Image Orientation: Portrait

Most amateur photographers shoot "landscape" oriented images (horizontal) more than 90% of the time. Landscape is the natural orientation of the camera and of your peripheral vision. However, by turning the camera sideways"portrait" orientation (vertical) you can emphasize the subject giving it increased meaning and interest.

Above is an image (portrait) of the lobby at the Red Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. As you can see it was Christmas time. They have a huge chandelier in the lobby that is maybe 50 feet tall. This was shot in natural light.

Consider using portrait orientation for individuals (not groups), buildings, canyons and anything that has a vertical orientation.

The rooms at the Red Rock are beautiful and the rates were fantastic. We booked our room through Allegiant Air (http://www.allegiantair.com/) and got an even better deal.

Saving Images: Resolution and Format

Tip: Be sure to save your digital images offline even if you use an online photo site. Consider storing your images on a Photo DVD (pictured above) a Photo CD, on a digital media card or on an attached disk drive. That way, you will always have access to your original images in their original size and format.

When you upload your digital images to an online storage provider or photo site, be sure to check out what size image they store.

Some size re-size your images in order to make their storage more efficient. I was making a photo book for a friend and she sent me a Photo CD that she had ordered from her online provider. I loaded the image onto my computer and made the book. When the photo book came back, the images were very low resolution, looking grainy. I'd seen this many times before, so I took a look at the file sizes and sure enough the image on the disk were less than 200k! I'm guessing that the original files were some where around 5 megabytes.

I went to the online photo site that she uses to see what their policy was and after some looking found that they defined "high resolution" image size as 1,000 x 1,000 pixels. A camera that takes 12 megapixel images has an image size of 4256 x 2832 pixels. I checked another well known photo site that specializes on photo books and they "suggest" using 1,280 x 1,280 pixel images in their full page 8 1/2" x 11" photo books.

You might also want to check out what type of digital press they use to make the photo book and the settings they use on the press to print. I've seen photo books printed on a number of presses and there really is a quality difference. We like to use providers who use HP Indigo presses. we have a very picky retail partner who will only allow the use of the Indigo press for printing her customers books.

So why do they downsize? Simple, when you are storing millions (or billions) of images, the larger the file sizes, the more costly the bandwidth and storage. I talked to one online site that used to store 600 x 600 and upgraded to 800 x 800 and it cost $35 million to do the upgrade.

Be careful with downsized images. You'll run into big problems if you ever want to make a larger print or crop the image.

Working with Walgreens, aVinci Media has introduced a Photo DVD Archive product. The Photo DVD not only stores up to 4 Gigabytes of images (7 times the capacity of a Photo CD) but it also includes a free slideshow using forty (40) of your images set to music. You can watch the slideshow on any TV or Computer with a DVD player. The product is available on the in-store photo kiosk. As of January 15th, it is available in approximately 2,000 stores. It will roll out to all Walgreens stores in the next 30-45 days. The cost is less than $8

Photo Tip: Indoor Natural Light Photography

It's possible with the sensitivity of new digital cameras to take indoor or night pictures using natural light. Natural light is much less harsh than flash. The picture above was taken in a restaurant during a family party. In order to make sure your image will be in focus, set the ISO (film sensitivity) to a high number like ISO 2000. It is also best to have a lens with a wide aperture. I've found that an aperture setting of 2.8 is a must if your subject is moving. Once you capture the image, be sure to check the digital display. If your camera allows you to zoom in, you can choose an area, like the eye or hair to see if you can see detail.

One issue to using an ISO above say ISO 2000 or ISO 3200 is that the higher the number, the more "grainy" the image will appear when it is enlarged. A little practice will help you find the perfect setting. Natural light will add character and a softness to your subject.

One last tip, be sure to double check your White Balance. If you are shooting under fluorescent lights, you can get a greenish cast to your images. If you have a nicer digital camera, you should be able to set the white balance or use the "Scene" choice option to ensure the right color balance.

Storytelling Tip: There's A Story Behind Every Image

Every image has a story. For my mom's last birthday, my brother asked my dad for any pictures he had of mom. My dad sent over a number of slides and the image above was one of the slides he sent. We scanned about sixty of them and then made a DVD and a Photo Book. I wondered what the story was around this image. So today, I sent the image to my mom and asked her about the image. This is what she told me:

"It was taken in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Right after Dad came home from overseas. We had been married 6 months. It was June of 1955. Ford Hardtop maybe 1954. We were just in the park, celebrating his homecoming. He had stopped in Hawaii - therefore the flowers. He had the white coat made for me in Japan."

Tip: If you want to know more about an image, ask. Use open ended, general questions like "What do you remember about this picture?" If you ask open ended, general questions, you'll find out more than you expected.

Follow up general questions with specific questions like "When was this taken?" or "Where was this taken?" Use specific questions as follow up to general questions. Avoid questions that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".