ChinaCoop PhotoBlog

Anybody who has taken any photos of children knows that fake camera smile so many children have. Once they know you are taking their photo, they produce this "smile" which comes across a little different than they intend. Actually, adults' photo smiles are not all that great either, but having a little more practice (and a little more self-perception), many adults have made it look much, much better.

Basically, you have to catch kids in their natural habitat. Well, this principle is really applicable to any portrait, unless you just have a photogenic subject. Just do not tell the adults you are using a kiddy photo how-to to take their picture. Here is an example.

Continue reading "How Do I Take Children Portraits Without Fake Smiles" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 07:30 AM | Permalink

I accidentally found a versatile and easy way to convert color photos to black & white, and those are two words we like to see together. I have tried out many methods of converting photos to black & white, some incredibly versatile and powerful, but difficult to use, and some very simple, but with no customization. Google's free image editing and organizing software, Picasa, comes through again.

I just found this feature recently. I knew it had black & white conversion, but had not actually used it. If you look under the "Effects" tab when viewing a photo, you will see several (you guessed it) effects which you can apply to your photos. The first one is black & white...but not the one you want.

Continue reading "How Do I Convert Color Photos to Black & White" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 12:37 AM | Permalink

Good luck on me actually answering that one to your satisfaction! Recently though, I have taken it upon myself to begin shopping for what camera my brother should buy for his needs, even though he has not chosen to buy a new camera just yet. So, maybe a few of my own thoughts into what camera my brother needs will help some of you out there.

My brother has a run-of-the-mill compact camera (aka point-and-shoot). He is frustrated with the camera's lag time in actually taking a photo. You know the story: kid makes a cute face, picture taking button is pushed, camera calculates the velocity of an unlaiden swallow, child moves on in life at a child's pace, and camera finally records some image...albeit a kiddy version of some over-drugged 1960s album cover. I would be frustrated too. So, I started convincing him to buy a new camera (and phone/handheld too, but that is a different story).

Continue reading "What Camera Should I Buy?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 02:30 PM | Permalink

This is what I not-so-affectionately call the "digital wait". It is mainly a problem with "point and shoot" (aka "compact") cameras. It is dreadfully annoying and, more often than not, makes us miss the shot we really wanted to take.

The explanation is quite simple, but what to do about it is not. Basically, the problem is that the camera is thinking. And evidentally, not fast enough, eh. So, what do we do about it?

Continue reading "Why Does My Camera Wait Before Taking the Picture?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 03:53 PM | Permalink

Good question. Ever wonder why your photos turn out way too blue or red? Well, unless you were shining a red flashlight on the scene, it is undoubtedly a problem with the white balance setting. I will not get too much into the nasty details of white balance here, but try to give a quick primer on how I set my white balance. We all have different solutions to problems, and this is my solution.

My solution is specifically tailored to a digital SLR, but even if you use a compact camera (point-and-shoot), you may well come to the same conclusion I did.

Continue reading "How Do I Set White Balance?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:01 AM | Permalink

I have thought much about this topic the past few weeks. I have heard countless digital photographers say there is not a need for filters anymore, because the desired effects can just be edited on the computer in post-processing. Some traditional folks take it too far the other way and say that filters must be applied to the original shot and cannot be created in a computer.

I land in the middle of that debate. Some filters cannot be replaced and change the photo in such a way that would take days in the computer, if even possible in the first place. Other filters are pretty much pointless.

Continue reading "What Filters Do I Need for My Digital Cameras?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:40 AM | Permalink

I remember back when I used my dad's Nikon that I used his zoom lens. And in high school, I know the annual staff's lens was also a zoom. After that though, all I ever bought were fixed focal length, or "prime", lenses (or my favorite: "fast glass"). With my Vivitar V4000, I have a Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.7. When I bought the D100, I bought with it an Nikkor 85mm 1:1.8D.

I did not understand the issues digital SLRs have with focal length back then, and thought I was really buying an 85mm. But with the D100s 1.5 magnification (because the sensor is smaller than 35mm film), that 85mm really ends up acting like a 125mm. I will have to say it is great to achieve the purpose for which I bought it (people, face shots), but cannot be the only lens in the bag for very long.

I soon had to add my Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4D, which has backed me off quite a bit. Of course, the 50mm acts like a 75mm would on a film camera. I would still like to have something a little wider at times, but really, the 50mm does a great job for me. I often shoot in low light, and the wide open f/stops of those lenses really help me out. Plus, I love the selective depth of field (or choice to have such) the wide open apertures give me.

That is it. I have two lenses at the moment. I like to keep my camera bag pretty simple; that is just my style.

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:59 AM | Permalink

I started my photographic ventures on my dad's Nikon. It had optional automatic speed adjustment, but manual aperture (aperture priority, that is). It was my early exposure to his camera that began my aperture centered approach to photography.

Continue reading "What Camera Do You Use?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 09:49 AM | Permalink

The short answer: The GIMP & UFRaw

The long answer:
I am an unashamed Linux guy. You may ask, "Why not use Windows like everyone else?", "Why not switch to Mac like the enlightened photographers out there?". Well, because it would be silly of me to pay for those things which I can get for free.

Continue reading "What Graphical Editing Software Do You Use?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:13 AM | Permalink