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Shoot Like a Pro; Photograpy Made Easy - Your Holiday Season Would Not be Complete Without It

by on ‎11-23-2012 04:18 PM

The Canon T3i is a Canon classic that is an absolute fan favorite among our customer. The T3i is a camera that I have mentioned in many of my previous blogs and clearly you can tell that I have a lot of fun shooting with it. I want to take a moment and reiterate my fave features. First, it's as easy — if not easier — than a point-and-shoot camera. Canon put this awesome control knob on top so you can easily access picture settings like portrait mode, low light, and sports. Most other cameras — even point and shoots — don't have this feature. You usually need a map and three guide dogs to lead you to these settings. Not with this camera. Everything is easy access. BTW, one of my favorite settings is the A-Dep. Take a headshot-style picture of someone and they'll just “pop” out of the background. This does all the math for you and blurs the background to give you awesome portraits. Check out this image of my daughter and her best friend. Notice how the focus is on them while the background is slightly blurred.


 Dave James


This extra special value on this camera has come just in time for the holidays. Here are some photography tips to help you take better pictures this holiday season. I have also included some examples with images taken in New York City with my Canon T3i.


“Portrait or Landscape?” This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it epitomizes the art of photography. There's no right or wrong answer, but here's the rule. Always shoot your subject twice. Shoot once in portrait and then in landscape. Then you decide, which one looks better? If you don’t shoot both, then you'll never have a choice. See this great shot I took of a high-rise building in New York City. I think we can agree this shot would not be the same in landscape mode.


Dave James


“Let them Play” Let kids and grandkids and cousins “play” turn them loose. Don’t always pose your subjects. If you take a few minutes and walk through the family-filled house, you'll capture so many intimate moments that you'll be happy to frame. Check out my son goofing around on our trip to New York City.


 Dave James


“Get Close” One of the oldest sayings in photography is, "If your photos aren’t any good, get closer." They don’t have to all be as close as headshots, but it’s true. Try getting closer to your subject with less background behind your subject(s).


 Dave James


The Golden Rule - "Never Show them the Bad Photos” The best photographers in the world will shoot 100 photos on location and you'll only see one published…the one chosen for the magazine. But the photograph that was chosen to tell the story blows you away. You should do the same thing. Take a moment before you share all of the photo memories you took and delete the bad ones. There's no reason to show all the pictures you took at Christmas…the blurry, underexposed, or overexposed ones. DELETE THEM! You'll build your reputation as the family photographer if they only see the good shots. Plus, you'll appreciate all of the hard-drive space you save on your computer.


Enjoy the Canon DSLR. It's a great camera. I think, when you get it home, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to use...seriously, no math!


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 —Dave James