Photo How To

Many photographers rely on their camera’s sophisticated metering system to provide the “correct” exposure for the scene at hand. While this approach works well under a wide variety of lighting conditions, there are times when even the smartest camera can be fooled.

What the heck is a depth of field (DOF) preview button? It’s that little button adjacent to your camera’s lens mount that you’ve never used because you don’t know what it does. Believe it or not, the DOF preview button is there for a reason, so watch the video below and make it your friend.

The first step for capturing breathtaking images in the field is analyzing light intensity and direction to determine the necessary settings for achieving a balanced exposure. One foolproof method for accomplishing this task involves using your camera's histogram to get the light right every time without time-wasting experimentation.

Lately we’ve been featuring tutorials from a helpful series explaining the inner workings of a camera, intended to help photographers take better photos. This new episode, from Christian Tudor of the Academy of Photography, reviews the concept of exposure time and explains how and when to use a camera’s Shutter Priority exposure mode.

Experienced landscape photographers understand the importance of a concept known as "hyperfocal distance" that enables them to maximize depth of field by using appropriate aperture settings and focusing on a specific point within the frame, namely, somewhere between foreground and background depending upon the image at hand.

One of the first challenges faced by inexperienced photographers is arriving at a correct exposure, and this can be particularly difficult when shooting outdoor scenes full  of bright highlights and deep shadows. This tutorial explains how to take advantage of a simple camera setting that enables you to control the brightness of an image by instantly increasing or decreasing exposure.

Back in the days when 35mm cameras were king, photographers typically chose film to suit the situation at hand; perhaps Kodachome 25 or Velvia 50 for landscapes with vivid colors, and something like Kodak Portra 400 for portraits when a less punchy look was desired.