You’ve heard me talk oh-so many times about that magic hour, the time just after sunrise and just before sunset when the light has that beautiful, magical quality that can transform a dull, flat scene into a stunning photograph. What you haven’t heard me talk so much about is twilight. Twilight could be called something [...]

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There are very few photographic subjects like lightning. Lightning is unpredictable, appears only for a split second and is best captured by pointing your camera at an empty piece of sky and hoping something happens. A good lightning image cannot fail to impress a viewer, though, who will probably think you got that image by [...]

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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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Funnel cakes, ferris wheels and fun houses – what could be better than a county fair? With all those sights and lights, carnival photos should almost take themselves. Except that they usually don’t. So why is it so easy to capture blurry, chaotic and generally uninteresting shots at a carnival, and so hard to bring [...]

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One of life’s simple truths: you can’t walk past a waterfall without taking a photo of it. That would just be wrong! But you don’t often get a chance to go back and do it over again, either, so you’d better make sure you get it right. Waterfalls are elusive creatures – and by that [...]

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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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You can take a great photo anywhere. No, really. Field, junk yard, basement or parking lot–every place has a photo hidden in it somewhere. Your job as a photographer is to look at each new location as you would see it through your viewfinder. When you’re in that basement, find the beautiful, broken down chair [...]

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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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They’re bright and colorful; they usually come with beautiful landscape and skies surround them; and you almost can’t go wrong photographing them. What are they? Hot air balloons! But, the truth is, you can go a bit wrong photographing them. So, I’m dedicating this post to tips for giving you a boost of confidence when [...]

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I know a lot of photographers who only really take pictures during the day. As someone who likes to have everything work right away without much extra effort, I can understand why. The night, after all, is kind of challenging to photograph. There’s a lot more setup time and a lot more room for error. [...]

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In this week’s Ask David column, we have a request from a reader who would like to know if I have a few tips for taking better pictures on a cruise ship. Jackie plans on sailing away for a few days, and I definitely have some thoughts. If you’re planning on taking a cruise anytime [...]

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The moon is beautiful to look at, but it sure can be challenging to photograph. To start, the moon is much brighter than everything else in the scene, and it’s hard to know where it will be unless you do some research ahead of time. Having said that, the moon adds drama to a photograph [...]

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You’ve seen them. Mystical photographs of streams make waterfalls look like they aren’t even from the planet Earth. When I first saw these kinds of photos, I wondered how it was even possible to create them with a simple digital SLR camera. There is a way to make waterfalls and streams as silky smooth as [...]

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It seems simple enough. Taking a shot of a drop of water. You just want to take a picture of a water droplet. How hard could it be? Well, if you want a crystal clear image, you will need more equipment than just your camera. This isn’t something you can do without having a decent [...]

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There is no camera companion more important than a tripod. When you get one, it opens up a whole world of possibilities. Suddenly, you can take long exposures at night and setup the perfect macro photo op. You can ready yourself for a self-portrait and reduce your friend’s job as a photographer to that of [...]

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