How To
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: 4 Fundamental Photoshop Skills
Photoshop and other sophisticated image-editing applications can be overwhelming at first. The surest way to get comfortable working with them is to begin by mastering a few of the techniques you'll use most often. Once you've achieved some success...
Article: A Classic Method Goes Digital
Classic—the personification of black-and-white images. Weaving that classic look of black-and-white printing into the digital realm is easier than ever today. Software has a range of effects that enables greater control over your images in a way that...
Article: A Cloning Primer
No matter how hard you try to keep everything looking good in the picture area, sooner or later something creeps in that doesn't belong. Visual trash creates a distraction from your subject and your composition. It keeps you from enjoying your photo...
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: April 16, 2024 HelpLine
Q) I'm starting to pay more attention to white balance in my photography. I've read some of what you and others in PCPhoto have said about not forgetting white balance when shooting RAW. So now I've been trying some photography while keeping the...
Article: April 2, 2024 HelpLine
Shooting Hoops Q) I'm new to digital SLRs and want to photograph my son's indoor basketball games. Working in shutter- and aperture-priority modes, I can get sharp photos or bright photos inside, but haven't been able to get sharp, properly exposed...
Article: April 23, 2024 HelpLine
Q) An interesting problem came up recently with regards to evidence of bylaw contraventions in Pretoria, City of Tshwane, South Africa. The City Councils officials have switched to digital cameras for much of their work. However, it turns out...
Article: April 30, 2024 HelpLine
Q) What's the best way to control noise when shooting? I recently took some photos of the Northern Lights and the results were very noisy. Q) What's the best way to control noise when shooting? I recently took some photos of the Northern Lights and...
Article: April 9, 2024 HelpLine
Need More Space Q) I'm running out of room on my hard drives! While I've been archiving my original images to DVDs, I have hundreds of images on my computer. I'd like to add more storage, but I'm not sure which direction to go. Need More Space Q)...
Article: August 13, 2024 HelpLine
Q) My son will be playing varsity basketball this coming senior year. I started shooting his basketball games a year ago and have gotten some good images. I know they don't want flashes going off under the basket during games. I've seen some...
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: August 27, 2024 HelpLine
Q) You mention the importance of backing up files frequently. I'd like to share my solution to this "problem." The cost of external drives has been going down as the size of these drives has been going up. (I recently purchased a 500 GB drive...
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: Backup Strategy
Pro photographers are masters of archiving and safekeeping their photos. They have to be—losing a saleable image can amount to hundreds or even thousands of dollars of lost revenue. And when you consider that a typical working pro may capture t...
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: Bordering On The Edge
Creating a print is the ultimate goal for a photographer. From the moment the shutter is released, it's the image on paper that each photographer likely has in mind when the scene is captured on the camera's CCD or film. Yet the creativity involved in...
Article: Camcorder Travel Made Easy
Up until a few years ago, there was no question-you used a still camera for stills and a video camera for motion. Now that boundary has blurred. Many digital still cameras have a Movie mode, and many digital video cameras include a still-photo button....
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: Classic Black & White
In an over saturated world, the elegant, timeless appeal of black-and-white is in its simplicity. To get frame-worthy results, with a beautiful range of tones, you don’t have to be a student of the Zone System—but you do need to start with a proper...
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: Color Spaces & Printer Profiles Revealed
When I visited the Crayola Factory in Easton, Pa., with my five-year-old daughter, I had an epiphany about color space. Back when I was in kindergarten, crayons came in boxes of eight colors. Nowadays, 64 colors is average. I knew all that, but what I...
Article: Create A Web Gallery
It's pretty much expected these days that if you're a photographer, you'll have some kind of web gallery. The good news is that you don't have to know very much about how the web works to create a home on the web for your photos. This Article...
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: Creative Photo Sharing
E-mail is ideal for quick notes, but it's not a great way to share photos. There are better options. Software and Web-based services make it easy to create multimedia slideshows and professionally printed books, cards and photo gifts. You can even...
Article: December 2024 HelpLine
Cold Weather And Digital Cameras * Winter Wondering * Changing Backgrounds * Cropping Problems? * Resampling For Size Cold Weather And Digital...
