We had a few hours to burn before checking in at Rocky Gap Lodge so we decided to visit the nearby city of Cumberland, MD.  After a short stroll around the C&O Canal, through the train station and into a few stores we decided to stopped for lunch at The Crabby Pig. Mmmm  ribs, pulled pork and french fries, perfect!

After lunch we took a quick look through a little artists’ cooperative (“Arts at Canal Place“) with 40 or so local artists on display. This place had a little of everything but my favorite was the amazing photographs created by Bill Merlavage. Bill’s photos are from all over the local area and even include a few from Washing DC.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing at Rocky Gap Lodge with some excellent hiking, canoeing, and lazy time at the beach. Lake Habeeb is a beautiful man made lake surrounded by the Allegheny Mountains. The lodge was very pretty but seemed geared toward the older generation or families with young kids, at least on the weekend we went. We had a great time and I was able to come up with a few nice photos (after the jump).

After returning we looked up Bill online and found his photo blog. In the first post we read we discover he had hiked the Lakeside Loop Trail over the weekend and may have walked right past us. Wish I would have known!

Hare a few photos for now, be sure to keep an eye on my Facebook Page for few more over the next few days, enjoy.

“Park View”

“Lodge & Putting Green”

“Red Leaf”

“Bumble Bee”

Shazeen Samad

Photography is a lot of fun for people of all ages! Most people will be happy with a basic camera that takes decent photos they can share with friends and family. That’s perfectly fine, but for a large number of us there is a constant desire to learn more and improve our skills!

As you probably know, the best way to improve your skills is to GET OUT AND SHOOT. The more you shoot the more your learn. Sometimes it’s easier said then done. You cant always carry your camera gear with you and sometimes you’re just plain stuck in a rut! For times like these it never hurts to have a few great resources that can provide a little inspiration, a few great tricks, loads of articles on photographic techniques and styles and a few product reviews to help when it comes time to upgrade.

A few excellent resources after the jump …

One of my favorite sites possesses all of these qualities, The Digital Photography School (DPS). DPS has been around for a couple of years now and has everything from product reviews to weekly challenges and outstanding articles covering all areas of photography. When I first discovered this gem over two years ago I started reading from the absolute beginning. The information is so good that I have practically read every single article on this site and I just can’t get enough! It gets even better, on top of all this they a great active community of  photographers participating in their forums and creating another excellent source of information.  This site is outstanding and I’m sure they will have something for you!

Another favorite of mine is the The Digital Photography Connection (TDPC). TDPC has all kinds of excellent video tutorials, my favorite being the Photoshop for Digital Photographers series. I’m a very visual person so I’ve found TDPC to be an outstanding resource for learning many of Photoshop the tools and discovering little tricks along the way. If your not a Photoshop user give the Lightroom and general Photography tutorials a try.

While these are only two of my favorites, Smashing Magazine created a list of “50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Photography Skills“! It’s divided into multiple categories with each entry having a brief description of what is offered on the site. Everything from inspiration, equipment, beginners help, technique, blogs and toys can be found here so I’m sure you’ll find a few to keep you busy, don’t forget to bookmark them for later, Enjoy!

link: Digital Photography School
link: The Digital Photography Connection
link: “50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Photography Skills“

Diver and Humpback Whale by Marco Queral

Some amazing photographs of a 50ft humpback whale and a close encounter with a diver. These photos can really give you an idea of how big the humpback whale is compared to a human being.

Humpback whales were once hunted to near extinction until 1966 when the International Whaling Commission introduced a ban on commercial whaling. Now they are frequently sought after by whale-watchers across the globe.

Feeling a little unimpressed with your photos lately? Disappointed you’ll never be good enough? Just remember, at some point in time even the best photographers sucked at photography! Watch the video, it is inspiring and just might motivate you to continue what you love!

Humans have a natural love for animals which is evident by the crowds at zoos and the large number of house pets. Photographing pets and zoo animals can be a lot of fun but have you ever tried photographing wild animals?

Wild animals can be very difficult to photograph and in many cases require large and expensive equipment. Not everyone can afford the equipment required for wild animal photography but we can all enjoy the photos taken by others!

The guys over at Smashing Magazine have come up with a list of “35 Beautiful Examples of Animal Photography“. These aren’t all necessarily wild animals but there great to look at and can provide inspiration when your running out of ideas. Notice how the ‘rule of thirds‘ was used in almost all of these photos.

I’ve chosen three of my favorites and posted them below:

“Suspicious” by Cyrus Khamak

Monkey by unknown

“Mandarin duck” by Marieke IJsendoorn-Kuijpers

The more megapixels a digital camera has the better pictures it will take, right? WRONG! This is probably the biggest misconception in digital photography. The quality of an image is dependent on multiple things: the cameras sensor size and quality, the internal processor, the quality of glass within the lens, the amount of light available in the scene and most importantly, the photographer!

The most important component to capturing a great image is ALWAYS the photographer. A photographer who knows their camera well can take a photo with a 3MP camera that will outshine a similar photo taken from a 10MP camera and an inexperienced photographer. A person who knows photography well can generally pick up any camera and pull off great shots. For those that don’t know a lot about photography don’t worry, get to know your camera you’ll be happy – take lots of photos!

The number of megapixels (MP) does not affect the quality of the image in the sense that the more pixels you have the better quality photo you get, it really only affects the size of the image you can print while still maintaining the highest quality. Almost all cameras on the market today have at least 5 to 6 megapixels which is more than enough for most people. I’ve printed excellent 8×10 photos from a 3MP Kodak camera purchased back in 2000 (see above image). If your not looking to make poster size prints then you’ll be more than satisfied with a 5 or 6 megapixel camera.

Even large prints don’t necessarily need lots of megapixels. Unless the giant photo will be viewed at close range the details will not be noticeable so don’t waste your money.

For those that do require large prints with extremely sharp details consider a professional or ‘prosumer” DLSR. Both will have image sensors larger than most point-and-shoot cameras and are therefore better suited for the high megapixels. Lots of megapixels on a small sensor means smaller pixels, smaller pixels means less light, less light can mean lower quality.

Purchase a camera that fits your shooting style and requirements. Don’t let the megapixel count sway you from the camera you like in your price range. Odds are, if you purchase a camera from the major manufactures (Canon, Nikon, Pentax, etc) you’ll be happy.

Shop in a retail store to get a hands-on feel (comfort goes a long way in my opinion), price compare online to find the best price. When talking to a salesperson remember their job is to sell you A camera, not necessarily the RIGHT camera, do your own research to verify.

The Amazon bestsellers list can be a good indicator of which cameras have a good price-to-quality and price-to-feature ratio.

Further Reading:

• “The Megapixel Myth” – by Ken Rockwell
• “Breaking the Myth of Megapixels” – NYTimes David Pogue
• While writing and preparing this article Gizmodo wrote an excellent article with a detailed explanation of how the number of megapixels and image sensor size can effect image quality: “Why More Megapixels Isn’t Always More Better“.

Definitions: Pixel, Megapixel, DSLR, Point-and-Shoot, Prosumer

Arguably one of the most important rules in photography, the ‘rule of thirds’ is a compositional rule to help you decide where to place the subject within the frame of your photo. Compositional ‘rules’ help create a sense of balance and add interest to your photos.

The word ‘rule’ in quotes because it’s more of a guideline than an actual rule. What I mean by this is that you don’t always HAVE to follow the rule in order to create great photos. In fact, intentionally breaking the rule will, in some cases, create a dramatic or tense feel which may be better suited to your end goal. Generally speaking though, following photography rules will help create more appealing photos.

The four intersection points are considered the optimum locations for placing the main subject within a photo. If the subject of the photo is tall or long, a building or country landscape, place the subject along one of the lines instead.

The general idea behind the rule is that the human eye is naturally drawn to specific areas of a photo, placing points of interest at these locations will to help draw in viewers.

Before taking a photo imagine the grid in your head and line up your image, some cameras have a built in feature that will display the grid in your viewfinder for you, check your manual. If you’ve already taken the photo then try cropping it to meet this rule, most editing software will have a grid you can overlay on your image to help.

Landscapes:

Landscape photos are more pleasing to the eye when the horizon is placed along either of the horizontal lines.

If you’re photographing a sunset with the main focus being the beautiful orange and red colors in the sky, place the horizon line along the bottom third of the image to display mostly sky with a little foreground.

To highlight the colorful reflection in the water place the horizon along the top third showing a large portion of the reflection but balancing it out with part of the sky.

Portraits:

A portrait photo can be of a human, animal or even an insect, the ‘rule of thirds’ applies to all just the same. In portrait photography the eyes are the main point of interest, place them on or near the intersection points.

You’ll have to experiment to find out which of the four is best suited for the shot your attempting, placing the eyes on the wrong intersection point can create unwanted tension, more on this in a future post.

Just remember, photography rules are not exactly ‘rules’ and they don’t have to be strictly obeyed. Breaking a rule will sometimes suit a shot better than following it.