Sunset at Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road

Australia is an amazing country and continent. It has some of the most diverse and spectacular scenery in the world with the desolate outback, iconic red deserts, deep canyons, rugged coastlines, lush rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef.

Part of this astounding scenery is along the “The Great Ocean Road” located just south of Melbourne where the Southern Ocean constantly reshapes the landscape. Raging surf, ferocious seas and high winds have sculpted astounding rock cliffs and sandstone formations over millions of years. This area contains some of the most famous natural landmarks in the world and is an unending cornucopia of photography.

The Great Ocean Road can be driven in one day, but you really need to give it at least two, preferably three, to fully explore and appreciate the territory. The two lane highway hugs the coast for its entire length, 150 miles, between the towns of Torquay on the east and Warrnambool to the west. I’ve visited the area twice and on each occasion spent three days photographing the area. Anything less will cut your time short.

Along the Great Ocean Road in Otway National Park

On our most recent visit I carried my Nikon D300 and three Nikon zoom lenses: 12-24mm, 18-200mm and 80-400mm. Since the D300 has a 1.5x crop factor, these lenses covered the equivalent of 18mm-600mm at 35mm which was quite sufficient.

You’ll use all the lenses you’ve got on the variety of subjects from wide landscapes to macros, flowers, birds and wildlife. [If you’re familiar with HDR or have panoramic software you can have a field day along the Great Ocean Road utilizing these.]

The most famous landmarks along the Great Ocean Road are located in Port Campbell National Park and include the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge, the Arch and the Grotto. Two gorgeous lighthouses, Split Rock and Cape Otway, were built along the coast to protect ships from those great formations. Although early morning and late afternoon produce the best light for photography, mid-day along the Great Ocean Road allows for less shadows interfering with your landscape shots of the formations.

Loch Ard Gorge 2002 – Shot before the Island Archway collapsed in 2009.

To capture the essence of the scenery and landmarks you should constantly ask yourself, “what is the subject?” and think about what attracted you to a particular scene. After shooting the wide landscapes simplify, zoom in, narrow the field of focus and zero in on what originally caught your attention. The point is that you can capture the essence of a huge scene more realistically by photographing just a small portion of that expansive view.

It is important to use a tripod along the Great Ocean Road. There are sturdy, compact tripods that are perfect for travel. Gitzo makes some that weigh under three pounds and fold to 20”. By adding a quality lightweight ballhead you have a setup that will keep your equipment solid in the constant breezes and will travel with you easily. I carry a Gitzo 1155T tripod (2 lbs) topped off with a Really Right Stuff BH-40 ballhead (1 lb). This is solid enough for zoom lenses up to 400mm f/5.6. The tripod supports over ten pounds of gear securely, fits into my carry-on luggage and passes through TSA security with no problem. With good tripod techniques you don’t need to lose any images to blur. The only issue is price – these tripods and ballheads are not cheap, but well worth the investment.

With strong winds along the Great Ocean Road you’ll be glad you brought a tripod. A sudden gust will send your unattended equipment to the ground in a flash. Unfortunately I know from personal experience. On my first visit I set up my tripod on a cliff along the coast when I turned around to get something out of my photo bag. A gust swooped in and blew the tripod over before I could reach around to grab it. I could only watch in horror as my tripod and camera, seemingly in slow-motion, headed for the ground. I grabbed the tripod as the camera hit the ground but it was too late. The lens hit first and cracked, but luckily the camera body was not damaged. It was not a good feeling. Fortunately I had two more lenses but it was a hard lesson — and a good reminder to never leave a tripod unattended, especially in a breeze.

Great Ocean Road and Shipwreck Coast from the air

Make time for a helicopter ride over the Shipwreck Coast. It is an incredible and amazing way to see the landmarks and rugged shore from a bird’s eye view. The vast ferocity of the sea becomes more apparent from the air. The heliport is next to the Twelve Apostles visitor center and advance reservations are highly recommended. Photography from a helicopter adds a dimension to your portfolio that is not appreciated until you do it. The view along the Great Ocean Road is jaw-dropping with miles of rocky, rugged shoreline, cliffs and ferocious seas stretching out in front of you.

When shooting from a helicopter, stay relaxed, breathe easy, remain aware of your metering and settings and most importantly, keep shooting. It is easy to become excited about the view and forget camera basics. Don’t let that happen. Choose your lens before boarding and use just that one. Bring just your camera and lens; leave the bag and other gear in the car. You don’t want to waste time changing lenses; the landscape moves quickly and you do not get a second chance for a shot. I generally use the 18-200mm zoom lens in helicopters because of its wide range of focal lengths. If the helicopter window is closed hold the camera against the pane and use your hand to minimize vibrations. Otherwise remember to cradle the camera securely in your hands. Whether you meter in manual or Aperture Priority mode try to choose your settings and metering ahead of time. You want to spend minimal time in the helicopter fidgeting with settings and metering. You’d rather have your flight time filled with easy breathing, image composition and shooting.

Loch Ard Gorge 2010

Forces of nature have changed the landscape over the past 25 years, with three major incidents as prime examples:

• London Bridge used to have two high arches, making the formation appear like the famous bridge. In 1990 the largest of the arches collapsed, leaving an island in the ocean, as seen in the image.
• The Twelve Apostles, the most famous landmark in the region, is now only eight Apostles. Four of the sea stacks have collapsed over the years.
• The centerpiece of Loch Ard Gorge, the “Island Archway” collapsed in July 2009. You can see the difference in the images shot in 2002, before the collapse, and in 2010.

The Great Ocean Road is an incredible experience. If you get the opportunity to visit I am
sure you will come home with some exceptional images.

Cliff Kolber is a nature and travel photographer and writer based in Miami, Florida. He and his wife Doris have created a spectacular portfolio of images and articles from around the world, specializing in the Florida Everglades, the American Southwest. Australia and Antarctica. Visit their website for world-wide photography, travels and newsletters.

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

Photographing The Great Ocean Road: Victoria, Australia

We have been planning for this moment for over a year and a half.

On June 17th of this year, I said goodbye to my colleagues and
well-paying job to follow our dreams to do wedding and portrait
photography full-time. We finally replaced our entire household
income with income from our photography business.

Most people who start photography businesses do so part-time and only dream of this day.

Eventually your business grows to the point where it consumes all your
free time and you’re faced with a hard but exciting question:
Do you go for it and leave the day-job behind, or do you scale
back and start reclaiming a bit of your life?

Here are 5 things to ask yourself before you ditch the day-job and
follow your dreams:

How much money do you need to make?

The first thing you’ll need to know is how much money you need to make
in order to replace any necessary income. If you don’t know exactly
how much you’re making from your business after taxes, expenses, cost
of goods, and all the other costs of running a business, you’re
setting yourself up for failure.

As one of those rare people who loves mathematics, I created a free pricing guide for photographers that helped us determine what we needed to charge for both weddings and portraits in order to make the amount of profit that we needed to follow our dream of doing this full-time.

I knew exactly how many weddings and portrait sessions I’d need to
book and how much I’d need to charge in order to leave my job. I had
hoped to leave last summer, but I was under the projections I knew I
needed, so we made the decision to wait one more year to make the
leap.

If I hadn’t known the numbers, the consequences may have been
devastating to our business and family and I’d probably be back in an
office job by now.

How much money do you have in savings?

Having money in a savings account is a great way to ensure that you’ll be able to pay your bills and not have to pick up a job again in the off-season.

Waiting an extra year to leave the day-job allowed us to finish buying
the gear we wanted and to put more in savings than we would have been
able to otherwise. We hope not to have to touch that money, but it is
there if we need it.

What is your plan?

If you find that you are not currently making enough to leave your job immediately, the next step is to make a plan to get you from where you are now to where you need to be.

If you haven’t sat down and created a good business strategy, you’ll want to do that first. Having a strategic business plan will help you get to your goal more quickly and will help keep you from making
costly mistakes.

Identify the places that work well for marketing your business. We
found that Facebook
marketing was one of the best ways for us to find new clients
because of its word-of-mouth nature, so that’s where we’ve been
focusing. You’ll want to market in the places where your ideal clients
spend time and money.

How hard are you willing to work to get there?

We spent about a year in “transition” where I was taking on as many of our ideal clients as I could handle while still working my day-job, and it was exhausting. I was gone about 50 hours a week for my full-time job and put in another 20-30 hours building our photography business, all while trying not to neglect my kids and husband.

We had to turn away some business simply because there weren’t enough
hours in the day.

It was hard, I’m not going to lie.

Getting a business to where it needs to be to leave your job is a lot
of work, but it was worth it for us. We let some things go (our house
is a mess!) but it was worth it in order to make this transition.

What other hesitations do you have?

If you’ve got your finances figured out and are hitting your projections, you need to address any hesitations you may have.

It can be really scary to let go of the “security” of a regular
paycheck and move into the realm of “uncertainty”.

That being said, I think that being a small business owner is actually
more secure than working for someone else.

You can’t be fired or laid-off at the drop of a hat, and if you aren’t
meeting your projections you can do something about it and have some
time to prepare.

If you do wedding photography, you may even be able to determine this
several months in advance, giving you plenty of time to make a plan as
to how you’re going to supplement your current income.

Leaving my job has been one of the most scary and exhilarating
experiences in my life, and I’m incredibly excited to see where we’ll
go in the next few years.

So, are you ready to follow your dreams and do what you love
full-time? Is there something holding you back? Leave a comment below
and let’s encourage each other in pursuing what we love.

Jamie M Swanson is a Madison Wedding Photographer who loves helping people make money with photography. With her super-dorky math skills, she created a free guide on how to price photography. The best way to connect with her is on Facebook, so come on over and say hello.< ?p>

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

When to Ditch the Day-Job and Follow Your Dreams

Salsa. Mambo. Rumba. Cha-cha-chá. The very names of Latin music genres suggest an irresistible, unmistakable rhythm; through the decades, Latino musicians have influenced traditional genres of music in the US, while creating their own new musical styles.

This content-rich multimedia site from the Smithsonian presents the musical contributions of US Latinos from the 1930s to the present. It serves as a marketing tool (to announce exhibition dates and public events) for the promotion of a five-year tour that will take the exhibition to small venues across the country that may not have access to easy-to-update Web sites.

Music is the heart of this site, and can be found on almost every page. Radio Sabor provides visitors with a continuous play of the Jukebox music in the background while The Mixer, a fun Flash interactive, allows the adjustment of individual instruments in a song to analyze its genre.

Available in both Spanish and English, including the classroom materials, the main content is organized by five US cities where Latin Americans have thrived since the 1930s. Most of the audio and video were recorded for this exhibition and are available exclusively on the site, including interviews with several musicians who played during the heyday of great clubs like the Palladium. In addition, music experts offer commentary on topics such as the influence of traditional Latino songs on popular musicians like the Beatles.

• The original exhibition was created by Seattle’s Experience Music Project (EMP) in partnership with the University of Washington. This smaller version of the exhibition was organized for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and the Web site, exhibition tour and related educational programs were made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund.

• The site is built in Drupal and the primary content is a large database containing 84 biographies of Latino musicians, 24 musical styles, 175 photographs and 35 audio/video commentaries.

• Because an exact match to the original exhibition font was unavailable, Interactive Knowledge decided early on to use a Web font for the page headers. Shortly before the site launched, the font house lost the rights to that font and despite a day-long search for a replacement, the distinctive typeface was not to be found. Too far into development to create graphic headers in English and Spanish, the team settled for something that blended with the overall style. Several months after the site launch another scare occurred when the font house sent an email stating they had to change how the font was coded—which required a rewrite of the CSS so the headers would display correctly.

• User-friendly private sites were created for the venues so they could easily upload their events and promotions, as well as share tips and post questions to other venues.

• Interactive Knowledge not only organized and designed the site, but also assisted in the content research and writing; this is its fifth collaboration with The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

.
Credits: interactiveknowledge.com

This campaign for the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) takes an indirect approach to building membership. It’s the association’s first new advertising in two years and its first ever from its new agency, Denver-based Cultivator Advertising & Design. Because mountain bikers tend to see their sport as an independent pursuit, unrelated to joining an association, the theme, “Support Trails,” emphasizes trail building and access and downplays required membership (IMBA membership actually goes unmentioned in all three ads). Visually, the concept alludes to the volunteer nature of the association with snapshot-style photography, hand-lettered typography, a rough-hewn design and bike badge-type icons. The campaign is running in cycling publications including Bicycling, Bike, Decline, Dirt Rag, Mountain Bike Action and Rocky Mountain Flyer, and in outdoor lifestyle publications including Outside, Trail Runner, Elevation Outdoors and Blue Ridge Outdoors.
Credits: www.cultivatorads.com | www.imba.com

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Image Source: The Library of Congress

Today I was surfing on Flickr’s Commons section and my attention was caught by the many many shots of children in the section and particularly found myself marvelling at how things have changed in how we photograph kids.

I thought I’d showcase some classic kids portraiture – both for a little fun but also because I’m actually feeling a little inspired by a few of them and thought they might similarly give some fresh inspiration to others as they go about photographing their kids. Some of the shots are formal portraits, others commercial work, others what we might classify as ‘candid’ portraits.

I hope you enjoy them.

Image Source: The Library of Congress

Image Source: Power House Museum Collection

Image Source: The Library of Congress

Image Source: George Eastman House

Image Source: Nationaal Archief

Image Source: George Eastman House

Image Source: State Library of NSW Collection

Image Source: George Eastman House

Image Source: Powerhouse Museum Collection

Image Source: Nationaal Archief

Image Source: State Library of NSW Collection

Image Source: Powerhouse Museum Collection

Image Collection: National Media Museum

Image Source: Musée McCord Museum

Image Source: State Library of NSW Collection

Image Source: Library of Congress

Image Source: George Eastman House

Image Source: Oregan State University Archives

Image Source: Nationaal Archief

Image Source: Powerhouse Museum Collection

Image Source: National Library of Wales

Image Source: State Library and Archives of Florida

Image Source: The National Library of Wales

Image Source: The Library of Congress

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

25 Classic Kids Photos to Inspire You

This clean and modern showcase utilizes a radial (projector carousel-like) nav for moving through the portfolio of this prolific photographer.
Credits: permanent.de

Following the deadliest tornado in US history, Saint Louis-based Moosylvania Marketing set out to help undo the damage to neighboring city Joplin. Created by Moosylvania’s designers the sixteen, screen-print poster collection brings to life messages of optimism, hope and reconstruction. The campaign raised $15,000 for the United Way Small Business Fund of Joplin.
Credits: www.moosylvania.com | www.moosylvania.bigcartel.com

Arian Noveir, a web designer, photographer and illustrator in France, created these digital paintings / portraits of certain superhero alter egos. The abstract designs are full of texture and vivid, well-placed color.

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Thanks to the team at WeeklyPhotoTips and Scott Kelby for shooting the video.

Check out more of Scotts great teaching in his wildly popular Digital Photography Books.

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

How to Take Long Exposure Shots in Daylight

First a few words about the author, Laurie Excell. Although her name may not sound familiar, chances are you saw her images in various outdoor photography magazines. She is a wildlife and nature photographer, an instructor and she also leads wildlife photography adventures in North America.

This book is not only about composition The first two chapters of Composition From Snapshots to Great Shots are titled “Equipment” and “Exposure Triangle”. With plenty of images to illustrate each point, the author covers the most basic  aspects of photography in a very practical way. Laurie’s writing style is straightforward and you don’t have to be a techie to understand it. Which most new photographers will appreciate!

Learning composition techniques would not do much good if you don’t understand the most important element in photography: Light! Chapter 3 will go over the basics of quality and quantity of light, its direction and how to achieve the desired effect using exposure compensation with the knowledge you acquired in the previous chapter.

My favorite chapter is the fourth one titled “Lines, Shapes and Patterns”. That’s probably because I am especially drawn to those visual elements in my photography and I enjoy teaching about them. Here again, the author chose a clever selection of images to illustrate how those visual elements come together to bring the viewer into the frame and how different lines and shapes will have a different impact.

Another strong element to consider in composition is color. Chapter 5 is all about colors (including B&W and shades of gray) and the emotion they convey in any given image.

Finally chapter 6 delves into spatial relationships, from point of view to visual depth, scale and perspective, again with plenty of images to explain each concept. Have you even wondered whether your horizon line should be high or low? Why not in the middle? Rules can be broken, it’s all about personal preference and the emotion you want to convey through your image.

An interesting aspect of this book is the additional material written by four guest authors, each with a specific field of expertise in photography. I find it a nice bonus and I think there is something for everyone in the last four chapters.

Photographer John Batdorff wrote a chapter titled “Black and White Photography” where he shares tips on how to see in B&W and walks you through his thought and work process. My favorite tip: “Learn to embrace nasty weather”. John Batdorff creates stunning B&W images and you can too!

“Sports and Composition” by Rick Rickman taught me a lot as this is an area I am not familiar with. Rick refers to sport photography as “Potential Compositional Anarchy”. Rick shares valuable tips from covering Olympic events to telling a story while on a road trip with a minor league baseball team. He stresses the importance keeping things simple in a very engaging style.

“Beyond the Rule of Thirds” by David Brommer delivers a wealth of in-depth information. If you ever wondered about positive and negative space, this is the chapter to read! Favorite quote: “A good compositional sense is hardwired into each of us.”

Last but not least, in “The Compositional Dance”, Steve Simon will give you strategies to help you make good composition decisions in any given situation. He ends the chapter with a very encouraging statement for any new photographer: “As your experience and confidence grow, many of these ideas and concepts get infused into your unconscious process and help you make good aesthetic picture-making decisions on instinct.”

Each chapter also presents a list of assignment suggestions by each author.

The goal of this book is to help you move beyond the simple act of taking a picture, to making a picture. I received daily emails from new photographers asking for book suggestions, this one will definitely be added to my list. I would also urge you to check out the work of each of the five authors for inspiration!

Composition, From Snap Shot to Great Shots retails for $24.99. Discounted prices are often available through Amazon.com. This book can also be purchased in a digital format.

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

Composition From Snapshots to Great Shots – Book review

Also available as an iOS app, this digital annual report provides detailed information about Audi Group’s business in an interactive interface with multiple means for navigating content.
Credits: www.corporate-editors.com | www.department-m.com

The most-attended event of the year at Los Alamitos Race Course, The Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals, benefits Seal Beach Animal Care Center, a non-profit group dedicated to finding homes for stray animals in Orange County, California. To promote the sixteenth annual Wienerschnitzel-sponsored dachshund race, California-based DGWB Advertising and Communications produced a comprehensive event campaign including a Web site, promotional video, themed T-shirts, posters, an onsite custom doggy photo booth and the “The Biggest Littlest Race in History” theme. The promotional theme always reflects the spirited nature of the event; this year, the creative elements brought the event to life in a vintage, carnival style that commemorates the long tradition of the race that will bring more than 90 four-legged competitors and 10,000 plus attendees.

Credits: www.dgwb.com | www.thewienernationals.com

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I’ve been shooting portraits now for about 6 years with a digital camera, and when I think of some of the editing I did early on, all I can do is cringe. Yes, there is a place to do extra editing, but, we should use editing to enhance the portrait and the subject, not to detract from our subject.

When I go to edit a photo, I want to enhance the beauty that’s already there. Hopefully, I’ve gotten all the lighting correct when I shot the photo, and I just want my photo to have a little more pizazz.

I’m going to take you through my process of editing a photo, and explain step-by-step what I do to my portraits. Here’s my photo, straight out of the camera.

The first thing I want do is change the white balance, and make it a little warmer. I like the photo better already.

Here’s what I did next:

• Brought the exposure up (+23)
• Added some fill light (+20)
• Brought the blacks up (10)
• Adjusted the contrast down a bit (-13)
• Added some vibrancy (+17)
• Used the noise reduction (+55 Luminance) to give it a smoother finish

So here’s the before/after.

You’ll notice I actually did very little to edit this photo, and yet it just finishes it off and brings your attention to the bride. There’s something so great about just enhancing what’s there, and it doesn’t take a lot of time and effort to do. Sometimes we get so caught up in what we can do with the tools we have, that we forget that all we really need to do is just add a little touch to our photo to enhance the beauty of our subject.

Susie Hadeed grew up in Central America and Missisippi. She’s traveled all over the world doing photography and mission work, but just relocated to the Washington, D.C. area in the fall of 2010. Before moving she was an office manager in her father’s HVAC business, where she played an integral role in growing the company. This gave her the business foundation she needed when starting out in photography six years ago. She’s currently working at building her business and producing inspired wedding and portrait photography in the Washington D.C. area. See more of her work at Photography by Susie.

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

Basic Photo Editing in Lightroom

When you think of close-up photography, you probably think of getting in close with a macro lens. After all, it’s called “close-up” photography, right?

Although you can certainly create some awesome images when you’re up close to an object, sometimes it also helps to get farther away. This will give you a lot more control of what to put in the background.

This is best illustrated with an example, so let’s say you have this toy Lego that you want to photograph in front of a blue water bottle. We’ll start with a super closeup photo at about 60 cm away from the Lego:

But, this photo has a pretty distracting background–you can barely see the blue water bottle and there’s a distracting wine bottle off to the left there. So, watch what happens as you move farther away from the toy Lego:

Finally, at 240 cm away you have that nice blue background. But, you might be wondering what’s going on here: why did you have to get farther away from the toy Lego to get that better background?

Well, there’s a fundamental rule about image composition that’s important to remember:

As you move closer to an object, that object increases in size more quickly than objects in the background.

That means, as you move farther from an object, that object will decrease in size more quickly than the objects in its background.

So, in the example above, as I moved the camera farther from the toy Lego, the toy Lego got smaller in the image faster than the blue water bottle did.

If that sounds confusing, don’t worry, because the basic idea is simple: as you move farther away from an object, you get more control of what to place in the background.

And, since the background plays such a large role in a close-up photo, many times you need this extra control.

What matters is the distance from camera to subject

In the photos above, the only thing that changed between each photo was the distance between my camera and the Lego. I used the exact same camera settings for each photo (f/5.6, 0.8 sec, ISO 400), and the exact same lens (100mm f/2.8 macro).

Normally, as you move farther away from your subject, you’d also want to use a longer lens to fill the frame, but I wanted to make it clear that it’s the distance that really matters here. So, I used the same lens at each distance and simply cropped the photos in post-processing.

There’s a common misconception in photography that focal length causes these differences in perspective, but it’s really the camera to subject distance that matters. For a similar example, checkout this post I wrote about landscape photography.

Can’t you just move your background closer?

Another option that’s available sometimes is to just move your background closer to the object you’re photographing. But, this isn’t always possible (especially with nature photography, where you’re often stuck with the background that’s already there).

Keeping your background farther away from your subject also helps keep it out of focus, which is another important aspect of closeup photography. That out of focus background will help make your subject look sharper.

About the Author: Steve Berardi is a nature photographer and software developer, who can usually be found hiking in the mountains of California or the forests of the midwestern United States.

You can read more of his articles on nature photography at the PhotoNaturalist.

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

Sometimes Close-ups Are Better From Far Away

A multimedia journey of Corona Extra's extraordinary excursion to China's Haitangwan Beach with a group of people who had never seen the sea.
Credits: www.jwt.es | www.fishfilm.es

CDs may be on the wane but the decline in use has created an opportunity for bands to stand out. For Rabbit Children’s new EP, Cemetery Friends, Minneapolis designer Brian Danaher created a limited-edition letterpress-printed package that includes an insert with illustrations inspired by the band’s lyrics. Created to send to music journalists and bloggers, radio stations and concert promoters, the packaging helped create awareness for the new release by standing-out from the generic CD comps and digital download codes typically sent by most labels.
Credits: www.briandanaher.com | www.facebook.com/pages/Rabbit-Children/57268103145

The Noun Project strives to collect, organize and add to the symbols of the world's visual language, and to "share them in a fun and meaningful way."

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For an amateur who had just been introduced to photography after having had two kids of seven and six year olds, I often find travel photography can be very challenging as I never had the choice but to carry both camera and kids! But for the love of travel and photography, I forced myself and juggled my way between thinking about aperture and bathing the kids at the same time.

Miles of trip finally comes down to two tricks that actually worked for me.

First, be simple and prepared. Traveling with kids means travel light. It is worthy to know more about your travel destination. Before the trip, I would search images to really get the feel of what kind of scenery I might want to take and hence which camera to use and capture settings to practice. I would leave my zoom lenses at home when I want to capture landscape and take kit lenses instead or bring my point and shoot camera for those days when I have lesser mood.

For Tiger Island trip, I took my kit lenses because I knew I would need wide view. (kids were busy snorkeling).

I knew I would be taking kites flying at the Jakarta International Kite Festival; I mounted telephoto lenses on my DSLR. (kids were kite gazing).

Second, just do it. Moments pass to soon at most times. I personally wouldn’t want to be worried about using advanced settings. Most of the time to be safe and quick I would just use [P] program and only adjust the ISO and White Balance. But even if you haven’t change the setting to adjust the scenery, or at times when you wish you had your tripod or lenses hood in hand, don’t think just shoot. You will be surprised of how your picture can turn out.

I was on a horse ride going down after catching the sunrise in Mount Bromo, East Java. (kids were on their horses following me from behind).

I had forgotten to bring lenses hood and had to accept this beautiful flare ‘incident’. (kids were asleep in the jeep exhausted from the early rise to catch the sunrise).

Close-up photo of a blue starfish. (one kid was in the water, another one sleeping on my lap, we were in a traditional fisherman boat).

I had forgotten to increase the speed of my point and shoot camera. (kids were busy asking about who was Sultan and who was Harem and why was his palace so big).

Have fun, teach your kids the beauty of traveling and nature and never leave your camera behind!

Prita Sujudi is a mom of two kids, who falls in love with photography very recently. She is still in the amateur syndrome – camera swinging on her shoulder everywhere she goes – and is still building her confidence to share her photography with others.

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

Travel Photography and Kids: How to Juggle Yourself in Between

Mission Bicycle Company in San Francisco builds custom and quality bikes for city riding, and they promise to build the bike of your dreams.

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A Guest Post by Steph Tan.

Among the many different photo shoots one can do, I’ve always considered newborn photography as one of the most challenging. Having great equipment and great technical know-how is never enough. For me, this is the genre of photography where the human touch is most important.

Here are a few simple tips to make the most out of a newborn session:

1. Get mommy and daddy onboard.

Have a plan, seek permission for everything that you want to do, and make sure the parents are onboard. Let them know if you wish to use flash or natural light, what areas in the house you are interested in shooting in, whether you need towels and blankets, and that these things might get soiled during the shoot. The more you engage them, the more keen they will be to help you out during the shoot. Ask if they are comfortable with nude baby shots, or if they wish to keep the baby dressed throughout the shoot. Asking and letting them know beforehand will make the shoot much more manageable once you’re there and ready to shoot.

2. Lots of patience and mood management.

While you have a plan, be ready to mix them around or chuck them out of the window if necessary. For these sessions, I will usually advise clients to book at least 2 hours of the photographer’s time. That way, there is ample time to settle baby down when s/he’s feeling agitated, to feed when hungry (and boy, these little munchters get hungry very frequently), and clean up when the little (expected) accidents happen. As a photographer, you need to manage the mood in your set, both that of the baby’s and the parents. A stiff shoot plan won’t help you if your subjects are not relaxed. Don’t forget to put yourself on your clients’ shoes and understand how they feel. From there, you can sort out what will help them calm down and enjoy the session with you.

3. Know their story.

For every stage of a baby’s life, they reach milestones, which are gems in their baby history. For newborns, the most unique bits for me are the tiny flakes on their skin, their newborn pimples, the wrinkles on their arms and legs, how small they are when you fold them into a fetal position, and their ability to sleep through anything. Read up on your baby age milestones and understand what are the important bits of their story. As they grow up, these things can be their propensity to put everything in their mouth, sitting on their own, belly crawls, crawling up on their hands and knees, the first teeth, first step, and so forth.

4. Growing.

These little ones are growing everyday. Highlight how tiny s/he is at this given point in time, and use stuff around the house as reference points on how much the little ones has grown. It can be something as straight forward as a measuring tape, or it can be something more playful like a teddy bear, a bowl, a basket, or daddy’s hands.

5. Focus on the relationships.

Everyone’s excited about the new baby! Other than shots of the whole family with baby, make sure to get a shot of baby with mommy, and a shot of baby with daddy. For bigger families, a shot of the elder sibling with the new baby is a classic heart-warmer, and is something that every parent finds precious. When you’re managing two little ones, there will be lots of patience required as usually, one will feel fussy while the other one feels cooperative. Make sure to engage the elder child and make them feel that this is just a game instead of a task. Shoot in burst mode, and wait for the perfect moment when they are connected.

6. Once you’ve covered the ‘organic’ shots, play around with the set, props and wardrobe.

Before the shoot, ask permission to use some props you’ve been itching to try out. It will be good to ask the mommy and daddy if there are sentimental items (i.e. gifts from grandparents or childhood stuff) that they’d wish to incorporate into the shoot. This will get the parents involved, make the shoot more meaningful for them and more fun for you.

I hope these help. And when all else fails, just remember to tap into your softer side and put yourself in your clients’ shoes. Newborn photography is a quiet celebration of human life and the ties that bind.

See more of Steph Tan’s work at her website – blog and on facebook.

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

How to Photograph Newborns

Full-screen video, rich imagery and bold graphics celebrate the 50th anniversary of this organization for people with intellectual disabilities and the artists who created the 50 pieces of art to help raise funds for it.
Credits: www.ogilvy.de

A new campaign for the Toyota Venza by Saatchi & Saatchi LA shows active Baby Boomer parents embracing their new-found freedom with adventurous hobbies and pursuits while their Millennial children worry about the their parents’ presumably lackluster social lives. The humor behind the concept is that a self-centered Generation Y doesn’t realize that the nest they left behind is only empty because their parents are out having the time of their lives. The series is grounded in findings from Saatchi LA’s consumer insights research, that revealed that active boomers are: buying things that bring them self-fulfillment; exploring interests that promote personal growth and evolution in the interest of staying young, flexible and relevant; and adopting and using new media, and feeling empowered by new technologies. The five spots (shown “Cross Country”) present an ageless, inspired approach to life.
Credits: www.saatchila.com | www.toyota.com/venza

"Album packaging and launch site for Buffalofitz's release: Belle of St. Louis."

Branding and collateral for Gibson Events.

Branding and collateral for Myriann Hotel Marketing.

The 100 Favorites 100 Posters project is a self-initiated challenge by Nuno Castro, a designer in Portugal. He challenged himself to work with and focus on color and form in the poster designs, many of which pay homage to bands and albums.

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In my experience, wedding photos edited to create a vintage-feel are becoming increasingly popular with couples, so dabbling in some vintage action can provide you with an attractive addition to your wedding package.

So here are my tips for using some subtle post-production to create an instant timeless feel. Literally at the click of a button, you can give a whole different feel to a photo, which is why my first tip is:

1. Don’t overdo it

By this I mean don’t give every picture from a wedding shoot a retro-touch, not all photos suit this kind of treatment. Transforming every shot for the sake of it can look gimmicky – instead be selective.

2. Recognizing the shots

So how do you select the right shots? Some you’ll just know. A bride’s 50’s frock, VW campers, cup cakes; anything with an inherent touch of vintage clearly lends itself to some nostalgic styling.

Other shots that can zing with a little clever post-production include portraits; people love seeing themselves edited this way. Also shots with lots of warm, natural light transform well, and all the better if you’ve caught any sunbeams or flare. At the other end of the spectrum, if you have a shot that’s on the dark side, some vintage action can brighten it up in instances when levels or curves alone just won’t cut it.

3. How to achieve the look

If you’re nifty with Photoshop there’s plenty of easy to find online tutorials that give you the guiding principles, which you can then intuitively adapt for each picture.

If you’re not as adept or want to save time the good news is that you can also find free actions to download, so all you have to do is open the image and hit play under your action tab in Photoshop.

An off-the-shelf action will have a different effect depending on the original image, but at Deviant Art, for example, you can download packs of actions (created and shared by users) so you can create a small library of actions, making it easy to experiment to find the desired result.

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=actions

4. Be retrospective

We all know that if we sit editing pics for too long it gets difficult to tell what’s right and what’s not anymore, this becomes even more so when you’re making potentially quite drastic alterations.
Drastic results may be your intention, but either way allow time to go back and review your edits; if you’re not sure if you’ve gone too far you probably have.

5. Keep the originals

Which is all the more reason for keeping the originals, but not the primary reason I do. Even if a couple loves the vintage version now, trends can date and tastes change. Providing both versions is the best way to make sure their wedding pictures really are timeless.

Gemma Taylor is a wedding photographer based in Brighton, UK. You can find her at www.betticonfetti.com or by emailing hello@betticonfetti.com

Post from: Digital Photography School's Photography Tips. Check out our resources on Portrait Photography Tips, Travel Photography Tips and Understanding Digital Cameras.

5 Tips for Creating Vintage Wedding Photos

Remie Geoffroi is a freelance illustrator and a co-founder of The Greater Good design collective.

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Mari Kasurinen, an artist and sculptor in Finland, explores the concepts of beauty and customization through her art.

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The university’s recently redesigned Undergraduate Admissions site (along with four other microsites) reinvigorates Cornell’s Office of Admissions and Enrollment and Graduate School Web presence.

The older Cornell sites had grown cumbersome to navigate and hard to administer. Since the sites serve as the worldwide public face of the university, the school needed an intuitive design that clearly presented Cornell’s tradition of academic excellence and focused on the needs of prospective students.

The result is an intuitive, efficient and clear online portal into all aspects of the institution that encourages prospective students to explore and make further inquiries. Thanks to a thoughtful information architecture, nicely integrated design elements and clear language, the home page provides easy access to a large amount of content without being overwhelming or obscure. News is prominently fed into the site’s homepage next to an interactive calendar of events that allows visitors to filter content by event type, rotating graphics provide fast access to the most-visited pages on the site and dropdowns in the main nav offer quick, clear descriptions of section content.

• The four sites for admissions and enrollment were completed in six months—to coincide with the newly admitted student announcements that Ivy League schools send out each Spring—and the Graduate School site was finished one month later.

• The Admissions and Enrollment sites work in concert with the university’s efforts to secure commitments from prospective students while a companion site, Admitted Students, is the welcoming site for newly accepted students.

• The home page maintains its design aesthetic even when viewed on devices without Flash and a streamlined design for mobile is in the works.

• The main admissions site has received 150,042 absolute unique visitors since its launch in March 2011.
Credits: www.iedesign.com | www.trellon.com

With the collaboration of artist Gina Alverez, The Center of Creative Arts St. Louis (COCA) recently curated the exhibit, A is for...., that paired letters of the alphabet with local artists who are also parents. Each artist was commissioned to create a work of art surrounding their given letter and, even more interesting, write a short essay abut how their children have played a role in their creative process. Local brand communications studio Falk Harrison collaborated with The Firecracker Press to create this $35, 64-page, limited-issue exhibit book.

Credits: www.falkharrison.com | www.cocastl.org

This cinematic experience is a digital quilt of interconnected stories resulting from questions asked, by Canadians, of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.
Credits: www.d-kitchen.com | revolve.ca

Milwaukee, Wisconsin ad agency, STIR, created these posters to encourage entrants to the state's Jalapeno Eating Contest. Placed in the restaurants where the qualifying competitions took place, the winners from each participating restaurant advanced to the final event at the Wisconsin State Fair.
Credits: stirstuff.com | www.wistatefair.com

Constellation & Co. of Seattle is the husband and wife design and print studio of Sara and Brad McNally. The pair created this series of unique letterpress prints with a mix of vintage type and advertising images.

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To build awareness for Australia’s upcoming census, this site transforms data into a personalized, animated visual story and offers compelling reasons why every citizen should contribute information.
Credits: www.leoburnett.com.au

Going to a store and taking a business card is customary; what can be done with it, however, varies. DDB Brasil turned Tok&Stok’s business card into entertainment. Alluding to Tok&Stok’s easy-to-assemble furniture, they created a business card that converts into a doll-sized chair. Simple: Detach the marked parts marked and reassemble them. The back of the card has the logo and the seat contains the essential contact info for the store.
Credits: www.dm9ddb.com.br | www.tokstok.com.br

A simple display of this bakery’s visual brand system and its mouth-watering tarts—without Flash.
Credits: ferro-concrete.com

Engineered by Wieden Kennedy, directed in a quirky music video style with a twist by Blinkink and edited to perfection by Cut Run, this brilliant video uses the Sugababes new single “Freedom” in a miniature pop video. Using puppeteered plastic dolls it markets a limited edition pink phone set to take the world by storm (if girls everywhere have any say). The making-of video is equally good.
Credits: cutandrun.com | www.nokiausa.com/find-products/phones/nokia-n8-alt/n8-pink

This site for The National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy makes a complex/personal topic approachable with a flat hierarchy, easy-to-understand content and a sense of humor.
Credits: www.ideo.com | carbonfive.com

Marc & Chantal Design created this multi-dimensional and layered experience for Hong Kong’s Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) Civic Education Resource Centre (CERC), turning it into a welcoming environment to teach youth cultural- and self-awareness, personal responsibility and citizenship. The scope of the project included the graphic identity for the center, the design of a Resource Corner (a library and two small conference rooms) and The Gallery.

The layered identity consists of a die-cut pattern of inspirational words that reflect the overall philosophy and values of both the HAB and the lessons taught at the CERC. The Resource Corner is an energetic and youthful space painted white with splashes of primary hues and sliding glass panels that allow natural light to flow through it. The Gallery, divided into five mini-sets, incorporates a mix of layered patterns and die-cut shapes to create environments symbolic of daily life in Hong Kong. Titled, My Room, My Home, My Neighborhood, My City and My Country, the elements of The Gallery encourage students to think for themselves and take ownership of their experiences.

The tour begins in My Room, a bedroom-like environment, where emphasis is placed on the individual. Further on, the My Home zone focuses on the interpersonal issues teenagers face within a family by mirroring a typical family-apartment with playful hints of Hong Kong (traditional mailboxes and Chinese incense pots) created with white-on-white die-cut patterns. Peering through a window from My Home reveals My Neighborhood; focusing on peer relationships and social interaction, it resembles a basketball court in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, with layers of shapes and outlines of mature trees framing the playing area. Finally, My City and My Country encourages visitors to discuss their personal goals and reflect on how they can contribute as individuals to the betterment of their society.

[photo credit: Grischa Rueschendorf, Marc & Chantal Design]
Credits: www.marc-chantal.com | www.cpce.gov.hk/resource_centre/en/index.htm