I love photography...but im am seriously no expert, all my shots I feel are pure fluke with having a camera thats does the work for me I have a Kodak Easyshare Z812is. Its one of those big black chuncky ones....lol...see!!! I have no idea on what im talking about...LOL (one day im going to read the manual)LOL It was tricky to get a good shot in the begining but now they are coming better shots. Im not completely happy with alot of my shots, especially flash shots with broms. Sure it brings out the underlying neon colours in leaves but its not natural at all. I now have to set my camera to NO flash in my brom house ALL the time or I end up with the camera automaticly using flash. Just like Todd said, keep trying different things. I can get rather frustrated with my camera because I dont know how to use it that well...im still in beginners stage. Some pics come out good and some dont....as I said in the early part of this post...its all fluke I feel...LOL I have worked out that with my camera and my brom house, my broms dont like being photographed early in the morning when its sunny..LOL...they get this fake light all over them and they look horrid. It seems to wash out their colour. But If I take shots of them when its afternoon the sun is lighting differently in there. Rainy moments are always the best. I love how the water makes them glow all their colours that are deep in them and gives them that glossed over look that shows no shadows. Yep , Angles are a must to master when photographing a brom in my opinion. Gosh arnt they so photogenic. They can look glorious in different angles, yet some angles are not flattering for them at all. This is why a few shots of the same brom is good. I would say im probably in the same boat as yourself when it comes to how you experiment and your know how. Keep on shooting Cheers Germaine

Reflections are a challenge, aren't they? I've been in your shoes, helping out a friend & here is my experience. I don't have any success using the camera flash which bounces straight back. And since I don't have a hotshoe, I can't set up flash from any other direction. But I have had success by setting up a bunch of lights from assorted directions. I use 2 or 3 clamp-on lights with bright bulbs which can be angled up or down from the side. I also have a couple of floor lamps which I set around. You'll probably need a multi-outlet bar to plug everything into (some nicely have a switch which let you turn everything off & on with one click.) A tripod is essential for a long exposure. You would be surprised how helpful a sheet or two of white cardboard (even a pizza box but larger is better) is to bounce even light onto the picture. Move it around & you will find the right spot to brighten the painting . You might need a friend to hold it in the best place. I also have had success going outdoors with the natural light. Working in a shadowed area or overcast day is preferred. To avoid reflections if shooting glass surfaced art I use a large (4x8) sheet of black matte-surfaced foam board and shoot from a slight angle. Again, the white board will be very helpful in providing a generalized soft light on the surface. The artificial light will cause color imbalances so you should correct this in your camera to minimize later corrections. You might have to experiment with different settings to get the color about right. Hope this helps. ~Alice

Thats sounds like an interesting concept........might have to look into it.........thanks.

All my Flickr pictures are public, Lydia. Glad you're enjoying them! I usually go to a cemetery carrying a list of photo requests. If it's a small cemetery, I hope to find the requested gravestone on my own. I did well this time, but this doesn't usually happen. It helps to contact the cemetery manager. Quite often I suspect a very old stone has fallen over, or sunk, or become so smooth with age that the text is unreadable. So while I'm there, I wander around and take pictures of old gravestones at random. Then when I put them on my monitor I look to see if FindAGrave needs them or not. If the deceased person is not listed on FindAGrave for that cemetery, I create a memorial and add the photo. If a memorial is already on the website, but needs a photo, I add mine. If a memorial exists with a photo, I don't do anything with mine. Yes, I can think of two, possibly three, small cemeteries where I photographed every stone in the place. This time I found several stones that disagree with the information already posted for those persons on FindAGrave (different dates, different spellings). I'll contact the people who manage those memorials and point these things out to them.