By: Ted Burn
So, you want to know how to become a photographer? Perhaps you love the idea of taking pictures. Maybe friends and family keep telling you that you have a natural eye for it, for creating just the right composition out of any situation. Well, that is definitely a good starting point. There was a time when being a photographer meant just getting yourself a decent 35mm camera and going out and snapping pictures on a casual basis. You opened a shop, placed some ads, and promoted yourself. It is not quite so easy any more.
Taking Classes
These days, the first step to learn how to become a photographer normally starts in the classroom. Now, don’t think that you have to stop your current job and become a full-time student. On no, not thanks to our modern high-tech world. Simply spending a little investigative time on the Internet and doing a quick search, you can find a whole host of Vo-techs, colleges, universities, and trade schools that offer a veritable cornucopia of online classes that completely cover the subject of how to become a photographer. You might think, wait a minute, first off, how can I take photo classes online?
And second, just how many classes could I possibly need simply to learn how to point and shoot? Okay, to answer the first, do not fret. These institutions know what they are doing. The classes are fully outlined, and you are sent all the study material via snail-mail, or they can be downloaded as PDF documents. The training takes you step-by-step through every class in the Concerning the Class content. Learning how to become a photographer involves a whole lot more than simply “point and click.”
What is Involved in the Profession?
If you are going to learn to become a photographer, you need a good grasp of how to set up a shot. One critical factor in a photo is lighting. Some evening, try taking a picture of the moon and see how it comes out. Your classes will help you to learn about that. If you plan to open a small studio taking portraits, doing weddings, and other family gatherings, you will need to learn how to run a business. That is also covered in the lesson plan for learning how to become a photographer. Of course, there is also the question of just what type of photography you want to do as a personal preference.
There are quite a few possibilities available. You like celebrities, politicians, sports figures? You could spend your time chasing them around the globe. Or, if you pooh-pooh such things and consider yourself an artist, you could study to be the next Ansel Adams. His pictures hang in art museums all over the world! So, think long and hard as you study how to become a photographer. There is a lot involved in it and a lot of potential for a bright future, either as a hobby or professionally. In the end, your enjoyment will only increase through training.
How To Become A Photographer
5 Easy Questions To Ask Your Potential Wedding Photographer
Asking the right questions of any professional you will be using for your wedding is extremely important.
Here are 5 questions to get the conversation going when interviewing a photographer for your wedding.
1 Are you the photographer who will be photographing my wedding?
2 Are you a member of a professional photographer association?
3 Ask to see photos from an entire wedding, not just the best from many different weddings.
4 Has he/she worked at your event location before? How did it work out?
5 What type and how much assistance will they provide in planning your album?
Surrealism in Photography
Surrealism in photography was one of the major revolutionary changes in the evolution of photography. Rather than art, photography was reviewed as a copying effort. Surrealism is the introduction of the ‘more than real' images to the art forms.
Surrealism was a movement in the art and intellectual activities, emerged after World War I. Andre Breton, was the founder of the surrealistic concepts and he has gathered the influence from the Dande movement. Surrealism is actually the real expression of mental emotions, without any polishing. Andre Breton describes surrealism in Surrealist Manifesto, as the pure psychic automatism expressed in the real functionality of a person. Surrealistic art forms characteristically differ from the conventional forms in not having specific shape or idea. It can be the expression of basic human instinct and imaginative faculties of the unconscious mind. But, when surrealism comes to photography, the critics did not even imagine such a possibility. However, "Marquise Casati" by Man Ray, made a change to the belief, as it featured multiple eyes for the photograph. Even though, it was an accidental blurring, it proved the chances for the feasibility of surrealistic works.
Man Ray and Lee Miller are considered as legends in surrealistic photography as they were very successful to overcome the limitations of photography to create surrealistic images. Maurice Tabard is another famous surrealist, who had his own technique for surrealistic imaging. Hans Bellmer creatively used mechanical dolls to symbolize sexualized images, where as for Rene Magritte camera was the tool to make photographic equivalents of his paintings.
Surrealist photographs are described as the images, which symbolically represent dreams, night mares, intoxication, sexual ecstasy, hallucination and madness. The difficulty with photography medium is that it imbibes the reality, and often the real images cannot be sufficient to express such unconventional patterns. But, the famous surrealist photographers are able to fulfill the task since they can use the photographic techniques effectively. The ordinary snapshots, body photographs, anthropological photographs, medical photographs, movie stills, and even police photographs are manipulated to create the impression of surrealist images in the photographs.
Surrealism in photography is mainly performed using the different techniques. The differential techniques of light and lenses can itself be the primary technique for surrealism. Photomontage is one of the popular processing techniques, in which the several images are coupled together. In photogram, a photographic paper can be used instead of camera to imprint the image. The images produced by the flush of light can create amazing images that has a surrealistic look.
Multiple exposure is another technique for surrealism, in which the camera is clicked twice or more, without rolling the negative. The second image will be superimposed on the first image and the final product will be an undefined mixture of both. Cliche verre or glass negative is the surrealistic technique that uses negative coated from glass plate. Anyhow, solarization or Sabattier effect seems to be the most remarkable technique for surrealism. It produces dramatic effect of patterns through the flushing of the light on the photograph, while developing in the darkroom. It was discovered by Lee Miller, which have selective reversal of highlights and shadows. The light and dark areas with the distinct line of reversal make it most appropriate for surrealism.
Surrealism in photography has progressed much from its primitive stages. The new technology and lenses offer immense opportunity to the new generation photographers to portray their mental emotions in the frame of cameras.
Finding a Wedding Photographer
In wedding photography one of the first things that should be taken into consideration is the nature of the wedding photographer.
It is highly recommended that the couple use a photographer that was used and enjoyed by members of the family [the event need not be a wedding, if the name came to you from someone who was planning a wedding anniversary the quality of the reference is what matters]. The couple should look at a list of references, speak to as many on the list as possible, and be wary of a photographer that isn't willing to give or doesn't have a list of those content customers who are also willing to discuss their experience.
If this attempt at references is unsuccessful, for instance if the couples Maui wedding planning didn't take into consideration the fact that they don't know local business, one can always try to make contact with the BBB or Better Business Bureau. If the couple is lucky their Maui photographer will not have a stack of complaints against him. Now while this cannot be taken as a good sign per se, it certainly allows for good conduct and the unknown Maui photographer should not be disqualified.
A big question when planning any part of the wedding is price range. If the couple has found the perfect photographers, the next step is to start the bidding war. The couple should try to stay on budget and negotiate. If none are willing to do so, then its time to consider wedding priorities. If the wedding planning includes a honeymoon, it should be taken into consideration that the difference in price might make the difference between a honeymoon in Maui or at the parents in law. If the couple must, it might be better to start over and compromise on the picture quality or photographers attitude in order to have the best 'big picture' of a wedding possible.
Why should one take so much care when choosing a photographer? Because no one ever goes back to the wedding video. this will be the couples one true souvenir from their wedding, and the more planning goes in to it, the more useful these pictures will be later on when the couple wants to revisit the most important day of their lives. So, ake care and give it thought, mistakes are avoidable and great pictures are always attainable.
Photography: From Hobby To Your Very Own Business
by: Michael Colucci
That’s right. Who could say that there’s no chance that your hobby could also be the foundation of your first business venture? There are a lot of people out there who are in need of a good photographer to capture images of their son’s wedding, their daughter’s graduation or their very own wedding. Why couldn’t you be the one to supply your photography services to their needs?
For the transition of photography from hobby to your very own business, there are several tasks that you have to accomplish first.
Market Your Photography Skills – Sell yourself, in other words! Let people know about what you can do in the field of photography, why they need your skills and why they should hire you. Make sure, however, that you charge them reasonable rates since you’re still more or less an amateur in the field of photography.
To effectively market your photography skills, don’t be afraid of spending a little money on posting ads in the classified sections. Don’t stop there but post about your photography business in as many places as you can.
Join Interest Groups – This could be the local photography club in your community or the association of young photographers in your school. It could also be a Yahoo Group that you could easily join.
Usually, these groups are able to hold regular or annual exhibits of their works and it wouldn’t hurt to expose to the world the beauty of your works in photography.
Join Photo Competitions – Two things that you could enjoy when joining photography competitions: fame and fortune. Both are equally important. Fame would do wonders to your career in photography because it would let the world know about your skills and winning a photography competition may also offer the prize of having an apprenticeship under a world famous photographer. And when it comes to wealth – well, when did extra money ever hurt?
Offer Your Skills For Free to Government Projects – The government is always on the lookout for professionals who are willing to work for free and you should take advantage of this. Offer your photography skills for free because this would give you the opportunity to show them what you got.
Offer Samples of Your Work to Newspapers and Magazines – This is just like joining a photography competition. When you offer samples of your work to newspapers and magazines, you’re improving the chances that you’ll get noticed by the people who matters.
Although we can’t say that the road to victory is easy, never give up, never stop taking pictures and you’re sure to go far!
