Tag: digital photography

3 Tips for Incredible Portrait Photographs

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On October 20, 2017

In Photography

Three Portrait Photo Tips for better pictures

“Make sure I look great,” we’ve heard that request too. Every time a friend or family member asks us to take a portrait photograph, we get a little competitive to make sure it’s the best portrait photo of them. After a lot of trial, error and reading we’ve come up with tips for incredible portrait photos. No hidden agenda, except, of course- we want the pictures on your Nixplay Photo Frame to look great!

1.Use the rule of thirds:

Firstly, the rule of thirds is a very basic portrait photography technique that can be quite hard to master ( talking from experience.) Mentally break down the portrait photograph you’re going to take into 3×3 squares. Remember viewers eye’s are most drawn to the intersection points in the grid. So think about what the most important parts of the photograph will be and place them accordingly. Pictures using the rule of thirds, look really great on Nixplay Digital Photo frames like the Nixplay Seed. Place the frame in covered patio or the living room and you will make your house guests jealous!

2.Don’t be scared to get close:

Our second portrait photo tip is that we’ve observed a lot of portrait photos and noticed that often, the subject is too far away. To make an impact, the subject needs to be big enough to be seen clearly and make an impact on the viewer. Now, don’t take that as – get them so close that we can only see the blackheads on their nose. I mean, unless that’s what you were aiming for. Close up portrait photos look great on wall mounted Nixplay Digital photo frames, the Nixplay Edge is a great choice.

3.Focus on the eyes:

Here’s our third, final photo tip for portraits. When looking at a portrait photo, notice that your eyes will always look at the subject’s eyes first (no, that was not an intentional tongue twister.) Make sure the eyes are sharp and in focus. Additionally, if you want to make sure the lighting and angle is perfect- move your camera around until you can see the light reflect in your subjects eyes! 

Bonus Technical tip: Exposure Compensation

Keep in mind that in photography, one exposure setting does not fit all. Your camera may underexpose someone of a lighter skin tone and overexpose someone with a darker skin tone.  Backgrounds of extreme light or darkness can also trick the camera. The easiest way to deal with this is to navigate to your camera’s exposure compensation control. To lighten up faces go dial up the stops ( i.e. +1) and to let less light in dial it down (i.e. -1) The Nixplay Iris dims and brightens your photos based on the light level- lucky for you that once you’ve fixed your exposure compensation, you don’t need to worry about the display on your Nixplay digital photo frame. 

If these tips were helpful, share your enhanced portrait photographs with us in the comments section or tag us on facebook, instagram or twitter.  We’d love it if you show us how the portraits look on your Nixplay Digital Photo Frame! #Nixplayphototips

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

5 Reasons to Try Black and White Animal Photography

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On September 25, 2017

In Photography

If you’re a budding photographer, there are no limits to the camera skills you can learn. And when it comes to animals, the results can be truly mesmerising when working with different colors and filters. Whether you’re taking cute snaps of your puppy at home or you’re out in the wild shooting some candid animal photography, here’s 5 reasons why you should make the switch from color to noir. You might even learn some cool animal photography tips on the way!

1. It Helps You See Differently

Who says that everything always has to be colorful? With black and white effects, you’re capturing more than just a photo. But why does it work so well with our furry friends?
With animals, it can be tricky to portray the mood and feeling of a photograph. But by making the switch to black and white animal pictures, you can provide more emotion. The subtlety of tones that black and white images can have helps us to feel more connected to a subject over a colored version. This one simple color change removes any distractions, and helps the viewer to focus on other aspects of the photo, such as the textures, shapes, patterns and the composition. It’s just like magic!

2. It’s Timeless and Classic

Black and white takes everything back in time, and is still looked at as the purest form of photography by most professionals.
Another reason to give black and white animal photography a try is that the black and white effect is timeless and elegant. This impact completely transforms your photos, and might even spark ideas for the future. After looking at animals through the black and white camera lens, you won’t want to look back.

3. It Tells a Story

Our whole world is in color, so it’s easy to see how colored photography depicts a more realistic view. But when you experiment with black and white tones, your work can be viewed as a rendition of reality – or how you interpret what you see. This helps you to explore a subject more and create different ways to tell a story. If you’re working on wild animal photography for example, you can’t rely on movement, position, angles or expressions for the best visuals. In this scenario – and any other animal photography scenario – pictures really do paint a thousand words. And when you take away color, you’re encouraging viewers to discover the stronger, more powerful elements of the scene.

4. It Makes You More Creative

Photographers are always looking for fresh new ways to enhance their camera skills. But when you’re shooting with animals, it can be a challenge to make the most of your talents, as you can’t afford to be picky about lighting, camera angles or positioning – and it’s not like we can ask them to sit nicely and smile for the camera! With black and white animal photography, you can still capture something that gives you a bit more creative edge, even if the shot is a little blurred and they’re not directly looking at the camera.

5. It Makes Candid Animal Photography a Breeze

Have you ever tried to take a photo of an excited little puppy that just won’t stay still? Or a beautiful, majestic bird nestled on a tree who flies away as soon as you press the shutter? Working with animals isn’t a walk in the park, but this is where candid animal photography really shines. With a candid, you want to make sure that your subject is in its natural element and living in the moment – which is all you really can do with animals. But when you’re aiming for the best black and white animal photography, try introducing a prop or getting more of a landscape view. That way, the candid is made up of several other elements that a viewer can focus on without the distraction of color.

<h2>Black and White Animal Pictures: Nixplay’s Favorites</h2>
Are you a budding photographer? And an animal lover? If your answers to both are yes, our hand-picked selection of gorgeous black and white animal pictures is perfect for you. Look through them below for some inspiration and ideas!

When you’ve achieved the perfect visual masterpiece, you’ll want somewhere just as perfect to show it off. Check out our range of Nixplay Smart Frames for a unique spin on displaying your photographs.

Kitten animal photography

cat – pexels

Horses black and white animal photography

horses – pexels

Wild animal photography

monkey – pexels

Dog animal photography

dog- pexels

Elephant black and white animal photography

elephants – pexels

Black and white lion photograph

lion – pexels

Raccoon black and white photography

raccoon- pexels

Lemurs black and white animal picture

lemur – pexels

All pictures selected are free to use and download. Feel free to upload them on your Nixplay Frame!

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

Best Indoor Photography Ideas

3 Simple Tips for Great Indoor Photography!

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On January 7, 2016

In Photography

We recently shared some exciting tips on how to take a family portrait, now let’s head indoors to get the best advice on capturing photos with your phones or DSLR!

Indoor photography can be intimidating because the lighting is more difficult to deal with than shooting outdoors. If you are ever faced with under exposed, blurry photos, here are 3 easy indoor photography ideas to use to help you capture a great photograph to showcase on your Nixplay cloud frame!

(1) Step out of the comfort zone of the Auto World

If I could tell everyone about indoor photography in two words, it would have to be white balance. First of all, what is a white balance? It’s as easy as it sounds! It’s all about the color temperature and keeping it “balanced”.

Tip for your Phone: Instead of using the auto settings, use your Instagram filters when taking a phone to approach indoor photography in a creative manner!

Tip for your DSLR: Our eyes are used to adjusting to the different hue of light sources provide, however our DSLR’s are not able to do this as well as our eyes can. Hence our tip is to step out of the Auto comfort zone, and to adjust the white balance manually to get the colors in your photographs as accurate as possible.

(2) Use one source of Light 

If you choose to shoot during the day, the best option for you is to use window lighting! You will be surprised with the results you can get with just natural lighting. It’s advised to avoid flash photography as much as you can as it replaces soft shadows with harsh shadows. This may make your photography lose some details. Whilst working with real light, you are able to learn more about controlled lighting and about your camera functions.

Tip for you Phone: If you are shooting a dimmed indoor area, the flash may be required to avoid blurry photographs, especially when your using your phone cameras. I’d also recommend using the Camera + app on your iPhone to edit settings.

Tip for your DSLR: If the photos are not bright enough, try to bump up your ISO settings until you achieve a satisfied result.

(3) Think outside of the frame. 

Be aware of what is in your photograph. There’s nothing worse than taking a great photo and noticing unnecessary objects in the photo. It is encouraged to photograph your subject the way you would want to see it on your cloud frame. Look around before you take the photo to check if there are little objects behind your subject. Make sure you get rid of those unwanted objects. If you are not able to remove the object, just simply move somewhere else!

wb1

There it is: 3 quick indoor photography tips to take great photos indoors for your cloud frame. We hope these tips will give you confidence to experiment with more photos indoors! Enjoy clicking away!

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

Our top 5 nixplay Easter photos!

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On April 20, 2014

In Holidays

Welcome back to our nixplay blog and hope you’re having a lovely Easter! Last Friday, we gave you 5 simple tips on how to prepare a fun Easter photo shoot with your family. As promised, here are our top 5 photos from the nixplay Easter photo shoot:

1. Happy Bunnies!

 

2. Bunny Baby

 

1

 

3. Bubble Break

 

5

 

4. “Did you say Chocolate Easter Eggs?”

 

10

 

5. Easter Egg Fun

 

3

 

Everyone had a fun and amazing time at the nixplay photo shoot. Energy was high as we provided the kids with Easter themed props/gifts. Now that our photo shoot is finished, we can’t wait to see your photos!

 

The nixplay team really want to see your Easter fun-filled weekend so share your photos by using the hashtags #nixplay #nixplayeaster on your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter Easter photos.

 

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

5 Inspiring Tips to Capture Family Portraits!

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On March 24, 2014

In Photography

It’s that time of year to get the kids together for the family portrait. I know it can be a challenge at times, which is why I’ve created some easy tips to help you capture ideal family portraits you’ll be proud to show off on your nixplay Cloud Frame.

1) Be Creative!

Find your own style of posing that embraces your family’s quirkiness, and be creative about it! Look for creative ways to pose your subjects in the photograph and use some props to help you capture different shots. For example you could use bubbles, water guns, books and etc that elaborate each family member in their own light.

 

2) Don’t take it too seriously!

I can’t emphasize enough how important this is. The main idea of your photo shoot is to have fun and only to have fun. Don’t be afraid to joke around and enjoy yourself. Try to take a blend of serious shots and candid shots for your family potraits. Once the serious shots have been completed, ask your subjects to relax. Sometimes the best shots will show up when everyone is being themselves and not worrying about how to put on their best smiles, so get the candid photos coming! You’ll be surprised with how good the results can be.

 

3) Expression is everything!

When you’re taking photos of kids, allow them to be goofy! This will enhance their real personalities and encourage them to show a natural smile. If they’re not sure how to hold themselves, you can always suggest ways for them to pose. Or even consider using props by involving their favorite toys!

 

4) Destination – Familiar Atmosphere

There is nothing better than capturing the photos in a familiar atmosphere, such as your home! The best thing about shooting at home is that it’s a familiar place which will make everyone feel comfortable, and it’ll also increase the meaning of the photos! Worried about bad lighting indoors? Worry no more because window lighting will be your best friend. Window lighting could be used as a key light, fill light and even backlight. Be aware of controlling your light source wisely.

 

5) Manual, Manual, Manual!

For anyone with a DSLR camera, it’s time to get familiar with your manual mode. Your camera setting does not always know the right setting options for the environment you are in, so try to avoid the auto. Remember to shoot in RAW format. RAW file format captures all image data that is recorded by the sensor when you take the photo. This allows you to get the highest level of quality and greater levels of brightness. Not to mention – this also allows you to easily correct over or under exposed images without losing too many details.

 

Happy Clicking! In no time you’ll have an album of great photos to proudly display on your nixplay Cloud Frame!

Images : August 2013, Chandni Chotrani, Freeze Seize Conquer

About Chandni Chotrani, Hong Kong

Photographs to me are a way of encapsulating stories and preserving memories. They make us smile, laugh, cry and remember. It has always fascinated me how with just a simple click, you are able to capture the moments of our lives and to put together images tocreate a photographic storybook filled with timeless meanings.
Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

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