Photography tips for Poker Fanatics in France

France - the legendary birthplace of Roulette - has a very long tradition of playing gambling games. The popular French game 'Poque' is thought to be the forerunner of modern poker. This lends itself perfectly to the story that modern poker derived from French settlers in the Louisiana basin before it moved up the Mississippi.

Despite poker being considered an American game which is most famously place in Las Vegas, the poker scene in France is very big too. The online world of poker is just as popular in France as the casinos. Poker fanatics can join a range of forums and brush up on their skills at partypoker.fr/how_to_play.html, as well as visit a variety of popular casinos like the Aviation Club de France. In France, there are entire rooms purely dedicated to slot machines which explains why this is France's main revenue.

In addition, France can lay claim to having hosted the first WPT tournament outside of America. France hosted the prestigious game in Paris' Aviation Club de France. In addition, France was the home of the European World Series of Poker in 2011.

Poker is not only fantastically interesting and thrilling to watch live, but it also makes an excellent scene for artsy photography. As a keen poker player and photographer, you might be interested in finding out how you can merge two of your hobbies together.

Slow Shutter Speed - Begin by setting your camera to the manual setting as this allows you to adjust everything from the shutter speed to the aperture. If you're playing poker indoors, then increase your ISO to around 1000 as this will let more light in. Sometimes players will flip their poker chips and catch them - this makes a really cool photo especially if it's shot using a slow shutter speed. The flying chip will be a blur in the air but the player will be in focus - this makes very artistic and eye catching photo.

Shallow Depth of Field - As the game progresses, the best players piles of chips will get bigger. Try photographing piles of chips using a shallow depth of field. This arty effect will focus on the chips closest to the lens and gradually blur out the ones in the background. Shallow depth of field photos are best achieved when using a fixed pancake lens like a 25mm or 30mm lens.

Editing - As you know, poker chips are bold and brightly colored. Make sure you bring out these colors when you are editing your photos by increasing the saturation and enhancing the contrast levels.