Photography Basics
Learn How to Control Your Camera
New to digital photography?
Read this first. From choosing a camera to basic techniques. This introduction provides what you need to get started, and most importantly, what you don't need!
Composition
Eliminate Distracting Elements
Much like music, composing in photography is about understanding image boundaries and how objects complement or takeaway from the image. Good composition eleminates discractions and puts focus on important elements. Be aware of your surroundings. Include items that tell the story and exclude items that don't!
Lighting
Lighting is Everything
Lighting is what creates a photograph. Lighting is everything in photography. It can place emphasis on a subject, detail texture, smooth skin tones, affect colors, manipulate shadows, etc. Read more on why it's so important!
Distortion
Disadvantages & Advantages
Distortion is the deviation in the ability of a lens to produce a rectilinear projection. This means if distortion is present, straight lines in a scene become curved in the resulting photo. It is not typically desirable. Besides fisheyes, most lenses are made to have minimal distortion.
Perspective
Pleasing Perspectives
Perspective can often be misunderstood. Although the perspective of an image is determined by the focal length of a lens, it has other effects on an image besides field of view. Perspective affects how objects are percieved, both in relative size and relative distance.
White Balance
The Gateway to Great Color
White Balance is extremely important. Today's cameras do a great job at it in most lighting conditions. White Balance adjusts the overall mixture of color. It can be adjusted for different lighting conditions such as indoor incandescent or outdoor lighting. It can be used to maximize color or creatively to emphasize sunsets.
Camera Suggestions
From Begginners to Professional
From the Iphone to the most professional cameras, depending on your needs I recommend a variety of cameras. Although I focus on Nikon cameras, other camera manufacturers are just as good. The camera has less to do with photography than you think!
Lens Suggestions
Coming Soon...
Lenses are some of the most important peices of equipment in photography. Different lenses provide different creativity outlets to explore. Lenses are the most fun to buy and usually don't depreciate in price like cameras! Read more to see the Nikon lenses I recommend!
Nikon Flash
Nikon Speedlight Flash Guide
Nikon makes a variety of flashes called "speedlights". They are battery operated and very portable. Learn how and when to use flash. Flashes can be used both on camera and off camera to control shadows, improve light, emphasize subjects or elements in photography.
Understanding ISO
What is ISO?
ISO is the sensitivity of a camera's digital sensor. Higher ISOs increase sensitivity and allow for faster shutter speeds, reducing likelihood of motion blur. Recently ISO has become a marketing pitch by camera manufacturers. However, ISO can be measured as a signal to noise ratio (SNR) to determine true performance.
Sunstars
How to Produce Great Sunstars
Sunstars are produced at bright point sources of light like the sun. Sunstars vary from lens to lens and their shapes are determined by the lens diagphram. Straight bladed diagphrams usually produce more distinguished sunstars. Read more to learn how to make brilliant sunstars!
Autofocus
Ensure Accurate Autofocus
Most cameras today do not have autofocus issues. However, when using a shallow depth of field, autofocus becomes more critical. Nikon does a great job at autofocus accuracy but often makes trade-offs for autofocus speed. Read more to better understand the nuisances of autofocus and how to adjust for inaccuracies.
Autofocus Assist Lamp
Maximizing Autofocus in Low Light
Most cameras today do not have autofocus issues. However, when using a shallow depth of field, autofocus becomes more critical. Nikon does a great job at autofocus accuracy but often makes trade-offs for autofocus speed. Read more to better understand the nuisances of autofocus and how to adjust for inaccuracies.
Bokeh (Lens Blur)
The Quality of Out of Focus Blur
When using a shallow depth of field, areas of a photo may be intentionally out of focus or blurred. Backgrounds can commonly be blurred to put emphasis on a subject and eliminate distracting backgrounds. Bokeh is the quality of blur or the out of focus regions.
Sensor Format Size
FX vs DX vs CX
Sensors vary in size. FX is Nikon's larger sensor size, equivalent to 35mm film size. DX is smaller, roughly 25mm, horizontal. Smaller sensors provide greater reach, which can be useful in long telephoto lenses, while larger sensors provide better light collection for unprecedented low-light photography.
Vibration Reduction
Coming Soon...
VR is an incredible technology. It can make or break a shot. However VR is very limited in use, and sometimes faster primes are preffered. VR can allow you to carry less and leave the tripod at home!
Color Saturation
Enhancing Photographs with Color
Rich color is a great way to make images pop. However it does not come without side effects. Knowing how to use saturation, vibrance, white-balance and the historgram will lead to powerful color enhancements and make your photos stand out!
Color Saturation
Enhancing Photographs with Color
Rich color is a great way to make images pop. However it does not come without side effects. Knowing how to use saturation, vibrance, white-balance and the historgram will lead to powerful color enhancements and make your photos stand out!
Adobe Lightroom
Coming Soon...
Adobe Lightroom is a great tool for sorting, editing, and archiving photos. It can import and manipulate most popular camera RAW formats providing greater flexibility when post processing. It's ability to organize photo albums, sequences, or events make it a very powerful tool. I recommend it before purchasing Photoshop.
Adobe Photoshop
Coming Soon...
Adobe Photoshop is a powerful photo editor. It is the ultimate editing tool for photo masterpeices. Unlike lightroom, it lacks a good workflow solution for editing large photo sets. However, its editing and custom algorithm capability is unsurpassed compared to any other software tool, providing full processing control.
Install SSD iMac
How-To Install SSD into 2011 iMac
Need more data performance out of your iMac? This tutorial describes how to install an SSD drive which takes advantage of the new SATA-III ports on the 2011 iMac. Prior experience with electronics is required.