Please don't treat it a photography tutorial as you may find tons of this kind of websites within a few clicks. All I want is to share with you some interesting ideas that I come across every day, which I believe you - the creator of amazing art pieces, may be interested.
The first thing we learn from photography is always "Exposure". No matter you are using an ordinary point-to-shoot camera or a sophisticated DSLR, it is quite easy to get a "correct" exposure by simply dialing your camera to Automatic. But wait! Don't trust the machine completely as it sometimes lies. When you are not sure if you like your photo brighter or darker, the easiest way is Bracketing - take three photos, one slightly over-exposed, one correctly exposed, and one slightly under-exposed. It gives you a chance to compare and pick your favorite one without using Photoshop!
Will chat to you more next time. :)
Cheers,
May
When I took the first photo, I thought the rose was already quite nice...
But the color appears to be more vivid when I open up 1 stop.
