Sports Photography How To

Focal length is one of the most essential concepts in photography, and a firm understanding of how it works is crucial when choosing the proper lens for a specific scene. Most photographers know that focal length determines the magnification of a subject within the frame, but there's more to consider than this.

Have you wondered why some of your photographs are crisp, clean, and full of detail, while others are grainy, dull, and unimpressive? The following tutorial with instructor Anthony Crothers takes an educated guess that "it's not your camera—it's your ISO." And this can be super simple to fix once you understand this essential concept.

We spend a lot of time discussing why your camera's Aperture Priority mode is so powerful, and why it's the choice of many pros. But this tutorial from the Newcastle Photography College takes a contrarian view when it comes to boosting the creativity of your images.

Last week we featured an interesting video from one of favorite wildlife and landscape photographers who insists that your camera's Aperture Priority mode is preferable to shooting in Manual for certain situations. We're following up on that today with a quick tutorial from Vanessa Joy who demonstrates how to use shutter speed to capture images with a variety of creative effects.

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Getting the light right is an essential task whether you're shooting indoors or out, and sometimes this means adding supplemental light to achieve perfect exposures. One choice is using a flash, but some photographers are intimidated by the techniques and settings that are required.

Like it or not we live in an era where camera manufactures compete with each other for how much resolution their products offer. But there's a big difference between what you want and what you really need. That's why, budget notwithstanding, it's time to ask yourself how many megapixels are necessary for your style of photography.