Feex’s Photography

Stock photography can be a much overlooked sect of digital photography. Although, portraits, nature, abstracts and so on are more known through out the photography community, that isn’t to say that stock photography isn’t as important. What makes taking stock photos so different to all other types of photography is the applicable means to which stock photos are presented. Other types of photos such as portraits and macro sometimes don’t have a definitive analogy to where such photos lie. A portrait can carry the quality of being a ‘portrait’ with no other applicable use besides the art in itself. Contrarily, stock photos have a very clear purpose and may even cross the line as to calling them a job instead of a type of photography. A proper explanation of stock photography is needed in order to further pursue the career.

First it is important to know where the term stock photos comes from. This is term coined, more fluently, on the internet, and most of the time it refers to selling and buying photos through a stock photo site. A stock photo site is a place that anyone can sign up and upload their photos in order for buyers to purchase their pictures. You can earn money based on whatever guidelines the site may have. A variety of people purchase stock photos mostly for job related reasons. The most popular frequenters of stock photo sites are graphic designers, marketers, magazines, and advertisers. They may use the picture in whatever way the want, they may edit the image or leave it completely unchanged.

In order to learn how to become successful in the business of freelance stock photography you need to know what buyers want and how it differs from regular photography. Depending on the practices of a job, buyers need digital stock photos for specific purposes that make it easily editable or accessible. They might need pictures of macro, landscape, and industrial subjects but just presented a little bit differently than what most are use to.

Advertisers might need pictures of self-directed compelling premises, that easily convey what they are trying to sell. Graphic designers want digital photos that are easy to edit that lack complex backgrounds and over shadowing. Also, a lot of jobs need several different versions of the same picture in order to find one that will do the project justice. Meaning pictures of the same subject but presented at different angles and camera positions. For a more comprehensive tutorial on how to take stock photos go look at thetutorials and jobs in digital photography.

That is the basic explanation of what stock photography is. It can seem simple but learning the complexities of how to take profitable digital photos can take a while. If you are looking to pursue a career doing this freelance and on your own, then dedicate enough time, work hard and you will have something to show for it.



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Nicholas Normandy

This article on wedding photography tips will help alleviate any concerns you may have as that big day approaches. The use of a digital camera offers an amateur photographer a great opportunity to achieve success in wedding photography. While it is always a good idea to leave your wedding photography to a trained professional, these wedding photography tips and other resources will make the best of your big day. How often is it when your friends and family surround you in celebration?

Below are some wedding photography tips to help ensure the pictures you receive are of the highest quality and the entire event is a success.

- Understand the quality of your camera and its flash. Reread the owner’s manual and do some online research. This will make you aware of any limitations your equipment has in different lighting situations.

- Another photography tip for your wedding is to be aware of your surroundings when you are taking the photos. More often than not, amateur photographers focus completely on the subject without taking a look at the negative space behind and around the subject. Is there a lot of clutter? Is there too much activity and distraction that will be included in your picture if you snap and shoot now? Try to find a place where your subjects have calm, unobtrusive backgrounds and your wedding photographs will be filled with success.

- Another wedding tip is to be aware of the glare from eyeglasses. The glare from eyeglasses can cause a big bright spot in your photo and make your subject unrecognizable. But remember that all that is needed is a simple adjustment to your subject’s pose. Instead of removing the glasses, he or she will simply need to move their head down and to the side until the glare has subsided.

- After all the pomp and circumstance of the wedding ceremony, the reception offers a great time to capture successful wedding photographs. Think about all the great things that happen once every one loosens up, the cutting of the wedding cake, the throwing of the wedding bouquet, and the little kids all dressed up and running around make for great moments to take pictures. Of all the wedding photography tips to help guarantee success, this is a key one.

These wedding photography tips will help you achieve success the next time you are called upon to capture that lucky couple’s special day.

For more info about Photography discussion group or even about Marketing photography business and even about Professional photography forum please review these links.



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Groshan Fabiola

Given the high level of professionalism photo shooting has reached, it’s no wonder there is an incredible diversity of businesses that provide all the photography supplies necessary for both amateurs and professionals. Photography supplies include props for lighting, backdrops, templates for the processing of digital camera pictures, albums, studio equipment and plenty more others. There are many adjacent businesses that flourish by supporting the needs of photographers and studios; they are not just a source of photography supplies, but a much wanted service support in case something goes wrong with a piece of equipment. The staff that deals with photography supplies is well trained to know what to offer to business partners.

With the extension of the Internet as the most comprehensive international market, companies that provide photography supplies have also entered the new type of e-commerce. Through professional virtual shops or promotional sites, such suppliers are keeping close contacts with their customers; thus you can receive regular notifications on the email concerning new types of photography supplies. From time to time, customers are offered special discount rates for a strengthening of the existent buyer-supplier relationship. You may be surprised to learn that some photography supplies ordered online are a lot cheaper than those purchased from brand name companies.

Let’s take for instance the case of a developer chart; you’ll notice that prices vary from one supplier to the other. The important thing to check before purchasing such an item of photography supplies is the times and the temperature for the developing process. There are demos and special use instructions available on the Internet, with relevant details that should convince a pro whether it is worth paying the money or not. As complex as all photography supply details would seem to a profane eye, they are essential when actually purchasing a professional item of equipment: after all the quality of one’s work depends on such tools.

Photography supplies also include special kinds of props, and here we should mention the fact that the types of backdrops and settings depends on the type of photos you usually take. If photo shooting is your profession and not a simple hobby, then you’ll definitely need a variety of photography supplies in your personal studio. More unique cases are when you need kids props for instance: they come for quite high prices, but can rarely be replaced: so much for the improvisation! There is little adjustment you could actually operate to the existing props under such circumstances.



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Muna wa Wanjiru

Wildlife photography requires a combination of camera skills, timing and patience. One essential aspect is often forgotten: knowing how to use the light to get the best results from your wildlife photos.

To take a top-class wildlife photograph, you need to know your animal; where to find it, how to approach it without scaring it away, and how to know the precise moment to press the button to capture the character of the subject. Often a wildlife photographer will spend hours trying to get a good shot. What a shame, then, if all that effort is wasted by taking your photo in bad light.

As a nature photographer, I have learned that the ideal light for a photo can vary depending on the subject. Landscape photos are usually best photographed in sunny weather, early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the contrast is low and the light is soft and colouful. On the hand, rainforest photography is usually best in the middle of the day, in cloudy weather to eliminate extremes of light and shade. To understand the best lighting for wildlife photography, you can take a lesson from both landscape and rainforest photography.

To get the best light for a wildlife photo, you are really looking to minimize contrast, and to eliminate shadows from important areas; most importantly across the face of the animal.

If you take your photos in the middle of a sunny day, you are bound to encounter shadows in all the wrong places. Bright light is likely to overexpose parts of the subject, while the face and the underside of the animal could be lost in heavy shadow. The result will be unattractive, and lacking in much of the detail that should give character to your photo.

There is nothing wrong with taking your wildlife photos on a sunny day. Just remember the lesson from landscape photography and seek to take your photos early in the morning and late in the afternoon. At these times the subject is illuminated from a more horizontal angle, so the full face of the animal is well-lit; you are less likely to have shadows over the eyes and other important features. If there are shadows, they will be much softer because the contrast is much lower when the sun is low in the sky.

The light at these times is also much more colourful, with the golden hues you associate with sunrise and sunset. This is a classic technique for improving landscapes, but it can be just as effective for wildlife. The warmth of the light can create an intimacy in your pictures that is completely lost in the harsh light of midday.

The second approach is to follow the rule of rainforest photography, and take your photos in overcast weather. This allows you to catch your subject in very even, low-contrast light.

I find cloudy days particularly useful for animals with glossy surfaces. Frogs, for example, have damp, shiny skin that reflects a lot of light. In glary conditions a green frog may appear mostly grey or silver in a photo. On a cloudy day the same frog will be shown in its true colours.

Birds can often appear more colourful on a cloudy day, for the very same reason. The sun shining on glossy feathers can create a lot of reflection, robbing the photo of its natural colour. It may seem the opposite of what you would expect, but the dull light of a cloudy day can actually produce the truest colours in a bright wildlife subject.

One final question you may ask: should you use a flash to illuminate a wildlife photo? My answer to that is a definite “NO.” Flash photography bathes the subject in white light, coming from directly in front of the subject. It may illuminate the subject, but at the same time rob it of the natural play of light and shade that makes a good photo so appealing.

Some wildlife photography experts use multiple flashes to brightly illuminate a subject from every possible angle. This approach can work very well, but remember; these are experts in flash photography. If you are at the beginner stage, I recommend learning to work with natural light. When you get the hang of it, I guarantee you will be happy with the results.



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Andrew Goodall

When it comes to buying digital accessories for your digital camera you will find that you will probably spend a bundle on stuff you will never use or probably only use once. This is if you are taking photography as a hobby, it is different if you are planning or are taking photography as a professional or serious hobby because you will have to buy accessories which you will most probably end up using or have to use.

Buying digital accessories is very necessary especially if you have taken a professional job like fashion photography or even a serious hobby like bird watching. Most of these accessories come in handy during difficult shots that have to be taken in a certain way. Not forgetting the lighting and of course how the sun hits the particular subject you are taking photos of.Long distance lenses, fish eye lenses are important as well as tinted lenses and the other many accessories which would include an extra GB of memory or off course the most important a battery recharger or basically extra batteries.

Many people forget that when you buy these small digital photography accessories, you will probably end up using them. In fact you don’t have to be a professional to carry the accessories with you because you never know when they will come handy. Preparing for the unexpected is what makes you a good photographer. Being ready with the right accessories, is what will get you those shots you might have missed.



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Peter Gitundu

There are many things that you will need in your quest for digital photo-taking, and I have to tell you that they are legion. It’s just as bad and maybe even worse, than the masses of stuff you need with a good film camera. However you look at it though, just as with a film camera, most of these digital photography accessories are stuff that we buy just to please ourselves.

There’s really only a very small amount of these digital photography accessories that can be truly thought of as essential to the serious photographer. Everything else is just for the fun of it really. Since digital photography accessories can be anything that you need, want, or see from one given moment to the next, I thought it best if I separated them out for you. You know, just to make your life somewhat easier.

In actual fact I did this for myself a few years ago when I was still on film cameras because I found that no matter how hard I tried, I always wound up buying something that was useful, but which wasn’t useful to me. Like the fisheye lens that I bought a few years ago, just before I got into my digital stride. It’s a digital photography accessories that is useful yes, just not for me.

Needless to say, I still have it. I’ve used it only once, but since the thought that I might actually get around to using it crosses my mind every time I try to part with it, I’m still the proud owner of a completely useless fisheye lens. If you’ve been a photographer of any sort for any length of time, then there’s a better than even chance that you’ve also indulged at some point in time and have bought digital photography accessories that’s absolutely useful – just not useful for you.

So to that end, I started out writing a list of the digital photography accessories that I absolutely must have in order to get any sort of photography done, but instead came up with a list of all the things that I needed, wanted and saw just that morning in my favorite photography magazine. Obviously that wasn’t going to get me anywhere fast, and I have to say that I ditched the list at that time.

Luckily for all you readers out there going through this with breathless anticipation, I found it just the other day that there are digital photography accessories that you should-have, or that you might want to look at getting at a later point in time. And the digital photography accessories that you want and that you will get at some point in time.



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Muna wa Wanjiru

Ansel Adams, most widely known in the photography world for his immaculate and accurate view of nature, changed the way people looked at photography. Adams described himself in three ways: a photographer, lecturer, and writer. But in actuality, you can combine these three facets and call him a communicator.

Born in 1902, Adams photographic vision was born immediately as he spent his childhood growing up in the natural beauty of San Francisco, California. As a shy and lonesome boy, Adams typically took long walks in the still-wild reaches of the Golden Gate observing and enjoying the nature.

Ansel Adams’ true passion for nature photography came from the Yosemite Sierra, where he spent substantial time at from 1916 until his death in 1984. Starting with the Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie that his parents gave him, Adams hiked, climbed, and explored the beauty of nature.

In 1930 Adams met photographer Paul Strand, whose images had a huge impact on Adams. It was his images that helped move Adams from a pictorial style in the 1920’s to straight photography. Adams eventually would become straight photography’s most articulate and masterful photographer.

What characterizes Adams’ nature photography more than anything was his will to travel all around the country in pursuit of both the natural beauty he photographed and the audiences he required. People began to connect Ansel Adams’ work with any topic of nature or the environment itself.

While Ansel Adams is most known for his breathtaking nature photography, he also produced spectacular black and white photography. Adams made black and white photography what it is today through several pieces of work he created. His black and white images helped induce an emotion of timeliness and freeze a particular moment. While many believe color adds to a picture, Adams showed that a black and white image can say just as much, if not more, than that of a colored image.

One image that stands out that he created in 1938 was “Half Dome, Merced River, Winter”, one of Adams’ most beloved photographs of Yosemite Valley. He took the photograph with an 8″x10″ view camera from the Old Sentinel Bridge near the Yosemite Chapel. This picture sums up his style perfectly with the gorgeous mountains covered in snow, trees all in front of the mountains also covered in snow, and a river flowing in the middle of the picture.

There are few photographers that have been able to leave a lasting image on people like Ansel Adams. His love and desire for nature enable him to take breathtaking nature photographs. And his black and white photography has made it what it is today.



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Diana Cooper

otography is partly technical; you certainly won’t get far until you know how to use your camera. But good nature photography also requires sensitivity to the subject and an understanding of natural light.

Have you ever met someone who has thousands of dollars worth of gear, can talk all day about cameras and lenses…but still takes lousy photos? Such people fail to understand that good photographers are not judged by the equipment they use, but by their results. Of course technical knowledge is important, but it will only take you so far.

When it comes to nature photography, it is essential to understand how natural light can trasform the impact of a photo.

I have a simple saying for nature photographers to live by: you can’t take a good photo in a bad situation. This simply means if you approach your subject at the wrong time of day, or in the wrong weather conditions, no amount of technology is going to solve the problem. On the other hand, if you get the light right, you don’t need any technical wizardry to get the shot. Nature does most of the work for you.

As soon as light is mentioned, most people automatically think early morning and late afternoon. Any photographer with an ounce of experience soon learns that these are generally the best times to take nature photos. Although it is not true all the time, it is a good place to start.

When the sun is very low in the sky, it creates a soft, warm light that is very attractive in a photo. Shining from a low angle, it also illuminates the face of the subject more evenly. Furthermore, due to the lower contrast, the shadows you can see are less harsh than in the middle of the day. So for several reasons, early morning (up to about 9am) and late afternoon towards sunset are often the best times to take your photos.

Most people know this. The trouble is, most people don’t make the extra effort to put it into practice. Are you prepared to camp overnight to be on location at sunrise to get the perfect shot? If photography is important enough to you, you will go to these lengths and more. It may seem like a lot of trouble, but once you get that once-in-a-lifetime image you will agree that the reward was worth the effort. This is standard practice for a nature photographer.

Should all nature photography be done in the early morning or late afternoon? In a word: no.

As they say, rules are made to be broken. You would be mistaken to think that this one simple approach works all the time. So what are some of the exceptions?

Black and white photography is a little different from other photography. Instead of subjects being defined by subtle shades of colour, black and white photography makes use of strong lines and shadows. The best effect can be produced by higher contrast in the light. So when you are thinking black and white photography, you may find yourself seeking the brighter light of the middle part of the day.

Rainforest photography is another departure from general landscape photography. Under the rainforest canopy, the sunlight can become such a patchwork of light and shade that a perfect exposure is impossible. For the best results in the rainforest, I usually look for overcast conditions, with perhaps a little mist for added atmosphere. Under these cloudy skies, the best times are usually in the middle part of the day, when the light is fairly bright. This helps you avoid a too-dark image.

When it comes to wildlife photography, you can take a lesson from the landscape and a lesson from the rainforest. If you photograph your subject in sunlight, early in the morning and late in the afternoon is usually best. This approach reduces contrast and bathes your subject in soft, warm light.

However, some wildlife subjects are best captured on a cloudy day, just like in the rainforest. The muted light eliminates a lot of glare, so shiny surfaces (a frog’s skin, a bird’s feathers etc) can appear much clearer and more colourful on a cloudy day. The lower contrast of this light also means important details of the subject will not be lost in shadow.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of examples. You could go on forever identifying which subjects work best in different types of light. I simply hope these ideas get you thinking about natural light and how it can improve your photography. Once you let nature do most of the work for you, will may just find that the technical aspects of photography become a little less challenging.



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Andrew Goodall

Photography school is a great option for someone who wants to try a new and innovative art that is constantly changing. One of the oldest photography schools is located in New York city. The New York Institute of Photography allows anyone to attend their school from anywhere in the world. They offer three correspondence courses that are beneficial to the budding photographer.

The first class that is offered for the new student introduces them to the world of the digital camera and all that it offers the photographer. By using online access, DVDs, and a professional advisor that can be contacted at any time, the student works their way through the course and learns a ton of information. At the end, the student is given an assignment that is submitted for grading purposes by instructors. After completion, a certificate will be issued to the student. This is a wonderful class that can help anyone become acquainted with any type of digital camera.

Another course that this particular photography school offers is the complete digital photography complete. With this course, Adobe PhotoShop will be completely taught. The instruction will include how to “to retouch photos, post pictures on the web and how to take better digital photographs.” Also taught in this course will be how to restore old black and white photography pictures that may have suffered damage with age. This instruction is always helpful to photographers because many people have old photographs that need restoring, and they are not sure who to take them to or what to do to restore them. By having this instruction at this photography school, the future photographer will enhance anyone’s budding photography business.

The last course that this particular school offers is more than likely the most important. The NYI complete course in professional photography is the last correspondence course that this school offers. Here the photography student will learn all of the in’s and outs of the photography business including: wedding photographers. nature photography, art photography, and many more. If someone is serious about becoming a professional photographer, this is the course that is for them. After completing the other two courses, this one is the icing on the cake for the budding photographer.

One of the oldest photography schools around is the New York Institute of Photography. This school offers several classes for would be students to learn everything about photography from the fundamentals to the in’s and outs of the photography business. By taking advantage of this trusted schools instruction, a budding photographer may become a world renowned master of this particular art form. &nbsp



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Samantha Ellis

Stock Photo Portfolio Sites

A stock photography portfolio site is a site where people are able to buy as well as sell digital photos. To dedicate your time to such a site, you have to be truly interested in digital photography, enough to want to go out and take hundreds of photos everyday. Stock photography sites are useful not only to you, but also to a plethora of others as well. Buyers need stock photos in order to make their web pages, advertisements, art mediums, and anything else that requires visual aid. Those that benefit from buying your photos range from independent companies, personal businesses, and any other business that don’t want or don’t have the resources or funding to hire a professional photographer. Also, stock photography sites are a big help to freelance photographers. This is a way for digital photographers, like you, to make money or earn a living selling the pictures that they take. It depends on the work put into the site, but you can make anywhere from $1 to $500 per month, per site with payouts around 25 cents to dollars per photograph. How much you make really depends on your effort and the time you take shooting photos. To make around $500 dollars per month, however, you’re going to need a good digital stock photo portfolio that will show the quality of your work.

As a freelance photographer, you are going to need to know exactly how to set up a stock portfolio. The first step is to take hundreds, and eventually thousands of pictures. For how many photos you’re going to end up taking you had better love to take photographs. You will have to go through the process of eliminating photos based on lighting and angles and any other nit picky stipulations that make a great picture. You’ll end up taking many photos, with over half of them turning out badly. When you realize that you’re happy with the process of taking your pictures then you can begin to build your freelance portfolio.

How many pictures you need for your portfolio

One of the best ways of accomplishing this feat is to set a goal for you. This way, you won’t be discouraged when you first start out and you don’t just snap your fingers and produce hundreds of photos after only one session. You need to be able to get up everyday and complete a freelance photography session of at least 20 to 40 pictures. However, out of those photos you need to pick out 10 to 20 from the bunch that are of better quality than the others. Eventually, you’ll be able to better identify angles, lighting, and concepts for your freelance photography.

Once you reach a quota of about 100 pictures that you have taken, with no more than 3-5 repeated ones, you should be able to compare some of the more recent photos with the pictures at the beginning and notice some improvement. If you are consistent with your photography sessions, you will become a lot better and have a lot of work and original freelance photos to show for it. Eventually, through hard work and dedication, you’ll have the ability to shoot a hundred photos in one sitting and only throw out a few.



What to take pictures of

What you want to accomplish with your freelance photography is a collection of quality pictures. Like the saying goes, “quality over quantity.” Businesses that are going to be looking at your photography and perhaps purchasing some of them will want to be able to depend on your originality and quality. To ensure that you produce pictures of a good quality, you should shoot subjects that you’re passionate about. If you take pictures of sea otters and you don’t particularly like taking pictures of sea otters, then you will be less likely to make sure that the picture looks good.

However, if you take pictures of things that interest you then you are more likely to take your time and produce quality work. Finding a subject that you’re passionate about and expanding on that topic then you’ll make sure and find your photography niche. It’s recommended that for your first set of pictures you should choose one or two niches for your collection. This will narrow down the competition because if you take random pictures they’ll be white noise against the other photographers.

You need to be able to narrow down your subject matter in different ways than you are used to. Instead of just thinking about subjects like macro, portrait, geometric, or cityscape you need to be able to think in subjects such as decadent, noble, sensual, blue (colors), or futuristic. This will bring those businesses that are looking for a particular niche right to you.

Other things to know

Don’t include any signatures, marks, or logos on your picture to confine ownership

Make sure for modeling pictures, that the model signs off on submitting the photos be sold

Always have enough space on your digital camera; don’t be caught off guard

Keep researching and learning from those that are already more experienced in digital photography or, invest in and Ebook to help get started



Written exclusively for FeexFoto.com by Nicholas Normandy