Mirrorless Camera News

Shooting portraits with a telephoto lens can be a very good idea. Long lenses help you isolate a subject by providing attractive compression while producing beautiful background blur, aka bokeh. But how long is too long of a lens to shoot a portrait with?

Most photographers would love to upgrade their camera every time an innovative new model with enhanced capabilities is introduced. But let’s face it: The “latest and greatest” gear seems to come around every year or two, and many of us can’t afford to break the bank whenever that happens.

Are you seeing random spots and squiggly lines on your photos? If so, it’s time to clean your camera’s sensor and employ some simple preventative measures so it doesn’t get dirty again.

The first thing most photographers learn is that a camera’s light meter is calibrated to deliver correct exposures of “average” subjects with a tone of middle gray. But what about bright scenes like a snowfield, or close-ups of dark subjects like a black cat? That’s where exposure (EV) compensation comes into play.

Let’s say everything comes together just right: You have a great subject, the light is beautiful, and your composition and focus are impeccable. You just captured the money shot, right? Not so fast, because everything is for naught if you mess up the exposure.

The craft of photography is full of long-held concepts and conventional wisdom that have proven helpful for years. But as technology, techniques, and editing software have evolved, some of these so-called "rules" deserve to be pushed to the wayside.

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.