Tips
September 24, 2007
Over at our sister site - Digital Photography School - the last few weeks have been incredibly busy with loads of new tips and tutorials going up on the blog. Here are 10 of the latest tutorials that you might be interested in checking out: Should You Buy a DSLR or a Point and Shoot Digital Camera? Which Lens Should I Upgrade my Canon Kit Lens to? The Pros and Cons of Using Teleconverters (Extenders) on your DSLR 5 Situations...
More »
Tips
July 22, 2007
One of the most common photography topics that I'm asked about is Wedding Photography. I've done a few weddings over the last few years and while I wouldn't claim to be a Pro - I've picked up a few tips that I've been meaning to share for a while. So last week I sat down and wrote everything I know about the topic. Read my 21 Tips for Wedding Photography. I hope you enjoy the tips. Feel free to...
More »
Tips
July 09, 2007
Over at Digital Photography School we've been busily adding a stack of new tutorials and tips over the last month or two. Here are some of the more popular posts that we've written. I hope you enjoy them: Depth of Field Preview - an introduction to an often under utilized camera function Most Popular DSLR Lenses - a summary of DPS readers favorite lenses Understanding Histograms - an introduction to a feature that is often not understood Introduction to...
More »
Tips
June 17, 2007
Every few days I'm asked by readers for advice on buying DSLR Lenses. I guess with DSLRs becoming more and more affordable it's only natural that they're being bought more and more and that users are wanting to get the most out of them. There's such a big difference in quality between one DSLR Lens and another that it's important to understand what you're buying - so over at Digital Photography School I've been writing a lot of articles...
More »
Tips
May 01, 2007
Over at Digital Photography School last week we celebrated our first year birthday. As part of the celebration I posted the top 20 posts from the DPS blog from the past year. The list was so successful that I though it might be worth republishing it here. I hope you enjoy these digital photography tutorials (by the way, they're in no particular order_: The Rule of Thirds - an early post on a basic compositional 'Rule' Working the Lines...
More »
Tips
December 31, 2006
Have you ever wanted to get close up shots of objects on white backgrounds looking like they've been taken in a studio? Don't have the budget to buy your own professional light tent? You might want to check out this hack at Digital Photography School titled How to Make A Inexpensive Light Tent which takes you through the process of making your own for just a few dollars step by step. All you need is a box, some fabric,...
More »
Tips
December 26, 2006
If you got a digital camera for Christmas and are looking for some tips on how to use it check out some of the following tutorials at Digital Photography School. ...
More »
Tips
December 26, 2006
What is the best Digital Camera? Which Digital Camera should I buy? In an attempt to help people find the best digital camera I tend to answer them in three ways: 1. My personal Digital Camera Reviews and Recommendations Point and Shoot Camera wise I tend to recommend the Fujifilm FinePix F30 (compare prices on the F30 here) for many users who want a nice compact camera for everyday shooting, particularly in low light. For a larger point and...
More »
Tips
December 10, 2006
Are you looking to buy a digital camera for yourself or that special someone as a gift? Here are a few tutorials and guides from our sites that might be of some assistance in choosing the right camera: Digital Camera and Photography Gift Ideas How to Buy a Digital Camera - A 9 Step Guide When is the Best Time to Buy a Digital Camera? 3 Questions to Ask Should You Buy a DSLR or a Point and Shoot Digital...
More »
Tips
December 03, 2006
Popular Photography has a helpful guide to photographing live events and concerts in small to medium sized venues: "Whether you simply want a souvenir of your favorite act, photos of your children at the school recital, or aspire to be a professional music photographer, learning to photograph under available stage light is important. The inherent lighting conditions, while making for atmospheric shots, present challenges and require a certain amount of specialized equipment, film, and technique to get optimum results....
More »
Tips
November 08, 2006
Photoshop expert, Shane Goldberg, has announced that he's giving away his successful PhotoShop made Easy eBook for free. Many of you already know Shane's work through his Photoshop Video tutorials but his eBook is also a very helpful resource if you're wanting to build up your Photoshopping skills. Best of all, while Shane does offer some excellent paid resources - both of the above are completely free and give you a feel for his style (as well as teaching...
More »
Tips
November 01, 2006
Today over at Digital Photography School I've posted a tutorial on How to Choose a DSLR Camera after getting a lot of questions on the topics from readers. In the post I cover: 9 Reasons to Upgrade to a DSLR 8 Factors to Consider when Choosing a DSLR My DSLR Recommendations If you've got a DSLR and have a recommendation to add to mine I'd love to include it - just leave a comment on that post. Other recent...
More »
Tips
October 25, 2006
Last week in our weekly newsletter I gave three recommendations for good Digital Photography Books (some of the best books I've come across). A number of people have emailed to ask me to post them again on the main blog because they deleted the email. Here they are: Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson I've referred to this one in my series on Exposure - good if you want to learn how to get out of 'Auto Mode'. Perfect Digital...
More »
Tips
September 12, 2006
It's time for another update of the latest digital camera tips and tutorials over at DPS. Here's the latest 5: How to Take a Photograph out of a Plane Window - Aerial photography for airliner passangers 7 Digital Camera Predators and how to keep them at Bay - you pay good money for your digital camera - now learn how to care for it Photographing Signs - Add a new dimension to your travel photography by focussing on signs...
More »
Tips
September 02, 2006
The weekend has arrived and its an ideal time to get out and about with your digital camera. I've just got a Fujifilm FinePix F30 which I'm going to take for a spin. So far it's got some definite improvements over the Fujifilm Finepix F10 (which I raved about) and could be the ideal second camera for those times when I don't want to haul my DSLR around. Anyway - since it's the weekend and I know many of...
More »
Tips
August 29, 2006
Regular readers of this site will know of David Peterson and his range of digital photography products. He's a fellow Australian who is the guy behind a number of good digital photography e-books and a free newsletter called Digital Photography Secrets (which I know have been popular with many of you). Today David emailed me to let me know about a service he's relaunching in the next few days called Review Your Photos which I know many of you...
More »
Tips
August 08, 2006
The following tip on photographing Children was submitted as an exclusive tip to DPB by Amy Renfry of the Digital Photography Success e-book. Children and both wonderful and exhausting! They can leave a perfectly fit adult in a state of exhaustion we’re not careful! But how beautiful they are to photograph. I should say, to be more precise, they are beautiful and the experience of photographing them is a heartwarming one. Kids are forever running, playing, imagining, inventing, discovering...
More »
Tips
July 10, 2006
Strobist has a really cool tutorial at their blog titled DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio which, as the name suggests, shows you how to make a very affordable photo studio to help you get stunning macro shots. All you really need is a box, some tissue paper and a little tape. Great tutorial and the results look fantastic. Found via Lifehacker. ...
More »
Tips
June 27, 2006
It's been a week or so since I last updated you on what the latest digital camera tips at DPS were. So here's the latest 10 tutorials: How to Photography Fireworks - just in time for 4th July An Introduction to types of DSLR Lenses - the start of a series hoping to answer 'which lens should I buy?' Factors to Consider When Shopping for a DSLR Lens - some of the basic things to keep in mind when...
More »
Tips
June 19, 2006
The Strobist has a basic, but good, tip on How to Quick-Change an SLR lens that I think is worth a look for new DSLR owners who have multiple lenses. I think it's worth a read simply because I see a lot of DSLR users changing lenses in a way that is bound to end in misery (either dropping the lens or camera and/or that will get dust into the camera). While the post doesn't mention it, the beauty...
More »
Tips
June 15, 2006
Just a quick note to let you know some of the latest digital camera tips at Digital Photography School. How to Crop Images Using Colour in Photography Patience and Photography Also - we've started a Flickr group for digital photography school where we're setting group assignments based upon the tips we write. Read about the goals of the group here. Lastly - if you have a digital camera tip to share we'd love to publish it. Check out the...
More »
Tips
June 09, 2006
One of my favorite times to photograph is in the 'golden hour' - just before the sun goes down when you get that wonderful golden glow over the landscape. I remember a trip a few years back to the outback of central Australia where I discovered the potential of this time of the day in a place where the golden glow of the sun on the red sand and rock of the outback was pure magic. It was on...
More »
Tips
June 06, 2006
Taking photos at the beach is one of my favorite locations for shots so it seemed natural that I write a couple of tips on it this week at Digital Photography School. You can read them at: 10 Beach Photography Tips Beach Photography and Digital Camera Maintenance I hope you enjoy them - have fun at the beach! ...
More »
Tips
June 04, 2006
At DPS we covered 11 Tips for Better Candid Photography in the last few days: 'Candid styles of photography are increasingly becoming popular both in general day to day photography but also in formal photographic situations. Last time I was asked to photograph a wedding the couple actually hired me purely to take paparazzi style shows of them and their guests throughout the day. They had another photographer for the formal shots and gave me the brief of getting...
More »
Tips
June 02, 2006
The last week has been a hive of activity at Digital Photography School with loads of new tips and a record week of traffic with over 40,000 visitors popping by to check out some of these Digital Camera tips: How to Hold a Digital Camera (the most popular post of the week) Using the Zoom Effect How to Photograph Pets...
More »
Tips
May 30, 2006
The latest tip at DPS is on Removing Clutter from Your Photography: "Sometimes what makes a great image stand out is not just what you include in your framing of the image but what you DON’T include. Each element of an image should add something to to the overall photograph. If it doesn’t you should attempt to leave it out by either using on of the techniques below... " Read the de-cluttering techniques here ...
More »
Tips
May 29, 2006
Using Focal Points in Photography is the latest tip article over at Digital Photography School: "The reason a focal point is important is that when you look at an image your eye will generally need a ‘resting place’ or something of interest to really hold it. Without it you’ll find people will simply glance at your shots and then move on to the next one. Once you’ve identified a point of interest or focal point you then should ask...
More »
Tips
May 27, 2006
At our house we're preparing for a baby in just a few weeks and the preparations have been pretty crazy. It's amazing how something so little can need so much stuff! Amidst the preparations I've been enjoying using my DSLR - the 'stuff' is very cute 'stuff' and is ideal for some great still life photography. I've written up my approach to Preparing for a Baby Photographically as a tip post at Digital Photography School. I hope you enjoy...
More »
Tips
May 25, 2006
There are many factors that come into play when planning the composition of a photograph but one of the important lessons to learn is to learn how to use Lines in your Photography. In this latest mini-series at Digital Photography School takes a look at three types of lines: Using Horizontal Lines in Photography Using Vertical Lines in Photography Using Diagonal Lines in Photography ...
More »
Tips
May 23, 2006
Sometimes it's the simplest things that can have a large impact upon the results of your photography. I was reminded of this today when a reader emailed me after my tip at Digital Photography School on Shutter Release Techniques. In the email the reader told me that he'd thought his new digital camera had a problem with focussing because just about every shot he took was slightly blurry. On reading my shutter release tips post he realized that the...
More »
Tips
May 19, 2006
The ability to fire off multiple frames in quick burts of frenzied photographic activity is something that most digital cameras these days have the ability to do - yet so many digital photographers are unaware of the impact that shooting in continuous shooting mode can have upon their photography. The benefits are many and with a little practice the impact can be quite wonderful as you look at the sequences of shots you can take as well as the...
More »
Tips
May 18, 2006
Learning how to how to use Fill Flash is one aspect of digital photography that I strongly encourage all new digital camera users to learn how to use. I see many photographers when I'm out and about allowing their camera to determine when the flash should fire or not and not realizing that to override the camera and fire a flash when it might not see a need for it can really lift a shot and add detail to...
More »
Tips
May 16, 2006
What equipment do you pack in your digital camera back when traveling? This is the latest question that I tackle at DPS this week after being asked the question by a reader. Here's one of the things I included in the list of items I pack: "Memory Cards - gone are the days of having to haul mountains of film around with you but giving careful consideration to the way you store you images while away is definitely worth...
More »
Tips
May 15, 2006
Today's tip at DPS is on How to Photograph People When Traveling. In it I give 8 tips on the topic - here's just one of them: 'Arrange an extended photo shoot - This goes against the nature of most travel photography which is usually very fast and spontaneous - but on one or two occasions when I’ve traveled I’ve had opportunity to sit with a person for a longer period of time and photograph them in a more...
More »
Tips
May 13, 2006
Over at Digital Photography School I've been working hard on producing a series of tips for digital camera users who want to improve their Travel Photography. So far in the series you can read Travel Photography Tips on: Introduction to Photographing People while Traveling Thinking about Context Keeping Your Photography in Perspective while on a trip Mixing Up your Shots A lot of these travel photography tips (and the ones that will follow) are aimed at travel photographers but...
More »
Tips
May 11, 2006
Should you buy a DSLR or Point and Shoot Digital Camera? This is a question I'm asked every second day and so I thought I'd put together as comprehensive an answer as I possibly could on the topic from my experience of using both a DSLR and a Point and Shoot camera. I posted it a couple of days back and it's turned out to be an incredibly popular post with over 6000 visitors to it in just 24...
More »
Tips
May 09, 2006
I have a theory that one of the most used buttons on digital cameras is the one with the little trash can next to it - the delete button. In fact when I talk to digital camera owners one of the things they often tell me that they love about digital photography as opposed to film photography is that they have the ability to take as many shots as they like and immediately delete the ones that they don't like....
More »
Tips
May 09, 2006
Taking Better Photos By Taking More Photos is the latest tip at DPS. My first experience of a digital camera was back in 1999 when I spent a year traveling around Australia managing a band. I don't remember the camera's model number but it was a Sony and it stored images on a 3.5 inch floppy disk. While the disks could only store 1.44 megabytes of data I loved this boxy digital camera mainly because of the ability it...
More »
Tips
May 06, 2006
One of the biggest questions I find that DSLR owners ask me is on the topic of 'which lens'? I am asked it a lot and so on Digital Photography School this week wrote a post on Which Lenses to Take when Traveling?. It's a tricky question to answer on many fronts with many factors to consider but I narrowed my choices down to two Canon lenses (I'm sure there are equivalent for other brands). I've been lucky enough...
More »
Tips
May 05, 2006
Another portrait composition tip over at DPS today on how to frame your subject so that you give extra space on the side of their head that they are facing. It sounds like a pretty basic tip (and it is) but it's also a pretty effective one. "The reason for this is that when a person views an image with a person looking in one direction or the other their eyes also are drawn in that direction. In a...
More »
Tips
May 04, 2006
Digital Photography School's latest tip is on the Rule of Thirds: "Perhaps the most well know principle of photographic composition is the ‘Rule of Thirds’. It’s one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots. I will say right up front however that rules are meant to be broken and ignoring this one doesn’t mean your images are necessarily...
More »
Tips
May 03, 2006
Low Light Sports Photography is the latest topic that I tackle over at DP School where I'm getting a lot of reader suggestions for topics to cover. Taking photos of sports is challenging at the best of times with the speed at which subjects move around but in low light the difficulty of freezing your subject and capturing all of their features increases significantly. Add to this the problem of often not being able to use a flash for...
More »
Tips
April 30, 2006
Today at Digital Photography School we take a look at another important digital photography composition technique - Filling your Frame with your Subject. Yesterday I was out and about in the centre of Melbourne (where I live) doing some people watching (with a coffee in hand) and I found myself particularly watching the many people with digital cameras (mainly tourists) taking pictures of each other. One of the things that I noticed most about them was the distance that...
More »
Tips
April 29, 2006
Long term friend of this site is David Peterson (a fellow Melbournian) who is the guy behind the free email newsletter - Digital Photography Secrets, a free tips newsletter that I've subscribed to and recommended to readers. David has a number of quality products to help digital camera owners get the most out of their cameras and the latest one I've had the privilege to take a look at today. It is called Depth of Field Secrets. It is an...
More »
Tips
April 28, 2006
Another simple tip today over at Digital Photography School - this time on Getting your Images Straight and watching not only the horizontal lines (like horizons) but also the vertical lines in your images. I'm constantly amazed by how many people don't seem to know or use this principle. While you can definitely go overboard with it and take way to long to make sure everything is straight, even just a quick check and adjustment before pressing the shutter...
More »
Tips
April 26, 2006
Today I've posted a post over at Digital Photography School which sounds so simple yet is something that so many digital camera owners fail to do: Check it out at - Getting Horizons Horizontal ...
More »
Tips
April 26, 2006
I mentioned in my free digital photography newsletter last week that we are expecting our first child in June of this year. Those of you who've had kids know that the months leading up to the birth are filled with excitement, planning, spending money (who knew something so small needed so much!) and a little fear. Part of the planning for the day of the birth is thinking through what to do when it comes to recording the day...
More »
Tips
April 24, 2006
Today Digital Photography School focusses in further on photographing babies with a technique that many professional photographers use with great effect - zooming in. There are no rules out there that make it compulsory to fit in your whole subject and zooming in on just part of it can have a massive impact, especially when the subject of your zoom is as cute as a babies foot, ear, cheek or big eyes. Take a number of these shots and...
More »
Tips
April 23, 2006
Today at Digital Photography School we continue the Composition series by look at how to compose a photo when your subject when photographing children. Children can be amazing to photograph as they are so playful, full of expression, colorful and fun. Having said this they also present their own set of challenges including their height (or lack of it) and the speed at which they often move around. This post talks about getting down on their level, learning to...
More »
Tips
April 22, 2006
More on Digital Photography Composition today from Digital Photography School. Today the focus is Photographing People from New Angles. "People come in all shapes and sizes and to photograph them from the stock standard six foot high standing position just doesn’t do them justice. Experiment with getting down as low as you can or find a way to climb above them and you might just find yourself discovering a new angle on your subject that adds that special something...
More »
Tips
April 21, 2006
Digital Photography School continues the composition tips series with a post on Finding Fresh Angles or Perspectives to Shoot Images from. The key is to experiment with your own position as photographer, the height you shoot from, the distance from the subject etc: "Not only does changing the angle that you shoot from impact the feeling of size of your subject but it can have a real effect upon the light and shade and patterns on it. You can...
More »
Tips
April 20, 2006
Digital Photography School has just started a series of posts on Digital Photography Composition and has posted it's first tip post on Planning your Digital Camera Shots. In it they talk about two extremes of digital camera users - the 'snap happy photographer' and the 'over planner'. Somewhere between the two is a happy medium. ...
More »
Tips
April 16, 2006
Earthbound Light's photo tip of the week is a good one. It's titled 'Diffraction: When Smaller Apertures No Longer Mean Sharper Pictures' and is an explanation of the impact that changing aperture can have on the sharpness of your digital images: 'Conventional wisdom is that one can achieve a sharper image by stopping down to a smaller aperture, but this misses the mark in two fundamental ways. First, the image will always be sharp at the point of focus....
More »
Tips
April 03, 2006
Every day we get emails from readers asking for tips on how to improve their digital photography and wanting information on how to make money from their photos. So we've assembled this list of five of the best online Digital Photography Resources to show some of the options available for online learning in these areas. 1. Digital Photography Success - a course on improving your digital camera technique and skills. 2. Profitable Photography - a very popular e-book on how...
More »
Tips
February 15, 2006
I love getting out and about to sporting events with my digital camera. Recently I went to the Australian Open Tennis and took a few hundred shots over the day (you can see one of M. Sanchez Loren to the right). So when Amy Renfrey from the Digital Photography Success e-book asked me if I'd like to post this tip on taking Action Shots in lowlight situations I jumped at the opportunity. Here's what she writes: You know recently I...
More »
Tips
February 14, 2006
There is an interesting column over at Digital Media Thoughts on Culling your Digital Images which is worth a read: 'I think you should get in the habit of deleting "good" photos, and here's why: I believe that deleting/culling photos is an important part of learning how to be a better photographer. The word culling has its genesis in ranching, but the idea is a good one: separating the weak from the strong, for the purpose of making the...
More »
Tips
February 08, 2006
PC World has a tutorial on Eliminating Noise From Your Digital Photos: 'The ability to change your digital camera's ISO level is a mixed blessing. Increasing the ISO allows you to capture sharp pictures in low light by increasing the camera's sensitivity, but it also adds unwanted digital noise to your picture--which looks like the grain you'd see in a print made from very fast 35mm film. Last week, we talked about how you can use ISO to your...
More »
Tips
January 30, 2006
There's a great article over at Gary Voth Photography titled The Forgotten Lens which examines the recent rise in popularity of the 50mm prime lens. 'The 50mm lens is called a "normal" or "standard" lens because the way it renders perspective closely matches that of the human eye. Consequently, images made with a 50mm lens have a natural and uncontrived look. This is the lens that likely would have come with your camera had you bought it 10-15 years...
More »
Tips
January 25, 2006
All Business has a good 'dummies' article on how to Share Photos between a Digital Camera and a Pocket PC: 'The most straightforward method of sharing digital images between your digital camera and your Pocket PC is to use a memory storage card that is compatible with both units. If this is an option, you can typically just pop the memory card out of the camera, plug it into your Pocket PC, and you're ready to go -- almost....
More »
Tips
January 25, 2006
Want to know one of the secrets to successful shots of people? That's easy. It's them. What I mean by that is that the art to capturing a great shot of someone is simply finding a way to let their good self shine through. You see, when someone feels good it shows in their eyes, their facial expression and their body language. And this means that the more relaxed someone is the better chance you have to capturing that...
More »
Tips
January 23, 2006
Michael Carr has written a tips post on How to Protect Your Digital Camera from Extreme Heat, Cold Weather and Rain which might be helpful if you're planning a trip to anywhere with extreme conditions. ...
More »
Tips
January 17, 2006
Carlo Van de Roer (a photographer - check out his site at Carlo Van De Roer Photography) has submitted the following mini tip for getting a digital image ready for email or posting on a website. He writes: Here is a little tip about preparing digital images for web use, for emailing or posting on a website. These 3 steps are fairly basic, but make a remarkable difference to sharpness and how your images are viewed across various browsers...
More »
Tips
January 08, 2006
Rhonda from Photography Hack has a great post today on Tips for Photographing Children with some very sensible tips (as well as some very cute photos of some children). Rhonda's main points in her advice for photographing children (each of which are expanded in the article) are: 1. Get them involved. 2. Location, location, location. 3. Be quick! 4. Be patient. 5. Choose your equipment wisely. 6. Shoot at eye level. 7. Get close! 8. Finish on a good...
More »
Tips
December 25, 2005
Many people are getting digital cameras for Christmas and as a result the number of times we've been asked in the last few days for advice on how to use them has been on the rise. So today I thought I'd compile a list of a few of the online tips resources that I've had good feedback on from readers. I hope you find them helpful. Digital Photography Success - A useful resource by Amy Renfry who has been writing...
More »
Tips
December 11, 2005
Blogging Baby has a cool article on the topic of The best digital cameras to give your kids this holiday where they take a look at which digital cameras are best for children in the following five categories: The He’s-Only-Six-But-He-Wants-A-Camera-Just-Like-Daddy’s Kid The She’s-A-Complete-Daredevil-And-Wants-To-Capture-Her-Own-Action Kid The He’s-Not-Really-Into-Photography-But-Loves-To-Take-Candids-At-The-Mall Teen The She’s-Going-Away-For-The-Summer-By-Herself-For-The-First-Time Teen The Will-Probably-Be-A-Pulitzer-Prize-Winning-Journalist-One-Day Teen Hopefully it's an article that will help you decide which digital cameras are best gifts for your kids this Christmas. ...
More »
Tips
November 29, 2005
It doesn't take much to get great shots indoors. In fact the secret is so simple that it'll amaze you once you know what it is. The first secret to taking good indoor shots is that you need light. The major problem with indoor shots is really just they are far too dark. I've taken shots of things inside and sometimes found that no matter how hard I try, without the aid of an overhead lamp or sunlight streaming...
More »
Tips
November 25, 2005
This Landscape Photography Tip was submitted by Amy Renfrey - author of the popular Digital Photo Success and a newer resource on Landscape Photography Have you ever wondered what it would be like to finally capture that big expansive look and feel to your landscape pictures? How awful is it to arrive at an awesome place that lays out a scene of majestic colour and expansiveness before you only to find you can't capture it properly on your digital...
More »
Tips
November 25, 2005
Luminous Landscape has a brilliant piece on the topic of Street Photography in China. It contains some great advice including: 'Don't carry a lot of gear. Ideally, just one body and a couple of lenses. No camera bag, or if you must, a small canvas sack with an extra lens and a couple of memory cards and batteries. This will allow you to walk further, work longer, and not be singled out as a target for theft. Keep it...
More »
Tips
November 08, 2005
Those of you wanting to improve your Landscape Photography might be interested in a new resource just released today by a fellow Australian - Amy Renfrey - who has put together a resource called How Take The Most Clear, Breathtaking, Majestic and Powerful Landscape Photos. Without Spending Hundreds Of Dollars On Expensive Camera Equipment, Using Any Good, Basic Digital Camera. Ok - it might be a bit of a mouthful but those of you who have used Amy's Digital...
More »
Tips
October 16, 2005
About.com has some tips on Shooting Great Pictures of the Fall Foliage and Autumn Scenes which will be useful for some northern hemisphere readers of this site: 'Aim for the “magic hours” - Anytime of the day you’ll find great pictures of the fall foliage, but try to take photos in the early morning or late evening. You may have heard the term “magic hour” in photography, which refers to the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset.'...
More »
Tips
October 16, 2005
Paul Watson has posted a helpful post on Choosing between bridge digital cameras and DSLRs where he looks at the pros and cons of entry level DSLRs in comparison to higher end compact digital cameras like the Fujifilm Finepix S9000. This is a topic I get asked a lot about by readers of this site so it's one I'll be referring people to a lot. 'I was in the camera shop yesterday holding a Fujifilm FinePix S9000 Zoom. Purely...
More »
Tips
October 13, 2005
Photoshop Support has a good tutorial on fixing overexposed Images with Photoshop: 'The easiest way to fix an overexposed photo is to open it in Photoshop and choose Image> Adjustments> Shadow/Highlight (CS-only. For pre-CS look below). You'll see an immediate change in your photo and it will probably be too extreme, but just use this setting as a starting point. Photoshop ships with defaults that are often way over the top. Just play with the Amount Slider and the...
More »
Tips
October 11, 2005
One of the nice parts of running one of Australia's most visited Digital Camera sites is that manufacturers are always sending us digital cameras to review - it seems that there is always a camera on my desk (we get them for a couple of weeks at a time) so that if I have a wedding, party, trip to the beach etc to go to - I always have a way of capturing the moment. As a result I've...
More »
Tips
October 06, 2005
Paul Watson has started a series of posts on how to shoot and then edit digital images titled Behind the photograph #001 where he's taken one of his images (left) and worked through the process of taking the photo and then discusses how he edited it in photoshop to get the results that he did. The first post in the series is quite helpful for those of us with less photoshopping skills and the series will be one to...
More »
Tips
October 02, 2005
Earthbound Light has another tip article - this time comparing Printer Resolution and Image Resolution'Printers and monitors produce color in opposite methods. A monitor screen starts out being black and gets brighter the more color we add using a system known as additive color. If red, green and blue are at maximum, we get white. By contrast, printer paper starts out white and gets darker the more ink we lay down on it. This is called subtractive color....' ...
More »
Tips
September 25, 2005
Earthbound Light has a good tips article on Digital Camera Resolution versus Film Scanner Resolution 'Digital cameras create digital images composed of lots of tiny pixels. So do film scanners by digitizing your existing slides or negatives. A good digital camera will create images between 6 and 12 megapixels while a good scanner can easily produce files with more than 20 megapixels. So does this difference have any bearing on which is better? The answer may not be quite...
More »
Tips
September 25, 2005
Today's Digital Photography Tips has been submitted by Darren Collins from One Stop Under: Here’s a neat tip for digital photographers trying to shoot at slow shutter speeds without image-stabilized (IS or VR) lenses. Actually, it can even be helpful for those using IS/VR lenses when you’re really pushing the limits of hand-holdability. Set your camera to burst mode, frame your subject, brace yourself as firmly as you can, and squeeze the shutter button gently. Hold it down so...
More »
Tips
September 22, 2005
Are you confused about which flash memory card is for you? the Gadgets Page has a useful tutorial on Understanding SD flash memory card speeds which might just clear up some of your SD Card questions: 'SD (secure digital) cards are becoming increasingly popular for digital camera storage. They’re tiny, convenient, and getting affordable in sizes as large as 1GB and 2GB. But they come in a bewildering array of different speeds and prices, even within one manufacturer’s line....
More »
Tips
September 22, 2005
About.com has some basic macro photography tips for Digital camera users - here's a couple: '- Try shooting from different angles. If you’re looking for deep saturation of the colors, use front lighting. If you’d like to bring out the texture of your subject, side lighting is the way to go. - due to the narrow depth of field, the background will usually be thrown completely out of focus, which allows the natural background to be nice backdrop,. Just...
More »
Tips
September 07, 2005
PC Magazine has a tip on Mastering Color Controls on your Digital Camera that is worth a read: 'Digital cameras are not that smart. They photograph exactly what they see. In the case of the rose in the dark room, the camera would probably capture something close to black, with varying levels of maroon. Just how much black or dark red is captured will depend upon that particular digital camera's ability to distinguish details in shadows. To make up...
More »
Tips
August 28, 2005
Earthbound Light has a good tip article explaining 'DPI - or Dots per Inches'. Here's how the tip starts: 'When you open image files from your digital camera, are they 240dpi, or are they 300dpi? Or perhaps only 72dpi? If you open them in a different program, does the resolution change? This can happen, but that doesn't mean that anything is wrong. After all, resolution is just a number. And it can be changed. Allow me to explain. The...
More »
Tips
August 19, 2005
About.com has posted a Digital Camera Buyer's Guide - a step by step lesson in choosing your digital camera which might be helpful for the many readers of this site that are in the market for a new camera. it's filled with links to other tips on about.com that come together to give an all round useful guide. What tips would you give a new digital camera buyer? ...
More »
Tips
August 15, 2005
About.com has a post on How to Protect Your Digital Camera from Extreme Heat, Cold Weather and Rain - overall it's pretty much a common sense topic but it's worth keeping in mind because digital cameras do tend to freeze up (quite literally) in both extreme heat and cold situations. In fact extreme temperatures can be one argument for completely manual film cameras (although they have their own issues in extreme heat also). Here's a bit of what about.com...
More »
Tips
August 15, 2005
PC Magazine has written a useful tip on Recovering Images from Memory Cards that looks at why Windows can't help, recovery tools and what not to do when you lose images on your card: 'You slide the flash memory card from your camera into the card reader on your computer, but your photos can't be found. Neither Microsoft Windows, nor your image-editing software, nor your file undelete utility can detect them. But don't panic: Most lost images can be...
More »
Tips
August 14, 2005
River Valley Newspapers has a feature article on Digiscoping - or combining a digital camera with a high powered spotting scope to get right up close for photographing wildlife 'Trying to photograph wildlife can be difficult, since the subject usually is, well, wild. It doesn't tend to want to stick around long enough to get close enough for a decent shot. The resulting photo often is a small, fuzzy figure — vaguely recognizable as a animal of some sort...
More »
Tips
August 01, 2005
A tip submitted by Darren Collins This is an easy technique I read about a long time ago, and it works really well. I use it a lot when shooting weddings and portraits. Outdoor portraits can often end up with a washed-out and boring sky when you set your camera to correctly expose the person’s face. But if you set the exposure to capture the sky perfectly, you end up with a very dark or even silhouetted person. We...
More »
Tips
July 17, 2005
Michael Carr from About.com has a feature on Storing Your Images While Traveling that takes travelers through the options that they have for storing images whilst on the road. In my recent travels I found the iPod method to be my preference although i did also have my laptop with me for part of the time. The beauty of opting for storing the images taken on an iPod Photo is the ability to show them to fellow travelers quickly...
More »
Tips
July 08, 2005
Michael at Digital Camera Tracker has a good little series on the secret to Making Impossible Real Estate Pictures Possible which takes a look at the technique of photo stitching. Good tip if you're in real estate or if you like getting those impressive wide angled shots right. Get part 2 of the series here. ...
More »
Tips
July 07, 2005
Earthbound Light's Photo tip of the week this week is on Dodging and Burning in the Digital Darkroom using Adobe Photoshop: 'Dodging and burning are among the oldest and most time honored techniques in the traditional darkroom. By selectively blocking or focusing the light while printing the negative, the operator could compensate for the limited range both of film and the printing medium, toning down highlights and opening up blocked-up shadows. While the way we dodge and burn has...
More »
Tips
May 22, 2005
Earthbound Light has a good tips tutorial on Exposure Adjustment in Photoshop CS2: 'With Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Curves, and Shadow/Highlight, there's no shortage of ways to make an image brighter or darker in Photoshop. If you are in the process of migrating to the new CS2 release, you may have noticed that there's now one more way. The Image >> Adjustments menu now sports a new “Exposure” option that may well become your first choice for significant shifts in exposure....
More »
Tips
May 10, 2005
PCWorld has a helpful primer on portable printers that will be useful for anyone wanting to buy themselves a printer of the transportable variety: 'The digital realm is great; but some things just need to be put on paper to seem legitimate. With a lightweight portable printer, you can print contracts for clients or photos for family wherever there's an electrical socket. And for supreme portability, some mobile printers come with a rechargeable battery pack or offer one as...
More »
Tips
May 10, 2005
DPexpert posts a helpful tip on Lens Blur in PhotoShop: 'With the old 35mm film camera it was easy -- put on a lens longer than 100mm in focal length, choose a wide aperture, focus on the subject and the background will be all soft blur and dancing points of light. Why doesn’t it work that way on digital cameras? To oversimplify the matter, it is because the sensor in a compact digital camera is only a fraction of...
More »
Tips
May 04, 2005
Graphics.com has a good tip on choosing the right name for your saved digital photos - 'Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements give you an impressive list of file formats that you can save to. They then complicate matters by adding a variety of options as to what to include with a file when you save it. If you don’t pay attention to how you name your files when you’re choosing those options, you’ll either needlessly increase the number of...
More »
Tips
May 02, 2005
Ecopix.net has a good post on eliminating camera share and shares a long list of tips that include: Use a solid tripod as low to the ground as possible, without centre extension. A fluid head, as used by cinematographers, is better that a normal pan and tilt head. The heavy studio style ball and socket heads are good too. Try to work long lenses on a tripod at only the fast speeds, down to 1/125th of a second, and...
More »
Tips
May 02, 2005
DPexpert reviews FRED MIRANDA'S Intellisharpen II plugin for Photoshop and writes - 'Intellisharpen II further refines what was already a supremely useful Photoshop add-on. It is an image sharpening routine based on the assumption that the photographer wants edge enhancement, but without adding noise to the picture or making flat surfaces, such as skin, disagreeably hard. To produce the best overall sharpening the process is broken down into several steps rather than doing the job in a single stroke...
More »
Tips
April 30, 2005
New Digital Photography Blog - DPexpert - has a good tip on how to make your colour photos black and white using Photoshop. ...
More »
Tips
April 24, 2005
Photo Tips at Earthbound Light have a great tip on the useful Unsharp Mask in many photo editing software packages: 'To understand what this is all about, we'll need to go back to the beginning. The name has its origins, as do many things photographic, in the conventional darkroom. Creating a print the old-fashioned way involves exposing photosensitive paper by projecting onto it a negative of the desired image. In order to accentuate edges in a print and thus...
More »
Tips
April 12, 2005
Peter Marshall has a good tips tutorial on Managing Colour that might interest readers: 'Colour Management (CM) aims to control colour throughout the whole process of producing digital pictures, from digital camera or scanner to the final print or display, in order to produce the best possible print or on-screen image. Do you need to use Colour Management? If you are a photographer, you will probably not need to bother with CM if: you are always happy with the...
More »
Tips
March 05, 2005
'Can you please produce a tutorial and tips collection on Composition of good digital images?' (Reader suggestion via email from Gary). Thank you Gary for your suggestion. Your question spurred us into action and we've just spend a number of hours scouring the web for the best tutorials on Photographic Composition that we can find. All of the following tips are relevant for photographers using both the digital and film medium. There is no shortage of information out there and...
More »
Tips
February 25, 2005
The Sydney Morning Herald has a good article on What you Need in a Digital Camera. They point to some different features that you might want to take into consideration in addition to Megapixels: Fast shutter response Fast startup Manual controls Fast autofocus TTL - Through the Lens Composition Megapixels that matter...
More »
Tips
February 22, 2005
Graphics.com has a good tips tutorial on Eliminating Red Eye with Quick Fix In Photoshop Elements 3: 'One of the most significant improvements in Elements 3 is the way you can dramatically improve the appearance of a photo with just a click or two—even if you have no idea of what you’re doing. The Quick Fix window gathers together easy to use tools that can help you adjust the brightness and color of your photos and make them look sharper....
More »
Tips
January 27, 2005
Graphics.com has a good photoshop tips tutorial on Using Photoshop to Create a 3D Look: 'The following tutorial can be completed by anyone who is familiar with Photoshop. You don't have to be an artist and only Photoshop's basic tools have been used. No tablet or digital pen is required. The image you'll create was inspired by a Softimage XSI render by Baruch Zevolun, so the design credit goes to him. The aim of this tutorial is to show you...
More »
Tips
January 27, 2005
Graphics.com has a photoshop tips tutorial on Repairing and Colorizing Old Photographs: 'In this tutorial I'll show you how to repair and add color to old photographs. While I use Photoshop CS, you should be able to reproduce these techniques in most digital imaging applications. The image I'm working with is one I began correcting in Old Sepia Photo Restoration Techniques. Old photos often have an existing tint that you can use to restore their original tonal integrity. Here I'm...
More »
Tips
January 27, 2005
Photo Review also have a wonderful article examining the question of whether one should buy a 6 megapixel DSLR or an 8 Megapixel Digital Camera? Which is best? 'On the basis of new cameras announced in the past couple of months we can state with confidence that by the middle of this year there will be at least five 6-megapixel DSLRs and five 8-megapixel, non-interchangeable compact-type digicams on the Australian market. This creates a quandary for photographers who plan...
More »
Tips
January 27, 2005
Margaret Brown over at the Australian Photo Review Magazine has an excellent article explaining Colour Fringing. 'Expect to hear a lot more about colour fringing in digital photos as the pixel counts for compact digicams continue to rise, while sensors become smaller. At the same time, expect to see the true reasons for colour fringing misattributed more often than not. To ‘put you in the picture’ (so to speak), if you see coloured fringes along edges in a photograph...
More »
Tips
January 27, 2005
Photographic.com has a good article on how to stay motivated with your photography - especially for those of you experiencing winter in the northern hemisphere. 'Taking pictures during the summer is a wonderful experience. You’re wandering around in a tee shirt while the sun illuminates your images. The warm weather draws other similar-minded folks and this camaraderie motivates and inspires you. In the fall, the changing colors and crispness of the autumn air are heady—you can’t wait to get...
More »
Tips
January 24, 2005
I just had an email from a reader email the following question asking for help in getting the sky exposed right in his digital images. I've notice that whenever I take scenery shots or taking shots on days when its sunny with blue skies or when its cloudy and the sky seems very pearl white, the pictures I took tend to be very dark and grainy. I read the manual and they suggested adjusting the white balance and change...
More »
Tips
January 22, 2005
Graphics.com has a photoshop tips tutorial on Automate Color Adjustments in Photoshop: 'The Auto adjustment commands aren’t just for beginners. Even imaging pros use them as initial steps for color correction. Which Auto option you choose—Color, Levels, or Contrast—depends on the image type, the problem you want to resolve, and your artistic intent. Each Auto command in the Image > Adjustments submenu performs the same function: It darkens the darkest area (shadows) and brightens the lightest area (highlights). The differences...
More »
Tips
January 20, 2005
Graphics.com has a good photoshop tips tutorial on Achieving Texture in a Photoshop Image: 'The painting Little Wolf, shown below, is composed of a sketch and loose dabs of color, with the only detail being the lone figure on a path to the hills and the dramatic sky. This technique doesn’t show every step of the painting in great detail, but focuses on a variety of texture application ideas. I based the technique on a favorite method of using transparent...
More »
Tips
January 14, 2005
Graphics.com has a photoshop tips tutorial on Creating Movie Matte Paintings with Photoshop: 'efore the development of digital technologies, matte painting was a technique that was reserved for glass artists. Today, Photoshop, which skillfully combines both retouching and photomontage techniques, occupies an essential place in the field. The original image at left is transformed into the final image at right. Among the many special effects techniques that are used in the film industry, matte painting is the cheapest solution. It...
More »
Tips
January 13, 2005
Graphics.com has an excellent photoshop tips tutorial on Converting a Photo into a Sketch with Photoshop Elements: 'I learned this technique from Rich Harris, the former creative guru over at Wacom Technologies. He sent me a bunch of PDFs with some special effects he had come up with, and this one just blew me away, so I asked Rich if I could include it in my Photoshop Elements 3 for Digital Photographers book. It does the best job I've seen...
More »
Tips
January 07, 2005
Business Week looks at what to do if you've Lost Your Digital Photos 'You've made it through the holidays, and you have a digital camera full of pictures to prove it. Or so you think. When you finally start to transfer them to your computer to print out the highlights, your camera responds with an error message. Or it simply acts as if there's nothing on the memory card. It's every shutterbug's nightmare, discovering that the priceless Kodak moment...
More »
Tips
January 04, 2005
Bob Atkins knows what he's talking about when it comes to digital photography tips and so when he publishes a new article I always check it out. His latest on Digital Sensor Size is well worth the read. It examines the important topic of the size of your digital camera's sensor - a vital component in the equation to getting a quality results from your digital images. 'There's a lot of attention paid in the digital camera world to...
More »
Tips
January 04, 2005
Outback Photo has a great tutorial on using a Gray card to get good color balance titled Color Correction using a Gray Card: Workflow Technique #065. 'I sometimes sound like I obsess about color balance; in many ways, color balance is one of the first steps to creating a great image; good balance makes the colors pop, makes the color contrasts stronger, and makes the image more pleasing. Color balance can be very challenging to get right; it can...
More »
Tips
December 30, 2004
Bob Atkins has a great tutorial on Resizing your Digital Images which I've found helpful today in helping to explain resizing digital images in the last hour or so to a friend. Bob writes: 'One aspect of digital images which seems to cause a lot of confusion to beginners is the matter of image size. There are three basic measures of image size - Pixel count - e.g 3000x2000 pixels - Physical size - e.g. 4“ x 6” -...
More »
Tips
December 30, 2004
PC Magazing has a good article titled Troubleshooting Your Images which is full of tips on diagnosing and correcting poor digital images. They write: 'Nothing is more frustrating than looking at a photo you took of a once-in-a-lifetime event only to find that it didn't turn out. Maybe it is blurry, dark, or “noisy.” Many new digital-camera owners become so frustrated that they give up entirely, or keep replacing their cameras, hoping to find one that magically takes the...
More »
Tips
December 29, 2004
Graphics.com has a good photoshop tips tutorial on Edge Masking Techniques in Photoshop: 'Because it’s a situational task, there’s no one right way to mask an image. It can be as easy as clicking the magic wand or as difficult as manually tracing edges with an eraser. For this project, I had two goals: I wanted to separate a difficult element from its background and minimize the manual labor to do it. When you consider the problem of masking, it’s...
More »
Tips
December 29, 2004
Popular Photography Magazine has a good article on File Formats that explain JPEGs, TIFFs and RAW files in an easy to understand way. 'When an image is captured by your camera's digital sensor, a series of settings are applied as alterations to the original raw data. In many high-end cameras, this raw data can be retrieved “un-touched” as a RAW file, but most digital cameras save your photos as JPEGs. In addition to “alterations” for sharpness, white-balance, and the...
More »
Tips
December 28, 2004
In the past few days I have been inundated with requests for information from new digital camera owners wanting to know how to use their new toys. Unfortunately the volume of requests has made it difficult to answer them all - however over the past year or so of writing here at Digital Photography Blog we've added hundreds of useful tips to our Digital Camera Tips section of the site. Here are a few useful links to tips that we...
More »
Tips
December 23, 2004
Photo.net has a great tutorial on Using Image Calibration Techniques to Reduce Noise in Digital Images - 'This article is about a method of reducing noise in images taken with digital cameras - especially long exposure and/or high ISO images taken with digital SLRs. The simplified workflow presented here is derived from more advanced techniques of noise reduction (known as calibration) that are used in scientific and technical imaging. Because of limitations in the software tools commonly available to...
More »
Tips
December 22, 2004
Graphics.com has a tips tutorial on Reducing Facial Wrinkles with Photoshop Elements 3: 'This is a great trick for removing wrinkles, with a little twist at the end (courtesy of my buddy Kevin Ames) that helps make the technique look more realistic. His little tweak makes a big difference because (depending on the age of the subject) removing every wrinkle would probably make the photo look obviously retouched (in other words, if you're retouching someone in their 70s and you...
More »
Tips
December 22, 2004
Graphics.com has a good tips tutorial on Old Sepia Photo Restoration Techniques and writes - 'In this tutorial I'll show you several techniques for improving the quality of old sepia-tinted photographs. Of course, these techniques can be used on any image and while I'm using Photoshop, many image editing programs provide similar tools. I began with a scan of the photo below. Scanning using at least print resolution (300 dpi) or higher is recommended so you have the best possible...
More »
Tips
December 20, 2004
Graphics.com has a good tips tutorial on Using Photoshop Elements 3 to Remove Unwanted Objects: 'Many times a picture is perfect except for a power line or an unwanted sign or, for that matter, an unwanted person who wanders into your shot. Sometimes all it takes to get the picture right is a little Photoshop Elements blur here, or a burn there. Other times you’ll need to remove the object entirely, and that’s when other techniques come in handy. In...
More »
Tips
December 19, 2004
Photoxels has a good guide to Night Photography. 'Night photography has an attraction all its own. There's something about scintillating lights from office windows hanging in the dark of the night -- a modern version of the starry skies -- that appeal to us. Whether it's a city skyline, lamp posts on a dark and deserted street, or the front of your house all decked out with holiday lights, the challenge of capturing the mood of a night scene...
More »
Tips
December 15, 2004
Outback Photo has a great tutorial on Printer Test Strips which help get the best results when printing you digital images: 'I strongly recommend that you learn to properly profile your monitor and to use profiles for your printer and papers. Profiles will make the process much easier to get good prints; the monitor can be a very good representation of your printer output if you learn to use color management well. But the monitor is not a perfect...
More »
Tips
December 14, 2004
EarthBound Light has a good tutorial on 'Levels' in Photoshop:'So, you're trying to learn how to optimize your photos in Photoshop. Nothing radical, of course. Basically just the digital equivalent of what has been done in the traditional darkroom for years. With any number of ways to do even simple things, Photoshop can seem a bit overwhelming at first though. We looked last week at Brightness and Contrast and discovered why they really don't work that well. Now it's...
More »
Tips
December 06, 2004
By Jakob Jelling Snapjunky.com While analyzing any camera, one of the most important qualities of a photograph that a person seeks, is resolution. This word itself needs a brief discussion before progressing onto its implication upon a digital camera. This is a word that seems to almost every new photographer as a nightmare. With all the myths and irrelevant information circulating all around, this is quite common. This however is an effort to clear those misty myths and provide...
More »
Tips
December 01, 2004
About.com has a good article on Sharpening and Workflow and writes: 'With film images, sharpness is generally determined by the quality of our equipment and the film in use - so long as we hold the camera steady. Almost always the post-processing in lab or darkroom is aimed at retaining the sharpness we managed to get on film, though occasionally we may use some diffusion for effect. With digital images - and this applies to some extent to scanned...
More »
Tips
November 28, 2004
Bob Atkins Photography has a great Digital Camera Basics Primer and writes: 'Digital cameras are confusing to a lot of new users. In this basic guide to digital camera technology we hope to try to give digital beginners at least some basis to use in deciding which digital camera is appropriate for them. When shopping for a digital camera it's at least good to know what the basic terms like white balance, pixel, ppi and dpi mean and how...
More »
Tips
November 28, 2004
Generation5 has an interesting article titled A Basic Introduction to Image Processing: 'This article is intended as an introductory look at image processing (not machine vision). We will look at how colour is represented within an image, how images are stored, what resolution means, as well as the most rudimentary statisical analysis of an image: the histogram.' Should be an interesting article for those getting into digital photography with their new digital cameras....
More »
Tips
November 24, 2004
Graphics.com has a tutorial with plenty of tips on Mastering Clipping Groups in Photoshop: 'Clipping groups are an underused and interesting effect, although just the words "clipping groups" sends fear down the spines of novice and intermediate Photoshop users alike. The concept is really not as hard as it sounds. I will attempt to de-mystify this technique and you will be creating your own clipping groups in a few moments. The best way for me to explain clipping groups is...
More »
Tips
November 22, 2004
Graphics.com has a tips tutorial on Brightening Outdoor Images in Photoshop - This technique can be used for any image, but it is particularly useful for those with a sunny, vacation theme that can benefit from some overall brightening, to enhance the mood.... Continue reading Brightening Outdoor Images in Photoshop....
More »
Tips
November 22, 2004
Graphics.com has a good article on Digital Image Enlargement Tools: 'If you want to create prints with resolutions larger than that of your digital camera, you could leave the job of digitally enlarging the photos to the printer driver. But in that case you can not be sure of the quality of the prints. Many graphics applications offer an Image Size or Resize feature for enlarging images
