Monday 26 March 2012

How do I use my Flash?

Cameras react to light to create a photo, and through my journey of photography I have grown to love flash photography and how it can change a photo.
Flash photography using a speedlight will give more natural colour tones, hide shadows and bring out detail that was hiding.
A great example of what a flash can do is to fill in the light needed if you are taking a photo of someone with light behind them, like the sun, without flash you get a great silhouette. If you want to get the subjects facial detail you can use fill light to do this.
Bounce flash is a great way to eliminate shadows, especially with a wall close behind someone. Instead of the shadow falling directly behind the subject, the flash is seemingly eliminated by changing where the shadow falls.
By bouncing the flash on a 45 degree angle the shadow drops closer to the ground and out of the shot. Making the photo look more 3D, give the subject better colour tone and look more natural.

Sunday 4 March 2012

What to look for with the new Warranty Laws

Great news for consumers is that warranty laws have been beefed up and you have a lot more rights. Still in my humble opinion I recommend Extended Warranty.

As retailers and manufacturers try to work out exactly what the new laws mean to you and them a few things are clear, you are protected by an expected period of time. An expected period of time is unclear to what that means, but at least if you are a month out of warranty you can seek assistance from your manufacturer.

If you check your terms and conditions of an extended warranty a good cover will give you peace of mind with the following options. First and foremost your Extended Warranty should cover things like wear and tear that your normal warranty will not cover, Unlimited repairs so that you are never out of pocket on parts and labour, new for old cover so if the repair is uneconomical you will have a replacement with a new equivalent model, finally a lemon policy so if there is the same repair 3 times you have a replacement model.

The industry average for a repair is anywhere between $160 and $300. Most Extended Warranties cost less than a repair and thus a great investment to protect your purchase. 

I recommend an extended warranty for any purchase you make, no one likes to throw away something that cost them thousands of dollars because it would cost too much to repair. I'd just like to thank Daniel Bell for the inspiration to write this article.