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Abstract Photography: August 08

=lewicka:iconlewicka: reports, 8h 18m ago
The best abstract photographs submitted to dA in august 08.

Get Inspired! [2]

*MeisterDesZirkuss:iconMeisterDesZirkuss: reports, 1d 8h ago
A small collection of individual art wonders

Self Portrait Contest Winners!

*Acknowledge-Me:iconAcknowledge-Me: reports, 3h 45m ago
Gallery Info: Self-Portraits
Artistic photographs that use the photographer as the model.
That is exactly what we have here. Full of wonderful photographers using themselves as the main subject :). Come take a look!!

Faving beauty.

~pufulete:iconpufulete: reports, 11h 29m ago
Beauty inside, beauty outside.

New Photographers: Feature #1

=mike2115:iconmike2115: reports, 23h 46m ago
A feature of twenty new and promising photographers with a range of work.

70 Stunning Photos

~xcrystalcorex:iconxcrystalcorex: reports, 19h 57m ago
70 absolutely stunning photos. :heart:

headless

*Ronaaa:iconRonaaa: reports, 10h 10m ago
On this pictures you see everything... but no heads. :aww:

Miscellaneous Must-Sees (Part 1)

~Mrs-Gerard-Way-eth:iconMrs-Gerard-Way-eth: reports, 1d 22h ago
Here are some photos worth having a look at that I've collected overtime.

A quick self-portrait guide

*theFouro:icontheFouro: reports, 1d 1h ago
A quick guide for you to shooting self-portraits. I will teach you here few important basic things for self-portrait photography and also give few resources for portrait photography to continue learning.

Portraits with...

*xxchange:iconxxchange: reports, 1d 2h ago
just some loveley work

Photography News This Week

The Beauty Of The Nature: Scapes

=leocbrito:iconleocbrito: reports, September 1
A stunning feature showing the beauty of the natury in fantastic scape photos!

Tattoos & Piercings

*xxchange:iconxxchange: reports, September 3
just...a collection

Portraits with...

*xxchange:iconxxchange: reports, 1d 2h ago
just some loveley work

Red Dreams (+200 Portraits and red hair)

=TheNightSheDied:iconTheNightSheDied: reports, September 4
The most gorgeous portraits of red haired girls.

It's in the abc of growing up

~disposable-heroX:icondisposable-heroX: reports, September 4
Awesome photos ! Must see :star:

Bodies with soul

~punkshits:iconpunkshits: reports, September 3
“Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.”

Wayne Dyer

100 Amazing Photographs

~intricate-illusion:iconintricate-illusion: reports, September 3
Here are 100 (and a few more) of some very nice photographs on deviantART that I think should get some attention. Some already have a fair bit, but deserve it. So I'm giving them more.

LIFE.

~xfact:iconxfact: reports, September 1
photography is all about LIFE!
If you want to know how ART looks like...click here!

C o l o r s !

~Malemi:iconMalemi: reports, 2d 2h ago
Man needs colour to live
it's just as necessary an element as fire and water.
~Fernand Leger

THE FACES OF THE GIRLS III

~bettytox:iconbettytox: reports, August 31
faces of the girls...

Photography


Stock Photos Manipulators Really Use

~Dr-Murdock-Kawfi:iconDr-Murdock-Kawfi: reports, April 21, 2007
As a photo manipulator, it is extremely frustrating to find a piece of stock that is perfect for your current project, but almost useless because of the extra time and work required to get the image clean enough for proper use. Here are some tips that show what I look for, when hunting for a photo.

1. Background

Perhaps the most important thing of all. I want a back ground that is clean and uncomplicated, preferably a solid color. I suggest an off color, something that isn't in your costume or any other part of the photo. (Like a green screen in a movie) Hanging up a sheet is and excellent thing, especially one that is fresh with minimal wrinkles. A wall is great too, but it often helps to put down a sheet on the floor so you have a solid color as a background.
For outdoor stock, Backgrounds that are simple are best. Try to avoid lots of trees, or a busy street, or anything complicated, unless it is specifically part of your stock. When shooting outside, make sure you don't have anything covering your model. (E.G. Grass crossing the face, a branch covering part of one arm, etc.)

2. "Supporting" Props

These are props that support the body when the picture is taken. (E.G. Beds, stools, ladders, etc.) If you are going for the "floating" look, it is much less hassle on an artist using your stock, if you cover this with a sheet the same color as your background. (For floating, you can also lay on the ground and take photos from above, that way you have no extras to mess with.) If this is not possible, for safety reasons, at least try to make your backgrounds neat and tidy. (See #1)

3. Lighting

This is probably the thing I reject photos the most for, bad lighting. Bright light is the best, (An artist who wants a photo darker can change that in their art program) coming from above the subject of the photo, and possibly behind or next to, the camera. Even if you have lights next to your subject for the stock, (E.G. X-mass lights, lamps, or otherwise) please do NOT let that be the lighting of your entire photo. It will be too dark to be of any use.

4. Subjects

I find it a shame that I had to put this in here, and I know most of you out there don't do this, but I find it more and more common when a second model is introduced into the scene. NEVER cut off part of one model, even if he/she isn't the main focus of your photo. I have alot of trouble with great pictures, where the top of a subject's head has been snipped off. Please avoid this if possible. (This of course goes for single subject photos as well) When doing portrait, or anatomy shots, include a little extra in your photo than you expect to be used. (E.G. For a head, cut off just below the base of the neck, for a hand below the wrist, Etc.) This is enormously helpful, as it allows room for mistakes.

5. Resolution

This may not be a possible thing for many people, I have never tried to make stock, and I honer that it is probably a little on the difficult side. High resolution photos are best, as high as possible actually. You can NEVER get too high of resolution. However, this often means that you resize your image for DA, and require that artist download the image for maximum resolution. We are quite happy to do so!

6.Props

Props are wonderful, I love them. But a few things need to be said about props, especially large ones. (E.G. Long bows, Umbrellas, staffs, etc.) It is extremely difficult to use this stock when part of the prop is cut off of the top of the photo. Please take care to include all of the prop in the picture if you are going to use it. :D

That's really all there is! I know that not every photo manipulator agrees with me, as no too of us are the same, but this will most likely improve the quality of your stock photos. I hope reading this was worth your time! :3

Devious Comments

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~Anjilsbaby:iconAnjilsbaby: Apr 21, 2007, 2:36:44 PM
great advice...i had been thinking about submitting more stock photos, and i will keep this in mind when i do. again, thank you!
~MyDigitalSin:iconMyDigitalSin: Apr 21, 2007, 11:25:24 PM
nicely done, I'll take it into consideration the next time I go out for textures for you guys :)

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=demonicintuition:icondemonicintuition: Apr 22, 2007, 12:10:07 AM
Might've been a bit better in the Resources news section ;) But it's getting linked in the Stock forums so it gets a bit more exposure to the actual stockers :) Thank you!

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~inspyretash:iconinspyretash: Apr 22, 2007, 7:49:45 AM
Strange how I seem to be one of few who prefers a reasonable size photo to work with ie. not one that is more then 2000. High resolution is fine but just not so huge in the dimension side of things. The bigger they are the longer they take to open and if I do finish loading it I only go and re-size it to less then half it's original size. I find I can enlarge the original image myself (or shrink) and still retain a decent resolution.

I guess I am also one of the ones who doesn't mind a bit of work on the manip in regards to props etc.. I see so many manipulators these days complaining about how much work they must do to the photo/image - isn't that what a photo manipulator does.. *sigh*

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~Dr-Murdock-Kawfi:iconDr-Murdock-Kawfi: Apr 22, 2007, 10:42:44 AM
I'm glad it helps you!

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~Dr-Murdock-Kawfi:iconDr-Murdock-Kawfi: Apr 22, 2007, 10:43:48 AM
Yeah.... I wasn't positive where to put it.... ^^;
oO It is? Neat!
My pleasure.

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~Dr-Murdock-Kawfi:iconDr-Murdock-Kawfi: Apr 22, 2007, 10:47:02 AM
I like reasonable sizes as well, just High resolution. If that means I have to download an unreasonably sized image, I will, but my compy is very fast and it takes no time at all.

Every one of us is different. I personaly want the work I put into an image to be artistic work, and not preparing the photo for my art, but that's just me.

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~Dr-Murdock-Kawfi:iconDr-Murdock-Kawfi: Apr 22, 2007, 10:48:37 AM
:D

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*GreenEyezz-stock:iconGreenEyezz-stock: Apr 22, 2007, 2:26:00 PM
Good quality stock is difficult to make, especally for me since I have the worst time getting my camera to focus! It's a digital and I'm not a photographer so this is somewhat new to me.
I also don't have access to things that can help manipulate lighting so a lot of times, the lighting that is already there is what I get and I can't enhance it.
But I agree with all the stuff you said. Very nice article!

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