I took this picture back in the 1990s with a very simple, very cheap 35mm film camera. Adoring my mother's purple irises, I was taking pictures of them before their season was over. The sun was setting, so I was trying to hurry. I did not pay attention to the position of the sun, so several of the images were ruined by lens flare. This image, however, turned into a huge poster print on my mother's livingroom wall! The sunlight reflected onto the camera lens in just the right way to create a beautiful halo effect around the group of irises!

Lesson I learned: Don't be afraid of lens flare.

Do a search for sports. What images come up? Football, basketball, lacross, soccer, all those ones we all see blasted on our television sets. I would like to take a minute to briefly cover the sport of precision firearms.

Shooting exercises with rifles and pistols go beyond the need for hunting, or the desire to live out some power trip. It takes a great deal of skill, and a LOT of practice to be able to send a half-inch wide object 1000+ yards and have it land exactly where you want it to, within fractions of an inch. I greatly admire the skill our military soldiers and law enforcement individuals have. To be able to perform such a feat truly is an art form.

When learned correctly, the sport of precision and tactical shooting also teaches survival skills, such ...

I have only been uploading stock images for a few months now, but already I am debating the pros and cons of going exclusive. Is there anyone here is has chosen to be totally exclusive with Dreamstime? Would you be willing to share your stories, such as the benefits you've seen, or the cons?

I already have many, many images that are exclusive with Dreamstime, but I am thinking of going totally exclusive with them. I am currently active with three other stock agencies, but Dreamstime is where I seem to have found the fit for my images. I like the simplicity of dealing with only one agency, but I wonder if I would be losing opportunities by leaving the other agencies. Do the benefits that Dreamstime offers exclusive photographers make up for this potential ...

Quick tip for photographing animals, especially when you wish to capture their face: Don't use the flash.

Unless they've been conditioned to the flash in their face, most animals will instinctively shut their eyes, creating a squint-faced photograph, rather than the stunning one you had in mind.

Your best bet is to position the animal in plenty of natural light. If using studio lights, try to position the lights so that the lights are not shining directly in their faces, or in their peripheral vision. Animals, especially cats (both wild and domestic) are very sensitive to light and will squint or turn away from the source, ruining your picture.

If you absolutely must use a flash or a strobe, place a screen across the light to diffuse the initial burst of light. ...

Time and time again, people ask about carrying a camera around everywhere. While it's something I would absolutely love to do, with all of my wonderful lenses, it's not always practical. There are plenty of nice point and shoot cameras out there that slip nicely into a pocket or small bag, but they don't always give the result preferred for stock photography.

With this dilemma in mind, I set out in search of a compact professional camera -- something that shoots in RAW, captures 8 to 10 mega pixel images, and is combact enough to fit into a purse or small carry bag.

I scoured through the local stores, in search of the perfect masterpiece, but fell short with only 5 and 6 mega pixels.

I had almost given up hope. But being the stubborn person that ...

I remember reading in a photography magazine about how photographers must go the extra mile to get that special photograph, the one that no one else can get. Their tips for other photographers were to wear good sneakers, pack light, carry a cell phone, and be prepared to talk yourself out of a ticket.

After reading that article, I told myself I would never be like that!

Well, it's a good thing I didn't swear on anything...

Today was a beautiful day here in Virginia, topping out at only 81 degrees this afternoon. After getting home from seeing The Bourne Supremacy, I decided to strap on the camera and tote my wide angle lens and super telephoto lens along for a stroll.

Before I knew it, I caught myself hopping fences to get those perfect shots of a tennis court and a playground (thankfully ...

While out shooting pictures of my fiance refining his skills, naturally I started looking around at my surroundings to see what else might make a good photograph. The breeze was blowing very smoothly across the overgrown grass. It caught my eye and I thought, "This might make an interesting Photoshop texture. I'll take a few pictures and play with them later when I get home."

After my fiance was finished examining his documented training, I hopped on the computer and pulled up the other images that I had shot that afternoon. Several of the images weren't all that great, so I moved them to another folder to play with later. Then I got to the last image, and something caught my eye: The dried grass in the foreground created a high contrast with the ...

I would like to take a moment to pay some respect to the woman who got me where I am today. Without this fantastic lady, I would not be doing what I doing am today.

My mother gave me everything she could, and everything she couldn't, and then some. Everything I was interested in, she became interested in, too. When I wanted to be an archeologist, she helped me dig in the garden for fossils. When I wanted to be a veterinarian, she bought me books upon books of animals. We didn't have much money, but she provided to me everything she possibly could, even if it meant she had to go without some things for herself.

She loved taking pictures of the world around her. Before I entered kindergarten, I had my first 110 camera. Remember those? If you don't, I think I'm getting old! Shortly after that,...

It's summer, and it's wedding season!

When the big event starts heading underway, we often find ourselves overwhelmed by the colors to choose, the flowers to choose, the clothing to coordinate, food to plan, invitations to get out, and so on and so forth, until it seems like it will never end!

As the event nears, the bills start to roll in, and our once full wedding savings starts fo feel the pinch.

How did this get to be so expensive?, some may ask.

Don't underestimate the wedding planner, as they can be a great asset for this special event in our lives. Wedding planners are not only there to help plan the perfect wedding with the best flowers, cake, guests, and decorations, but also to help create the perfect atmosephere within our budgets....

I am looking for a camera bag that will allow me to carry my SLR camera and one or two lenses, but also have a section where I can carry unfolded model release documents if necessary. But it needs to be a relatively small bag -- as less bulky as possible -- so that I can easily tote it to public places. Does any one know of a good place to look for such an item?

Have you ever been writing keywords for an image and got stuck? Here is a tip that works wonders for me when I have Keyworder's Block.

Take a good look at your image. What is it? Now, plug your first thoughts into the search engine here on Dreamstime. First sort my relevancy, and see what keywords people are using for their images. Now I suggest sort by most downloaded, and see what keywords those images have (try to pick ones that are similar to yours).

For example, at this moment I am stuck writing keywords for a bowl of carrots. I got to 29 and my brain just shut off! Can 29 words sufficiently cover an image? Sure. I've seen it happen. But for this image, it just isn't enough. I need more.

I plugged in "bowl of carrots" first. Two pages of images came up. This is the image most similar ...

Whenever we head out to a family function or just a day out somewhere, I always debate on which camera lens to take with me, or how many.

After several hours of mentally debating it with myself, I had the decision narrowed down to two lenses: my 70m-300mm zoom, and 17mm-40mm wide angle zoom. The trip we were planning was a day trip to go hiking at Rock Cliff Lake and Trout Pond in West Virginia. I wanted to take as light of a load as possible, but still be prepared not to miss an opportune shot. The 70-300mm zoom lens would have allowed me to zoom in on people and animals from a distance, but the wide angle had prospects for landscape shots. I wanted to take both, but I have learned in the past to hike with only one lens, especially if going far. ...

There have been a lot of articles here in the blog about photographs, but little attention has been given to our illustrators. I may be a photographer, but I LOVE illustrations! Possibly largely do to the fact that I am not a very good drawer, either by hand or with the computer.

The picture above is one I just downloaded with one of my free credits for writing a blog. This picture is absolutely adorable!

I have a friend that I work with who adores penguins. I plan on sending this image to her to use as a desktop background for her work computer.

This image absolutely captivates me. when I first saw it in the queue, I wondered why it was in the illustrations section. So, I pulled it up to check it out. The image was absolutely stunning, but I still did not believe it was an illustration! After downloading the image, I got a closer look without the watermark. The image was even more beautiful! After examining a larger version, I can see now that it is indeed an illustration, not a photograph. This image is now the desktop wallpaper on my computer at work. The image is very soothing, taking me away to a calm spring lake.

I love photography, and I feel that we as photographers are able to capture thoughts and emotions through our camera lens and in post-processing, but we are still some what limited. There is an awe ...

A few months back, I remember seeing an article here on Dreamstime about when to shoot and upload images for upcoming holidays. They recommended doing so within those couple of months before the holiday.

I definately agree with this, but at the same time dispute it. People are hungry for seasonal images both during and right before that season arrives. But, what about deadlines? Back in the spring, there was an article in a women's magazine about decorating Easter eggs. The author devoted an entire section of this article to the pain-staking process of having to look for images three seasons in advance.

This got me thinking. When IS the best time to submit images of holidays and events? My feelings are that we ...

Silent 790 has a wonderful portfolio! These are my favorites:

I love art work like this. The zoom/cropping draws our eye right into the face of the Japanese dog. the golden eyes draw us and hold us in the image, feeling the seeming embrace that is holding the dog.

The image on the right, a scene of Azores Islands, has great vibrant color. I love the smooth, blue-green water.

Great job Silent 790! Keep'em comin'!

As school season arrives, our mailboxes are flooded with fliers depicting images of pens, pencils, notebooks, bookbags, etc. When I was in school, I always loved this time of year. There's a certain fascination about brightly colored stationary, new pens that are cooler than last year's, and sporting new journals or notebooks. :)

Even though I'm out of school now, I still like to go to the office supply stores to check out their sales. The office I work at supplies pens to us, but I prefer to purchase my own. :)

Is it the stationary supplies that I like, or do I like to reminisce about my school days? I think maybe it's both. I always got excited about meeting new people. :)

I think it's also the bright colors. ... mmm.. shiny....