Photo How To

I got the idea for this how-to story from something the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist David Hume Kennerly said to me: “Believe me, the challenge of photography is not going to France for the first time and photographing the Eiffel Tower. The challenge is really seeing and then photographing the stuff that’s familiar and ordinary, stuff we see all the time but never really observe or give much attention.”

Nothing beats the versatile wide-angle lens for street shooting, travel, and landscape photography. Whether you’re capturing mountain vistas or bustling street scenes, the wide-angle lens offers an ideal combination of features for quick, candid shooting.

Even photographers who usually shoot in Manual Mode should take a closer look at Program AE Mode. Why? Because in the right hands, the two modes are more similar than they are different. 

Have you ever been on location with a beautiful model and great scenery, only to be foiled by a drab, overcast sky? In this two–minute video, celebrity/sports photographer David Bergman explains how to combine creative color-balance control with off–camera flash to get some stunning results on a gray day in Belize.

Many, many years ago, in a silver halide universe far, far away, amateur photographers were divided into two camps. Their differences were not based on political orientation. And they had nothing to do with the Cold War, nationality, ideology or anything else so trivial. What was the division that separated otherwise rational people? Read on…

Do your friends often tell you that your photographs are so good you should become a professional? Do you sometimes stare blankly at the pages of National Geographic and hear a voice inside your head that says, “I can do better than that!”? Do you post on Instagram more than 70 times a week? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, read on—and unleash the master picture-taker that’s lurking in your soul.

Depth of Field has a lot in common with gravity. You don’t have to fully understand the physics behind it to make it work for you. Managing depth of field is a critical component of mastering photography. This article should get you well on your way.