Daily Photo Tips Archive

09.Jan.11If you want to preserve every bit of a photograph's dynamic range but still correct for off-white lighting conditions, you must use corrective filters in the field and leave your camera set to its native white point.

08.Jan.11When sharpening, don't worry about getting the numbers just right. Sharpening, like most elements of photography, is a subjective process. Your opinion matters more than getting the radius, amount and threshold to some theoretical value.

07.Jan.11Update your equipment's firmware to make lenses and cameras run more quickly, more quietly, and more reliably. Without the correct software, modern electronics may never perform to their full ability.

06.Jan.11Using lens filters to correct for large white balance shifts is a trade-off in low light. Though more of the photograph's bit depth is preserved, a high ISO may be needed to offset the filtration, resulting in noisier capture.

05.Jan.11Keep in mind that noise, by definition, is entirely random. Noise in photography refers to speckling or graininess in low-lit or saturated areas. Banding, constantly coloured pixels or other systematic problems are not noise and can't be eliminated by lowering ISO settings.

04.Jan.11Don't discount past photography masters simply because they did not have access to modern equipment and methods. Many of the great photographs of the last century were made on archaic equipment. Truly great photographs are as difficult to make now as they ever were.

03.Jan.11When sharpening a photograph for print, the size of the print (and the resulting viewing distance) affects the sharpening radius you should apply. Larger prints generally require a larger pixel radius than smaller prints.

02.Jan.11Even if you're not photographing wildlife, learn to interact with wild animals safely when working in natural areas. Respecting (and possibly avoiding) animal encounters is safer for both you and any animals you may meet.

01.Jan.11JPEG images don't respond to sharpening techniques as well as TIFF, RAW, or other lossless formats. JPEG, being a compressed format, stores inherently less detail and also includes compression artifacts that are made worse by sharpening.

31.Dec.10If you can't make photos for a period of time, work on other tasks related to your photography: photo editing, writing, planning, and other activities all help you to practice your craft and round out your skill-set.

30.Dec.10Cameras need to be set up before they will be useful, much like a computer. In its stock form, a camera will probably not suit the type of photography you do frequently. Take the time to customize as many settings as you can.

29.Dec.10Bluetooth (available on some cameras) forms a cord-like connection via radio link whenever a camera is nearby a compatible computer. Bluetooth can be difficult to set up the first time, but highly convenient to use from that point onward.

28.Dec.10Mental exercises, even when they do not involve any physical practice, still help to refine your skills. This means that just thinking about photography, even when you aren't making or processing pictures, still helps develop your skill-set. Make good use of your idle mind!

27.Dec.10Photographs taken through airplane and helicopter windows are often disappointingly blurry. Plexiglas (using to make most aircraft windows) is easily scratched and often dirty, leading to low-quality images.

26.Dec.10Don't judge the merits of a place before you've visited it or heard from someone who has visited it. The world is full of interesting places, and you may lose the opportunity to make excellent photographs if you dismiss somewhere from afar.