You know how to compose, light, and operate your camera. You’re handy with a flash. You consider yourself a pretty good photographer. But how fast are you? When the difference between getting and missing the shot is measured in milliseconds, are your reflexes and trigger finger up to the task? My first article for Improve …
Smoke Photography – A How-to Guide
You may have heard the expression; “It’s all done with smoke and mirrors.” The Urban Dictionary defines the phrase this way: Smoke & Mirrors 01: Something / Someone that deceives or distorts the truth. 02:Something / Someone that distorts or blurs facts, figures, etc., like a magic or conjuring work; artful deception; tricky inventiveness. I …
10 Ways Joining a Camera Club will Improve your Photography
Photography is not a “team sport.” When making an exposure, it’s you, your camera and the moment. It’s much like golf, a sport which can be entirely a solo activity if you choose it to be. But, like golf, if you practice it entirely on your own you’ll be missing out on the fun that …
52 Weeks to becoming a Stronger Photographer in 2018
The New Year is a time when resolutions are made. What if with a program of weekly “photo exercise” you could grow your photo skills tremendously by this time next year? That’s the objective of a “Project 52” and you can use such a program to get better and better as a photographer. Seven days …
A Dozen Lies they tell New Photographers
OK, maybe calling these“Lies” is a little strong. Yet skilled photographers with good intentions sometimes confuse new shooters and hinder their learning progress with too much information too soon. Sometimes photographers with a biased opinion can unintentionally plant seeds of misinformation. So what are some of the “tales” you as a beginner might hear? Here …
Use that old film camera lens for reverse-lens macro photos
Hey! You’re doing that all backward! But then, when doing Reverse-Lens Macro photography, that’s exactly how you want to go about it. So let’s put those old film camera lenses back to work and explore an ultra-close-up world. What is “macro” First, let’s define “macro.” A true macro photo is defined as one where the image recorded …
How to Set up Three-Point Lighting for Portrait Photography
Learn the fundamentals, and you form the foundation for further growth. In learning lighting for portraiture, understanding three-point lighting is crucial to making good portraits and then expanding into more sophisticated lighting setups. What is Three-Point Lighting? As the name would suggest, three-point lighting is a way of lighting a subject such that the light …
A Beginner’s Guide to High-Speed Photography
So you’re feeling the “Need for Speed?” You’ve seen some of those cool high-speed photos of dynamic action totally frozen and want to know what it takes to make them. You want to try a little “photo wizardry,” maybe stop things in mid-air? Well, let’s show you how. The longer you are a photographer, the …