In this article, we are going to look at the fundamentals of portrait photography. This could actually be linked into the previous article How To Start A Photography Business (Part 4 – Playing Your Cards Right) in that you could easily turn some of the outputs of your portraits projects into greetings cards.

Many people are now using professional photographers to capture moments from their own, or their loved ones lives.

Reasons Why People Want To Be Photographed Professionally

• Celebrity and the X-Factor factor – Looking good is constantly being shoved down our throats at the moment. For some, having a portrait done gives them confidence and their ‘moment to shine’ because good portrait photography ALWAYS turns out looking good.
• Families are now living further apart and see each other less. For many parents, having a large family portrait is their way of ‘keeping the family together’.
• Another benefit of having a large portrait of a family member (or members) is that it can actually be a cheap, flexible way of decorating. It might sound silly, but you could easily get a photo in a frame very cheaply. Put the portrait up against a plain painted wall and there you go. Simple and cheap way to decorate a whole wall.
• Finally, portraits can make great talking points. They say that a picture tells a thousand words….. They certainly do.

What Will You Need ?

If you want to be a professional and earn life changing income from this business then you have to act professionally…….and that means buying a bit of professional equipment. Look the part !!

• A good camera. I highly recommend the Nikon D3100. I also have a review of it here : Nikon D3100 Review.
• A tripod : Obviously buy one that is compatible with your camera and is flexible enough for the most unorthodox of shots.
• Studio Lighting Kit : You can buy these items separately, but as a great ‘all-in-one package’, I highly recommend the ePhoto K103 Studio Lighting Kit, which offers tremendous value containing :

• 2 x 7 Feet light stands/1 x Background light stand/2 x supporting tripods 8ft
• 3 x Sectional cross bars 8.5 ft wide and 8.5ft height/1 x carrying case for backdrop stands
• 3 x Swivel light AC umbrella holder sockets/2 x 32″ shoot through soft umbrellas
• 3 x 45W perfect day light bulbs 5500K
• 1 x 6′x9′ Black and white muslin backdrop included
• Light Reflector : Essential to avoid harsh ‘undershadows’. Again available from Amazon. This ‘kit’ will cover all of your needs : Light Reflector Kit.

Portrait Photography – On The Day

• Setting up – Always check basic camera and light settings before the clients settle into position. You don’t want to be messing around whilst they are in position. They might have to sit, or even worse stand, there for long enough as it is.
• It’s all about the clothing – You don’t want the group to look like a kaleidoscope of different colours. Try to get them to, at least, wear matching or complimentary clothing.
• The pose – Remember they are related (or at least be good friends) and they should, in theory, want to be close together. Sitting with their backs to each other might be sending out the wrong message.
• Saying “cheese”, is actually too cheesy. Try to make them smile, or even better laugh, with some amusing stories or jokes.
• Remember to keep the photography session upbeat and lively – If it’s not going to plan, don’t huff and puff and throw a tantrum. Keep it professional and suggest that things are good but you want to you try something a little bit different.
• Closed eyes – There is little you can do with the speed of a blink and you certainly don’t want them staring at you. However, a simple count down will give the subjects time to compose themselves and blink at the ‘right’ time. And of course, always check the result whilst the clients are still in their positions.
• Remain flexible – Allow your customers to have their say (after all, they are the ones paying) and never get into a long argument regarding positions – There’s nothing worse than photographing someone who’s just been in a stand up argument.
• Don’t forget pets. They could be a useful ‘add on’, whilst you are in the house. It’s very difficult to get them to stare straight into the camera, but waving a toy just out of shot can result in a very memorable natural photo.

Final Tips For Portrait Photography

• Remember this is a business and, as with any other business there are always opportunities for joint venture partners. These can include :
  • Hairdressers
  • Make-up artists
  • Costume Outlets
  • Pet stores / Vets / Pet grooming shops
  • Photo-Frame Makers
  • In all of the above cases, there will be opportunities to cross-sell and provide leads to each other.
  • Schools are also a good place to find work. Can you undercut their current photographer’s prices ?
  • Remember, you do not need an expensive studio. All of your work can be done ’on the road’ in people’s homes (where they will be feeling more relaxed, which will result in better portraits).
  • Ask permission if you can use some of the shots as part of your own portfolio – This will come in handy later on when show-casing your work – especially any photos of pets, which could be used in specialist pet magazines.

A Word About Professional Modelling Photography

Just a small step up from portrait photography is the world of professional modelling. Whilst fashions come and go, the models that do the modelling of these fashions are always en vogue. That means this niche of photography work is effectively evergreen.

Simple ‘in studio’ shots and the more ambitious ‘out in the field’ portfolios are both legitimate business models here. And of course you also have two options.

• Taking photos that you retain the rights to in order for you to sell to relevant agencies (clothing retailers for example)

OR (slightly easier)

• You help produce a photographic portfolio for an up and coming model (where they will effectively just buy the portfolio from you for their own marketing of themselves

With the latter, there is certainly a chance of repeat business as models should always be looking to update their portfolio and, in addition, they tend to get comfortable and more relaxed with a familiar photographer they know and can trust. Plus, of course, there is always a chance that the model themselves could refer you to other models in the industry – there is nothing like the positive ‘word of mouth’ for generating excellent business leads.

To get a foot in the door in this business, contact local clothing stores, catalogues, or modelling agencies. You might have to offer to produce a small freebie portfolio to get yourself noticed – but a little free work now could lead to massive on-going contracts further down the line.

Generally, the idea with this type of photography is to keep the model moving during the photography shoot. A flowing ‘natural’ shot always looks better than a ‘sit them there looking really rigid’ pose.

The next article in the series is :

How To Start A Photography Business

(Part 6 – Wedding Photography Tips)

(Coming Soon !!!)

If you’ve enjoyed this article on How To Start A Photography Business (Part 5 – Portraits and Models), then please feel free to share with your friends using the social buttons below.

If I’m to be honest, this first consideration is never going to be the most lucrative of ways to start a photography business. Having said that, it is an easy method, and it’s also far safer to cut your teeth doing something like this, than to dive straight into a 150 guest all day wedding.

As I suggested in a previous article, you might want to employ the services of a photography, or printing, store and particularly when we are talking about the production of cards. The sort of cards I’m referring to can include anniversary type cards : birthdays, weddings, Valentines, Easter, Christmas, or even Leaving your job, Thank you and also post cards (a particularly good opportunity to practise your local scenery photography).

Remember, with good planning (also mentioned in the previous article), you could have a year round business, based on particular days of the year. Ideally, you want to make sure that your ‘project’ is completed at least three months prior to the particular event of the year. This is to allow for distribution and also many stores start there themes at least six weeks before any seasonal event (larger stores might even have a two month lead in time). So, for example :-

• For Valentine’s in February – complete your project by the proceeding November
• For Easter in March – complete your project by the proceeding December
• For Mother’s Day in May – complete your project by the proceeding February
• For Father’s Day in June – complete your project by the proceeding March
• Thanksgiving and Halloween in October and November – complete by July
• For Christmas in December – complete your project by the proceeding September
• All year round – Birthdays, wedding anniversaries and new babies : even small portraits of family members turned into cards (see my article on Portraits for additional information). You can build up some real long term relationships with this type of work

So, what exactly should your project consist of ?

• Establishing your theme or idea
• Prepare / make some prototypes
• Finding a source for your finished product (could be a local store, or an on-line store)
• Agree a contract of products that you will deliver to them
• Preparing or sourcing your props
• Establishing a setting for your props (if applicable)
• Photographing
• Developing / touching up the photographs
• Having the photographs made into cards

Now depending on how busy you are getting, it might be that you are able to outsource some of this work. Certainly props could be prepared by friends, family, local craft schools – or purchased cheaply, depending on your budget. And the final step should certainly be outsourced to a specialist printing firm. They will look more professional and, through economies of scale, will work out cheaper to produce.

Theme Recommendation

The one thing I would really recommend in your early forays into the photography business is to stay with a local theme. Regardless of what seasonal them you are looking to exploit, if you could work this in with a well-known local landmark, you should have no difficulty with selling these cards to your local stores, who are always on the look-out for locally produced goods, depicting local scenes.

As a final thought, it is much easier to sell to a previous customer, then to get a new one (assuming you have done a good job previously). Therefore, it is always worthwhile getting as much information about your clients as possible and you can send them reminder cards that a certain event is looming and that you could source their cards requirements again.

The next in the series :

How To Start A Photography Business (Part 5 – Portraits)

I hope you enjoyed this idea on how to start a photography business revolving around greetings cards.Please feel free to share this socially, using the links below.

Newspapers and Magazines

This is the traditional method of earning money from your photographs. Now, I’m not suggesting that you turn yourself into your town’s local paparazzi and stalk any Z-list celebrity 24/7.

But, there is always a market for someone with their ear to the ground, who can take quality pictures of newsworthy events. Perhaps talk to your local newspaper and ask what sort of things they look out for when their ‘official’ photographers are in the field (if, indeed they have any).

Remember, it’s not just about what’s happening now. These types of publications are always on the look-out for ‘exclusive’ types of photos that are not going to be appearing in their competitor’s pages.

Go out and purchase some of the newspapers and a selection of magazines to see what topics are being covered in them. From here, you can build up your portfolio of similar photographs, for presentation to them.

Local newspapers should be an easy way in to this career (and it’s where most professional photographers actually start out). It is actually an excellent place to start for the following reasons :

• The competition will be non-existent (assuming you live in a smaller town and not a major city)
• There will be less ‘stock’ photos of your surrounding area – so if a ‘big story’ does break (like a major fire), you might be the only person in the world with a photo of that burnt out church in its original state
• Local amateur sporting events, whilst written about, rarely have photos to go alongside the commentary. And they take place a weekends – so you can perhaps work this around an existing job
• There should also be a plethora of school, charity and social events worthy of your camera – and again small local publications are unlikely to have a full-time snapper at these events
• Don’t forget to factor in human interest stories. Does someone in your area have an unusual hobby worthy of photographing ? (Remember pictures tell a thousand words, you won’t be expected to write articles, the publications will already have people that can scribe wording around your pictures)
• Of course you might want to take a few shorts initially for a portfolio and show them to an editor to gage the chances of them taking on any freelance work from you

For magazines, in particular, think about specialist periodicals (like pets, boats, horses), are they likely to want pictures to ‘fill space’ ? The answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

On-Line Photo Stockists

One area of photography that has boomed in the past couple of years is on-line photo stockists. If you have never seen them, the system goes like this :

• On-line stockists hold thousands of ‘stock’ photos
• They are catalogued by relevance
• People (or organizations) that want particular photos sign up to these sites and purchase credits
• They can then use these credits to by one, or a number of photos
• Usually the better the quality of photo, the higher the charge (so always use high pixels for each photo)
• You, being the author, will either get paid upfront for your pictures, OR you will get paid as and when each of your photos are bought by purchasers – For example 50%, with the on-line site taking the other 50%
• Photos can be about anything (people, or everyday objects like a picture of a computer, a banana, or a telephone) – Basically, if you can see it, you can photograph it. Think of the type of pictures that appear in informational magazines (not the adverts of a particular product though, as it’s not wise to be taking pictures which may cross trademark boundaries)

I will be drawing up a list of the best on-line stockists in the next few days and will provide a link here when I it’s completed. It will detail what their current rates and any restrictions which are in place.

Until then, the next article in the series is :

How To Start A Photography Business

(Part 4 – Playing Your Cards Right)

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Objectives and goals are crucial in any business – especially one that you are attempting to create from scratch. You need to have a definite plan, which you stick to. But you also need to be flexible in your approach. If something is not working then clearly you need to make changes.

Inevitably, you will make mistakes and dead-lines won’t be met. However, do not be discouraged by this, and accept this as part of the ‘learning process’.

How many hours are you going to put in at the start ? Is this going to fit in around an existing job ? Are there opportunities to gradually remove yourself from your existing job, until there comes a point when you can ‘break free’ completely ?

I personally work with a wall planner. In fact, I would go one further and say that I couldn’t work without one. It’s that important. I also start off the year (as it is always a quiet time for me after Christmas and the New Year’s mayhem) setting my objectives and goals for the year. These usually include :

• Financial goals (including a review of my costs and income from the previous calendar year)
• Types of photography jobs I want to take on during the year (This will depend on my personal plans for the year – Do I want to spend more time with my family, or do I need a new car !!)
• Any new tricks or techniques I want to experiment with throughout the year
• Any specialist or overseas work (I usually start to plan this two years in advance)

I will then break these annual goals down to quarterly (seasonal), monthly, and then weekly.

What you must do is appreciate your current limitations (be those financial, time, or skill limitations). Remember, things will take longer to complete, when you are first starting out, and whilst mistakes are not as costly as in the old 35mm film days, they are still inevitable. Always have a back-up plan.

Certainly do not even think about going into business without at least a modicum of training, experimentation, or research to (at least) give the impression that you know what you are talking about.  And I’m not just talking about the technicalities of the photography itself, but also the business of photography. You will need to factor all of this into your goals and objectives.

How much are you willing to spend on the above mentioned training and also the cost of the actual equipment required ? Don’t get sucked into buying too much, too soon. Let your business profits pay for any upgrades, or specialist equipment.

Who exactly are you going to target as your initial market (or markets). I personally would only concentrate on one market – and get that right first – before branching out into other areas of photography.

Remember, you want to come across as professional as possible as you certainly do not want to ruin your reputation before you have even developed one. Again, your professionalism will only be as good as the goals and objectives that you set yourself.

If you are ready, then let’s go to work………..

How To Start A Photography Business

(Part 3 – Selling Your Photos)

I hope you found this article on the objectives and goals of how to start a photography business. Please feel free to share with your friends using the social media buttons below.

I do have another series of articles on this site about how to make money with your camera, but those really just focus on simple ways you could make ‘a quick buck’. This set of articles aims to go a little deeper than that and considers the ‘whole business’.

With that in mind, it is always good to start any business venture by looking at yourself………

Have You Got What It Takes To Be A Freelance Photographer ?

If you like taking photographs, you are well on your way to consider making this ‘hobby’ into a career. However, taking the odd vacation snap, and actually running a business around photography are two totally different things. You really need to be passionate about it. So much so that your camera really needs to become an extension of your arm.

The good news is that there are countless opportunities in the photography world, and it really is up to you which of these opportunities you take. I will explore some of the possibilities in these How To Start A Photography Business series of articles – you just need to be open minded and willing to put in some time and effort to develop (no pun intended) your craft.

This is also the type of business that you can very much start part-time, working in and around your existing full-time job. Some people even find part-time photography more lucrative than their ‘day-jobs’.

With the advancement of today’s digital cameras, it has never been easier for the amateur to take professional looking photographs. That said, you do need to have an eye for a good shot, as no amount of auto-focusing and subsequent image enhancement can make up for a badly framed image.

Where Do I Start ?

There are some obvious areas where you can start in this business, and I shall be covering them in future articles. If you are brave enough, then weddings are actually an excellent place to start – of course it does come with huge risks (not least for the bride and groom), and it can be a very stressful day. But also very rewarding.

Other areas might include : work for newspapers and magazines, home-made greetings cards, working with models or portraits and, a particular favourite of mine, aerial photography.

The portraits and models area can have endless possibilities. Local company leaflets and promotional material, web-sites, hair-dressing salons and clothing shops. It is easy to turn photographs into t-shirts, mugs and mouse mats today – which could add an additional stream of income, or even as an upsell to your basic photography business.

What Equipment Will I Need ?

To start off with, you really don’t need much more than a mid-range camera, possibly a tri-pod (depending on the photographs you are planning), and maybe invest in some lighting (for indoor work). You could consider a printer, but actually, as a start, I would consider getting them printed professionally at one of the many stores specialising in printing. Sure, it will reduce your profits, but there are deals to be done if you are putting a lot of business in the direction of a particular store.

What Else Do I Need To Think About ?

Photography can be seasonal. There is no doubting that work can be found all year round, but if you are going to specialize in any particular branch of photography (say weddings), then you might be restricting your work and, ultimately, your profits.

Let’s take the things I’ve discussed here a stage further. Next up…………

How To Start A Photography Business

(Part 2 – Objectives And Goals)

I hope you enjoyed this introduction on how to start a photography business. If you did, then please feel free to share this with your friends using the social media buttons below.

If buying from a shop, then it is easy to get carried away with a salesman who might be more interested in his sales targets, than providing you with what you actually need. If buying on-line, you might be faced with many impressive pictures and a table full of specifications – but what do they all mean ?

This article aims to cover the basics of digital camera terminology.

Megapixels

The first thing to consider, when buying your first digital camera, is picture quality. In fact, for me, picture quality is everything. The quality on a digital camera is measured in megapixels. Put simply, the more megapixels (dots that make up the picture), the sharper will be the images produced with the camera.

However, it should be noted that the higher the resolution, the more storage space each picture will take up on your memory cards / sticks – so there is a trade-off to consider. That said, storage cards are relatively cheap in today’s market. Realistically, you don’t want anything lower than a 5.0 megapixel camera – but unless you are looking to make a living out of your photos, or blowing them up for large wall photos, then you can probably get away with anything up to a 10.0 megapixel camera – and these are still very much at a budget price of less than $80.00.

Shutter Speeds

The next thing to consider is shutter speeds. When talking about shutter speeds, the numbers mentioned are in their 100’s – i.e. you might read that a camera has a shutter speed of 600. In reality, this means that the speed is 1/600 of a second.

The rule of thumb is that if you are going to take lots of fast moving sporting action, then you need a fast shutter speed. Slower shutter speeds are used in dimmer light, or when you want to add effects (like the trails seen with someone waving a sparkler or the effect seen with a long trail of car lights on a night-time shot).

In reality, shutter speeds can vary from 1/16000 of a second to several hours (for photographing star trails, for example). Anywhere between 1/16 and 1/2000 will more than cover the average photographer’s needs.

Aperture

Put simply, the aperture is the hole through which the light travels. If it is narrow, then the image will be sharp. If the aperture is wide then the image will only be sharp on the thing that is being focused on – with the surrounding area being blurred. There will be occasions when a blurred image will be required (for effect).

The aperture will also determine how dark the resultant image will be for any given exposure time.

ISO

ISO initially referred to film speed and in particular that film’s sensitivity to light. However, like the other things mentioned in this article, the terminology has also transferred to the digital world, with much greater flexibility now. Previously you bought a whole film with a specific sensitivity (e.g. ISO 100). Now, you can change the ISO after every shot – depending on your surroundings.

So, if you are out in the bright light, and then go inside (at a zoo for example) and didn’t want to use a flash, then you could adjust the ISO from 100 to (say) 1600, with a slow shutter speed (1/30 sec) and get excellent results.

Storage

I’m not talking about the padded case that you put your camera in here. By storage, I’m referring to the memory cards that slot into the side of your camera. Everyone’s requirements will be different. In reality, you only need enough storage to be able to hold onto the pictures until you are in a position to download them onto your computer (or store for printing) and then clear the card (known as formatting) ready for use again.

As mentioned previously, the higher the megapixel for each shot, the more storage you are going to need. Also, most cameras allow for MPEG movies to be taken. If you are in the habit of taking short video clips you are going to need significant storage space on your memory card / stick.

That said, storage cards are large enough to hold several hundred photos – that’s more than enough for even the keenest of photographers on their two week vacation.

As a minimum, I would look for a storage card / stick at 1GB – although professionals might want to look at 16GB or even higher. I also tend to take a spare….. There’s nothing worse then having a camera with only one (damaged) storage card.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at digital camera basics. There will be more in-depth articles published at a later date, covering all elements of photography.

I thought long and hard before dedicating a page of my website to undertaking a Nikon D3100 review, as I don’t normally do public reviews for camera equipment.

However, having spent a small fortune on cameras over the years, there is only ONE that would top my list time after time – without question, the best camera I have EVER owned is the Nikon D3100 Digital SLR. True, it’s not the most expensive camera I’ve ever purchased, but is way above anything else out there.

It is a top seller on Amazon.com, and for a very good reason – it is an awesome piece of equipment, pitched for amateurs and pros alike. This has something for everyone.

Nikon D3100 Review – What do you get ?

Product Features

•    14.2-megapixel DX-format CMOS image sensor; 3-inch monitor with One-Touch Live View shooting and movie capture
•    Includes 3x 18-55mm Zoom-NIKKOR VR Image Stabilization lens
•    Full 1080p HD Cinematic Video with full-time autofocus and sound
•    Easy-To-Use Nikon Guide Mode with intuitive controls and on-board assistance
•    Capture images to SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards (not included)

Technical Details

•    Brand Name: Nikon
•    Model: D3100 18-55mm Kit
•    Optical Sensor Resolution: 14.2 MP
•    Optical zoom: 3 x
•    Display Size: 3.000 inches
•    Width: 3.8 inches
•    Height: 3.0 inches
•    Weight: 1.11 pounds

Nikon D3100 Review Summary

From my own point of view, I would say that this camera will make you shoot like a pro if you get some basic knowledge on how to compose your frame. Although it is an entry level camera, it produces as good as, if not better, pictures from its expensive counterparts. The best bits are :-
•    The price – there’s a lot of bang for your buck with the D3100.
•    14 megapixels – more than enough at this price range and allow you to make large prints of shots without sacrificing quality.
•    Large LCD screen – particularly good for ensuring that everyone has their eyes open at group shots (without having to zoom in to each persons faces).
•    It’s small & light weight and has good grip – useful for my careless hands.
•    I’ve tried continuous shooting and the 3fps speed was quick enough for what I needed.

Negatives ?
The only thing that I picked up on during this Nikon D3100 review was the fact that when in VERY quiet surroundings you can hear the lens focusing when recording video – but then you get that with many cameras. Of course, with any amount of background noise then you can’t hear the motor at all. If you’re buying a DSLR specifically for video capabilities, then maybe you should be thinking about a camcorder anyway.

Also the self-timer has just two settings 10 sec or 2 sec. It would be nice to be able to define this yourself for say 5 seconds rather than 2 – small point, but I like self-portraits.

Other Nikon D3100 Reviews

At the time of writing (May 2011), there were 153x 5 star comments. Unfortunately, for copyright reasons, I’m not allowed to post customer quotes directly here. However you you want to see the customer reviews, then Click here.

I did note that there were professional photographers commenting on the review page saying how close to a professional camera it really is – for a fraction of the cost.

For the price, this is a massively fantastic deal – and there are some great deals on the flash memory cards at Amazon as well.

As I’ve said at the top, the Nikon D3100 is the best camera I have EVER owned.

For additional Nikon D3100 reviews and discounts or to purchase, please click on the image below.

If you enjoyed this Nikon D3100 review, you might want to look at the review I did for Evan Sharboneau’s course on photography tricks.

As a professional photographer, I am always on the look-out for new products and so-called gurus claiming to have written the latest book on photography tricks (unfortunately, many of them are just marketers who actually know nothing about photography).

Well, there’s a course that caught my eye recently. It’s by Evan Sharboneau, who has successfully managed to put together a very comprehensive course on trick photography. Sure, the advent of Photoshop has made manipulating photographs easier than it was ‘back in the day’ but the real skill is using your camera to get those eye boggling images in the first place.

Some of the photography tricks in the course are quite outstanding but are very easy to replicate.

Whilst I have many pages on this web site about trick photography, I really haven’t gone anywhere near the detail that Evan has in this fantastic course. On this page I will provide you with a detailed account of what’s inside the course AND I’m going to start off by showing you one of Evan’s tutorials (see below).

I hope you enjoyed that……there’s plenty more of those……..

Trick Photography & Special Effects – What’s Inside The Course ?

Okay, in this initial part of the review, I’m going to walk you through the actual members area.

Firstly, when you get your link to the members area and log in you will see the following tabbed page format :

• Home Page Tab
• E-book Tab
• Videos Tab
• News Tab
• Contact Us Tab

I’ll uncover what’s behind the main tabs below.

E-book Tab

On this page, you will see a links to be able to download the book and the four bonus e-books. Each comes in straight forward PDF format (so simply right click and “save as…”, OR you can download them in a zipped files).

I have gone into some detail regarding the ebook contents below.

Videos Tab

In here are three modules, to coincide with the modules in the book. The 55 videos total nine hours in length. Many of the videos run up to 20 minutes in length, so you really do get to see a detailed view of every trick photography example covered. Some are obviously shorter (5 minutes long), depending on the complexity of the topic being covered.

The beauty of the videos are that they have been recorded in HD, so I’d fully recommend that you use the full screen feature on each of the videos and you won’t lose any of the quality in doing so.

Contact us

Evan does provide his clients with his private email address and is more than happy to answer any issues you might be having.

Now, I’d like to delve a bit deeper into the actual course………….

The Ebook Contents

After a few of the usual legal, Forward From the Author, and Contents pages, we then move into the actual content :

Preliminaries

There is a nice little section at the start which talks about the ideal type of camera bodies and lenses you should use and also a bit on tripods and photo-shop software. Once that is done, we really are into the training modules.

Module 1 : Long Exposure Effects & Light Painting

Evan starts off the course talking about one of my favourite subjects. Key to this is camera settings. Even budget cameras have a certain amount of flexibility when it comes to settings, but for many people it is not something they would even consider touching and they are content with leaving all of the settings on ‘Auto’, or ‘Factory settings’. However, with a   little bit of experimentation you’ll be amazed what your $100 camera can really achieve.

Useful tips are included at this point concerning shutter speeds, setting the aperture and ISO, setting the white balance and generic common settings for light paintings.

Next are the fundamentals of lighting, including flashlights and LEDs and also guidance on using fiber optic adaptors and where you can buy all these cheaply. But fear not, you do not need a stack of costly accessories to get the most out of this course. There is plenty here even if you don’t buy all of these additional tools.

Having said that, Evan then discusses LED strips (even how to build them yourself), Bayco work lights and fairy lights (how to make orbs with these). Then there are laser pens, fibre optics, cathodes (and how to make one cheaply), glow sticks, glow in the dark paint.

We then move onto long exposure of city lights, capturing fire, EL Wire (don’t worry if you don’t understand the terminology of some of this stuff – you would have seen photos with these effects on).

The module then goes into numerous techniques looking at motion blur (e.g. waterfalls, star trails) and long exposure techniques.

Module 2 : Trick Photography and Special Effects

This chapter contains more traditional trick photography that anyone can do with even the most basic of camera. Topics covered include, illusions and forced perspective. Upside down reflections and 3D photography are very well covered (using one or two SLR cameras), and also high-speed photography.

One thing I’ve really improved on is smoke trick photography. What I learnt here really helped sharpen up my images. Infra-red photography also gets a tutorial as does the increasingly popular 360 degree photography (See photo at the top of this page – I’ve seen a lot of people posting these on Facebook recently).

Module 3 : Photoshop Projects

This is where it is useful to have Photoshop. Having said that, this section is independent from the other chapters and there are free on-line versions of Photoshop readily available (This has given me another idea for an article, which I will write up shortly – reviewing 5 or 10 of the best free alternatives to Photoshop).

What I can tell you at this stage is that Adobe does have a free version of its more famous Photoshop product and you can obtain it from here : Photoshop Express.

There are plenty of effects covered in this module, including : Layer Masks, Levitation (people floating in mid air), invisible man (see photo to the right), and many more.

Now I appreciate that many people are a little reluctant to get involved with Photoshop, as they think it will be too complex and frustrating. Let me tell you it’s not. He’s a time lapse version just to show you how easy it really is :

There is a lot more besides, but please take a look at Evan’s website (link below) for more information.

Trick Photography & Special Effects Official Web Site

As I said previously, I have not seen anything like some of this stuff before, so learning these techniques will arguably give you an advantage when entering photo contests (if that’s your thing), or for ‘selling’ your work to photographic websites (that’s the core of my business now and well worth looking into if you are not already doing this).

Bonus Ebooks

In addition to the 295 page Trick Photography and Special Effects e-book and videos, Evan also provides four additional e-books, at no extra charge:

Core Photography Fundamentals
This e-book goes over the basics concepts like aperture, depth of field and bokeh, shutter speed, ISO, focusing, white balance, how to get the sharpest photo possible, various accessories you can get for your camera, etc.

Introduction to External Flash Photography
Using an off-camera flash can be very useful when photographing people. This e-book tells you about the most popular techniques and suggests useful equipment needed to get started right away.

How To Make Money with Photography
Learn how to get your photos accepted into stock photography agencies and how to sell photos as fine art prints. As I mentioned above this is the ‘core’ of my business now and is very lucrative !!!

Filters for Lenses and Plug-ins for Photoshop
This e-book reviews the effects filters and Photoshop plug-ins so you’ll know how to create fun and trippy effects.

I have to admit, as a professional photographer of 27 years, even I’ve missed out on many of the photography tips detailed in these books during my career.

I highly recommend these books to amateurs and pros alike. Please click on the link below to visit Evans official site and see some of the amazing photography tricks that you could be doing soon.

Click on the image below to visit the Trick Photography official web site.

If you enjoyed this trick photography course review, then you might want to look at my Nikon D3100 review page.

Please feel free to share this page with your friends using the social media buttons below.

The Pros of Digital

Digital cameras are great for most people.  Perhaps the best thing about a digital camera is that you have instant access to the pictures you have taken. When you use a digital camera, you can immediately see the picture that you just took and determine whether or not you need to re-shoot that particular subject.  In addition, when you take digital pictures, you can easily download the prints to your computer. You can store your pictures, enhance them and print them on your printer. In addition, digital prints make for easy storage. You can shoot thousands of digital pictures and store them on a couple of disk. Compare that to the boxes of printed pictures that you probably have in your home.

The Cons of Digital

There are many cons of using digital as well. For example, digital pictures are easily lost. If you are like most people, you probably download the pictures to your computer and never do anything else with them. If you do not back up your digital pictures to disk, all it takes is for your computer to crash one time and you have potentially lost hundreds of valuable pictures. Many people feel that digital pictures do not have the same look and feel as film prints.  For this reason, most professional photographers still prefer to use film, instead of digital. Digital pictures can also become pricey if you print them out at home. A good quality printer paper, plus colored printer cartridges for your printer can add up quickly. .

The Pros of Film

As mentioned earlier, many professional photographers still prefer to use film to digital. If you take pictures for hobby, you can adjust your film camera to get the exact look that you want. This is not always the case with digital pictures. Some people prefer to use a film camera, so it forces them to have their pictures developed right away.  Rather than leaving your memories on a disk, you have to have your print pictures printed. You will always have them in your hand to look at.

The Cons of Film

It seems that film cameras are losing popularity. Film is not as convenient as digital. He must wait to have pictures developed before you can look at them down is also expensive and having pictures processed, adds extra expense. In addition, when you use film, you must have everything on your roll of film printed out. You do not have the ability to scroll through and delete bad pictures on the spot as you do when you use digital.

When considering film over digital, one is really no better than the other. The choice has more to do with your personal preferences than anything else does. If you are considering buying a new camera, look at both film and digital to determine which ones are right for your use. I have three digital cameras, a 35mm camera and a standard film camera.

If I had to choose, I would choose the digital because of the option to view pictures right away. This way you know if you are capturing the image the way you intended too. I have been caught to many times with fuzzy pictures, missing heads and so on. Another thing is with a digital camera, if you need glasses, you will still be in focus, where as with a 35 mm focus camera, you might have a surprise, fuzzy pictures, and you may never find another opportunity like that again.

And so to the best……….

Click here to read my review of the best camera on the market, the Nikon D3100.

Since then, a lot of people have stacked away their film cameras in their closets in favor of the digital camera.

But before jumping into the digital camera itself and its finer details, it is important to know what digital photography is.

In a nutshell, digital photography is the act of taking pictures and saving it into a digital format. A scanned photograph, therefore, can also be considered as a digital photograph.

Most people prefer the digital format over film because of several reasons. First of all, seeing the results of digital photographs is instantaneous.

After the shot is taken, the photographer can immediately see and decide if he does or doesn’t like the result of his shot. This method is much cheaper than film because when using film, one has to print all the photographs taken including the duds which can’t be seen until they are processed.

Another reason why people prefer digital photographs than traditional ones is that there are a variety of ways in sharing a digital photograph.

One can send it through it e-mail, burn it to a disc, send it via Bluetooth or print it just like film photographs.

However, there are purists who choose film photographs over digital ones. According to them, there film photographs produce more lifelike images than those taken by digital cameras.

But the more advanced digital cameras of today are slowly but surely gaining ground and it will only be a matter of time before they produce images that will impress even the purists.