Photo How To

In short, this eye-opening tutorial from portrait/street photographer Manny Ortiz is a visual examination of what could be called “the art of seeing,” Ortiz uses his compelling imagery to illustrate what accomplished photographers see upon arriving upon a scene, as opposed to how non-photographers (or less adept shooters) view the same location.

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at still life photography but shied away from the challenge, thinking you lacked the necessary equipment and skills? If so, this quick tutorial is for you.

If you’re a regular on this page, you know that we don’t subscribe to the notion that Manual Mode is the only way to go if you’re serious about photography. In fact, we recently posted a tutorial in which one pro insisted that Aperture Priority Mode is often a better choice.

Do you constantly worry whether your photos are getting enough likes on Instagram and elsewhere on social media? Do you find yourself always trying to create images that appeal more to a general audience than your artistic vision?

Presets are timesaving files that enable Lightroom to apply predetermined enhancements to images, enabling you to quickly make changes to color, introduce special effects, and much more. By clicking on a preset you avoid the task of doing things manually, and you can always go back in and tweak the results.

One of the most important skills in the early development of all photographers is knowing how to interpret the light falling on a scene, and then choosing the camera settings that will result in a perfectly exposure photo. With a bit of knowledge and practice, this quickly becomes second nature—enabling you concentrate on other key variables that make up a great image.

One overlooked, so to speak, area of your camera that can get dirty is the viewfinder. Whether it's an optical viewfinder on a DSLR or an EVF on a mirrorless camera, that eye-sized window is prone to smudging, which can make it hard to see your subject.