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 [...]

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Modern digital cameras are capable of transforming almost any scene from ordinary to extraordinary. With the right tools and the right knowledge, you can actually create an image that is even more impressive than the scene you saw with your naked eye. Your camera’s settings are designed to help you achieve this, as are software [...]

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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 [...]

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It’s called “creative block”, and it’s an ugly beast. All artists complain of it at some point in their lives, even great ones. It can happen to you when you’re immersed in the doldrums of an uninteresting routine, or it can happen to you when you’re standing in the Mongolian grasslands during the Festival of [...]

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If I had to guess, I would say that 99 out of 100 hobby photographers never bend their legs. It’s not so hard to see why – human beings view the world mostly from one or two perspectives: standing up and sitting down. Occasionally we will also lie down in a place other than our [...]

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If you spend a lot of time on Flickr or just browsing through photography books in search of artsy, eye-popping images, chances are you’ve seen some really cool pictures of smoke – pictures that you aren’t quite sure how to duplicate. While it has its place in scenic photography, I don’t mean the smoke from [...]

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What do ghosts, goblins, and little princesses have in common? They come out after dark. You know, when it’s hard to get good pictures of them. Halloween presents a lot of problems for photographers, because by the time all the action starts to happen that magic hour we love so much has already come and [...]

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Whenever you paint something in your house, be it a wall or a door, you want to avoid getting paint on everything. So you use masking tape. Masking, or Selecting, in Photoshop Elements, is the same thing. The only difference is that there’s so much more you can do with it. Masking is a way [...]

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What if you want to fix a part of an image that was overexposed or underexposed? Maybe you want to draw emphasis to a certain part of your photo. What about when you forget to use a lens hood and stray light makes it into your photo? If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you [...]

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[opinion] Instagram is a popular photo sharing tool on the web, and Facebook just bought it for $1 Billion. This an unprecedented move for Facebook. They’ve never made such a purchase, and they may never do it again. What intrigues me more than anything is that Instagram is nothing more than a simple photography tool. [...]

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Let me start by saying something I think we can all agree with. Clichés are victims of their own success. Something only becomes a cliché because it looks good and people like it. The only problem is that the theme gets overdone, and it loses its originality. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You [...]

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There are a number of filters on the market today. You’ve probably heard of polarizers, warming filters, and cooling filters, but what about neutral density filters? The language sounds overly complicated, but rest assured it’s not. If you’ve ever wondered what one these filters does, and how you might use it in your own photography, [...]

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When the light outside is less than perfect, the right photographic filter can help you get the colors you want. There are filters for just about any shooting situation you can imagine, from sunsets to mid-afternoon, and everything in between. If you’re just getting started, and you want to learn more about the photographic filters [...]

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If you own a digital SLR camera, or are thinking of purchasing one, you may have heard of prime lenses. Unlike zoom lenses, prime lenses don’t allow you to zoom in or out while taking pictures. This has led many to wonder what they’re good for. If they do less, why purchase one? I’d like [...]

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Have you ever seen some of those intentionally old looking images? Chances are they were taken with a digital camera, but the photographer knew a few things about Photoshop, and more importantly, textures. With the right combination of textures and skills, you can take a decent looking photo and accentuate it for a more interesting [...]

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