Fun Things To Do In Myrtle Beach

When you’re here, the beach is your playground with over 60 miles of sand, sun and sparkling Atlantic Ocean. And while a trip to our beach is a must when visiting the Myrtle Beach area, the fun extends beyond our shores to over thousands of area activities and attractions.

Myrtle Beach’s warm temperatures and abundant sunshine keep everyone playing outside, but take a break from the sand and try racing down a waterslide at one of the local  waterparks or visit one of the area’s many amusement parks for a thrilling roller coaster ride. Or check out some of the area’s most popular watersports, from thrilling banana boat rides to jet skiing to parasailing.

With two state parks and plenty of other outdoor attractions, exploring the Myrtle Beach area’s natural side and discovering the picturesque South Carolina landscape is always a favorite activity. Fishing is another favorite be it from a pier or a charter fishing boat.

Golfers will delight in our over 100 championship golf courses designed by legends like Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman and Robert Trent Jones. Be sure to check out some of the area’s best courses including the nine golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area that were selected among the “Best You Can Play” in South Carolina by Golfweek or the four Golf Digest selected for their “Top 100 Public Courses in America” list.

Shopaholics will be pleased in the wide array of fantastic stores in the Myrtle Beach area. Indulge at one of the areas upscale retail stores or enjoy outdoor shopping complexes while hunting for souvenirs. Bargain hunting is made easy here, too, with two outlet malls offering tons of different name brand stores to choose from.

The Myrtle Beach area has emerged as a hotspot for live family entertainment – offering the best in shows, music, dance, comedy, dinner theater, celebrity concerts, and movies.

Whether you’re planning your next trip for relaxation, exploration or excitement, the Myrtle Beach area delivers. With 60 miles of sandy beaches, endless shopping, wonderful dining, and plenty of family activities, your Myrtle Beach vacation is sure to be unforgettable.

This information was gathered from VisitMyrtleBeach.com

Rule Of Thirds

“The Rule Of Thirds”
By: Marc Henderson – MBP staff photographer .

Yep..the rule of thirds. It’s a very easy to apply compositional technique that’ll add to the quality of your photos!

Let’s say there’s a nice flower that you want a picture of or maybe one of your dog in the backyard?
That’s great, you have your subject. Now, divide the viewfinder into imaginary lines of thirds – horizontally and, or vertically or both. You know, like a grid.
A lot of cameras have a grid option that you can activate to make this easier. Now, just place the center of your subject on or around the imaginary or actual grid line.

Sometimes when you do this, you’ll find that you may have to move around some to make everything fit in the photo.

Ok, here’s the magic of the Rule Of Thirds. Depending on the area surrounding your subject, you can add a great deal of dynamics to your photo. Telling a bit of a story, in a photo, with your subject or just adding some “breathing room” to a photo can be very powerful as well.

Here’s some examples.

(Click on the photo for a larger size.)

First example:
Here’s a sign without and with grid lines. Notice how the sign is placed in the entire left third of the photo and the birds are in the lower right third with the beautiful blue sky as a background with the clouds in the right side third area.

Second example:
Let’s say you like the golf cart that you have for the day while out on the course. Ok..take a picture of the golf cart. Ah, then you notice the clubhouse in the background. Just back up a some and aim up and to the right, and you’ve added another element to your photo while keeping the golf cart prominent. More than just a golf cart photo now, huh?

Third example:
A direction sign among the shrubs on the cart path at the golf course. Now, just backup a bit and move the camera to the left to add the cart path and more of the shrub. See? That’s adding more related elements to make a more pleasing and interesting photo.

Whether you’re shooting horizontally or vertically, keep the Rule Of Thirds in mind the next time you’re taking pictures.

Give it a try and keep experimenting!

’till next.

Have fun.

Ready, Steady…shoot!

Ready, steady…shoot!

By: Marc Henderson – MBP Staff Photographer.

We’ve all seen and taken blurry photos, some are from being out of focus, but I’d bet that most were from camera shake. Camera shake comes from having a too slow a shutter speed, for the conditions, to make a sharp exposure.

When there’s plenty of light, like on a sunny day, camera shake doesn’t happen that often, but when it’s overcast or the photo that you want to take is in a very shady spot or even indoors, then camera shake can be a bit of a problem

We could attach our cameras to a tripod every time we take a picture, but who wants to do that? You can also activate the flash, but that’s not always appropriate in how you might want to capture the image.

My general rule of thumb, in natural light with a handheld camera, is hold the camera firmly and steady.

When I say firmly, I not just talking about holding the camera with a firm grip, but also bracing your arms against your body, your head making contact with the camera as you compose the photo through your viewfinder. Also, keep your left hand under the camera with the lens being supported with the part of your hand between the thumb and fingers.

You can see what I’m talking about in these two photos. In the first example, you can see the fella just standing there with the camera at his face. His elbows are out, face is not against the camera and his feet are side by side.

In second photo, his arms are firmly against his body, face is against the camera and his right foot is behind his left.

Ah..See what I’m getting at? Just those few actions can really steady things and help you get that sharp photo that you’re wanting.

This kind of stuff will become second nature after a while.

Have fun.

Till next time…

All Charged Up

“All Charged Up”

By: Marc Henderson – MBP staff photographer.

All our modern cameras need batteries…duh, Marc. heh.

Yes’em, I’m here to talk a bit about batteries today. Some of it you might have already have known and some you might not have known.

First of all, treat your batteries with a little respect and kindness and you’ll will probably not miss those snapshots that you’ve wanted to get and more importantly, the ones you weren’t expecting!

Here’s some tips: I recommend nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries above the rest. They’re cheap, easy to acquire and with a little care, will last quite a long time. They will pay for themselves many times over alkalines.

If you use your flash often, especially a hot shoe mounted flash, alkalines will get hot and become a bit inefficient as well not being very “Green”.

In the photo below, I have a couple of nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) AA batteries. If you notice on the label, there are numbers followed by mAh. That stands for milliamps per hour. That’s how much current can flow from the battery under demand.

Think about it like this, your kitchen faucet will allow less water to flow when it’s not all the way open and more when it is. A 2000 mAh battery will allow more current flow than a 1800 mAh. What does that mean? Well, if you are using your flash often, the flash has to build up a bit of power from your batteries. A lower mAh number can make you wait a little longer, especially when you need more light produced by the flash! How many times have you or someone else have been taking pictures and the flash didn’t go off? Yep..you might just have lost a bit of the moment and the shot itself!

Also, if you camera uses AA batteries for the camera operation and the built in flash, that can hold things up even more so. The next time you’re battery shopping, try to buy higher mAh rated batteries. AA rechargeables range from 1300 – 2900 mAh.

Another tip is recharging. Try to run your batteries down before you put them in your charger. I recommend not using a rapid charger because the rapid chargers substantially degrade and shorten the batteries’ useable life. The regular “overnight” chargers usually hold more batteries and some even can accommodate AAA and other sizes .

Buy a couple of sets of rechargeables batteries. When one set runs down, you’ll have the second set ready to go. That goes for the specific batteries that a lot of cameras and equipment use besides just AAs.

Getting back to alkalines for a minute. I think it’s a good idea to get a new pack of AA batteries and put them in you camera bag or glove compartment in your car…just in case, to use in a pinch.

An additional note here. The battery in the photo that reads “15 minute rechargeable”, I slow charge those as well. I suspect that’s a bit of marketing there. heh. From my experience, those “15 minute” NiMH batteries seem to degrade and wear out as fast over their lifetime just like regular NiMH batteries often do when constantly recharged with a quick charger.

I geeked out today, huh? heh.

’til next time.

Have fun.

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