Virginia, VA

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a Southeastern state historically considered part of the Southern region of the United States of America.

It is named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was known as the Virgin Queen because she never married.

The Virginia Colony was the first part of the Americas to be continuously inhabited by English (following the 1707 Acts of Union, British) colonists from its founding as a European colony up to the American Revolution.

It included area explored by the 1584 expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh along the coast of North America, and at one time it also included Bermuda (or Virgineola).

The Virginia Company of London became incorporated as a joint stock company by a proprietary charter drawn up on April 10, 1606.

The charter granted lands stretching from approximately the 34th parallel (North Carolina) north to approximately the 45th parallel (New York) and from the Atlantic Ocean westward.

The Third Charter of 1612 extended its boundaries far enough across the Atlantic to incorporate Bermuda, which the company had possessed since 1609.

The commonwealth was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution to form the United States of America. Virginia is known as the "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Woodrow Wilson), more than any other state.

Most of the United States' early presidents were from the state. Virginia has also been known as the "Mother of States" (sometimes "Mother of States and Statesmen") because portions of the original Colony subsequently became Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, as well as some portions of Ohio.
 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Virginia".

Landscape Photography Tips - Take Landscapes Like A Pro

by Michael Kitada

After pointers on portraits, I believe most photographers need and want landscape photography tips. Where to place the horizon is so crucial to landscape photography, yet looking at most images, photographers don't apply basic rules.

The 1/3rd 2/3rds Landscape Rule - Not everyone photographs people only.

So, how to compose a beautiful landscape that will make the viewers want to go there or at least admire your photograph?

Place your horizon line in either the lower or upper horizontal third of the frame. This rule accentuates either the sky or the land and gives a pleasing weight to either. Most photographers make the mistake of bisecting the horizon exactly in the middle, which is so boring to the eye that all of the energy of the scene is lost and the viewer loses interest and moves on. The 7/8 1/8 Landscape Rule for greater impact -

Whenever you want to emphasize your land or sky to a greater degree, try this landscape photography tip, place the horizon either very low in the frame, say about an 1/8 of the way down which leaves a massive amount of sky in the frame.

For example, a day when you have beautiful white puffy clouds sailing across the sky. You don't need to show the ground, or much of it. So, show mostly clouds and you have a professional looking and composed image of spectacular clouds!

This works for buildings or mountains, too! - Does your image consist mostly of buildings? Try this rule on them, too. Make the buildings 2/3rds of the frame and the sky 1/3rd. This gives a nice composition that can accentuate exactly what you want and makes it pleasing to the eyes. Mountains and trees follow this rule, too.

Lastly, consider your depth of field when photographing a landscape.

For most landscapes photos a large depth of field is required and desired to keep all of the elements as sharply in focus as possible. So, one way to achieve this with a point-and-shoot camera is to adjust your ISO, thus requiring less light and increasing the f stop which increases the depth of field.

Or on a DSLR just adjusting the f-stop to a larger number will increase the depth of field, too. Do you get the shakes? Try a tripod or bracing yourself against a rock or tree to ensure rock steady photos that have no blur or camera shake in them. Try these landscape photography tips to create photographs that will impress your closest friends and relatives.

About the Author

Michael Kitada is a professional photographer with more than 20 years experience. His work has appeared in People Magazine, Forbes, TV Guide and the cover of Newsweek magazine. To learn more digital photography secrets visit: http://www.takebetterphotosnow.com