Beach Photography Tips

We all love the beach, but getting a decent photograph from your day at the beach can be a little tricky and sometimes frustrating. Here are a few quick tips on beach photography that should help you improve your images.

1.   Timing – Be late or be early - If your into “landscape” photography, this is the best advise for you. The “golden hour” gives you the most dramatic images ever produced. Golden Hour refers to the couple hours around sunrise or sunset. Every other regular Joe, enjoys the beach all day round. SO what do you do then? On to tip two.

2.   Know The Limitations of Auto – If you’re shooting in auto mode at the beach in the bright sun, your camera will probably be   under-exposing your images. If you’re having problems with the auto setting, then switch to manual or tone of the pre configured modes on your point and shoot camera. Maybe Bright, Outdoor or Beach.

3.   Mind Your Exposure Settings – A beach during the day is really really bright. When shooting with an SLR, in such bright conditions, you’re going to need a low ISO setting (100 - 400) in combination with a narrow aperture (somewhere between (f14 and f22) with a fast shutter speed.

4.   Use Fill Flash - When photographing people at the beach, portraits or groups and it’s bright you’ll find that they will almost always have shadows on their face, often cast by hats, glasses, noses, position of the sun etc. Switch on your flash and force it to fire when shooting in these situations and you’ll find the shadows may be eliminated and your actual subject is well exposed. As a rule try shooting with the sun on your subject instead of behind it, unless your trying to capture a silhouette image.

5.   Look for interesting Focal points – “All my beach images look the same, I don’t bother carrying my camera to the beach anymore”. This is what a friend once said to me. I think that’s really sad. Our twin island republic has excellent beaches with many photographic opportunities if you have the ability to look beyond the cliche shots.

So go out to the beach this weekend or right not for that matter. Try our tips, practice what you learned, experiment, experiment, experiment, but most of all have fun, and keep capturing those memories.

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5 Tips for meeting Deadlines

Everyone has to deal with deadlines. When you were in school, you had homework assignments and long-term projects. In the world of work Deadlines are very important. To a designer it makes or breaks your reputation. You are as good as the work you present to your client, good work goes hand in hand with meeting your deadlines.

Here are some tips to help you succeed with meeting deadlines.

1. Stay Organized

 

If there's one sure way to miss a deadline, it's to completely forget about it. If you have a complicated schedule with lots of deadlines, meetings and projects going on, it's essential that you keep a calendar with all your deadline dates on it.  In today's society the use of your smartphone, tablet or laptop can help keep things on track.

2. Don't Procrastinate

 

 If a deadline is two weeks (or two months) away, it can be hard to get started during the first week. There's no sense of urgency. Procrastination might actually be the hardest thing to overcome. Luckily, the solution is pretty simple. All you have to do is break a project down into smaller parts, and then create a schedule that lets you complete each part at different points in the time leading up to the final deadline.

3.  Delegate Smaller Tasks

You rarely have to complete a work project alone. If you have access to someone who is especially good at some aspect of the project, don't be too proud to let them get it done. As a friend or family member to help you type or research the project. A friend with a camera can assist with photos, another friend might be skilled with proof reading etc. Whatever the project, there is always someone you can call on for assistance. The moral of the story: It's easier to get things done when you have help.

 

4. Use a Soft Deadline

 

You might have everything planned and scheduled . Unexpected events can derail even the most solid plan. You can't plan for every possibility, so the best defense is a deadline cushion. If it's a two-week deadline, plan to have it done two days early. A two-month project could use a five-day cushion. Plan for the un expected. The more uncertainty built into your project, the larger your cushion should be.

5. Don't Promise the World.

Some deadlines are non-negotiable, but you usually have the most leeway to move a deadline around before it's been set. Don't take on a two-week task with a one-week deadline unless you're really sure you can get it done. And if your plate is already full, don't hesitate to say no. You just need to be aware of your capabilities and be reasonable about what you can accomplish. It's far better to be upfront about expectations than to fail to meet them later.