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Google has updated its photo editing software and manager Picasa to the version 3.9. It comes up with plethora of new photo editing effects from Picnik and with new side-by-side editing feature. It also supports Google+ social network.

It may be that your Picasa 3.8 on Mac didn’t find any updates for a while, but you can download your new version directly from picasa.google.com website. There are some new features you will really like, no matter if you are Google+ user.

New photo editing effects in Google Picasa

When you double click your photo in the Picasa’s Library mode you will be moved to the photo-editing layout. On your left, there are the tabs you already know. Basic fixes with image buttons to quickly edit the photo. There are also the new tabs with the photo editing features coming from the online photo editor Picnik (which will be closed at April 2012 as Google announced lately).

So you can try new editing like vignette, duo-tone, borders or HDR-ish. Don’t worry; Picasa 3.9 still saves the original image on your disc.

How to use new side by side editing feature in Picasa 3.9

When you will look closer, you will see three new buttons at the top. Using them you can switch the editor mode between one image, two different images or two views on the same image. The latest feature is extremely useful when you are doing some graphics operations and would like to compare the with original picture’s state. This new feature in Picasa 3.9 is similar to other graphics software.

Connect to your Google+ directly from the Picasa 3.9

The new Picasa can be also connected to your Google+ account and your circles. So you can upload your photos directly to this social network and share them with your friends. This functionality also supports the videos. You can also share the images on the Google+ with the people that don’t use it. They will just get an email with a needed link to view the images.

So, how you can upload your photos to the Google+ from the Picasa 3.9? At first, click the “Sign in with Google Account” link on the top of Picasa window. Login with your Google account credentials. Then open the image and click the big green Share on Google+ button at the bottom.

You will get a new window where you can create a new album on Google+ or select on of the previously created. Select the image size, provide he message or description to the image, select circles or individuals you would like to share with and click the Upload button.

You can also find that the nametags from your photos can be uploaded and shared on the Google+.

More information about news in Picasa 3.9 can be found in Picasa 3.9 Release Notes.

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In the first part we discussed a little bit about portraits and self-portraits and how those can make the subject of some wonderful photo project ideas for your 2012. However, some of us are more keen at looking at the timeless beauty of nature rather than having to ask people to pose for us. In this case, things get a little bit more complicated mostly because you will not always have a subject available for your photo shoots, not to mention that it gets a lot harder when you have a 9-to-5 job that barely allows you get out of the house, not to mention the city in the search for that beautiful landscape. Nevertheless, provided you have enough time and willingness, there are a lot of interesting projects you can take up in 2012 to build your portfolio or to just make your hobby a lot more interesting.

52 Photowalks – As you know, there are 365 days in the calendar, therefore 52 weeks. This project involved one photowalk per week. Most people will think of this as an incredibly tiring project since it means getting out somewhere every weekend and creating a small slideshow of that particular outing. Whereas this might not be feasible for a lot of people, for some, it might just be the challenge they need.

12 Locations – This one is a bit more on the lighter side, meaning that it will allow you to combine your travelling time with your hobby rather than just rush you through a million pictures. Basically, you have 12 months ahead of yourself to come up with some beautiful locations (they don’t have to be somewhere far, as long as they’re interesting enough to make a photo-project out of them) and photograph them like they have rarely been. This might allow you to spend more time in one single place and obtain those truly interesting pictures. You can consider doing a localized version of 12 Locations for your country and promoting its beauty. There are so many things you can do, that in the end, your own imagination is the limit.

365 Landscapes – This one is again, a little more difficult since it involved a lot of work, and a lot of travelling. It’s often difficult to scrape up 365 quality pictures even if we’re talking over an year especially if you’re the kind that has little if any time to truly travel. Not to mention that these landscapes need to be really interesting, not just train snapshots. The good news is that you can build this project over the year rather than with one picture per day. But that still requires a tremendous amount of work. But imagine at the end of the year the satisfaction of having done something so interesting.

In the end, it doesn’t matter that much how you play around with numbers and pictures, the point is to commit to a plan now, at the beginning of the year and to actually have it ready by the end of the year. Often enough it seems easy to commit to something and then just discard it, but think about it – both your hobby and your imagination could use a little push in the right direction. And there’s no better way to do this than using a photo project that’s at least a little bit demanding of you. Just make sure not to bite off more than you can chew.

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With the holidays behind us and all sorts of New Year’s Resolutions ahead of us, most of us plan for completing those particular tasks. However, if with most people, these resolutions are in regards to how many books to read in 2012, how much weight to lose and so on, it would be nice if photography is one of your hobbies to start something that will last a whole year. Whereas this is a bigger commitment, it will not only fine tune your photography skills but it will also make it easier to commit to other projects in the future. Remember, in the beginning, things might not sparkle as much as you’d like them to – or you might hit a couple of road bumps along the way – that’s alright. That’s how most projects work and sometimes they’re frustrating and a little annoying, and inspiration won’t always come when you need it. The point is to constantly work through them.

The problem is, most often people forget about the importance of coming up with a unique project – for that matter, with so many 365 self-portraits, and 365 pictures of cats most of us feel like we’ve seen so much of those that we just don’t need another one. The point behind this article is to give you a broad spectrum of ideas, which you can personalize in order to make them your own.

One important rule is not to get stuck with numbers – don’t commit to 365-sort-of-projects if you know you don’t have the time nor the inspiration to commit to it on a daily basis since this will lead to early abandonment. A 2012 project can be as simple as 52 photowalks (which we’ll discuss at length a bit later) or something like one-landscape-per-week. You know where your limits are, the point is to commit to something that’s actually feasible and doable rather than invite failure by taking on too much too soon.

Self-Portrait Projects

I began by discussing the idea of 365 self-portraits and how we’ve all seen a bit too many of those. However, if you feel that’s something you’d love to do, don’t hesitate – it might just be the photo project you need to get yourself started. So, here are a couple of photo projects for the self-portraitist.

1.) Every Day Selfs – There are wonderful projects out there that are almost 12 years now. If you take a look here: everyday.noahkalina.com you will notice a range of self-portraits starting the year 2000. That’s one big commitment, and you can start by focusing on a self-portrait per day for the next 365 days. You don’t need to find something incredibly artistic about it but it’s important to put some thought into it. Meaning that while you’re not supposed to come up with the greatest self-portraits either, don’t make it a matter of pure randomness either.

2.) Layering Self-Portraits – Okay, typical self-portraits might be too boring for what you had on your mind. Consider a little pizazz and try a project that involves layering your self-portraits. After all, there’s no rule that says you should display your photos one-at-a-time. This way you can see what changed throughout the year. It might be a little difficult in the end, since you have to keep the same position and framing, but with a flip-screen that can easily be taken out of the way.

3.) Timelapse Self-Portraits – If layering or typical portraits mean nothing to you, consider a timelapse. You will probably end up building the time lapse at the end of the project itself (or do monthly sequences) and you can see how you evolved throughout the year. If with the layering part it was incredibly important to keep the same pose, it’s less relevant right now. But it would be nice to remain in the same side of the frame at least.

Portrait Projects

1.) The Arrow of Time – Or your family in images, over time. You might be a little camera shy, or you might simply dislike taking photos of yourself for the next year, but what you can do is focus on other people, and in this case focus on the most important people in your life – your own family. The beauty of it is not only that you pay them a tribute that will last long in everyone’s memory, but you will also have a chance at building something truly beautiful. If you’re curious about how this project was done in the past, visit: www.zonezero.com.

2.) 365 Strangers – This is one of my personal favorites, but you’ll have to work with your shyness often enough if you want to address 365 strangers and take pictures of them. The good news is that if you manage to do more than one picture of a stranger per day, you might get enough time off. Or if it seems like too much, you could cut down on the frequency – say, like 3 per week and make a total out of that. 52 strangers this year.

3.) 52 Smiles – Happy people are everyone’s favorites, and we all know how great most of them look in pictures and how it brings a positive outlook on everyone’s mind. The point here is to find those people that have an incredibly catchy smile and ask them to pose for you. Ultimately, doing one such shot per week shouldn’t be too hard – even if they’re strangers or friends.

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A few weeks ago the new version of Zoner Photo Studio was introduced. So we will take a look on its new features, including nice tone mapping based HDR, GPU acceleration for faster calculations or direct connection to Zonerama.com.

Zoner Photo Studio 14 is a photographic editor and photo managing software coming originally from the Czech Republic (my country, by the way). In about ten years ago there was vector-based graphics editor called Zoner Callisto as the main product of ZONER software and Zoner Media Explorer figuring as the helpful utility to browse the image. A few years later, thanks to Japan business partners and their recommendations to invest the time and energy to the Zoner Media Explorer, ZONER software has successful photo managing and editing software.

Zoner Photo Studio offers four modes: simple viewer, advanced browser and manager, photographic editor and RAW lab. It offers you to edit your photos in an easy way with pretty nice results. You can also use the manager to handle multiple photos at once.

What’s new in Zoner Photo Studio 14

Direct connection to Zonerama.com and its cloud storage. Zonerama.com is a simple photo sharing website. You can use it for free with up to 2 GB size for photos up to the 1920x1200 px dimension. Bigger photos are resized automatically. It offers the base operation to handle the image sharing and some simple editing functions. Zoner Photo Studio 14 includes new tool to upload your photos directly from the app, including the synchronization of photos and their descriptions in a gallery.

GPU acceleration to speed up calculations. It seems like all bigger photo apps have to provide the GPU acceleration. It is a good idea if you have a powerful and compatible computer. Zoner Photo Studio 14 is using the GPU acceleration to speed up the RAW operations, color balancing in batch operations and so. The speed-up is great – some operations are hundreds percent faster than in previous version. On the other hand, the GPU acceleration is not enabled by default because of compatibility with older computers. If you have OpenCL and NVIDIA CUDA compatible graphics card, you can enable the acceleration manually.

Tone Mapping based HDR. Another great new feature works with image colors and can make breathtaking photos with high dynamic range. All with ease. Just select more photos of the same composition with different exposure to get the best result and let the ZPS14 working. You can also use one RAW and also only one JPEG!

Pro-quality Advanced Noise Reduction. The Noise Reduction tool is not news itself. But, in Zoner Photo Studio 14 has a better algorithm providing better results. The Advanced Noise Reduction dialog also offers to select the noise area color. So you can keep the rest of the image untouched and set higher accent to the noised areas.

Free deformations. The new Deform tool helps with popular tasks like slimming a person’s figure or advanced facial adjustments.

Fill with Surroundings. This is a well known feature coming from the Adobe Photoshop. You can select an object on the photo, call this function and the object will be removed and replaced with the area’s patterns.

Zoner Photo Studio 14 prices

Zoner Photo Studio 14 in PRO version can be bough at a price of $69.99. If you have an older version you can upgrade with a discounts. The function limited version HOME is available for $34.99 USD. If you would like to extend your license to all computers in your household, you can pay one flat fee $29.99 USD.

If you are interested in, you can download full version of Zoner Photo Studio 14 for free 30days testing at www.zoner.com. There is also completely free version at free.zoner.com. It is only limited in some functionality.

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There are many wonderful photographic opportunities during the winter season. Digital photography in extreme temperatures, in this case extreme cold, can perpetuate several problems if certain rules are not followed. Winter is a beautiful time, and should be timelessly captured in well thought out images, so heed the following tips and let the artist shine through.

The three main things to consider when taking a digital camera out into the bitter cold:

1. What to do first when a warm camera goes out into the cold weather?
- We'll discuss this part in detail.

2. Is condensation going to be a problem when the camera starts to get cold?
- No, because cold air has very little moisture, so no condensation taking a camera from warm to cold. Viceversa, however, is where it can become an issue.

3. What is the main obstacle in winter photography for the digital camera?
- Loss of battery power is the main obstacle, because cold batteries are useless.

Preparing Your Battery Reserves

Due to the way batteries are designed, they become very inefficient at low temperatures and are basically useless and as good as dead. This is particularly problematic in this era of digital photography because every aspect of the digital camera is reliant on battery power.

A good habit to get into while photographing outdoor winter scenes is to keep extra batteries in a pocket close to body heat, and not put batteries into the camera until the time is right to use it. This may give the batteries a few crucial extra minutes of life. Do not throw the batteries that have given in to the cold, however.

Just put them in a pocket close to body heat and let them warm up to a usable temperature again. So, to prepare for the expected and unavoidable battery failure during a cold weather photography session, there are a few good ideas to keep in mind to help minimize the impact of the cold battery phenomenon.

First and foremost, keep the camera and flash as warm as possible until it is time to use them. Body heat works well for this, so make sure there is a bit of extra room in the winter coat of choice. Let the camera stay warm until the time they are needed out to take the actual photograph, and not a minute before.

This will actually accomplish a second important task, and that is to keep the shutter lubricant from freezing and causing the manual shutter to stick. That would be nearly as problematic as unexpected battery failure.

The second idea, as was briefly mentioned above, is to carry extra batteries in pockets nearest to body heat. These batteries can be switched out with the ones that have reached their critical low temperature, and the photography session can continue, uninterrupted.

Lastly, if the scene is winter perfection, but the main subject has not yet presented itself, there is no need to set the camera on the tripod until the last moment. If the tripod is frozen stiff, that is OK because it's supposed to hold still anyway. When the perfect subject comes into view, get the camera out of its warm hideaway and attach it stealthily to the tripod and begin taking photographs.

If the batteries begin to lose power, it is no longer unexpected and there are plenty of extra batteries keeping warm in various pockets until they are needed.

Taking Creative Photographs

This is the final tip for shooting in cold weather, and it might be the most obvious, but needs to be stated, nonetheless. The batteries are warm; the entire photographer should be warm as well. Dress in layers in case of an accidental dousing, the wet clothing can be removed and there might still be enough clothing to act as a reasonable barrier to the cold.

Hot soup is always a good idea, but coffee and alcohol are not. The latter are counterproductive and actually make the human body less capable of maintaining the correct body temperature. If the weather is extremely cold, there are chemical packets that can be put in pockets and boots and mixed by squeezing when their warmth is needed. They will last for several hours, depending on the size of the packet.

Thick gloves are necessary, but make maneuvering the small buttons on the camera difficult, but there are mittens and gloves with removable fingertips so the more dexterous bare fingertips can be used when it is time to press any of the small buttons on the camera.

Snowbound? Take A Shot!

Taking photographs when it is snowing or sleeting outside can cause problems in addition to the previously discussed battery issue. Dependent upon the amount of sleet or snow that is falling, there are a couple of suggestions to keep a digital camera in working order both during the shoot and after the shoot.

If it is just a light winter dusting of snow, keep the digital camera warm and out of the elements until the time is right to capture the image sought. If the snow or sleet is coming down at a steady rate, try to keep the camera as dry as possible, because if the warm camera collects even a modest amount of snow or sleet, the warmth of the camera will eventually melt anything collected on its exterior, and the resulting moisture can make its way into the DSLR circuitry, causing the camera permanent damage.

In short, keep the camera warm and dry until it is absolutely necessary to expose it to the weather, and then make sure it is shielded from collecting any snow or sleet by working properly, but expediently. If the serene winter precipitation turns into an all out blizzard or downpour, do not use the DSLR for cold weather photographs unless it is properly outfitted with a waterproof housing made specifically for digital cameras.

These devices are a type of plastic sealable bag that comes equipped with a clear optical glass filter made specifically for the lens to shoot photographs through without compromising the quality of the image. They were first made for underwater photography, and used by snorkelers, but work perfectly well for winter elements as well.

In addition to the physical damage that could result from the snow or sleet, the droplets can also ruin a perfectly framed subject by obscuring the lens with droplets. If any water droplets obscure the lens, merely wipe them off with a microfiber cleaning cloth, or even a dry, lint-free, well-worn cotton t-shirt.

If the above precautions are religiously practiced while photographing outdoors in cold weather, the possibilities for beautiful, original images are endless.

What Happens To Your Camera When You Come From The Cold?

When returning to the warmth of a studio after a busy day of outdoor, winter photography, vigilance must be taken with properly drying a digital camera, because this is the time when condensation can become a true problem. Much the same as moisture condensing on the outside of a cold glass in a temperate environment, the lens and electronics in the digital camera will behave like the glass, causing moisture from the warm, indoor air to collect on the them due to their cold temperature.

This problem must be avoided, and luckily there is a fairly simple way to discourage it. The camera must be warmed slowly by placing it in a cool area indoors, such as a windowsill or an unheated room, and allowing it to sit for a few hours until it rises to room temperature.

An easier remedy is to wrap the cold camera in a plastic bag before it is brought indoors, and while it warms up, the condensation from the air will settle on the plastic bag and not endanger the camera and its electronic components.

There seems to be quite a few rules to remember when using a digital camera for outdoor winter photography, and there are. However, practice does make perfect, and eventually all of the rules that apply to digital cameras and cold weather will become second nature. Winter photographs are like no others, so heed the rules and dress warmly because the opportunities that await outdoors are endless.

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Here's one interesting note - as I was looking through a couple of older (pre-1960s) photography journals, I realized there was a certain obsession with acquiring a full range of tones - there was this incredible trend of always having everything done on the rules.

Photography critics have acknowledged the fact that this high key photography style might have been the result of a reaction movement precisely against those rules. If you remember, the sixties were a time of rebellion from more than one point of view - therefore it wouldn't be surprising if this would have followed the same "break the rule" trend.

High-key photography certainly started making regular appearances during the 1960s and later on it became an interesting way of combining that "mistake" of an overexposure with incredibly silky tones.

What Is High Key Photography

We started this tutorial with an obvious art-related note, but it's important that we start by defining high-key photography. Basically, the title says it all - it generally means that the key tone (which is the tone of the image itself) is high. But obviously, that's not all that there is to it - there is an artistic depth to high-key photography.

A common mistake nowadays that has filled Facebook accounts and Tumblr pages is the over-exposure of certain images. Sorry everyone, overexposing your image at random won't grant you high key images - they'll just grant you badly exposed images. Period.

Another thing high key photography isn't? Well, remember those high-contrast images that look as if the entire lighten area is actually burnt? No, that's not high key photography either.

You're not supposed to have incredibly sharp shadows and burnt areas. High photography has a certain degree of detail, of sheer shadows rather than dark and deep shadows. In some cases, using deep shadows might be a smart idea, but only if they're used right - but again, that's not what makes high key photography.

High-Key photography

Here's the catch - whereas the tones of a high-key photography are high (obviously), there's quite a great amount of detail between areas. This means that it's not enough to have some lightened areas, you have to still have those in-between parts too.

How To Obtain Successful High-Key Photographs

Working with light is essential with high-photography. Generous light coming through a uniform source is important, but if you can work with different lighting systems then that would easily work too. Avoid using anything that might create contrasting situations - for example the use of dark clothes does not always make a good idea since that involves deep shadows and a lot of dark tones.

That doesn't mean that it won't work - but it means that when you're just getting started you should make things easier for yourself. Try to fill in different shadows with existing light or simply change your position. The way you take your photographs is directly affected by the lighting you have.

Notice the image above - there was a lot of sunlight coming from the back of the model, and I used a flash to fill in for the shadows created by the contre-jour. I went up a few stops to make sure I allow more light to enter the camera, and I obtained those silky notes without actually ruining the details.

The sharpness of the iris, of the lips and overall the skin is especially important when attempting to build a high-key portrait.

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Choosing the correct photographer for what is constantly touted as the most important day of a woman's life is important because the photographs will be second only to memories in reliving that special day. For the most part, the success of the wedding photographs is out of the hands of the bride, but there are a few things the bride-to-be can do to ensure proper photographs for the sake of posterity.

Bridal photography

image courtesy of: genevievealbert.deviantart.com

Pre-wedding - Make It Sparkle!

A pre-wedding photo shoot will have the most influence on the success of her wedding photographs, and consequently is the most important activity to put in the preparation agenda. This is because, while the photographer so carefully selected is completely comfortable on his or her side of the camera, the bride is usually a novice as being the subject of countless images.

This being said, the more time the bride-to-be spends in front of the camera, the more comfortable she becomes with being the object du jour. The stronger the rapport is between photographer and subject, the better the pictures will be on the big day. The bride will be more relaxed during the practice run because it does not carry the stigma of being the most important day of her life.

The bride-to-be needs to have fun, relax, laugh, act crazy and let the photographer observe her charms and quirks through his or her viewfinder. The better the photographer knows the true personality of the bride, the better he or she can gauge when to take the most meaningful pictures, which are the ones that do not take hours to set up, and only happen once.

Finding The Right Pose

Any professional photographer worthy of capturing precious wedding memories should be able to pose the bride, as well as any other subjects in the frame, in an attractive and expedient way. There are many different contortions the subjects in photographs are required to perform and they all have a perfectly logical reason.

Tilting the chin up will reduce, if not banish, any undesirable double chin. Similarly, the bride's torso width appears reduced and her bust accentuated by holding her elbows away from her body. Another posing trick is to have the bride shift her weight to her rear foot so her hips align in a way that gives her a sexy, curvaceous figure.

The aforementioned tricks are but a smattering of the numerous posing requests that a photographer can pull from his or her bag of tricks. By listening and following the directions of the photographer, the bride will be posed in ways most flattering to her and the other subjects in the photos. Trust the photographer, because the results will be well worth the seemingly endless routine of contortions.

Hair and Make-up!

The wedding rehearsal is a necessary activity that is designed to familiarize the bridal party with the venue, as well as relax some of the tension and nervousness that are natural when people are facing the unknown. That being said, the wedding day is not the day to experiment with hair and make-up, so a rehearsal of that ilk is recommended and should be required. It could save the bride unnecessary embarrassment and stress on the actual wedding day.

This hair and make-up rehearsal is the time to make sure any hairpieces like clips, tiaras and veils can successfully be coupled with the planned hairstyle. Also, if time allows, the photographer might be able to take some of the formal photographs of the bride and get familiar with the dos and don'ts of the bride's particular hair and make-up selections.

What About Props?

The bride needs to give the photographer to tools needed to be creative. A good idea is to order a single rose, an extra corsage, boutonniere, ribbon or other inexpensive items when placing the order for all of the other floral necessities.

These extras will give the photographer props and spurn creativity for the photographs. Also, save a wedding invitation for the photographer to incorporate into some of the detail shots on the big day. Images of wedding rings with flowers, invitation, garter, shoes and other personalized items can make for a more specialized wedding album.

The Wonderful Boquet

Brides are always concerned with the proper way to hold the bouquet. As any photographer would say, the answer to that concern is simple: down! Flowers are beautiful and smell lovely, but the bride should not hold them so high as to be able to enjoy their aroma.

The dress is generally expensive and only worn once, so don't hide it behind a $100 bundle of blossoms. Another obvious tip that still needs to be reiterated involves the size of the bouquet in conjunction to the size of the bride. A five-foot bride does not do herself any favors by toting a three-foot cascading bouquet, no matter how beautiful and aromatic the flowers are.

The big day, no matter how special and perfect it turns out, is going to be exhausting and by the end, the bride will find herself wishing for a smaller, lighter and more durable bouquet. As an aside, if the bouquet is sufficiently large and heavy, it runs the risk of injuring a hapless wedding guest during the bouquet toss.

Trying Different Angles

Remember, the wedding day revolves around the bride. Complicated backgrounds and elaborate settings in the photographs tend to take the viewer's attention away from the bride as the subject. This mistake, in turn, takes away from the impact of the wedding photographs as a whole.

Backgrounds should be kept simple, and enhance the subject, who on this day is usually the bride. Interesting angles are what separate the images of a professional photographer from those of "Uncle Will" or any other camera toting guest or relative. Almost every person knows what a wedding looks like from the vantage point of 5 ½ feet.

The bride needs to keep this in mind when she notices her photographer laying on the ground, or hanging from a low-laying tree limb. The bride's first instinct might be to laugh at him or her, but quell the impulse, as these acrobatics are proof that the photographs are going to be spectacular, and that is one less niggling worry on the bride's mind.

Finding The Proper Lighting

The bride needs to be cognizant of the time of day the wedding is scheduled for, and how the venue would enhance or detract from the photographs. An outdoor wedding will be best lit one to two hours before sunset, and lend a softness of shadow to the captured images.

An indoor wedding will have artificial lighting, but natural light lends a quality to the photographs that cannot be readily duplicated. The bride should try to pick a venue with many windows, and avoid those with high ceilings that tend to create dark corners and unattractive shadows in some photographs.

Bearing the previous suggestion in mind, natural light will always make the subjects look best, so the bride should try to set the time of the wedding when the natural light in the venue is at its peak.

Have You Considered Disposable Cameras?

Disposable cameras have become the norm at wedding receptions as of late. They seldom provide any attractive and useful images, so the bride must keep this in mind and not expect too much from them. The bride will find a few great photographs in the sheaf of pictures, but more often than not, there will probably be quite a few pictures of a wedding guest's girlfriend or the five-year-old flower girl's belly button.

That doesn't even take into account the tipsy wedding guest photos. Dozens and dozens of pictures could turn up with subject matter ranging from shoes, the floor or even eyeballs (from holding the camera backwards). The disposable cameras are for fun, and as long as the bride keeps that in mind, they should cause no undue stress on the wedding day. On the bright side, the pictures could give the bride fodder for years and years of embarrassing tales, if she so chooses.

The aforementioned ideas are probably the only control after choosing the photographer that the bride will have on the photographic success of her wedding day. That being said, the bride should have confidence in her choice and be able to relax and enjoy the most important day of her life thus far.

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Modern day portrait photographers have all of technology at their disposal, but there are still things to learn from the past. Specifically, there are techniques that can be of particular use when studying some of the past's most famous portraits. Namely, DaVinci's Mona Lisa has several secrets to share, as her sly smile suggests.

Mona Lisa

In-Depth Composition Skills

Portrait photographers of today look at the Mona Lisa and see its composition as standard, and simplistic. However, the portraits of today have this standard because of the pyramidal composition DaVinci favored in his paintings.

That is, her hands and arms create a wider base, with the body narrowing as the pyramid shape draws the eyes up to the face and the infamous smile. Modern day photographers do not have to use the pyramidal composition in all of their photographs, but is a classic form and worth a second look.

The Mona Lisa Pose

The pose, as seen from the eyes of modern day photographers is fairly basic, but for its time it was somewhat revolutionary. For the most part, during DaVinci's era, most portraits were stiffly poised and generally a profile instead of head on. In contrast, the Mona Lisa is posed, relaxed with her arms resting on the arm of a chair; a relaxed smile on her countenance.

Also apart from the norm of the time, the Mona Lisa is ¾ length instead of full length, which causes her to fill the frame and not leave room for viewers to be distracted by anything in the context of the painting. Also, there is more of an intimacy between the Mona Lisa and her viewers because she looks eye to eye with her beholder, and doesn't give the feeling of her looking down on the onlookers, or the onlookers looking up at her.

This pose could definitely work in today's portraiture, because the subject can relax, fill the frame and be posed slightly side ways, while gazing toward the camera.

Understanding The Background

While scholars cannot decide whether the blurred, muted background of the Mona Lisa is for fantasy or merely to keep the subject as the focal point, it is said that it does both. The colors are interesting and complimentary to the Mona Lisa, but the focus never strays from her.

This was unusual for the time because most backgrounds and foregrounds in portraits of the time were in sharp focus with great detail. Today, either one is used, depending on the context and how much emphasis is on the subject. The lesson from DaVinci's background is simply that the background is important and can either compliment or detract from an otherwise lovely portrait.

Using A Proper Lighting System

The Mona Lisa appears to be lit on her face as it takes on a golden glow, as well as her hands and the reflection and shadows off the sleeve of her gown are also aglow. Modern day photographers should think about how to best light their subjects, to draw the eye to key parts of a portrait as well as create depth and dimension along with some interesting shadows.

Clothing

Once again, in contrast to most portraits of the time, the Mona Lisa is clad in dark fabrics, but the lace work and the textures are very intricate. This was unusual because most portraits painted at the time had bright colored clothing and jewel-bedecked women.

The Mona Lisa wears no ornamental jewelry to distract from her as the focal point. The rather obvious lesson a modern day photographer could learn from the Mona Lisa is to carefully decide whether the clothing on the subject in your photograph is distracting or complimenting the subject.

Framing 101

The Mona Lisa was though to have been cut down a bit when framed, so the balls behind her are thought to be pillars, which would have framed her as the subject of the portrait and would be another technique to draw the eye toward the subject. Framing is still used today for the exact same reason. It is not beneficial for every portrait, but it certainly is still used a great deal.

The Mona Lisa is still mysterious to many, as there are many questions and few answers. This little bit of intrigue can be a great lesson to modern photographers, because centuries later, the Mona Lisa is still a study of contradictions. What photographer wouldn't want his or her images to stir up such strong sentiments for centuries to come?

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Studio shoots might seem overtly simplified, but in theory, most photographers will prefer an environmental photo-shoot to a studio shoot for several reasons. The least of which being the subjects more comfortable in an environment that is familiar, and possibly has a more relaxed atmosphere as well.

In this case "environmental" portraits, also known as "on location" portraits are portraits taken of people in the setting that they live, work, rest or play in. Additionally, such portraiture can also be shot in a place that holds special meaning for the subjects and says something about who they are.

Environmental Portraits - When Context Is Important

The environmental portraits give context to the subject being photographed, telling the viewer of the photograph something about the subject. It enables the shots to contain points of interest with distracting too greatly from the subject of the photograph.

In addition, as previously mentioned, it helps the subject relax so their personality can come through to the viewer of the captured image. These environmental portraits are somewhat of a midpoint in the gamut that runs between obvious studio portraits and candid shots of people captured "incidentally" during the routine of daily life.

Portrait

Consistent Tips

The photographer must take the time to get to know their subjects, as this will not only for a good rapport between them, but it gives the photographer a chance to observe where the subjects spend their days, what they enjoy doing, and more insight into their personality.

All of the aforementioned tips will make the photography shoot more productive and the resulting images will contain more points of interest that will help the viewer of the photographs connect with the subjects through the messages conveyed in the images captured.

Picking The Right Location

Once in a blue moon the location will choose the photographer, but generally speaking, it takes a bit of research and luck to find the perfect location that can convey the many messages that make for a successful environment portrait shoot.

The location must say something about the subject, as well as add interest to the shot without overwhelming the image and creating a confused image in which the subject is not immediately obvious. On way to avoid a confusing image is to keep the background and the foreground as uncluttered as possible, without taking away from the subject's appeal.

If, post-processing, the image seems too cluttered, all is not lost. Much can be edited via computer and cropped to direct attention back to the subject.

Using Props

Props can make or break an environmental portrait. Subtle props can enhance a portrait by naturally fitting into the enironment. Distracting items should be avoided if at all possible. Also, the photographer must make sure the clothing worn by the subject compliments the portrait and helps it stay true to the context of the image without distracting items that are outlandish or too brash.

Finding The Right Pose

The environmental portrait differs from the candid photographs because the portraits are posed. Of course, there might be a bit of posing in candid potraits at one point or another. Direct the subject to pose certain ways, even if they might feel unnaturaol or overly dramatic.

Shots where the subjects are posed more dramatically tend to have more depth to them. The subject's expression is just as important as any other part of the image, and should be taken into consideration before deciding on which expression best suits the situation at hand. The photographer will usually try a variety of different poses and expressions to be able to conclude what will and what won't work in the given situation.

Working With Your Camera - What Settings Should You Consider

There is no right or wrong way to set up a camera for an environmental portrait shoot. Occasionally the photographer might want to shoot at a smaller aperture to keep both foreground and background in focus. Additionally, the photographer might find that a longer focal length gives more prominence to the environment that is pivotal to the message of the portrait. In the end, anything goes, and it is best to mix it up and see what the images convey.

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Traveling to destinations to photograph people in their native locales can make for exciting, interesting and educational images. There are a few tips to keep in mind, to avoid any embarrassing gaffes or unintentional insults, with the most important ones explained below.

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