Is your photography worthy of a Nat geographic cover?deadlin

[Lemon Cheesecake]

This thread is just to chat about things you notice or are curious about...insight...questions you have that you wonder if anyone else has thought about... what piques your interest? What information have you found that might benefit someone?

National geographic has photography contests. The latest one runs Sept 1 to Nov 16, 2015

http://photography.nationalgeographic.c ... 2015/rules

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I bought "The incredible Journey of Mary Bryant", a 2 part miniseries loosely based on the true story of a 17 yr old (history check says 20) woman sentenced to Botany Bay for 7 yrs for petty crime, at the dollar store (hey, why not...it was just as cheap as renting it and I can always donate it to the library).

As with anything "based on a true story" I like to research how much of it is true. So, it is true that in 1788 Mary is sentenced, takes a ship to Australia, giving birth to a child on the way and she does plan and manage an escape from Botany Bay to a Dutch colony 5000 kilometers away at Timor. Urch, wait, what? The Dutch were already established in Australia before the British got there? How come that is never stressed in the history books?

So, I decided to research it a bit and sure enough the Dutch had landed at Australia more than 100 years before the British got there!! In 1606!! (Maybe earlier, just not recorded)

http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/public ... ralia.aspx

[+] SPOILER

Their arrival in Australia happened mainly by chance at a time when the instruments used to determine longitude were still in their infancy. It was not uncommon for ships that left Cape Town in South Africa for the East Indies to travel too far east before turning north-east to Batavia (present-day Jakarta), the capital of the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia). Many of these ships came to grief on the Western Australian coast. Some survivors were rescued but many were not. Aboriginal oral history has it that the fortunate ones cohabited with Aborigines. Dutch East Indies Company ships stopped visiting Western Australian shores in 1796 after the collapse of the company.

http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/dutch.htm

Sure enough, Mary Bryant was transported back to England, on a Dutch ship, to stand trial:

[+] SPOILER

Some of the first escaped convicts from Sydney, including Mary Bryant, were later taken on Dutch ships on the way to England to face the hangman.

Why she didn't just beg to go back to Botany Bay I don't know...by the time she escaped and got caught a ship with supplies had arrived back to the colony and if she had waited it out her children would still be alive and after 4 more years she would have served her sentence and been free.

So, had anyone else heard about the Dutch arriving in Australia first?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Hurry - the deadline is September 22, 2015 !!

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/stunning-s ... d=33810046

If it's always been your dream to see your photo featured on the cover of National Geographic, here's your chance.

The magazine has, for the first time in its history, decided to run a contest to choose a reader photo to appear on the cover of its December/January issue.

The magazine's photo community, "Your Shot" is accepting submissions until Sept. 22. The photo must be taken in the last five years.

The editors have a few helpful hints for would-be cover shots:

1. Your photograph should demonstrate a strong sense of place. The particular location you've photographed does not have to be immediately recognizable, but the scene should not feel like a generic landscape.

2. Remember that magazine covers require a photo with vertical orientation, and that our National Geographic Traveler logo will appear across the top. Busy backgrounds can make type hard to read.

3. The very best travel magazine cover photos make readers wish they were in the picture.

[MonkeyGirl18]

hah....hahahah.... I can barely work a camera, which isn't good since I'm doing a photojournalism class, lol.

[Maro]

I've always wanted to get into photography more, maybe when I get a chance I will ^^

[galled]

With the cameras today, a lot of the skills that were once required to take an acceptable picture are no longer needed because most cameras are automatic for pretty much everything other than framing.

Some newbie tips:

- Set to the highest resolution your camera supports (if you have the memory to support large files)
- Always use flash
- Turn on HDR (High Dynamic Range) if your camera supports that

That'll get you in the ballpark.

[MonkeyGirl18]

Cameras that are in automatic probably has a manual setting on it.
Even on automatic, you still need skill and knowledge on how to use a camera because otherwise you could end up taking some blurry pictures. Automatic helps and makes it a bit easier, but you still need to know how to use it, what mode of your camera is best suited for the picture you want to take. And you better get a tripod or else you have to hold your camera in a fashion that will keep the camera as steady as possible.

Avoid flash as much as possible!

Seriously, I learned how to take pictures in a dark room and was able to get the details of the objects and brighten it up without flash. Of course, this is speaking if you have a camera that you normally see journalists and photographers use. Use your exposure compensation. Your camera will take pictures in 80% grey and So if you're in a dark room with a window, the window will be extremely bright while you're dark. But if you use the exp. comp. button, you can turn it up or down until you can get the picture clearly, although the background could end up being washed out or something. I mean, I actually have pictures of flash vs no flash in the method I'm talking about if anyone wants to see, lol.

You can get around and take good pictures without using flash at all.

Of course, I'm just spouting stuff I learned in class, but my teacher advised us not to use flash, lol.

[MonkeyGirl18]

If you want to learn what the difference is when using flash or doing it the way I tried explaining, I have an example. Flash didn't fare very well at all, it was still dark, and didn't look good at all. But the lesson, DON'T use flash, it's terrible.

[galled]

I don't want to contradict your professor and I don't for basic photography, but unless you have time and/or light modifiers and perhaps help, and a tripod, flash is simplest way to get an acceptable picture for most newbies (people who take pictures with their digital camera or cell phone).

Without a flash, you'll usually end up with something blurry and usually dark subject. That's because indoor shots (typically with low light levels) requires a slower shutter speed, so any motion will blur the picture. In addition, a wider aperture (again to compensate for the lower light) will net a lower depth of field which will make focus more critical. Flash will also help with shots like you describe (by a window). The flash will lighten the subject, and if the flash is strong enough, will cause the camera to stop down to reduce the glare from the window. If done well, you can even create shots that you can see outside the window.

So while your professors suggestions are accurate, they require more skill than most have time, equipment and/or understanding of to pull off.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Well, when you figure out your aperture settings the contest looks like it is held annually.

[ShiroGEM]

My hands are too shaky to hold a camera properly. OTL Does anyone post their photos on an online gallery like Flickr? I'd like to see. |D

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Shirogem, when my hands are shaky I try to set the camera on something solid, a wall, table etc to steady it but a tripod works great too and there are some tripods that collapse down pretty small which makes it easier for carrying and are quick for set up. Try something like that and you too could be taking great photos!

[Maro]

I need to buy a good but cheap camera, anyone got any ideas?

[Lemon Cheesecake]

So many phone camera's now take way better photos then the hand help camera. For cheaper hand held cameras I haven't had problems with the Fuji brand.

But I'd like to know as well if anyone has found a small camera that they love?

[Maro]

Are there any good Fuji ones under 100?