Portrait photography can be quite a lucrative small business, especially when savings can be found by setting a studio up within your own home. Apart from the appropriate camera equipment, which I will review shortly, there is a minimal amount of other equipment required, and all of it is available through the internet or mail order sources. A quick search done through the internet will reveal numerous discount and retail outlets. Read more »

On many occasions during my time teaching digital photography I’ve had people say to me “oh, it’s winter, I can’t possibly take beautiful digital photos now.”

If you’ve said something like this about winter digital photography then just wait for this…

Did you know that digital photography during winter is one of the most fulfilling creative practices you can do? Digital photography is not just about summer, colour and bright sun shine… it’s much, much more than that. So here are some powerful digital photography tips for winter.  Read more »

It doesn’t take much to get great shots indoors. In fact the secret is so simple that it’ll amaze you when you know what it is. Read more »

Does anyone shoot black and white pictures anymore? Of course! It is still one of the first methods taught to photography students and it will always be a remarkable method of employing “chiaroscuro”, or the effects of light and shadow upon a scene.

While modern digital cameras are loaded with an incredible array of settings, all meant to capture images at their best – meaning colors at their brightest and most realistic – there is still a great deal to be said for black and white photography. It is a great venue for artistic exploration, and digital black and white images are as crisp and sharp, and high quality, as their color counterparts. Read more »

You know if I had only a few lines to write about what the secret is to better digital photography I would really say it consisted of three things.

1. The first is technical knowledge (technical knowledge gives you control over the camera and as a result give you the images you want).
2. The second is light (light gives focus and clarity and sharpness in a picture. Without the right light, no matter how much you know about your camera the image won’t turn out).
3. The third is composition (that’s the arty side of digital photography).

Let me explain this very important third point.

Part of composition is the angle at which you take the digital picture. The right angle can create the right emotional feel about what’s going on in the picture. The wrong angle can completely distract you from creating the right and appropriate emotion for the picture. Angle is composition and composition tells a story. It’s the emotional part of digital photography indeed. Read more »

Have you ever had a problem where you are outside taking pictures, on a sunny day, and no matter what you do, the darker parts of the picture are just too dark? The brighter parts are okay and clear, but the rest… well it almost seems as though the camera forgets about them. And that’s true. Read more »

Since the introduction of photo editing software it’s become easier and easier to edit our digital photos. It is so easy to put a picture into the program, fix up the mistakes that exist and ‘beautify’ our digital photos. But does this really enhance our artistic ability with digital photography? In other words, does it make us better photographers? Let’s look at this for a moment. Read more »

Want to know one of the secrets to successful shots of people? That’s easy. It’s them. What I mean by that is that the art to capturing a great shot of someone is simply finding a way to let their good self shine through. Read more »

The camera manufacturing companies of Nikon and Canon were the first to transition traditional single lens reflect cameras (SLRs) into the digital world. These were immediately popular with professional and amateur photographers alike, and would soon enter into an ongoing battle for most refined and enhanced in the industry. Read more »

A great way to practice getting perfect exposure is to try a method called exposure bracketing. I was taught this by Sally Brown, a photojournalist. It’s a good technique for ensuring correct exposure. Exposure bracketing or “bracketing” can be explained as the photographer taking numerous photos of the same thing using a variety of different camera settings. Bracketing is great when you are struggling to get a shot with exposure you like and that suits the image generally and helps ensure correct exposure of a photo when lighting in a scene is difficult.  Read more »

If you’ve ever photographed a waterfall you’ll understand why people go back again and again and shoot them. When I lived in Victoria, Australia, I would take a trip for a day or a weekend and shoot many shots of Stevenson’s Falls. If you are fortunate to live near the Rockies in Canada or the USA then you will have a fantastic time applying what I am about to show you through some handy techniques. Read more »

It can sound a little odd that someone wants to buy an external flash when there is a flash already on the camera. So why would this be? The secret appeal to use an external flash is their flexibility in their use. They are highly versatile. You can use them with any camera. As opposed to a fixed position, the external flash is more adaptability. They can work with just about any dSLR. Read more »

It’s quite an extraordinary thing, colour. It can enhance or diminish emotion in a digital photo. It’s really that powerful. Yet working with colour, it can assist the photographer to emphasize, dramatize or detract from a certain feeling in a digital photograph. Its funny that colour can impact our senses to such a degree. When there is the absence or presence of certain colours we can feel a certain level and depth of emotion.  Read more »

A few weeks ago we experienced an uncommon, celestial event. This was when our moon turned “red”. If you didn’t catch it you certainly missed out on an amazing, humbling scene. It was one of the most beautiful things in nature I have ever seen. Read more »

Last week [ed. errr… earlier today…] I spoke about positive and negative spaces in digital photography. To compliment that article I am going to go further into subject placement in your photos to get the ideal composition. Read more »

Amy Renfrey, our regular Articles By Amy author, takes a break from writing and gives us a quick (7ish minutes) video tutorial on indoor photograph when lighting is usually not perfect. For more video’s by Amy, check out her Digital Photography Success e-book and video package. Read more »

Today I would like to introduce you to something really important. It’s a term used in art and painting but for the purposes of artistic education I’m going to borrow it to teach you something important. Have you ever heard of negative and positive space? If you haven’t you’ll love this article. It will help you three fold in your photography. Read more »

Previously we discussed shutter speeds and the basics of how shutter speed works in your digital photography. I also mentioned how shutter speed and aperture work together. This week I’m going to help you get some excellent exposure control over your digital photography. Read more »

Remember the Articles By Amy series we were doing a while back? You know, Amy Refrey, the author of the Digital Photography Success package (if you haven’t checked out her Digital Photography Success Package, by the way, you really should - a great way to jump-start your photography). Anyways, she wrote about a dozen or so articles for us back in the spring/summer, and then they just stopped… but it wasn’t her fault, it was mine - she kept writing them, I just stopped posting them. They’ve been piling up, and piling up, so over the next couple of days, I’ll be posting a whole bunch of them. Are you ready? There’s a lot of great tips and tricks coming up - there are even a couple of videos for you. Make sure to subscribe to the blog to make sure you don’t miss any. Read more »

If you have ever been interested in taking peoples portraits then listen up, because I’ve got some handy tips and advice to share with you. In my five years of photography experience I have learnt one thing about taking someone’s portrait. I’ve learnt that successful portrait photography hinges on your ability as the photography to bring out the absolute best in someone. We’ll go into lighting and the “gear” in just a minute, but I want to draw your attention to the fact that portrait photography depends on the interaction you have with the person. Read more »