When you want to create sports photographs and portraits with more depth or sense of motion, you should consider adding an element of “space” to the scene. This is done in several ways, but if it is done correctly it can add a whole new factor to the image, and really get a viewer thinking and responding.

Let’s begin with the sports photographs. Quite often the photographer of a sport such as football, soccer or even competitive bicycling will have a single subject – the athlete. Additionally, this athlete is usually in motion and heading towards a goal or finish line. While watching this as it happens can be exciting, a photograph of an athlete doing their job can actually be dull. How many times do we see images of a runner sprinting towards the end zone? These are not necessarily compelling images, but they could be if the photographer had only added an element of space to the photograph. Read more »

Millions of digital camera owners delight in the many effects and improvements that they can introduce into their photographs thanks to the many easy to use photo editing programs. At the top of almost every photographers list of favorite programs is Adobe Photoshop, or one of its variants.

The Adobe Photoshop programs are the most powerful and creative of photographic tools, and this is not only because they are easy to use and incredibly effective, but because they allow such a huge range of opportunity. Read more »

When we think of “glamour photography” we might think of elegant ladies in black and white photographs, or we could envision tasteful or artistic nudes, and we might even think of those photographs that put “ordinary” people in place of traditional “models” with makeup, lighting and expensive clothing.

The essence of glamour photography, however, is that it is never candid or casual. This means that it uses optimal conditions for recording very finely crafted photographs. Is it always perfect? Nope! There are, however, some editing tools that can really improve the overall appearance of such images. Read more »

So, you have purchased a good digital camera or even a dSLR, and you are wondering how to deal with your memory cards, what sorts of images should be kept or deleted, and what kind of compression you should use when saving images to a memory card. The answer to the first question – how to deal with your memory cards – is: buy as many as you can afford. The reason for that is actually the answer to the second question – what images should be kept and which deleted? All images should be kept. Read more »

If you’ve been keeping up with the Corner Blog over the past month (if not, subscribe here!!), I’m sure you’ve caught most of the Articles By Amy series we did in the month of April. There were 4 videos, and over a dozen articles. You can check out the past ones here. Listed below are all the Articles By Amy that have been featured on the Corner Blog to date. Read more »

This 17-minute video on black and white photography discusses everything from “why black and white?” to numerous tips and tricks to improving your black and white photography. This is also the last article/video in our Articles By Amy Month series. Make sure to check out the links to Amy’s ebooks and her new magazine below. Read more »

Have you ever noticed that in digital photography there always seems to be photos of fork lightning that some clever photography enthusiast has mastered? The fact is that digital photography is a challenge and as soon as we develop the interest in digital photography we are challenging ourselves from the start. And a real challenge in digital photography is fast moving subjects. And when it comes to either traditional or digital photography, catching electrifying fork lightning is just too much of an enticement to see if we can “win” the challenge.

So how do we apply our digital photography to sharp, brilliant streaks of colour over our images? Read more »

Some of the loveliest and most unique photographs taken are those of underwater subjects. Unfortunately in order to successfully snap images of divers, coral and other forms of sea life a photographer requires a different set of skills and knowledge, and it also requires special equipment. Read more »

There are few people who haven’t done even the most basic portrait photography. How is that possible? Because every camera owner usually ends up taking a group photograph, or capturing a friend or family member in a “picture”, meaning they have taken a portrait. The differences between such casual images and formal portrait photography may seem numerous, but in fact are really only a matter of setting and attention to detail. Read more »

Landscape photography is a great place to use creativity, and unique perspective, even if presented with a flat or unchallenging image. For example, you are on a road trip, you read the road sign that says “Scenic Overlook”; you pull in, get out the camera, hold it at eye height and take the picture. It is scenic; you shouldn’t have to compose the image, right? Wrong. Photographing landscapes and scenery should be a creative experience, even with a point and shoot camera. Look at the image, analyze it, look at it a different way, climb up on a picnic table or lay down in the grass, and experience the view through your own perspective, then capture that with your camera. Read more »

Most people know that lighting is the key in most photographs. If a scene is under lit the subjects are lost; too much light and the scene is washed out; unbalanced light and the effects are lost – most photographs can be greatly affected by light.

How does a photographer adjust lighting? There is equipment as well as techniques that photographers use to address difficulties or issues with lighting in a scene or of a subject. Read more »

The third of three videos in the series “Understanding Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO” (you can watch part 1 on shutter speed here, and part 2 on the aperture here) discusses ISO - what it is, how it works, and what happens when you change your camera settings from a low ISO setting (50-100) to a mid-range ISO setting (400-800) to a high ISO setting (800 and beyond). Read more »

There a tremendous number of lenses available for digital photographers today, and for those who specialize in landscape imagery there are nice range of lenses at a good array of prices. A search can yield telephoto zoom lenses, super wide angle lenses and traditional or normal to moderate wide angles.

For most photographers, however, investing in numerous and somewhat expensive lenses may be out of the question. If that is the case then an investment in a wide angle 70mm lens is the best choice for great photographs and results. This is because the lens will allow for tight compositions and easy filter use, which, in the end, can provide a tremendous number of options and flexibility within imagery. Read more »

Macro digital photography has to be one of the most underrated and under-practiced aspects of digital photography. The fact is that it’s just not "close-ups". Macro digital photography is so much more. Taking digital photography of macro, particularly abstract, is an incredibly stimulating art form. One of the reasons why macro digital photography is so good because the objective is to get as much detail as you can. And the subject is not often distinguishable. You can turn a basic household item into a brightly colored world filled with shapes, lines and form. It allows the mind to take a break from categorizing everything and lets the imagination just enjoy the art form.

Photographs are taken for many reasons and at many events, occasions and locations. Each different photographic location requires your camera to be adjusted to different settings. These adjustments include the shutter speed as well. All lighting will affect the final images, as the speed of a shutter allows for more or less light to enter the camera. Read more »

Nearly anyone in possession of a camera will be asked to take a portrait photograph of someone at some point in time. Whether the request is casual or formal, there are some easy and effective ways to improve and enhance portrait photography. While some might say these “tips” are breaking the rules, the point of them all is to capture innovative and unique imagery. Read more »

Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions, and other settings. With a few years of experience and some trial and error, I’m going to share with you what works and what doesn’t about urban street portraiture.

Rivers, waterfalls and gently babbling streams are soothing even in photographs. We are automatically drawn to the contrast of blue and white waters passing through brilliant green landscapes, gentle fields of yellowing grass, or tumbling through grey and green moss covered boulders and rocks. How do you capture water in motion? Read more »

The 2nd video in the three-part series “Understanding Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO” (you can view part 1 here) focuses on the aperture. The 6-minute video below discusses what the aperture is, how it works, and what it means to have a large verses small aperture. Read more »

In landscape photography you will find that the majority of your photographs are probably taken with a tripod. But each type of photography uses different tools. Photographers that do sports photography like to use a hand-held strategy so they can get the shot quickly. The last thing they want is to be fiddling with a tripod when they could be shooting the football player who has just won the goal for their team. Instead, they‘ll choose a monopod which has greater flexibility and gives them greater access to the series of shots they want. Read more »