Photo How To

We often hear people complain that there’s nothing interesting to photograph where they live. Well, one of our writers lives in the most densely populated state in America (New Jersey). Here are some of the images he captured during a two-hour period one Friday morning without traveling more than 15 miles from home. And to prove that good photos exist everywhere—if we just look—he used only one camera and one lens.

Some photographers are surprised to learn that all memory cards and card readers are not created equal. Not only do they come in different formats, but some are faster than others, and card capacity tends to vary with price.

What’s normal? Not asking about your weird uncle Walter who puts mayonnaise on his French fries—and his spaghetti. When photography went digital, understanding focal lengths became much more difficult. Let’s unravel a few of the mysteries so that we can make better educated decisions about lenses.

There are various file formats for saving images, and more than a bit of confusion regarding which one to use. And while everyone seems to have their own process, some choices can be detrimental to layered images and your workflow in general.

Focusing speed and precision are key considerations when buying a new camera. Some models use a phase-detection autofocus (AF) system, while others use contrast-detection AF, and some offer the advantages of both.

Manny Ortiz is a professional photographer we turn to again and again for inspiration and instruction. In this video titled “All Photographers Take Bad Pictures,” he offers a little bit of both.

Conventional wisdom is that autofocus is the best mode to use for photographing birds, especially when your subjects are in flight. But every so often manual focus is a better choice, as you’ll see in the tutorial below.