How to Take Pictures of Lightning

Taking pictures of lightning is not as hard as it sounds. In fact, it is simple assuming that you will be taking the pictures at night. If you are planning to shoot during the day light hours, then all bets are off. You will need some lightning quick reflexes or very expensive shutter trigger hardware. However, the most important thing, which you must know is how to take pictures of lightning.

Here are some simple steps on how to take pictures of lightning.

Things Required:

  • Tripod
  • Cable release or a remote for shutter control
  • Flashlight
  • High quality lens rag

ISO Settings

    How to Take Pictures of Lightning
  • If you are planning to shoot with a print film, then you will have to get the slowest film you can. Try to get 100ASA because it is good and very easy to find. The slowest film, like 64ASA, are little expensive and you will not notice a difference between it and 100ASA.
  • You will need a slow film because the long exposure that you use while taking pictures will look less grainy on the slower film speed. If your use 1600ASA, the image will look completely grainy and the same applies for digital as well. Now, you have an option, so you must set the camera on 100ASA, but if you go any higher than that, then you will see a lot of noise in your pictures. By noise, it means that there will be many pixels, which won’t look right.

Focal Length and Aperture

  • The next thing will be a little technical, which is not that difficult, but you will need some time to figure it out. There has to be a good balance between focal length and aperture and if you don’t set them in the right manner then all your pictures will look washed out or too dark.
  • Try taking a focal length of 35mm and the F-stop should be F8. If you zoom in further, then you will need more light and the more you zoom out the less light you will need. With the DSLR, it is a little different; you will have to let in more light at the same focal length, so you will have to step down one level.
  • Always remember that experimenting with the aperture and focal lengths can be expensive and very frustrating. This is the best part about digital, you will be able to see the results immediately and then you can make all the necessary changes.

Exposure Time

  • Remember that time will not matter because it will be dark and your film or image will not expose that quickly. All you will have to do is simply hold down the cable release button and wait for a while. There will be five to eight flashes of lightning, which will flood the sky with light and it will do little for exposing the film or image.
  • If you notice a lightning strike occur inside your frame of your reference, then you must release the cable lock. If you capture the lightning strike instantly, you must keep the cable release pressed down for a longer time, so that the picture shows scenery as well.

Reference Frame

  • You must study the storm to see where the lightning will actually come from. Now, set your camera up and look from your lens for a little gauge, so that how much you will have to zoom in or out. Remember that you will need the entire lightning bolt to fit in one picture.
  • If you happen to zoom out far, then the lightning bolt will appear too small. If you zoom in too much, you will never get the complete dramatic effect. You will need at least 20 percent of the frame to show ground, and the remaining 80 percent should capture the sky.
  • Make sure that you are able to capture the lightning bolt exiting in the cloud, as this will add a lot of power in your picture. Therefore, the lightning bolt must fit 70 percent of your frame.

Location

  • Whenever you choose a location, make sure that there is not too much of light around you. By lights, it means headlights from cars, building lights and street lamps. If the lights are off at a distance then you will do fine and they will not wash the exposure. However, if there is a streetlight right in front or above you or there are cars coming in your direction, then you will have to look for another angle to take pictures.
  • However, you will have to be very careful of where you set your shop. You must not be in the open field, at the top of the building or under a tree, because at all these places there will be a chance that you get struck by lighting.

Get Ready

  • Once you have found the perfect location, get ready to click some pictures. Set your camera on the tripod, point it in the direction of storm, attach the cable release, set your camera on the bulb setting, lens on manual focus and focus should be set on infinity.
  • Now, you must make a note of the place where you point your camera. When you look from your lens, take a note of all the objects present on the right and left side. Then you must find those points by not looking in the camera. In this, when the lightning strikes, press the shutter button, you won’t be able to see this from the camera lens so this will be a good way to click picture.

There will be a lot of adjusting when you take pictures of lightning. The storm will start moving from one place to another. Therefore, do not be afraid to take the long exposure times. So, go ahead and get some good pictures.

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How to Take Pictures

Do you always face problems while taking pictures? Do you want to take photos in a better way? Does it seem like whatever you try, the pictures just look plain? At this point, you would want to know anything that would make your picture look better. Here are some simple steps that will help you learn how to take pictures.

  • Alter your Perspective

Most of the pictures are taken with the camera at or near the eye level of your subject. However, this is common sense, but if you change the angle of your shot then you can give your picture a real wow factor. You can shoot down or get up high from your subject, get as close to the ground you can get and then click. Soon you will start seeing your subject from an angle, which will create lot of interest.

    How to Take Pictures

  • Play with Eye Contact

You will be amazed to see how much of direction of the subject’s eye will make an impact on your picture. Most of the pictures will have the subject looking down from the lens. This is something, which creates a real impact between the subject and the person taking the image.

  • Look off the Camera

You can ask your subject to focus his or her attention on something that is unseen or on the outside field of the camera. This will create a feeling of candidness and it will make an intriguing effect for the viewers. This intrigue will be drawn about when your subject is expressing some kind of emotion. Make sure that your subject is looking out of the frame, which will draw the eye of the viewer as well. You can shoot at the image also, you will have to take them away from the point of interest of your shot as well.

  • Look in the Frame

You can also ask your subject to look at something inside the frame. For instance, a child looking at a toy, a woman watching her baby or a man looking hungrily at a plate of food. When you ask your subject to look at something inside the frame, then you will have to create a second point of interest and a relation between it and your primary subject. It will also help if you create a story inside the image.

  • Break the Rules of Composition

There are many rules when you have to decide on composition, it is like a love hate relationship between the compositions. Try breaking the rule of third, you can place your subject right in the center and create a powerful image. You can also try creative placement with your subject right at the edge of your shot, which can make an interesting image.

  • Experiment with Lighting

Another element for randomness, which you can introduce for your picture, can be the way you use lighting. There are various possibilities when you have to use lighting in your picture. You can use side-lighting to create mood, silhouetting and backlighting on your subject for hiding their features, which can be very powerful. For creating a wow factor you can use the technique of slow sync flash.

  • Move your Subject out of the Comfort Zone

Usually the photographers will always shoot in the comfort zone of the subject, which makes the shot very boring and the pictures have the same style. Try to get your subject to do something out of the box. For instance, you can ask your subject to jump, and you can take jumping shots. Once the shots are out you will notice that they are actually quiet funny, amazing and surprising.

  • Shoot Candidly

Sometimes when you take posed pictures, they can look posed. Many people never look good in a posed environment and so if they switch candidly this approach will work well. You can photograph your subject while at work, with family or something that the subject likes to do. This will put your subject at ease and you will get some brilliant shots when your subject reacts naturally. You can get a longer zoom lens for getting paparazzi with them.

  • Introduce a Prop

You can add a prop with your subject and make another point of interest in the picture, which will enhance the shot in a better way. There will be a risk of taking too much focus away from your subject, but you can always add a sense to the picture and give your subject an extra layer of depth, which they don’t have without the prop.

  • Focus on One Body Part-Close Up

Try getting a lens with good focal length, which is attached to your camera or right in close, so that you are able to photograph just one part of your subject. Photographing a person’s eye, hands or just their lower body can leave the viewer with a lot of imagination.

  • Obscure Part of your Subject

Add a variation on the idea of zooming on one of the body parts of your subject. You can do it with clothing, hands, and objects or by simply framing a part of your subject outside the image. By doing this it will mean that, you have left a little test of imagination for the viewer, but you focus their attention on the parts, which you want them to focus upon.

  • Take a Series of Shot

For this, you will have to switch your camera into ‘continuous shooting’ or ‘burst’ mode and fire more than one shot at one time. By doing this you will make a series of images, which can be presented together instead of just one picture. This kind of technique works best with children or any other active subject, which keeps changing its position or poses in a quick session.

Try using all these techniques in different pictures and with time you will keep getting better and be able to take good pictures.

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How to Fix Pictures

When you click pictures on your camera you may sometimes feel that the picture that you have clicked is not perfect, because of poor lens quality, shaking of camera or any other reason. As a result of this, your pictures may appear blurred or you may get dark pictures, red eyes in the picture, etc. There are a variety of photo editing software that allow you to enhance the quality of your pictures. If you know how to use these software and the available techniques you will know how to fix pictures that are not perfect according to you.

Fix pictures using Photoshop

  • Adobe Photoshop is the most widely used and one of the best software for fixing pictures.
  • It comes with a wide range of options for fixing pictures and making them better.
  • You can upload your photo in Photoshop and play with the available options to make it look better.
  • It gives you regular updates with new features to give you advanced options for fixing your photos.
  • You can download this software online from its official website or buy it from any computer store.
  • Dark images are developed in your photos due to the less availability of light or improper focusing of the camera. If your images are dark you don’t need to worry, Photoshop comes with an option to make dark images brighter.
  • Some pictures appear blurred due to camera shaking. These blurred images can also be fixed using Photoshop options.
  • There is also an option for red-eye removal in Photoshop.
  • Resigning and cropping the picture is also possible using this software. Resigning is the technique by which you can fix the size of your photo to any desired size according to your wish.
  • Using the cropping technique you can crop any part of photo and remove the unwanted portion from your photo.
  • You can also remove the wrinkles and add a smoothing effect to your photo. Color of eyes and hair can also be changed using these software.
  • You can also fix any tan, pimples and scars on the face. Your color and complexion can also be lightened and you can add a glowing effect to your picture.
  • You can adjust contrast and brightness to your pictures also create a black and white picture just by clicking the button.
  • You can also add text effects, animation, add graphic effects, add textures and patterns, air brush, add abstracts, etc.
  • You can try any editing options; these changes are not permanent unless you save them. You can undo any changes that you have made if you feel that they are making your photo worse than the original one.

There are also many other software available in the market that will let you fix any picture that you want. They will also offer all or some of the features provided by Photoshop for fixing your pictures. There are also a variety of websites available online that will help you to fix your pictures. You will need to upload your picture on these websites and get your work done by clicking any editing option according to your wish.

Some of the websites for fixing your pictures are pixlr.com, fixpicture.com, impulseadventure.com. For some of the websites you will have to upload your photo and you will get your picture fixed by the professionals or the software itself fixes the picture understanding the defects in the picture. When you are done with all the editing work to your photo you will need to save the changes.

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How to Save Pictures to a CD

No matter how large the capacity of the memory card of your camera is, you are bound to run out of space for storing your photos. In such a case, you must know how to save pictures to a CD as a backup. Keeping photos saved on your computer is also risky, because your computer may crash due to hard disk failure or virus attack. It may also happen that you accidentally delete your pictures folder and your pictures will be lost. Therefore, you must save your pictures in a CD to keep them safe from such mishaps.

Saving pictures on a CD not only frees up disk space on the hard drive of your computer but also ensures that you have a backup of all your photos in case your computer crashes. Saving pictures to a CD is very easy and does not require you to have a lot of computer knowledge.  Follow these simple steps to save pictures to a CD:
How to Save Pictures to a CD

  • First, insert a blank CD in the CD drive of your computer or laptop.
  • A window will come up on your computer screen which will ask you how you want to open the CD.
  • From the list of options, choose “open writable CD folder using Windows Explorer” option and click on OK.
  • Now go to the Start menu, click on “Start” and then locate “My Computer” and click on it.
  • Now go to the folder on your computer where you have stored all your pictures and choose the ones that you want to save on the CD.
  • Normally, they would be saved in the “My Pictures” folder in “My Computer” section.
  • You will now have two windows open on your screen, one with the CD folder and the other where you have the folder containing all the pictures you wish to save.
  • Now, select all the photos to be copied by clicking on them with the left mouse button while holding the CTRL key on your keyboard.
  • From the navigation column on the left-hand side of the window, click on “Copy”.
  • Now, click on “write to CD” option, type in a name for the CD and click on “next” button.
  • Now, wait for the writer to save your pictures on the CD. The time it takes will depend on the number of pictures you are saving on the CD.
  • Once the pictures are saved to the CD, a “completed the CD writing wizard” window will appear on your screen.
  • Click on “Finish” button and the CD will automatically eject from the drive.
  • Your CD now has all your selected pictures saved in it.

Tips & Warnings

  • To save an entire folder of pictures to your CD, simply select the folder by clicking it with the left mouse button and then click on the option “Copy this folder”.
  • Always remember that if you save the pictures on non-rewritable CD you will not be able to add or delete any pictures from it. If you want to make changes, ensure that you save your pictures to a rewritable CD (CD-RW).
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How to Protect Pictures

Displaying the pictures of yourself and of your friends and family on the internet is an easy and convenient way to share your lives and keep in touch. However, there is a problem of security as anyone can steal your pictures and misuse them. If you know how to protect pictures on the internet, you can prevent hackers and internet criminals from using them for illegal purposes.

There are many methods you can employ to protect your pictures on the internet. Some of them are mentioned below:

Hiding your images

  • You can protect your photos by hiding them from search engines as these search engines are one of the largest source of image thefts.
  • Search engines allow you to do an image search of anything and everything and if you can prevent these search engines from showing your photo in the search results you can protect your pictures.
  • For doing this, you need to put all your pictures in a separate image folder and keep search engines out by using a robots.txt file.
  • This text file is placed at the root level of your website and includes a reference to the image folder.
  • This will deter most people from accessing your photos, but is not a sure shot method of protecting your pictures.

Disable right-click

  • You can disable right-click on images with the use of JavaScript; here the person trying to download your picture will get an error image saying that the action they are doing is not permitted.
  • It is a very commonly used trick to prevent illegal downloading of your pictures, but is not a foolproof method. Nonetheless, it will definitely help in slowing down criminals.

Cloaking

  • Cloaking involves overlaying a picture with another transparent graphic image to prevent people from downloading the original picture. Thus, it cloaks your picture behind a transparent image.
  • Whenever, a user clicks or right-clicks on this image, he or she is only clicking the transparent file and not the original image.

Watermarks

  • Watermarks can be used by people who are not familiar with JavaScript or other technical methods of protecting pictures.
  • A watermark is nothing but a visual element that is added on a picture to discourage copying or downloading.
  • It can be in the form of a copyright notice, the name of your business, domain name or the name of the owner of the photo.
  • It can be a prominent mark or small and inconspicuous; by putting it right in the middle of your pictures you can make its copying useless.

Low quality images

  • Some people are not in favor of using watermarks as they could distort the image and affect the look of the picture.
  • In such a case, people often tend to post a low-quality version of their pictures on the internet.
  • Low-quality images are good to see when you show them as a preview image. However, the picture gets distorted on expanding or blowing up.

Keep them offline

  • Even though, all of these above methods will deter most people from copying or downloading your pictures form the internet, skilled hackers and online criminals can use other technical means to access your photos.
  • The best solution in this case would be not to post your pictures online and keep them safe.
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