Browsing all posts in Photography.

Review – The Digital Photography Book Volume 3

The Digital Photography Book, Volume 3 (Peachpit Press, copyright 2010) is Scott Kelby’s follow up to the first two volumes in the series – aptly named “The Digital Photography Book Volume 1″, and “…Volume 2″.  Scott uses his usual straightforward manner and unique brand of humor to describe some tips and tricks in his photographer’s [...]

Freelensing

While perusing the Internet for new photography techniques, I came across something referred to as “freelensing”. This technique is achieved by detaching the lens from the camera but holding it in place, then shifting the lens around to focus the shot. Shafts of light are “leaked” into the image, a high degree of bokeh is [...]

Photoshop CS3 – Create a Black and White Image

More often than not, instead of shooting a picture using my camera’s black and white (or “grayscale”) setting, I prefer to take color photographs and convert them to black and white. Rather than going to Image/Mode/Grayscale in Photoshop CS3 to turn a color photo into black and white, here is a new technique that I [...]

Free Photoshop Actions

Photoshop actions are a great way to quickly edit your photos to achieve the effect you want, and to also fix common issues with your images. They’re basically macros that are developed for Photoshop which, with a click of the mouse, will run through a series of adjustment steps for you, without you having to [...]

Destination Photography Workshops

Travel to exciting destinations while receiving expert instruction to expand your photography skills! Y Explore offers custom photography tours/workshops of Yosemite National Park. Learn techniques from expert photography instructors in the dramatic scenery that Yosemite is famous for. Photographic subjects during the tour include granite monoliths and domes, waterfalls, wildflowers, black bears, and other wildlife. [...]

Bokeh

The term bokeh refers to the out-of-focus areas of an image, when using a shallow depth-of-field to focus on something in the foreground of an image. To achieve it, simply focus on something in the foreground while using the lowest numbered f-stop possible on your camera/lens combination. Using the “macro” setting (typically a flower icon) [...]

Four Things Photography Has Taught Me

1. Patience.  It has never been my strong suit. Yet it is absolutely required to first learn photography, then to exercise what you’ve learned. I used to get frustrated because I couldn’t make the shot happen – the one that I envisioned within my mind’s eye. Now, I try more often (it’s still a work [...]

Timing is Everything

You have the latest gear. You have the most incredible setting. You have the best lighting. You’ve got all the know-how. But for some shots, some images, some memories… all that don’t mean nuthin’, baby, unless you’ve got great timing. Share your examples of great timing in the comments! Photo credits (in order of appearance): [...]

How It Was Done (Part Two)

Finishing up with what I started on the 10th, here are the techniques used for the last two photographs that I featured: Photo #3: “Light writing” is really easy and pretty darned entertaining. All you need is a light source (a glow stick or a flashlight works well), a dark room (or outside at night), [...]

How It Was Done (Part One)

Following up on yesterday’s post, here are the techniques used for the first two photographs that I featured: Photo #1: The photographer used excellent camera and lighting technique in order to capture this image of a drop hitting a pool of water. According to the description accompanying spettacolopuro’s photo, the photographer used a Canon 40D [...]