Happy New Year 2013 from Jeddah Photo Blog

How to Take Beautiful Photographs

Taking beautiful photographs does not mean you need to know everything technical there is to know about photography. While skill and technique are important, a large part of what makes a photo beautiful is an interesting subject. Good photography is about capturing a moment or being able to make a statement through an image.
That said, you don’t need a $10,000 camera to make a beautiful image. A beautiful photograph can be created just as easily on a $5 film camera. What is more important than the equipment is the person behind the lens – the camera has nothing to do with creating a beautiful picture.
The following are tips on creating better, more beautiful photographs without relying solely on technical capabilities.

Use What you Already Have

Before running out and spending all of your savings on a fancy new camera with all of the latest and greatest features, look at what equipment you already have.

Get Shooting and Get a Feel for Your Eye

Take the equipment you already have and go out and start taking pictures. What types of things or situations do you feel compelled to shoot? Take notice of these things as you can develop the skills that apply in these shooting situations.
For now though, don’t feel guilty for shooting in automatic mode. Don’t let the settings on your camera get in the way of how you feel when you interact with your subject. You don’t want to miss out on a moment because you were fumbling with your camera settings.

Surround Yourself with People of Similar Interests

Surround yourself with people who enjoy photography. Go out and take photos together. Plan photo excursions with friends. By surrounding yourself with people who enjoy the things that you do, not only do you increase your chances of learning something new, but also you may find you have fun while doing so! Devise a project that you and friends work on together. It may be interesting and beneficial to compare shooting styles and specific photography interests.

Share Your Work and Ask for Feedback

Share and review your work with others. It could be friends, family, or other photographers. Get their feedback. What do they like? What do they dislike? What would you have done differently if you could go back and change the photograph? Asking these types of questions from others and from yourself will help with your personal development as a photographer.
Consider starting a blog or joining Flickr. These are both great ways to get your work out there. Flickr especially is a photo community. If you don’t have many close photographer friends, starting a Flickr to share your photographs could be an alternative.

Teach Yourself

Once you have developed your photographic eye, begin to teach yourself more technical things about your camera. Experiment with switching your settings into manual mode. Learn photography terminology. Learn how specific settings affect other settings on your camera. Consider watching YouTube tutorials on photography or consider getting an MFA degree in photography.
Most of all, keep taking photographs. Just like the saying “practice makes perfect,” it is the only way you will truly get better.

Underwater Jeddah - a diver’s delight!

Guest Post

The Jedda fish market is great. All that fresh fish to look at and select from to take home to cook or to order from the menu in one of the city’s fantastic restaurants. Yet, all things considered, the market is somewhat lacking. With only 50 or so types of fish on sale, the Jedda area has something far fishier to boast of. You wouldn’t notice it as it is hidden from view to most people. Yet just a just a short walk from the beach or a short boat ride grants you access to the multicoloured and otherwise secret world of the Red Sea, as the reef lies just off the coast of Jeddah.

This is one of the most exciting diving areas of the world and is relatively unspoilt. However, it is sufficiently developed that many have already benefited from trips and holiday deals that have enabled them to explore and behold this Saudi treasure. What better place to take a camera to view and record images of the most amazing sights!

What’s down there?

The Red Sea coastline has a fringing reef that is about 6,000 years old. A fringing reef is one of the main kinds of reef and is directly attached to a shoreline, though it may be separated from it by shallow water or a lagoon. This is unlike a barrier reef, for example, which is separated from the shore by a deeper body of water.

About Food Photography

During my last job I was an I.T administrator in a 4-Star hotel in Jeddah. Beside IT tasks they offered me to take photographs of their food-dishes. This was because management knew that photography is my hobby. Every-time they need photos for hotel website or print material they call me to use my abilities for their organization. This help them saving their money off-course :-)

During Hotel Job I got a lot of opportunities to take food photos. These pictures were there in my collection from some time. Later on after starting Jeddah Photo Blog I thought to put these photos online.

That's why you are seeing these photos at Jeddah Photo Blog. Also these photographs has a relation with Arab hospitality and Jeddah. So I hope you won't mind after watching these photos at this blog. If you like to see these photos specifically you may browse Jeddah-Food category of this Photo Blog.

About Jeddah City

Jeddah (can be spelled like Jiddah, Jidda, Jedda, جدّة‎) is a city of Saudi Arabia that is located on the coast of Red Sea. Sometimes it is also called Bride of the Red Sea. It is major urban center of Western region of Saudia. It is second largest city after Riyadh (Saudi Arabian capital city) and largest city in Makkah province. There is a sea port also and it is largest in Red Sea. That makes Jeddah an important commercial city of Saudi Arabia.

Jeddah's airport is huge and busiest airport in the region because of Hajj (Pilgrimage) reception city. Almost all Hajj flights land in Jeddah airport and later on Hajjis (Pilgrims) are forwarded to Makkah and Madina cities to complete their ibadaat (worship).