BULBING

Put simply, it's a technique of photography where the lens of the camera is left open for long enough to capture something not usually seen by the naked eye.

As far as I can tell there is no official "minimum length of time" after which a photo is officially a "bulb photo"

It is not (necessarily) a photo of a light globe or an emerging plant - although oddly enough the former is often a major contributing component in a bulb photo and the latter is often the subject of the loosely related discipline of time lapse photography (animation).

Where did the term "bulb" come from?

I don't know for sure but I can hazard a guess that it has something to do with the fact that many of the earliest cameras used an air based shutter release system.

The shutter was opened when the bulb at the end of a tube was pressed flat and stayed open until the bulb was released. This was of course a fairly inaccurate way of timing a shutter's release but was adequate for the time because longer exposures where necessary due to the limitations of the chemicals and processes used in early days.

For example, in early flash photography, it was not possible to accurately time (synchronise) the ignition of the substance exploded to create the flash, with the lens opening. Hence, subjects sat still (hopefully), the lens was opened, the flash was ignited, the lens closed and, hey presto.

It's fair to say that most photos in the early years of photography were in essence, "bulb photos".

With the advent of newer cameras, chemicals etc it was possible (and desirable) to create mechanically timed shutter releases.

I suspect the "B" setting of these cameras was retained for backwards compatibility as well as to satisfy those who wanted to take photos in low light conditions.

Happy Val's Day

You changed my world when you take off your eyeglasses B)

You changed my world when you give me your sweety smile :)

You changed my world when you laugh at me =D

So, at this special moment , I just wanna say HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY for you and all of my friends :D

Rule of Third

Perhaps the most well know principle of photographic composition is the ‘Rule of Thirds‘.

The “Rule of Thirds” one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.

I will say right up front however that rules are meant to be broken and ignoring this one doesn’t mean your images are necessarily unbalanced or uninteresting. However a wise person once told me that if you intend to break a rule you should always learn it first to make sure your breaking of it is all the more effective!

What is the Rule of Thirds?

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows.

As you’re taking an image you would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display that you use to frame your shot.

With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.

Not only this – but it also gives you four ‘lines’ that are also useful positions for elements in your photo.

The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot – using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.