One of the best ways to become a better photographer is to commit yourself to exploring a certain theme for awhile. And what better time to do that than at the start of a new year! Some people go so far as to start a 365 day project where they take a photo every single [...]

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Have you ever wanted your pictures just a little bit brighter or darker than what your camera gives you? Sure, you can always go into Photoshop Elements and adjust it after the fact, but shouldn’t the camera allow you to do it as you’re taking the photo? Why can’t you just pick an exact shutter [...]

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From day one, we’re taught to avoid motion blur in our photography. That’s because most motion blurs are unintentional. They are the result of you shaking the camera ever so slightly as you press the shutter button. What results usually doesn’t look all that interesting because there is no underlying theme. With that said, there [...]

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I have a reputation as a photographer. It seems that whenever I take a photo and share it with my friends, it instantly becomes their Facebook profile photo. I don’t mean to brag, it’s just what happens. All of this got me thinking. What is it about a photo that makes it the talk of [...]

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This week’s Ask David question comes from Ernie Everest. He’s an avid photographer looking to upgrade his point-and-shoot setup to something with a little more power. He wonders why people purchase digital SLRs when there are a lot of cheaper and lighter solutions.

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Your digital camera comes equipped with an arsenal of automatic and semi-automatic modes designed to make your life as a photographer easier. Aside from the fully automatic mode, aperture priority mode, and shutter priority mode, your camera gives you a variety of scene-specific modes. Each mode has a specific purpose. You can easily switch between [...]

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Your dog is an important part of your family. She’s the first to greet you when you get home, and she’s always excited to see your face. Why wouldn’t you give your dog the royal treatment with a professional photo shoot? It’s not that difficult. You just need to know a few things about lighting [...]

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Before I start this tip, I should mention that trap focus mode is only available on digital SLR camera models. It is an advanced feature that will take a little technical expertise to master, but once you figure it out, it will improve your accuracy when you’re taking pictures of moving subjects. Trap focus mode [...]

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Your camera has many automatic modes to make your life as a photographer a little easier. Each of these automatic modes was designed to isolate one or two of the many variables and settings you’ll encounter while taking pictures. Today, we’re going to look at Shutter Priority Mode, an automatic mode that isolates the shutter [...]

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This week’s “Ask David” question comes from Dean Sheard. He’s a big fan of action photography, but whenever he sets his camera to continuous shooting mode, it only takes five pictures before it starts “buffering.” What’s going on here? Can he do anything to take more pictures, or is he stuck in limbo between his [...]

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There’s no doubt that the invention of autofocus has pushed photography forward. Most modern autofocusing systems are extremely sophisticated and accurate. They can focus on the area of interest much faster than you can with the naked eye, and in most cases, they do a better job. Having said that, they are nowhere near perfect [...]

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This week, one of our readers, Mary Banker, would like to know if there’s a good way to take pictures of an outdoor concert at night. Now I’ve gotta admit that’s a real stumper. I don’t like to say it, but in a situation like that, a lot of different factors are working against you. [...]

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So much of good photography is timing. If you can press the shutter at the critical moment, right when your subject is at the peak of emotional expression, you’ll get the shot. But if you think too much about what you want, you’ll end up a second too early or too late. To get where [...]

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Summer is one of the best times to sharpen your skills as a photographer. Not only is there more light for longer, you don’t feel uncomfortably cold or restrained while operating your camera. You can go out for as long as you want, day or night, and take great photos when the opportunity is the [...]

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There has been a lot of recent talk about digital SLR cameras, lens modifications, and whether you need to go out and get a digital SLR right away. Sometimes the best arguments for getting the most out of your point-and-shoot system come from seeing what can be done with them. Usually, this is enough to [...]

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