You may have heard that you should never put something out of focus in the foreground of your images. Some say that a viewer’s eyes will keep coming back to it, and it could become a major distraction in your composition. But Mark Wallace seems to have a completely different take on this. He deliberately uses out of […]
Holidays are just around the corner, and with holidays come dazzling colored Christmas lights. It is but natural that you try and capture photos of your friends and family with beautiful lights in the background. In this brief video, Daniel Norton from Adorama demonstrates how you can mix strobes with Christmas lights to create beautiful […]
We’ve seen a lot of stunning long exposures of the night sky in all its glory. But this one is out of the ordinary: Kristoffer Ask Hansen is a photographer and a graphic designer. He captured this shot using a Sigma 18–35mm lens at f/1.8, ISO 800, and 30 seconds. To create the final image, […]
To create lens flare, you need to do the exact opposite of what you would normally do with a key light—aim it straight toward the camera. Mark Wallace from Adorama demonstrates how he does it: For this shoot Wallace uses a 50mm f/1.4 lens wide open. His shutter speed is set at 1/160 of a second. […]
The inverse square law is one of the geekiest topics in photography. It deals with light and how it reacts to changing distances between your subject and the source of that light. Most explanations of the inverse square law deal with a mathematical equation. But here’s a simpler explanation by David Bergman: The inverse square […]
How do you lead your viewer to your intended subect in an image? Photographers often make the cardinal mistake of using props or asking the model to wear something really bright. Or when shooting landscapes, exposing for the ground rather than the sky. David Bergman from Adorama explains how to make sure your viewer looks […]
Nine seconds. That’s all the time you have to set up a portrait of the bride and the groom. A tired bride and groom, at that. You have to be precise about the exposure, the light, and the pose. You also need to make sure that you don’t fool around and make an already long […]
Shooting in cold weather is always challenging. If it’s not the weather alone, the impact it has on photography gear and the lack of contrast can put many photographers off. But winter doesn’t mean that you have to stay indoors. B&H shares these tips to help you along the way: Dress Appropriately Whatever you do, […]
The word bokeh, which has been taken from the Japanese dictionary, means blur or out of focus. But the word assumes a much larger definition when used in the context of photography. Suddenly blur is good and background blur is ‘bokehlicious’. But how do you capture bokeh? How do you make your background (and/or foreground) […]
Your long lens is a versatile tool. That is, if you know how to get the most out of it. When we talk about a long lens we usually talk about wildlife and birding and those sort of things. But did you know you can also shoot things that are much closer to you? Butterflies, for […]
