Steady as she goes

Many photographs suffer from camera shake, especially when taken with the ultra small cameras available now. Always try to steady yourself when taking a photograph. Prop you elbows or use a monopod or tripod or lean against a fixed object. Don't be tempted to take pictures with one hand.

Seeing what the camera sees

Try to view the scene inside the viewfinder rather than the actual view in front of you. Look from left to right and eliminate any undesired elements by framing or cropping by zooming in. You may be able to lock the focus by pressing it halfway, then recompose the shot. If you have an LCD display, use that to compose the shot.

Move closer

Always try to get in closer - either by zooming in or physically moving nearer. Not always possible but closer is usually better. Landscape views benefit from having 'foreground interest' such as tree branches to help frame the shot.

Read all about it

Pick up a copy of Practical Photography or similar magazine even join a camera club, where you'll get plenty of free advice and you'll meet others at all levels of experience and skill. Analyse your photographs honestly and try work out how you would improve them. Online sites are great for learning. www.ephotozine.com is one of the better ones and you can send in your own photos for helpful critiques by other members.

Film or digital?

I use both, but digital is more convenient and just as good at the top end of current technology. The new service in high street shops allows you to make prints on screen from selected images and are charged per print. They are quite reasonably priced. Many people now use this method as you rarely want every shot printed and PC printers are very expensive in inks & paper. Online services are good too and you can even make small books or calendars this way. Aldi have started this service and there are many others to choose from such as www.kodakgallery.eu.com, www.photobox.ie, etc.

Film cameras have never been cheaper. You can pick up a secondhand top of the range film camera with lens for around €200. A 35mm negative scans to 25Mb so you get a fabulous digital image from your negatives. Film is also less contrasty and more forgiving of exposure error. It is excellent for portraits of children. My advice would be to learn your trade with prints and progress to digital.

Digital Image processing

This can be very confusing to new users - the images you get from a digital camera are usually too large to email or view on a PC screen. They are more suited to printing. No one on dialup thanks you for sending them a 5Mb file over the internet. You'll need to reduce them by altering the screen resolution* to 72 dpi then reducing the size to screen size. 800 pixels wide (along the longest length) is fine for screen viewing or screenshows. If you didn't get any free editing software with your camera, A free software package called Irfanview will do the job for you. It's freely available on the web and is small enough to download quickly. Rename your file so you don't overwrite your original image. Better still, have a separate folder on your PC for screen versions. Another alternative is Google's Picasa or Apple's excellent iPhoto which allows you to edit your pictures and apply many effects.

Online galleries.

The web has revolutionised photography - online galleries allow you to display your pics to friends, family and strangers alike. Try to edit out the worst shots. If you get 2 or 3 great shots from a day out you are doing well. You can be less stringent with family photos. Online galleries are often free and generous with their server space so you can make free with your galleries.

Warning

Beware of the "rights-free" photo services which are springing up. You'll only get a mere pittance for your shots if they sell (50% of very little). Better still, offer prints for sale from you own gallery on Picasa or similar.

Sending images to the press - a guide for PRO's

If you want to send print quality images to newspapers or magazines the following size guide will help - this applies if you have scanned a print or shot digital images. Image Resolution: 200 dpi (above this is wasted on newsprint). Size: 15cm along longest length

*Always resize your images in small stages, in terms of both resolution or size - that way the algorithms used by computers don't have to average out over a huge range of pixels. You'll get much better results and it's worth the extra time spent. If you have Photoshop you can create an Action to do this for you and automate the process. I suggest 50 pixels at a time and the same for the dpi. If you put the originals on disk (saved as jpegs) and drop them into the paper they will sort out that side of it for you.

Adding Captions to your photographs

If you have Adobe Photoshop you can go to File / File Info and add your details and captions - the newspapers have special viewing software which will read this information. If you don't have Photoshop, write the caption in your email and either way ask for a picture credit. You might even get paid if you send an invoice after publication (but not always!). They tend not to pay for any PR shots. If you have any journalistic leanings you should write a small story to go with it - the papers are usually glad to receive ready-made copy and images. If you are lucky enough to get a 'scoop' then ring the picture desk of any national papers and they'll advise you what to do. You'll get paid if they use the images.

Getting published

This takes a while and requires proficiency in photography but it very rewarding when you see your work published (and you get paid). Try to think of a particular market (e.g. a specific magazine) before taking a few shots specifically for that purpose. Look at what they routinely use and emulate the style. A book worth getting is the Freelance Photographers Handbook which lists hundreds of books and magazines with their requirements and editorial guidelines for submission. It will save you a lot of time and disappointment and will provide ideas for markets you probably won't have thought of, from the familiar to the downright obscure.

In Summary

Enjoy watching your photography improving over time - we all make errors, but with a small bit of thought at the time and in analysing your results you'll see a marked improvement in your photography and have an interest which never fails to develop (sorry). Above all, take plenty of photographs and set your standards higher all the time. It might drive your family mad (it certainly does mine!) but it's a creative interest which can take you in many directions.

happy shooting!
James Burke

James is a gold medallist freelance photographer and award-winning web designer, based in Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny with a special affinity for river-based busiesses and activities.
 
See his own website at www.biggerpictureweb.com