Have you ever been walking down the street and seen the sun coming just over the horizon of a building or a landmark in a really interesting way? Ever wish you were smart enough to bring your camera with you on that day so you wouldn’t miss it. I know the frustration. Over the years, [...]

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What would HAL do if he could take a picture? He’d probably look me straight in the face and say, “I’m sorry Dave, but I can’t let you do that.” In all seriousness, your camera is a lot like HAL. It’s got all this technical gobbledygook and sophisticated light metering algorithms built into it, but [...]

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Backgrounds are an important part of any image. They set the context, and can make a dull image interesting. Most of us are constantly in search of a background with character, feeling it will add something extra to shot. And it does, but sometimes it does so at the expense of what’s truly important. Here [...]

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Ever thought about pointing your camera up at the sun? Your immediate reaction is probably a lot like mine. NO WAY! Well not so fast. It depends on the kind of camera you’re using. If you’ve got a digital SLR, you’ll be totally fine. If you’re using a point-and-shoot model, you might get into trouble. [...]

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I remember the first summer I got my digital SLR. Back then, I was just getting into everything you could do with, and I was positively fascinated with sunsets. I wanted to capture all of the colors, the reds, the purples, the in-betweens. The light at sunset is like nothing else. I remember religiously dropping [...]

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Still having trouble figuring out shutter speed? Some images simply require a certain shutter speed in order to be possible at all. Shutter speed doesn’t just control the amount of light that gets into your camera, it is also used to freeze motion, create silky smooth waterfalls, or blend light trails. If you’ve always wondered [...]

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Very few things are as beautiful as the sunset. The pinks, the oranges, and the yellows burn an image in our minds that is unlike anything else. It’s easy to appreciate the beauty of a good sunset when it’s happening right in front of your eyes, but it’s much more difficult to capture it with [...]

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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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There are a lot of myths and rumors spreading around the photography community, and none is more popular than the myth that you should expose for the sky on a bright sunny day. Doing so can lead to some pretty disastrous consequences. In this short article, I’ll show you why.

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Get ready to be told the following. “Your photos are so colorful. Your camera takes such good pictures!” When you hear these words, don’t say a word. Just shrug your shoulders and let them think what they want to think. Cameras have gotten better over the years, but they aren’t the reason some photos have [...]

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I only have one word for this shot. WOW! Of course, I am a sucker for a great sunset photo. The way the bright orange just bursts forth and diffuses itself through the clouds will always take my breath away. We discussed how you can take pictures like this in a previous tutorial, but I [...]

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This week, I challenged you to deliver some of the best point-and-shoot photos you could muster with your setup. The entire purpose of doing this is to convince you all that you do not need a high end camera to have an eye for photography and to produce great work. This photo, sent in by [...]

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