Because I kept putting off doing our Christmas photo card, I was able to get a cute photo to use for the card.

It’s a Christmas miracle! She actually wanted her picture taken and posed for it. Color me shocked. And yes, those are Christmas stockings she is wearing on her feet. Those kid moments are too adorable not to snap a few photos. Usually I have to chase her around or snap on the go to capture these moments.

Yesterday also would have been a great day for Christmas photos as snow fell in the morning hours. Too bad it was all gone by the early afternoon. Still snowfall is a rare treat in the south, so I’m sure that many folks snapped their Christmas card photos yesterday.

It’s nice to finally have that task completed. I have to admit that I really like that photo and am glad that my procrastination finally worked to my advantage.

Digital cameras are definitely becoming the camera of choice for many. In fact, many companies are recognizing this.

Polaroid is phasing out its <a href=”http://www.polaroid.com/ifilm/en/index.html”>instant film</a>. This makes me sad. Not that I even had an instant camera but there is just something really cool about them. It’ll be sad to think that you can no longer buy film for them. They are still being used but really a digital camera and a portable printer could do the trick a lot faster and cheaper. At the fair, you can have your picture taken with a horse for $5. The picture is a Polaroid. For the same price, the person could offer several photos that are better quality and cheaper to make. Instant film is quite expensive.

Still, the instant cameras are fun. Remember the excitement of waiting for the picture to develop as your frantically fanned it to speed the process along?

It truly is the end of something amazing. Still it’s exciting to see just what the future holds when it comes to digital cameras. Who knows. One day there might be a digital camera that is also a printer.  Then maybe I won’t miss the Polaroid Instant camera so much.

This weekend was the weekend for local Christmas parades. Saturday alone three local towns had their parades - times were 10am, 2pm, and 6pm. We chose to go to the 2pm parade. I packed my digital camera with the long telephoto lens.

We arrived and staked out a place to stand. Then I noticed something. I would be shooting into the sun. My pictures would be less than stellar. Since I was lugging around my purse, camera, and a bulky fleece blanket, I decided to go back to try to ditch some of this stuff - including my camera since my pictures would have been horrible.

Then I remembered the parade route. We were parked on the opposite street of the main parade route. But the parade would be coming down this street since it would be making the block around downtown. Problem solved.

I was able to get some good photos since the sun was now at my back. Plus this street was way less crowded, which means it was easier to take pictures of the floats.

It’s always fun to snap pictures of events since it gives you a chance to take a lot of photos. The parade was nice and a good opportunity to enjoy my hobby of taking pictures.

Did you see the moon last night? The crescent moon and Venus and Jupiter smiled down on the world. It was definitely a photo opportunity. It’s like the sky was smiling - begging to have his picture taken.

Trying to photograph the moon last night reminded me why I haven’t been that successful at it. I need to use my tripod. The shutter speed will have to be incredibly slow, so it I don’t want a streak of light, the digital camera has to be as still as possible.

Also I need a much larger telephoto lens. We do have a telescope, so it would be pretty cool to be able to use it somehow to take pictures. Not sure if I can accomplish that with the equipment I have, but it’s worth a try.

I love to gaze at the moon and the nighttime sky. It would be wonderful to be able to take some photos of the moon especially on nights when he is ’smiling.’ Who doesn’t want their picture taken when they are smiling, right?

Today in our local newspaper was a picture that made me to a double take. Over half of the photo was out of focus. How on earth did such a photo make it into the newspaper? Well apparently the photographer was going for art when he should have been focused on the story.

The picture was focused in on the person’s image in a video viewfinder. So since the focus was there, it made his face blurry. While the photo itself was OK, for a news photo it failed. If it had been a feature/fluff piece, then I could see trying to go for a more artistic photo.

The photo reminded me of the Bible verse that says “there’s a time and a place for everything.” This was not the time for an artsy photo. It distracted from the story instead of enhancing it. Sometimes it’s best just to take a picture of the subject and leave the artistic instinct checked at the door especially if you are covering a news story.

Last Christmas I bought my Canon Rebel XTi that I just love. It replaced my Sony Cybershot that I had for about a year. The Cybershot was a nice camera as it was very thin and went everywhere with me. It’s been an adjustment trying to carry around the DSLR. So most days it just stays home and I miss some great photos because I don’t have my camera. I would just use my Cybershot for ’spot’ photos but my husband has claimed it for himself.

I’m not sure how much I would use a second digital camera since I really like using my DSLR. But for some occasions it would be extremely useful.

Also with news of Circuit City going out of business and Best Buy backing off their predicted earnings, it might be a good time to get a great deal on a digital camera. While there are advantages to having a second digital camera, I’m not totally convinced that I will use it as much as I think. What I will probably do is to claim back my Cybershot for a few weeks and then see just how much I use it daily while on the go. If I don’t use it at all, then I really don’t need a second camera. If I use it a good bit, then I might keep an eye out for a good holiday sale.

Has this ever happened to you? Your driving along only to see the perfect photo but it is nearly impossible to stop to take the photo? This happens a lot to me. What is great about digital photography is that I can try those nearly impossible shots without worrying about wasting film. Today we went to the pumpkin patch and the sunflowers were in full bloom. The best photos were to be taken from the wagon, so I snapped as many as I could. Most of my photos were shot blindly since I was also holding on to the 3-year-old sitting in my lap. A few did turn out okay.

Taking on the go photos is really a crap shoot as it’s very hard to control a lot of the process. I had just left the camera on auto since I was mainly just interested in taking photos to remember the day. Playing with the settings on the go would probably help to capture clearer photos. The ones I took today were clear but of course were were on a wagon pulled by a tractor. Our top speed was maybe 5-10 mph.

Here are some things to keep in mind when taking photos from your car:

Roll the window down
Have someone else drive
Survey the areas you want to take photos before adventuring out. You might find a few spots to safely pull off the road.

Taking photos on the go can be fun and can net you some photos that you wouldn’t have any other way.