Browsing all posts in composition.

The Finer Points of Focus

Most of the time, unless we’re trying to achieve some sort of differing photographic effect, photographers are shooting for tack-sharp pictures. Here are some tips for taking sharp and well-focussed pictures. 1. Stability is key. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you want to take a picture that is perfectly focused [...]

Six Tips for Photographing Wildflowers

Spring is just around the corner (well, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere – our friends in Australia will be coming up on wintertime in a couple of months!). With spring comes wildflowers. I live in the desert of Arizona and we’re about to reach our peak wildflower season. Here are some tips [...]

Five Tips for Better Portraits

Portrait photography is not only a highly popular genre for professional photographers; it’s also a nearly unavoidable subject for photographers of every skill. Any time you compose a picture with a person as the subject, you’re taking a portrait. As the world of photography continues to develop, we strive to take portrait pictures that capture [...]

Curing Photographer’s Block

Writers aren’t the only folks who suffer from a “block” on occasion. It happens to photographers, too. There are times when we pick up the camera but aren’t inspired to shoot. We know we want the satisfaction of clicking shutters and full memory cards, but we’re just not feeling it at the moment. Here are [...]

Composition Tips – Simplicity

When composing a powerful or memorable photograph, keeping things simple often accomplishes the highest impact. The viewer can identify the subject of the photograph more easily, and appreciate its qualities. A photograph that is composed with simplicity in mind will often draw the viewer’s attention and emotion in a more significant way than a shot [...]

Tips for Focusing in the Dark

Taking a long exposure picture in dark conditions can be a challenge, because the camera’s auto-focus capabilities find it difficult to “see” a point of focus. Manual focus can be hard, too, because you can’t see what you’re trying to focus on through the viewfinder! In keeping with this month’s “long exposure” challenge, here are [...]

Composition Tips – Balance

Balance is a key concept when composing a photograph. However, “balance” does not necessarily mean “centered” or “symmetrical”. A photograph can be balanced even when the subject of focus is to one side. A photograph can be off-balance even if the subjects are perfectly aligned. Let’s look at some examples. In the shot of the [...]

Food Photography

I have a love that competes with my passion for photography. That love is for food. Actually, my cooking hobby came first – I have a vast collection of cookbooks, a website full of my Grandmother’s recipes (and my own creations), and I’m always messing around with something in the kitchen (and I must say, [...]

Review: Photo Recipes Live

I recently purchased Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes: Your Guide to Today’s Most Popular Lighting Techniques, the DVD/workbook combo by Scott Kelby. This product goes into detail about how the photographs were achieved in “Photo Recipes That Help You Get “The Shot”” – the final chapter of each of Kelby’s three Digital Photography Volumes. [...]

Inspiring Emotion – Technical or Talent?

Every bit of the knowledge that I have about photography and post-processing is self-taught. I learned by reading, by watching, by doing, by trying, by failing, and by trying again. I’ve often wondered about how much my photography might be improved if I pursued a formal education in the subject. Would my photography actually be [...]