50 essential photography tips

50 essential photography tips

Whether photography is a hobby or a profession, you'll get a whole lot more out of it if you understand how it works. With a firm grasp of aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity and focal length, the ratio of truly great to merely mediocre shots you download at the end of an expedition is all but guaranteed to climb.
Here we present CNET UK's 50 essential shooters' tips. Don't uncap your lens without them.
Aperture

1. Understand aperture

The most fundamental element any photographer should understand is aperture. The aperture is the physical opening within your lens that allows light through to the sensor (or film in an older camera). The wider the aperture opening, the more light can pass through, and vice versa.

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20+ Beautiful Sun & Moon Photographs

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Daimler Riding Car, 1885. The World’s First Motorbike.

Gottlieb Daimler and his ingenious colleague Wilhelm Maybach moved to Cannstatt near Stuttgart in 1882. Differences between the fifty-year-old Nikolaus August Otto and Daimler, two years his junior, had led to the latter’s departure from the Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz on the outskirts of Cologne. Now a wealthy man Daimler, could afford to make himself independent.

For 75,000 Goldmarks he bought a villa in Taubenheimstrasse in Cannstatt and moved there with his wife Emma and five children in June 1882. The property was ideal for his purposes: not only was it directly next to the spa facilities Daimler regularly visited for treatment for his weak heart, but it also benefited from a large garden and spacious summer house. He had an extension added to the latter, and installed a gas and water supply – his test workshop was ready.

In early October, Maybach also arrived in Cannstatt. He moved into a nearby property and initially converted one room of his apartment into a design office. Here he kept the drawing board on which he turned Daimler’s ideas into technical drafts: Maybach was skilled at giving them a functional form – and Daimler knew the value of his technician. When the two men agreed a contract even before leaving Deutz, Maybach was guaranteed substantial remuneration.

The goal shared by the two men was to develop a small, lightweight high-speed engine that was above all suitable for powering a vehicle. They were not alone, however. All around the world others were working on the same idea.

In 1885, the so-called riding car was built in Gottlieb Daimler's workshop as a test unit to prove the suitability of Daimler's and Wilhelm Maybach's gas or petroleum engine for everyday use.

Without knowing of each other’s work, Daimler and Benz had by this time already come to a common starting point: they both opted for petrol as the fuel for their engines and they would be the first to realise their efforts. The decision to use this fuel, which had excellent combustion characteristics, was fundamental to their internal combustion engines for vehicles.

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Improve Your Product Photography and Boost Your Sales

Improve Your Product Photography and Boost Your Sales

When consumers are shopping online, a photo is usually all they’ve got. This is one area where the experience of brick-and-mortar stores continues to trump ecommerce sites— customers can see, touch, and try items before they buy them.

But you’ve got a great weapon in your marketing arsenal: awesome product photography. You don’t have to be a professional to take clear, high-quality photos of the items you’re selling online. If you’ve got good equipment and a basic understanding of camera and lens settings, you have everything you need to start selling.

The first step to taking great product photography is choosing the right camera. At the top of the line, a DSLR camera with an exchangeable lens will offer you the most flexibility. If a DSLR is out of your price range right now, don’t despair. Most smart phones and other mobile devices can snap very high quality photos, and many ecommerce sites now support direct uploads from your mobile device.

Once you’ve chosen your camera, setting and lighting are vital to capturing your product at its best angle. You can set up a simple “studio” in your office space using commonly available items. 

First, find a sturdy spot for your product photo shoot. Try to position your piece near an area of natural light. Basic desk lamps pointed at your product will help as well. If you’re looking for a clean shot, try setting up a white background. The background can be created with copy paper mounted on cardboard or poster board. Adjust lighting and angle to suit your needs.

Now you can take your photos into your virtual lab. You don’t need expensive and complex photo editing software like those designed for professional photographers. Often, open-source software offers the same flexibility as the professional options without the steep learning curve. PR Daily put together a list of 10 simple and easy online photo-editing tools, which you can find here. 

As you edit the photos, tweak the color and lighting if you want to bring out a particularly striking feature of your product or ensure the product’s color is true (this is especially helpful if your product is something like apparel or cosmetics). Take care not to get carried away. As with many visual projects, sometimes less is more, and you want to make sure you’re representing your product accurately.

Once you’re ready, upload your new product photos to your online store. Have a friend or colleague view the site. A fresh eye can give you some helpful advice on what works and what doesn’t work.

Giving your customers different angles and views of your product will help you compete with the experience of traditional brick-and-mortar stores. 

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