Browsing all posts in "Digital Photography".

Composition – Background

By Steve Russell. Because of one of my personal rules this article won’t have many photos for illustrations. I can find plenty to illustrate various points, but in using them I run the risk of criticizing someone else’s photos without their permission. While I have one I’m going to use, you’ll have to use your [...]

PocketWizard Straight Out of the Box

I purchased two PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceivers (here’s the one for Nikon) for use with my Canon EOS 7D and Canon Speedlite 580EX II. This morning I took them out of their boxes, put the batteries in, put one on my speedlight (which was mounted on a light stand) and one on my camera’s hot shoe. [...]

Composition – Simplicity

By Steve Russell. Although simplicity in photographic composition tends to be discussed as a broad category that includes the complete image, I’m going to divide the subject into two categories – simplicity in subject and simplicity in background. Today I’m going to focus on simplicity in subject. When someone looks at one of your photographs [...]

Flash, Strobe, or Constant Light?

When casting light upon your photographic subject, which is better, flashes and strobes, or constant light sources such as bulbs and lamps? The answer, as in many things in life, is “it depends”. Five Reasons To Use A Flash or Strobe: 1. You really need to be able to direct, modify and shape the light. [...]

Is It Photography?

By Steve Russell Today I’m going to take a somewhat different approach than what Tiffany and I usually feature in our articles. I’m going to showcase the work of a single photographer. Then I’m going to ask a question about the work. The question will admittedly be a value judgment kind of question and I [...]

Super Moon!

In honor of tomorrow’s anticipated “Super Moon” event (Saturday May 5th), here is a rerun of Steve’s article on photographing the moon from last year. ———- By Steve Russell Whether you’ve photographed the moon numerous times or have just thought about doing it, Saturday evening, March 19, 2011 May 5th, 2012, is a must do [...]

Yes, you can shoot at midday!

We’ve all had the “golden hour” concept drilled into our heads – those times around sunrise and sunset when the light is long and lovely, creating beautiful conditions in which to capture our photographs. So does that mean your camera has to languish in its bag during the midday hours? No, it does not! All [...]

Is True SOOC Possible

By Steve Russell One of the great things about photography is there are few absolutes. Even an image that’s overexposed or underexposed can be interesting and compelling to some people. What really makes a good photograph is whether the photographer thinks it is. It doesn’t make any difference if I like it or if the [...]

Three Bad Photography Habits I’m Going to Break

1. Relying on one shot. Believe it or not, often times when I photograph something I’ll just take one or two shots of it, then move on to the next thing. It’s like my attention span won’t allow me to consider that it may take a half-dozen or more shots to really get it right. [...]

Discuss: Is true SOOC possible?

Here’s a question for you, my friends. Do you think it is possible to “get it right” straight out of the camera, with no post-production necessary? Or do you think it’s impossible to obtain the correct exposure, white balance, and color balance without post-production? I recently watched this video, in which Mark Wallace explains why [...]