One of the most important elements of a photograph is often the one that is the most frequently overlooked. The background of an image can do many things - it can help establish context for the image, add emotion or feeling and strengthen the narrative of the picture. When taking pictures, it's important to know how your background will impact your picture and how you can use it to your advantage.
Niger Portrait by etrenard on flickr (licensed CC-BY-SA)
It can be very annoying when you frame a nice photo of your subject and then when you press the shutter the camera's flash fires on full blast, making your subject blown-out white. Unfortunately there's no way you can get back that shot, but there are some things you can do to bring down the flash power for another shot, even if there are no flash settings on your camera.
Reflections are all around but you need to tune your vision to spot them easily. A well captured reflection can make a stunning picture that will make your audience sit up and take notice of your work. To take great reflections you need good technique but it also helps if you know where to look, so here are some ideas as well as a few tips.
Glacial lake in Iceland: the icebergs help deaden the surface of the water creating reflections
It may be hard to believe, but you can take very nice landscape photography even with the most basic equipment. You don't need the latest and greatest ultra-wide lenses (although that does help create a unique perspective) or the fastest lens with a f1.2 aperture. Landscape photography generally benefits from a deep depth of field, and ironically the type of camera with inherently deep depth of field are compact point and shoot digital cameras! DSLRs have shallower depth of field, hence they lends themselves to creating shots with nice bokeh (out-of-focus elements).
These 5 tips will not feature the discussed-to-death rule of thirds. Anyway, for those looking for something on the rule of thirds, just remember this rule: Don't place your subject right in the middle of the frame unless you are aiming for symmetry (see the next tip below).
Read the rest of this entry »To most people, travel photography involves taking memorable photos of the things you experience while on your vacation. Travel photography includes road trips, vacations, scavenger hunts to historic locations, and generally anything else that requires leaving your house and packing a bag. Before you load up the car, take a look at these quick hints to help ensure your photographs turn out as great as your adventures.
Read the rest of this entry »When you try to take portraits of your pets, do you end up with nothing but blurry blobs, down in the corner? Was your dog or cat even looking at the camera? Were they looking attentive and happy? Did your cat make sure everyone was bleeding before the end of your last photo session? Here's how to get better pet photos...
My little dog by Szlivka Róbert on flickr (licensed CC-BY-ND)
The moon, a body out in space that none of us are likely to visit in person, can make for some great photos. However, despite its large size, the long distance from earth means that it can be hard to get a meaningful photo of it.
Moon Rise behind the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm by Chuck Coker on flickr (licensed CC-BY-ND)
There is nothing quite as exhilarating and rewarding as getting back to nature and photographing mountain scenery. Mountains are dramatic, inspiring and provide great photography potential. Whilst you will need to be careful, mountains can be much more accessible and rewarding for the landscape photographer than you realise. Here are some top tips to get you started and hopefully capture those stunning scenes.
Read the rest of this entry »Taking great landscape pictures can seem so easy compared to shooting action photography or taking pictures of children or animals. But any photographer that's carried heavy equipment up a mountain to take a spectacular shot with no success, will tell you it's a lot more than just showing up. Here are a few things you can to do to get beautiful landscape pictures.
Read the rest of this entry »Alfred Stieglitz, born January 1864, died July 1946, was one of America's foremost photographers and played a crucial part during his lifetime in ensuring photography became an accepted art form in its own right. He is also known for introducing many European artists of the avant-garde to America and for being married to the painter Georgia O'Keeffe.
