Panorama Photography

Panoramic photography is a technique of photography using specialized equipment or software, that captures images with elongated fields of view It is sometimes known as wide format photography. The term has also been applied to a photograph that is cropped to a relatively wide aspect ratio. The above picture is not mine, I unfortunately do not have any panoramas to share, this mainly due to the fact I do not live near any amazing scenery. I suppose I could be more creative when I attempt a panorama as there are a few ways this can be done.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/panoramic-photography-30-breathtaking-photos/

Lots of beautiful panoramas in the link I posted. There is so much you can capture in a photo it is simply amazing. Panoramic photography can be done a few ways. Some cameras have a built in shooting mode for panoramas, while ones without it would have to use other software to combine the photos, such as Adobe Photoshop. Again there is probably some free software you may use as well if you're good at finding stuff on the net. Also if you have a camera that can take panoramas it really helps to have a tripod. Even if you can't shoot a panorama on your camera the tripod still helps to keep everything even for when you merge the other images in other software. You can also make it abstract by taking several photos of a scene and arranging them in a way so that it shows what the image is, but is represented in a more interesting way such as taking the pictures at different angles and messing with transparency settings. It all takes creativity and how much time you are willing to spend editing.

Selective Color

Selective color is subtracting colors from one another so that only the ones you want will stand out. Doing this can make a photograph look pretty dramatic or because the person wants you to focus on a specific thing within the photo. You can either let a little bit of color, or even a large amount of color in.

http://www.pxleyes.com/blog/2010/03/50-outstanding-examples-of-selective-color-photography/

Lots of beautiful examples in the link I have posted above. Some are simple, others are more complex. The example I have of mine is pretty simple. I desaturated everything else but brought in just the green rock. Took me all about 30 seconds. So it's not too complex. Some of the pictures in the link have selected color down to tiny details such a leaves and strands of grass, which would take a steady hand so you are not having to keep redoing an object because you keep slipping outside too much. You can also mess around with the hue and saturation of the selected colors to make the pop even more.

http://smashinghub.com/25-beautiful-selective-color-photos.htm

Here are even more examples. I really like the first image from this link because the selected colors are already kind of neutral so they blend into the black and white of the photo pretty well. I also really like the photos that have reflections in them. It's like seeing into two different worlds. The dull black and white above, and the colorful vibrant world through reflection. In order to perform the Selective Color Technique you need photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. There are other programs you can use as well, and some are probably free. I have never used any other software besides Photoshop so I can not say how other programs would work. This is a pretty neat technique to experiment with though. Try it out!

Portrait Photography

Portrait photography. When people here this they will most like think of photos of peoples faces. Well, it is actually more than that. Portraits can be whole figures, with multiple people. It can also be objects, that symbolize someone, or something. My example is literally just a portrait of a friend's face.

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/10-ways-to-take-stunning-portraits

The above link has some great tips for doing portrait photography. These include:

• Changing your perspective
• Playing with eye contact - looking within frame and looking off camera
• Breaking the rules of composition
• Experiment with light
• Move your subject out of their comfort zone
• Shoot candidly
• Introduce a prop
• Focus on one body part
• Obscure part of your subject
• Take a series of shots

My photography professor actually introduced me to those tips above. This was after my portrait assignment however. Although now when I have friends over to take pictures, I keep such things in my mind now, and think about them often when I go out to take pictures.

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/tips-portrait-photography

http://blog.epicedits.com/2007/12/10/16-inspirational-portrait-photography-techniques/

The above links have even more tips as well.

The ones I myself have experimented with are framed, off center, and unfocused shots. I really like out of focused shots because there is a movement to them. When I look at such shots I kind of drift into a day-dream type of state. That's the best way I can explain it. SOmething I need to do that I always forget is to play around with different angles. I've recently obtained a tripod and I forget that I can move it around. There is a lot you can do with portraits, it just depend on how creative you want to be, or the mood you want to capture.

Vantage Points

My first assignment in my Photo 1 class was to take some photos at different angles and view points. The picture above is one of the many I took. It's nothing really exciting. I do like the nostalgic feeling it have when I look it. Basically the point of the assignment was to take these types of pictures to try and add more movement and drama into the photos. To make them more interesting would be another way of putting it. It's a pretty simple thing to do really. There are even some tools that can help you obtain different vantage points.

• Monopod - Simple yet effective. By fastening your camera onto the end of a monoped or a tripod, or even a long pole that’s fitted with a ball head, you can hold your camera way up the air and get a view over fences, down towards the ground, or in any number of other places that you physically can’t get to.
• Manfrotto Super Clamp (used to be Bogen Super Clamp) - This piece of gear allows you to attach your camera to all sorts of places like vehicles, fences, and other various locations that you could not really take pictures from yourself.
• Pocket Wizard Transceivers - These wireless radio remotes come in pairs, and they allow you to remotely fire your camera’s shutter from quite far away. Depending on battery strength and line of sight, they work anywhere from a few hundred feet to a couple of miles away.

Also not you don’t have to get all of that fancy equipment (most of it is quite expensive). A lot of it would help though depending on the types of vantage points you are trying to get.

http://www.vantagepointimages.com/-/vantagepointimages/galleryindex.asp

The link above has some wonderful examples of vantage point photography. You are only limited by your imagination, and of course how much risk you are willing to take to get that perfect vantage point.