My last post you found out that I like all board sports, especially skateboarding. From this Blog anyone would guess that I love photography; I photograph things that interest me. In this post I am sharing tips with young photographers / beginner photographers.

The photograph you see above I took this summer at the skate park in Round Rock Texas. It’s very sad that I still don’t know the name of that skate park and I have been there almost everyday for the past week. It’s a photograph of a skateboarder in action. After skating, I got my camera out got on my skateboard and started taking images; all of a sudden everyone was excited about landing the tricks. I captured this image shooting in continuous mode with my Nikon D70.

There is a lot of talk about sports photography right now. What camera we should use, shutter speed, when should you turn off and don’t turn off the Vibration Reduction a.k.a the VR (if you have that function in your lens); then you say to me Dwayne what the hell are you talking about. I am providing you the simple tips to you need as a young photographer / beginner photographer to get to that point. How I did it and how I still do it. Tip number one shoot what you love. Example you probably would never see me on the side lines shooting at a Curling tournament because I don’t find sliding a circular block on a piece of ice and guiding it with a stick exciting (but you probably could find me there if I got contacted by ESPN and they were talking my universal $ language). But then some would say Dwayne you shot the Michael Jordan at his Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament and golf is just walking around hitting a ball on a stick; the difference is that I played golf and I grew to love it. So until it snows in Bahamas and I get to do some curling, no curling for me. “Lets get back on topic Mr. ADD!” Don’t be afraid to take out the camera. Chances are that your are going to have everyone looking at you the minute take your camera out; just be the rockstar and photograph rockstar images. I remember reading an article about sports photography; “Photographers must react as quickly as the players” http://www.photographytips.com/page.cfm/97 on an older site Photography Tips.com. That saying is so true. Feel the energy, get into the sport (that’s why I recommend you shooting what you like), react quickly and enjoy the moments. The photograph you see above I connect with the skater looking through the lens made me feel as if I was about to stick the trick. Most important, use what you have. I feel in love with photography when I took images of my friends at school using point and shoots, build up a bond with the camera; you might read articles saying that you need 80 – 200m lens, super- long telephoto lens, you might need a Nikon D3, D300 or D700, but honestly what you need at this point to get familiar with shooting in different environments, building up your character and simply enjoying photographing right now. To rap this up, at the beginners stage you need to get familiar with yourself holding the camera, being behind the camera and connecting with what ever you are shooting.

How should these tips help your photography?

* You learn why it’s important to photograph what you love.

* How to connect with whatever you are shooting with by feeling the energy.

* Hopefully you will start taking your camera out anywhere and feel comfortable doing so.

Useful Links:

(I want you to get familiar with photography terminology; even though we might not use some things as yet it’s nice to know about them so when we do we can get into action.)

- What is shutter speed? [here’s the link]

- What is Vibration Reduction or VR lens? [here’s the link]

- What is a telephoto lens? [here’s the link]

- How to shoot in continuous mode on a digital camera? [here’s the link]

- Interested a Nikon D70? Think about buying the Nikon D90 it the latest one. [here’s the link]

I hope the holidays are treating you right and I hope you enjoyed spending time with your family and love ones; the seasons are meant to be enjoyed so enjoy them. This was my first Christmas away from my family back in Bahamas, however they know I love them dearly. I spent my Christmas in Austin Texas opening the most presents I ever opened at once in my life at my girlfriend’s house with her family. The two photographs you see above are a little glimpse of what’s been going on in my life ☺. Both were photographed with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W90. It’s a great camera by the way. Only thing I dislike about it, and dislike about every Sony camera is that they don’t use mini USB. Everyone knows they do it so when you lost a your cord you have to purchase a new one made by Sony. It sucks, but I guess they think it adds value to their products, it you want to look at it like that. The two photographs you see above I call my “life ya life” photographs ☺. That’s me enjoying bowling with my gf and her little sister (just me in the photograph though ☺, and yes Lucy I know I could have been out of the cold in the Bahamas on the beach). The second is probably everything I need in my life in one image (except a few plane tickets and a Nikon D300 or D70, in a few years that will be except some yacht fuel and a Nikon D3x). I was about to change my grip tape on my board for the first time. It came out pretty nice. The magazines you see are my favorites, Photoshop Magazine and Layers Magazine. Go and sign up now! [here’s the link]

Talking about fuel I provided a website link my favorite channel on TV, Fuel TV (at the bottom of the post in the useful link section). I also enjoyed trying tearing up the skatepark. If you didn’t know now you know. Yes, other than photography I do love all board sports, most favored skateboarding. I still have plans in my head of getting one down in the Bahamas someday we need one; if anyone reads this and has a connection or wants to build a park down in the Bahamas for the kids please don’t hesitate contacting me, I will find you locations and we can talk business you provide the money and I provide my time then we are equal ☺.

About my “live ya life” photographs?

People come to my Blog because that this is most chill, sickest place to chill out and read sweet stories by the planets Martian. Not a Blog bogging you down with technical shit to make your life much more complicated than it already is. I photograph to create memories, I think I know the camera pretty well so I provide simple tips and techniques to make photography enjoyable. I am also running on with my head so big because I love my readers so lets get to the point. My “live ya life” photographs were taken with the point and shoot W90 by Sony; what was I thinking? Well the first one of me bowling, I wasn’t thinking of anything because my girlfriends little sister took it and touched it up in lightroom (soon save enough money to purchase 2.0). The second photograph I used composition; learn about that on my other post [here’s the link] it was about portrait but read it and fit the gaps I will provide more information about that at a more appropriate time. To sum this up, Merry Christmas, I hope you got everything you wanted, enjoy photography and enjoy the rest of the holidays!

Useful links:

Buy a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W90 [here’s the link]

My favorite channel! Fuel Tv [here’s the link]

Enjoy skateboarding at Skateboard.com [here’s the link]

P.S. Feel free to send me an email about your Christmas, how it went. If you have great photographs you took and would love to share them on the Blog let me know and I will pick a day to display all of the readers photographs photographed over the holidays.

How To Shoot A Photograph At Night Without Using Flash, The photograph of the model you see above is one of my first roommates (Joel Boyd) at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Yes Joel I know you were annoyed by me asking to take photographs of you, but thank you for helping me share my stories with the world.
In this article, I will tell you how I went about with the shoot at the Savannah College Of Art and Design, teaching you how to take a photograph of a model at night without using flash. I used a Canon 5D to photograph this image without flash and you can what technique I used on the Canon 5D from yesterdays post [here’s the link], and in this post I will teach you how to take that photograph at night without using flash with a point and shoot camera.

Once again I am going to stress telling you to take photographs of your friends, it really helps you develop an eye for photographing people so when it’s your time to shoot the real models you will feel confident ☺ (believe me everything is possible with confidence, well almost anything). At the cafeteria I asked a friend of mine (Scott Vanarsdale) to use his Canon 5D so I could practice night portraits without using flash. It was my first year playing around with such an advance camera. This night was a great night for me because I was able to get two photographs I am really proud of; the portrait of Joel and the landscape photograph from yesterday’s post.

In order to take a photograph like this you will need a few crazy friends that will allow you to take their photographs ☺, you will need a tripod and if you have a dslr camera use yesterday’s post; if you have a point and shoot you can follow me with this post. I am going to teach you how to practice taking the photograph without flash using a point and shoot digital camera. At that time I was playing around with the camera getting used to it. To take a photograph like this one at night of a model without flash you use the same technique as taking the one of the landscape in yesterdays post. The only difference is using the ambient light around you to help light the model. When I first starting using my Canon SD630 I could I always wondered how to take a photograph at night without flash, and not getting that blur. To stop getting that blur when I used my point and shoot camera at night I attached a tripod to my camera [buy a tripod], turned the flash off, turned the timer on and then let the magic happen. It’s simple it’s easy and it can make you enjoy your photographs and my photography for you enjoyable.

How should these tips help your photography?

* You learn to take photographs with your point and shoot without flash at night.

* You learn that it is possible to get that image without blur at night when you turn your flash off.

* You remember that photography is made simple and enjoyable for beginners ands professionals with a few extra tips.

Useful Links:

-Buy a Canon SD630 Power shot [here’s the link]

-Buy a Canon 5D [here’s the link] (Save $1,910.95)

- How to use a tripod. [here’s the link]

- Buy a tripod [here’s the link]

How To Take A Photograph of Landscapes At Night Without Flash, I took the photograph at Savannah College of Art and Design one night when I was about to photograph a portrait of my roommate. In this post I will teach you how to photograph a landscape like this one with out using flash. Tomorrows post I will give you the detailed story about the photograph showing you the portrait that I had planned to shoot before I saw this photo opportunity.

To take this photograph I used a Canon 5D. I shot this image 30.0 seconds at f-stop 32 with ISO 3200 at 136 mm using at 70.0-300.0mm lens. NOW WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN!!! One thing I hated when I looked around on the internet to get tips for my photography was reading blogs that gave me all that technical shit and I was a beginner not know what they were saying; so I am not going to leave you hanging ☺ I like to tell people that go out and photograph with me think about it as if you squinting. If you look at a street lights at night and squint you will the lights will give an effect like a star burst or something…I swear I hope it’s not only my eyes that do that, because if it is then I only sound crazy right now. That’s how the camera works the lower the f-stop the more light comes inside. The higher like f-stop 32 the less light comes inside. If you blink once quickly, a little light comes in your eyes. If you leave your eyes open and slowly close them more light enters. Now to you I am really sounding crazy! As I tell you it’s not my job to bore you to death so I am providing links with boring long technical instructions, it’s my job to motivate you and to make your photography experience fun.

Thinking About Composition When Photographing Portraits; above is a photograph of a friend of mine from Switzerland. In this post I will provide beginner photographers with a few tips I use to help me when I am photographing portraits. I don’t know if you remember my article Shooting Sarah On Rose Island, if you are new to the site I provided the link for the post below. The beautiful model you see in the photograph above is a friend of Sarah’s. We took the boat over to Rose Island in The Bahamas and we captured these images.

I don’t care what type of digital camera you have or how much experience you have had with the camera; I strongly advice you as a beginner photographer to start asking your friends (if you have any – I am just playing I am your friend) to take their photographs and if you aren’t a beginner continue to asking your friends; I do it all the time. Please try to shoot only beautiful people (All of my friends are beautiful can’t be bothered to hang out with ugly people). I am just kidding true beauty is on the inside of a person, but when it comes to models it’s on the outside (and I am not joking about that one either). Besides people love when you ask them to take their photographs. Asking friends will help you develop an eye for photographing people; developing an eye will help your composition; your composition + a beautiful model creates a great image. People say “What a beautiful image Dwayne.” I tell them no it’s a beautiful composition, the model is beautiful I couldn’t do it without them.  Below I added a useful link about what composition in photography is because it’s not my job to bore you to death but it is my job to point you in the right direction and show you how simple and enjoyable photography could be with a few extra pointers and tips.

When I am photographing portraits, I focus mainly on the composition of subject in photograph. Meaning I think about how I want the subject of the photograph to be positioned, in this case the lady you see in the photograph is the subject. A tip is to never center a subject for a portrait photograph. It only makes the photograph less exciting to the eye. If you center the photograph you better have a darn good reason to why you do it. I state that because if you ever see I portrait I photographed and the photograph is centered I had a darn good reason for doing so.

How should these photography tips help you?

* Ask beautiful friends to take their images.

* Your Composition + A beautiful model = A great image.

* Never center your subject and if you do have a good reason to why you did it.

Useful Links:

- Shooting Sarah On Rose Island [Here’s the link]
- What is Composition for Photography? [Here's the link]

This is a Photograph Of The View From The Bridge Connecting Nassau With Paradise Island Bahamas. Shows how vibrant colors in a photograph can create eye movement. This exquisite site was photographed on a late afternoon in the Bahamas. I am going to share with you my story behind photographing this image, as well as a few tips and techniques to help train your eye to take a photograph like this one.

The past summer a friend of mine Andrew D’Albenas photographed the Afternoons away. I called him when I was at work asking him if he wanted to take his boat out for us to take some photographs and I invited my brother in law to go along with us.
After a few hours of photographing we decided to get some conch salad; I strongly advise you tasting it if you haven’t before because it’s worth flying to the Bahamas for. We docked the boat in the harbor and D’Albeans and I walked the bridge to get some photographs. I stopped at the top of the bridge, I remembered the power of yellow and took the photograph. That simple.

When I came home I placed my photograph in Lightroom to tweak it. I love the way the complementary colors of yellow and violet play a role. I also love the way, the light and sunset are positioned.

How should these photography tips help you?

* Find time to go out and photograph with friends.

* Use simple things you learn and apply them to your photograph. Example, see how you can employ complementary colors.

* With a few more tips, photography is made simple and can be enjoyable by both beginners and professionals.

Useful Links:

- Lightroom (You Save $27.01) [Here's the link]

- What are complementary colors? [Here's the link]

If You Are A Subscriber Please [Click Here] Receive Your Free Exclusive Background. Your Password will be required upon entry.

The Photograph That Made me Fall In Love With Photography; the photograph you see above is the photograph that made me fall in love with photography. In this article I will be talking about reasons why you should start photography, and saying why I think it’s important for you to get on your schools yearbook team.

Why should you start photography? I will tell you why I started photography then you can make the decision. I started photography because photographing was for me.
When I took that photograph, I was using the yearbook club’s camera. I think it was a Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom. I felt so relax with the camera. The world felt open to me, so much freedom, so much to shoot and everything felt so airy (I hope I didn’t sound to much of the crazy artist I am; I get into my shit). I joined my schools yearbook club so I could photograph whenever I wanted to because my school bitched about us using our digital cameras if it wasn’t school related; from then I was all about making photography simple and enjoyable. I simply joined the club so I could continue photographing to get better and it was enjoyable because teachers didn’t stop to tell me to put my camera away when I had it out. I did my part for the yearbook club even though I took my personals, lets not forget about that ☺.

Every time I see this photograph I could still picture the shutter closing and the image appearing on the display. I was walking around with the camera on my break time at St Andrews School the International School of The Bahamas, upstairs right outside of the art room then I took the photograph of the flowers in the flower in the flowerbed. I don’t know if my art teacher Mrs. Chaplin remembers me running inside her room showing her the photograph. I was so happy about it because if was my first photograph where the image was so hot, like the ones I saw on the computer screens. It was just good timing with the sun. It made me understanding the importance of lighting and the importance of ambient lighting. I used no fancy techniques to take this photograph; I was able to take a photograph like this because of my passion and love for photography.

How should these photography tips help you?

* Join your schools yearbook club if there is one.

* Photograph whenever and as much as you can.

* Whatever you do and you’re passionate about, do it with pride and love.

Use full links:

- 41 Delicious Flower Photographs [Here's the link]

- Canon PowerShot 590IS 8MP Digital Camera  [Here's the link]

- A Free Desktop Background of My Delicious Flower Photograph [Here's the link]

Michael Jordan at the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament on Paradise Island, Bahamas at The One and Only Ocean Club’s golf course.

Photograph of Yachts In Bahamas, shares simple tips with beginner photographers. This article teaches how easy it is to capture a beautiful image with reflection at night using ambient light.

There I was again being random with my camera. The image you see above of the yachts was shot at Green Parrot / Hurricane Hole Marina (locals knows that location as the old Green Parrot ☺) on Paradise Island, Bahamas. I was sitting at home bored and a friend of mine called me up asking to go out for a bit to get a bite; I was like okay why not ☺. After dinner we walked around in the marina, then we sat down to talk for a bit. I was looking at the view saying to myself damn if feels good to live here! I didn’t have a tripod on me (usually I have one in my jeep but I didn’t drive) because I didn’t plan to take any photographs (I never stick to the plan when I plan not to take photographs) where I would need to use one. However, in this case the memory was a must to be made.

I sat the camera down on the edge of the dock (not a good idea, be careful!) and set the time for 10 seconds with an f-stop at 2.8 and shutter speed at 0.5 of a second. Because of the light level those settings allowed me to shoot in the dark using the available light around me (ambient light) to capture the beautiful image of the yachts with a nice reflection docked in the marina.

Please when you attempt to take a photograph like this use a tripod only do what I did when you are in desperate needs of taking a photograph like I was ☺

What should you get out of this post?

* You can use your available light source at night to photograph.

* Go out with a friend and randomly shoot photographs

* Photography is made simple to be enjoyed by both beginners and professionals

Useful Links:

What is an f-stop?

The Importance of a Tripod