Browsing all posts in "Photography".

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, [...]

What To Shoot When There’s Nothing To Shoot

(Hover your mouse pointer over the photos for notes.) I am of the school of thought that in order to become a truly excellent photographer, one must practice every single day. If the camera is only brought out for special events or specific assignments, the photographer is relegated to the “occasional” category and cannot truly [...]

Photography Gear Research

If you’re anything like me, you research the purchase of a new item of photography gear for a long time before making a decision. I researched for a month before deciding on the Canon 7D over the 5D Mark II. I rented both the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and the 24-70mm f/2.8L before deciding to [...]

Subject Goals for 2011 and Beyond

My husband and I spent the weekend buzzing around town on his motorcycle (sorry to rub in the fact that we’re enjoying 70-degree weather here in Arizona at the moment). As such I didn’t bring my camera along, even though I continued to look at the day with a photographer’s eye. I really must get [...]

Photography and the Law

By Steve Russell In December I was told by a mall cop that photography wasn’t allowed in the mall. Not five feet away, at least three different people were taking pictures with their cell phones. When I asked about the other people, the mental-heavyweight mall cop informed me that it was okay to take a [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Shoot What You Have, Shoot Where You Are

One of the lessons that I’ve recently learned and have tried to take to heart is a simple one… just shoot. Don’t obsess over having your entire lens collection with you so that you can get the “perfect” shot for any circumstance. Chances are you’ll miss the shot while you’re fumbling with a lens change, [...]

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 [...]