Improve Photography

With the historic last launch of the space shuttle Endeavor, I got to wondering how the photographers remotely trigger their cameras to photograph the launch.  Since the public has to be 3 miles away from the launch site, it would be WAY too far for a Pocketwizard. Fortunately, BorrowLenses.com posted a link on their facebook [...]

Landscape photographers are snobs about shooting times.  We only shoot in the morning or evening and we turn up our noses to anyone who shoots during the day.  While it is certainly true that morning and evening are the most favorable times for shooting landscapes, I think most landscape photographers don’t shoot during the day [...]

This post is in response to a question from Matthew Tapley, who is interested in learning how to improve his black and white photography skills.  I hope this article has information that is valuable enough to you that you’d consider sharing it on Facebook or Twitter. Black and White Photography Tip #1: Shoot in RAW.  Many [...]

Action Photography Tip #1: Plan ahead! Carefully plan where you will set up.  This is probably the biggest mistake for action photographers.  I can’t tell you how many parents I see on the sidelines shooting their son’s soccer game from the middle of the field.  Since the action will mostly occur near the goal, that [...]

One question I frequently get from Flickr photographers is how to get on the coveted “Explore” page more often.  Flickr is an extremely popular photo-sharing website that allows photographers to socially connect with other users and view their photos.  Every day, the “Explore” page is updated with the most popular photos on Flickr based on [...]

Creativity is a complex concept.  It involves making something new and out-of-the-ordinary.  It means avoiding the expected and typical.  With this in mind, many photographers attempt to take creative photographs by creating absolutely insane and ridiculous scenes and then snapping a picture of it.  I’m always amazed when I look at the top-voted pictures on [...]

For many of you, this was the reason you bought your first DSLR.  Shooting sports is really fun, and even more so if it’s your own kid.  This last fall, I spent a fair bit of time shooting high school sports for the youth in a little Boy Scout group where I volunteer.  I figured [...]

I recently read a blog post from a pretty competent photographer who said that there is no reason to use spot metering.  Spot metering is where the camera determines a proper exposure not on the average brightness levels of the whole frame, but just of one specific spot.  This photographer, like me, is principally a [...]

Yesterday, we discovered what circular polarizers are and what they accomplish.  Today you’ll learn six tips for using a polarizer. Polarizer Tip #1: Polarizers will have little or no effect when used to shoot a setting sun, because the angle is wrong.  The effect of a polarizers manifests itself at 90 degree angles to the [...]

  In this short 5-minute video, Jim Harmer walks through the steps to create a stunning landscape photo.  Follow Jim as he takes a landscape picture on the beach in Naples, Florida and then takes the photo home to post-process the image using Lightroom 3 and Photoshop’s Adobe Camera Raw. Creative photography tip for landscape [...]