Digital Photography: Tricks and Tips For Digital Photography Enthusiasts

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day

Today is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day! Although I haven’t taken part due to far too many domestic chores to complete I always enjoy a challenge and a shake up to the usual routine so I shall endeavour to achieve something this week. There is a fantastic article here (a heads up from Photoblogs.org) by Dennison Bertram on how to create a digital pinhole lens using a camera cover, a filter and some tin foil (true Blue Peter style!) which should help you on your way.  I'll post my results sometime next week.

Rule Of Thirds

One of the most frequently used (and frequently quoted) compositional tools is the rule of thirds. To make use of this tool you simply need to imagine nine equal grid squares on your photograph. By placing the key areas of the composition where the lines cross each other then the viewer's eye will be drawn into the photo. The rule of thirds will balance the composition for you and will always result in a pleasing photograph (well, it will depend on the subject!). The photograph below has been divided up into the nine equal areas for you:

Notice how the larger subject in the photo is the chimney but the balloon, although smaller in the frame stands out as it just crosses the intersecting lines – or point of power – in the photo.

Ghosts Moving

This was taken in the Great Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern in London on a cold winter morning.  It is surprising some of the effects that you can get just using a bog standard mobile phone.  Here I had put the settings into Night Mode and faced the big doors which let in more light than the phone could handle.  However, I did like the finished result.

Why Digital?

Digital Photography has revolutionised the way that we see photographs and the way in which we interact with them. In the past only a handful of people would pick up a camera and take photographs of the world as they saw it because the costs constraints of reeling off miles of film was prohibitive.  Now digital photography has proliferated in our lives from expensive kit to the mobile phone, the opportunity to take photographs has never been wider or cheaper.

From impromptu photos of friends tucking into a McDonalds taken on a Camera phone to the pro with a Canon EOS 1DS MkII sat at the bottom of a mountain waiting to catch just the right light there is always someone taking a photograph of something that they find beautiful. This blog intends to celebrate that fact and document the learning curve that I face as I start out to understand Digital Photography.