With an explosion of digital cameras whether it’s point and shoot or dlsr cameras came an even bigger explosion of images. Finding and organizing pictures can be so frustrating, in comes ACDsee 2, an easy to use photo organizer. According to the company’s information, “ACD delivers the leading platforms for image management and technical illustration, giving consumers and professionals everything they need to manage, create, edit, share, and publish content for print, presentation and the Web faster, easier, and more efficiently.”

With ACDsee 2 you now have an easy way to better organize your digital photographs; it’s time to easily find, view, manage, print, edit and share your images. ACDsee 2 has a great range of features from printing [ACDsee FotoSlate Free Trial] and archiving to categorizing. The organizing feature is not only very simple but has a slick edge to it. Photos can be split up into many different categories. You can use the default categories and you also have the option to simply create your own categories with specific dates to the categories, therefore you remember and easily find when and where you photographed certain images. Every picture added can also be rated with the ratings ranging from 1-5 along with information on each individual picture; this is another way to find your photographs. We are recommending ACDsee because of its simplicity, being an easy to use photo organizer with an affordable price.

Besides easily organizing your photos here are some other key features:

- You can easily edit photos.
- Burn all photos to Cd or Dvd easily.
- One single or contact sheets photos can be easily printed.
- Videos or slides can easily be created.
- You have the option to easily add video and audio clips to you photographs.

Useful Links:

- ACDSee products free trial

- Buy ACDSee Pro 2.5 Photo Manager today! View, process, edit, organize, catalog, publish and archive with full RAW processing.

- Save $50 on ACDSee Photo Manager 2009, Photo Editor 2008, & FotoSlate 4 Print Studio. Great for your new computer!

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Filed Under: Cool Things To Help Photography, Portrait Photography

The first Monday of every month I give away a free desktop background to my readers. The backgrounds are available for anyone to download; however, my subscribers receives exclusive giveaways.

(March 2009, we will be giving away point and shoot digital cameras and gift cards to our lucky subscribers; to enter all you have to do is subscribe; subscribing to this blog is free.)

About this photograph?

The photograph you see of the cruise ship I photographed in 2008 shooting with one of m friends. The reason why I want to share this image with you because it was one of my favorite practice photographs; I was in a small boat and I want quickly find a great composition for such a large subject to fit in the photograph. I hope you in Enjoy it as much as I do.

Useful Links:

Download 1024 by 768
Download 1280 by 1024
Download 1600 by 1200

- View about composition. [here’s the link]

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Filed Under: Cool Things To Help Photography, How I Photographed, Landscape Photography

The photograph you see above is a photograph of girls at the skate park in Round Rock Texas watching the skateboarders skate. I favor this photograph because it reminds me of an article I shared on the blog. This is the second part of sharing simple tips with young beginner photographers. I provided the link below in the useful links section below to view part one of this post. To recap, I explained why it was important to photograph only what you love and the benefits you will receive from doing so.

The first photograph was a photograph I took of a skateboarder about to land a trick, portraying movement and action from the photograph. The photograph above portrays a different mood. When I loaded this image to my computer I did not know what to do with it. I stumbled across the photograph when I wrote part one of this article. I am sharing this with you because I abide everything in my other article “You Don’t Have To Be A Pro To Take A Great Photo”.

How can these photography tips help you?

* You view an image I created abiding simple photography techniques from an older article.

* The Previous article teaches you how to holder your viewers attention.

Useful Links:

- View part one of this post. [here’s the link]

- View “ You Don’t Have To Be A Pro To Take A Great Photo”. [here’s the link]

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Filed Under: Cool Things To Help Photography

My last post you found out that I like all board sports, especially skateboarding. From this Blog anyone would guess that I love photography; I photograph things that interest me. In this post I am sharing tips with young photographers / beginner photographers.

The photograph you see above I took this summer at the skate park in Round Rock Texas. It’s very sad that I still don’t know the name of that skate park and I have been there almost everyday for the past week. It’s a photograph of a skateboarder in action. After skating, I got my camera out got on my skateboard and started taking images; all of a sudden everyone was excited about landing the tricks. I captured this image shooting in continuous mode with my Nikon D70.

There is a lot of talk about sports photography right now. What camera we should use, shutter speed, when should you turn off and don’t turn off the Vibration Reduction a.k.a the VR (if you have that function in your lens); then you say to me Dwayne what the hell are you talking about. I am providing you the simple tips to you need as a young photographer / beginner photographer to get to that point. How I did it and how I still do it. Tip number one shoot what you love. Example you probably would never see me on the side lines shooting at a Curling tournament because I don’t find sliding a circular block on a piece of ice and guiding it with a stick exciting (but you probably could find me there if I got contacted by ESPN and they were talking my universal $ language). But then some would say Dwayne you shot the Michael Jordan at his Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament and golf is just walking around hitting a ball on a stick; the difference is that I played golf and I grew to love it. So until it snows in Bahamas and I get to do some curling, no curling for me. “Lets get back on topic Mr. ADD!” Don’t be afraid to take out the camera. Chances are that your are going to have everyone looking at you the minute take your camera out; just be the rockstar and photograph rockstar images. I remember reading an article about sports photography; “Photographers must react as quickly as the players” http://www.photographytips.com/page.cfm/97 on an older site Photography Tips.com. That saying is so true. Feel the energy, get into the sport (that’s why I recommend you shooting what you like), react quickly and enjoy the moments. The photograph you see above I connect with the skater looking through the lens made me feel as if I was about to stick the trick. Most important, use what you have. I feel in love with photography when I took images of my friends at school using point and shoots, build up a bond with the camera; you might read articles saying that you need 80 – 200m lens, super- long telephoto lens, you might need a Nikon D3, D300 or D700, but honestly what you need at this point to get familiar with shooting in different environments, building up your character and simply enjoying photographing right now. To rap this up, at the beginners stage you need to get familiar with yourself holding the camera, being behind the camera and connecting with what ever you are shooting.

How should these tips help your photography?

* You learn why it’s important to photograph what you love.

* How to connect with whatever you are shooting with by feeling the energy.

* Hopefully you will start taking your camera out anywhere and feel comfortable doing so.

Useful Links:

(I want you to get familiar with photography terminology; even though we might not use some things as yet it’s nice to know about them so when we do we can get into action.)

- What is shutter speed? [here’s the link]

- What is Vibration Reduction or VR lens? [here’s the link]

- What is a telephoto lens? [here’s the link]

- How to shoot in continuous mode on a digital camera? [here’s the link]

- Interested a Nikon D70? Think about buying the Nikon D90 it the latest one. [here’s the link]

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Filed Under: Cool Things To Help Photography, How I Photographed

I hope the holidays are treating you right and I hope you enjoyed spending time with your family and love ones; the seasons are meant to be enjoyed so enjoy them. This was my first Christmas away from my family back in Bahamas, however they know I love them dearly. I spent my Christmas in Austin Texas opening the most presents I ever opened at once in my life at my girlfriend’s house with her family. The two photographs you see above are a little glimpse of what’s been going on in my life ☺. Both were photographed with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W90. It’s a great camera by the way. Only thing I dislike about it, and dislike about every Sony camera is that they don’t use mini USB. Everyone knows they do it so when you lost a your cord you have to purchase a new one made by Sony. It sucks, but I guess they think it adds value to their products, it you want to look at it like that. The two photographs you see above I call my “life ya life” photographs ☺. That’s me enjoying bowling with my gf and her little sister (just me in the photograph though ☺, and yes Lucy I know I could have been out of the cold in the Bahamas on the beach). The second is probably everything I need in my life in one image (except a few plane tickets and a Nikon D300 or D70, in a few years that will be except some yacht fuel and a Nikon D3x). I was about to change my grip tape on my board for the first time. It came out pretty nice. The magazines you see are my favorites, Photoshop Magazine and Layers Magazine. Go and sign up now! [here’s the link]

Talking about fuel I provided a website link my favorite channel on TV, Fuel TV (at the bottom of the post in the useful link section). I also enjoyed trying tearing up the skatepark. If you didn’t know now you know. Yes, other than photography I do love all board sports, most favored skateboarding. I still have plans in my head of getting one down in the Bahamas someday we need one; if anyone reads this and has a connection or wants to build a park down in the Bahamas for the kids please don’t hesitate contacting me, I will find you locations and we can talk business you provide the money and I provide my time then we are equal ☺.

About my “live ya life” photographs?

People come to my Blog because that this is most chill, sickest place to chill out and read sweet stories by the planets Martian. Not a Blog bogging you down with technical shit to make your life much more complicated than it already is. I photograph to create memories, I think I know the camera pretty well so I provide simple tips and techniques to make photography enjoyable. I am also running on with my head so big because I love my readers so lets get to the point. My “live ya life” photographs were taken with the point and shoot W90 by Sony; what was I thinking? Well the first one of me bowling, I wasn’t thinking of anything because my girlfriends little sister took it and touched it up in lightroom (soon save enough money to purchase 2.0). The second photograph I used composition; learn about that on my other post [here’s the link] it was about portrait but read it and fit the gaps I will provide more information about that at a more appropriate time. To sum this up, Merry Christmas, I hope you got everything you wanted, enjoy photography and enjoy the rest of the holidays!

Useful links:

Buy a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W90 [here’s the link]

My favorite channel! Fuel Tv [here’s the link]

Enjoy skateboarding at Skateboard.com [here’s the link]

P.S. Feel free to send me an email about your Christmas, how it went. If you have great photographs you took and would love to share them on the Blog let me know and I will pick a day to display all of the readers photographs photographed over the holidays.

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Filed Under: Cool Things To Help Photography, Personal News

How To Shoot A Photograph At Night Without Using Flash, The photograph of the model you see above is one of my first roommates (Joel Boyd) at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Yes Joel I know you were annoyed by me asking to take photographs of you, but thank you for helping me share my stories with the world.
In this article, I will tell you how I went about with the shoot at the Savannah College Of Art and Design, teaching you how to take a photograph of a model at night without using flash. I used a Canon 5D to photograph this image without flash and you can what technique I used on the Canon 5D from yesterdays post [here’s the link], and in this post I will teach you how to take that photograph at night without using flash with a point and shoot camera.

Once again I am going to stress telling you to take photographs of your friends, it really helps you develop an eye for photographing people so when it’s your time to shoot the real models you will feel confident ☺ (believe me everything is possible with confidence, well almost anything). At the cafeteria I asked a friend of mine (Scott Vanarsdale) to use his Canon 5D so I could practice night portraits without using flash. It was my first year playing around with such an advance camera. This night was a great night for me because I was able to get two photographs I am really proud of; the portrait of Joel and the landscape photograph from yesterday’s post.

In order to take a photograph like this you will need a few crazy friends that will allow you to take their photographs ☺, you will need a tripod and if you have a dslr camera use yesterday’s post; if you have a point and shoot you can follow me with this post. I am going to teach you how to practice taking the photograph without flash using a point and shoot digital camera. At that time I was playing around with the camera getting used to it. To take a photograph like this one at night of a model without flash you use the same technique as taking the one of the landscape in yesterdays post. The only difference is using the ambient light around you to help light the model. When I first starting using my Canon SD630 I could I always wondered how to take a photograph at night without flash, and not getting that blur. To stop getting that blur when I used my point and shoot camera at night I attached a tripod to my camera [buy a tripod], turned the flash off, turned the timer on and then let the magic happen. It’s simple it’s easy and it can make you enjoy your photographs and my photography for you enjoyable.

How should these tips help your photography?

* You learn to take photographs with your point and shoot without flash at night.

* You learn that it is possible to get that image without blur at night when you turn your flash off.

* You remember that photography is made simple and enjoyable for beginners ands professionals with a few extra tips.

Useful Links:

-Buy a Canon SD630 Power shot [here’s the link]

-Buy a Canon 5D [here’s the link] (Save $1,910.95)

- How to use a tripod. [here’s the link]

- Buy a tripod [here’s the link]

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Filed Under: Cool Things To Help Photography, How I Photographed, Portrait Photography

How To Take A Photograph of Landscapes At Night Without Flash, I took the photograph at Savannah College of Art and Design one night when I was about to photograph a portrait of my roommate. In this post I will teach you how to photograph a landscape like this one with out using flash. Tomorrows post I will give you the detailed story about the photograph showing you the portrait that I had planned to shoot before I saw this photo opportunity.

To take this photograph I used a Canon 5D. I shot this image 30.0 seconds at f-stop 32 with ISO 3200 at 136 mm using at 70.0-300.0mm lens. NOW WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN!!! One thing I hated when I looked around on the internet to get tips for my photography was reading blogs that gave me all that technical shit and I was a beginner not know what they were saying; so I am not going to leave you hanging ☺ I like to tell people that go out and photograph with me think about it as if you squinting. If you look at a street lights at night and squint you will the lights will give an effect like a star burst or something…I swear I hope it’s not only my eyes that do that, because if it is then I only sound crazy right now. That’s how the camera works the lower the f-stop the more light comes inside. The higher like f-stop 32 the less light comes inside. If you blink once quickly, a little light comes in your eyes. If you leave your eyes open and slowly close them more light enters. Now to you I am really sounding crazy! As I tell you it’s not my job to bore you to death so I am providing links with boring long technical instructions, it’s my job to motivate you and to make your photography experience fun.

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Filed Under: How I Photographed, Landscape Photography

Besides giving you tips for your photography, I find myself looking around on the Internet quite often to help motivate me. I am sharing these images I found on Flickr to help motivate you. I think you have to agree with me that the images are beautiful, I would like it if you can tell me what you like or dislike about the image. DwayneTucker.com is here to make photography simple and enjoyable for both beginners and professionals.

1.

by Yobs

2.

by Lars van de Goor

3.

by Chrisser

4.

by lucy_vis

5.

by Lord V

6.

by Len Langevin

7.

by mistybliss

8.

by ::reflecting truth::

9.

by john white photos

10.

by 油姬

11.

by 油姬

12.

by Brooklyn Hilary

13.

by creativesam

14.

by stoneth

15.

by Pink Sherbet Photography

16.

by Jules1405

17.

by Walkabout Wolf

18.

by Shutterhack

19.

by Picture hunter

20.

by Sean Mantey

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Filed Under: Cool Things To Help Photography

Thinking About Composition When Photographing Portraits; above is a photograph of a friend of mine from Switzerland. In this post I will provide beginner photographers with a few tips I use to help me when I am photographing portraits. I don’t know if you remember my article Shooting Sarah On Rose Island, if you are new to the site I provided the link for the post below. The beautiful model you see in the photograph above is a friend of Sarah’s. We took the boat over to Rose Island in The Bahamas and we captured these images.

I don’t care what type of digital camera you have or how much experience you have had with the camera; I strongly advice you as a beginner photographer to start asking your friends (if you have any – I am just playing I am your friend) to take their photographs and if you aren’t a beginner continue to asking your friends; I do it all the time. Please try to shoot only beautiful people (All of my friends are beautiful can’t be bothered to hang out with ugly people). I am just kidding true beauty is on the inside of a person, but when it comes to models it’s on the outside (and I am not joking about that one either). Besides people love when you ask them to take their photographs. Asking friends will help you develop an eye for photographing people; developing an eye will help your composition; your composition + a beautiful model creates a great image. People say “What a beautiful image Dwayne.” I tell them no it’s a beautiful composition, the model is beautiful I couldn’t do it without them.  Below I added a useful link about what composition in photography is because it’s not my job to bore you to death but it is my job to point you in the right direction and show you how simple and enjoyable photography could be with a few extra pointers and tips.

When I am photographing portraits, I focus mainly on the composition of subject in photograph. Meaning I think about how I want the subject of the photograph to be positioned, in this case the lady you see in the photograph is the subject. A tip is to never center a subject for a portrait photograph. It only makes the photograph less exciting to the eye. If you center the photograph you better have a darn good reason to why you do it. I state that because if you ever see I portrait I photographed and the photograph is centered I had a darn good reason for doing so.

How should these photography tips help you?

* Ask beautiful friends to take their images.

* Your Composition + A beautiful model = A great image.

* Never center your subject and if you do have a good reason to why you did it.

Useful Links:

- Shooting Sarah On Rose Island [Here’s the link]
- What is Composition for Photography? [Here's the link]

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Filed Under: Cool Things To Help Photography, How I Photographed, Portrait Photography

This is a Photograph Of The View From The Bridge Connecting Nassau With Paradise Island Bahamas. Shows how vibrant colors in a photograph can create eye movement. This exquisite site was photographed on a late afternoon in the Bahamas. I am going to share with you my story behind photographing this image, as well as a few tips and techniques to help train your eye to take a photograph like this one.

The past summer a friend of mine Andrew D’Albenas photographed the Afternoons away. I called him when I was at work asking him if he wanted to take his boat out for us to take some photographs and I invited my brother in law to go along with us.
After a few hours of photographing we decided to get some conch salad; I strongly advise you tasting it if you haven’t before because it’s worth flying to the Bahamas for. We docked the boat in the harbor and D’Albeans and I walked the bridge to get some photographs. I stopped at the top of the bridge, I remembered the power of yellow and took the photograph. That simple.

When I came home I placed my photograph in Lightroom to tweak it. I love the way the complementary colors of yellow and violet play a role. I also love the way, the light and sunset are positioned.

How should these photography tips help you?

* Find time to go out and photograph with friends.

* Use simple things you learn and apply them to your photograph. Example, see how you can employ complementary colors.

* With a few more tips, photography is made simple and can be enjoyable by both beginners and professionals.

Useful Links:

- Lightroom (You Save $27.01) [Here's the link]

- What are complementary colors? [Here's the link]

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Filed Under: How I Photographed, Landscape Photography