Author: Phil McDermott

From wide open spaces to rugged mountains, rolling meadows to dramatic coastlines they all play an important part in the nature of landscape. However, with such a view it is often hard to appreciate the beauty because there is nowhere for the eye to settle and concentrate on.

Why not take a fresh approach to nature photography and concentrate on part of the view and take time to consider color, shape and texture to really appreciate the finer features of the scene.

Enter the world of close up photography that lies just beyond the familiar but so rich in detail and beauty. If we look through our close up lens with an open mind, imagination and childlike curiosity there are many close up photography opportunities for us to consider.

As nature photographers we can take this concept further, for example that distant bright yellow patch becomes on closer inspection a riotous stand of broom flowers. Closer still we see clearly the intricate detail in each flower and seedpod that we can record in our close up photography.

Now go really close, look at the seedpod with its gossamer covering of fine hairs and we start to appreciate how things fit together. Whilst this is not a scientific approach it provides a raw and basic understanding, offers enlightenment and lets us become an integral part of nature. So by going close up and concentrating on a small part of the whole we have simplified our close up photography subject, made it basic, powerful and memorable,.

There is no need to go far, finding close up nature photography opportunities should be seen as a journey of the soul, inner vision and contemplation rather than visiting a far off place. Often the deeper we look into our close up photography subjects the more rewarding they become. Without hesitation they reveal their treasures allowing us time to admire their quality. With this awareness the nature photographer with a passion for close up photography is indeed privileged.

Appreciating that all these parts form an important relationship with each other makes it is easier to understand that the whole is made up of many unique parts and like pieces of a jigsaw they combine together to create a complete picture. Indeed, only by appreciating the significance of the smallest parts of our surroundings can we can start to make sense of nature as a whole and incorporate this awareness into our close up photography.

Emotion and drama and be found in often overlooked close up photography cameos, like a delicate flower growing defiantly in a boulder crevice, its tenuous grip on life dependent on the sustenance from the crevice debris. Yet it lives on year after year, testimony to its determination and resilience. It is this inter-action that is so enduring and compelling that makes these interesting subjects perfect for nature photography.

As a close up photographer getting close up to nature allows a greater understanding and appreciation of the beauty of the natural world. For example a cold clear winter day with breathtaking crispness can be ideal for close up photography, in these conditions there are magical patterns in snow, frost and shimmering icicles. Ice patterns make perfect winter close up photography subjects; they literally capture a moment frozen in time. Depending on the prevailing weather conditions some have smooth curves whilst others show harsh jagged lines providing creative close up photography opportunities.

Early morning in spring and summer can be a wonderful time to find close up photography subjects. Flowers and grasses covered with dew or fine rain make fascinating close up photography studies, the fine hairs hold onto droplets of water almost defy gravity. In the right conditions there may be insects that after a night’s inactivity have become encrusted with minute droplets. Butterflies make excellent close up photography subjects and look stunning covered in dew as they sparkle like a myriad of jewels.

Light quality plays an important role in our close up photography, if it is too harsh the increase in contrast will actually block out the very close up detail we are trying to photograph. It is far better to have diffused light that occurs with high thin cloud cover. It provides a much softer quality of light and allows the detail, texture and nuances to be clearly seen and recorded in our close up photography. Color also influences our interpretation of the subject, vibrant colors like red and yellow for example suggest dominance and power, whereas muted tones like grey and browns convey basic, earthy and tranquil feelings.

So, if we approach our close up photography with childlike wonder and a renewed vision the natural world is undoubtedly a beautiful place. To fully appreciate it requires a little time and an inquisitive mind, it will reward you with the knowledge that even the simplest of things can bring satisfaction, contentment, harmony and inner peace.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/photography-articles/close-up-photography-an-emotional-approach-to-nature-photography-746732.html

About the Author:

Phil McDermott, Scotland Commercial Photographer and Close up Photography Workshops Phil McDermott Photography. See our Photography Blog for Photography Tips and Ideas.

Author: Caryl A. Clippinger

When it comes to computer graphics, there are a lot of programs available for creating, manipulating, and saving image files. Although images can be created and saved in different programs and can have different file types or extensions, when it comes right down to it, all digital images are classified as either vector images or bitmap images.

In very general terms, the difference between bitmap and vector images is in how the computer reads and displays the image. Each type has advantages and disadvantages. Which format will work best depends on how you plan to use the image.

Bitmap Images:
The most common image type is bitmap. All scanned images and images from digital cameras are bitmaps. Web images are almost always bitmaps.

Bitmaps, sometimes called rastor images, are based on individual pixels that are mapped to a grid. The overall size of the grid is determined by the image’s resolution.

So what’s a pixel? A pixel (or Picture Element) is simply a dot of color. When you put all of the pixels (or dots of color) together, you get the full image. A 100 x 100 pixel bitmap image is actually comprised of 10,000 individual pixels that, when viewed together as a whole, make up the image.

Since bitmaps are dependent on resolution, it is difficult to increase or decrease their size without sacrificing image quality. For example, when you reduce the size of a bitmap, you essentially throw pixels away. When you increase the size of a bitmap image by scaling it, you simply make the pixels (or dots of color) larger and easier to see – which can result in a jagged appearance.

Bitmap images are most suitable for photographs and images with complex color variations. They are not easily scalable and often require morecomputer memory for file storage (i.e. they are often bigger files).

Vector Images:
Vector images are composed of well defined geographical shapes, lines, and curves, essentially points connected by lines of various shapes and sizes which can then be filled with color. Vector images are mathematically derived by thecomputer and not based on pixels. Vector images are more suitable for logos and illustrations, especially those that require precise measurements.

Because vector images are highly scalable, they are often used to create logos. A vector logo can be easily scaled down to fit on a business card, or scaled up to fit on a tradeshow display, the side of a van or bus, or larger without losing quality. Vector images can also have transparent backgrounds, making them easy to place or layer on top of other graphics. Vector images can be easily converted to bitmaps, but a bitmap image cannot be as easily converted to a vector image.

Some graphic programs work primarily with bitmap images, some with vector images, and some can work with both (or a combination thereof).

Common Program and File Types for Bitmap and Vector Images include:

• Adobe Photoshop (.psd files) (bitmap)
• Macintosh Quickdraw (.pct, .pict files) (bitmap)
• PNG (.png files) (bitmap)
• Targa Bitmap (.tga files) (bitmap)
• TIFF Bitmap (.tif, .tiff files) (bitmap)
• Windows Bitmap (.bmp files) (bitmap)
• Adobe Illustrator (.ai, .eps files) (vector)
• AutoCad (.dwg, .dxf files) (vector)
• AutoDesk Draw (.dwg files) (vector)
• Corel Draw (.cdr files) (vector)
• Windows Metafile (.wmf files) (vector)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/graphic-design-articles/bitmap-images-vs-vector-images-understanding-graphic-types-915488.html

About the Author:

Caryl A. Clippinger is a graphic designer / developer and a founder of Charlotte’s Web Studios, L.L.C., a Virginia graphic design company. For more information about Charlotte’s Web Studios and additional graphic design tips and resources, please visit http://www.CharlottesWebStudios.com.

Author: Website Design Weston

If you run a business and you have any form of corporate identity then you should care very much. How you present your company to your chosen market is fundamental to its success.

The graphic design process is crucial to any business, making it stand out head and shoulders from the competition. Whether it is the design of an entire corporate campaign or the creation of a simple company logo it still has to work effectively for you. There are four critical elements that should be seen in every logo design:
• It must be describable
• It must be memorable
• It must be effective without colour
• It must be scalable
Fairly obvious really but how does your logo stand up to these criteria? How does your company identity stand out from the competition?

Ask yourself why something is designed in a certain way. Consider why a particular colour is chosen instead of its opposite. Why use this font? Why include this particular graphic here? A good designer will think through every detail of a design and only include elements that will add to the design and re-enforce the brand.

Once your business is up and running you may think that any form of corporate identity will act to represent the company, visually creating a brand by default. Think again. If you look at the large corporations you will notice that their brand strategy stands the test of time for many years.

Many companies never change their logo design dramatically but only make the smallest of changes to keep the design looking modern and refreshed.

Benefits:
• Professional image
• Considered and long-lasting design strategy
• Make your company look bigger
• Stand out from your competition
• More effective

By Ben Smith
- Website design somerset- Professional Website Design Weston-Super-Mare

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/graphic-design-articles/what-are-the-benefits-of-graphic-design-and-why-should-you-care-383886.html

About the Author:

I specialise in Website design, graphic design, search engine optimisation (SEO), affordable print and website hosting. Experience in logo design, letterhead design, business card design, compliment slip design, leaflet design, poster design. Based in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset.
“>http://www.ben-smith.net”> website design weston-super-mare

Author: Touch Media Design

Okay, you have your products and you’ve decided you are going to design a catalog for distribution. But, where do I start? What should I do first when designing a catalog? What are the necessary steps to designing an effective catalog? In this article I will answer those questions for you and will give you a step by step procedure for designing your new catalog.

Ist Procedure: Decide who your target audience will be. This sounds easy but it needs to be done fist. You need to have who you will be designing a catalog for while you design your catalog. By doing this you will be able to picture how they will react to each step you take.

2nd Procedure: Decide what you will sell. See procedure number one for details. What I mean by that is that you do not want to add every product you have in your inventory if it is not something your target customers will buy. You can save money designing your catalog by leaving out items that are very unlikely to be bought by your target audience.

3rd Procedure: Separate your products so you can focus on them one at a time. Take each product you will be selling and write your sales text and price out so you draw out an idea of how each product will be displayed.

Also as you work on each item and write the descriptions, separately write out any details you will need to give your customer about size, color, and specifications. With some products you will be able to just use a little space in addition to the picture and explain everything there.

But with other products where more information is necessary, you will be putting together a page or more of just information as a reference or guide to buying the products in your catalog. So as you do each one, that is the time to make notes about additionalinformation you will need to offer the customer on another page.

4th Procedure: Photographing your products. . When designing your catalog, individual pictures are best. Group photos will save you money, but they will also make you less sales. Using a professional photographer is also a good idea if you can afford one. Your images are what sells your product so if you do a bad job at photographing your product, you will lose sales.

Summary: At this point you have most of the “pieces” you will use while designing your catalog. Just a couple more pieces and we’ll be ready to move on to actually designing your catalog.

5th Procedure: Informational Pages. Industrial product catalogs might need to give specifications, clothing catalogs need to offer more colors and sizes to choose from but not have it take up too much room on the product pages, and more.

You want to design the information pages of your catalog so that it is simple for the shopper to use. Do not use complex formulas and make them do calculations. Don’t make your customer think too much or too long or you will lose sales. You should have most of theinformation on the product pages where possible.

Other pages that might help your catalog’s design are special sales product pages, an index, etc. You need to decide how many pages ofinformation you will be including because when designing a catalog you have to remember that the number of pages is always a multiple of four.

6th Procedure: Pre-Layout. This is where you decide where everything will go. Will your information pages be on the inside of the covers or in the center, etc. You know you will have a front and back outside and inside cover. You will have informational pages, and then you have your product pages. Decide how it will read.

7th Procedure: Layout of product pages. Again, just like in the photography is you are not experienced in layout you may want to hire a professional to do the layout design of your catalog, especially for the pages that will display your products and descriptions.

If you intend to do it yourself, then there are some things you will need to know. Always place quality images at the top right hand corner of every right hand page. When your customers starts to turn the page, this is the first thing they will see. It needs to catch their eye and stop them from just flipping through the catalog.

Some people flip through magazines and catalogs from the back to the front, so the upper left hand corner of every left hand page is almost as important. You want them to stop and open your product pages so think of images that will catch their eye and make them want to see more.

Some catalogs use the easiest method of displaying products and information on each page. That is dividing the page in quarters, sixths, or eighths and giving each product it’s on little section. In other catalogs they display the photos and product numbers on one side and the correspondinginformation for each on the other side of the page. There are other ways as well, this is meant to suggest a couple of ways you can do it.

8th Procedure: Front and Back Cover Layout. This is one of the most important steps you will take while designing your catalog. If you have done everything else yourself, you still may want to consider having aprofessional design your covers.

The reason this step is so important to catalog design is twofold. One your cover is what will get your customer to want to browse through your catalog in the first place. A bad cover is like having a store that sells fashionable clothing in the ghetto. If your target customers will not come to the store and go inside you have no chance to sell them anything.

The second reason is that for each catalog you send out, you want several potential customers to read it. When the person you sent it to lays it down somewhere, you want others who see it want to pick it up and browse as well. For this reason both the front and back cover is important. You do not know how they will lay it down.

9th Procedure: Finding a printer for your catalog. Before you start designing your catalog, you may want to find the printer that will be doing the printing for you. The reason is that they can help you know what requirements they have for your artwork, images, and layout, and will help you choose theprinting methods that will work best for your type of catalog.

I saved this for last, but it is really the first step to catalog design. The last thing you want to do is design your catalog, then find out your chosen printer cannot print your catalog the way you have designed it.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/procedures-for-designing-a-catalog-36103.html

About the Author:

http://www.touchmediadesign.com – TOUCH MEDIA DESIGN is a full-service creative company specializing in assisting both online and offline businesses in web design, e-commerce, catalog design, graphic design, product photography, printing, and marketing.

Author: graphic design Melbourne

A thoroughly prepared client brief is half the success of a rebranding or design project. Attaining all the necessary and relevant information from the client and a comprehensive insight into the client’s brand provides you with a great foundation for the right brand identity and design solution.

As a designer or brand consultant, a properly prepared client brief gives multiple sources of ideas to work with. Unless you have a clear understanding of what the client wants and needs you waste your time trying to design something out of nothing and the client ends up spending more money than budgeted for as a result of the required modifications…which naturally makes both parties very happy….

Depending on the particular project you will need a specific design brief. That means if you are developing a website or creating a business card, the client design brief will be different. However, there is some general information about your company and what you want to achieve, which should give a good idea in any design situation. Here are some general questions that will help me and fellow designers and consultants:

• 1. Title
• 2. What is the nature of your business? What does your business do?
• 3. What is your target market?
• a. Age
• b. Sex
• c. Income
• d. Occupation
• e. Location
• 4. What is unique about your business or product?
• 5. Who is your competition?
• 6. What is your aim? What are your goals?
• 7. How do you want your clients to feel about the brand? What is the message you want to communicate?
• 8. What is your budget? Range?
• a. Providing a rough guide enables the consultant/designer with an idea of the type of marketing and design solution that can be provided to you.
• 9. What is your deadline?
• 10. Provide the designer with current and past design and marketing materials.

To see how you can improve the image of your brand click here: graphic design Melbourne

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/how-to-prepare-an-effective-design-brief-for-graphic-design-projects-804583.html

About the Author:

Graphic Design Melbourne