Improve Photography

Many wildlife photographers turn up their noses to photographers who shoot at zoos, but most of us think it’s fun.  The following tips will help you to capture better photos when you go to the zoo or a wildlife refuge. Zoo Photography Tip #1: Use a large aperture to shoot through fences.  These first 4 [...]

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 [...]

I spend a significant amount of time just enjoying beautiful photography.  I look at great photos on flickr, on the websites of other photographers, and I always look at the websites of people who comment on the blog and include a link to their site.  In seeing all these photos, I am frequently surprised at [...]

Every photographer takes family photos.  For hobbyist photographers, that’s probably what you photograph more than anything else.  Unfortunately, I rarely see articles on photography sites about how to take better portraits of one’s own family.  To that end, I wrote this post on how to improve your photos of the kids. Kid Photography Tip #1: [...]

Landscape photography of cities and city buildings are often some of my favorite photos.   Cityscapes capture a serene and beautiful mood better than any other type of photo.  Unfortunately, many of the cityscapes I see are shot at the “wrong” time of day.  I don’t mean to say that there is only one time [...]

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 [...]

Sunset Photography Tip #1. Underexpose.  This is the most important tip for taking pictures of sunsets.  Slightly underexposing the sunset will make the colors look more rich and defined.  The entire scene will become more dramatic.  You can underexpose by using manual mode and selecting a fast shutter speed, or you can shoot in aperture [...]

1,895 faves, 83,303 views, 574 comments.  Tens of thousands of photographers can’t be wrong in holding the picture featured on this page as one of the best photos ever placed on the popular photo sharing website Flickr.  With the endorsement of so many thousands of photographers, we must have something to learn from Alex Bell, [...]