Have you ever photographed a special moment and had it come out way too bright or dark?  Maybe a snowy day looks gray in your photo. Maybe your spouse’s face is way too dark in that photo of him/her at sunset.  If so, you might need to use a different metering mode. Read more.
 

I just had to give a client a price for an order of photographic prints.  How in the world does one come up with an amount that’s reasonable for the client and fair to the photographer?  In a previous article, I looked at setting prices for photography services. 

In this piece, we’ll look at what goes into setting a price for prints.  If you’re selling prints as part of a package, for instance you have a wedding or family portrait photography business, see that previous article.  This one is for selling fine art prints, notecards and other photo print products. Read more.

How to price your photography? People like your work and want to buy your photography services. Great! How do you decide what to charge? Too much and nobody will buy. Too little and you’ll be losing money. Read more.
 

Light meters in modern cameras do a wonderful job with exposure, but they will sometimes lead you astray.  You can check the playback image on your camera’s LCD screen, but that’s not entirely accurate, either. If you’ve ever thought you’d nailed a shot, only to find out later that you’d blown out, or “clipped”, the highlights or the blacks, you will appreciate a histogram.

A histogram is a graphical representation of the tones that are present in an image and is another tool to help you set your exposure.  Most of today’s cameras have a histogram feature when you review your photos and many include a histogram in Live View. Checking your histogram is one of the best and easiest ways to ensure you get the exposure you want in the field and help you avoid unpleasant surprises when you get home and start processing your photos.  Read more.

If you’re shooting an upscale wedding managed by a professional wedding planner, or if you’re shooting a corporate event and working with their event planner, you probably have all your bases covered.  They are pros.  They know the drill.  This article is not about those kinds of jobs.

However, maybe you work with a lot of small organizations, often nonprofit, like I do.  They don’t have professional event planners on staff.  The contract is the easy part–what you'll do and deliver for how much money. It's all the little things that aren't in the contract that can trip you up and make the difference between a smooth, successful shoot and a really difficult one. They don’t know what they don’t know.  You’re the photographer.  You’ll deliver good photos, right? That's as far as their thinking goes.

Over the years, I’ve repeatedly encountered five types of issues that my (and your) clients really need to consider if they want their photographer to deliver what they want and need (even if they don’t know what that is quite yet).  Read more.

Imagine yourself out in the wilderness at sunset, with a wall of moss-covered rocks in the foreground, an elegantly shaped tree slightly farther away and snow-capped mountains in the distance.  How can you get all three of these elements in focus in the rapidly changing light? That’s where using hyperfocal distance can help.

Although it sounds intimidating, and involves math and physics, the concept is simple.  The hyperfocal distance is the spot where you focus your camera to ensure maximum depth of field, going all the way to infinity.  Read more.

In order to get the most out of your smart phone camera, whatever the brand, there are a few things you should know, one of which is the focal length of the lens you’ll be using.  Sure, you could leave everything on auto and snap happily away, but you’ll be disappointed with some of your images because you aren’t playing to the camera lens’ strengths or just might be inadvertently accentuating the camera lens’ weaknesses. 

Although this article focuses on iPhones, many Android phones, as well as Google’s Pixel phones, have similarly terrific camera systems.  These little devices can be stupendous, when used smartly.  You’ve probably seen the Apple ads about movies and billboards shot on an iPhone.  Yes, you can do that.  But only if you really know the capabilities of your device.  Read more.

Here’s a dilemma that frequently confronts photographers: how do you get everything in a photo tack sharp. What if there are interesting rocks and pebbles a foot or so from your camera and dramatic mountains miles away. This situation calls for a technique called focus stacking.

That’s not the only time you’d want to use it.  Imagine using your macro lens to photograph a flower or insect and wanting the whole thing sharp.  A macro field of focus is so narrow that only a small amount of the subject is sharp. Here, too, this technique comes to the rescue.  Read more.

Photographing children is difficult, even under the most favorable circumstances. Kids move around a lot. Their expressions aren’t predictable. And trying to coordinate the poses and expressions of several children at once? Well, that’s why aspirin and whiskey were invented.

In a studio, with their parents helping, it’s hard. Imagine, then, what it’s like working with kids in a classroom or on a playground. As a one-time sixth-grade teacher, I know it ain’t easy! So, it came as no surprise that a client shoot in a community center with a bunch of kids would be challenging.

Read more.

Imagine a trip of a lifetime to Iceland.  You’re at the imposing Seljalandsfoss, a 200’ tall waterfall that you can walk behind.  The sun is low on the horizon and you have a marvelous composition.  You go to take a picture and . . . nothing.  The mist from the waterfall got into your lens, which wasn’t sealed against weather.  Nothing works.  Frustration!

You walk away from the waterfall and switch lenses. Thankfully, the camera works again.  Now you go to Diamond Beach, near Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon to photograph icebergs on the black sand beach.  The wind is blowing and surf crashing.  You put a graduated neutral density filter on to even out the exposure between sky and ocean.  The spray leaves droplets on your filter, so you grab a towel and wipe it off and take the shot.  Later, you realize your expensive Grad ND filter is scratched.  Why?  Because, well, it’s salt water and blowing volcanic sand that were on your filter and, as you wiped it dry, they scratched the glass.

Whether you’re in Iceland, Death Valley or Washington, DC, the elements are your friend and your foe.  Some of the best photos come during the worst weather.  And, if you’ve been taking pictures long enough, you’ve seen these situations where gear gets damaged by the elements.  Maybe it’s happened to you.

Read more.

Everybody knows that you can learn from looking at the work of great photographers.  The question is: how?  Do you simply absorb knowledge by being in the same room with a bunch of Ansel Adams prints?  Or do you have to be more purposeful about it?

I wondered about that as I visited an exhibition with my wife recently.  It was a showing of the best images from the 2018 World Press Photo Contest, organized by the Lightscape Foundation, here in Washington, DC, but it could just as easily have been any exhibit anywhere and any type of art.  What could I learn from the artworks that would make my own photography better?  What could I do that would make me more cognizant and appreciative of the artistry in the winning pieces?  We came up with six tasks that I could set for myself as I went through the hallways.  I think they might help anyone make their visit to an art space a very productive piece of learning.

Read more.

I had the opportunity to go on a photography workshop in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons earlier this fall and decided to challenge myself by choosing a wildlife-centric workshop.  This would be a relatively new area of photography for me.  What would I need to know to make it a great trip?  This article describes five key things that I found were crucial to getting decent wildlife shots.  Learn more.

Is your photography business part of the gig economy?  Should you be using online matching services like Thumbtack, Bark and others to land jobs?  I’ve spent the past few months trying out Thumbtack in order to find out if it was worth my while (and because I wanted to write about it).  Here’s what I’ve learned.

You’ve saved the money and saved up vacation time to take a photography workshop.  Whether it’s a day or a week in the field, you want to get your money’s worth.  You don’t want to go home unhappy and the workshop leader certainly doesn’t want to send you home dissatisfied.  What can you do to ensure you choose the right workshop and have a terrific experience?  Learn more.

Have you ever wondered why a flash unit makes noise?  No, not the kind of noise you get from low light or long exposure star photography.  The audible kind.  The loud kind.  My speedlights make a popping sound when fired and a high-pitched whine when recharging.  Why is that?  In a digital age, when we can put cameras into a silent mode, why is it that my flash is still making noises?  Learn more.

Have you ever wondered whether the flash from a speedlight or a studio strobe could damage someone’s eyes?  After all, they can be mighty bright!  On the other hand, photographers have been using flash for decades.  You’d think that if there was a problem, it would be pretty widely known by now.  Models and celebrities have been photographed thousands of times with flash and haven’t gone blind.  Heck, my optician uses a pretty darn bright flash when taking a photo of my retina.  So, what’s the story?  Read more.
 

Acadian coast at dawn.Acadian coast at dawn.

Do you really need to hire a photography guide when you travel?  After all, you know how to do the research. You use Google Earth, Flickr, 500px, Photographer’s Ephemeris, PhotoPills, and rGPS (Really Good Photo Spots—an app with a curated list of great photo locations and directions for finding them). You leave home with a plan and a shot list. Is there a compelling reason to hire a photo guide?
 

Read more.

Are there free photo editing programs out there that will fill in for Lightroom and Photoshop (or On1 and CaptureOne)?  Many photographers who are just starting out, or who are doing photography as a hobby (a very expensive hobby) may not want to shell out hundreds of dollars for top-of-the-line photo editing software.  Are there alternatives?  Yes, but with qualifications.
 

Read more.

Photo editing on a Mac: screenshot.Photo editing on a Mac: screenshot.

What are the best, free alternatives to Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop if you’re using a Mac?  If you’re just starting out in photography, or don’t have much money to drop on buying software, are there options that do many, or most, of the things Lightroom and Photoshop (or Capture One or On1) do?

Read more.

Canon's Dual Pixel Auto Focus, from a screenshot.Canon's Dual Pixel Auto Focus, from a screenshot. Canon introduced phase detection dual pixel auto focus (DPAF) in 2013, with the EOS 70D camera, calling the technology “revolutionary.”  Since then, DPAF has been a feature on most new camera models released by Canon, from the $10,000 EOS C300 cinema camera, to the pro-level EOS 1DX MarkII, to Canon’s mirrorless EOS M6, to the consumer EOS Rebel T7i.  DPAF is also showing up in smart phone cameras by Samsung and others, and several of the big camera companies have filed patents for similar types of sensors.

But what is dual pixel auto focus?  Is it really revolutionary?  Does any other manufacturer offer a similar technology?

Read more.

Entering a Wildlife SanctuaryEntering a Wildlife Sanctuary. Follow the rules!

You don’t want to be that guy.  The one who goes off-trail, trampling vegetation.  The one who’s feeding the wild animals or trying to take a selfie with them.  The one who hops out to the edge of the canyon rim for that epic selfie.  The one who’s oblivious to the fact that he’s ruining other people’s photos with his antics or the litter he’s dropping.  That’s where some ethical guidelines and a little common sense can help. Read more.

Ever come back from a beautiful location and find yourself disappointed in your photos?  The culprit might be your composition.  Beyond the “rules of composition,” these 5 tips will help you learn a process to zero in on a winning subject on which to base your composition.  

Read more.

You have probably received a few emails from companies about their new privacy policies and compliance with GDPR (the European General Data Privacy Regulation), which went into effect on May 25, 2018.  This regulation harmonizes and strengthens personal data protections across the European Union and European Economic Area.  It also promises to provide greater transparency over how businesses and organizations use and store customer data.  Does it have any impact on photographers?  What if your photography business isn’t located in Europe?  Read on for the answers.

Screenshot

The camera in your smart phone is a remarkable piece of technology, but it’s not perfect.  There are times when you must take control and tell it what to do.  One of the easiest ways to do this is by using AF/AE-Lock.  While I’ll mostly cover photography, the same points hold true for videographers, too.  And, while my examples are from iPhones, Android phone cameras also have AF/AE-L.  Read more.

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What the heck is AE-Lock? What does it do? Is it something I should be using and, if so, when? This article will cover the ins and outs of what you need to know about Auto Exposure Lock.  

Teaching Photography

So, you think you can teach photography? It's not as easy as it sounds. Let’s take a look at the opportunities, the challenges and the rewards of sharing your knowledge and love of photography through teaching.  Read more.

My wife and I were recently watching a documentary about two photographers collaborating on a fascinating project.  It got me wondering about other documentaries about photographers and photography.  Which ones give you more than a biography of the artist?  Which ones raise interesting questions about life, relationships, and our purpose on this planet?  Which ones raise big ideas and challenge the viewer’s thinking?

Read more.

You’re looking forward to going to a workshop and coming back with lots more photography knowledge and some killer images. Doing a few, pretty simple things before you leave can dramatically increase your enjoyment during the workshop, and the amount of knowledge, skills and great photos you’ll come back with.

Read more.

There are many reasons to have some kind of photography insurance and just about as manyinsurance products. Some policies are specifically targeted at photographers and some are more general purpose. Which is right for you?

Read more.

A foggy morning on Lake MacDonald provides a moody negative space around the boat.

Space is one of the primary design elements in art (along with line, color, form, shape, texture and value).  The thoughtful use of negative space can add another dimension to your photography.  In this article, we’ll explore negative space, what it means and how we can best use it.

Positive & Negative Space

If there’s a negative space, then there must be a positive space, too, right?  Understanding the positive helps us understand the negative.  Positive space is most often the subject of your photo:  the eagle in flight, the mountain, the flower, the person.  Positive space is the extrovert, pushing forward, trying to grab your attention and saying “Look at me!  Look at me!”  It is what draws your eye, the star of the show.

Read more.

As photographers, we have a special appreciation for the landscapes, buildings and animals, as well as the people and cultures we encounter as we travel the world.  For many of us, those are our subjects and may even provide our livelihood.  Unfortunately, many species, places, cultures and buildings are under threat from development, neglect, disease, pollution and other perils.  Here’s an area where we, as photographers, can make a difference.  As a storytelling medium, photography (and videography) can educate, document, raise awareness and spur people to take action.

Read more at:  https://improvephotography.com/51915/get-started-conservation-photography/

So, you’ve been scrimping and saving for that new camera/lens/tripod/must-have-gear and now the money is burning a hole in your pocket.  Who gets your hard-earned money?  What are the best stores for buying cameras and why?

This article looks at ten of the most well-known camera retailers in the US, what sets each apart, and which are my favorites.  Like any list, the results will be idiosyncratic.  Your preferences and needs may leave you with a different favorite.  While my examples  are mostly DSLRs, for you Panasonic and Olympus fans, the same information holds for your smaller mirrorless and micro 4/3rd cameras.  Whatever your needs, you ought to be able to choose a dealer from this list that will serve you well.  And, if you’re one of our international readers, some of these companies ship outside the US.  I hope the information I provide can help you evaluate your own national or regional camera retailers to choose what’s best for you.

Read more at:  https://improvephotography.com/51736/10-best-stores-to-buy-cameras/

Put photographers in front of a gorgeous landscape and we’re happy campers.  We’ll drink in the beauty of the grand vista and make an artful composition.  And we’re so taken with the beauty of that great, big, majestic scene that we just might miss the other photographic possibilities at our feet, or off to the right.  So, after you’ve shot the grand view of the Yosemite Valley, take a few minutes to look around for some more intimate compositions.  You won’t be sorry!

Read more at:  https://improvephotography.com/51468/top-10-tips-for-photographing-intimate-landscapes/

Tripods just might be the most abused gear we photographers own.  We take them out in bad weather, stick them in mud and salt water, use them in wind-blown sand and driving rain.  We bang them around in our car, sling them over our shoulder while hiking and strap them to the outside of our packs, where they sometimes crash into tree limbs and rocks.

We take our tripods for granted.  Good ones are pretty durable and rarely have problems.  But, when a problem occurs, can you troubleshoot and fix the issue or will your photoshoot come to a crashing halt?

Read more at:  https://improvephotography.com/51236/fix-sticking-tripod-leg-joint/

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You have a business trip coming up and you want to take advantage of being in a new town by planning some photography while you’re there.  Who knows if you’ll ever get back, so how do you maximize your limited photography time, find the best locations and come back with images you’ll be proud of?

Read more at:  https://improvephotography.com/51021/doing-photography-while-traveling-for-business/ 

Blend modes may be one of the best kept secrets in Photoshop.  It’s easy to miss them in the Photoshop workspace but, if you do, you’re missing out on some powerful editing options.  The creative and thoughtful use of layers and blend modes gives free rein to your creativity and allows you to create an image that matches your vision when you took the shot.

Read more.

Layers are one of the most powerful features of Photoshop.  If you’re not using them, you’re missing out on a lot of what Photoshop can do.  And, even if you think you know layers, there always seems to be something new to learn.  Layers let you precisely target adjustments, like dodging and burning, and apply masks (including Luminosity Masks) to your adjustments, all in a non-destructive way.

Read more.

The focus of this article is on how much a pro camera body will cost and the short answer is between $3,000 and tens of thousands of dollars.  There are a lot of choices out there, from pro-level DSLR bodies to medium format.  It all depends on what your needs are.

Do you need a pro-level camera?  What features do they have?  Are they worth it?

Read more.

The f-stop, or aperture, is one of the key camera settings every photographer must master because it controls two critical things: the amount of light going through the lens and how deep the field of focus (depth of field) goes in your image.

The larger the opening of the lens, the more light hits the sensor, but the shallower the depth of field.  The smaller the opening of the lens, the less light hitting the sensor but the deeper the depth of field.  It’s a pretty simple concept, but there are numbers involved, which leads to math, which make it seem more complicated than it really is.

Along with your shutter speed and ISO setting, your aperture is part of the “exposure triangle.”  Adjusting each of these settings can give you a variety of different effects.

Read the rest here.

You were out half the night getting great photos of the moon.  They look fantastic on the screen on the back of your camera.  Now you sit down at your computer and they’re dull, dull, dull.  You just need to know how to process your moon photos and make them look stunning.

Processing moon shots is a lot like processing any other photo, but there are some important, and some counterintuitive differences.  Because the moon is so bright and a long, long ways away and because you’re shooting through a lot of atmospheric haze, you’ll need a fair amount of sharpening and clarity, and an unusual use of contrast.  And, because there are actually some faint colors in the moon, you can boost saturation more than you might think.

Read the rest here.

A full moon is coming and you’re all excited about going out to photograph it.  What do you need to know to make sure you come back with images you’ll be proud of?

A few things you need to know:

• The moon is brighter than you think it is.
• The moon is faster than you think it is.
• The moon is smaller than you think it is.

A few things you’ll need to plan:

• When you will be shooting
• Where you will be shooting
• What you will be shooting

A few things you’ll need to decide:

• Are you shooting the full moon or something less, for example the crescent moon?
• Are you filling the frame with the moon?
• Including the moon in a landscape?
• Shooting a landscape by moonlight?
• Capturing the moon and stars?

Read the rest here.

Hello and welcome to Washington, DC!  I was born here and love this town.  As a visitor, of course you’ll take the typical shots of the monuments, government buildings, zoo and museums!  But, if you want to get away from the hordes of selfie-stick-toting tourists, here are some of my favorite off-the-beaten-path photo locations.

Read the rest here.

Resolution: Image from Venice, Italy

The resolution of a camera sensor is different from the resolution of a monitor which is different from the resolution of a printer.  Adobe Photoshop brings all three together, giving you the ultimate control of how your image is presented.  But only if you know how each different resolution works.

Read the rest here.

In any type of photography, getting the right exposure is important.  But, is the best exposure one where the histogram is evenly spread out like a bell curve, one where it leans towards the right (ETTR) or to the left (ETTL)or do modern sensors make it all meaningless through ISO invariance?

Read the rest here.

If you’re a landscape photographer, you’ve probably had someone tell you to focus 1/3 of the way into the scene.  It’s one of the many guidelines about photography that have sprung up over time.  Like most guidelines, it doesn’t cover every situation and it’s open to interpretation.  But, a lot of the time it works!

Read the rest here.

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The Haida filter system gives photographers one more choice in the competitive photography filter market.  The company makes the standard screw-on filters as well as square and rectangular drop in filters.  However, Haida is one of the few that make the large 150mm square and rectangular filters and a filter holder that will work with bulbous lenses like the Tamron and Pentax 15- 30 f2.8 and Nikon 14-24 f2.8.  But are Haida filters and holders any good?  Are they a viable choice for photographers on a budget?

Read the rest here.

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It’s time to start packing for that once-in-a-lifetime photography trip or family vacation.  There are plenty of gear lists out there, but this comprehensive packing list for travel photography is for people who want to make sure they have all the essentials for a photo adventure, from the camera to creature comforts.  You don't want to carry 100 pounds of gear or forget that allen wrench you'll need to fix your tripod. And why not have some great podcasts to help while away the time waiting for sunrise?

Read the rest here.

Shadows and Blacks Sliders in Photoshop

Lightroom’s Basic Panel in the Develop module and Adobe’s Camera Raw controls have a series of sliders with deceptively simple names, among which are Highlights and Shadows, and Whites and Blacks. So what’s the difference between the Blacks slider and the Shadows slider? Is there a special advantage in using one or the other? When should you use Blacks and when should you use Shadows? Knowing the difference can give your photos the extra pop and polish that sets them apart from others.

Read the rest here.