Mini Lesson: Red-eye.

Do you experience red-eye in your photos regularly? Here's a tip: pony up some cash for a better camera. Red-eye occurs when the light from your flash is on roughly the same plane as your lens and the fundus of your eyes reflect back into the lens.

There is hope and a few things you can do with your crappy camera to fix this:
1. Turn on the lights in the room you are shooting in cheapskate. this will cause the iris to contract and reduce the effect.
2. use red-eye reduction. it does pretty much the same thing as turning on the lights, but it uses the cameras flash to force the contraction.
3. have your subjects look someplace other than directly at the camera.

that's all i have time for at the moment. If you want greater elaboration, feel free to look it up yourself. It will take less time than waiting for me to answer your question.

Lesson 1: Learn what your camera does (for those of you using SLR cameras)

A friend sent me this link today and i think that it might shed a little on what all those settings do on your camera that you never bothered using. (the green square or the little pictures work good enough for you, right?)
http://www.kamerasimulator.se/eng/?page_id=2

Because i am lazy, I'm going to let this explain Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO for me.

This will give me more time to procrastinate before writing my next post: MOVE CLOSER. (or, Nobody needs to see grandma blowing her nose in the corner of your picture)

Welcome, Please come in! This might sting a little...

Perhaps i am just a snob, but i am sick and tired of bad pictures that sent to me by friends, family, co-workers, random acquaintances, etc... Why are people so willing to accept mediocre photography in their lives when it is so easy, with a little know-how, to take better than shitty pictures instead?

This it not a blog on how to become a professional photographer by any stretch of the imagination. Think of it as more of a guide to simply taking less awful pictures.

In the coming weeks, i will provide examples of what i consider "Unacceptable" photography. Be it as a result of poor lighting, poor composition, distracting backgrounds or just plain boring subject matter.

If anyone reading this has their own questions or photographic issues that they would like addressed, by all means, contact me and i will do what i can to address the problem and provide you with a better solution for the future.