How To Work With Wide-Angle Lenses For Landscape Photography

A wide-angle lens is a favorite among landscape and nature photographers for several reasons. It has the capacity to include more of the scenery into the frame. It also has more depth-of-field at any given aperture setting for tack-sharp images from the foreground to the background. Moreover, it usually has a faster lens with stops up to f/1.4, which would be very useful for nighttime shots.

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While there is no standard definition for a wide-angle lens, generally speaking, anything that is wider than 35 millimeters is considered wide-angle.

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For the beginner, you might want to start at keeping subjects in the foreground as objects in the background on a wide-angle lens look smaller, giving the viewer a sense of distance. Get close to the foreground and keep it interesting to give the eye a starting point to look at as it is led further into the scenery.

You would need to be creative in working with the distortion on a wide-angle lens, which is most notable when working with lines that are normally straight and would appear curved. An example of using this distortion creatively is the fish-eye effect when you want to emphasize the closeness of the subject to the camera.

Vijaya Boggala is a medical abstract writer. He also enjoys sports, photography, DIY projects, and painting during his free time. Subscribe to this blog for more tips on photography.

Improve Your Painting Technique: Take Inspiration From Different Art Styles

It would be every artist's dream to be even half as good as the masters who've invented or innovated the art styles of today. Even if only a few could get to that level of genius, it would still help to improve your craft by studying and understanding the techniques and nuances of some of the most revered art styles.

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Realism: Realists reject romanticizing their paintings and take inspiration from daily life as it is—from events, people, to dilemmas and situations. Realists depict real life through a skillful manipulation of color and tone to create a visual of depth and space.

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Impressionism: Impressionistic art is distinguished by the visibility of brush strokes, unusual visual angles, and an emphasis on light and reflection on objects. Impressionists want to convey the passage of time and the fleeting effects of light as the weather or atmosphere changes. Hence, Impressionists often painted outdoors with landscapes and life on the streets as their subject matter.

Expressionism: Expressionists distort reality in their painting as they convey emotion in the imagery. Expressionistic paintings often show exaggerated form and a burst of color that represent the emotions the artist felt or wanted their audience to feel. Expressionists depict their subject matter as an emotional experience rather than a physical reality.

Vijaya Prakash Boggala is a medical abstract writer and loves to paint in his free time. For more articles about the arts, subscribe to this blog.

A Guide To Reverse Painting On Glass

Oil or acrylic painting is not limited to just strokes on a canvas. There is another art form called reverse painting that is both fun and challenging to do. It is typically done on a piece of glass and then viewed by reversing the image; thus the term, reverse painting. It is an old art form, although many beginning painters are wary of trying it out. Admittedly the art form requires incredible amounts of diligence as it is generally unforgiving to error. That said, there are a few tips that make the process easier.

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Do everything backwards: What makes reverse painting difficult at first is that one is doing everything in reverse. As such, the working image is on the back of the glass. Letters or symbols are painted as the mirror image on how they are usually read. Furthermore, accents that would normally be painted last are done first while backgrounds are painted last, where they are usually painted first.

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Practice on canvas or wood: There is no better teacher than experience. If one is too hesitant to begin on glass immediately, canvas or wood are ideal practice tools. Some painters even use mirrors to see how it would look like when reversed. Each painter has their unique style that would best suit them.

It is also recommended that beginner artists buy small glass frames to start with. This way, they can hold the frame in their hands and constantly adjust their painting as they go. Once they get more comfortable, larger glass frames can be bought.

Vijaya Prakash Boggala is an avid acrylic and oil painter. He is currently trying his hand in many other forms of painting. To learn more, follow this Twitter account.

Three Tips For Better Action Photography

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Action photography is an art form all unto itself. Many photographers, both new and experienced, find the task to be enjoyable but challenging. It is a skill to be able to capture movement into a still shot. Thankfully, there are three tips one can employ to improve action shots.

Planning is everything: More than other forms of photography, action shots require a lot of planning. Photographers should consider checking out the location where the shots will be taken and then experimenting with shutter speeds and other factors. There is an element of estimation involved here. Photographers have to be ready to capture shots pre-action, so it is suggested to shoot in short bursts rather than one long burst. A tripod may also be used for better stability.

Give some space: This is part of planning but is incredibly important, too. Action shots work best when the subject has room to move. Fast-moving subjects may require panning to convey motion. This, of course, is subject to the photographer’s discretion and artistic sensibilities.

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Invest in equipment: Action photography is a skill. As such, it requires incredible amounts of patience and practice, but also good cameras and accessories. One good example is investing in a fast memory card. Action shots typically require taking several shots at the same time so memory can get filled pretty fast. When there is a huge memory load, the camera may slow down, and the photographer may lose some excellent shots.

The best advice for aspiring action photographers is to keep on practicing until they find their own voice and comfort level.

Vijaya Prakash Boggala likes to photograph in his spare time. His area of interest is action photography. For more photography tips, follow this Twitter account.

Choosing The Right Paint: Acrylic Vs. Oil

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For beginners, choosing the right paint for their artwork can be a challenge. While a lot of people debate on which kind of paint is better, it really does not matter. But here are key differences between the two kinds. 

A noticeable difference between the two is that acrylic paints dry faster than oil. It can dry up completely after an hour, or even within 15 minutes. Oil paintings require longer drying time. It may take a few days or even weeks depending on how much paint was used and the current ground temperature.

Oil paints have more pigment compared to acrylics and are usually richer and more vivid in color. It can maintain its original color as it dries, unlike acrylic paint, which darkens slightly as it dries. 

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Acrylic paints are more versatile compared to oil, and can be expanded with water (they may give off a light watercolor effect). But painters can develop new color blends with oil, too, without compromising its pigment. If budget is a concern, acrylic is a better choice over oil as it is more affordable. 

Vijaya Prakash Boggala write medical abstracts and is fond of doing a lot of art and DIY projects. Learn more about his artistic journey by visiting this Facebook page.

Chaotic way to the Semis: Fierce Spurs Succumb to the Mighty Thunder

One of the more exciting matches in the NBA Playoffs to date are between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The teams are among those with the strongest fan base in the entire top-tier basketball league, resulting in an understandably massive rivalry. In the end, however, the mighty Thunder successfully amassed all the marbles against the fierce Spurs at the semi-finals.

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During game 1, Spurs seemed to be going to get by without a hitch in the series. Then came game 2 when an offensive foul call was nowhere to be found against Thunder’s Dion Waiters when he was inbounding the ball with Manu Ginobili defending with seconds left on the clock and the Thunder up by 1.

Waiters gave Ginobili an elbow shove with the ball still in his hand. However, despite the no-call, the Spurs still had a chance to win as they were able to steal the inbound and gain possession of the ball when Waiters threw the ball away and was taken by Danny Green. The ball then made its way to Patty Mills for an open look in the 3-point line, but he was not able to finish. There was then a scramble for the ball as the last few seconds of regulation ticked away and the game ending with the Thunder winning. Everybody was convinced after that that the refs stole a win from the Spurs.

Game 3, 4, and 5 of the series were especially close as well. Game 3 went to the Spurs while games 4 and 5 went to the Thunder. Each of the games has since ended with the audience crying foul over the referees’ calls or non-calls. However, in game 6, the Spurs just couldn’t get into their groove and was therefore defeated by the Thunder 4 wins to 2.

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Medical abstracts writer Vijaya Prakash Boggala enjoys watching live sports such as basketball, tennis, and cricket. Get to know him more through LinkedIn.