Advanced If you shoot landscapes – especially scenes containing water, such as waterfalls, oceans and lakes, you probably already know something about using a neutral density (ND) filter. The neutral density filter is the go-to tool for any photographer who wants to take a long exposure during daylight hours. All those stunning images of misty [...]

• 3 Comments

You’ve heard me talk a lot lately about inspiration, and about how to find great photos in boring places. Let’s say you’ve tried a bunch of those tips but would really like to break out of that whole reality box and try something completely different. Here’s an idea: get yourself a flashlight, a few glow-sticks [...]

• 0 Comments

In the days before point and shoot cameras – back when SLR cameras didn’t have any automatic features at all, everyone who wanted to take photographs had to understand the basic principles of exposure. Film was expensive and you just couldn’t afford to waste a shot on a guess, so you had to really understand [...]

• 12 Comments

Unless you exclusively shoot landscapes and still-lifes, you know that photography is an art of capturing life in motion. People are always moving – their faces change expression, their interest shifts from one part of a scene to another, they walk away, they run off or they simply stop being interesting. If you’re going to [...]

• 14 Comments

Photoshop has replaced a lot of the gadgets we used to depend on as photographers. Colored and soft focus filters are now no longer needed because their effects can be duplicated easily in post-processing. Warming/cooling filters for different types of light are also no longer useful because most digital cameras have a white balance setting [...]

• 1 Comment

What makes an image beautiful? For many, it’s color. But your camera isn’t going to give you great colors out of the box. It’s a ‘dumb’ piece of equipment. Even with all of our sophisticated computer technology, your camera is still guessing which settings will reveal the best photo. Most of the time, it’s wrong, [...]

• 8 Comments

Hey guys. I just want to start by thanking you so much for your feedback on all of my articles. I’m excited that they’re helping you out as much you say they are. Over the last few years, I’ve gotten a bunch of fairly common questions. More than one of you has wondered why I [...]

• 9 Comments

If there’s one point I keep mentioning over and over again, it’s this. Automatic mode doesn’t always give you the best images. It can get very close to what you want, but because it can’t gauge the light perfectly, you sometimes end up with images that are either too bright or too dark. Your subject [...]

• 3 Comments

When you think of cold temperatures and snowfall, you rarely think “hey, what a great opportunity to snap some portraits of my friends.” Most of us are a slave to the notion that cloudy weather equals bad photography. We somehow believe the color will be washed out or everything will look gray. Not so my [...]

• 2 Comments

Your camera does a lot more to your images than you think. Just as you take a picture, your camera adjusts the white balance and the sharpness for you. How much it does this depends on the settings you give it. With that, many readers have wondered if they should even bother setting the sharpness [...]

• 3 Comments

Do you remember when you were a kid and totally afraid to jump in the water and swim? We’ve all been there. In life, some things just freak us out, and it’s no different in photography. I know it sounds strange, but we all need to be pushed sometimes. We need someone to force us [...]

• 6 Comments

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 [...]

• 1 Comment

Shooting in low light situations is difficult. It presents a combination of problems for which there is no single quick fix. You can decrease the shutter speed, but if you don’t have a tripod, your image will be blurry. You can bring a flash with you, but if you’re too close to your subject, you’ll [...]

• 6 Comments

Stop right now! Wherever your photography is right now, it doesn’t matter. You could have ten years of experience with your camera, or you could be a total beginner. I am about to show you five simple steps you can take to get a good photo right now. If you follow them every time you’re [...]

• 15 Comments

Flash is a very powerful tool in photography, but it only works as well as the person behind the camera. Great pictures are destroyed with flash as easily as they are created. Most of time, I advise you to avoid flash altogether. This time, I’m going to show you an alternative that might just allow [...]

• 1 Comment