When you are first buying camera equipment you see a lot of lenses that have the IS or VR designations on them. This is Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction. They mean the same thing except Canon uses the first term and Nikon uses the second. These are mechanisms built into the camera lens to prevent "camera shake". I will discuss how to get rid of camera shake and why I purchased a VR lens for myself. What is Camera Shake? When you are holding your camera in your hands and looking through the view finder to take your photo, your body is making slight movements. This is a natural thing as your body is always correcting itself and your muscles move to help maintain your balance. However, it causes slight movements in your camera. When your camera is zoomed in on a subject that is a reasonable distance away, these slight movements become more noticeable. For example. If your hand slightly shakes and turns your camera 1 degree off its line of direction and your subject is 15 feet away, this would correspond to 3.1 inches being added in the direction your camera turned. Now say that the movement of your hand happened when you took your picture and while the shutter was open. This would blur the image on film or on your digital image. How Do I Prevent My Pictures From Blurring? There are 3 ways to prevent this. Make sure you have a shutter speed fast enough so that your hand movements don't affect the picture. Use a tripod. Have a lens with vibration reduction or image stabilization. Each of these methods have their pros and cons. 1. Have a Fast Enough Shutter Speed Ideally, you would want this situation every time. The rule of thumb is that you need a shutter speed of 1 over the focal length your lens is set at. So if you are zoomed all the way in with your 300mm lens, you would want 1/300 second shutter speed or better (so 1/320 on the standard camera). This will usually guarantee (for the average user) the shutter won't be open long enough to make your hand movements noticeable on the final image If you have steady hands you will be able to get away with a slower speed. The catch here is will you have enough light to expose your picture. If it is the middle of a bright day you are fine. If it is darker you might have to use a more sensitive film, but this will cause your picture to be grainier. Note: When you see expensive lenses with the same zoom capability as a cheaper lens, look at the maximum aperture for this lens. Chances are it will be a lot larger than the cheaper one. F/2.8 is a common one. The lower the number, the larger the aperture can go. This means a lot more light will get let in when you take the picture, so it will be able to have higher shutter speeds. 2. Use a Tri-pod This will always work. Now you can have the shutter open as long as your want and the image won't have any blurring (this is assuming your subject isn't moving or is moving slowly). Tripods are cumbersome and annoying however. And they definitely don't work in a lot of circumstances, especially traveling. 3. Use a Lens With Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction This is "meet in the middle" approach as you still need a decent shutter speed, but you won't need a tripod and its cheaper than a fast lens. Inside the camera there is a mechanism to adjust the glass lenses slightly to compensate for the movements of your hand. IS and VR will give you a few shutter speed stops back. So if you can't quite get enough light to have 1/320 sec shutter speed as in the example above. VR will let you go down to 1/125 sec (4 full stops in ideal situations). A lot of times, this will give you enough light to properly expose your image. VR and IS will make a lens cost extra, but they are still cheaper than buying the fast lenses I spoke of above. Fast lenses don't usually have much zoom capability either (a limitation of having such a large aperture). The main article has an example of two images. One was taken without VR turned on and the other had VR on. This is a picture in my home taken with my Nikon D70s with the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens. To summarize. The cheapest solution is to buy a tripod, the second is to buy a lens with IS or VR, and the most expensive is to buy "fast" lenses. I am a casual photographer and use it more for traveling so VR has been the best option for myself. If you find yourself with similar needs and want to eliminate camera shake from more of your photos, then I would definitely recommend looking at VR and IS lenses. For more articles on photography from this author, please check out www.thoughtsfrommylife.com/category-Photography.

Hiring a Photographer A skillfully photographed wedding album will be one of the most adored and precious items that is kept and loved many years after your wedding day. As well as conveying the emotions, romance, humour of the day, and everything synonymous with you as a couple, they are a testament to your relationship. Needless to say, such an important part of your lives should be captured by a highly qualified professional photographer. So, what do we need to know? Establishing open communication and an honest, helpful relationship with your photographer is important because your photographer is an important part of the day. The better photographers do more for you than simply take photographs. They help with planning, timing and even with the fine details. It is important to have an understanding of the industry and basic business practices before embarking on a search for a professional photographer. The following information provides a behind the scenes understanding and should be used as a guide to help you select your photographer. How much should we budget? When starting out, it is hard to know what wedding photography costs, because photographers are not prone to advertising their prices. An important factor to remember, is that any price quoted will be a starting coverage or package price only. Every wedding is unique, as is every couple. Generally, the prices between different photographers reflect their qualifications, experience, skill, and creative style. The quality of the overall product and level of service will also vary with price. Basically, like many services, you generally get what you pay for. Therefore, the more paid, the greater the quality of photography and professionalism. Most photographers will have a starting package or coverage which allows for the time that will be spent together on the day and will either include a basic amount of photographs in a basic album (package) or a credit that will go towards an album afterwards (coverage). Starting amounts are usually around $1700 and generally will provide only about 20 to 30 photographs. Remember these are basic or starting amounts only and generally do not include all the extras you will want. Also, generally 20 to 30 photographs is not enough photographs to tell a full story of your wedding day, so most couples want more and better than the basic album. You won’t really know what and how many you will need until you see the images, so you need to budget for the extras of additional photographs and a better album. Prices can range anywhere up to $8000 for a full photography package.Great photographs are hard to resist. A decision to employ a photographer based purely on price however, and not skill, generally ends in heartbreak, so think carefully before choosing a cheaper option. You will invest a lot of money on a wedding and all will be for only that one day, except the photography. This will be the one thing that you will have forever that will bring all the wonderful memories of that one day back. If money is an issue however, organise to get a better photographer, but spend a little less time with them on the day and choose a few less photographs. It will be the quality photography you remember, not the cost. Why does wedding photography cost this much? Photography today is expensive today because of labor and material costs. Good professional photographers also use professional equipment, film, labs and albums and unlike amateur products, these are higher in cost. There is the photographers high overheads and their time to consider. Even though you may only see them for about 15 hours before, during and after the day, they will also spend at least 30 to 40 hours producing your album. You really though, are paying for the value of a photographers style, experience, qualifications and expertise and not just for time, materials and overheads. How should we choose a photographer? A referral from family or friends is a good starting point. From these sources it is best to only choose two or three photographers to start with. Picking more at the beginning will only be confusing. A lot of studios are now single operations, meaning there is only one photographer and they are usually the owner. Some have more than one photographer, and some are fairly high volume studios that call in part-time photographers to shoot for them. When choosing a studio like this it is important to meet the person that will be photographing your wedding so you can establish a trust based relationship before you even book with the studio. Make sure the work you are viewing is that photographers work and look at complete weddings and a full set of the original images and not just the best shots from various weddings. You cannot pick a photographer based on a brochure or a phone call price inquiry. The only way to establish the value is to meet with them, so make an appointment with the studio. In the initial inquiry allow about an hour so you can base a decision on the style, creativity and quality of the photos and albums as well as the compatibility and qualifications of the photographer. As photographers work weekends and some have days as a break through the week, evening appointments can often be arranged. All photographers are qualified aren’t they? No, contrary to popular belief. In this industry anyone can set themselves up to photograph your wedding and no qualifications are needed to become a ‘so called’ professional wedding photographer, which is pretty scary really. There are however photographers who do possess qualifications and you should consider these people in your choice.Viewing the photographers images and their professional manner is the first step in the decision making process. It is then advisable to check out their qualifications and professional status. Why should I even bother booking a photographer when my Uncle Harry has a great camera? Remember, it’s not the great camera that takes the photo, it’s the photographer. Although a friend or family member may be a great amateur photographer, they will not have the experience, equipment or knowledge of a professional photographer. Quality wedding photography does not happen by chance. It is created by a specialised professional who has a creative eye and a genuine love of people and wedding photography. Your photographer will also need to co-ordinate the flow of the day, know all the types of shots that need taking and must be able to do all of this in variable weather and sometimes difficult time constraints. A specialist wedding photographer can provide a fantastic story telling role and will be able to help you before during and after the day.Before you dismiss the thought of using a professional photographer for financial reasons, perhaps look at ways you may be able to afford one. You may be able to re-prioritise the wedding budget, or you could ask guests to provide money towards the photography as a gift. Some photographers have credit vouchers and you can include them on the bridal gift ideas register. Most photographers also offer payments for you.

We are going to begin posting articles which will allow you to include Music with your Photography and Video.