俗話說，不想當元帥的士兵不是好士兵。不想得獎的攝影愛好者不是@*($&*(@&$。雲師是俺在這裏很佩服的一 位不但作品好、而且人品也好的攝影高手。(請雲師原諒俺在這裏不稱你為大師，原因俺以後會另外發帖子說明！)。還有一位能夠比較一針見血點到問題實質的是 “車頭”。希望各位今後多注意這二位的帖子和建議。U96說話比較直，和俺一樣，但是多數時間說的還是比較到位滴。
對俺們這樣的初學者來說，少走彎路，是最重要的。像前輩學習，是很重要的一個途徑。但是前輩有很多種，風格也各不相同。因此，俺今天把俺壓箱底的想法和各位(主要是初學者)吐血奉獻一下。
小平同誌生前教導我們：不管白貓黑貓，能抓住老鼠的就是好貓！俺借用一下他老人家的名言：靈活地應用在攝影上就是：不管前妻(期)後妻(期)，能得獎的就是好妻！因此，俺從一開始就十分注意各大網站、雜誌關於對投稿競賽作品的要求，深感受益匪淺。這裏和各位分享一下國家地理雜誌(NG)有關攝影作品的要求。同時要補充一句：所有進入NG候選獲獎作品，必須提交原始的RAW file!
A message from the Director of Photography of National Geographic:
Please do not digitally enhance or alter your photographs (beyond the basics needed to achieve realistic color balance and sharpness). If you have digitally added or removed anything, please don't submit the shot. We look at every photo to see if it's authentic, and if we find that yours is in any way deceptive, we'll disqualify it.
DODGING AND BURNING: Dodging (to brighten shadows) or burning (to darken highlights) is OK, but it should be minimal. Do not overdo it. Your goal in using digital darkroom techniques should be only to adjust the dynamic tonal range of an image so that it more closely resembles what you saw. And don't oversaturate the color.SOLARIZATION, MEZZOTINT, DUOTONE, ETC.: No. If you use one of the myriad alteration "filters" available in your digital photo software, please stop.
BLACK-AND-WHITE IMAGES: OK.HAND-TINTED IMAGES: OK, but only if you're experienced in this art.
CROPPING: OK, if it makes the photo better.STITCHED PANORAMAS: OK, but only if the segments were all made within the same time frame. We don't want panoramas with sections made at significantly different times. Do not change focal length when you create a stitched image. Do not stretch the meaning of panorama to include elements that weren't in the scene as you saw it. If your entry is a stitched image, please indicate this in the caption. (A stitched panorama is created from multiple images, each taking in a different angle of view from the same position, then combined using digital techniques. It results in a wider view than can be achieved with most wide-angle lenses.)
FISH-EYE LENSES: OK, but enter at your own risk - editors tend to dislike such optical gimmicks.HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGES (HDRI): OK, but like panoramas, only if the combined parts are made at about the same time. We don't want final images where the foreground was shot at noon and the sky at sunset. If your entry is an HDRI image, please indicate this in the caption. (An HDRI image is created from multiple images of exactly the same scene, made rapidly but at different exposures, then combined using digital darkroom techniques. The final image, when done successfully, allows one exposure for shadows to be combined with another for highlights to produce a final image that has a greater dynamic range than is possible with a single exposure.)
Ben Canales sprawls in the snow under the starry sky above Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Caneles's long-exposure photograph, made using a timer on his camera, is the winner of the 2011 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest.
