Considering the billions of photographs out there, few of them have the tendency to stop us in our tracks and to really observe them the way close up nature photos do. There’s something compelling about the details in a micro world that isn’t always visible to the eye. There’s something awe inspiring about seeing a [...]

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“Fungal photography.” That’s like viral photography, right? Only slower moving and … itchier. Actually, no. “Fungal photography” is the quite literal term used to describe what for many people is a passion – photographing mushrooms. You won’t find much glamour in this little corner of the photography world. Mushroom photography can be dirty – like [...]

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Quick, think back on all the photos you’ve seen in your life. What, you can’t remember them all? You can’t even remember most of them? So which ones do you remember? Chances are, there are a few that immediately come to mind. How about Raising the flag on Iwo Jima, by Joe Rosenthal? Or Afghan [...]

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You’d think it would be easy to find a bug or a small flower and zoom right in and photograph it. That is until you try it. Macro photography is trickier than most would think. If you want to gain those magnificent results that go with it, you need to know what you’re doing. Macro [...]

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Nothing could be more appealing than repetition. You know, like when your coworker tells you the same joke 25 times or when your preschooler won’t stop making monkey noises. Yeah, I know. Neither one of those things is really all that appealing, but trust me when I say photography is different. Visual artists in general, [...]

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If you look at two macro photographs of the same flower, leaf, or spider web and the only difference is that one has a dew drop on it and the other doesn’t, the dew drop photo will be favored every time. That small bit of water adds so much to an image between light and [...]

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If your last photo shoot was at a zoo or a kid’s birthday party, you might be tired of moving subjects. Don’t worry, every photographer eventually wearies of shooting subjects who turn their butts towards you at the last second (zoos) or who have cake all over their faces (birthday parties). It’s time to relax [...]

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Over the years, I’ve learned that a lot of photography skills bleed into other areas. If you learn about action photography, it’ll help you learn how to take pictures of waterfalls. If you know how to photograph snow, you’ll probably be good at photographing sand. Another example is macro photography. Very few people know that [...]

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What makes something special? Is it special on its own, or is it only special when compared to everything else around it? Contrast is what happens when you place two polar opposites right next to each other. It can be used to draw attention to an important element in your image. Contrast comes in a [...]

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Photography is an art, and art is supposed to be clean and meaningful. But what happens when you’ve scheduled a shoot where your subject lives or works, only to find a huge mess once you get there? It happens to me more often than you might think, and I don’t want to be impolite and [...]

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The big selling point with digital SLRs is the ability to swap out the lens. Whether you are new to owning a digital SLR, or you’re simply considering a purchase, a lot of photographers want to know how many lenses they’ll actually need to buy. It’s an important thing to consider. After all, the true [...]

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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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Digital SLRs may have the upper hand when it comes to shooting macro, but that doesn’t mean us point-and-shoot owners have to give up. You’d be surprised with what you can do using your point-and-shoot camera’s macro shooting mode. As long as you employ the right techniques, you can create some truly stunning macro photography. [...]

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There is only one true antidote to complacency and boredom in photography, and it is FUN. The games I’m about to show you have been around since the beginning of photography, but they’re getting even better with social media tools like Facebook and Flickr. The next time you want to give yourself a challenge, or [...]

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When the weather takes a turn for the worse, a lot of photographers put away their cameras. It’s always the same old sob story. It’s gray out. Nothing has any color. But nothing could be further from the truth. When it starts to rain, whatever does have color becomes extremely colorful. It’s the perfect time [...]

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