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In photography, a silhouette is defined as an outline that appears dark against a light background. More specifically, it is where your subject is seen as a black shape without detail against a brighter background. This is an artistic outcome that many photographers like to perfect.
Softening and diffusion can be done effectively and professionally but it’s not as easy as it used to be when you’d just pick the filter you wanted and pop it over the lens. Your old on-camera lens filters will often turn your digital images to “mush” or images of weak contrast that may or may not be salvageable.
Learn how to avoid common photo pitfalls like red-eye and blur, and take better pictures with your digital camera.
Photography is an all encompassing term used for all types of image capture but there are in fact distinct variations in the manner in which photography is approached in different genres. Different genres of photography require a different style and perspective.
Of all the kinds and styles of photography being practiced today, sports photography is probably the most exciting—not to mention the most difficult—of all. Since this kind of photography involves so much speed and action, photographing the subjects or players would require more than the usual knack for good angles but also the strength to endure physical limitations during the shoot.
Of course not all still-life is so mundane and in fact some still-life shots are very exacting, requiring careful planning, construction of the set and attention to lighting details, which would include running test shots to acquire the effect that was needed. Sometimes this could take a day or two to successfully complete.
Lighting is the single most critical factor in determining the quality of any photograph. Although with digital cameras you can edit after the fact, such features are limited and it is more effective to assure that you get the best exposure when taking the shot. The amount of light on the image sensor, or exposure, is determined by the opening/closing of the aperture, the length of time that the shutter is open, and the amount of light present.
Sunsets: there never was a more evocative subject, and there never was a subject that was more fraught with things that could go wrong. Get it right, though, and you’ll create an image that can stir the soul.
Giving a picture a foreground subject and its background puts both into context and gives the picture a narration that just the subject or backdrop by itself would not.
If you are planning to become a serious photographer you should probably buy an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera. The term single lens reflex comes from the fact that the camera has a view of the subject through a single lens and that view is reflected to the viewfinder so the photographer can see exactly what is going to be in the picture.
