The first few hours after a snow has fallen are magical times. The snow is pure. The only tracks in the snow are from moving twigs scraping the surface of the snow or the fragile tracks of birds and other small animals. They belong there.... Read More

Nothing says open space quite like a landscape defined by little more than big sky and continuous ground. In this image, stratified layers of color transition through various shades of green, yellow and blue, delineating a compositional plane and... Read More

Here's How to Take Great Indoor Christmas Photos Read More

Photographing Christmas Light displays can be lots of fun. There are lots of creative variations on a theme in play here, so go out and explore your neighborhood. Or, plan ahead for your next year’s Holiday card by shooting your own display.... Read More

Watch your timing: Because light bounces off snow, shadows fill in quickly. So if you are shooting mid-day, the light is going to look uninteresting. The best time to shoot a landscape would be early or late, when the light is low, and there are... Read More

Watch your exposure: All light meters give you an exposure that would place whatever is covered by it as 18% grey. If you were to shoot a white card and a black card, the exposure for each would be exactly the same--mid grey. Try it sometime. How... Read More

Equipment: Probably the most important issue, especially now with digital cameras, is battery power. Cold weather saps the energy of batteries, so be sure to have backups with you. I generally keep these in pockets close to my body so they stay... Read More

Winter can be one of the best times to shoot outdoors, and the key to a successful shoot is being properly prepared. Here’s what you need to know. Clothing: The key here is to dress in layers, wearing fabrics that will wick moisture away... Read More

Here's How to Take Meaningful Holiday Photos Read More

When shooting scenes like this, you’ll need to use exposure compensation in order to get white snow. In both of these images, I used +1.3 stops. Shooting at the metered setting will likely give you dingy grey snow since the meter is... Read More

Wide Apertures, Fast Lenses:When shooting in low light the faster your lens (wider the aperture) the higher your shutter speed can be, which reduces the chance of camera shake and minimizes subject movement. With a faster lens you won’t need... Read More

Just the head shot of this pup pasted against the sky creates a dramatic "Rin Tin Tin: Fighting for justice and safety everywhere" effect! Getting low to the ground really helps when taking pictures of your pet. When you shoot from their level (or... Read More

The Lensbaby can add action to what would be just a still image. Find the spot you want to focus on and then frame it. The rule of thirds works well with Lensbabies. Be different and you will enjoy what you see. This exposure was made with the... Read More

Birthday parties, family get-togethers, parades, kids on Halloween, weddings, graduations, cutting down a Christmas tree - these are but a few of the many events that make photography fun and rewarding. These preserved moments make for wonderful... Read More

Still Life. It's a misnomer. Life is never "still".Every moment, every subject can be framed and its image captured, but to show its life is the challenge. To best achieve a poignant "Still Life" be aware of light and composition. The quality of... Read More

Cats, being very independent creatures, are not always the easiest subjects to photograph. The best photo-ops are when they are just being themselves. If you have patience and perseverance they will eventually put on their own show. Some comical... Read More

Group Photos, especially those taken indoors, can be boring sometimes. But Kathy Tarantola, DPA Instructor out of Boston, avoided all the pitfalls. To get around the common problem of any of the models ignoring the camera, Kathy smartly had... Read More

These indoor portraits are especially significant because the subjects are not permitted to go outside. The subjects are part of an alternative to incarceration program. They are not allowed to leave their rooms. No going out for a walk around the... Read More

If there is one thing out there that is photographed heavily, it is our pets. Every pet owner from Aunt Sally to your neighbor Chris all take pictures of there pets, the trick is to do it better then every one else!I love animals, always have... Read More

Want to take portraits with more pizazz? Try coming in closer by using the zoom or actually stepping closer to your subject. Don’t be afraid to fill the frame, but watch your focus. Getting your subject’s eyes in focus is critical. If... Read More

These are photographs taken at Fairchild Tropical Garden, located in Coral Gables, FL. Color has a huge effect on the mood and impact of an image. Bold and contrasting colors make images pop and create lively, eye-catching photos. Vibrant colors... Read More

Southwest Arizona: Composed using a tripod, flash, and colored gel filters. First, I taped a green gel filter onto a camera flash unit. Then, I manually fired the flash into the cactus while exposing for the background cactus and lights. Throwing... Read More

Aside from the elements of composition and light, color is a leading element in making a photograph pop. Sometimes keeping it simple is harder than it may seem. Try narrowing down to 1 or 2 colors, and you will find your colors will pop, giving... Read More

The Paris Opera House was lit up spectacularly, but what really makes this image special is the brilliant blue sky. There is typically only 15-20 minutes when the sky is that rich color before it descends into darkness, but that’s the time... Read More

Glass and metal buildings reflect the sky color around them. Shoot after sunset to get smooth and beautiful color shifts. Use a tripod and wait longer than you think is necessary. It could get better! Read More

Self portrait in Paris at the Louvre. Walking the streets of Paris is a mind boggling event for a photographer. Everything is beautiful, all the time, in any light! I finally arrived at the Louvre museum and found this secluded arch way. I posted... Read More

Just two colors. Experiment with composition of only two colors, occupying approximately half the picture area. Which one will dominate? Crop out all extraneous material. For close-ups of flat subjects, make the lens axis perpendicular to the... Read More

The gas pump image began as a rather lack luster environmental still life but offered potential with the textured details of the faded paint and rusted surfaces. Thanks to the NIK SilverEfex plugin, specifically the structure and contrast levels... Read More

Having grown up here in Ohio, I am visually drawn to old barns and farm landscapes like this one.A 70 mm lens on my 35 mm full-frame camera, allowed me to capture the wide expanse, but more importantly it gave me the right amount of perspective to... Read More

Don't forget to accessorize your desserts! Pick a complimentary color to the chocolate or a hue that's consistent with the icing and surround the dessert with items accordingly. In this case Houston DPA instructor Michael hart chose rose petals... Read More

Photograph in low light on purpose!To get the people silhouetted I exposed for the highlights on the water and opened up one f-stop; in-camera meters tend to want to expose whites as gray. Image was color tinted and vignetted to emphasize the mood... Read More

Digital Photo Academy and LivinginHD present a free monthly series of photography webinars on LivinginHD.com. Your host, John Bentham answers many questions live during the webinars. Additional questions and answers are posted here on... Read More

Light has a temperature. The color characteristics of visible light are determined by its temperature. Without spending time on the physics, one can develop an intuitive understanding of the relative warmth or coolness of the light by thinking of... Read More

The Lensbaby system is extremely versatile and allows a photographer to make photos during the entire day. While it’s a known fact that the best light of the day occurs at sunrise and sunset, the beauty of a Lensbaby is it allows a... Read More

As we climbed the dark and narrow stairs to the top of Notre Dame, I was stuck by the worn steps of marble, and the contrast of the light / dark, circular stairs / rectangular window. Normally this can be a tough situation for an automatic... Read More

Ah, who said you can't go out and play in the rain with your camera? Especially when exploring a new camera, rain or shine is my motto! In fact, the overcast skies and slight darkness are a perfect time to learn a few tricks for shooting in low... Read More

Whatever the source, backlighting can create interesting shapes from any subject in front of them. Usually in the form of a silhouette, the shape of the subject becomes outlined, adding mystery and contrast. In these conditions, it can take on a... Read More

Take advantage of natural light. Natural lighting is soft, it creates dramatic and intimate settings. Force your camera’s flash off, and use a tripod or other stable surface to avoid camera shake. Use the ‘rule of thirds’ to... Read More

A silhouette like this one is typically difficult to expose correctly. It is one thing to meter for a rich sky, casting the unlit subject into darkness, but it’s quite another to also maintain detail and color in the composition’s... Read More

High desert was shot off of old Highway 8 on the California Mexico border. This rock is about 2 hours east of San Diego and visible from highway 8. Lots of interesting rock formations in all high desert areas. I shot this in the spring because of... Read More

The more you participate in your photographs, the stronger the images will be. Draw inspiration from your subjects. If they are pushing the limit in taking chances, the odds are that your pictures will benefit from a similar intensity of approach.... Read More

It was once said of Wayne Gretzky that he didn't go to where to the puck was, he went to where it was going. By thinking ahead of the action, you'll be ready for it. In Craig Biggio's final game, I pre-focused on second base whenever The Atlanta... Read More

If you are using a zoom lens, you can create focus on your subject surrounded by blur by quickly racking your zoom lens in or out while the shutter is open. Results can be unpredictable, so try a few frames if you can and adjust your exposure... Read More

This photo of a newly married couple shot in the coastal town of San Carlos, Mexico, illustrates a creative use of fill-flash. As the couple danced on the beach with the sun having already set, I shot at a half second to capture a little of the... Read More

Shooting from a plane can give you interesting views of the world. In order to avoid distortion, you need to keep the lens parallel to the window. If you have a polarizing filter, you can use this to help reduce glare. Don’t put the camera... Read More

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds. In the warm months, canoes glide across picture perfect lakes. No motors are permitted here, and save for a few hiking... Read More

A great way to practice sports photography is to go out with your children to a game they like to play and photograph. If you don’t have kids on your own, I bet a neighbor or friend would be happy to take you along to their kids game. I... Read More

Lots to think about: freeze the motion / emphasize the action / make it artistic / zoom it / pan it / time it right / know the subject / ........... I wanted to write a single HOW TO article on action but based on the number of topics and wanting... Read More

Shooting sports is almost always best if you can freeze the action. Try using a wide aperture and high shutter speed of at least 1/500 second. Sometimes showing the subject within the context of a wider frame can work well to tell the whole story.... Read More

Depending on the amount of spray it emits, you will need to bring an absorbent cloth to continuously wipe off your filter. This is especially true if you work close to the falling water. If you do work close to the water, be especially careful of... Read More

The three tiered non-traditional wedding cake was decorated for a California style beach wedding, and I loved the way it was decorated. Even at f4 I had enough depth of field to keep the cake layers in focus, but soften the background enough not... Read More

-Vary the angle of the camera, shoot from over head and at plate level. -Vary the angle of the plate too. I buy toilet shimms from the hardware store and use them to tilt the plate into the camera - watch out for movement in sauces though! -Play... Read More

Food. Everyone loves it. Photographing food in restaurants is not all that difficult, but you have to be quick. Find a table near a window, backlight your food and bounce a little light back into it with a collapsable reflector, or even a menu,... Read More

Yes, I admit it, I am a sucker for these rustic country-road scenes with rusty trucks. Photography almost seems tailor made for such moments, doesn't it? On the day I spotted this old International Harvester dump truck (note the logo at top... Read More

This macro photo is of a Dogwood Blossom. Instead of a camera to make this image I used a flatbed scanner. The scans were made at 100% magnification of 1 inch by, 8 inch at 4800 ppi. They were processed in Photoshop with minimal tonal enhancement,... Read More

Sometimes breaking the rules can yield dramatic images. In this case, I chose an angle that provided extreme back-lighting of the subject. Central Park, NYC Read More

Go for the unusual angle. Looking up, with a silhouette effect is not the normal way to see these structures and can make your subject stand out. Walk all around looking for every angle. Come back at the opposite time of day and look for new shots... Read More

Birds eye view works for desserts but an image that employs depth of field can be effective too! Create an impressionistic sensibility of the denouement of an unforgettable feast by posing the main dish in the foreground and variations of the... Read More

nowing how to photograph an eye-catching landscape is an important skill. Not only will it allow you to relive the moment of your encounter with a majestic mountain or your day-trip to the beach, there’s the benefit of creating a work of art... Read More

This image was made with the Lensbaby Fisheye Optic. It would not have been possible without a superwide angle lens because there is a fence approximately fifteen feet in front of the club. By standing in the center and shooting through the... Read More