Browsing all posts in photography tips.

Back to Basics: Exposure Explained

Exposure is one of the first, and one of the most confusing, concepts that a budding photographer learns. All of the numbers, abbreviations, settings and relationships can be overwhelming at first. Here is a simple guide to help clarify things. The Exposure Triangle: The three elements of exposure – commonly referred to as “The Exposure [...]

Photographing Life Stages

One of the primary reasons that we pick up a camera is to record life events and life stages. Photographing people who are in their infancy, adolescence, prime, and old age present opportunities to capture beautiful, memorable moments specific to each age. As the photographer, we wish to be prepared for any given circumstance so [...]

Tethered Shooting With A Canon DSLR

Tethered shooting is a useful photography tool. With the use of a USB or firewire cable run between the camera and a computer, the photographer can instantly review their shots on the computer screen. As the shutter is pressed, the images are recorded on the computer hard drive rather than the camera’s memory card. This [...]

How To Photograph a Waterfall

The photo above demonstrates the lovely soft effect of photographing the motion blur of a waterfall. Here’s how you do it. 1. Arrive on location either just before dawn or just after sunset. The lower light level will help compensate the need to use a slower shutter speed in order to capture the motion blur, [...]

Five SOOC Tips

Hello friends! I was just e-mailing with Steve Russell, our regularly featured guest writer, about his weekend photography shoot. He was lamenting the fact that he had over 500 shots to post-process after a photo-heavy day. I, too, find it sometimes wearying to conceive of hours of post-processing after a long day of shooting. I [...]

What Not to Photograph?

By Steve Russell It won’t surprise me that if after reading this, someone accuses me of waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Sometimes, though, I can’t help myself and just have to say something. This is one of those times. Recently, I read a photography blog where the writer was railing against [...]

Street Photography

The buzz and excitement surrounding the discovery of Vivian Maier’s vast collection of photographs has generated a renewed interest in, and curiosity about, street photography. Street photography reveals a candid look at a city’s population, architecture, and events. It can also be used to deliver a personal, social, political, or environmental message. Photographs are taken [...]

Review: Kelby Training

A couple of weeks ago, I finally subscribed to Kelby Training. I say “finally” because I have been mulling over the purchase of this subscription, and an accompanying subscription to NAPP, for quite some time. Everyone I consulted with about these memberships responded with the same advice: “Do it. You won’t regret it.” So, since [...]

Beating the Intimidation Factor

In my recent article, Six Tips for Finding a Photography Mentor, reader Tropicartist56 posted the following comment: My experience has been that having a Mentor without being able to afford “high end” equipment is frustrating… and also being able to tweak your pics in Photoshop. There are no “natural” photos anymore… if it’s not put [...]

Six Tips for Finding a Photography Mentor

Photography is fast becoming a learn-it-yourself craft, but sometimes you just can’t glean all you want from YouTube how-to videos, books, magazines, or even websites like this one. Many people learn best by having things personally explained or physically demonstrated to them. Sometimes, you just really need a person to speak to; an expert in [...]