Camera Technique
Article: 10 Ingredients For Successful Images
If you're in the mood to cook up some sumptuous photographs, here's a quick 10-step recipe that I think you'll find appetizing. To illustrate this article, I'll use photographs that I took on a recent trip to Papua New Guinea. While some of you may...
Article: 10 Tips For Better Night Photography
Night photography is one of those aspects of photography that always gets attention. People love to see night scenes—that mysterious mix of ambient light and city lights. The challenge is to compose them well. Night photography is one of those a...
Article: 10 Top Digital Camera Shooting Tips
While everyone knows Photoshop is a marvelous imaging tool for photographers, in some minds it has been transformed into a magic wand, with powers beyond imagination—you don't have to shoot the image perfectly initially because you can always fix it i...
Article: A Flash In The Night
To create exciting images at night, a flash is an indispensable tool. Stunning results are possible by simply using a camera's built-in or auxiliary flash unit. Yet there's so much more that you can do with a flash beyond merely turning it on. To...
Article: August 20, 2024 HelpLine
Q) I've been playing around with the macro feature on my compact digital camera. I have some nice shots, but now I'm trying to work with a flash. All of the shots I have so far are pretty disappointing. The right edge of the scene always seems to...
Article: Available Light Portraits
I just love natural light," remarks photographer David Stoecklein, whose modern yet timeless portfolio of the American West is proof he knows how to wrangle available light. Stoecklein is constantly on shoots in areas that don't always have running...
Article: Back To School
So you want to learn more about photography or perhaps hone the skills you've already acquired. This is great news! It demonstrates your passion for the craft and a yearning for knowledge and creativity. With a variety of photography workshop...
Article: Better Travel Photos Made Easy
Before most of us have visited a particular location, whether exotic, foreign or domestic, usually we've seen it first in photographs. The images themselves sometimes inspired us to go, and in many cases, they gave us ideas about what to see and where...
Article: Black & White With A Digital Camera
At its best, black-and-white photography is a true art form, as a glance at the works of its many masters demonstrates. Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, John Sexton, Robert Werling and William Garnett are some of my favorites, but there are many others....
Article: Choosing A Camera For...
We may share a passion for photography, but we don't all shoot the same subjects or like to work in the same way. Camera manufacturers understand this, and as most digital cameras now have ample resolution for excellent output, manufacturers are...
Article: Choosing The Right Digital Camera For You
The more megapixels an image contains, and the less it's compressed, the more space it takes up on a memory card. So if you shoot RAW 10-megapixel images, you'll need high-capacity memory cards: at least 1 GB (gigabyte); a 2 GB or 4 GB card is even...
Article: Color Saturation: Getting It Right
While black-and-white photography has enjoyed a rebirth of interest, color is still how the world appears and is mostly photographed. Yet colors you see and experience often don't quite translate to the picture you compose. We also sometimes want to...
Article: Creative Photo Projects
Taking, organizing and perfecting your images is a good start, but the best part of photography is getting the "Wow!" from friends and family when you share your shots. Online services and software are making it easier than ever for even casual...
Article: D-SLRs: Entry-Level, Midrange, Pro
Digital SLRs are the most versatile cameras, and for many photographers, the best choices. There are three basic categories of D-SLRs: entry-level, midrange and pro. These aren't exclusive categories—there are working pros who use midrange models,...
Article: Destination Anywhere
Photographers love to travel and bring back images from the places they visit. This is part of the heritage of traditional photography. We love to see what our world looks like, even if we can't visit every location ourselves. Photographers love to...
Article: Digital Infrared Photography
Digital infrared photography opens up a whole new world of creativity, even for photographers who already have a creative bent. If you have an older digital camera that you're not using, two companies, Life Pixel (www.lifepixel.com) and IRDigital...
Article: Exploring Focal Lengths
How much thought have you given to that lens on your camera? Most lenses today are zooms, and photographers use that zoom to get more or less of a scene, but your lens is capable of a lot more. Understanding lenses will help you better use any lens...
Article: Exposure Creativity
Are you sure you want to do this? I holler to my friend Patrick above the thunderous roar of the waterfall. He gives me a thumbs-up and a smile. One mistake, and Patrick is going to get seriously injured—or worse. This Article Features Photo Zoom A...
Article: Fill Your Frame With Story
Having started my career assisting two professional photojournalists, I quickly realized that powerful images could be created by using a wide-angle lens. Photojournalists love using this type of lens because of its ability to capture a subject...
Article: Fundamentals: Autofocus In Digital Cameras
There are two basic types of AF systems in wide use in digital cameras today. All of the D-SLRs use passive phase-detection AF, while most consumer models use passive contrast-based AF. "Passive" means the camera doesn't send a ranging beam out to the...
Article: Get The Right Light
One general question I’m asked frequently while teaching photo workshops is, “How can I improve my images?” This Article Features Photo Zoom One general question I’m asked frequently while teaching photo workshops is, “How...
Article: Getting The Most From D-SLR Camera Systems
When you buy a compact digital camera, you buy a camera. But when you buy a digital SLR, you buy into a whole camera system. That SLR body accepts a wide range of lenses, flash units, viewfinder attachments, optional power sources and other...
Article: Global Digital Explorer
The day had been a long and painful one for Jeff Hall. It had started with the amateur photographer full of anticipation because he and his traveling companions were going to have the opportunity to visit a Berber camp in Morocco. An ethnic group in...
Article: Golden Light Photography
The magic hours—the hours immediately after sunrise and just before sunset—are times of amazing light for photography. The time is brief, but the great thing is that twice a day, every day, there's a generous helping of breathtaking ambient light tha...
Article: HDR
High dynamic range (HDR) imaging is one of the most exciting and inspiring (and misunderstood and maligned) recent technological developments in digital photography. At its simplest, HDR is nothing more than a series of field and postproduction...
Article: How-To Fundamentals: Image-Stabilization Options
I admit it: I'm an addict; I'm hooked on image-stabilized shooting. Once you try it, you can't go back. Fortunately, for me—and all photographers who shoot handheld—there now are a number of "fixes" available: Canon, Kodak, Konica Minolta, Nikon,...
Article: July 2, 2024 HelpLine
Q) I'm shooting RAW and my friends tell me to ignore white balance because I can fix it on the computer. Is that right? Q) I'm shooting RAW and my friends tell me to ignore white balance because I can fix it on the computer. Is that...
Article: July 23, 2024 HelpLine
Q) When I bump up the ISO setting in my camera, am I changing its sensitivity? If it does, couldn't I just leave it there and adjust my aperture or shutter speed? Q) When I bump up the ISO setting in my camera, am I changing its sensitivity?...
Article: Knockout Color!
Good color in pictures is subjective. Some people like pictures that pop with saturated hues, while others prefer pictures more subdued. What's more, we see colors differently at different times of day—even our mood affects how we see colors. In this...
Article: Make Your Best Prints Ever
One of the great joys resulting from the change to digital compared to shooting film is the ability to get great photo prints optimized for the subject and photographer. Everyone who used to try to get a good, custom print from a slide or negative...
