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I love art, photography is part of those things that I love. This picture from sky is pretty awesome but I’m not sure I agree with it being one of the photos of the year. Especially when it was probably taken from a satellite or maybe a plane, is not creative is coincidental. But I like it, I used to work in a museum as an intern long time ego, and art definitely shows in the weirdest ways.

Do you like going to museums? I encourage anybody to go to a museum at least once in your life, even if you are not an art lover. We all can learn something from it, every single piece of art is something to admire. Make sure you don’t break any rules when going to a museum, every single one of them has a different set of rules.

Things like no photography, is very important that you don’t start taking pictures if it’s not allowed. No videotaping, for the same reasons, many artists like to keep their rights strictly allowing the museum only to show pics. No screaming, no eating, no smoking, etc., just make sure you ask for a brochure and often the rules are right there.

Take your family too, especially kids, they can learn a lot from art. Also, it makes them more appreciative of art. Plan it out, escape this weekend to a museum near you.

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It certainly does, when talking about photography the tendency of printing larger images and doing photography in camera raw format is due to the fact that now we can. In the past it was very expensive to obtain enlargements of your favorite photos, this fact has change today. More cameras are capable of shooting in camera raw format and large format printers are becoming less expensive, I’m going to give you a rundown of the best cameras for the money and the best printers for the money for you to print your photos as big as you want.

Let me start with giving credit to my inspiration to create this post, Podcaster Jeff Curto from www.cameraposition.com was talking about this on his last podcast. I’m just expanding on some of his thoughts and giving you, the photography enthusiast, recommendations on what equipment is less expensive but yet the best for the job. I recommend anyone interested in photography to give a try to Jeff Curto’s Camera Position podcast, he is a teacher on photography history and a great photographer.

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Most photography enthusiasts are getting into D-SLR cameras, in other words really expensive ones. But the rest of us still dealing with point and shoot cameras, those great single piece of equipments that gives us the opportunity of taking great photos to keep our memories for as long as humanly possible. While point and shoot seems to be a simple, straightforward action, there are numerous steps you can follow to get the best out of it. In this post we will be talking about flash, how to make the best out of our little point and shoot cameras with the built-in flash.

First thing to keep in mind is that most of our cameras work automatically; this serves its purpose for very basic photography. The first step is to read your manual and make sure you know how to access and modify these instructions so that you can make your camera work for you. There is not much to explain on the most common flash option, the automatic option is set from the moment you open your camera box. Flash has an impact on battery life and while the flash of a camera has its useful life, more than often this useful life is enough for the use we will be giving to our little friend.

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When choosing a memory card reader there are many options, at the same time is impossible to go wrong with any of them. Is hard to find anything bad to say about any of the card readers available on the market, mainly because they all serve the purpose. When you are a photography enthusiastic a memory card reader plays an important role in your workflow. It is not a good idea to download your photos from your camera, many things could go wrong, specially while is running on batteries.

Downloading from you camera could lead to corrupt files if the power goes down, also the speed sometimes is slower than with using card readers. Since durability or reliability of most memory card readers is not an issue, the set of functions and the card types accepted is what is going to make a difference when purchasing one. There are many different brands to choose from and different types of readers depending on portability, compatibility, etc.

The brands are; Delkin, Digipower, IO Gear, Kingston, SanDisk, Simple Tech, Smart Disk, among others, and the prices range from about $5.00 US to $70.00 US, again price has nothing to do with quality. To make the right choice the first thing to consider is where are you going to use the reader the most, on the go or at home? I try to get a readers with a USB 1.1 interface and there was none, therefore you will need to have USB 2.0 or Firewire connectors to use most of the card readers available on the market.

For portability, most card readers comes with USB 2.0 interface, some with a long cable and some with just a USB tip that you can pull from one of the corners of the device. The most popular brands you can find in department stores are SanDisk and SmartDisk. Both are great readers, the best portable reader I’ve seen so far is the Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 15-in-1 FlashCard Reader/Writer, it runs for about $30 US and is Mac/PC compatible.

As for desktop reader units there are several to choose from, since is something that is going to be there all the time is a good idea to take some time deciding which would be the best for you. The best ones I’ve seen so far are the IO Gear, Lexar, and SanDisk, all with over 12 card compatibility, different designs, and prices, from $15 to $30 US you can’t go wrong with any of these.

While is good to have a dedicated card reader, most printers are coming with integrated readers. I use the Brother All-In-One MCF 210, is an OK printer but the card reader works great. If you are already buying a printer that is going to take some space on your desk, is a good idea to have the memory card reader integrated too.

The most impressive card reader I’ve seen is the Digipower 32-in-1 Card Reader/Writer + Hub + Bluetooth Combo, 32 different types of cards so that you won’t miss a single type of card on your collection. If you haven’t purchase a reader yet, find your favorite retailer and compare them all before making a purchase decision. For questions email me at lumencreativegroup@gmail.com or leave a comment on this post. Thanks.

You worked hard to get that beautiful, fast Digital Single Lens Reflex (D-SLR) camera so the last thing you want to do is to drop it and break it. Most D-SLR comes with some sort of strap to hold the camera on either your neck or your shoulder, but more than often, the security and comfortableness of these products are just not enough. There are other places where you can get different solutions, but I found one that not just sells the right product for the right job, but also is affordable and 99.9% made in U.S.A.

The UPstrap product line is amazing, but the best part is all the information available on their website. The first time you type www.upstrap-pro.com what you notice there is enough information to make a contented decision of purchase for your camera strap, with illustration, tables that will make your purchase a better experience. Other than the equipment line, you can find testimonials and reviews in the UPstrap webpage, you can also find a list of cameras with their weight description as well as the lenses and other parts weight.

Even with a lightweight D-SLR, you’ll find that cameras are somewhat heavy after you have been carrying it around for an extended period. Then you add motion to the mix, people walking around not being careful, all these can lead to a disaster. The UPstrap product line starts with the “SLR Classic,” you can rest assure that your equipment will be better positioned in your shoulder preventing it from accidentally slip. UPstrap added, for a limited time only, a Kevlar edition that holds even heavier equipment while durability will not be an issue.

To the “SLR Classic” product, you can add the “Quick Release” option, giving you more flexibility and security. While holding 300lb, the quick release is desirable for a person that needs extra manageability on any fast-action shooting situation. You can get different types of handles and there is a heavy-duty snap option that holds up to 600lb.

When I went to the store tab and checked out the prices I couldn’t believe it, the prices are affordable and everything comes with an unconditional 60 days money back guarantee. Located in Tallahassee FL, this small company is certainly bringing the best product I’ve ever seen in the market for securing your camera to you.

I first hear of UPstrap in an Inside Digital Photo podcast, I did some research only to find out that this product is what most professional photographers are using these days. Find out more at www.upstrap-pro.com. Thanks.

I love photography and that is why I blog about it, in the last couple years I have read a lot of books about photography to be a better photographer. In addition to read books I’m subscribed to podcasts, blogs, and newsletter that talks about photography and it amaze me how some online communities give their best explaining people new to photography how to do their best at it.

Yet another discussion on how to make great photography, photography is about composition, like other arts, example video, paint, and even electronic work rely on some so called rules to compose the best photos possible. When doing video is a little bit easier to compose because often you have the opportunity to go back and do it again, there are some exceptions. In photography, most of the times you have one opportunity to take a great shot and you can’t miss it.

Impossible to talk about photography and not about the rule of thirds, but there’s more than this rule of thirds, I found a great article with images that explain this approach to photography better than with a thousand words. Visit www.colorpilot.com/comp_rules.html to read more about the rule of thirds concept. In this article you can find information about the diagonal rule too, which is the best way to experiment when taking photographs or diagonal subjects or landscapes.

One thing I have learned is that whatever equipment you are using you must learn to use the viewfinder. It is impossible to resist to look at the preview screen to take picture but if you master the viewfinder you and good to go when advancing on your hobby. If not sure where to start just point at your subject, if you taking a photo of a car then focus on the car, if the subjects are a car and a house find the mid point where both are in focus. The same with people, if the composition of the photo is just one person make sure you just get that person.

For multiple subjects you can go a little bit technical and count them, for example if you are photographing 3 people, make them stand not too close from each other. When photographing groups of people make sure to do something interesting like aligning them in height order, or boys and girls apart. Use your imagination and compose from your heart. Another trick I use is that I subscribe to multiple bloggers that are photographer and I examine their work for ideas when going out shooting.

Lastly, find resources for learning on the web, visit www.kodak.com or www.ritzcamera.com for free resources that teach you about photography, light management, equipment, etc. If is free is great, read blogs from people like me, I had to give myself a plug, visit my forums or anybody’s forums, dare to ask most of us will have an answer. Happy shooting and thanks.

Last weekend I went to a client’s house to set up their new HP Photosmart C6180 wireless printer, I spent some time reading the manual and since the printer drivers allowed print/fax wirelessly, I decided to install the drivers that came with the printer and not just plug it and see what happen.

Let me give an overview of the equipment they own, there is three PC’s and one Mac, a Linksys router. The router is plugged in the main PC at the home office, as well as the printer. The main PC is a Dell, the other Dell desktop is on a guest room (no one really uses it, except for my client’s wife when he is busy in the office), there is a Toshiba Notebook from my clients employer, and my client’s daughter uses a MacBook.

First, my client had installed the printer in the main computer using the USB hub in his home office, so there was nothing to do there since it was set up correctly. The Linksys router was set up to give up to three non-static IP’s, so I had to change that to six. I wrote down a list of the IP’s to start assigning static IP’s to every machine. I chose to do it this way because the Notebooks tend to get the IP’s as they become available messing up the printing configuration, that happens when the IP’s are not static.

Then I grab the MacBook, installed the software and assign a static IP, before that I had already assign an IP to the printer as well. Then I grab the Toshiba notebook, installed the software, and assign an IP too, up to that point everything was running smoothly. Then I went to the guest room and set up the printer thru the network, that Dell PC has a network Ethernet connection instead of just an antenna receiver.

It was time to have some fun, we tested all the features except for the wireless faxing thing. First thing, we notice was that the MacBook had a wider signal range than the Toshiba notebook. Printing was fast, and scanner feature worked out great. However, what impresses me the most was the quality of the 4 x 6 picture that we printed. The printer has Ethernet plug but you can only use either Ethernet or Wi-fi.

It has separate trays for regular 8.5 x 11 paper and 4 x 6 photos, the downside is that the paper tray holds only100 sheets, which is somewhat small for home office use. It has a media card reader that works great and a small 2.4-inch display that looks good. Being able to preview the photos in that screen is not really a plus since the computer is right there in the same place but I guess is a nice feature anyway.

Overall, I like that printer a lot with a price tag of $250.00 after rebates I think is a great product. Share your experience with us, leave a comment on this post. For more cool HP printers information go to www.hp.com. For more reviews like this one visit LwEEs.com, Email me for questions at webmaster@lwees.com, also please digg this post. Thanks.