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NYC Photo Safari tours

It's ok to take tourist pictures! --NYC Photo Safari

Don't try to copy the style of others is another truism offered to budding photographers.

Why not? Isn't copying the highest for of flattery? Although there is a sentiment within the arts to always try to be unique and individualistic, this comment fails to understand that copying the work of other artists will help you better understand your own thinking process as well as theirs. Perhaps one of the most valuable lessons out there IS to copy other photographers. Through this process, you will begin to develop your own point of view and your own style.

NYC Photo Safari tours

Don't ignore bad photos they can teach you.

You will find the best photos in the least likely places, or so the saying goes.This adage

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Although there is a time and a place for everything, under or over exposing all of your images all of the time is probably not necessary (see previous post). The question is, if you had to choose, would it be better to over or under expose your digital image? Although there is some debate on this issue, it's probably better to over rather than under expose an image. The digital media tends to hold more information in the bright areas than in the dark areas. Also when you brighten a dark image, it tends to look milky. You will have fewer problems darkening a bright image.

Join us for a private Photoshop class and we'll show you how to enhance your images in post!

Grainy photos are better than blurry ones is another common adage that makes its way around photography discussions.

This is not true in all cases. What if you want blur to show motion? What if you want to show something abstractly through the use of blurred fields of color? In these instances grain is not better than blur. So just do what looks right and not what others tell you is right.

It is curious to think about how the use of the words "horizontal" and "vertical" in photography and other print media is

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NYC Photo Safari - Is Instagram Good or Bad?

The questions regarding Instagram are as follows: are people over-using filters? And is this kind of sharing too much? I think there are those who are putting a little too much of themselves out there for the world to see without regard for their own future (i.e. potential employers and colleges) and without regard for the privacy of the people around them or their own. Short of this, I think photo sharing is great, as it is getting people to take a second and third look at their own surroundings. Often the result is a greater appreciation for everything around them. What’s not to like about that? It's certainly better than sitting in front of a video game.

As for the question of over-using filters – since Instagram there has been a proliferation in the creation and use of electronic filters. There are more than a dozen apps offering dozens of filter choices. Is this a bad thing? On a recent photo safari, a participant asked if “real photographers” thought they were bogus. Through my experience with other pros, there are always “purists” who think every innovation in photography is bad. They say, “it’s not really photography”. They seem to have forgotten that when photography was invented, artists questioned whether photography was "real art".

In the end, it should be the viewer who decides what is or is not a good photograph. Another way to ask the question is “is it good art?” Although it is also not for me to decide for others what is or isn’t good art, I do think a better question to be asking is, "Do I like it?" Nothing else matters – if a piece of art moves you or makes you feel happy then it is art. Likewise, if a filtered Instagram photo makes you happy, then “like” it.

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NYC Photo Safari -- Film is a Dinosaur!