Daily Photo Tips Archive: Page 1

01.Dec.11Aiming for perfection in all your work can lead to a lack of focus on the things that really matter, and a lack of 'flow' in your creative process. The final details that might lead to a perfect product take infinitely more and more time, and can cause you to stumble on your way to greatness.

30.Nov.11When using some wide angle lenses, people's faces can look distorted when placed near the corners of the frame. Other than post-processing a photograph, there is no solution other than to recompose with the faces near the centre.

29.Nov.11If you're expecting a baby, get an efficient workflow especially for baby photos in place before the little one is born. Since things could be hectic at first, a good workflow (with as many automatic options as possible) will let you still produce great photos without having to wait too long.

28.Nov.11Much light in canyons and deep valleys comes from object reflection: canyon walls, clouds and vegetation will all form the light sources for your work. These reflecting objects can colour and direct light in challenging and fascinating ways.

27.Nov.11Perfection is impossible to achieve. Know how to tell the difference between perfection and excellent work, and think of ways to catch yourself if you tend to worry too much about extremely tiny, insignificant details.

26.Nov.11Very wide-angle lenses aren't just for 'getting it all in'. Wide angle lenses also produce a sense of exaggerated perspective, which can add a sense of depth, place and context to your photography.

25.Nov.11You can get as wet from tall, rain-soaked grass as from the rain itself. Even after the rain has stopped, put on a good pair of waterproof pants before venturing into a field or a forest to make photographs.

24.Nov.11Many successful artists aim to produce a variety of work, and do not obsess overly about the quality of each and every piece. This leads to some very mediocre work, but also leads to breakthroughs and revolutions in thinking unencumbered by mundane, difficult details.

19.Nov.11Black and white conversion software may not include only primary colour mixing channels. Other 'channels', simply mixes of the primary channels, can be included to further target areas not affected by a much broader approach.

18.Nov.11Heat waves, particularly when using long lenses for ground-level exposures, can cause tremendous amounts of motion blur. Since heat waves move very quickly, you must use an extremely fast shutter speed or wait for a time when the ground and air are cooler.

17.Nov.11Digital sensors tend to be noisiest in shadows, while film tends to be noisiest in highlights. This can be a big adjustment for photographers used to working with film, where the best way to preserve details was to very slightly underexpose a photograph.

16.Nov.11Photographic noise cannot be truly duplicated by a random-number generation algorithm, even a very good one. Though excellent random number generators exist, truly random data is always gathered from a natural source.

15.Nov.11Larger format camera systems do not have lenses with effective focal lengths as long as those available for smaller formats. Larger systems would require telephoto lenses too huge and expensive to be practical.

14.Nov.11Changing the white balance setting before doing a black and white conversion can give you more control over the final image. Producing an image that is colour balanced will allow you to manipulate more colour channels than with a monochromatic image.

13.Nov.11Sounds can shift a tripod during a long exposure just like other vibrations. It takes an extremely loud sound to blur a photo made with a normal or wide lens, but even just a nearby idling truck engine can cause a super-telephoto lens to produce a less-than-perfect photograph!