In photography, composition is basically the arrangement of objects in a picture. Composition can be applied to any form of art. It can be used in music, writing, and photography. The meaning of the word composition is “putting together”. Composition is a very important element of good photography. It can be compared to cooking. In order to make a delicious and appealing meal, you will need to have the right ingredients. After that you will need to present them accordingly by plating the dish. The way you plate your dish will either attract customers or drive them away. Just like in photography, a good composition will determine whether or not your picture will lure people to buy it.

Pattern

There are lots of different types which can be found around us. Using these patterns to your advantage will lead to a good composition shot. Some of the techniques in taking photos of patterns are to emphasize it or to break it. Taking a picture of a pattern and filling the frame of your camera can create the effect of a large size quantity of an object. The other techniques, which is known as “break it” is the exact opposite of emphasizing the pattern. Obviously, the other technique aims to break the pattern. Break the chain of the pattern. 

Symmetry

Symmetry by definition is the exact correspondence of form and constituent configuration on opposite sides of a dividing line or plane or about a center or an axis. To a photographer, this means that when you are taking a picture of an object or landscape, you draw an imaginary line which splits the picture in have. Now your aim here is to have similar features in both sides of that imaginary line. Think of it like the mirror effect. Using symmetry in your shot can also attract people. Here are a few examples of symmetry.

Texture

Texture can be done by taking any photo of a 2D object. In order to emphasize the texture of your photograph, you will need to shoot your photos from certain angles. Texture is often seen when sunlight or light from any source hits the object from an angles. It kind of gives the object an embossed effect. Texture all adds to the value of the picture.

Depth of Field

• The depth of field that you select when taking an image will drastically impact the composition of an image.
•  Can isolate a subject from its background and foreground (when using a shallow depth of field)
•  It can put the same subject in context by revealing it’s surrounds with a larger depth of field.

Lines

• Can be powerful elements in an image.
• Have the power to draw the eye to key focal points in a shot and to impact the ‘feel’ of an image greatly.
• Diagonal, Horizontal, Vertical and Converging lines all impact images differently and should be spotted while framing a shot and then utilized to strengthen it.

By Jon Artetxe

By Jon Artetxe

By Jon Artetxe

By Jon Artetxe

To see more of Jon’s work, please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/ibarakaldo/

Cooperation between companies has began since 2005 with 2-megapixel camera built-in Nokia N90. Device has got autofocus mode, and smooth digital zoom being automatically object of interest for every lover of mobile photography.

Next famous model using advanced optics of German manufacturer was N93 with (rare among mobile phones) 3x optical zoom and 3,2-megapixel camera but it was nothing in comparison with Nokia N95 which was released few months later. Nokia N95 was undoubtedly another milestone. Not only among flagship devices of other manufacturers. One of the main features of that phone was incredibly 5-megapixel camera with brilliant quality as for a mobile phone. Mentioned model has got Tessar lens with F-Number: 2,8 and Focal Length: 5,6mm. Speaking about the relationship between Nokia and Carl Zeiss we can not forget about Nokia N8. Despite the passage of time this model is still considered as one of the best photographic smartphones which was ever made. Now many fans of mobile snapshots are waiting for Nokia 808 Pure view which seems to be another milestone of mobile photography.

The result of partnership between the technology PureView is mentioned by the Vice President, Nokia Smart Devices, Jo Harlow: Carl Zeiss was a crucial partner in the creation of the first PureView experience. The benefits of our ongoing collaboration will be more PureView innovation and further advancements in smartphone imaging in the coming months and years.

Also Michael Kaschke, CEO of Carl Zeiss AG said: When joining forces with Nokia in 2005, we wanted to push the boundaries of mobile photography. Looking back at seven years of successful partnership, we are proud of the innovations and outstanding products created in this shared journey. Today we are celebrating the extension of our collaboration with a new technology that sets another real benchmark in this sector.

A worthy successor to the photographic N8 PureView model 808, which will soon appear on the market. It is equipped with a matrix with a resolution of 41 megapixels allows you to shoot images with incredible detail, it also allows recording video in Full HD. The first tests of this device shows that the 808 already outclasses its rivals, and certainly part of that merit can be attributed to the Carl Zeiss company.

Certainly most of Nokia mobile photography lovers will appreciate information about further cooperation between Carl Zeiss and Nokia. They can count on the continued development of mobile photography and create more smartphones series PureView with German optics. Rumors says that in the nearest future Nokia will also release first Windows Phone models equipped with Pure View technology.

The Nokia 808 PureView, starts rolling out in end of May.

Tip number 1. Playing with Exposure.

Exposure is one of the most important photo settings in each phone. Different levels of exposure could bring significantly different results. The rule of using correct exposure level is quite simple: When we have strong sunlight it’s better to decrease EV to – 0.5 or – 1 value. (It’s not a strict rule and we’ve got some exceptions) All of this in order to achieve more attractive colours and saturation of our pics. Instead of post processing most of your shots from mobie phone try to learn how to set the exposure correctly. You will save a lot of time spent in front of the screen of your computer editing your own pics. Lets have a look at some examples.

Here we have a picture of stone bridge during daytime. Using automode, the shot was overexposed a bit. You may notice that especially when you are looking at stone railing of the bridge. I had to decrease value of exposure to – 0.5 EV to aim the best result.

HTC Desire HD, automode

HTC Desire HD, – 0.5EV

Another example showing benefits of decreasing exposure is next pair of shots. I was standing on that stone bridge (shown in two previous shots) because I waned to capture small lake which was in front of me. At first glance shot taken with automode looks quite good but wait; there’s something wrong with it. Look at the sky above the line of threes. It’s completely overexposed.

HTC Desire HD, automode

I’ve seen hundreds of shots with overexposed, white sky taken during sunny weather. Most of authors of that shots could avoid such effect by simply decreasing value of exposure before taking the shot.

Lets reduce our EV to – 1 value. Now look at the sky. Voila! We’ve got blue sky

HTC Desire HD, – 1EV

Here we’ve got the sunset. I wanted to achive warmer colours that they were in fact. I also wanted to aim the shadow lines of that bridge in front of me, so I had to decrease exposure to maximum of – 2 EV to reach such effect. Here’s the result.

Samsung Pixon 12, – 2EV

Short Conclusion

Proper value of expose depends on current light conditions and your vision of what you want to achieve. Don’t be afraid to experiment with EV.

Tip number 2. Experiment with white balance.

Also white balance could be useful if we want to aim original results. I encourage all of you to play with white balance as well. Changing it by purpose could bring great results.

Lets have a look at example below. This shot was taken during last autumn. We have side warm lightning here. First pic is made with automode.

HTC Desire HD, automode

Second one was taken with cloudy white balance. I’ve changed it by purpose because I wanted to achive warmer colours of setting sun effect despite it was afternoon. If I had decreased EV value instead of white balance my pic would be too dark.

HTC Desire HD, cloudy white balance

One more pair of shots. First taken with automode. Second with cloudy WB.

HTC Desire HD, automode

HTC Desire HD, cloudy white balance

What about when we’re going to snap some nigh shots. Again – it depends on what effect we want to achieve. Here’s a difference between incandescent and fluorescent white balance in practice. I suggest using it only in artificial light. When we want to “warp up” our night shot we need to use incandescent white balance. When we want to “cool down” our night shot we need to use fluorescent one. Here are some of examples and the difference between them:

HTC Desire HD, incandescent white balance

HTC Desire HD, fluorescent white balance

HTC Desire HD, incandescent white balance

HTC Desire HD, fluorescent white balance

Short Conclusion

Manipulating with white balance could bring interesting results. Use that opportunity, and experiment with it.

Tip number 3. Use manual ISO settings.

The smaller value of ISO we’ll chose the better result we’ll get. Especially in night photography. These three pictures were taken at night. First one with small manual ISO, second one on auto mode. The third at nightshot mode. Can you see the difference between them?

HTC Desire HD, manual low 200 ISO

HTC Desire HD, automode

HTC Desire HD, nightshot mode

As you can see higher ISO generates larger grain. It doesn’t look very nice. First shot simply looks better. What shall we do if there’s not enough artificial light around, and picture with lowest ISO value is simply too dark? Use Xenon/Led Flash to light the subject of your shot. If the subject is too far away from you and flash doesn’t make the difference try to find fireworks photo mode. It’s lengthening shutter speed, letting in more light inside the camera with small value of ISO.

Lets see what will happen when we’re going to use lowest ISO value and tripod then tell me how many bricks contains this Cathedral

Taken with Samsung Pixon 12 + tripod

Short Conclusion

The lower ISO we’ll use the better night shot we’ll get. Low ISO guarantees better detailed shots without such huge “grains effect”. As a curiosity shown by pictures above I want to mention that in most mobile phones automode presents better quality that dedicaded nightshot modes and manual setting are better than automode

Tip number 4. Bring bad composed pic into a new life. 

Simply crop it to aim a better composition…

Sony Ericsson Elm + macro converter

Same shot but cropped

 Tip number 5. Keep in mind: Rule of thirds.

 What is the rule of thirds? It is a rule invented by artists as an aid to composition has been adopted by photographers for the same purpose. This was also known as the Golden Ratio during the times of Ancient Greece. It was a rectangle where the length of the shorter side was about two thirds of the longer side.

The rule of thirds is generally used to expose the topic or theme of your shot. The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.

As you can see in this picture, the main topic is the beautiful city, so it occupies the last two rows of segments or equivalent to two-thirds of the whole photograph.

Samsung Pixon 12 + tripod

Tip number 6. Use photo accessories dedicated for mobile phones.

There are quite many accessories which u can buy at online stores. Any kind of additional equipment could be very helpful. You can find all of these extra stuff at photojojo.com. Lets have a look at some examples.

Samsung Pixon 12, 50 ISO, flash fired + tripod

Sony Ericsson Elm, – 0.7 EV + macro converter

HTC Desire HD + super wide angle lens

Tip number 7. Be creative.

Try to snap unusual pic. Small size of the lens in comparison to digital cameras could work in your favor.

HTC Desire HD, automode

Holding phone in your hands and pretending that you are writing a SMS could bring suprising results. Just do not overdo with the creativity, if someone does not wish to be photographed 

HTC Desire HD, manual settings

Tip number 8. Use mobile photo apps.

No matter what phone you’ve got. With Android, Iphone OS, Symbian or WindowsMobile. There a lot of photo apps which you can use to create unusual pic. Topic of photo apps deserves an additional article. Lets look at examples of two of them for now.

Pro HDR camera is an app which allows to make something like HDR shots. Application is mixing 3 shots of different exposure levels into one shot. It also allows to edit your own pics. I encourage you to experiment with EV values because they could bring completely different shots.

HTC Desire HD (Pro HDR Camera)

Camera 360 is an app which contains a lot of different photo effects like Lomo, HDR, Sketch, Fish Eye, Tilt-shift e.t.c. My favourite one is an effect called “B&W Visual Storm” Here are some examples:

HTC Desire HD (Camera 360)

Tip number 9. Look for Inspiration. Plan Your Angles & Locations.

 When I’ve started my adventure with mobile photography I used to shoot photos of pretty much everything and everywhere. I remember correctly when I was strolling through one of the most representative streets in Warsaw. I’ve made about 250 shots during 3 hours. I also remember how excited I was to see all of them at the screen of my laptop. You can only imagine my disappointment when I realized that none from those shots was good enough to boast of.

Since that day I decided to have precise plan of what I want to capture. Initial vision of what I’m going to shoot. Predicted weather and light conditions. Technique which I’m going to use to hold only the special frames into memory of my cell phone. Finally; photo accessories which might be helpful or not. From that memorable day I’ve stepped into higher level of making shots. I’m taking much less shots that I used to and I’m more satisfied with the results than never before.

Learn from your own mistakes, experiment with manual settings, draw right conclusions. Keep looking for inspiration, plan what you want to capture. These are my advise to you. If you are looking for more inpirations maybe you will find some of them in my Flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/76005239@N06/

Keep shooting don’t struggle. Thank you. 

By Uwe Huppach

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uhuppach/

By Johann Bouché-Pillon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphik-rhymes/

By Keisuke Takahashi

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tokyogyango/

By Daniel Gomes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielgomes1/

By Mauro Ballabeni

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mauroballabeni/

By Judah Honeywell

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrjoelhoneywell/

By Raphael Thunus

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sephiraph/

By Aubrey Badeau

By Elaina Stoltenberg

http://twitter.com/#!/elliedino

By Christian Schuster

http://www.flickr.com/photos/schusteridu/7069802919/in/photostream

By Reza Elghazi

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26741339@N08/

41 Megapixels

Nokia 808 pureview has 41 megapixels sensor at 7728 x 5368 = 41,483,904.00 (by multiply) but you are only able capture maximum of
38 Megapixels in 4:3 mode at 7152 x 5368 = 38,391,936.00 pixels
34 Megapixels in 16:9 mode at 7728 x 4354 = 33,647,712.00 pixels

How big is actually 41 Megapixels?

How many megapixels do you need?
If your attention is just to view your photos on your computer, mobile phone or make small prints 2-5 megapixels is sufficient but if you are planning to print your photos into photobook, magazine, banner or billboard the higher the megapixels the better.

Another benefit of having high megapixels is it allows you to crop and also provide clearer details to your photos example the photos below

What so special about the photos below? Its captured by a Nokia N8 !! Wait a moment ! How does a mobile phone is able to capture such stunning results without editing and no extra lens used and you must be wondering how did i do it? The secret is simple combination of high megapixels and good optics give you this amazing result.

What happens if your camera does not have such precision optics like the Nokia N8 and Nokia 808 pureview the result will turn out like? I have provided a photo sample below taken by one of the latest android phone by another reviewer. So the next time you read a review or a photo sample do puzzle yourself how good is the optics of that camera. When someone gives you a thumbs down ask yourself again if it is it true? I have shown you the truth and next time please ask them back to provide similar samples to compare.

Some will say you need to take in the same light condition, same angle, same setting and etc but conclusion if the photo taken do not have the similar sharpness and detailed as above what is there to compare? Simple terms their phone cant do it.The more detailed the photo you take the more stories it tells.

Taken using a non-Nokia Phone

More pixels doesnt mean your camera will take better photos because many factors can effect the result like sensor size, software algorithms, aperture, shutter speed, pixel sizes and etc but with the right combination you get amazing results “

Know more about Nokia phones and it’s camera quality. Check out my site here http://www.jasonteh.com/

To see more pics, visit my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/people/thenokiagallery/

Basilica of the Sacré Cœur By Cedric Blanchon

Louise Weber's Tomb By Albane Ewing

By Cedric Blanchon

By Albane Ewing

By Cedric Blanchon

Looks like you guys had fun taking photos there! I will join you when I visit Paris!  

To see more photos from Albane and Cedric’s collection, please go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/galdo4/

http://www.eyeem.com/u/41670

Soratama” is the photography technique which Zenji Uehara devised. ”Sora” means aerial. “tama” means ball. Take pictures using the transparent ball. A fantastic picture reflected to the transparent ball which appears on the midair can be taken.

Soratama is sold with Maminka. It is the thing which is glued to an acrylic ball to the acrylic board. I think you will have to set it up like this http://www.soratama.org/cn10/iPhone.html.

Then you can start shooting cute pictures like these :

To see more pictures taken using Soratama lens, please go to http://www.flickr.com/groups/soratama/.

To know more details on how to order, please visit http://www.soratama.org/

 Since then I set a goal to motive, inspire and show what is photographically possible with the iOS applications to others. I want to help people become the artist they want to be by teaching them how to use the photographic applications available for the iPhone and iPad.

 So I started my blog  iPhoneography with Teri Lou in January 2011 (http://iphoneographywithterilou.blogspot.com) where I regularly post an image and list the applications I use to capture and process it.  I also offer online courses, workshops and one-on-one tutoring. Today I announced that on Mondays I would answer questions from my viewers to help them understand more about what is possible. It is called “Photo iPossibilities”.

 Today I showed how I took an image with poor lighting and created a silhouette antique photograph.

The original image was captured in Cambodia during a 5 week Asian Adventure. I brought only my iPhone and iPad to capture and process the images from this journey.  As I captured the image with ProCamera I knew the lighting would be poor and I would most likely darken the boat and the people inside.

I used Snapseed to isolate the areas that I wanted to darken. This was done in several steps.

After the image was darkened, I removed the boats along the water line with Touch Retouch because I found them to be distracting.

Next to create the antique look I processed the image in OldPhotoPro.

At this point I found the image rather dull so I processed it with Dynamic Light and then blended the original Antique and the Dynamic Light version with Image Blender to bring out the color in the sky.

Finally I used Filterstorm to bring out the details in the shadows and paint in a subtle vignette.

Now I need you to contribute to making Monday’s Photo iPossibilities a success by asking me your questions. Please send them to teri@terilou.com and put “iPossiblities” as the subject. I look forward to the many questions you have.