Daily Photo Tips Archive

04.Jan.09Believe it or not, seeing a photograph as a representation of a real object is a learned behavior. People without any prior exposure to flat representational art struggle to connect that flat medium to the real life object.

03.Jan.09A photographer with a very recognizable photographic style can often be identified by their photographs. Even one or two images in a distinctive style may be enough to guess the creator.

02.Jan.09A lens's 'nodal point' is the point to which all rays of light converge as they pass through the lens, before diverging to form the image on the image plane.

01.Jan.09Most photographers specialize at least to some degree. Don't expect to master every nuance of every type of photography – very few photographers in history have ever done so successfully!

31.Dec.08The primary additive colours are red, green and blue. When red, green and blue lights are added together in varying degrees, as in a computer monitor, any colour of the spectrum can be produced.

30.Dec.08In general, overexposed objects will 'flare' and begin to spill into other areas of the image. This does not always have to be a bad thing – instead of avoiding it, try using flare as a design element.

29.Dec.08If you transport your camera in very rough conditions, consider buying a shockproof, crushproof, waterproof case. The case won't be practical as a camera bag, but will ensure your camera's safety.

28.Dec.08The environment a person grew up in will strongly affect how they react to your art. In more abstract cases, where a person has spent most of their life will dictate what they 'see' in your work.

27.Dec.08If you work in very cold weather a lot, consider buying (or building) an external battery pack for your camera. This will let you use more batteries at once and will let you keep them warm close to your body.

26.Dec.08Rainbows are always about 84 degrees wide – that means that a full circle rainbow (really only visible from the sky or atop a tall mountain, with the sun at your back) will require a 20mm or wider lens to capture it all.

25.Dec.08Film usually consists of at least three layers – a light sensitive emulsion, a plastic base, and a light absorbent anti-halation layer. Some films have more layers, such as colour-correction layers.

24.Dec.08When autofocusing or manual focusing, be sure to focus on a detail in the photo. Focusing on blank space or a non-detailed subject can result in an out-of-focus photograph.

23.Dec.08Professional photography does not work for everyone – before going pro, consider what you'll have to do to make money. There's a chance that it might not involve doing what you enjoy most about photography.

22.Dec.08Beware of zoom lenses with a maximum focal length of more than 3 times the minimum. Usually these lenses severely sacrifice optical quality for the convenience of having a large zoom range.

21.Dec.08Many devices are available for cleaning lenses. In the field, the most practical is a microfibre cloth – usually manufactured for cleaning high-end sunglasses.