Photography Tips & Tutorials7175 articles

With digital photography, images are stored as a digital file. For viewing, the file is decoded – and there are 3 main types of file used – JPEG, TIFF and RAW. Before we look at these file types, it is pertinent to explain the difference between “lossy” and “lossless” files. When a picture is taken, the camera records the data onto the memory card as a file. If all of the data is stored, this is known as a lossless file. These files are large in size. RAW files are lossless. To reduce file size, the camera can discard part of the data not easily perceptible to the human eye. A JPEG is a lossy file. A TIFF file is, in principle, a flexible format that can be lossless or lossy.

Ever wonder how your camera picks the right exposure (not too bright or too dark) for most of your shots? That is because most cameras have built in light meters. The purpose of the meter is to measure the amount of light being reflected back into the camera from a particular subject or from a whole scene. The camera then calculates the best shutter speed and aperture opening combination to yield a properly exposed image. (or you set it yourself if you have the option of making manual exposure settings).

What do you do if the weather is just so awful that you don’t want to risk your valuable photography equipment? I always come up with a few different options. My first is to shoot in the forest or another protected area and concentrate on close up photography and not the grand landscape. It’s certainly easier to protect cameras without heavy rain and wind. The second is to stay at home and wait for another day. While I hate to admit defeat, this does happen on occasion. The third for me is to find a warm cafe or pub and just sit the weather out for an hour or two. The weather often changes hourly and your photography day may have just been delayed a little.

So what exactly is an f-stop? Well, to put it in the very simplest terms, it is the opening that lets light into your camera. And so the numbers on the f-stop relate to the size of the opening that is letting light into your camera. F-stops are measured by a scale, and this is […]

There are basically two kinds of lighting to consider for portraiture: natural and artificial. Considering the pros and cons, as well as requirements for different situations, will help you decide which kind to use. Natural lighting, whether used outdoors or indoors through a window, is perhaps the easiest for beginners. Simply take your subject outside during the last couple of hours before sunset for a stunning quality that is unmatched by that of strobes. Or if you are inside, put your subject near a window during mid-morning. You’d be amazed at the beautiful results you can achieve using only natural light.

One problem that plagues digital camera owners is marginal light situations. Here’s how it works – we all know that when you try and take a photograph in low light your worst enemy is camera movement. I don’t care if you try to not breath and press the shutter slowly as you fire off a shot your photo will probably be blurry. By setting your camera to burst mode you’re now taking 3-5 photos in a very short time frame. Come on! At least one of them is bound to be fired when your not moving. If nothing else you put the odds in your favor.

The aim of this eBook is to expose photographers to some of these opportunities through examples, detailed descriptions and diagrams of setups from my own photographic experiences. Essentially, the eBook is of those who find themselves in the same situation as me – on the move, with a need to stay compact and in love with light. The eBook is broken up into three sections: Flash, Reflector Light and Natural Light. I’ve purposely placed them in this order, from types of light which are easiest to manage, to those which are the hardest. I feel that looking at real-life examples is the best way to learn and so I have included multiple images, descriptions and diagrams, which deconstruct particular lighting scenarios.

A good landscape photographer is always well prepared. Don’t leave home without these ten items. A graduated filter will allow you to even up the lighting between the sky and the ground. When the ground is covered with snow or ice, put the dark area at the bottom. At all other times, put it to the top. A polarizing filter will reduce reflections on glass or water (but not polished metal) and will make the sky bluer without affecting other colors. The effect is most pronounced at 90 degrees to the sun.

As soon as the guards spotted my camera, I saw them relax. This is obviously what they were expecting, so much so that the gentleman who was about to jump on me had stepped back and cleared the way for me to take my pictures. I got about five frames off on a cheap and nasty Sigma lens on an ancient Canon A1 body. The pictures were in every UK national newspaper the next day, published around the world and still sell now, on occasion. For that one hours “work” I made £11,000.

There are two kinds of tripod heads: ball heads and pan heads. The ball head is simplest and provides a full range of movement for your camera. If you tend to shoot quickly or at moving objects you will like a ball head. With pan heads you have multiple locking levers that adjust the pan in different planes of movement to allow you to move the camera on the tripod. Pan heads are quite useful for panoramic shots. The trade-off is speed, it takes more time to unlock and adjust the levers than with a ball head.