Better Concerts and Music

Photography is a delicate and complex art that requires years of practice, incredible patience, and a dedication to making every picture better than the last.  This can seem intimidating to the new or inexperienced photographer, but there’s really no reason for alarm.  Many of the more technical aspects of photography can be picked up simply by shooting lots of photographs; if you enjoy photography this won’t be a hard goal to meet.  In the interest of making things a little easier, here are five ways to make your next photograph the best one yet:

Go Vertical

The simple vertical turn of your camera is one of the simplest things you can do to improve your daily shooting.  Most photographers forget about the simple technique to turn your camera vertical (instead of horizontal) and miss the opportunity to better compose their subject.  Look at your subject before taking the picture and decide if a horizontal or vertical composition would look better.

Change Your Perspective

This is another habit you should work into your every day photography.  Standing with the camera pointing head-on at your subject isn’t always the best way to shoot a photograph, so consider trying your shots from a different direction.  For example, consider taking a picture of someone by shooting from ground level or even from up above them. And when you go to frame the photo, just make sure to put it in a picture frame that complements the angle.

Don’t Fight the Light

When broken down to its core elements, photography is merely light and the way it interacts with objects.  Understanding how to utilize light is key to great photography, so don’t be afraid to play around with it and see what happens.  Always be willing to move around so you can get the best possible light and make sure to know the optimal range of your flash so you can use it properly.  With light, thinking outside of the box can often give you outstanding results so try backlighting subjects and see how it changes your final images.

Crop In-Camera

This one is more difficult to get used to, but it is critical that you frame your images correctly.  Try and compose your photographs so that only the parts of the story you want to tell are visible in the frame, and leave the rest out.  If you’re having trouble composing the picture, try changing the distance to your subject or changing to a horizontal or vertical orientation.  Although this is easy to fix using photo editing software, it is always best to try to crop your photo using your camera. And if you can’t do that you can always crop the pictures when you go to put them in 4×6 picture frames.

Upgrade Your Auto Focus Camera

Although upgrading your auto focus camera to an SLR does cost money, it is an easy solution to taking better pictures.  But the reason for upgrading to a SLR (single lens reflex) is to give yourself the ability to manually adjust your aperture, focus and exposure so you can improve the quality of your pictures.  Additionally, unlike many small digital cameras, what you see through the viewfinder is exactly what you get out of an SLR.  Finally, SLR cameras will provide you with tons of flexibility in accessories such as additional lenses and filters.  These extra photo goodies may not be necessary now, but they will be very handy later on as your skills get more advanced.

As with any skill, the best way to improve your photographs is by practicing as much as you can.  This, combined with a healthy regimen of reading up on great photographers and visiting photo exhibits at the local museum, will take your photographs from “okay” to “incredible.”  Now all you have to do is get out there and start taking pictures!

Once you’ve gone to the trouble of hiring an after dinner speaker you might believe that all the hard work is over. Sadly this is not necessarily the case. After you’ve made the arrangements for who’ll be speaking you have to start your preparation work by ensuring that your after dinner speaker is fully briefed so he or she can be ready.

Many people make the mistake of assuming that hiring a professional after dinner speaker will guarantee them a professional speech with no problems. To save yourself the tedium of listening to a speech which has been recycled and used on every audience the speaker has ever addressed, you need to make sure the speaker knows some basic details before he or she tailors a presentation to the audience.

One of the simplest things that you must remember is the most often forgotten: to give the speaker enough information about the audience. He or she needs to know the age and gender of the audience and the reason they are in a room together in the first place. Are they workmates? Do they belong to a club or organisation? All of this is important and affects the speech. You should also let the after dinner speaker know exactly what the audience will be expecting from the speech. Whether they are expected motivation, humour, advice or something else entirely will affect the speech.

It is to be hoped you watched the speaker in action before hiring him or her. You should therefore feel confident that they won’t be littering their speech with clichés which will bore your audience Don’t feel guilty mentioning this to the speaker though. If you believe that your audience will appreciate or detest certain jokes then inform the speaker well ahead of time.
When reviewing the after dinner speaker before booking him or her you hopefully saw how they captured the audience’s attention. This is important in any speech, but if you believe your audience will be restless then you should also forewarn your speaker so that they can prepare to include the more interesting content early to grab the audience’s attention.

Regardless of the type of event you may be putting on, the choice of a DJ or entertainment coordinator is one of the most important decisions you need to make to ensure that your guests have a great time. Finding a truly professional DJ who offers several entertainment options can be a bit challenging, but well-worth the effort.

In our experience providing DJ services in the San Antonio and South Texas area, all too often, people choose entertainers based primarily on who offers the best price, without giving much thought to the professionalism of the DJ and how good of a match his or her personality and services are to the event. For example, a younger DJ who is into “hip-hop” may be great at a teenager’s birthday party, but may not work out so well at an elegant wedding reception.

As a part of our San Antonio DJ experiences, we have developed a list of criteria that people should consider when seeking to hire a DJ. We present the following tips to assist you in separating the true professionals who are likely to do an outstanding job for you and your guests, from those DJs who haphazardly do their work more to entertain themselves than anyone else.

One of the simplest things to tell you that a DJ is a professional is that he or she carries liability insurance. It is unsual for the insurance to be important in terms of a liability claim arising from a situation at your event, but the fact that the DJ has insurance indicated that he or she is a serious businessperson.

A second indication of a professional DJ is membership in one or more of the official DJ associations. Not only is this a sign that the DJ is dedicated to his profession, there are potential benefits to you the customer, such as the DJ can usually find replacement talent for you in case of an emergency in which he or she is unable to perform at your event.

Professional equipment is another sign of a good DJ. A serious DJ will be proud of his or her equipment and will be happy to discuss it with you. Besides having good equipment, it is important that your DJ will be bringing backup for all essential components, just in case something stops working.

Finally, personal demeanor and appearance will tell you a lot about the professionalism of a DJ. If you are meeting with a DJ to discuss your event and he or she shows up in a t-shirt and ripped jeans, consider whether that image is consistent with your event. Ultimately, one of the most important things to consider is whether or not you feel you have a “meeting of the minds” when interviewing a DJ. You want to be confident that the person you hire is willing and able to deliver the service you want and not someone who is going to ignore your wishes and “do their own thing”.

Professional DJ Lawrence Walker provides event entertainment in the San Antonio and Austin, Texas area.  For additional tips on hiring a DJ, visit the DJ San Antonio website and get your free downloadable “Guide To Hiring A DJ To Make Your Event Fun and Fantastic”.