Dreamstime Offers Advice on Shooting A+ Graduation Photos

Stock Photo Site Makes Sure Mom and Dad Don't Miss a Thing During Graduation Day Camera Duty

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - May 10, 2012) - For high school and college seniors across the nation, this time of year means one thing: graduation. In an effort to ensure parents and students alike do not miss a memorable moment, Dreamstime, an online community and leader in stock photography, has tapped its photo contributors to share helpful tips and advice.

Building a collection of high-quality photos is the best way to keep your graduation memories vibrant and fresh. Photos also allow you to share the event with relatives and anyone else who couldn't make it in person. Below are a few tips to help you capture and share these important moments, no matter what obstacles or distractions the day may bring.

• Shooting Like a Pro: Most graduation day photographers aren't pros and are snapping photos solely for personal use. This means they are probably shooting with a standard digital camera and could use a few sneaky tricks for capturing photos of their favorite grad. For example, "If your camera has a pop-up flash or you have an on-camera flash, use a rubber band and one layer of a white handkerchief to cover your flash head," suggests Dreamstime contributor Lostarts. "This will diffuse the light, add life to your shot and sparkle to your subject's eyes." Another recommendation is to keep your elbows tight to your ribs and trip the shutter at the bottom of your breath, which helps reduce shakiness when working without a tripod. For more tips on getting good results without pricey equipment, click here.
• Getting Cousin Lucy to Stand Still: Nothing brings friends and family members together like celebrating a graduate's accomplishments, and that means lots of group photos. While we can't offer tips to ensure smiles and open eyes, there are a few steps you can take to improve group shots. When assembling individuals of varying heights, arrange them in a triangular shape to make the composition dynamic and eye pleasing, suggests Parkinsonsniper, a regular Dreamstime contributor. In terms of lighting, it's important that each member of the shot is exposed to equal light, so be sure to have enough distance between your models and your lighting source. For more tips on group photos, click here.
• Social Snapshots: Whether you are using a point and shoot digital camera or your smartphone to capture graduation events, today's technology makes it easier than ever to share your images with friends and family. Mobile applications like Instagram allow users to use their cell phones to transform the look and feel of a photo through filters and quickly share photos to social channels such as Facebook and Twitter. To avoid compatibility issues, users should consider the photo dimensions and file types used by mobile apps and sharing sites. Lastly, for shutterbugs storing images on sites like Flickr or Shutterfly that are also interested in framing or scrapbooking out a few shots, it's important to know the difference between printing and web view. For more tips on ensuring successful photo sharing, click here.

Dreamstime would like to congratulate the graduates of 2012 and thank its contributors for sharing their tips for great graduation day photos! With wedding season nearly upon us, next month's campaign will focus on tips and tricks for capturing those "big day" moments.

For more photo advice, check out our previous Field of View campaigns, on event and model photography and nature photography.

About Dreamstime
Dreamstime is a distinguished leader in stock photography, a major supplier of high quality digital images to the world's largest advertising agencies, national and international magazines, and film and television production companies. Today, with more than 13.7 million images, Dreamstime is currently the second leading agency in total customers with more than 12 million unique visitors monthly to the site, making it one of the most popular web sites in the world. The acceleration in numbers overall makes it the fastest growing stock photo agency worldwide. In addition to the current 447,825 free images available, Dreamstime's active gallery is updated by the second with photos from the site's 134,500-plus contributors. For more information on Dreamstime, please visit: www.Dreamstime.com.