Christmas time is upon us, and I know a lot of you are looking for some fun ways to make your holiday photos more interesting. Well, what better time to introduce you to bokehs than right now? Chances are you’ve got a lot of Christmas lights around the house, and they’re just dying to make [...]

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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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“How do I shoot a pic in a dark area with minimal light without using a flash/flashlight and without camera shake?” is one of my most commonly asked questions. In this article, I’ll show you a few ways you can do it.

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Cameras these days offer a bevy of different modes, so many that it can easily become a confusing ordeal for someone who is just getting into it. You’ve got aperture priority mode, shutter priority mode, programmed automatic mode, and of course, manual mode. How do you know when to use which one? Does one particular [...]

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In the Christian religion, the father, the son, and the holy spirit are three distinct parts of one and the same interconnected thing. One is an aspect of the other, and that’s really how I want you to start thinking about photography’s Holy Trinity: the aperture, the shutter speed, and ISO. Whenever you make a [...]

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In my regular Ask David column, I answer common questions from my readers. By answering them here, I hope to help everyone else who might have this problem, and not just the person who asked the question. Today, we cover aperture changes, the focus lock button, stealing photos, and curtain flashes.

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Your camera has a bunch of different modes, probably many more than you would ever care to learn. Each of them is designed to help you out with one or more shooting situations. In this article, we’re going to take a look at aperture priority mode. It’s one of the main shooting modes on most [...]

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There is a magical hour, a time when the light from the sun shines on the Earth from the side. During this hour, light is warm, soft, and perfect for taking pictures. If the light hits the clouds in the sky at just the right angle, they give off a purplish color that accents a [...]

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Oh no. You scratched your lens. You’ve done it. You promised yourself you wouldn’t allow it to happen. You swore that you’d watch your every move, but it was inevitable. Now one question remains. How much will it impact your images? Do you need to get your lens replaced or repaired right away, or can [...]

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Interesting clouds can make all the difference in a landscape photo. They’re also fun to photograph on their own. Many photographers use cloud photography to supplement their other images. If there isn’t enough drama in a scene, you can take out the old skyline and replace it with something that has a little more character. [...]

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It’s one of the most important elements of being a great landscape photographer. When you know how to get everything in your image as sharp as possible, your photo will definitely stand out. There is a trick to making everything as sharp as possible, and it doesn’t always require you to have the best camera [...]

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Sharpness, clarity, even a certain kind of grittiness, seem to be the distinguishing mark of professional photography. Detail isn’t just the result of owning a good camera (although it does help), it comes from a fundamental understanding of the way your camera works. When you learn how to bring out the most important details in [...]

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You’ve seen them. They’re the once-in-a-lifetime photos that bring out the best in the bride and groom on their special day. Somehow, the pros know how to get extremely elegant portraits in some of the most challenging lighting situations. No matter how dark it is inside the chapel, the pros make it work. How do [...]

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Okay. Maybe that’s a bit harsh. Nobody is calling anyone anything, but if you are very new to photography, this article is for you. Your camera can seem like a confusing mess of knobs and settings when you get it for the first time. Don’t worry. You will only be using a few of these [...]

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Picking an aperture is perhaps the most important decision you can make whenever you take a photo. Everything hinges on it. With different aperture values, you can create sharp stunning landscapes, or you can get up close and photograph faces. In many ways, the aperture determines the creative direction your images will take. That is [...]

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