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As a small business owner or entrepreneur, there are times when it is critical to have some extra help. But hiring a full time or in-house assistant can present a financial challenge. Not only do you fork out money for salary expenses, but you need to consider the administrative and regulatory costs, such as payroll tax and social security benefits, plus benefits such as health insurance. There may be other headaches, such as human resources types of laws about paid time off, lunch breaks, drug testing and so on. Because of the huge amount of costs and regulatory burdens, many of us entrepreneurs decide that it’s cheaper to do the work ourselves, even though we’re exhausted and don’t really have the time.
There’s a solution that won’t cost an arm and a leg and that will allow you to have some modicum of a life outside the office: Hiring a virtual assistant.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A “virtual assistant” is a temporary worker who works for your business over the Internet. Since you may be miles — if not continents — away from the virtual assistant, it is likely that you will never meet your assistant.
Quality Control Issues
Virtual assistants are somewhat anonymous and common wisdom dictates that you have no idea upfront whether or not you will be getting a qualified assistant. Because of the anonymous nature of the Internet, hiring a virtual assistant is akin to online dating.
For example, if you are trying to meet someone in an online dating environment, you might think you’re communicating with a stud, based on the photo. In reality, he might be slovenly, smelly and missing his front teeth. You really don’t know what you’re getting into until you personally meet the online date. Hiring a virtual assistant is similar — The applicant might tell you all kinds of great stuff but unbeknown to you, the “virtual assistant” might be a felon sitting in jail or a 12 year old playing a prank.
That’s why, when it comes to hiring a qualified virtual assistant, if you cannot meet contractor in person, you need an intermediary who will screen the assistants and match your business with the most cost effective, quality service providers.
Based in China, BPOVIA is a leader in the outsourcing industry and can save your business up to 60% of administrative staffing costs. The testimonials on BPOVIA’s web site attest to the fact that BPOVIA is a worldwide leader when it comes to matching you with a virtual assistant. All of its management associates are not only proficient in English, but are experienced business professionals who understand your business needs and priorities. Many of them have been educated at the top schools in the United States. The bottom line is that BPOVIA’s staff understands your concerns about quality and cost when it comes to outsourcing.
Types of Assistants Available from BPOVIA
BPOVIA can connect your business with the following types of virtual assistants:
• Administrative Assistant
• Web Designer
• Research Assistant
• CAD Designer
• Data Entry Assistant
• Personal Assistant
• Graphic Designer
• Bookkeeper — Accountant
• Marketing Assistant
• Customer Service Representative / Assistant
• Consultant
• Legal Assistant
• Translator
Hiring a Virtual Assistant from BPOVIA — And an Awesome Offer
To hire your virtual assistant, you sign up with BPOVIA and select the terms; i.e., a monthly plan, a project plan, or a pay-as-you-go plan. BPOVIA matches you up with a qualified virtual assistant and after payment, gives you his or her email address as well as a manual. There is a daily contact form as well as a time-phased report. At the end, you can evaluate the assistant’s performance.
If you’re nervous about whether BPOVIA’s assistants are competent, BPOVIA has an incredible “try before you buy” offer, in which you get a free hour of virtual assistant work. To sweeten the deal, you get a free hour of virtual assistant work for every referral. Refer 40 businesses or people, and you get a full 40 hour work week from a virtual assistant, absolutely free.
China Market Research and Development
Not only does BPOVIA offer an innovative “try before you buy” option, but it also sets itself apart from other outsourcing services with its market research and development services for business who want to tap into the Chinese marketplace.
With a strong understanding of the fast-growing business climate in China, BPOVIA can help you from the ground up, beginning with market research to representing your business at Chinese trade shows. BPOVIA offers an extensive interpretation service so that you can get your advertising message or contracts translated into Chinese, or vice versa.
Conclusion
BPOVIA is more than an outsourcing service. It is a business connection in China. Visit BPOVIA today and try out the free hour of virtual assistant work.
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This review written by Urbain Beck.
Be ready for anything! In today’s world of hurricanes, floods and other disasters, it’s always a good idea to be prepared. And if you’re on the road for business or pleasure, you to be ready for any emergency, disaster or accident.
Do you know how to survive if you become stranded alone while on a hike or out camping? What type of survival gear will you need? That depends on the environment that you find yourself in.
Without the best survival gear, you had better be trained and lucky, because survival can be much more difficult! No matter your survival skill level, it is a lot more practical to be well equipped and have a will to survive. Our survival kit recommendations will help you decide on the best kit or equipment to buy.
Times are tough. Prices of everything are rising and the average family is being squeezed financially. As we try to fill our gas tanks and pay for groceries, we all wonder where we can cut costs and help stretch our dollar. I have a dollar stretching idea for you – free samples. Many companies give away free samples of their products and will mail them to you at no charge.
Free Stuff Headquarters has several directories of totally free samples available on the internet. This site does not list any of the scams that we get used to seeing at the “free stuff” sites we are used to. Everything on Free Stuff Headquarters is totally free stuff.
Looking for a swanky candle holder for your chic room? This Eiffel Tower candle holder is perfect for the eclectic decorator in you. A fabulous conversation piece too! Order the Eiffel Tower Candle Holder here now.
When it comes to having an online business, you absolutely must have a reliable web host. The most technologically savvy and aesthetic site in the world is useless if no one can access it.
Web Hosting Geeks have taken the time to review and recommend the top ten hosting services for the year 2008. If you don’t want to waste a bunch of time finding a reliable host … or waste time and effort in getting a site set up, only to have the server crash, it’s worth your while to check out Web Hosting Geeks’ list at the outset of your Internet project. To be included in the “top ten list,” the hosting plan must:
Tips for the Technically Challenged
What I like about Web Hosting Geeks’ service is that advice is given in “plain English” that will help non-technical people choose their web hosting service. Articles include “A Simple Guide to Web Hosting” and “Web Hosting Data Transfer: How Much Is Too Much?,” which explains bandwidth and why it should be considered in selecting a hosting service. Web hosting articles are updated regularly, giving newcomers to the industry the latest useful information.
Reviews for Heavy Internet Users
For Internet addicts like me, Web Hosting Geeks offers some other useful reviews, such as independent evaluations of the top dedicated server providers and top reseller providers. Quite frankly, I wish I had found Web Hosting Geeks years ago and I would have saved a lot of money.
Types of Reviews
Web Hosting Geeks is not just another list of hosting company affiliate programs. The staff at Web Hosting Geeks evaluates various web hosting services for their:
Users like you also post their reviews, revealing information about their experience from a personal point of view. Some of these reviews describe poor customer service or tech support; others generally correspond with the Web Hosting Geeks’ recommendations. As a visitor to Web Hosting Geeks, you can vote on whether a user’s review was helpful to you or you can submit your own review. The dynamic nature of this review site maintains a fresh and honest perspective on the web hosting recommendations.
If you’ve spent time and money creating a great website, find a quality hosting service by visiting Web Hosting Geeks right now. The information is invaluable.
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Review of Web Hosting Geeks’ service written by Urbain Beck
This past Christmas, my mother told me that my brother gave her a digital photo frame with a bunch of cool pictures from the year’s past events. While I did not admit it to her, I had no idea what a digital photo frame was. This prompted me to learn more about digital photo frames. By the end of the process, I was — and continue to be — impressed!
The Old Days of Digital Photos
When we first started using our digital cameras, we’d share photos with family and friends by giving them a CD full of pictures, or else sending them by email. Printing digital photos can get expensive, so the pictures generally remained in some obscure electronic file instead of in an album. Typically, the CDs ended up in a junk drawer somewhere and the emails eventually got deleted. The more ambitious of us uploaded the photos to a file sharing area, blog or web page but again, if Grandma didn’t have a computer, she never got to enjoy the pictures unless they were printed out.
Finally, there’s a solution that makes digital photos fun and engaging — and even Grandma can look at them because computer access is not necessary and they don’t have to be printed out for non-computer users.
Digital Picture Frames Will Let You Share Your Photos Easily
A digital picture frame is something that’s physical. You can touch it. You can place it where ever you want in your home. Other people can look at it and enjoy your images.
The digital photo viewer presents pictures that are stored on a memory card that you plug into your viewer. Since it does not read pictures on a “hard drive,” per se, you can easily switch out what you want to display by simply replacing the memory card with another one that has new material. Of course, if you just have one memory card, you can always update or replace the material that is on it.
It Gets Better - Share Your Movie Clips, Too!
Sharing pictures is a great feature, but a digital photo frame lets you share movies. JPEG, MP4, DivX, AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MP3, WMA, WAV formats are all supported in the viewer. As you know, most of the formats I just mentioned have sound with them. A fantastic feature is that it can play music in the background -or- it can play the sound that you recorded in your movie.
Digital photo frames come with built-in speakers, but you can also amplify the sound by plugging in external speakers. If privacy is an issue, plug in your headphone set.
Powering Your Unit
Obviously, your memory card will only give your digital photo frame something to view. It’ll need some “juice.” Each frame comes with a 9v adapter. Just plug it into your power outlet and your digital image viewer and you’re on your way!
Other Features
Digital picture frames area available in 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 15 inch screens. Choose the “look” of your frame from a variety of materials (like wood or metal), colors and textures so that you can coordinate the frame with your home decor. Digital picture frames also comes with a remote control that you can use to adjust your settings or use to browse through your pictures or movies.
Conclusion: Digital Picture Frames Bring Life to Family Memories
Forget about dusty old scrapbooks or photo albums that are buried somewhere in a closet. Toss those CDs away and don’t worry about burning through $30 in ink this weekend because you have to print out your digital images. With their audio capability, ability to store huge amounts of images (that you can set to scroll automatically), their movie-playing ability and sleek appearance, digital photo frames will bring life to your family memories.
Learn more about a digital picture frame at DigitalFramez.com.
~~~Urbain Beck
For those of us who are interested in erasing wrinkles, crows feet and other signs of aging, we all know that collagen is the key for skin repair. As a matter of fact, collagen injections have been one of the top ten cosmetic procedures performed in the United States since they were approved by the FDA nearly 25 years ago.
If you don’t want injections, there are a variety of skin care products that can be applied at home. One of the most successful is Hydroderm, which has a patented collagen delivery system and also hydrates the epidermis. The result is that after 14-21 days of continuous use, Hydroderm has been known to dramatically reduce signs of aging.
Many online sites that sell Hydroderm will offer a free sample, but you have to give your credit card information and will be billed every month for automatic shipments of the product. If you are not sure that this is the route for you, I found a fantastic website that gives you a 30% discount on the product. The suggested retail price for a 1-ounce bottle of Hydroderm is $79.95. At NetNutri, you can get it for just $39.99 for the same bottle.
Not only will you find a great deal on Hydroderm, but NetNutri offers deeply discounted prices on popular diet aids and other health and beauty supplements. You will save up to 60% on popular fitness and beauty products. Check them out today.
Although I registered with the national do not call list, I still receive annoying telephone calls from telemarketers. The worst offenders are alleged police departments that are soliciting funds for fallen officers.
Typically, the caller starts out friendly enough and then asks for money to support the family of an officer who was either wounded or killed in the line of duty. If I happen to pick up the phone and talk with these people, they start asking for credit card information as soon as I express sympathy for the family. When I refuse to give my credit card information and insist that they send something by mail or prove who they are, these people get downright hateful, accusing me of being unsympathetic to the plight of the family.
The phone number generally shows on my phone’s caller ID, but it does not identify the caller. For instance, I might get a number like 954-370-6846 (note: This is an example only and not intended to link the number with a disreputable caller) but it does not say such-and-such police department in the caller ID panel.
I also occasionally get phone calls from companies alleging to be my credit card provider, asking for information so that they can enroll me in an identity theft program. When I ask them to send the information to my mailing address on file with the credit card company, they usually get very insistent and irritated. Again, as with the alleged police departments, they eventually hang up; that is, if I don’t hang up on them first!
If you have gone through a nasty divorce or breakup with a significant other, sometimes your estranged partner will harrass you by calling you from a number that you do not recognize. These types of calls, or calls from teenage pranksters, can be particularly annoying — especially if you cannot trace information about the phone number in which the call originated.
Tracing Telephone Numbers Using a Reverse Search
If you get these and other types of harrassing phone calls, there’s a way to find out where they originated, using a reverse phone search database.
Provided by Caller Base, the reverse phone number lookup may be more comprehensive than other services. This is because their reverse phone search database includes millions of cell phone numbers and landline telephones within the United States and Canada. Their information is constantly updated to be up-to-date and accurate. Many other reverse telephone lookup services do not include cell phones, or their information is out of date.
If you do not have caller ID, you can find out the number that the annoying or harassing call came from by pressing *57. Sometimes, missed calls from unknown phone numbers or an unknown number will appear in your phone bill. If using a cell phone, click your “missed calls” feature and the number should appear.
Once you have the phone number where the harassing, prank or annoying call came from, visit Caller Base and type in the number in their free reverse phone search database and the results will show the phone number’s owner information such as name, address, city, state, line type, phone carrier details and more.
Privacy Concerns
Occasionally, a phone number will not show up in the free reverse phone number search. This is because the number may be associated with an unlisted cell phone or land line. Privacy laws ensure that these numbers are not a public record. In this situation, you will need to pay for the infromation. With a nominal payment, Caller Base can locate the information for you.
Additionally, and in compliance with current law, Caller Base does not use privacy-infringing methods such as GPS or Wi-Fi tracking to find a cell phone’s current location.
Conversely, your privacy is also important to Caller Base. What this means to you that all lookups, whether free or paid, are fully confidential. No one will be notified if you search for their phone number.
What To Do Once You’ve Identified the Caller
You can file a complaint at the National Do Not Call Database. You might also want to either contact your local law enforcement if the calls appear to be threatening or in violation of a court order and, if you think you are receiving unlawful business solicitations, contact your state attorney general’s office. If law enforcement or the attorney general’s office cannot help you, they will let you know where you can get assistance.
Conclusion
Your first step in stopping annoying, harassing and threatening telephone calls is to identify the caller. You can do that right now by conducting a search at Caller Base’s reverse phone search database. Try the free version first and if the information is private, seriously consider paying for the unlisted number information. After all, your security and safety may be on the line.
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This is a commercial review written by Urbain Beck
Yesterday the NY Times ran an article headlined, “Average U.S. Income Showed First Rise Over 2000″.
The big claim is that after peaking in 2000, incomes fell, bottoming in 2003, and have now climbed back to make new highs in 2006.
The author examines IRS data showing average Adjusted Gross Income and Wages and Salaries as reported on US tax returns. The numbers quoted are a bit confusing - some are adjusted to 2006 dollars, some are totals and some are averages. Read more about this issue in PricedInGold.com’s article, “US Income Rises?”
At Priced In Gold, you can learn more about the value of gold and other economic issues in a free podcast. We provide a tollfree number so that you can call with your questions or comments. Priced In Gold also publishes a free newsletter so that you can learn more about how you can protect your wealth and build it faster by pricing your investments in gold.
It’s great to have your vehicle paid off — except when that vehicle is so old that you’re nervous about driving it.
For awhile, I refused to get a new car until it dawned on me when working my budget that the monthly repairs on my existing vehicle were costing more than a car payment would cost. The financial issues were not as bad as the general “nervous” feeling I had whenever I had to take a trip. I didn’t know if my jeep would stall in the middle of traffic, would break down in the middle of nowhere, or would even start in the morning so I could get to work on time.
These days, no matter what your credit rating, it is pretty easy to get auto loans. The best part is that you can get the loan online and then walk into the dealership with confidence because you know you are already approved for vehicle financing. The days of choosing a great car and then waiting nervously while the dealer tries to get you approved for a loan are over. Nowadays, you can get an auto loan online and simply walk into the dealership with check in hand.
When I decided it was time to finally get a new car, I applied for auto loans on the Internet and qualified for financing immediately, with a fantastic interest rate. I had a choice of a 5-year loan or a 7-year loan when I made the application. The application process was easy and took maybe three minutes at the most. Once I had my loan, the financing company that I chose to go with mailed me a check right away that I presented at the dealership. This made buying a new vehicle fast, fun and easy because I knew upfront that I could pay for the car. As a mater of fact, buying a new vehicle took about four hours. First, I test drove a few models and then, after figuring out what fit my budget, gave the dealership the check and drove away. The longest part of the process was test-driving!
If you’re ready to take the plunge and buy a new car, go online and apply for an auto loan first. At Apex Auto Loan, you can obtain your financing in the next three minutes. Auto loan approvals are fast and easy through Apex Auto Loan. You don’t have to get a new car — the loan will also cover used vehicle purchases.
Whether you have perfect credit, bad credit, little credit, or even no credit, Apex Auto Loan will help you with your approval immediately. For those with little or poor credit, auto loans are a great way to establish a credit history, thus increasing your overall credit score.
Visit Apex Auto Loans and get your car financing right now. It’s free to apply.
Dejar is a web-based electronic document archiving solution. Dejar facilitates the storage and management of high volumes of electronic documents with excellent disk space efficiency, delivering documents at high speeds. It is intended to manage all types of personalised documents such as letters, invoices, bank statements and cheques.
As a basic feature, Dejar processes the original spool files - data that is usually sent to high-volume printers. In fact it behaves like a high-volume printer itself, analysing data and storing individual components along with indexing information. These parts are then reconstructed when the document is requested and delivered as a complete document to the client. Because Dejar works like a high-volume printer, the document the client will receive is a precise dot-for-dot copy of the document originally printed.
The WholeFood Farmacy is proud to offer Cranberry Crunch. Cranberry Crunch is a combination of whole grain roasted corn and cranberries. The whole grain nutrition of roasted corn, along with the incredible antioxidant powers of Cranberries, offers an incredible taste sensation. It’s a fantastic alternative to processed junk foods and it packs a potent nutritional punch. This delicious and healthy treat is sure to please and it’s a favorite of kids everywhere. While visiting our site and finding out about our products be sure to check out our “Wellness Center” and learn how this and our other products can lead you to a healthier life!
Carroll Shelby was a racing legend even before his entry into the history books as a Ford Mustang tuner. His victory at Le Mans and fame behind the wheel of Allards is what drove Ford to turn to him with the effort of turning the sports coupe Mustang into a true racing vehicle.
While the production numbers of Shelby Mustangs is low, the influence these cars had on the industry is impressive. They began a tradition of racing legends and auto manufacturers turning out special production vehicles in low numbers but with great appeal. While Shelby ended his relatonship in the early 70s with Ford, their paths would cross again when in 2005 Ford released the latest iteration of the Mustang legend.
1965 Early Mustang
The first Shelby version of the Mustang appeared in 1965. All 1965 Shelbys were painted Ford “Wimbledon White” with optional Guardsman Blue stripes. Although most of the 1965 Shelbys you see on the road today have Le Mans stripes, less than forty percent of the 1965 GT 350s came factory equipped with them. All GT 350s featured rocker panel stripes with the GT350 name. The engine was a modified K-code 289 cublic inch Windsor V8 with special “Cobra” valve covers, tri-Y headers, a special intake manifold and Holley carburetor increased power from 271 to 306 hp.
Approximately the first 300 GT 350s produced were “rear battery” cars, meaning the car’s batteries were trunk-mounted. Customer complaints of acid-fumes led to the creation of the Cobra Battery Caps, which vented the acid fumes outside of the car by way of hoses exiting through the trunk floor panels. An estimated 50 1965 GT 350s (around serial number 200) came equipped with the very rare Cobra battery caps. Vehicle production changed shortly thereafter, leaving the battery in the engine compartment. Today, the most desirable of the 1965 GT 350s are the units with factory installed rear batteries.
1966 Shelby Mustangs
The 1966 was different in body color (non-white versions were introduced - colors included blue, red, green and black, as well as the original white) and trim. The “Le Mans” stripes were continued as an option, as in 1965. It featured special quarter-panel windows and rear air scoops on each side and an optional automatic transmission. A fold-down rear seat was now standard as well. Where early 1965 cars had black engine blocks, 1966 and later cars had the 289 engine painted blue.
The first 252 GT-350s for 1966 were “carry-over” cars. They had the 1965 Ford Mustang Bodies and 1965 Ford Mustang serial numbers under their Shelby serial numbers. They had mostly 1965 features including standard Koni shock and Engines painted black. Blue engines did not occur in 1966 until after these 252 “carry-over” models were produced. 1966 production was 1373 fastbacks including (2) prototypes and (4) drag cars and (252) “carry-over” models with Ford Mustang 1965 bodies. 1001 Hertz fastbacks were produced including (2) prototypes. 4 convertibles were also produced for a total of 2378 units for 1966.
Shelby struck a deal with the Hertz Corporation to produce a special line of GT350s for rent which were subsequently sold to the public after their rental-car lives were finished. These GT350H cars are quite rare and sought-after today, with some examples selling for more than $420,000. Shelby produced 1,000 of these cars: 800 in Raven Black, and 50 each in Candy Apple Red, Wimbledon White, Sapphire Blue and Ivy Green. All Hertz cars featured gold LeMans stripes and rocker panel stripes. Early “Hertz” cars were available with 4 speed manual transmissions until so many cars were returned from rental with burned and broken clutch assemblies that all of the later cars shipped to Hertz were equipped with an automatic transmission. These cars tend to be abused in early life from hard usage in the rental car fleet. Good restored examples can be found.
1967 GT350s and GT500s
The new 1967 Mustang was followed with a new Shelby. It featured a 1967 Mercury Cougar tail light panel minus the chrome trim, a flip-up spoiler, and two sets of air scoops on each side. This was also the first American car to feature a factory roll bar. Surfaces such as the hood and trunk lid were made of fiberglass instead of steel for light weight and ease of manufacturering.
This year also saw the introduction of the GT500 alongside the continued GT350. The new GT500 featured a 428 cubic-inch big-block V8. This is also one of the most famous Shelby Mustangs.
A modified GT500 clone, known as “Eleanor”, was featured alongside Nicholas Cage in the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds. This modified GT500 body style is incredibly popular today, and is partially responsible for the resurgence of Shelby Mustang prices in recent years.
A convertible prototype of the GT500 was made in 1967, which was designated to be destroyed. Before Ford could destroy the prototype, it was stolen. The car was eventually recovered and sold as ‘68.
1968 GT350, GT500 and GT500-KR
The Shelby GT350 Mustangs were powered by a 302 cubic-inch V8 while the GT500 came equipped with the massive 428 cubic-inch Police Interceptor engine. In February of 1968, the GT500-KR became available and was considered the ultimate Shelby. Under the hood was a 428 cubic-inch Cobra-Jet V8 which produced 360 horsepower. The name ‘KR’ meaning ‘King of the Road’ was a quick marketing move by Carroll Shelby who had caught wind that Chevrolet was about to unleash a marketing campaign that featured the 1968 Corvette as the ‘King of the Road.’ After a quick copyright search, they found that the ‘KR’ and ‘King of the Road’ had not been copyrighted. Stickers, photos, and decals were quickly made by Shelby and his crew and placed on the new GT500.
1969 and 1970 GT350, GT500
Carroll Shelby terminated his agreement with Ford in the summer of 1969. The GT350 and GT500 for the 1969–70 model years received extensive facelifts, the body alone increasing in length by 4 inches. Ford was heavily involved with design and style decisions, with Shelby having very little input. Production of Shelby Mustangs ceased with the 1970 model year. The 1970 models were in fact left over 1969 models. VIN tags from 1969 Shelby’s were removed and replaced with 1970 Shelby VIN’s with careful supervision from FBI agents.
27/08/2008 - http://autobuynow.info
The way a subject is reproduced in a photograph can be very different from how it looked to you as you took the picture. When you cast your eye over a scene, everything in it seems more or less equally sharp, but sometimes in the finished shot only part of the subject appears acceptably sharp.
This zone of sharpness is called the depth-of-field, and it extends in front of and behind the point that you actually focused on. The size of the zone is determined by three key factors - the aperture of the lens, the focal length of the lens used, and the distance you are from the subject. Varying these three elements allows you almost complete control over the depth-of-field in a picture.
When most of the picture is sharp, we say there’s lots of depth-of-field. When only part is sharp, we say depth-of-field is limited. As we’ll see later, whether you go for extensive or limited depth-of-field depends upon the subject matter and how you want to depict it
Three main factors that can be used to control depth-of-field
The aperture.
There’s a simple, direct relationship between aperture and depth-of-field - the smaller the aperture, the more extensive the depth-of-field.
So if you want to keep as much as possible sharp, you should set as small an aperture as possible - preferably f/16, or even f/22 if your lens offers it.
Depending on lighting conditions and your film stock, you may need to use a tripod or some other form of support at such small apertures, as the resulting long shutter speeds create a risk of camera-shake.
If, however, you want to concentrate attention on just one part of the scene, and throw the rest out-of-focus, you should select a large aperture. Exactly how large this can be depends on the maximum aperture of the lens you’re using. On a 50mm standard lens it will be f/1.7, f/1.8 or f/2, but on a standard zoom it will typically be f/3.5 or f/4.5.
For general picture-taking, when you want most of the picture to be in focus, you might want to set a middling aperture of around f/8 to f/11.
This is what a program exposure mode sets when left to its own devices. Whenever possible you should take control of aperture selection and use either an aperture-priority or manual mode.
Four common techniques using depth-of-field
Use these four common approaches when planning a shot to ensure depth-of-field works for you
1 Everything sharp.
With subjects such as landscapes, groups, interiors and travel you’ll usually want to keep everything sharp. Using a wide-angle lens set to a small aperture will give you extensive depth-of-field, perhaps from around one meter through to infinity. But there will be times when foreground interest is closer than that. Here you need to resort to a neat little technique called hyperfocal focusing that allows you to increase the depth-of-field.
As a rule-of-thumb, there’s twice more depth-of-field behind the subject than in front of it. So if you photograph a distant subject such as a landscape and focus on infinity you waste lots of depth-of-field. By focusing a little closer, you’ll extend the depth-of-field at the front so it comes nearer to the camera, while still making sure that infinity falls within the depth-of-field behind the actual point of focus.
You can guess the hyperfocal focusing distance, but life is much easier if your lens is marked with a depth-of-field scale. This used to be regarded as an essential feature, but with the development of wide-ranging zooms many manufacturers now omit one. If you do have such a scale, simply line up the infinity mark against the mark for the aperture you’ve set and, although the image in the viewfinder will look out-of-focus, the finished image will be sharp from front to back.
2 Main subject sharp with background completely out-of-focus.
There are some subjects where you want the main subject to stand out strongly from an out-of-focus background. Portraiture, where the emphasis is on the person, rather than the location, is probably the most popular area. What you need here is a use a telephoto lens at its widest aperture. It’s also worth moving the subject as far away as possible from the background - in cramped studio situations this is often impossible but outside against a wall or foliage it’s usually easier. Take care, though, that you focus accurately, as the limited depth-of-field will be unforgiving of any focusing errors. For portraits focus on the eye for the best results.
3 Main subject sharp, with background out-of-focus but still recognisable.
Sometimes throwing the background completely out-of-focus is going too far. You want to show the subject in its natural environment, but with the background toned down to it doesn’t compete for attention. A person on the beach, for instance, an animal in the zoo, or a flower in a garden. Here a standard to short telephoto lens, somewhere from 50mm to 135mm, is ideal - especially if it’s coupled with a middle range aperture of around f/8.
4 Zone of sharpness deliberately limited.
Occasionally you may want to limit the depth-of-field to a very specific zone. Maybe in a portrait you want just the eyes in focus, and not even the ears or the tip of the nose. Here, once again, a depth-of-field scale on the lens helps, or, failing that a depth-of-field preview facility on the camera, This will give a visual indication of what will and won’t be in focus by manually stopping down the lens.
Summary
Overall, the practical use of depth-of-field can be summed up as follows:
27/08/2008 http://8×10cameras.com/
