Daily Photo Tips Archive

26.Oct.10Write down every setting you changed in your camera to make it behave as you want it to. This way, in the event of a software crash or a firmware update, you'll be able to carry on taking pictures with minimal disruption.

25.Oct.10Eat well and get plenty of rest before you work. Photo shoots, processing, photo editing, writing, and all other activities related to photography will go better if you're clear-headed and in a good mood. Being tired, frustrated, or grumpy will often cause you to produce inferior work.

24.Oct.10No camera is capable of achieving a consistently 'perfect' edge. Transitions from dark to light will almost always include an area of grey in between, however tiny. Better contrast can be achieved with better quality equipment, careful capture technique and a good quality sharpening process.

23.Oct.10Try making a long-term time-lapse video of a slow-changing event such as the seasons, blooming plant life, or weather by making a photograph from the same vantage point every day, hour, week, etc. Slow change can be expressed rapidly and dramatically in such a format.

22.Oct.10Small airplanes are a cheaper alternative to helicopters for aerial photography. Though airplanes cannot hover or approach subjects as closely as helicopters, they cost hundreds (instead of thousands) of dollars per hour.

21.Oct.10In a photograph's histogram, the 'tonal range' is the region where most of the brightness values are present. A photograph with a wide tonal range will have a wide gamut of tonal values; a photograph with a narrow range will be limited to a certain band.

20.Oct.10Airplane windows often lend a blue tinge to a scene. Scratched plexiglas scatters blue light and lowers contrast throughout a scene. Adjusting your camera's white balance may help compensate for this effect.

19.Oct.10If you collect only JPEG data, keep in mind that some in-camera processing, like sharpening, is difficult to undo later. Consider processing your photographs minimally in-camera, or collecting RAW data as well.

18.Oct.10If you're making photographs in remote locations, learn to use a map and compass as well as a GPS. Proper navigation can help you stay safe. As well, you will spend less time approaching a site and more time photographing it.

17.Oct.10Teaching other budding photographers is a great way to supplement your income and earn money for photography equipment or trips. If you're excellent technically, artistically, or logistically, look into running your own photography classes or teaching for an established organization.

16.Oct.10People learn most by teaching others. By teaching budding photographers more about their craft, you will also cement and simplify concepts in your own mind, making recall quicker and more complete in the future.

15.Oct.10If you have a choice, sharpen the image after applying any noise reduction techniques in the RAW image development process. Image sharpening can make noise more difficult to remove, particularly if the wrong threshold is used.

14.Oct.10There are many ways of downloading data from your camera to a computer: USB cables, firewire, card readers, bluetooth, and the like. Experiment with all the methods available to you and see which is fastest, most flexible, and most convenient.

13.Oct.10Visitors to social networking websites will often value different types of photographs than visitors to 'serious' photography sites. People network to update themselves on your personal life, and may look right past some of your most artistic work.

12.Oct.10If you record both JPEG and RAW format, the in-camera preview will likely display the JPEG version of the photograph. JPEGs include some level of post-processing, and are faster to load. (With help from Bill and Buzz)