Make any setting a portrait setting
Portraiture requires a number of specialized tools – and that number increases depending on who you ask, and how serious a portrait photog you are. At the most basic level, a lens well suited to portraiture work and some form of lighting are needed; at the other end of the spectrum are photos with huge [...]
AF Micro-adjustment
I suspect that many of you won’t be familiar with the term “AF micro-adjustment.” And there’s no reason you should be, unless you’ve used one of Canon’s top series cameras, like the EOS 5D. This is a feature that is just starting to trickle down into the mid-range EOS bodies – the 50D was the [...]
Lessons Learned from My Mentor
I learned photography from a wide range of sources, but none was more pivotal – more essential – to my development than my mentor, Jonathan Cohen. Jonathan is the university photographer at my alma mater; before that, he was a working photojournalist who has had work published in some major publications. Jonathan had just taken [...]
Cheating on the Light
If you’ve learned anything about photography by now, it should be that there are plenty of rules – and plenty of times when breaking those rules is not only okay, but recommended. You should also know that it’s all about the light. And when the light isn’t doing quite what you want, modify it. During [...]
Pre-gamein' it
What do these two photos have in common? (Hint: the fact that neither is very good isn’t the correct answer.) Hopefully you’re able to see the relationship; the photo on the left is a snapshot of a massage room at a medical school, while the photo on the right is a shot of my bathroom. [...]
Birding Photography Continued
Back in PA after a rainy trip to Vermont, and I’m once more out at Fords Pond just before sunset, working with the birds. This latest session was the best yet; for the first time, I was able to place myself between the light (sun) and the critters, meaning that they were fully lit from [...]
Objects in Motion
Nope, not Newton’s First Law. I’m talking about photographing objects in motion, specifically landscapes in motion. Most of the time landscape photographers wait for calm days with little or no wind, then set up a tripod with their camera and wide-angle lens, stopped down to around f/16, lowest ISO, and whatever shutter speed is required. [...]
Space – Making the Most of What You Have
I’m used to working with what I have on hand; I was a working photographer at the same time that I was a broke college student, so I have experience inventing/building what I need as opposed to buying it whenever possible. And as I said last time, I’m used to working with a P&S part [...]
Making the Most of What You Have
Let’s face it, we’re not all pro photographers. Very few of us will ever run around the African veldt for National Geographic, or cover a Jets football game for Sports Illustrated, or shoot weddings for Hollywood celebrities. So most of us will never have the latest & greatest gear – many will never even own [...]
Learning Photography – The Web
This is the age of the Internet – if you can’t find an article on photography, you’re not looking at all. And if you are looking, chances are you’re overwhelmed. Google “photography” and you get 317 million results. ”Learn photography” is somewhat better, at 1.5 million results. We’ve uncovered the not-so-secret flaw of the Internet [...]
