This is my first blog here so hopefully it gets a positive response.
I have seen a lot of cool/good pictures in these photo contests and thought "oh man, that would be a GREAT shot if only it" - had better focus, had a better background, was composed better. etc.
Having said that, if YOU like the picture you took... that's the most important thing. However if you are an art/photography n00b or just want some basic tips to keep in mind to try and take better pictures - keep reading!
I'll start with your camera. You don't have to have a top of the line dslr to take a great picture, you don't have to have the best lens or a fancy studio. If you take the time to figure out what features your camera has and how to best utilize them you are going to be off to a better start. Not everyone has a dslr so I won't talk about that in this post (although if you have one, and want a blog on it or just have a question - send me a pm), however everyone can take better/more eye catching pictures with ANY camera if you take the time to consider color and composition.
*COLOR
Now, when I say color I don't just mean having your chameleon with its best colors on, although that can help. I mean consider what else is in the picture, whats in the background, etc. For example you might have a mostly green chameleon surrounded by green leaves, it can make it harder to find and focus on the chameleon. If you were to put him/her in front of something with a complimentary color or a warm color, he/she would stand out far more.
Here is a chart I made showing a basic color wheel, the cool/warm colors and the arrows show the complimentary colors (they are always straight across from eachother):
So if your chameleon is showing primarily orange, they will stand out most against some sort of blue background (a blue sky or blue flowers for example) and will stand out pretty good against any other cooler colors.
Here are a few examples:
As you can see Daedalus REALLY stands out against this red. Beautiful color. (Photo by Olimpia)
This example is much more subtle but the same idea is applied. (Photo by Olimpia)
*COMPOSITION
Composition is basically just where things lay in the picture. I will be talking a little bit about the "rule of thirds". You may have the urge to simply line up the chameleon (or ANYTHING - people, cars, whatever) directly in the middle of the picture, however this usually ends up looking pretty bland. If you were to imagine your picture split up into thirds in each direction, if you line up your subject where the lines are/intersect you will likely get a much more interesting photo. You can line up more than one thing on these points to get an even more
interesting picture - for example maybe you can line it up so an eye is on one intersection while a rolled up tail is on another. Just because you keep the rule of thirds doesn't mean that things always HAVE to line up on these lines or points, near them is usually good enough. Just keep it in mind, but don't be afraid to be creative!
Here is a chart I made showing what I mean by splitting up your image into thirds. The red circles are sometimes called power points as they tend to be the areas that have the most impact on a picture.:
Here are a few examples :
One of my nicer composed shots fairly recently. You can see where the lines follow the stick, his arm and even cross at his eye and hand.
Same idea here. This would have been much nicer if I used a reflector or something, but that's for another time.
Nice color in the background, composed well. (Photo by Olimpia)
I also wanted to post a few other things to consider.
*Light it up! If you know your camera doesn't do very well in low light, make sure to light the area up. If you are using a dslr you can open up your aperture or adjust your ISO to a higher speed to make it more sensitive to light, however you may introduce noise if you go too high. I know most of the time your chameleon will be under a light or outside. If you are inside it doesn't hurt to add another light just incase.
*Make sure the area you want to be in focus IS in focus. If you have a standard pocket type digital camera, try and find the macro setting and get up close.
*Take a lot of pictures. Why not just take a few extra pictures, just incase? You don't have to use them, but if you aren't sure you got it in focus or it seemed a little dark...just take a couple more.
If this blog post goes well, I might post another with some other tips... Let me know if you would be interested.
Thanks to Olimpia for her photos! Check out her website HERE
Darwin photos & charts(?) by : heartben
**If you have any suggestions as far as things I should add (or take away) on this post please contact me via pm.
I have seen a lot of cool/good pictures in these photo contests and thought "oh man, that would be a GREAT shot if only it" - had better focus, had a better background, was composed better. etc.
Having said that, if YOU like the picture you took... that's the most important thing. However if you are an art/photography n00b or just want some basic tips to keep in mind to try and take better pictures - keep reading!
I'll start with your camera. You don't have to have a top of the line dslr to take a great picture, you don't have to have the best lens or a fancy studio. If you take the time to figure out what features your camera has and how to best utilize them you are going to be off to a better start. Not everyone has a dslr so I won't talk about that in this post (although if you have one, and want a blog on it or just have a question - send me a pm), however everyone can take better/more eye catching pictures with ANY camera if you take the time to consider color and composition.
*COLOR
Now, when I say color I don't just mean having your chameleon with its best colors on, although that can help. I mean consider what else is in the picture, whats in the background, etc. For example you might have a mostly green chameleon surrounded by green leaves, it can make it harder to find and focus on the chameleon. If you were to put him/her in front of something with a complimentary color or a warm color, he/she would stand out far more.
Here is a chart I made showing a basic color wheel, the cool/warm colors and the arrows show the complimentary colors (they are always straight across from eachother):
So if your chameleon is showing primarily orange, they will stand out most against some sort of blue background (a blue sky or blue flowers for example) and will stand out pretty good against any other cooler colors.
Here are a few examples:
As you can see Daedalus REALLY stands out against this red. Beautiful color. (Photo by Olimpia)
This example is much more subtle but the same idea is applied. (Photo by Olimpia)
*COMPOSITION
Composition is basically just where things lay in the picture. I will be talking a little bit about the "rule of thirds". You may have the urge to simply line up the chameleon (or ANYTHING - people, cars, whatever) directly in the middle of the picture, however this usually ends up looking pretty bland. If you were to imagine your picture split up into thirds in each direction, if you line up your subject where the lines are/intersect you will likely get a much more interesting photo. You can line up more than one thing on these points to get an even more
interesting picture - for example maybe you can line it up so an eye is on one intersection while a rolled up tail is on another. Just because you keep the rule of thirds doesn't mean that things always HAVE to line up on these lines or points, near them is usually good enough. Just keep it in mind, but don't be afraid to be creative!
Here is a chart I made showing what I mean by splitting up your image into thirds. The red circles are sometimes called power points as they tend to be the areas that have the most impact on a picture.:
Here are a few examples :
One of my nicer composed shots fairly recently. You can see where the lines follow the stick, his arm and even cross at his eye and hand.
Same idea here. This would have been much nicer if I used a reflector or something, but that's for another time.
Nice color in the background, composed well. (Photo by Olimpia)
I also wanted to post a few other things to consider.
*Light it up! If you know your camera doesn't do very well in low light, make sure to light the area up. If you are using a dslr you can open up your aperture or adjust your ISO to a higher speed to make it more sensitive to light, however you may introduce noise if you go too high. I know most of the time your chameleon will be under a light or outside. If you are inside it doesn't hurt to add another light just incase.
*Make sure the area you want to be in focus IS in focus. If you have a standard pocket type digital camera, try and find the macro setting and get up close.
*Take a lot of pictures. Why not just take a few extra pictures, just incase? You don't have to use them, but if you aren't sure you got it in focus or it seemed a little dark...just take a couple more.
If this blog post goes well, I might post another with some other tips... Let me know if you would be interested.
Thanks to Olimpia for her photos! Check out her website HERE
Darwin photos & charts(?) by : heartben
**If you have any suggestions as far as things I should add (or take away) on this post please contact me via pm.
