October 16, 2007

Choosing Your Subjects

Many times, we are in the wrongful notion that cialis 2.5 we need to have a studio setting and a studio subject to take great pictures. The truth is though that your subjects can be anyone, animate or inanimate. That's what makes photography so much fun. Here are a few easy tips on finding the right subjects for your pictures!

Honest Emotions

This quality is all appealing. If you capture innocence on your camera, no matter how badly composed it is, the picture will still be appreciated. If you spot a pet, a child or an adult with innocence written across their face, go for it! Capture them in action and you never know what you may end up with.

Poignant Faces

You need to study faces before you decide who can be your best subject. Faces that appear pleasant in person might turn out to be quite non-photogenic and vice versa. Also, capturing an acknowledged beauty on camera isn’t always great. What will elevate your skills is if you can find that grandmother with well defined wrinkles and nerves on her face. A tight close up of her face in black and white will tell you what you have indeed captured. It’s these poignant faces that distinguish a professional from an amateur.

Straight Action

Sometimes nothing succeeds like sporting action. Whether it's snow boarding, jet skiing, parasailing, bungee jumping, roller skating, driving, water slides, roller coasters, it's so fun to capture those kinds of things. In fact, just about any kind of action shot that’s engaging and inspirational at the same time will be a winner. With this, the action becomes your subject and not the person performing it.

Serendipitous Moments

We have many such moments, but the thrill is in capturing them for posterity and nothing can beat the serendipitous moments offered by nature. It could be a pattern in the sand, a set of footprints, the crashing of waves over a rock, a life saver’s tower, shoes at the water's edge, sand castles, sunglasses, sunscreen lotion, etc. The possibilities are endless. All you need is a watchful eye for the serendipitous!

Timing

With a little observation, you can create photographic subjects. For example, the start and end of a day can present the best opportunity for shooting at the beach. For starters, there will be less people there at those times and you’ll also find that with the sun shining at an angle, you often get more interesting effects of shadows and colors. That's especially true in the evening when the light becomes quite warm and golden. Another timing issue is that the beach can really come to life on the days when everyone avoids it because of poor weather. Stormy seas, threatening and dramatic clouds and wind blowing trees all make for atmospheric shots.

Watching and Listening

Many times, you don’t have to look far for photographic inspiration. Your subject could be anything that moves, from tiny orange soldier beetles to bull elephants fighting. Intimate photographic knowledge can be taught to a lesser extent from others, but to a far greater extent just by watching and listening to everything around you. It can be the body language of your subject that results in a "once in a lifetime" photograph. For example, a naturally relaxed bird will have its feathers quite loose, but just before flight, they will all tense. If you see this and start clicking the shutter at the right time, it can result in a wonderful “take off” image. It could be a bull elephant twitching its tail and becoming very agitated just before charging at another bull and engaging in a tussle. The world is full of great photo subjects!

Happy picture taking!

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Creating a Wikipedia Account

I'm sure most of you have heard of Wikipedia before, but just in case you haven't, let me tell you a little about it before we move on. Basically, Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that anyone can use and edit. That's right, if you want to add something to the Wikipedia database or if you want to edit someone else's entry, you can do so right through the Wikipedia Web site. Cool, huh?! (If you're still not sure what I'm talking about, you can learn more about it by reading this tip as well). Now, I know what you're probably thinking: "How can I get started?" Well, allow me to show you! Here’s how:

1.) First, go to the Web site of http://en.wikipedia.org.

2.) In the top right hand corner, click Sign In/Create Account.

3.) On the next page that appears, click Create One, which can be found above the Username box.

4.) Next, you will need to fill in your desired username (it has to be unique, as in not too long and not similar to anyone else’s), your desired password (twice) and your e-mail address. Although your e-mail address is optional, if you are going to get serious with Wikipedia, I suggest entering it in. There is also a spam blocker at the top of the page (a CAPTCHA test), so fill that in too and you'll be all set!

5.) Once you have completed all of that, go to your e-mail account and click the link in your e-mail to fully activate your account.

6.) Now, return to http://en.wikipedia.org and in the top right hand corner (where the Sign In link used to be), there is a small toolbar. Click My Preferences (see screenshot below) to get started.

7.) Here you can set up a signature that will appear when you type on certain pages. For now, click on the Editing tab in the gray toolbar at the top of this area. The bottom checkbox that says "Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary" should be unchecked. Check that and then click Save at the bottom of the page. cialis 10mg price

8.) Now, you’re finished setting your preferences and you are free to explore the encyclopedia. A good starting point would be the Wikipedia: Introduction, which can be found by typing "WP: INTRO" into the search box on the left hand toolbar. But the choice is yours!

Now you can go and Wikipedia away!

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How Far to the Margin?

Have you ever felt frustrated when working with MS Word's tabs? I mean, you're trying to set up your tab stops, but you're finding it difficult to ensure that they are placed properly between the margins.

You've got the ruler displayed (View menu, Ruler choice), but it's still a bit of a pain to double check that you've got it "just right." It's easy to get lost in all those eighth of an inch marks or the even more abundant millimeters.

So, the next time you find yourself in the old click, hold and drag routine cialis 100 mg to place your tab stops across the top ruler and you become frustrated with the placements, give this quick trick a try!

Before you click on the tab stop to move it, hold down the Alt key.

Yep, that's right. The whole trick is in the Alt key.

With just that one extra key, you'll turn your usual display of tab stops (like this one):

Into a clean display like this:

What you have here is an obvious and easy to read placement guide for your tabs. (The tab stop clicked is 2.5" from the left margin and 4" from the right margin).

In place of the ruler, you'll be able to read the distance the tab's current position is from the left and right margins, which allows for an exact placement.

While holding the Alt key down, drag the tab stop back and forth across the ruler. You'll find that the measurements adjust to your every move.

No more getting lost trying to count the millimeters, centimeters or a fraction of an inch. With a quick tap of the Alt key, you'll have Word doing the measuring for you!

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