Colin
Marketing Director

I believe that it is critically important to give back to the community that you live and work in. Sometimes even the smallest of efforts help us all in a very big way.

As you upgrade your camera or computer, check to see if a local school could use your old one. Perhaps there is a local afterschool program, or seniors center that might be in need.

Everyone's budget is getting squeezed right now, so maybe a free older camera is better than none at all. I encourage you to reach out and donate those items that you don't use anymore. You'll feel better, and the world will be a better place for it.

Top Selling Products

Aluminum Sports Photo Water Bottle
$9.95
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Photo Desk Clock
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Baby and Toddler Frame Pack
$9.95
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"PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!You folks ROCK. Gonna buy a T-shirt right now!"

Norm from Washington

"Your products are excellent!!!"

Grace from Illinois

Five More of The Top Twenty Consumer Photo Mistakes

Lets continue in this newsletter with five more of the top twenty mistakes that most people make when taking photos. We hope that this series will be helpful to you in making you think about your photos.

Distracting background

Have you ever taken a photo of a family member or friend only to find out later that they had something visually sticking out of their head? I've seen one photo of a hatchet that was stuck into a log. The photo was of a woman, but it looked like the hatchet was sticking in the woman's head. It was an optical illusion, but it happens more frequently than you think.

Objects that might even be far in the distance look somehow close up and in contact with your subject. Always take a moment and check your viewfinder or screen on the back of your camera to make sure that the background isn't doing something funny to the person in your photo. You wouldn't want to upset the sensitive one in your family.

Don't shoot into the sun

This is a big one. Cameras just can't make out detail in foreground objects if the background is super sharp. This is true of shooting into the sun, or other light indoor object. How many times have we seen photos of people take outside and you can only make out the shape of the person. You can't see any facial features because of the bright background. This can also happen indoors if there's no light facing the person being photographed. The camera just can't pick up enough light to see the face or object photographed.

What is the solution? Think in terms of angles. Try to face at an angle to the sun, or the lamp, etc. Be sure that whatever is lighting the space can spill some light onto the subject that you are photographing. You don't have to face your kids totally in the sun, but be sure some is shining on their faces.

You are shooting digital - shoot the best quality possible on your camera

Most cameras allow you to set the photo size and compression ratio for the photos that you take. The idea is that they allow you to manage how much space each photo takes up. To keep costs of digital cameras down, the manufacturers ship the cameras with really small memory cards or none at all. By letting you take pictures that are smaller in resolution than the maximum that the camera allows, the camera can pack more photos on the small memory card. Likewise with compression. If you highly compress your photos, you'll fit more on the card.

We all research and try to buy the best quality camera that we can afford. Why then would you intentionally take pictures that are lower in quality just to fit more on a card. Buy a larger memory card, and set your photo size to the highest possible. Also set your compression to the minimum compression possible, or largest file size. You can always reduce the compression later if you want to email or post your photo. You can't go back and add data, so always take your photos on the highest possible settings.

Don't shoot at a really harsh angle

Normal people can look pretty wierd in photos. Commercial consumer camera lenses are made to take average photos, so they can produce some really interesting looks if you shoot in harsh angles. Don't do extreme close ups, or peoples faces will almost look elongated and being sucked into the camera. Avoid shooting down on people sitting on the ground while standing. Try to keep your camera within a few feet up or down of the subject that you are shooting.

Horizon out of level

This one is a bit subjective. For example, I like intentionally distorted images with the horizon and person in the photo at an angle. This especially works when you rotate the image and display it so that the person is standing normally. The rectangular photo shape isn't perfectly horizontal and vertical, so it adds visual interest on the page. Short of doing it for artistic purposes, I recommend that you keep the horizon level.

People's eyes are drawn to visual anomalies. Think of how interested we are in an artist's work like M.C. Escher. If you are taking a picture of Grandma's retirement party, you don't want everyone looking at the rest of the photo. Keep it level if you're not intentionally playing with the angle.