Aside from taking fingerprints, dusting the crime scene and bagging evidence carefully to bring to the forensics lab and later the Court room, Photos are an important part of every crime investigation and later as evidence in Court.

Forensics Photography is a fantastic Tool to collect and catalog Data as well. Sometimes a sweep of the surroundings with the Camera logs in Images which would otherwise would have been overlooked or forgotten. The Person in the third row of the onlookers. That broken piece of glass in the shadow. Our busy Patrol Officer might have not noticed it, but our Camera Lens has picked it up.

One of the most important things in Forensic Photography is the sharpness of the Image. It has to be sharp as a well honed blade. Any fuzziness, pixilation or shake and it is as useless to the Court and the Investigators as an Eagle with pinkeye. The entire case rests on Forensic Photography and any flaw however sight, could cost a case to be lost.

Never, ever disturb the crime scene. The first round of photos has to be taken before anything has been touched, removed or altered. It is the freeze frame of the Crime Scene. The closest you will come to having been there during the crime. So make sure you plan the photo before you take it. Later if you must small adjustments, like the adding of a measuring tool to show distance is permissible, but not during the first go over.

Make sure you get a complete set of shoots. Those should include a close-up, a mid range and a wide angle. The Angel is very important as well. If you use the wrong point of view you may easily undo the best shoot by misrepresenting the relationship of distance to the object etc. Remember, your photo has to show exactly what is set out before you.

You need to record everything in writing. Mark out specific items, but never mark on the photo it-self. For that it is wise to use an overlay that you can remove as is needed. Transparency paper is used for that purpose. Make sure you lighting and exposure is set correctly. There are a lot of extremely good literature available that can teach you how to set your exposure for which light, background and scenario. This helps take the perfect pictures needed.

Lastly but not least. Photos can be messed up easily if your equipment is not in tip top shape. Make sure that your lens is clean at all times of dust. No smutches etc. I know it seems to be a topic that should not even have to be mentioned, but often it is the small things we overlook. After all the entire point of forensic photography is to capture those small seemingly mute points that are often overlooked.

A suggest you make your-self a check list and place even the most common sense items on your list. Batteries, Film, dust free equipment, tripod, removing the lens cap. You can think of it, write it down. You will be surprised sometimes how easily even the best professional forensic Photographer can make a simple mistake that could have been prevented by a check list. Remember the victim is counting on you too.

The online world is full of photographers waiting to be discovered. Places like deviantart.com, eBay, and other online galleries exist for the convenience of finding new photographs for you home. Simply by putting the words photography, photographs, or prints will not lead you to the more professional prints online. When searching online you will need to use specific keywords. These keywords take you to picture of a specific nature.

If you are more interested in wildlife it is best to use those key words along with photography. Another drawback to online searching is getting the product from a reputable source. You want to make sure that your credit card information is safe, that the shipping will be affordable and appropriate. How they ship the print is also important you want to make sure a shipping company will not damage it. The number one thing about shipping prints is they require some insurance to ensure your investment has protection against damage, potential lost and theft when delivered.

There are several tips you will want to follow when shopping online. Perhaps the most important tip is remembering you are seeing the print scanned into the online store. This means you are not in the gallery to check the print over and analyze it to the full extent. You will want to be a little wary if the photographs are grainy or they appear to have flaws. It is often best to shop online at art galleries with a reputation. These companies generally have great reputations and offer different shipping methods and insurance.

In order to find appropriate sites you will want to understand page rank. Google ranks the web pages in order to give you an idea of the pages with the information you want as well as letting you know the sites validity. The higher the page rank, the more traffic the website has seen. Big known websites might offer more pictures and quality picture from a reputable service or business.

It can be very difficult to find photography galleries online that will actually sell their prints. It will take a little time and effort, but the results are most often worth it. Just searching for keywords may net you photography techniques or schools rather than galleries to purchase from. If you have a favorite artist or gallery chances are you can enter their name to find the prints you are looking for online. If you are hoping for quality prints, but do not wish to pay for an artists name you may have to spend a few hours to find just the right photographs.

Online galleries are just another way technology has become convenient for all of us. Finding photography online to purchase can be difficult if you are looking for an obscure artist or print topic. You will need to search with specific keyword or topics to find prints. If you are interested in Alaskan photographs of wildlife you should narrow your sure just by mentioning the state. We all find photographs add to a homes dcor. Galleries are often the way most of us find photographs because we like to see the prints up close, however online is the new way for convenience. So the next time you wish to change out your homes dcor you might look online for ideas if not the product to satisfy you and your families needs.

Now obviously, there are some equipment issues that have to be prepared to have your camera not only set up and ready but at the proper settings to capture that moment when all glory cuts loose in the sky. So from an equipment stand point

.A tripod. The activity of the fireworks is so dramatic that unless you stabilize your camera, the shot will be blurred and unacceptable to you and to whoever you may wish to sell it to. The tripod should be easily transportable and adjustable so you can make adjustments on the fly.

.A shutter release that functions externally.

.Equipment to work at night as that is when your subject is going to occur. You can get a head mounted flashlight at any camping store so you can direct the light at the camera and still have both hands free to handle your equipment.

.A portable chair as there will be some waiting. Anything else that will help you ride out the wait such as food, water, music etc. should also be part of your preparations.

Because the fireworks explosion is sudden and fast, you need to be able to adjust the shutter speed and have the camera set up to react to manual focus so you can use your eyes and ears to know exactly when to snap that shot.

The key to a great or a series of great fireworks photographs is location. You want a location that has an outstanding vantage point view of the piece of sky where the most action will take place. This means you may need to take a position on a bridge, on top of a building or on a hill away from the crowds that come to see the show. This is not going to be easy to find so start early. It is not out of line to scope out your location days in advance and arrive hours in advance to secure that spot as yours.

Experience is going to be one of your best teachers as to not only the right location but how to set your camera focus and shutter speeds and how to position the view from the secured location so you can capture the rocket at the moment of explosion. So find ways to do some practice shoots at other fireworks displays before you set out to do the keeper shot. Many times minor league baseball clubs have fireworks shows and they would happily let you take photographs of the show in exchange for a few free shots. Here you can experiment with your experiment and get your bearings before setting up for a larger show.

Once the show gets underway, anticipate the explosion that you want to capture. Dont snap the first five minutes of the show but use that time to confirm that you have the right sky location scouted. The best times to capture the shot are right before the explosion which you can time by the sound of the rocket going up and the expected time before eruption.

With some experience you will get your sixth sense about where and when to snap that perfect photo and when you are done, you will have some spectacular shots to include with your portfolio or to display proudly. And this will lead to even more work photographing explosions in the sky.

The darkroom is out the computer printer comes forward for most of us using digital photography. We are able to send our pictures to all our friends with a few clicks of the buttons. Digital photography makes taking a picture simple, by eliminating some of the guesswork. With the LCD screen on a digital camera you can now view the photo you just took without waiting and hour or longer to see the film develop. We are no longer limited by film capacity, but by memory cards. Most memory cards have 32MB or 1GB depending on how much youve spent on equipment.

Digital photography can encompass the professional cameras with the interchanging lenses, manual setting or it can be a simple point and shoot camera. Whether you are looking for a professional grade picture or something your friends will laugh over digital photography has made taking photos easier. As I said before we can see the picture before we ever print, and also a lot of digital cameras will allow you to crop and save the photo before printing.

Digital cameras can be all sizes from a key chain camera to the professional. We have all had a little fun with digital on our phones. If you are more interested in the professional side of photography the first digital camera you choose should have interchangeable lenses with a high resolution. It can be automatic if you feel more comfortable with light settings, however most have ISO settings, aperture, and shutter speed choices as well.

Like with older photographer setting up your shot is half the fun. Determining the settings you need to use for light is the other. Setting up your shot still requires you to have an eye for the unusual or for making the unusual out of a common scene. Walk around the subject and look for every possible angle, you may even decide to take several photos to choose the best angle. This is where digital photography surpasses film cameras every time. Once you have looked at all angles and taken photos you get to see if the effect you wanted is there. It is a faster way for you to learn how to set the shutter speed and aperture on a shot and use lighting because you see the results while you still looking at the scene.

Digital photography may not seem like it would still use all those skills you learned on your old camera, but this is definitely not true. Instead digital photography enhances your learning while you are still at the sight. Instead of long hours in a darkroom or waiting in line you can get the picture you want right then. It certainly gives more towards vacation photos when you can see if your thumb is over the lens or the camera strap was in the way or worse someone just walked in front of you. Digital photography like all things has evolved to help us experience a new way in photography.

How do you know what subject you will shoot? This is where your interests lie. If you wish only to take pictures of wildlife then you will have to wait for the subject to come into view. Obviously you can go to a wildlife park such as the Rocky Mountain National Park and hope to find subjects. Most often it will depend on the time of year. Elk and Deer are more prominent when they come down the mountains to mate and eat. Birds will always be available, but the type of birds will vary. If you are in Alaska chances are you will have several chances of shooting a Bald Eagle, while in Florida you may find heron or cranes.

When you are practicing techniques you will have to choose your subject accordingly. A lot of us are regulated to the area around us. Landscape photography requires the use of the land you have around you, unless you are going on vacation to some place new. This is another important fact to choosing a subject. You are either limited or you have the whole world at your feet. It will depend on your traveling abilities. For now we will stick close to home.

Once you choose your medium you will then go in search of subjects. The subject that speaks to you is what you should choose to shoot. If a tree and the knots its formed interest you, you will want to check the lighting of the area. Deciding which angle to shoot from will also make the decision on the subject. The lighting may not be right for the subject you have chosen and the other side of the subject may not yield the best picture.

To choose a subject you will need a good eye for detail and observation. Often the best subject is not the one you can see with a plain eye. Have you ever looked at a tree and found a spider web hiding in the leaves? If you look closer you might even find a spider. A spider web can make a great picture not only because of the technique required to have the web show up in your photo with the silky threads, but also the pattern of a spider web. We are fascinated with an organism that can create a symmetrical pattern.

Again your eye is the best tool for finding a subject. How you choose the subject will depend on what is available, the angle and the light. Moving slowly through an area such as landscape will help you determine the subject. Looking under leaves or rocks is often beneficial to finding something new and different. You never know where you will find a picture just waiting for you to click a picture. Some people and animals do things that will never again happen and this is when you want to have camera available. Most people interested in photography carry a camera with them everywhere they go. If this sounds like a habit, a real habit turns into a hobby and a possible income if you become good at taking the right pictures. As you get better at taking the pictures, you can then start displaying your pictures for others to see and possibly buy.

The information you wish to glean from a photography class will make part of the decision for you. For instance in a college setting that does not specialize in photography will offer the basic levels, but may not offer you an internship with a professional photographer in your field. If you are looking for photography as a hobby these basic level classes will often give you the information you need to produce pictures you can be proud of.

Specialized schools as with any others will allow for more information on a specific topic. Most specialized schools will allow you to work with a professional to learn the specifics of your profession as well as expand your knowledge. This helps you learn quicker and learn more about the techniques used in photography while having hands on experience.

The best way to choose a photography school is to decide what you want from your photography. Once you have decided that you can move on to finding out how to apply. Some photography schools are part of a studio and allow for anyone to sign up for a class. Other schools require you to attend a college or university first for basic photography and intern before you go on to the specialized school.

Searching online will lead you to the schools available in your area and across the country. You will be able to find the application as well as descriptions of every class they offer. The sites will also list the qualifications you have to attend the school and what classes you will need to take to become a photographer. Although the experience you receive from a classroom is better, online classes teach you what you need to know.

Some classes that you will need to will be in lighting, composition, and other basics. Depending on your field you will then need to branch out in studying ways to capture the subject. Like portrait photography you will need to understand angles, light, balances, and how to elicit the reactions you need from the subject. Digital photography is the new way to take photographs and there are a few different techniques to learn from the older manual cameras.

Photography schools can help you become more adapt at taking photographs. You may decide you need a little help to step up from being the point and shoot type to a more complicated camera or you might decide there is a career for you. There are many types of schools for you and online sources will help you find it. Online photography classes can be helpful for you learning techniques, but you will still want other people to help you find your eye for art. If you have worked with manual cameras in the past chances are you will want to take a digital photography course when you switch.

To touch on one more type of school we need to delve into underwater photography. Most colleges and other photography schools associated with studios do not specialize in underwater photography. It is often best to seek out a dive school for a basic course. You might decide to delve further and find an underwater photography school. Underwater photography has always been a unique and interesting hobby or profession. Seeing the results of your work is like nothing else one can imagine. When you look at the color and the amazing views, you will understand underwater photography more.

Candid photography is by definition taking pictures of people when they are unaware. Part of the fun in photography is catching your human subjects off guard so that your pictures have more emotion. Photographers who work for magazines, like Time Life, have been able to get candid shots of their subjects. I think most of us can remember the black and white photographs of Africans and others giving rise to more emotion from the viewer. Taking candid shots may appear easy although there are few techniques in the photography world that will make the candid shot worth more than just a snap shot of friends.

First and of course most important is to keep the subject in view while they are not paying attention. The next step is training your eye to catch the moment. You have to be able to move fast, but with design. You need to have your camera set for the picture before you are even aware you will take the photograph. The best way to do this if you have a digital or automatic camera is to keep it on the proper setting. Manual cameras take moments to focus and can loose the candid shot if your subject becomes aware of you.

Candid photography relies on the light; however, you may not always get to choose the angle. The angle could be where you are standing at the time. As a photographer of candid photography, you know the importance of choosing the best angle at the right moment that is possible.

The entire point of candid photography is to gain the unguarded moments of a persons emotions, whether it is tears, happiness, love, or other emotions. While it is true, you need to have light, angle, and a good camera to catch the shot it is more important to observe. Most photographers are trained observers. Their eyes will wander over the crowds, landscape, or other setting searching for the perfect shot. They will always have a camera ready. It can be extremely hard when you are taking photographs of your friends because they tend to be more involved in the conversations or activity.

The key to taking candid photographs of your friends is to draw them away from the fact that you carry a camera. If they forget you carry the tool, they are more likely going to act natural. Some friends tend to pose in front of the camera while others will shy away turning their backs when you get ready to take a photograph. Knowing your friends will help you find the best way to take candid shots without their knowledge.

Observing, having the camera ready, and understanding the basics of photography will yield you better results when you try for a candid shot. Posing or turning away from the camera will take away from the shot you hoped to attain so hanging to the side or a little ahead can get you the shot you may need. Profiles make great candid shots because the person will not realize you are taking a photograph until you have already clicked the button. Candid photography can be one of the most rewarding arts of photography, but also vexing when the subject is aware of the camera. Always remember the camera when going out with friends.

We can Photoshop in new outfits, accessories or even people to a shot where it was just not possible before. So if you want a picture of you shaking hands with the president, you dont have to go to Washington to get it, just Photoshop your image into the image of the president and it will look as real as if you had been there.

Similarly, we can Photoshop out things from a picture we dont want to see there anymore. So if you have a physical flaw, that can be removed. You can even remove a distracting person from the background of the shot. The program is so sophisticated that these images are possible and you really cannot tell the alteration has been made.

Photoshop has become such a de facto standard for photo processing that if you are setting up a photography studio or business, a copy of the software is as necessary as Microsoft word or PowerPoint. The good thing about this software is that it is readily accessible and a lot of people know how to use it. So if you feel insecure about learning yet another computer application, you can probably find a college student, someone at the high school or maybe the junior high that knows Photoshop in and out and can help you jump start your use of the software as well.

But Photoshop has not always dominated this genre. The program was created in 1989 by two brothers, John Knoll and Thomas Knoll. While the brothers developed Photoshop for custom uses they had at the time, it wasnt long before the market potential of this software became evident. So, being smart entrepreneurs, John and Thomas founded a little company called Adobe and began operations in 1990.

Adobe has been a shining example of how to achieve success in the age of the internet. Today few of us who use the internet are not aware of Adobe. You probably cannot find a personal computer that uses the internet that does not have a free copy of the Adobe reader on it to read PDF files. The PDF format is yet another example of how this little company has created and then taken over a particular market of online business.

To really become skilled at using Photoshop, the first thing to do is probably find a copy to play with. Like most computer applications, you can probably find a copy on a friends computer just to tinker with it and get a feel for the controls. Then if your friend is a wizard at Photoshop, let him or her show you some of the real wiz-bang things they can do with Photoshop using the same menus you were just tinkering with. This little Saturday afternoon experiment could turn you into a Photoshop addict forever.

After that, you would do well to download a copy for yourself. You can get an evaluation version that will give you most of the features. But you really only need that if you are not sure if you are going to buy a copy. Since Photoshop dominates this market, you almost certainly will buy a copy so you might save some frustration and purchase a licensed copy right away. Now, you will probably find yourself playing with the software for long hours just having fun and thats great. But dont overlook the value of taking some organized classes in photo editing using Adobe Photoshop. These classes can show you the shortcuts and how to get the most out of the software.

From there on out, your imagination is the only limit to how you will use this tool to make your photographs better for your customers. And you will be able to respond enthusiastically when someone says, thats ok, you can just Photoshop that and fix it right up.

Conventional photography is a highly developed art form and profession. The precision of the equipment and the ability of photographers to deliver a high quality product to their customers is well known and the result of decades of evolution of the craft. But today it is possible for anyone to become an amateur photographer using that tiny cell phone in their pocket or purse.

The question needs serious consideration for three audiences. For the professional photographer, is this the end of your profession? Will digital phones wipe out your customer base and make you obsolete? For the aspiring photographer, what about your future? Should you even invest in learning to use the sophisticated equipment that makes professional photography so superior? Why bother if camera phones are going to make it all obsolete? And for you the consumer, can you get the same quality of photographs with using camera phones as you can by hiring a photographer?

These are valid questions. It is very common when a new technology begins to make inroads into a profession for the old guard of that profession to feel threatened. It happened when television came along and the media called it the death of radio. It happened when talkies and then color was introduced to movies and television and at each technological improvement in the music world. And with each dire prediction of the demise of an industry, the opposite took place and that industry adjusted, evolved, got better and prospered all the more.

So there are good reasons not to worry that camera phones is going to destroy photography as we know it including

*Camera phones cannot achieve the same levels of quality. There is a good reason that the professional photographer has invested in the highly sophisticated equipment that he has in his studio and that he or she takes to a shoot. The many years and decades of research have surfaced the problems with quality that primitive equipment could not deal with. Modern photography equipment has precise instrumentation to handle lighting issues to properly frame each photograph and to produce a professional quality outcome that people want from a wedding, a portrait or any kind of professional photography. You can bet that forensic photography, fashion photography and photography for publication will ever be willing to accept the low standards of quality that are the outcome of camera phone pictures.

*Its an amateur game. When you see kids holding up their camera phones at a concert to steal a picture, you know that device is not going to result in a professional quality shot. This is especially true in a live setting like a concert where there are myriads of issues such as lighting, visual noise and other problems that have to be overcome with sophisticated instrumentation just not available on a camera phone. Camera phones are an amateur photography device. And they will always occupy that niche.

*Standards of the final product would be compromised. And high standards of quality are what make professional photography a value to its customers.

This is not to cast camera phones in a negative light. They have their place and they are great fun. But we in the professional photography world have nothing to fear from the growth of this technology.

Wildlife photography is perhaps the most difficult in the profession. You have to have the time, inclination, and of course the camera. Most wildlife shots are captured using a telephoto lens because the animal will not walk near you. Every once in a while you will be able to capture the fox, elk, bear or other animal as it comes through the woods in your path, however most of the time they are yards away and elusive.

Wildlife photography doesnt wait for you to happen a long and snap a photo. You need to immerse yourself in the site you choose your camera at the ready, and set for the light of the day. Most automatic cameras work great on the preset for those who are just learning to take wildlife photographs. Photography has always been about the moment and the best photographers can catch the moment with a speed and agility of the animal they are capturing.

Start with small subjects when you begin your foray into wildlife photography. Practice on your pet. Let them roam naturally and see if you can capture the wild and crazy moments on film without the photograph ending up blurry. All great photographers have studied and practiced. They also use more than one shot. Making sure your camera has a quick shutter speed will help you take more than one shot as your move with the animal. When you have the subject in your site you need to follow it while focusing and then quickly snap as many pictures as you can before they move out of site. This technique is known as panning. Rather than the subject coming to you, you follow the subject.

When you have mastered your pets you can begin to explore the outdoor world of wildlife photography. Some of your subjects will be standing still and this is another practice technique. Be aware of the lighting and placement while trying not to disturb the animal. It is most easy to get a squirrel when they are intent on eating or foraging for food. If you stay silent and walk carefully you can often get pretty close.

If you are choosing a larger subject such as a deer or bear you will want to stay far enough away to get the shot, and not draw attention to yourself. Bears are dangerous creatures, but they can be photographed if you use common sense and dont tread upon their territory. Wildlife photography and thus the photographers have a code of ethics when attaining the perfect shots. You will want to follow these ethics for your safety and the animals.

Wildlife photography is a waiting game for the perfect picture to sprint across your viewfinder. It takes patience and a lot of practice, but the reward of having a family member or friend go, where did you get that photograph? I have got to have one, will sweeten the deal.